pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

clueless white know-nothings running amok

does this fail to describe any age of music writing

they've never had to face criticism-of-their-work before

at first i was like “how is this even possible anymore” but then i suppose the public event of putting out a book is more comparable to putting out an album than writing a piece that got withering twitter comments

xp @ Alfred lol I hate that essay. Wilde plays all the same rhetorical games that J*rdan P*terson does. Drop an unresearched stinkbomb, proclaim the idea to be dangerous "ah but are not all ideas dangerous?" then grow weary of the discourse and propose instead that we look at the roses and the amaranth as the sun rises

@ Brad ya it's a very specific experience! It is uniquely dehumanizing

@ Whiney there is a distinct connection between "the creative act" and "a mental health phenomenon"-- one that I've only learned about casually in therapy and online reading-- but has been described to me as the link between "creative states" and "manic states" in people with bipolar disorder. In a sentence: it is hard for creative people to hold on to any fact and believe it to be actually true; they will flip-flop, second-guess themselves, redefine their relationship-to-their-self. But yeah, that article was not about that

it is hard for creative people to hold on to any fact and believe it to be actually true; they will flip-flop, second-guess themselves, redefine their relationship-to-their-self

kinda ot, but it was nice to see this written out, not to make this about my own horseshit but i’ve been kinda locked inside this dynamic lately, so thank you fgti

My therapist (background in neurology) told me that there is a part of the brain whose job it is to decide what is "true" and what is "false"-- creative people, people with bipolar symptoms, and people with full-blown bipolar disorder? this part of the brain underperforms. It can create unstable relationships to one's selfhood, cause rumination (constantly replaying events to try and re-establish the accuracy of conclusions one has already arrived at), and-- most importantly-- drive a person toward being creative, conceiving of things that are not but could be? or something. It's all the same brain thing

it is hard enough for creative people, they are their own biggest critic. i think on some level the push to create comes from a constant desire to do better, to surpass all of the flaws they are painfully aware of. that this dovetails with self esteem or mental health issues makes perfect sense. but yeah that is all internal dialog during/after the creative process.

as for external/critics/reviews/etc. i would be shocked if most artist pay close attention to it at all. and if they are sensitive enough to be damaged by external reviews then no doubt they have already been through those arguments/criticisms with themselves and by the time it hits print it's just salt in the wound.

imo it has absolutely nothing to do with seeing things as "true" or "false"

Kinda xpost with Brad, but all of this "pity the poor creative person with their mental problems" BS overlooks the fact that writing is a creative act. Most music critics are every bit as self-loathing as any fucko with a guitar. As someone else said on Twitter, the writer wants critics to see artists as human beings but the feeling doesn't seem to run the other way.

xp It's not "seeing things as true or false", Adam, but the part of the brain that fixes truth and falseness within one's brain. "My partner loves me," "my work is useful," "life is worth living," "discourse on ILX is a good use of my time," these ideas are constantly being tested and re-evaluated within my weird brain, instead of decided upon and set aside to simply exist as constant truths (or lies). It's an inability to make draw conclusions and stick to them, basically

@ unperson "writing is a creative act" yes it definitely is but there is a vast gulf between ["spending two years recording an album/writing a book" + "reading a review that wilfully misses the point of my work" + "wondering if I'm going to need to get a part-time job as a result"] and ["writing a review" + "reading the comments" + "wondering why other people are getting all the otms and not yourself"]

"White men and women are often deeply unqualified to cover certain forms of music. White people had a good run covering genres like rock and indie, which were dominated by musicians that looked like them."

"Jenna Wortham’s piece on Janelle Monae managed to ask probing questions of its subject, and frame critical moments sensitively, because it was a queer black woman writing about a queer black woman. I would love to see all criticism come from a similar place of empathy and reflection."

When do we get the definitive list of which "forms of music" each race should be allowed to write about?

I love the idea of diversity in critical voices, and I do think we're moving closer to it. Well informed and thoughtfully considered criticism has value from all perspectives. But this article literally says they'd like ALL criticism to come from someone who looks like/has a similar background to the artist? Yeah, I can't agree with that.

