pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

Does that mean their editorial approaches were overlapping too much, and now P4K will focus on different stuff than whatever it is GQ covers(?)

No, it means "We didn't anticipate the backlash — time to start backpedaling! Leak to the press! Leak to the press!" No one laid off will be getting re-hired, of course.

Makes it sound like GQ and P4K were both covering music, so why not fire all the P4K editors because the GQ ones are much better at it.

Nah, this seemed like the plan all along. Not sure why they would end Pitchfork as a brand. They just want to keep it running on the cheap.

Anna Wintour was probably meeting with an accountant who line-itemed all sorts of dubious expenditures, like her sunglasses budget or hair person or wardrobe or dinners with dictators or whatever, and she kept saying "no, no, not that, no, I need that, no" until she came across "Pitchfork" and asked "what's that?" And the accountant shrugged, so she said "cut that, then." And everyone in the office kind of looked around nervously and shrugged. And then they went home and their 30-year old kids told them how dumb a decision it was.

It's analagous to when New Times Media bought The Village Voice and fired everyone - the editorial staff, the film and music critics (Taubin, Hoberman, Christgau, etc. etc. etc. there were so many great ones) and opinion writers like Nat Hentoff, all of them giants - and then just destroyed it as a brand. I'm wondering, did they make any money doing that?

Does that mean their editorial approaches were overlapping too much, and now P4K will focus on different stuff than whatever it is GQ covers(?)

i think the opposite - aligning p4k's editorial approach with gq's (which will surely be for the worse) and if there's anything in terms of reducing overlap i'd expect p4k to do less profiles because that's about the only music coverage gq does

Larry Fitzmaurice:

"If you were a left-of-center indie act looking for a P4k look before, good luck trying to get into whatever GQ has in store features-wise (my prediction: BNM as something that applies to things beyond reviews, e.g. a social sell like "Playboi Carti's new album is named Best New Music—read our exclusive interview and check out this fashion spread with the rapper now")."

We are talking about a site that had a beer section not that long ago

ufo is right, GQ Music seems to be entirely features: https://www.gq.com/about/music

so... yeah, maybe just fewer of those(?)

I remember Alfred's Listen Without Prejudice review made my week.

― you can see me from westbury white horse, Friday, January 19, 2024 11:04 AM (yesterday)

otm

"Playboi Carti's new album is named Best New Music—read our exclusive interview and check out this fashion spread with the rapper now"

lol as if that's not what it's basically been the whole time. the only real "innovation" here is rolling it all into one platform.

(golly, my cynical cynicap still fits like a charm!)

erstwhile ilxor max posted some excerpts from articles that mention the GQ editorial director, Will Welch, on bluesky. dude sounds ridiculous. around the time he was being profiled a bunch he kept mentioning his love of the Grateful Dead.. and Outkast!

wearing your purported musical taste like you might a flashy belt

Admittedly I don't read GQ very much but the idea of Pitchfork getting in its lane is pretty funny. I get that they both interview musicians, but that's hardly what I'd call GQ's lane. All bullshit, obviously. They needed to cut costs and in reality Pitchfork just wasn't worth very much to them.

I’d pick up GQ when I was taking a flight or if I was wandering around Walgreens waiting for a prescription to be filled or whatever. I’ve only flown once since… 2019ish and it wasn’t worth picking up after a quick flip-through, I guess.

gentleman's quarterly

gentleman's quarry

gentleman's chlorine

gentleman's quarrelling

gentleman's quackery

gentleman's daiquiri

daiquiri quackery

quack quack: animal collective is back!

read about their best new music in this, yes definitely, written by humans article. in the latest.

issue of pitch fork media dot com.

Gentlemen’s Shit Cat Quarterly

gay quotient (not quite gay enough)

It’s pronounced gee-cue, not jih-kwuh

gee-cue gee-cue baby baby baby

Was moved to archive my old pieces from the Pitchfork site today. I was a terrible contributor in many if not most ways, and doubt I ever filed a review on time, but thanks are due to erstwhile ilxor Scott P whose name I haven't seen mentioned in many of the obits, for his infinite patience and great charm, dedication and skill as a writer and editor. Feel like he was a real hero of the Pitchfork story.

lol as if that's not what it's basically been the whole time. the only real "innovation" here is rolling it all into one platform.

(golly, my cynical cynicap still fits like a charm!)

― she fell asleep with her hand around my throat (Austin)

sure bro

The Thom Yorke underwear shoot did nothing to help with that infamous Kid A review iirc.

be careful with comments like that. might summon some forces you don’t want to appear

i.e. Thom Yorke in underwear.

Yeah, Scott P. was a big part of that second era of Pitchfork, between the early anarchic days and the CN sale.

