Pitchfork Reviews Reviews

Have you read Tom Ewing's Popular series?

...When it comes to music critics who have emerged over the last ten years or so with a "distinctive voice", I really can't think of a better candidate.

― Tim F, Wednesday, September 29, 2010 4:30 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

have to confess that i haven't read much tom ewing, tim. now have his freaky trigger "popular" stuff loaded up on another page, preparing to dig in. and thanks for taking that request (more that than a complaint, i hope?) seriously. thanks too to lex for the same. we rarely see eye to eye, but i've always enjoyed reading your analysis.

it's funny, when i was a kid, i read tons of crit and "reviews". was particularly fond of greil marcus, byron coley, pauline kael, and older lester bangs stuff, but took in almost anything i could get my hands on. music, movie & art magazines, newspapers, fanzines, whatever. as i've gotten older, however, i've almost completely stopped reading real criticism. i keep up with a few clearinghouses for brief reviews of stuff i know might be up my alley (termbo, mosurak @ dusted), occasionally drop in on pitchfork just to see what's going in the world outside, comb through encyclopedia metallum user reviews, but that's about it. partly it's ILX, which seems to serve all my needs in that regard, and partly it's that i'm old and jaded and rarely read anything that really breaks down doors for me.

would like to feel a little less boxed in and lazy, though, so any/all suggestions for outside reading appreciated.

didn't Robin Carmody used to dissect old top 20 lists?

prr dude is compelling in the same way that woody allen is compelling. pretty sure he realizes what he sounds like. don't see why solipsism is an issue. lots of people make careers off that. if anything, his navel gazing is his strength.

i just have no idea what separates and elevates him from like a million other bloggers, except i guess that he has successfully "done meta"

wait, so like a bunch of people are actually paying attention to this guy?

...

http://eclecticboogaloo.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/whatever.jpg

lol @ que

he's definitely gained some degree of notice in an obscenely cloistered, tiny section of the American indie music crit world

http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/128298508615001250urtheoryhasme.jpg

:-D

y'all know I love ILX until the end of time, but as far as cloisters go, this board is one that's unusually good at being unimpressed with stuff, so the "wait, people actually read this?" reaction is mildly humorous

I am 100% down with that opinionated skepticism, it is awesome, but occasionally it approaches a point of seeming really baffled by things that are not all that incredibly baffling

baffled vs horrified incredulity

this board is one that's unusually good at being unimpressed with stuff, so the "wait, people actually read this?" reaction is mildly humorous

yeah, i posted that for that reason

the only reason we're even discussing prr kid at all is that he's leeched himself onto an established brand and begun to branch out into other publications--he's found a way to game the system, through accident or design, at a time when it's very hard to do so.

OTM + high five + 3 gold stars. What he's done is very clever, in the same way that, say Danger Mouse was able to leverage his album mashup into a regular production gig. This is How Things Work now.

I really glad this thread exists, if only for tim f's vulcanization of rubber style invention of a new posting technique

yeah that danger mouse thing is p otm

the only reason we're even discussing prr kid at all is that he's leeched himself onto an established brand and begun to branch out into other publications--he's found a way to game the system, through accident or design, at a time when it's very hard to do so.

OTM + high five + 3 gold stars. What he's done is very clever, in the same way that, say Danger Mouse was able to leverage his album mashup into a regular production gig. This is How Things Work now.

― Veðrafjǫrðr heimamaður (ecuador_with_a_c), Thursday, September 30, 2010 1:26 PM (1 minute ago)

New York Times Reviews Reviews

baffled vs horrified incredulity

this

ditto, only remove "incredulity"; I don't find it surprising that ppl would be into this guy, just super irritating because that means it's like 3 years away from infecting every media source I frequent

RIP my frequented media sources ;_;

i just can't read stuff like that, i find it irritating and completely tedious. can't really get into HRO for the same reason.

I am 100% down with that opinionated skepticism, it is awesome, but occasionally it approaches a point of seeming really baffled by things that are not all that incredibly baffling

his shitty writing style and the fact that people read and enjoy it is baffling. like i said yesterday, i think sometimes with the internet you can throw up any piece of shit writing to the wall and if it's got enough name dropping, people will jizz all over it.

i think PRR and HRO are hateable for opposite reasons

Daft Punk writes new song except it sux & is nothing 2 get excited abt (28 comments)

i would agree w/that too xpost

http://www.pitchforkreviewsreviews.com/post/1215918248/haiku-cycle-about-the-new-york-yankees-pitchfork

i think PRR and HRO are hateable for opposite reasons

this. except i like PRR and fucking loathe HRO with a passion

man, that "haiku cycle" makes me wanna take back every nice thing i've ever said

about anyone or anything anywhere ever

this. except i like PRR and fucking loathe HRO with a passion

― having taken an actual journalism class (contenderizer), Thursday, September 30, 2010 6:55 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

you basically have the opposite of taste

rimshot

PRR's writing reads like my 9 year old talking

At least HRO keeps his posts short.

although on evidence of those fucking haikus, maybe history mayne has a point

are yall on #teamprrbro or #teamcarles?

i dunno, i read that haiku and it's like a whole new world, like seeing what matsuo bashō was doing when he was 20.

LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR U

suckered by chauncey gardiner

PRR's writing reads like my 9 year old talking

if you traded animal collective and lil wayne for bionicles and mighty beanz the affinity is strong

just for the record i think HRO is as equally reprehensible as PRR

I prefer HBO and PBR to HRO and PRR

kind of surprised carles hasn't reviewed prr yet

idk nabisco...that haiku cycle pretty much distills everything about his blog that makes me want to scream: do you really think that THAT merits a readership? do you really think that there's some intrinsic value to his writing that makes him well known (among certain circles), instead of his attention-grabbing stunts (again, the initial meta conceit of the blog, but also his suspect story about meeting President Obama)? Is it really that surprising that some folks would find that obnoxious? (multiple xposts)

(sry about the awkward shoehorning of parenthetical asides)

i like both hro and prr but hro is funny and i can usually read almost the entire post instead of just the first couple sentences

i dunno, i read that haiku and it's like a whole new world, like seeing what matsuo bashō was doing when he was 20.

Fall - Yankees are shite
Pitchfork rates them nought point nought
Bashō turns in grave

Sorry

I lol'd

do you really think that THAT merits a readership?

I never said it did, mostly because I don't understand the concept of "meriting" a readership. But basically I am not surprised/horrified/confused by what his readers get out of the blog -- the way it appeals to people doesn't strike me as super-confusing, you know? It seems fairly straightforward, what people are getting out of it. It also seems fairly straightforward that lots of people would find it obnoxious and annoying. The only thing that confuses me is the idea that those things are opposites, or that one or the other of them is bizarre or unimaginable.

no one understands what nabisco is on about, everyone's obsessed with PRR, we're on the other side of the looking glass ppl

I never said it did, mostly because I don't understand the concept of "meriting" a readership.

and this is so because it must be so.