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

Intergalactic Beastie Rock, Deadmau5, Depache Mode, Bruno Mars, Ke$ha, The Beatles, Queen, Stardust, Radiohead, Madonna, Chemical Brothers
posted by rebent on Nov 5, 2011 - 32 comments

Four weeks ago, the video for Radiohead's Lotus Flower went up on YouTube. It's a simple thing, black and white, starting off with a silhouetted dancer who turns out to be Thom Yorke. The formerly "very shy and uncertain" fellow has since turned into a back-up dancer for Beyonce, makes Window Licker a bit less creepy*, and is a dancing queen. There's a step-by-step graphic break-down of Thom's dance (descriptions in French, auto-translated by Babelfish and alternate descriotion in English), a detailed break-down of Yorke's influences, a tumblr of 150 dancing Thom video edits and mash-ups, and a Know Your Meme page. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Mar 9, 2011 - 27 comments

Jaydiohead, an album of Radiohead and Jay-Z mashups by Minty Fresh Beats Warning: goofy-looking dude's myspace. [more inside]
posted by dismas on Dec 30, 2008 - 33 comments