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
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are a band that, less than a year ago, were making music without the help of a record label, pressing CDs themselves and selling them at concerts and on the Internet. Then the following happened:
June 9: Dan Bierne writes about the band on his MP3 blog,
June 14: Pitchfork Media posts a review of the song "In This Home On Ice",
June 15: Blogger Gothamist posts an interview with the band,
June 20: Blogger Stereogum announces the band's show at the Knitting Factory,
June 21: Gothamist reports that David Bowie was in the audience at the Knitting Factory show, and
June 22: Pitchfork posts one of a slew of reviews of Clap's first album.
Now, they've been named to dozens of
critics 'best of' lists,
they're playing Conan and Letterman, and are about to embark on a new tour. Why choose today to post an article about a band blowing up written in November you ask? Because
their tour kicks off tonight at the 9:30 club in DC, and you can
listen to it live.
posted by ND¢
on Mar 8, 2006 -
140 comments
NPR’s Live Concert Series site offers recordings of recent live performances by
James Brown,
Sinead O’Connor,
Iron & Wine and Calexico,
Son Volt,
My Morning Jacket,
The White Stripes, M. Ward,
Sigur Ros,
Bloc Party,
The Decemberists, and live tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. ET,
Colin Meloy.
posted by ND¢
on Jan 27, 2006 -
46 comments
