Problem World

View Separately

screwrocknroll:

the20000:

vienne:

note-a-bear:

curedmyskin:

the funniest thing i’ve ever seen probably

Ain’t that a fucking bitch.

pitchfork and its fucking reissues, man.

White mirror bias

Ceteris paribus — yes, publications maintain some form of editorial voice — it seems to me that the best way to explain the change from 5.4 to 9.0 is to look at the change from Taylor M. Clark to Ian Cohen.

If you want to draw anything from the disparity, note that this kind of thing happened to a fair few of the ’00s most prominent indie rock icons. Pitchfork came round eventually on Bright Eyes — Oberst’s next two records received a 7.7 and a 8.7 — but, if I recall correctly, the site rarely gave Death Cab, for instance, anything more than tentative praise. Despite Pitchfork’s significant and impressive influence over the past decade, the scene followed its own nose far more often than Schreiber et. al led them.

One of the very admirable things about Pitchfork is that it’s grown partly by listening to people who say “look dudes, you’re wrong about this band/genre/scene” and hiring them to be more right about it. Now I write that down I think “doesn’t every publication do this?” but I really don’t think nichey indie ones do. Of course I’m biased as that’s how I ended up writing for them.

(I am not saying 9 is a more right score for a Bright Eyes record mind you)

I’m part of this club myself for bumping the rating of Lifter Puller’s Fiestas + Fiascos up a good six points nine years after release (with the original pan being lost somewhere down the early-Pitchfork memory hole), so Tom is right on here. And if you think this is limited to “Pitchfork and its fucking reissues, man”, have some choice quotes from a 1969 Rolling Stone review:

“In their willingness to waste their considerable talent on unworthy material the Zeppelin has produced an album which is sadly reminiscent of Truth. Like the Beck group they are also perfectly willing to make themselves a two- (or, more accurately, one-a-half) man show. It would seem that, if they’re to help fill the void created by the demise of Cream, they will have to find a producer (and editor) and some material worthy of their collective attention.”

Criticism without room for reassessment isn’t criticism.

Source: fartingmom