pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

I mostly check it out of habit, part of my morning routine, but this is probably where I stop. The redesign is a headache.

yeah, putting a huge ad in-between the news and the reviews is a killer

on mobile

You can always just bookmark the Reviews page: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/

Here is a handy link to the 8.0+ rated reviews, too: https://pitchfork.com/best/high-scoring-albums/?page=1

yeah but what if I miss some Stranger Things news?

You shall be relegated to knowing about more normal things

Lol

The songs that Sorey has selected for Mesmerism range in style and time period. “For a long time, I felt an intense desire to record some of my favorite songs from the Great American Songbook as well as those by composers whose work I feel should also exist in this canon,” he has stated, and the selections range from standards like “Autumn Leaves” to modern compositions like Muhal Richard Abrams’ “Two Over One” and Paul Motian’s “From Time to Time.” Like Sorey, Abrams was a renowned composer who also taught composition, while Paul Motian was the drummer of the Bill Evans Trio. Sorey makes it clear they belong alongside older classics.

Come the fuck on. Do five minutes' worth of research. Especially given that that piece wasn't written during the Evans era; it was first recorded by Motian's trio with Joe Lovano and Bill Frisell in 1991. (Also, side issue, but...using the verb "range" twice in one paragraph, the first time so clumsily? Ugh.)

ahh yes, pfork finally wising up to the fact that time doesn't exist. well played, indeed.

"We reached out to Franz Mesmer for comment but have not heard back."

To balance this somewhat, I will say I thought the Alice In Chains piece was terrific

As long as we're griping about accuracy, it is interesting to read a news item about Cat Power recreating the iconic (and famously not performed/recorded at Royal Albert Hall) "Royal Albert Hall" concert at Royal Albert Hall

She's bringing it all back home.

Haven’t heard that Jack Johnson album but that is a good review.

I know it was a joke upthread but “sangfroid” actually translates as cold-blooded.

lmfao that joke made me lose it

The Cousin of Vampire Weekend’s Chris Baio Is Now on the New York Yankees

https://i.imgur.com/kYtZecH_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

weird headline yes but i had no idea that harrison bader and chris baio were cousins and that’s kinda interesting!

weird headline yes but i had no idea that harrison bader and chris baio were cousins and that’s kinda interesting!

Baio first saw Bader play in the majors in September 2018, at a home game for St. Louis against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Bader has posted 1.5 fWAR playing center field in 72 games for the Cardinals this year, good enough for a 93 WRC+. He won his first Gold Glove—awarded to the best fielder at each position—in 2021. The player for whom he was traded, Jordan Montgomery, accumulated 1.4 fWAR in 114 innings across 21 starts this season for the Yankees, posting a 3.69 ERA.

dear pitchfork baseball news team,

i am writing to highlight an error in your recent piece celebrating the return of outfielder Harrison Bader to the New York Yankees, who is excited to move back to NYC because he grew up in the Bronx and is the cousin of Vampire Weekend's Chris Baio, who is a musician and not a baseball player, but who is family nonetheless and also grew up in the Bronx.

you write "Bader has posted 1.5 fWAR playing center field in 72 games for the Cardinals this year, good enough for a 93 WRC+ [sic]". The stats are correct, but the words "good enough for a 93 WRC+ [sic]" are misleading and go beyond a mere typo, stetching into the range of a misunderstanding of the meaning and utility of both the wRC+ and fWAR metrics. In short, the sentence implies that Bader's 1.5 fWAR (a measure of overall player value) contributed positively toward his wRC+ (weighted Runs Created, which measures hitting production) of 93. In fact, Bader's 93 wRC+ is below average (which is set to an index of 100), and wRC+ is just one of several different components that make up fWAR.

An easy correction would be to say that "Bader has posted 1.5 fWAR playing center field in 72 games for the Cardinals this year, despite hitting 93 WRC+"

I look forward to watching and listening and reading to more baseball and music and baseball/music baseball and music news

what's going on with Scott Baio and Ruth Bader Ginsburg?

Baio posted a note from MLB about the trade to his Instagram story, captioned with a series of italicized exclamation marks.

Italicized, even!

