:rofl:


the only review site i trust and respect is metacritic

I think the fact Pitchforks rated 50 Cent pretty high a few times says enough about how much they know about music outside their own little niche.

Yeah I don't care much for their biased reviews either :/

Reviews are kind of supposed to be biased.

not the word I meant to use.....kind of lost my ability comprehend things at the moment. Happens when i get the sleepys.

What bugs me about pitchforks reviews is the motivation behind their reviews. You can basically predict what they're going to hype/put down, they have a horrendously snobby and pretentious attitude towards music and they don't even attempt to hide it.

you completely nailed it, Ethan. +10 points

And sometimes their reviews are spot on, like Wednesday's review of The odd couple. Anyhoo, like Rainard says, it's all down to personal preferences and it's not like they're the only magazine that hypes bands (for instance, Popmatters gave Hercules and Love affair 9/10 despite the review focusing only on the 5 Antony tracks. 5 tracks does not an album make peeps :rolleyes: )
Incidentally, Pitchfork's review of VW was also spot on:

Most websites/magazines don't have the ridiculous following pitchfork does though.

loz, you laugh, but at what? You don't even GO to the site so how would you know what genres they cover? It's an indie site, and they cover a very broad range of what is going on in American independent music.

As for metacritic, it's not a review site - it's a compendium site like rotten tomatoes. if you "trust" what you see on metacritic, you're only trusting the general consensus of a bunch of reviewers. it's no better than relying on one review. it's really all the same. you're still going by somebody else's opinion. and anyway, at the end of the day i guarantee a person's going to be exposed to a wider range of diverse sounds through an indie site like pitchfork than through a compendium site like metacritic that focuses primarily on music (including indie) that's going to have a more wide-ish sort of audience. i can vouch for that, i've followed both (and other sites) for a while.

I can't help but agree with this criticism, though. They are predictable as hell - you know they're going to hype the crap out of anything done by Bradford Cox whether it's the latest Deerhunter thing or the appalling Atlas Sound; you know they're going to react lukewarmly to the latest White Stripes or Beirut effort or whatnot; you know they react fairly indifferently to most any Arctic Monkeys release, simply because historically the band was discovered and hyped by other websites first (if AMs was "Pitchfork's band" so to speak, the music would have got 9/10s all the way). Half the time you know they'll give a huge mark to some album simply in anticipation of that being the general response of the rest of the critics, and therefore just to fit in and to have "got it right". And it gets worse, I've had a few bones to pick with them elsewhere.

But aside from these negatives I don't think it can be denied that it is a really good place for discovering new music especially for somebody coming from a really narrow underexposed musical background (like half those people who only listen to muse and keane). Just have to bear in mind the importance to exercise caution while one is at it. I guess, as long as somebody has a grasp of what is wrong with Pitchfork and knows where and how they are predictable, the site is at that point most useful.

metacritic covers all the "indie" releases pitchfork does, along with top 40, dance, metal, pop, jazz, etc. pitchfork lacks in those categories.

i agree that pitchfork is a great place for underexposed people to discover new music. however, once you've exposed yourself enough, you begin to see what a biased joke pitchfork is. at least, i have. i never relied on a magazine to expose me to bands. hell, i just went to amazon and clicked on similar artists til i didn't recognize one, and would then check them out. i also do not take any reviewer's word for it; i check out the album myself.

and i do visit & read pitchfork from time to time, just to remind myself of their predictable snobbery

Really? As opposed to the rest of us who decide an album is good without having listened to it first?http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...wer/retard.gif

Incidentally, I've noticed quite a few of your best of 2008 are Pitchfork approved, you might wanna reconsider those choices...:rolleyes:

So call me a crazy cook, but I bought Wincing the Night Away and have decided after listening to the whole album that I actually love it.

this isn't The Shins thread

You aren't the person I was directing my post to, so you needn't be concerned.

