pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

fucked up that they buried the new Xiu Xiu record at the bottom of the reviews today and gave it a 6.4

agreed, it deserves better. the review seems to acknowledge that it's a really good Xiu Xiu album and then knocks it on a lot of weird little things.

the actual Max Martin interview is way more interesting than the pfork article:
http://storytelling.di.se/max-martin-english/

Yeah, the interview is fantastic.

heres the thing with martin and his ilk

he may have 58 billboard top 10 hits, only more than mccartney and lennon

but, given various definitions of 'interesting', its easy to sound interesting in a world of generic pop songs

none of his songs are interesting from a harmony point of view eg

and they barely break away from standard compositions, which is something popular songs have been doing since the 60s (parts were glued together back in the day, with all parts of the song being moving parts)

hes just good at surrounding himself with the next big pop talent, which is a skill in itself, sure

that pdork writer is not too far off. once you break down the songs to only their skeleton/raw bones, theres just a structure that is indistinguishable from other pop tracks

ie

martin knows what sells and good on him

generic pop songs meaning axis of awesome dudes' 4 chords:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOlDewpCfZQ

or

https://qz.com/767812/millennial-whoop/

that 'perfect pop song' that martin wants to hear again and again is just a type of succession of notes that we love to hear on repeat, like some type of drug:

https://aeon.co/essays/why-repetition-can-turn-almost-anything-into-music

that "millennial whoop" piece is terrible and worse than almost anything in this thread

BOOMER: here is a participation trophy
MILLENNIAL: *whoops from fifth note to scale to third and back*

whoop there it is

katherine otm

Explore Elliott Smith’s Iconic Either/Or in 5 Minutes

Explore Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks in 4 Minutes

noticing a trend here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB2di69FmhE&t=61s

https://theawl.com/internet-video-is-lies-34ee5b3a4ccb

the beguiling Explore John Cage's 4"33 in 4"36

a new low:

Most crucially, The Sophtware Slump countered the pre-millennial tension of trip-hop, Timbaland, and Radiohead with Y2k’s definitive ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ album

the future of music criticism: listicles and emojis

I struggle to understand how this Ian Cohen guy continues to get work

You left out half the sentence, and it's a pretty good description all in all.

All in all, this is as good a two-sentence band summary as can be hoped for, imo:

Grandaddy are still a state-of-the-art 2000 band, the sum of slack-motherfucker indie rock, the mid-fi experimentalism of Sparklehorse, and just enough of Mercury Rev and Flaming Lips’ late-’90s prog sweep. Most crucially, The Sophtware Slump countered the pre-millennial tension of trip-hop, Timbaland, and Radiohead with Y2k’s definitive ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ album, speaking to people who came of age during the tech boom and felt like the 21st century could only promise shinier distractions from the same old pervasive suburban boredom.

Pitchfork may be dumb, but this new feature 'Name Dropping' is brilliant. Good idea, good editing, and Michael Bolton is a good sport:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqQYUjAA8kI

Yes, I enjoyed that. Michael Bolton seems like a pretty likeable guy.

Only two reviews today?

also that's not an emoji

haha, that bolton thing has legit funny moments

"Pitchfork to Review Key Albums From the Notorious B.I.G." 👏👏👏

Tomorrow, Pitchfork will commemorate the 20th anniversary of his death by reviewing four key albums in his catalog.

oh so just the big four then?

they all suck

yeah i noticed the only two reviews

there's so much good new music coming out i don't get why they couldn't have a full slate every day.

unless of course preparing reviews for two biggie albums and two sorta-biggie albums was too much to handle

damn that's crazy, only 2 albums per day? end of an era

they all suck

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, March 8, 2017 1:41 PM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

BOO YOU SUCK!!!!!!!!! baby BAY-beh

as annoying as many elements of pitchfork dot com have gotten over the years, albums reviews are still top notch

this is the first day i've noticed only two reviews, usually it's four reviews per day

gotta make room for booze ads and links to non-music news!

wait shakey doesnt like biggy?

west coast guy

that's... not an excuse

It's partially true that the Jay-Z/Biggie axis just didn't circulate as much out here, but that's not all of it. I can pinpoint watching the "Big Poppa" video as the exact point at which I realized that rap as a mainstream pop phenomenon had morphed into something I definitely did not like and tbh my opinion has never changed. Puffy was a blight on the genre, and his success was emblematic of everything that went wrong from that point on imo. I don't really care about his canonization, and while I will agree that he was a solid rapper I just hate the sound and the nihilistic mythology of his two records.

Pac's martyrdom/mythology isn't really much better but he at least had singles + producers + collaborators that I liked

Can you pinpoint watching the "Juicy" or "Hypnotize" videos and recognizing that they're some of the most incredible rapping to ever appear on a mainstream single?

*crosses shakey off list of ppl who can play my super nintendo & sega genesis*

I realized that rap as a mainstream pop phenomenon had morphed into something I definitely did not like and tbh my opinion has never changed

did you ever bother to listen to the actual albums and hear non-commercial, amazing songs like "the what" or "machine gun funk" or "10 crack commandments" or "warning"?

xp lol, i was gonna say this has the makings of a good ol' fashioned nerd fight and HERE WE ARE

with pitchdork banner in the background

sponsored by conde nast

you know what really might change my mind about Biggie? some retrospective Pfork reviews

i didn't want to spoil it shakes...but...you are in for a treat :)

birthdays was the worst days
for clicks pitchfork is so thir-stay

lol

classic m@tt responses itt

shakey have you really tried? like really?

Everyday Struggle? Unbelievable? Suicidal Thoughts? the ones shakedown mentioned?

I'm too old to "try" to like things - of course I know 10 Crack Commandments and Suicidal Thoughts c'mon bro