Pitchfork Reviews Reviews

it was ruined before I created it

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj242/donaldparsley/ronaldinhopeep.jpg

see, even anonymous aerosmith albums in an empty room is working for him now

this is a genius ref btw Edward III and I don't want you to think I missed it

I think it's disingenuous to argue "he's not a music critic". What is his writing about Lil' Wayne, or the meaning of Vampire Weekend's class allusions, if not straight-up music crit (leaving aside whether it's good or bad music crit, which for me seems to swing wildly on a sentence by sentence basis).

Contenderiser, you were complaining about not having been directed towards all the good music crit that you should have been reading.

Have you read Tom Ewing's Popular series? When it comes to writing about both:

a) a personal relationship with given pieces of music; and

b) how music functions differently for different people "out there"...

...Tom demolishes PRR. But that's not a fair comparison because Tom demolishes nearly everyone on these grounds.

When it comes to music critics who have emerged over the last ten years or so with a "distinctive voice", I really can't think of a better candidate.

To build on this (and to give it a point beyond gratuitously repping for Tom), I would say that what Tom does which PRR doesn't (apart from being an immensely superior stylist and self-editor) is to ask interesting

questions

I agree with the basic argument that PRR can sometimes come up with some interesting insights, or at least correct ones - his Vampire Weekend analysis is sound, for example - but he strikes me as struggling to say something interesting from within the defined, delimited and over-determined aesthetic viewpoint of the stereotypical pitchfork reader. As good as his answers occasionally are, his questions seem kinda generic and undeconstructed.

Which is not a massive slight because I think that's true of most music critics tbh.

Obv that "questions" wasn't meant to be quoted like that.

i thought it was a nice stylistic choice

i know, parts of this thread are really

interesting

I don't know Tim - there are a shit-ton of people on the internet who write on blogs and offer their opinions on music, but I'm leery of calling them "music critics." (And for the record, I'm leery of calling MYSELF a music critic, since I've always been just a schmoe with a blog up until getting my 33 1/3 deal.) I don't mean to be a snob about it or foist some special meaning on the phrase, but there is a lot that goes into being a real music critic which I have too much respect for to just label anyone with an opinion and a tumblr a "critic." Maybe I'm just splitting hairs but I don't think I'm being disingenuous.

I feel the same ambiguity, as the market has dried up and I've had to rely increasingly on blog-only stuff. In 2010 I don't what makes anyone with intelligent opinions about music a critic. What IS a critic in 2010? On the other hand, maybe we deluded ourselves ten years ago -- writing to and for the same community of a few hundred people. I don't like to think so: I was inspired by the same community ten years ago.

hey scott i just found out what your 33.3 book is and i'm super super psyched!

it's just overproduction. and i don't even mean that in a "it was better when there used to be standards and cultural gatekeepers" kinda way either. (i certainly wouldn't be getting paid to write about music without blogs.) i don't think the majority of people doing it ten or even twenty years ago were really practicing "criticism" in the kael/christgau/whoever you'd like to add sense, either. (i certainly don't think *i'm* doing it, as much because of a lack of ability as a lack of venues.) i think they were just "writing about music." (see tim's "his questions seem kinda generic and undeconstructed.") there's nothing *wrong* with that, but i think, especially now since so many more people are doing it, you've got to be a pretty good (or at least distinctive) stylist to cut through it, which is one reason (again, distinctive rather than good) that people are talking about the prr kid.

plus also it's just easier than ever to get sucked into your own little corner of the internet and those 10 or 20 or (god love you) 30 people you can keep up with are your critical voices, even if they're not particularly critical or haven't developed much in the way of a voice, and harder than ever to attract an audience outside of that circle. and i think there generally *are* usually some real-deal critics in those individual circles, the only reason we're even discussing prr kid at all is that he's leeched himself onto an established brand and begun to branch out into other publications--he's found a way to game the system, through accident or design, at a time when it's very hard to do so.

Have you read Tom Ewing's Popular series?

...When it comes to music critics who have emerged over the last ten years or so with a "distinctive voice", I really can't think of a better candidate.