Covers all the indie releases pitchfork does, eh? What a load of absolute blatant screaming codswallop. Hell, as much as 40% of pitchfork's "Best New Music" entries over the past six months have as of yet never appeared on Metacritic. they've got nothing for either Dodos, Ruby Suns, Fleet Foxes, High Places, Times New Viking, Tough Alliance, Chromatics or Black Kids. Then there's the Recommendations section - go there and you'll find way more than half of them have never appeared on Metacritic. Like I said: Metacritic, for obvious logistical reasons, is only concerned with Indie that's likely to be received by a wide audience. Pitchfork goes way WAY beyond that, however much their reviews may suck in your view. God, just comparing Pitchfork to Metacritic in terms of breadth of indie coverage is so much of a joke I can hardly believe it was said.

Um, maybe because it's an...indie music site??? that's like casting aspersions on a metal site for lacking in country music coverage.

...but not enough to realize the extensive amount of independent music genres that they cover. And the point that the vast majority of it is far too small-time to probably ever appear on Metacritic. But don't let the truth get in the way. ;)

^http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...power/lick.gif

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...lpower/yay.gif Another has seen the light...The Shins http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c.../leviathan.gif

Wincing was a good album, but Australia is still definitely the best song on it!

No, it's a great album and the best song on it is Sea legs...http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...ower/judge.gif

OMG thank you! Everyone for some reason thinks Wincing the Night Way wasn't that good, and Sea Legs, is by far one of the best songs on it. Although, Australia is still my favorite song on it. Has anyone seen the music video for it? Haha, it is great! As for Vampire Weekend, I fell in love with their album, already cannot wait for what to see from them next!

I would post the music vid for Australia but it will not let me until I get 15 posts.
Awwhh, poop!

vampire weekend is truly awesome. some of the coolest stuff from 2008, i think. my favorite song is blake's got a new face.

i really like them

top notch album, A-punk has been ruined for me just because everytime I plug my pod into my car the playlist starts there. I still listen to it though.

Phenomenal band, I love "A-Punk". That's such a kickass song.

Whats the big deal with A Punk? Oxford Comma is far better.

I don't get the deal with this band in general. I see nothing special about their debut, there were so many better albums released in 08.

People tend to orgasm over the fact they incorporate relatively exotic, wordly influences into what is essentially a straight forward pop structure. I like the album, its a good listen. Though i do find people over do it on the praise.

And the beauty of A Punk for me is the fact it's just an explosion of energy with a whimsical twist. I think Oxford Coma is on a par with it, although Walcott is better than both.

i agree oxford comma is a better tune IMO.

i like them

I like that song they did that was on for Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist.........at least I think that was a Vampire Weekend song.

nick and norah was a godawful movie.

looking forward to hearing their new stuff, album tba.

I love them! They are really awesome! They have done a couple covers that are really great too! Can't go wrong with A-Punk!

I like A Punk... and Oxford Comma. They are probably my two favourites from Vampire Weekend.

oxford comma owns. mansard roof is awesome. the rest? meh. screw VW

why? you just said that you really liked 2 songs. hate much?

I saw them a few months ago at a church in Philly and they were pretty forgettable. Really, the only thing we took away from that trip was what a horrible, horrible city Philadelphia is

WOW! someone says something I agree with. Philly is the ****tiest ****hole on the face of the planet.

.....f**k you.

Ha! I appreciate you being defensive about your hometown and it is the motherland of a lot of my favorite slices of pop culture (the roots!). But, come on, try to be impartial and objective and you just have to acknowledge how aesthetically unpleasing that city really is. It's like some ugly cross between Utica, Newark, early-90's Baltimore and Hell

you see that, while i see a place full of culture, new and old, where different types of people can meet together, but at the same time isn't too crowded or busy. Philadelphia to me is a very special city, and i admit while it may not be the most perfect of communities, try to look past that and see that it isn't just some hell hole and actually has things worth seeing.

the best part about the city is you can have the grandiose building and architecture, and at the same time still have the small, tight knit neighborhoods and old style landscape. and if that's not good enough for you, feel free to piss off :finger: