pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

https://uproxx.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/yahoo-serious-festival.jpg

I keep wading through the garbage/fluffy news items about mumble rappers and EDM acts to hopefully get to the Massive Attack + Elizabeth Fraser expanded U.S. tour dates in my neck of the woods. Today, all I remember is something about smoke bombs at a Lil Pump concert. That is not what I wanted to read about.

https://pitchfork.com/features/overtones/are-we-having-fun-yet-on-pops-morose-new-normal/
It was time for someone on staff to run the “why is pop music sad now” thinkpiece obstacle course, and Jayson Greene acquits himself alright, I guess

"so-and-so expands tour dates" may not be a viable way to run a website, but i have really come to appreciate Brooklyn Vegan's efforts on that front.

Frank Ocean had an incredible impact on music tbh
I don't buy this

he became the poster boy for a lot of changes that would have happened without him

I have zero understanding why somebody could possibly think that Frank Ocean is anything but one of the most important current working artists... like how much better does he have to be, how much harder does he have to work to get an acknowledgement that he's A-list, I just don't get it

Beach House Are the Chainsmokers’ Type of Thing, and I Kind of Want to Die

I like Frank Ocean but I swear I can never remember any of his songs

don't want to turn this into the frank ocean thread but afaik he's released a lot of weak material (whether that was on purpose and for contractual reasons, who knows, still weak) and his live shows have been bizarre displays of nonchalance (or shyness, but then why tour if you don't want to perform)

when he's good (Blonde, Channel Orange) it just sounds like rnb to me, I don't get what sets it apart, and surely that genre has a ton of hardworking singers

he has a good voice though

“SNL”’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg Rap Parody Could Be Way Better

Until they drop or reduce the reviews I’m ok with what they do for clicks in the other parts of the site

― President Keyes, Friday, November 16, 2018 11:47 AM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

IMO, online music news should be heavy on -- X artist is in the studio, X artist announces tour dates, X album release date announced, etc. Plus a sprinkling of legal/police blotter stuff as appropriate (though not overboard on that).

Pfork could be much heavier on those nuts & bolts than they are, I guess b/c they're understaffed?

― verlaine & rambo (morrisp), Friday, November 16, 2018 3:36 PM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I mean, they're basically more a "fluffy features + reviews (+bits of news)" site rather than "music news + reviews," and I guess that's fine if that's what brings the clicks, but I think they could be doing so much more.

― verlaine & rambo (morrisp), Friday, November 16, 2018 3:38 PM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

cut/pasting because this trio of posts pretty much covers my own feelings

Pete Davidson Releases Powerful Statement About Bullying and Mental Health

wow, no.

at this point I expect Pfork to be dead (or at least just a zombie) within the decade cuz who is their audience at this point

AT THIS POINT

I say

Traffic is up 54% if you believe ComScore, but you do you, Οὖτις

up 54% from what

i never check up on this site but i was reading the mariah carey interview they published and noticed a link that said 'top 50 holiday songs of all time' or something and just, like... what? can a typical person, or even typical music lover, even identify 50 holiday songs they remotely enjoy? or is it just like a compilation of holiday songs by p4k-approved artists? (didn't bother to click)

like if you have 10 fans and add 5, hey yr up 54%.

in my world of young people, zero millenials know who pitchfork is

xp

Too bad Conde Nast doesn't allow all their business decisions to be dictated by Οὖτις anecdotes

most every new album i google they're the top hit, must not be hard to capture traffic when the traffic-directing mechanisms are pointing everyone straight at you

I don't think their popularity/readership has declined significantly much at all in the CN years. BNM still a coveted goal, has material gains for artists, etc.

I don't usually complain about Pitchfork scores, but that 6ix9ine album has too high of a score for an album with nothing redeeming about it.

You get a certain amount of points for just filling in your name on the front

True, but he still has more than twice the score of Greta Van Fleet.

Did you actually listen to the album?

a link that said 'top 50 holiday songs of all time' or something and just, like... what? can a typical person, or even typical music lover, even identify 50 holiday songs they remotely enjoy?

