pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

lol i had no idea pitchfork prints a magazine now, did everybody here bitch about it for several days

I don't get how "minimalist" and "chaotic" are opposite

That was the most annoying phrase! Using the term "minimalist" just confuses things, like if that word was omitted you would have "PC Music sounds chaotic but is sneakily deliberate to the last distorted note" -- a totally clear statement.

The review has a lot of bad constructions like that. There will be several clear sentences and then things like:

if anyone’s really in drag here, it’s humans pretending to be avatars—the total elision of soul.

which is just clunky and awkward, and creates problems for itself by using terms like "drag" and "soul" which have specific connotations, like minimalism, which the writer just ignores because they like these provocative words more than communicating clearly? I dunno. I liked the phrase "chopped-up, anti-melodic spatter of brand names and robot garble" -- sounds like something i would like to listen to.

xp I'm not sure Falstaff is who that reviewer thinks he is. World weary?

http://pitchfork.com/news/59755-water-company-challenges-jay-zs-water-is-free-tidal-comments/

From The Pitch: "The Blues is, for all intents and purposes, dead. No one under the age of fifty writes about it or talks about it anywhere prominently."

don't trust anyone over fifty

http://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/beer.jpg?w=720&h=480&crop=1

That Pitch quote reads a lot better within its context: a long empathetic piece about the life and legacy of B.B. King

that quote is kinda true too.

Where exactly do people under 50 "talk prominently"?

also, AU CONTRARE: http://thoughtcatalog.com/devon-hartman/2014/11/you-have-to-stop-what-youre-doing-right-now-to-watch-this-dog-sing-the-blues/

"Where exactly do people under 50 "talk prominently"?"

taco bell. urban outfitters.

aol chatrooms

at least they tell me they're under 50

well maybe I'm wrong but it seems like their own contributor Amanda Petrusich received a fair amount of attention for 'Do Not Sell At Any Price', and his written a good bit on the blues-on Pitchfork.

Yeah but she's 53

Has music writing period created a bill Simmons like character since ... Chuck klosterman? Serious q

Who it should be noted doesn't even write about music

Any more

We're in a doomed and dying industry, no one cares about your opinion and good taste is worthless; people rely on those already in their network for recommendations, or maybe a spotify compilation. The functional purpose of music writing at this point is news writing, celebrity writing, and that's ... Literally it. At least as far as a large audience is concerned. All you can really do is be a good enough writer that people want to read you on those grounds by building your own micro audience

I don't know that I even 100% believe that but i think having any expectations beyond that could only lead to disappointment

have you considered law school?

Not even for a second

Im being a lil flippant ppl care about your opinion and good taste isn't really worthless, it's all just scaled down drastically

Virtually no one, not actually no one

The functional purpose of music writing at this point is news writing, celebrity writing, and that's ... Literally it.

I think this is otm actually, which is why so much "music" writing these days has little to nothing to do with actual music and mostly has to do with the artist's narrative/story arc (to which music is an incidental element)

which bugs me personally but it is interesting in terms of audiences and how they consume music - the stories that interest audiences are no longer really in the songs themselves, they're in the career arcs of the performers (which can be made up of songs + other stuff)

maybe it was always that way, to some extent, and it's just been accelerated/taken to extremes given the explosion of digital content idk

The functional purpose of music writing at this point is to create places on the internet where an artist's name appears, and then trick people into clicking on it

ok but why people click on it is only partly about the music, it's more about "I am interested in the story of this person's life"

then why are 95% of music features about boring people?

whiney, do you think deej would make a good lawyer, y or n?

well, boring is relative

xp

i don't think any judge would tolerate his constant defense of "why are you all attacking my client all the time?"

lol

i think his persistence and semantic focus would make him a good lawyer

like, i think he'd be good at cross-examinations

no, u right

deej can fight to get rappers out of jail after pitchfork and noisey get them locked up

the hemiola defense

then why are 95% of music features about boring people?

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Friday, May 29, 2015 4:48 PM (34 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

bc this industry wastes lots of money

thank god

The functional purpose of music writing at this point is to create places on the internet where an artist's name appears, and then trick people into clicking on it

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Friday, May 29, 2015 4:42 PM (42 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is of course true but getting those clicks is thru ... new writing & celebrity writing. I guess there is also provocative thinkpiece writing that we all hate 99% of the time

does anyone else ever see threads like this beginning circa 2002 and suddenly realize its 2015 and that its been a thirteen year discussion and feel like what

tbh i think its stupid as hell that this thread keeps getting bumped, like can't we just stick all this stuff on worst new music thread if its really that bad/worth complaining about

its not bad writing its bad thinking

i mean its also bad writing but thats sort of a given

Yeah but try being a musician now. I'm just resigned to doing this shit after my 9 to 5

The functional purpose of music writing at this point is to create places on the internet where an artist's name appears, and then trick people into clicking on it

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Friday, May 29, 2015 4:42 PM (42 minutes ago)

I said something like this almost verbatim to a student a couple weeks ago but I remembered all those times Details ran cover stories on Stephen Dorff and Skeet Ulrich, i.e. it was ever thus except the paychecks are smaller.

so you're saying we should rename that other thread the 'bad thinking' thread? a lot of ilx would end up posted there

the dorff years were bleak. the sobieski plague another low point. thanks a lot, Interview Magazine.