pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

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to turn the pedantry up a notch, let's consider this alternate reading of the sentence:

"It’s back-to-basics energy and prosaic storytelling make it his best solo album in years."

Again, this sentence was probably not by the author of the review, which is who Wimmels is quibbling with

SSN Lucci (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 18 April 2017 20:29 (seven years ago) link

i think you're sort of missing my point, but yes i understand the author didn't necessarily write those first two lines.

anyway, the author certainly wrote this:

This is Davies in Dylan mode, hyperbolic but as dazzling with prosaic details as his student Jarvis Cocker.

i'm not saying that a lyricist has never employed the prosaic to artistic effect. i'm just saying that it would be an unusual choice of words to call that effect "dazzling," and for that reason i think the author doesn't know what the word really means. that's all.

budo jeru, Tuesday, 18 April 2017 21:54 (seven years ago) link

or maybe it was slang for prose mosaic

Sufjan Grafton, Tuesday, 18 April 2017 22:10 (seven years ago) link

regardless, we should really keep this conversation going

Bobson Dugnutt (ulysses), Wednesday, 19 April 2017 01:20 (six years ago) link

lmao holy shit i was reading the story about the brainiac documentary and the hyperlink for the kickstarter campaign was this http://deadspin.com/5986076/ladies-jr-smiths-twitter-come-on-will-have-you-sopping-wet

flappy bird, Wednesday, 19 April 2017 01:40 (six years ago) link

no idea why I was mentioned, I don't give a shit about "prosaic" either way ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Wednesday, 19 April 2017 02:24 (six years ago) link

not to speak for whiney but i think he was nodding to your past posts about editors sabotaging stories by tinkering with the titles

Bobson Dugnutt (ulysses), Wednesday, 19 April 2017 03:11 (six years ago) link

xpost lol @ ulysses

budo jeru, Wednesday, 19 April 2017 03:54 (six years ago) link

the very existence of public-facing stories is greater sabotage than any editor could possibly inflict

a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Wednesday, 19 April 2017 07:32 (six years ago) link

anyway, agree w/ wimmels that prosaic as a descriptor for lyrics is almost always derogatory; the word more or less means banal, pedestrian, unexceptional, even dull. "dazzling with prosaic details" is just a very misguided construction.

idk that phrase is bad maybe but there are ways to employ "prosaic" that are not derogatory--it's certainly better than saying "banal details", less clunky than "everyday details" and not as eggheaded as "quotidian details"

duped and used by my worst Miss U (President Keyes), Wednesday, 19 April 2017 12:44 (six years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEt1vV3KAH0

ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Wednesday, 19 April 2017 12:45 (six years ago) link

"This is the last installment of this column in Pitchfork. Beginning in May it will appear in the Village Voice."
http://pitchfork.com/features/greil-marcus-real-life-rock-top-10/10062-what-do-you-call-father-john-misty/

end of an era

Frozen CD, Thursday, 20 April 2017 01:50 (six years ago) link

Ha how many Marcus pitchfork columns were there -- three?

tylerw, Thursday, 20 April 2017 01:59 (six years ago) link

i think he did it for a year

flappy bird, Thursday, 20 April 2017 02:05 (six years ago) link

I take it back, he wrote a bunch and I wasn't paying attention.

tylerw, Thursday, 20 April 2017 02:08 (six years ago) link

I wonder how many people sent him hate mail

a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Thursday, 20 April 2017 02:11 (six years ago) link

i liked his recent-ish thing about "right" being the new "like"

flappy bird, Thursday, 20 April 2017 02:13 (six years ago) link

"Prosaic" is always bad, read books

albvivertine, Thursday, 20 April 2017 02:46 (six years ago) link

read butts

duped and used by my worst Miss U (President Keyes), Thursday, 20 April 2017 13:40 (six years ago) link

two butts beating as one

Bobson Dugnutt (ulysses), Thursday, 20 April 2017 13:42 (six years ago) link

ok, i think it's kinda hilarious there was this widespread mocking of justin bieber for saying in the NYT Where Are U Now video that they were "expensive sounds" and now i've seen that exact language used in both p4k's DAMN. review and its Narkopop one today

austinb, Friday, 21 April 2017 19:43 (six years ago) link

honestly always liked it as a shorthand descriptor so i'm pleasantly surprised to see it popping up

austinb, Friday, 21 April 2017 19:44 (six years ago) link

If you’re a fan of cheesy snack foods and well-curated superhero film soundtracks, Doritos has developed just the thing for you.

nomar, Tuesday, 25 April 2017 16:20 (six years ago) link

I think they could jazz up these press release stories by speculating that the corporate spokesperson was smoking a blunt while responding to the writer's emails.

duped and used by my worst Miss U (President Keyes), Tuesday, 25 April 2017 16:23 (six years ago) link

If you’re a fan of cheesy snack foods and well-curated superhero film soundtracks, Doritos has developed just the thing for you.

