pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

I especially loved the Saba and Tim Hecker albums from that list of omissions.

Jean Grae / Quelle Chris – Everything's Fine

Bandcamp's album of the year.

Solid choice, I love that one too!

I caught Jean Grae opening for Talib Kweli and Mos Def back in the early to mid '00s, and I remember either Kweli dropped out of the show for some reason, so Jean Grae played a longer opening set and OH MY GOD SHE KILLED IT.

either Kweli or Mos Def* dropped out...

hell yeah Jean!

"Watch Jeff Tweedy Rate Stuffed Crust Pizza, Men’s Jewelry, and High School Reunions"

The Avril Lavigne review today is really well written and thoughtful.

Yes, I thought that was good. They should do more of the Sunday retrospectives on bad albums.

That is not a bad album, it’s a very good album; and even the reviewer seems to rate it more highly than the miserly 6.6 posted at the top.

Fair enough, I haven't heard it. I guess I mean albums that aren't already critically regarded as classics.

Honestly, this is why I sometimes think P-fork should just "stay in their lane"... they revisit a 16-yr-old album that was hugely popular, fit perfectly with the moment, introduced/established a significant artist, and has no bad or skippable songs over its 13 tracks... and they give it a 6.6 because... reasons?

they want everyone to know that this album that everyone of a certain age knows about has many strong moments and is ok to listen to

but yes, i very much enjoyed reading it all the same

Let Go is a 6.6 though

Let Go is a 6.6 though

it has one of the defining pop ballads of its era ("i'm with you") plus two singles that stodgy critics were singling out as being Actually Pretty Good For An Inherently Silly Manufactured Pop Tune even then. perhaps every other song on the album is mediocre but i wouldn't know as i've not heard it in full.

first four or five tracks are all time bangers but it drops off pretty quick

Not to 6.6 level. 6.6 is a mediocre album

why am I arguing about this, lol

Anyway, some of the best songs are later — like “Things I’ll Never Say”

could you guys make it any more obvious?

I’m convinced this record wouldn’t be half as loved if Avril had lived longer

Do you mean, like, if Avril's career had lived longer...?
Or is ilx now the nexus of some Berenstein Universe-type phenomenon where all of us are denizens of different timelines with different pop histories and celebrity deaths?

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2017/may/15/avril-lavigne-melissa-cloning-conspiracy-theories

"all time bangers"

ic otm, tbh

https://twitter.com/en_cohen/status/1074443467886014464

^Tweets are protected

sorry, he posted: "If there's any 2002 album named "Let Go" that Pitchfork needs to reconsider..." with a screenshot of the 3.8 they gave Nada Surf's Let Go

Not to 6.6 level. 6.6 is a mediocre album

― underqualified backing vocalist (morrisp), Sunday, December 16, 2018 6:28 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

not to be the decimal police here but a 6.6 is a basically decent album, mediocre is more like the 5 range

5 is bad! That’s 2.5 stars on the Rolling Stone scale. (Maybe I shouldn’t be “converting,” lol?)

I mean I know 5.0 is literally the middle of the scale; but I feel like anything rated less than 7.0 (or RS’s 3.5 stars) is not too worth checking out. (How many records do you own & enjoy that you would rate less than a 7.0?)

We call it "deep sixing" when a record gets a 6.0-6.9 because that's effectively the result. Below 6.0 is insulting enough to make stans protective and create backlash but a 6-range is perfectly milquetoast and is the most effective way to consign an album (or artist) to purgatory

Don't forget to carry the one.

grade inflation strikes again!

Saba – CARE FOR ME (8.7)
Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy (8.6)
Mount Eerie – Now Only (8.5)
Father John Misty – God's Favorite Customer (8.5)
Tim Hecker – Konoyo (8.5)
Jean Grae / Quelle Chris – Everything's Fine (8.4)
Joey Purp – Quarterthing (8.3)
Jeff Tweedy – Warm (8.3)

yeah interesting stuff. You'd expect Mount Eerie and Tim Hecker. Can't hardly believe they gave Father John Misty a BNM anyway.

The reversed thing, would be interesting too. Like Christine & The Queens "only" got a 7.9 and a review which clearly didn't really liked the record. Yet it made the top 50. Was it the lowest rated album that got into the list? lemme check some random others.. no, tried about 10. only found an 8.3 and a 8.1.

Bill Callahan Join Twitter.

oh sick, now I can ask what poem he read before a screening of Faces in 2010

Like Christine & The Queens "only" got a 7.9 and a review which clearly didn't really liked the record.

― Ludo, Wednesday, December 19, 2018 3:48 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Chris is a portrait of an instantly memorable character making utterly gleaming pop music. ... The resulting album is an electric blend of unforgettable imagery, emotional depth, and lurid, sizzling pop-funk.

yeah sounds like he totally hated it!

there's a good point above about how Pitchfork really does crank out good writing pretty regularly...

But today there's the music of Malcolm Gladwell's life! I really need to stop visiting this site daily. Maybe we can have a "Pitchfork is great" thread just to link the good stuff!

isn’t that just intra conde synergy

it's actually a p good list

who cares he sucks

i don’t have a strong opinion on him either way

God bless em, they still have RSS feeds. Getting back on that!

Have Pitchfork discontinued their "new tracks" page? No updates on it at all since December 1.

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/

A shame if they have, I found some great tunes via that page.

Sorry, December 4 not December 1. Anyway the point stands.

Watch Ezra Koenig, Haim Members Cover “Little Drummer Boy”

i think both of the lsat few posts can be summed up with "it's december"

They should get back to their genre-specific 2018 album lists — they petered out after Rock, Rap, and Metal.

what other genres are there

they experimental & electronic lists