Pitchfork is not usually wrong, I find. If they give an album 9.0 and above, it's usually worth checking out. That's sort of my cut off point, though. I think they're just trying to embrace all kinds of music but they aren't honest with it.
Okkervil River's "Stage Names" was good, and the Stand Ins is just a second disk to the proposed double album. It really IS just a companion piece. It absolutely cannot hold its own as an album though, so I agree with your sentiment.
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