pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

THIS is the version of Fast Car to worry about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJWxkYu8WgU

always glad to see that video surface again

eh there's some similarity to say lifted is a bit much

also fast car is like 10X better of a song

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, January 22, 2019 10:56 AM (forty-seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

omg that jim o'rourke thing is great

lol I love how he doesn't even play the riff himself, he just loops the intro to the song and sings over it before going bananas in MaxMSP or something for 20 minutes.

If Pitchfork goes behind a paywall I will scream a scream that cracks heaven and pass through all the known realms to fight God himself https://t.co/80uMMelnim

— Jeremy Gordon (@jeremypgordon) January 23, 2019

Oh boy

lmao no one will read it

So as someone who still relies on Pitchfork as my primary daily source of reviews and recommendations, what alternative would folks suggest if this comes to pass?

Why not pay for something that is your "primary daily source of reviews and recommendations"?

I dunno, paywalls are psychologically hard to accept. The internet's all about paths of least resistance.

The link about putting content behind paywalls is behind a paywall for me.

maybe it won’t apply to pfrok since it’s not in print?

lmao no one will read it

― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Wednesday, January 23, 2019 10:19 AM (twenty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah otm lol. won’t take em long to figure this out

what kinda geniuses they got working up in there anyway

This article says each product will feature a different type of paywall: https://fashionista.com/2019/01/conde-nast-paywall-vogue-gq
I have a hard time believing the review section of Pitchfork can work with a paywall, but hey, perhaps now we know why seemingly all of editorial has resigned recently?

They resigned becuz they had buyout deals, this is not a mystery

xps the criticism of "The Dreaming" in that review seemed otm to me though i'd never thought about it before or realised that's what was with the bizarre voice she used on that song and i'm australian. i can appreciate Bush's intentions in criticising destruction of indigenous lands etc. but the execution seems naive and clumsy at best and isn't really defensible.

i don't really hear "aural Orientalism" in "Pull Out the Pin"'s sound effects though, the crickets combined with the helicopter sounds just seem to emphasise the vietnam war setting?

lol at the paywall - i can't really see it being successful for them when there's so many other sites offering functionally identical content

Like, the terms of conde nast’s buyout probably included a provision requiring senior staff to stay on board for a certain amount of time before they would get all their money. Thats how these things usually work ime

Xps

i can appreciate Bush's intentions in criticising destruction of indigenous lands etc. but the execution seems naive and clumsy at best and isn't really defensible.

I agree with this, however I can't get with this line from the review: she unfairly extracts cultural (and economic) value from Aboriginal suffering just as the characters in the song mine their land. Exactly the same thing!

yeah it's not like they get nothing—they get to be in a song

tbf Bush songs have rendered thousands of acres of land unusable

seemingly all of editorial has resigned recently

if this is true then i'm unaware of it? what tea leaves are you reading fred

I was just referring to Richardson and Schreiber, who I assume got money from the buyout

yeah that's p common

lol mark leaving feels like it was 100 years ago

Yeah, it's just speculation based on two people. Shakey is persuasive.

i've read/checked the site every day for over a decade and will have no problem stopping once it goes behind a paywall. i haven't really minded the degradation/homogenization of the site, it's been a long time since I discovered a band I loved via p4k, doesn't feel like a loss.

I wouldn't mind paying for Pitchfork if it hadn't descended into the kind of celebrity-worshiping, surface-level broad pop culture/lifestyle website that there are a million of now anyway. All it has to distinguish it from others is its legacy/history.

Someone will write a good book about this whole thing one day, I'm sure.

Honest question: are there any music-journalism-focused print subscriptions that are worth spending money on in 2019?

the wire

All it has to distinguish it from others is its legacy/history.

what about the large amount of longform high quality music writing published daily?

im actually bullish on a post-white dudes in their mid forties pitchfork, puja patel rules imo

it's been a long time since I discovered a band I loved via p4k

the site stopped “breaking” bands (or at least, lost first mover advantage to blogs then social media) in like 2007 tho

Why not pay for something that is your "primary daily source of reviews and recommendations"?

― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre)

why not pay for music?

the value of a BNM has been steadily decreasing since 2-3 years ago. it will definitely plummet if 90% of their former readers can't see it.

Will “October” also be behind the paywall? 🍺 💵

I wouldn't mind paying for Pitchfork if it hadn't descended into the kind of celebrity-worshiping, surface-level broad pop culture/lifestyle website that there are a million of now anyway. All it has to distinguish it from others is its legacy/history.

― triggercut, Wednesday, January 23, 2019 12:05 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

y'all deserve each other

what about the large amount of longform high quality music writing published daily?

what, you mean like this? (published today)

"Duendita’s soul music speaks to the heart and spirit. Ordained by her connection to the ups and downs of the human experience, she is a gateway to the divine."

I'll probably still check out the record, but jesus wept.

That's some straight up

Pitchfork: King PU$$Y Eater revolutionizes our perception of bodies and spaces with his hit single "Goop on Ya Grinch" [7.6]

— mustard tiger (@JucheMane) April 14, 2017

lol

I *think* they might still be a bit upset that I called them out for their toxic masculinity. 😘 https://t.co/jlnvVF7z0h

— James Blake (@jamesblake) January 23, 2019

The Fork is into toxic masculinity these days?

they gave it 7.4

James Blake is really dire though so I guess toxic masculinity has its benefits

lol

I *think* they might still be a bit upset that I called them out for their toxic masculinity. 😘 https://t.co/jlnvVF7z0h
— James Blake (@jamesblake) January 23, 2019
― resident hack (Simon H.), Thursday, January 24, 2019 9:51 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what is this referring to?

Yeah, the 7.4 alone doesn't explain it.

5.8 rather.

this review of one of his singles:

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/james-blake-dont-miss-it/

followed by this:

Please read. I've wanted to say this for a long time, and now seemed as good a time as any. pic.twitter.com/1fSPt7SJnx

— James Blake (@jamesblake) May 26, 2018

I don't know if I ever posted about this on the board or whatever, but when James Blake emerged I was kind of struck by how much we looked alike, and I was resentful that he was younger and more successful than me (based off the back of two singles that were both covers), and, later, resentful of his obvious talent and the fact that he is a good four inches taller than me, and, later, resentful of the fact that my current boyfriend clearly has a crush on him

Anyway back in 2011, around when he first emerged, we were both scheduled to play the Donau Festival in Austria. I was watching Ben Frost play his set and I noticed that James Blake was standing right next to me. I sized him up and was like "wow he really does look like a dreamier, taller version of me" but I was too shy to just go up and be like "HI!" so I just stood there and kept watching the Ben Frost set.

I don't remember if it was the same day or the next day, but James and I had both played our sets at that point, and I was crossing the festival grounds. These two young people came up to me and were like "omg! your set was so amazing" thank you thank you "you're my musical hero!" thank you thank you "could you sign records for us?!" of course of course, and then they hand me two James Blake records for me to sign. These kids thought I was James Blake.

So I signed them. I don't remember anymore what I signed on one of them, but I do remember what I signed on the other: "Hello -- keep on not knowing about your dreams! <3 JB"

that's so awesome