He won his first Gold Glove—awarded to the best fielder at each position—in 2021

i'm interested in the pitchfork baseball news team's decision to explain what a gold glove is but not what fwar, wrc+ and era are, and what that says about the pitchfork baseball news team's understanding of the pitchfork baseball news readership and the pitchfork sports news readership in general.

they care when harrison bader is traded to the yankees, but not when he spends five years playing for the cardinals

Yeah, where were the “Vampire Weekend plays St Louis, home of baseball player Harrison Bader, Cousin of Scott Baio” stories! I would have liked to have known about that as they were happening, to appreciate them both for not only existing and being related and being talented in different ways, but also for being in the same place

guys pitchfork has been on the baseball beat for some time now:

https://pitchfork.com/news/watch-japanese-breakfasts-michelle-zauner-throw-the-first-pitch-at-a-mets-game/

https://pitchfork.com/news/48292-watch-lil-wayne-sing-take-me-out-to-the-ballgame-at-the-nlcs-baseball-playoff-game-last-night/

https://pitchfork.com/news/jack-white-is-now-in-the-baseball-hall-of-fame/

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/727-pitchfork-at-the-plate/

https://pitchfork.com/news/38475-video-death-cab-for-cutie-perform-at-seattle-mariners-opening-day-game/

https://pitchfork.com/news/julian-casablancas-throws-first-pitch-at-new-york-mets-game-watch/

https://pitchfork.com/news/69327-chance-the-rapper-diehard-white-sox-fan-endorses-cubs-no-problem-mashup/

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1155-modern-baseball-and-how-emo-grew-up/

Alfred Soto – I think there may be an editing issue in the 2nd graf of your Amanda Shires review: the 2nd sentence is apparently talking about a male guitar player ("His rhythm licks and twangy embellishments..."), but it's not clear who it refers to(?)

[Jason] Isbell is mentioned immediately before that sentence

No he's not(?)

oh I see it – "an Isbell solo". Sorry

thanks, though!

lots of interesting looking stuff here: https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/great-records-you-may-have-missed-spring-summer-2022/

I like that Horsegirl album but how is it under the radar? Don't know how anyone could have missed it, but maybe that's just about where I spend my time online?

it's one i've heard of unlike most of the list but the only criteria is 'we didn't give them BNM' & i don't think they're super prominent in indie rock or anything

Credit is due: I hadn't heard of almost all of those. I cynically wonder whether that's for solid reasons though. The Quietus has burnt me before like this lol

The quality of the music that the Quietus promotes has dropped precipitously over the past few years.

Like oh great, another gabber metal record and a Sleaford Mods side project plus an effusive review of some unlistenable experimental dance music

Horsegirl definitely a band that I avoided because of their name.

Fwiw the Binker Golding is in my top 5 of the year, incredible record.

The quality of the music that the Quietus promotes has dropped precipitously over the past few years.

― broccoli rabe thomas (the table is the table), Thursday, 18 August 2022 10:53 (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

fully agree

any music site who reps for Fat White Family needs burning down and then salting the earth over their domain. That's an even worse crime than p4k clickbait like: here is what some gormless twink from some netflix shite is currently listening to.

the quietus just has a strange taste very much of its own and always has

It's made a pronounced lurch towards really boring, nothingy music imo

I do wonder how much of that is the result of the UK avant-music scene falling embarrassingly, catastrophically behind the US one though

mighta messaged on other boards but i really recommend the brainwaltzera album, looks like a nice list will deffo check the others

of the ones on there, i’ve heard the naima bock (excellent) and the defcee/boathouse album (pretty good)

oh! and the they hate change album, which is one of my ten or so favorite albums of the year

I checked out Horsegirl and it was decidedly not my thing, so the only one on here I've really heard is the Lynn Avery & Cole Pulice, which is lovely. I keep meaning to start a Moon Glyph label thread, lots of gems there

yeah moon glyph has been doing great stuff, i was glad to see that lynn avery album get a nod

I've played stuff off the Katarina Gryvul and Silvia Tarozzi records on my radio show, so I wholeheartedly recommend those. Interested in the Afrorack record.