In the last decade, no organ of music criticism has wielded as much influence as Pitchfork. It is the only publication, online or print, that can have a decisive effect on a musician or band’s career.... [W]hatever attracts people to Pitchfork, it isn’t the writing. Even writers who admire the site’s reviews almost always feel obliged to describe the prose as “uneven,” and that’s charitable. Pitchfork has a very specific scoring system that grades albums on a scale from 0.0 to 10.0, and that accounts for some of the site’s appeal, but it can’t just be the scores.... How has Pitchfork succeeded where so many other websites and magazines have not? And why is that success depressing? A lengthy history and review of
Pitchfork [Media], from an inexpensive online alternative to a music zine, to "indie" music kingmaker, and thoughts on pop music (criticism).
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Jan 24, 2012 -
109 comments
"In this piece I didn't browse YouTube, I actually wandered around Jerusalem, met with musicians and filmed them." New music/video from
Kutiman -
Thru Jerusalem.
posted by pashdown
on Jun 17, 2011 -
14 comments
In 1989, Hollywood heavy metal band Rock Sugar was stranded on a desert island. For the last twenty years, the only music they had to listen to was the 80's pop CD collection of a 13 year old girl. And now,
Rock Sugar has come home.
[more inside]
posted by netbros
on Feb 15, 2010 -
46 comments
Illinoize - "a free remix tape put together by Montreal-based producer Tor, sampling songs from multi-instrumentalist and indie hero, Sufjan Stevens. Tracks are sampled from his 2005 LP Illinoise, as well as 3 of his other albums, 'A Sun Came', 'Seven Swans' and 'Songs for Christmas', blending Sufjan Steven's acoustic guitar, piano and horns with MC's Aesop Rock, Big Daddy Kane, Gift of Gab (Blackalicious), C.L. Smooth, Outkast, Brother Ali, and Grand Puba."
posted by Paragon
on Jan 24, 2010 -
26 comments
9 Countries was recorded on location in Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Tibet, India, Egypt and Greece between October 2005 and March 2007 by Tom Compagnoni. What you hear has been entirely assembled from these field recordings, no additional samples used.
A mashup / sound-collage / ambient / documentary album by
Wax Audio.
posted by flatluigi
on Dec 21, 2009 -
6 comments
Corey Arcangel is perhaps the internet's most
infamous hack,
masher-upper,
digi/net artist.
His work stands for a
growing culture of artists who
run wildly through
animated GIF landscapes populated with corrupted
data-compressed bunny rabbits and tinny, MIDI
renditions of Savage Garden ballads. As the
Lisson Gallery, London, opens its archives to Arcangel's curatorial eye, could digi/net
art be set to
infect the real,
fleshy world, like a rampant
Conficker Worm? Has
YouTube become the truest reflection of our
anthropological selves? Are we destined to roam the int3erw£bs like the
mythic beasts of yore, hoping,
in time, that
digi art can free us from the confines of this fleshy void?
[...
previously]
posted by 0bvious
on Dec 8, 2009 -
20 comments
Last week,
Eddy Temple Morris, a DJ on UK radio station
XFM, challenged Twitter to remix as many songs as possible into 10 minutes. The previous record was held by Wizard of
Deekline and Wizard - it is now held by rapper, producer and all-round renaissance man
Akira the Don, who managed to fit a staggering 210 tracks into 1/6 of an hour. He's just put together a video to accompany the mix -
watch it here
posted by muggsy1079
on Aug 26, 2009 -
22 comments
Codpaste is a 14-part podcast about the history and practice of sound collage and mashups. A collaboration between
Vicki Bennett (People Like Us,
previously) and
Ergo Phizmiz (
previously), Codpaste is an entertaining and instructive wander through such topics as cartoon music, Negativland, easy listening, and William S. Burroughs. There's even a curriculum
[30mb pdf] to go with it! Most episodes are about 30 minutes long, feature the same editing techniques and sound sources that they discuss, and are enhanced by Ergo and Vicki's wonderfully quaint accents.
posted by moonmilk
on Dec 15, 2008 -
11 comments
Mashup artist Gregg Gillis, aka
Girl Talk, is another artist to try the 'pay whatever you want' Internet release model. However, his
55-minute album consists of over 300 samples from other artists, with many current and past hits. No stranger to current controversies in copyright, Gillis also appeared in the documentary
Good Copy Bad Copy.
Previously. [more inside]
posted by uaudio
on Jun 20, 2008 -
44 comments
Cracked Pepper by ccc and ill chemist is a mash-up of The Beatles'
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and an amazing array of songs you know. While not quite on par with the focus and sheer audacity of DangerMouse's
Grey Album, Cracked Pepper is a smart, rich, and rewarding listen. Available track by track or as a torrent.
See inside for tracks sampled.
posted by saguaro
on Jul 30, 2007 -
35 comments