Critic and artist and the audience will never agree on intentions, though.

Kinda xpost with Brad, but all of this "pity the poor creative person with their mental problems" BS overlooks the fact that writing is a creative act. Most music critics are every bit as self-loathing as any fucko with a guitar. As someone else said on Twitter, the writer wants critics to see artists as human beings but the feeling doesn't seem to run the other way.

― grawlix (unperson), Friday, May 18, 2018 9:41 AM (eleven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it also overlooks the fact that this is a low-water mark in recent memory for the public's attitude toward the media, and while music critics aren't getting body-slammed by greg gianforte, if you're going to make the argument that "career prospects are fleeting and intangible. Our nerves are shot already from the constant self-doubt that haunts every living, working artist, and it can be a push over the edge to have someone attack you in the centre of your vulnerabilities" then you should stop and ask whether this exact argument applies to writers and journalists

like Those friends are still out there, often overthinking their work, because the devil on their shoulder is now in residence, likely re-broadcasting the very worst of what was said. yes I am fucking aware of this phenomenon, I did not need to be informed of its existence

also, "why other people are getting the otms" absolutely has an effect on whether writers get work in the future, considering that "social media following" or some derivation thereof is a prerequisite for most media and creative jobs, and considering that in reality most of the people giving said otms are people with hiring power.

I hope that I didn’t seem at all unsympathetic to the realities of being a freelance writer— quite the contrary. Just that “interacting with institutional criticism” is quite different from reacting to reacting to more casual (but still career-trajectory defining) systems of evaluation

All in all the larger problem is self-evident imo— how can any creative person expect to be “sane” when their livelihood and well-being is not defined by “how good is their relationship with Karen from HR” but by Reddit threads, think pieces, and page views?

In short: if the rent/income quotient was lower we’d all be saner and more capable of processing critical response

also, "why other people are getting the otms" absolutely has an effect on whether writers get work in the future, considering that "social media following" or some derivation thereof is a prerequisite for most media and creative jobs, and considering that in reality most of the people giving said otms are people with hiring power.

― aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Friday, May 18, 2018 9:13 AM (twenty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OTFM. Lately I'm paranoid when my high-profile work doesn't get shared/liked a lot. I really have zero interest in being on Twitter but sometimes wonder "would more people read me if I were on Twitter? would more pitches be accepted/considered?"

you and katherine otm

"would more people read me if I were on Twitter? would more pitches be accepted/considered?"

1. no 2. maybe but not worth it

I don't think Twitter's ever done a damn thing for me professionally. But my first paid byline was in 1996, so I'll defer to others who've grown up neck-deep in shit.

as a non-writer and less-interested reader these days, I tend to read articles and reviews shared by friends or friends-of-friends more often than I just browse around sites

just to give a small example, I released a creative project the other day and I am fairly sure 80% of the people who have seen it saw it via twitter. (not necessarily my twitter, but RTs)

idk the last time i used twitter (2015?) i basically came to the conclusion that it's worthless for self-promotion unless you're already established. ymmv. so much noise

I don't read much music criticism anymore but my impression is that, at the most prominent publications at least, it's generally pretty nice? I mean, isn't that one of the big complaints you hear about criticism nowadays, that pubs have such little leverage with artists that you rarely see truly scathing reviews anymore because it might jeopardize their ability to have future access to that artist or even a whole label?

That's not to say I don't regret things I wrote when I was younger that were snide and flippant and dismissive, and I think trying to meet an artist on their own terms and take them seriously is always the best approach, I just feel like that IS the approach most of the better critics take these days, and that wasn't always the case.

Unless this all just about random dickheads with shitty blogs and readerships in the triple digits.

Link pls!