Summer Holiday by Cliff Richard and The Shadows
Holiday In Cambodia by the Dead Kennedys
Bonehead's Bank Holiday by Oasis
Holiday Rap by MC Miker G and DJ Sven
Handjobs For The Holidays by Broken Social Scene

This review isn't poorly written, but this bit made me chuckle a bit:

Despite the Blues Explosion’s brief flirtation with Beastie-abetted arena tours and movie-star-laden videos in the 1990s, Spencer has effectively been expunged from the modern indie rock narrative, just as his hell-raising heroes Hasil Adkins, Andre Williams, and R.L. Burnside have been excluded from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

I'm not sure exactly what the "modern indie rock narrative" is, but I have a feeling that Spencer hasn't been any more (actively) "expunged" than any similar figure(s).

Can't they just say he's under appreciated or something?

they mean he's not fashionable with indies of the present

Exactly. Nobody sounds like him, and nobody has his showmanship (that I'm aware of).

He'll be lucky to escape the promo cycle for his current album without being labeled "problematic."

pitchfork is an improbably good website for the internet in 2018. like i know we clown it for the craft beer native advertising and clickbaitey news items, but it publishes multiple long-form pieces about music every day. and they're often good

I mean, they WERE really unfashionable in the window between 2002 to 2012, but like since then they've been invited by Jeff Mangum to play ATP, were in a bunch of Edgar Wright movies, got signed to the label that put out Sleigh Bells and Neon Indian, idk

He'll be lucky to escape the promo cycle for his current album without being labeled "problematic."

― grawlix (unperson), Monday, December 3, 2018 2:41 PM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

He didn't escape the fuckin 90s without being labeled problematic

I mean people used different words back then, but our dude has always got worry

http://www.jimdero.com/OtherWritings/Spencer.htm

I don't think their popularity/readership has declined significantly much at all in the CN years. BNM still a coveted goal, has material gains for artists, etc.

― flappy bird, Monday, December 3, 2018 1:56 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

eh, I'm not so sure about that second part

it's probably lessened somewhat, but ask a publicist if it's important or not

pitchfork is an improbably good website for the internet in 2018. like i know we clown it for the craft beer native advertising and clickbaitey news items, but it publishes multiple long-form pieces about Drake every day. and they're often good

― flopson, Monday, December 3, 2018 2:42 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Sure but what if you want to hear news about musicians besides Drake?

" lol "

flopson otm

Sure but what if you want to hear news about musicians besides Drake?

― Evan, Monday, December 3, 2018

Someone isn't reading the site 😈

Haven't read the review(s) yet but no way in hell Number of the Beast is better than Piece of Mind, that's some straight poser talk

The review's not bad, but I'm gonna draw a line: Iron Maiden are one of the greatest live bands I've ever seen (I've seen them five times), but they don't have a single front-to-back great album. Not one.

Hmmm. I want to argue but I think I have to agree. Even their best albums are like 1/3 filler. They're the Tom Petty of metal.

Somebody on Twitter offered Powerslave, but that album is two of their best songs up front and two more of their best at the end, with four basically useless filler tracks in a row in between.

they don't have a single front-to-back great album. Not one.

― grawlix (unperson), Tuesday, December 4, 2018 7:40 AM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

seventh son comes perilously close imo

but also i don't 100 percent disagree

The run from "Losfer Words" to "Back in the Village" easily disqualifies Powerslave

If you eliminate "The Trooper," most of side 2 of Piece of Mind is kinda meh in retrospect

I was going to suggest Seventh Son, which maybe comes closest to a front-to-back classic, but "The Prophecy" and "Only The Good Die Young" are pretty weak iirc

I feel a poll coming on

I'm weird but I love the shit out of Somewhere in Time

no way in hell Number of the Beast is better than Piece of Mind, that's some straight poser talk

anybody who doesn't co-sign this is suspect

xp I like Somewhere In Time too but I wonder how much of that has to do with nostalgia. I think it was the first CD I ever owned and I listened to the shit out of it. It's definitely their corniest record, though

it was def my first exposure to them

i ended up doing a report on Alexander the Great because it and used a quote from the song at the beginning lol

It's definitely their corniest record, though

Maiden is fundamentally a corny band so perhaps this means it's their best