pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

fuck that snobby new AWK review

Also, if any p4k copy editors read this thread

The self-help angle, honed by years of motivational speaking and advice-column side-hustle, is made explicit via three-minute spoken-word interludes—pep talks to help get you through your day, or maybe just the album itself.

That should be three minute-long interludes, not three-minute interludes.

like would it kill him to describe the actual music? most of this is hand wringing about the lack of subtext and nuance and whether he is authentic or not. like a re-heated review of "I Get Wet" from 17 years ago

"some mindless 1988-ass arena pablum"

one mention of Bruce Springsteen (?) no Roxy Music, Cheap Trick, ELO, Queen, Bowie, etc. put this into context you "writer"

like would it kill him to describe the actual music?

yeah this struck me as well, you'd think it was identical to his previous records, which it really isn't.

paging carles

Happy International Women's Day!

Listen to a Best New Track from a chameleonic 19-year-old rapper from Chicago https://t.co/DLiqJfHEu2

— Pitchfork (@pitchfork) March 8, 2018

lmao

I'm just gonna go ahead and assume that the conceit of the song isn't "girls are all equally wonderful!"

Pitchfork really on a streak today:
https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/meet-the-man-unapologetically-selling-the-cars-biggie-and-tupac-were-shot-in/

At least the Yo La Tengo interview was nice I guess

I tend to be kind of a pitchfork apologist but yeah that andrew wk review was not great and very weirdly cynical. dude needs to party more.

“You’re Not Alone,” the big finish, manages to wring poignancy out of the most obvious and obviously stated sentiment.

so cynical he can't help but use obvious twice in one sentence

You know a classic rock-indebted album is unique when ILM loves it and pitchfork thinks it's meh

Vince Staples’ GoFundMe for Early Retirement Was Briefly Removed

It’s back now!

perhaps most lol thing about these kind of banal non-stories is pitchfork believing they require a byline for some reason

sorry, that was rude of me. Exceptional work, Evan Minsker, really terrific

https://pitchfork.com/news/kodak-black-moved-to-solitary-confinement-report/

"The arrest stemmed from an incident in which Kodak’s young child was shown in the vicinity of marijuana and a handgun"

who is the audience? like fuck solitary forever, but pitchfork isn't exactly delving deep into the prison industrial complex, they're just VICE without the t&a

pfork deciding to double down on reporting the criminal exploits of rappers they barely talk about otherwise is wack as fuck

As a Spike Lee-esque saxophone wanders in and out of the mix, Strangers links the spirit of Eazy-E to Capital Steeze, his sadly departed Pro Era comrade.

Legendary saxophonist Spike Lee

maybe he got wesley snipes character in mo' better blues confused with spike lee's character in mo' better blues

Lol who could ever figure out what he means by that

kakistocrat OTM

xp point is there are sixty million jazz artists he could have referenced instead of a non jazz music-playing director known for occasionally using jazz in his soundtracks, and suggests that dude has a very myopic view of / knows fuck all about jazz. Like saying "guitar solos straight out of Almost Famous"

or "keyboards out of a John Hughes film"

Spike Lee: Occasional Jazz User

Light Jazz User Syndrome

Explore Elliott Smith’s Iconic Either/Or in 5 Minutes
Explore Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks in 4 Minutes
noticing a trend here.

― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, March 2, 2017 4:25 PM

I always cringe when I see these (and they do them all the time now). Just listen to the damn album! If you have 5 minutes, find 32 more!

well, it's not like it's a sped up version of the album — the idea with the videos is to give some background info / context / insight. i do agree that promoting these videos in this way is kind of weird.

I see (I've never watched one).

Aside from the studied banality, the autoplay on these makes me want to shit out my spleen with RAGE. It's stopped me going to the site, pretty much.

well, it's not like it's a sped up version of the album — the idea with the videos is to give some background info / context / insight. i do agree that promoting these videos in this way is kind of weird.

― tylerw, Tuesday, March 20, 2018 4:26 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm all for this, I devour all making of materials, but these are so cursory, none of them are anything more than the first paragraph of a Wikipedia article. they're completely useless even for casual fans. idk, it's the pivot to video I guess

so you've watched them all?

all the albums i care about yeah. checked out some others i wasn't that familiar with, and double checked wikipedia - i mean, you couldn't get more cursory. gimme twenty minutes at least!

it would be one thing if these were presented as introductions but the notion that you can "explore" a record in 5 mins is stupid

right

is there an industry-specific reason they haven't pivoted away from video yet

this could be a hint http://16896-presscdn-0-13.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/Innovation-Collection-Media-Kit_Pitchfork-r1.pdf

this is good. and has lots of good links at the end of it.

https://pitchfork.com/features/article/how-a-group-of-journalists-turned-hip-hop-into-a-literary-movement/

i apologize for posting a link to something that i think is good though...

No worries, I'll cancel it out --

A lotta words I don't personally care for in this headline: https://pitchfork.com/features/article/how-wes-anderson-perfected-the-music-nerd-soundtrack/

Wes Anderson: Occasional 60s music user

yeah those sure were a lot of words about almost nothing

he did choose some great songs though, no doubt

I guess it's down to those dusty crates...

the crate-digger soundtrack, a style of music supervision that heightens the movie-watching experience with the thrill of pawing through boxes of dusty LPs at a flea market

Smiths Fans Are “Neurotic,” Björk Fans Are “Open,” Study Shows

https://goo.gl/images/XeobSk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L104LViQeIw

https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/great-records-you-may-have-missed-winter-2018/

if they're gonna do this every quarter, i'm not mad. I hadn't heard the Hailu Mergia album yet and it's fucking incredible

https://i.imgur.com/WSDzU3M.png

absolutely meaningless word salad in this elephant man review from 03 made me laugh.

"staggering flaming synth ring"

sounds uncomfortable

those overlooked records list are always good, more stuff I like there than on the BNM list

that jpegmafia album rules