Off topic but Twitter and Facebook and any site that presented “user specific” content is terrible for ones mental health; I’m trying to stick with newspapers and “clicking every thread on ILX” methods to let my brain expand outside of internet echo chambers

Oh that was xp to Katherine, I’m off Twitter

if you want to get people to read your critical work, I recommend having maura retweet or post on facebook

(sorry maura)

I don't read much music criticism anymore but my impression is that, at the most prominent publications at least, it's generally pretty nice? I mean, isn't that one of the big complaints you hear about criticism nowadays, that pubs have such little leverage with artists that you rarely see truly scathing reviews anymore because it might jeopardize their ability to have future access to that artist or even a whole label?

yeah, the examples they chose were a 2005 Simon Reynolds piece and a review that got yanked from publication at XLR8R, which are not that representative of reviews today. or if they are, the piece failed to show that

xp the pitchfork is shitty thread isn't really the place for it but it's on facebook

I've got to be honest, way before Facebookgate what pushed me away from that platform was too many of my friends self promoting. I mean, I get it, and I like their work (writing and whatnot), but a lot of it felt sort of obligatory and impersonal, like a press release crossed with clickbait. In the case of several writers I know, they definitely were getting pressure from editors to self promote.

yeah, another side effect of sites no longer prioritizing landing pages/repeat subscribers/etc. is that writers have to make up the slack by self-promoting. it sucks and most people hate it but so it goes

i have a few friends who have gone dark w/their personal Facebook and have instead shifted into their professional self-promotion Facebook pages, which means i have no idea how their kids are but hey, i've learned a bit about how i can make my business work for me or how to make a hibiscus cocktail.

Wrongest thread for it but congrats on this and your previous XYZZYs Katherine I had no idea! I’m a big fan of IF but haven’t been keeping tabs on new work over the last few years

I've got to be honest, way before Facebookgate what pushed me away from that platform was too many of my friends self promoting. I mean, I get it, and I like their work (writing and whatnot), but a lot of it felt sort of obligatory and impersonal, like a press release crossed with clickbait. In the case of several writers I know, they definitely were getting pressure from editors to self promote.

― Josh in Chicago

Totally understand this, and I've had to readjust my own sense of what's proper self-promotion vs shamelessness. It's hammered into you as a journalist. But, to quote Aladdin, it's a whole new world.

Returning to actual Pitchfork content for a second, there's so much stretching going on in today's review of the new Gas album that I worry the writer may have sprained something.

7.8 for mary lattimore is tooo low

that record is fucking amazing

(going back a bit but i really disliked that janelle monae piece because it - like the syd piece the author wrote a year or two back - was rooted in the writer engaging way more with her wanting a mirror for her own (recently realized) queerness than with the things monae was saying. which seems like the blinkered narcisissm that the dazed author decried elsewhere in their piece!)

nobody wanted my mental health awareness week pitch about paying freelancers on time x

— Joanna Jo-Jo-Joanna (@FUERTESKNIGHT) May 17, 2018

Garvey's Kanye review is great but when there are tons of records with really enthusiastic reviews getting the same score it kinda just backs up the weird idea people have that anything under an 8.0 or whatever is bad

they def got the score wrong on that one

there was a time when pfork wasn't terrified of giving a failing grade to an album made by a brilliant pop artist who refused to stop talking out of their ass:

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14434-y/

the silent admission here is that ye isn't too far from tlop, which i'm sure they feel they overrated (jayson greene's personal enthusiasm aside), or at least can't be extricated narratively from the new one

giving this a 7.1 is such a cop out

should've given it a 6.9

Even “free-thinkers” know nothing really comes for free.

p4k so trenchant

there was a time when pfork wasn't terrified of giving a failing grade to an album made by a brilliant pop artist who refused to stop talking out of their ass

That time being February 2018 when Justin Timberlake released Man of the Woods.

this album is sooooooo much worse than TLOP, which was bloated for sure, but as I said elsewhere, you can make an awesome 7 or even 10 song album out of it.

I haven't listened to it yet so I can't compare it with Man of the Woods (which I made it about 75% through and yeeesh). But I wonder if the discrepancy is because Justin Timberlake is not from Chicago and they are afraid of running afoul of the local boy done good?