pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

sure thing, man

jick move

But on the real, Purple Mountains is noticeably absent.

all my snarkiness is gone

I don't even understand the point of this new-fangled poptimism that can't get behind shit like "Call Me Maybe" and "Uptown Funk" and "Old Town Road"

the idea that Stephen Malkmus is a stand-in for indie rock *in the 2010s* is hilarious

past his prime, was better in the 90s, sounds about right

P4k calling that Rich Kidz song one of the 200 best songs of the decade is funny since there's never been any available version where the first 45 seconds don't sound like this

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

"another classic for the books" - where's the lie?

xps: parquet courts, then! what the fuck ever! actual indie instead of nicki minaj!

“super bass” > indie rock

most indie rock songs forego the super bass for the regular bass, that's the problem

Props to the fork for dishing out a list that everyone on ILM can get worked up about, albeit not quite for the same reasons.

'P4k dishes out, ILM gets worked up' a perpetual invocation of one of the many things wrong with ILM, not P4K imo.

P4k was a formative read when I was in my late teens/early 20s and it plugged me into some cool shit that I may not have discovered otherwise.

lol at ILM complaining about not enough indie rock on a P4K list

all-encompassing end of decade lists made at the end of that decade are not that exciting in general. the 're-discovered classics' haven't been rediscovered yet, and it's mainly gonna be stuff that people went crazy for at the time, which will inevitably lead to more popular stuff getting the nod. i'd be a lot more curious to see what p4k's 00s list looks like with this staff of writers.

"indie rock" and "poptimism" are two of the same terrible thing.

"phrases in scare quotes"?

no, just that they represent attitude and image over actual music.

I don't even understand the point of this new-fangled poptimism that can't get behind shit like "Call Me Maybe" and "Uptown Funk" and "Old Town Road"

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, October 7, 2019 2:53 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

yup

no, just that they represent attitude and image over actual music.

There's no such thing as 'actual music', doncha know?

Sadly true ever since Grand Funk Railroad stopped putting out albums.

too often, the p4k blurbs focus on the narrative surrounding music, ignoring the bong-rattling bass and competent drumwork that makes music so special.

don't forget the wild shirtless lyrics of Charlie XCX

their selection of charli xcx songs is terrible middle brow popism. im gonna flip my shit if sucker isn't on the album list

Yeah, I’m not a Charli XCX aficionado, but I loved that song “Boom Clap” — is that truly not even one of her best / most listworthy?

yeah wow at "call me maybe" not being on there, wtf

also very confused at "riding for the feeling" being at 11, nothing against it but i would never have expected it that high

otherwise the list seems pretty much what i'd expect barring some weird omissions like no token k-pop track - would have at least expected "i am the best" or somethin

remember when pitchfork loved black metal that one year? lol

pfork: not a music publication.

this list is very........ basic

i smelled the pumpkin spice as i was clicking through it this morning.

or like, alt-basic. or something

Possibly not basic enough

remember when pitchfork loved black metal that one year? lol

― Paul Ponzi, Monday, October 7, 2019 2:13 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

pitchfork still reviews metal, metal tracks almost never end up in year-end tracks lists, which i think is fair bc it's a pretty album-oriented genre, you remain the most cliché-ass pfork hater on this board

Show No Mercy column NEVER FORGET

to balance that out, including "run away with me" but not "call me maybe" induced heavy eyerolls in this pfork contributor. a "perfect pop" song vs. a perfect pop song ("perfect pop" copyright tom ewing)

no call me maybe, no gangnam style, no old town road

its interesting bc whoever they let do sunday review still has the feel for poptimism done right. maybe it's just a problem of aggregating up the hivemind

Also, the once insta-classic, now deeply problematic pop jams "Fuck You," "Blurred Lines" and "Mo Bamba" are all absent

don't even understand the point of this new-fangled poptimism that can't get behind shit like "Call Me Maybe" and "Uptown Funk" and "Old Town Road"

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, October 7, 2019 2:53 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

yup

― flopson, Monday, October 7, 2019 4:34 PM (fifty-nine minutes ago)

poptimism as i remember it was initially about recognizing songs that were often not even really popular in the world of pop, not about making sure the most popular songs in the world were critically acclaimed

like Pavement's "Cut Your Hair"?

lol

I thought poptimism, among other things, meant the elimination of shame and defensiveness from writing about pop musics, which critics for decades have essayed, hence my contempt for the concept.

poptimism as i remember it was initially about recognizing songs that were often not even really popular in the world of pop, not about making sure the most popular songs in the world were critically acclaimed

no, just that they represent attitude and image over actual music.

it was about everyone having to dress and grow a beard like Tom's, according to Austin

In a sense criticizing Pfork for not paying attention to obvious pop classics during the moment of the site's most fervent embrace of artists it once treated like lepers means that the site still has some defensiveness to give up.

Well, yeah. Why expect a site to give up their particular defensiveness though? Why expect p4k to "get with the times"? They've not proven to do or having done so previously, so why would they now?

Shoo, rhetorical questions!

get with the '10s

The POV of an aging pop writer who once worked as editor for a site that covered the music Pfork didn't vs the new Pfork writer in her twenties who grew up in a stronger ecumenical spirit but has had to grow up professionally in the performative world of social media. I may be the one who's too forgiving.