Parker Molloy mentioned him when she wrote about being a P4K intern in 2008, but that parenthetical is kind of brutal!

It was a neat experience that really did teach me a lot about media. I got to work in the same office as some legitimate p4k legends: Scott Plagenhoef was editor-in-chief at the time, Mark Richardson (a truly delightful human being, a contrast to Plagenhoef) sat just a few feet away from me, Amy Phillips was there, Chris Kaskie… I’m just realizing now that none of these names mean anything to 99.9% of my readers. Anyway, these were all big names at Pitchfork, and Phillips was there up until this week.

I’m just realizing now that none of these names mean anything to 99.9% of my readers.

This is why CN figures they can gut the staff and keep the brand going. Pitchfork doesn't have a bunch of recognizable names like Christgau, Hentoff, etc.

Well, Hentoff got laid off in '09.

I'm not sure that any music critics are household names, tbh

household-thony name-tano

ufo is right, GQ Music seems to be entirely features: https://www.gq.com/about/music

so... yeah, maybe just fewer of those(?)

― cellaring potential (morrisp), Monday, January 22, 2024 8:02 PM (yesterday)

the signal from conde is that conde/GQ has little to no interest in music news & criticism, hence sparing some staffers in those departments, but does have interest in musicians as cover stories and profile subjects. i think the idea that larry presented -- a fully synergistic best new music branded multi platform cover story rollout -- is exactly where this is headed. i'll point out that such a practice is pretty standard, and i'm pitchfork has certainly lined up features where everyone involved knew a good review was likely to come as well, though i think pitchfork has always been good about covering an artist w/ a feature, or booking them at the festival, and still being honest about the album. these sorta quid pro quo-ish arrangements are the foundation upon which fashion magazines exist though, so i don't think you'll ever see GQ put travis scott on a cover & then pan his album, and pretty much as a rule journalism execs find the idea of negatively covering a celebrity who can drive traffic to be absolute anathema. will welch's background is in music journalism also, so i'm sure he's being looked at as a proper steward for pitchfork, and prob expressed interest in aligning the brands, though of course i expect the music writing in GQ moving forward to be generally useless

biggest change so far is the greatly increased Adam Franklin coverage

well it's not all bad I guess

xps I'm pretty sure Siskel and Ebert are the only critics that were ever unfireable partly because (unlike, say, Pauline Kael) they were strongly tested in that regard. Siskel above all was even fired for like five minutes as punishment over some disagreement regarding his TV show with Ebert only to be rehired when the Chicago Tribune realized they were being completely stupid.

Just looked up Will Welch lol

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/09/14/fashion/00WILL-WELCH5/merlin_211101828_a5e1fe32-f786-4376-bd49-91af987e0188-mobileMasterAt3x.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=600

well we share a taste in sofas

That scrunched cushion is killing me

Everything about that guy is killing me. How to tell I would absolutely hate someone with just one simple photo.

looks like nathan fielder going undercover in the pitchfork office for a nfy episode

Current headlines on pitchfork.com:

- Grammys 2024 Ballot: Vote Here
- Oscars 2024 Best Picture Nominations: See the Full List
- André 3000 Announces New Blue Sun Live Tour
- Oscars 2024: Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?,” “I’m Just Ken,” and More Nominated for Best Original Song
- CSS Announce First North American Tour in 11 Years
- The Killers Announce Las Vegas Residency, Playing Hot Fuss in Full
- Frank Farian, Boney M. and Milli Vanilli Founder, Dies at 82
- Oscars 2024: Oppenheimer, Poor Things, and More Nominated for Best Original Score
- Sunny Day Real Estate Announce Diary Anniversary Tour

It’ll be missed. 😭

xxpost I thought that was John Mulaney playing a hipster doofus on Documentary Now

Thankfully saved by Simon Reynolds’ review of Head Over Heels. Gripping stuff.

xxpost Well clearly things are different now. Where’s the story about a band playing a cover song live?

the Will Welch material is interesting, never encountered this particular guy but some guys maybe in that vein. I guess he started out at The Fader in the early 00s and is around my age? it’s as explanatory as anything

Xaviersobased getting BNM today. Is he a pitchfork artist or a gq artist?

he's a soundcloud weirdo who i wouldn't at all have expected to get bnm yet. a positive omen and i will look forward to the gq profile

an artist with a name like that getting BNM'd is a truly dank sign of things to come

you might like him honestly

like to be clear this is an unexpectedly good move and he's very much hypergarbage thread material

okok fine I'll give him a whirl

Haven't heard the album, don't know the artist, but it's a very very good review by Alphonse Pierre. Very informative, analytical, and just very well-written. Hope stuff like this doesn't go away.