― Tim F, Wednesday, September 29, 2010 4:30 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

have to confess that i haven't read much tom ewing, tim. now have his freaky trigger "popular" stuff loaded up on another page, preparing to dig in. and thanks for taking that request (more that than a complaint, i hope?) seriously. thanks too to lex for the same. we rarely see eye to eye, but i've always enjoyed reading your analysis.

it's funny, when i was a kid, i read tons of crit and "reviews". was particularly fond of greil marcus, byron coley, pauline kael, and older lester bangs stuff, but took in almost anything i could get my hands on. music, movie & art magazines, newspapers, fanzines, whatever. as i've gotten older, however, i've almost completely stopped reading real criticism. i keep up with a few clearinghouses for brief reviews of stuff i know might be up my alley (termbo, mosurak @ dusted), occasionally drop in on pitchfork just to see what's going in the world outside, comb through encyclopedia metallum user reviews, but that's about it. partly it's ILX, which seems to serve all my needs in that regard, and partly it's that i'm old and jaded and rarely read anything that really breaks down doors for me.

would like to feel a little less boxed in and lazy, though, so any/all suggestions for outside reading appreciated.

didn't Robin Carmody used to dissect old top 20 lists?

prr dude is compelling in the same way that woody allen is compelling. pretty sure he realizes what he sounds like. don't see why solipsism is an issue. lots of people make careers off that. if anything, his navel gazing is his strength.

i just have no idea what separates and elevates him from like a million other bloggers, except i guess that he has successfully "done meta"

wait, so like a bunch of people are actually paying attention to this guy?

...

http://eclecticboogaloo.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/whatever.jpg

lol @ que

he's definitely gained some degree of notice in an obscenely cloistered, tiny section of the American indie music crit world

http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/128298508615001250urtheoryhasme.jpg

:-D

y'all know I love ILX until the end of time, but as far as cloisters go, this board is one that's unusually good at being unimpressed with stuff, so the "wait, people actually read this?" reaction is mildly humorous

I am 100% down with that opinionated skepticism, it is awesome, but occasionally it approaches a point of seeming really baffled by things that are not all that incredibly baffling

baffled vs horrified incredulity

this board is one that's unusually good at being unimpressed with stuff, so the "wait, people actually read this?" reaction is mildly humorous

yeah, i posted that for that reason

the only reason we're even discussing prr kid at all is that he's leeched himself onto an established brand and begun to branch out into other publications--he's found a way to game the system, through accident or design, at a time when it's very hard to do so.

OTM + high five + 3 gold stars. What he's done is very clever, in the same way that, say Danger Mouse was able to leverage his album mashup into a regular production gig. This is How Things Work now.

I really glad this thread exists, if only for tim f's vulcanization of rubber style invention of a new posting technique

yeah that danger mouse thing is p otm

the only reason we're even discussing prr kid at all is that he's leeched himself onto an established brand and begun to branch out into other publications--he's found a way to game the system, through accident or design, at a time when it's very hard to do so.

OTM + high five + 3 gold stars. What he's done is very clever, in the same way that, say Danger Mouse was able to leverage his album mashup into a regular production gig. This is How Things Work now.

― Veðrafjǫrðr heimamaður (ecuador_with_a_c), Thursday, September 30, 2010 1:26 PM (1 minute ago)

New York Times Reviews Reviews

baffled vs horrified incredulity

this

ditto, only remove "incredulity"; I don't find it surprising that ppl would be into this guy, just super irritating because that means it's like 3 years away from infecting every media source I frequent

RIP my frequented media sources ;_;

i just can't read stuff like that, i find it irritating and completely tedious. can't really get into HRO for the same reason.

I am 100% down with that opinionated skepticism, it is awesome, but occasionally it approaches a point of seeming really baffled by things that are not all that incredibly baffling

his shitty writing style and the fact that people read and enjoy it is baffling. like i said yesterday, i think sometimes with the internet you can throw up any piece of shit writing to the wall and if it's got enough name dropping, people will jizz all over it.

i think PRR and HRO are hateable for opposite reasons

Daft Punk writes new song except it sux & is nothing 2 get excited abt (28 comments)

i would agree w/that too xpost

http://www.pitchforkreviewsreviews.com/post/1215918248/haiku-cycle-about-the-new-york-yankees-pitchfork

i think PRR and HRO are hateable for opposite reasons

this. except i like PRR and fucking loathe HRO with a passion

man, that "haiku cycle" makes me wanna take back every nice thing i've ever said

about anyone or anything anywhere ever

this. except i like PRR and fucking loathe HRO with a passion

― having taken an actual journalism class (contenderizer), Thursday, September 30, 2010 6:55 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

you basically have the opposite of taste

rimshot

PRR's writing reads like my 9 year old talking

At least HRO keeps his posts short.

although on evidence of those fucking haikus, maybe history mayne has a point

are yall on #teamprrbro or #teamcarles?

i dunno, i read that haiku and it's like a whole new world, like seeing what matsuo bashō was doing when he was 20.

LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR U

suckered by chauncey gardiner

PRR's writing reads like my 9 year old talking

if you traded animal collective and lil wayne for bionicles and mighty beanz the affinity is strong

just for the record i think HRO is as equally reprehensible as PRR