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 25 April 2017 17:20 (six years ago) link

If you’re a fan of cheesy snack foods and well-curated superhero film soundtracks, Doritos has developed just the thing for you.

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 25 April 2017 17:20 (six years ago) link

sorry my keyboard is sticky from all the Doritos

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 25 April 2017 17:20 (six years ago) link

props on them for digging up "Mr. Blue Sky" i haven't heard that song in a commercial in a while

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 25 April 2017 17:26 (six years ago) link

did they steal that "bonkers" set from Adam Green's Aladdin movie?

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 26 April 2017 15:24 (six years ago) link

If you’re a fan of cheesy snack foods and well-curated superhero film soundtracks, Doritos has developed just the thing for you.

j., Wednesday, 26 April 2017 15:26 (six years ago) link

Father John Misty Confirms That When He Bedded Taylor "Bonkers" Swift, There Were Virtual Dorito Crumbs in the Sheets

duped and used by my worst Miss U (President Keyes), Wednesday, 26 April 2017 15:42 (six years ago) link

did they steal that "bonkers" set from Adam Green's Aladdin movie?

ask and ye shall receive. they saved that for the interview w Adam Green. PWND

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 26 April 2017 17:00 (six years ago) link

jfc it feels like Pform is FJM's personal PR platform at this point, just stop it already

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 26 April 2017 17:01 (six years ago) link

I will never not be funny that Pitchfork still runs lede grafs like this after 20 years

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/23086-digital-dance/

Jay Elettronica Viva (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, 27 April 2017 17:29 (six years ago) link

okay lol

Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Thursday, 27 April 2017 17:31 (six years ago) link

like an old friend

Jay Elettronica Viva (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, 27 April 2017 17:38 (six years ago) link

That Software review is one of the more embarrassing ones I've seen in a while.

afriendlypioneer, Thursday, 27 April 2017 23:29 (six years ago) link

it's not perfect but that Software album definitely dserves far better than that write-up and lowest billing for the day

boxedjoy, Thursday, 27 April 2017 23:43 (six years ago) link

Like honestly, it's so so so funny to me that this company has made literal millions upon millions on deals with huge media companies and inventing wildly profitable music festivals and at no point do they ever think to change their house style from "let's start with two sentences passionately explaining what it's like to use a service that's more popular than Facebook"

Jay Elettronica Viva (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 28 April 2017 00:30 (six years ago) link

And, to be fair, since I'm old now, no shots at a young writer in a broken system.

Jay Elettronica Viva (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 28 April 2017 00:36 (six years ago) link

never heard of Software but I'm liking this quite a bit

blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 28 April 2017 20:24 (six years ago) link

Worth reading Annie Zaleski's story on them and their rediscovery some weeks back:

https://daily.bandcamp.com/2017/03/09/software-band-interview/

Ned Raggett, Friday, 28 April 2017 20:25 (six years ago) link

I really don't like being told I like something because it's ironic and I'm just having a chuckle. No, actually, I like the album, and my feelings are completely genuine.

afriendlypioneer, Friday, 28 April 2017 20:41 (six years ago) link

i never thought it was that obscure. but i live in a weird world.

scott seward, Friday, 28 April 2017 20:45 (six years ago) link

"embraced by a new Doritos generation" might be closer to the truth.

scott seward, Friday, 28 April 2017 20:46 (six years ago) link

Oh, ffs.

The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Friday, 28 April 2017 20:51 (six years ago) link

Klaus's label had good distro in the 80's. not that hard to come by. prog people who turned into new age people bought a lot of that stuff. Software had a bunch of albums!

scott seward, Friday, 28 April 2017 20:51 (six years ago) link


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