Pitchfork

[Sashinator]

So do you folks love it? or maybe hate it? or know of something that is so much better than Pitchfork?

I personally am not always fond of Pitchfork, as they have a lot of different reviewers, so its hard to judge wither their assessment of the album is like yours, or is completely opposite.
But they host a good fest.

[boodeedeedoo]

Care to enlighten us as to some more aspects/info on Pitchfork?

[Scarychips]

I don't really care about Pitchfork.

[funkage]

I would say, don't listen to their reviews. Can be good for finding out about similar bands to those you love, but otherwise just buy the album (or download it, for a free trial, if u dont like it delete it)

I don't like pitchfork much though, reviews can't always be trusted and the reviewers seem arrogant and full of their own self importance

[Sashinator]

Yea, I agree. I never really listen to their judgements. Pitchfork.tv is nicely done, but I can never get myself around to watch it seeing as I try to avoid the renown Pitchfork snide remarks.

www.pitchforkmedia.com/
Its a Chicago based music reviewing site. And they host Pitchfork Music Festival every year.

[boodeedeedoo]

This is the problem with people today, everyone's looking for a good old listen, the sad fact is that most of the people these days are just awful. My life has become further immersed into my unhealthy obsession with nostalgia and trying to reclaim my childhood.

Clarissa explains it all: www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2X3rY2iNP8

[Ren]

Aug 3, 2008 3:48:14 GMT -5 Sashinator said:

So do you folks love it? or maybe hate it? or know of something that is so much better than Pitchfork?

Whenever I read a Pitchfork article I agree with, I feel smugly like I know what is what. When I read a Pitchfork article I disagree with, I feel smugly like I know what is what better than Pitchfork.
Oh well?

I do know things much better than Pitchfork, though!
Said the Gramophone never misses, and their...song depictions, I guess? always manage to get me to think about things in a different light than I might have, and always better because the writing is beautiful.

If I hear about a band or an album I want to read reviews about, I check out multiple bloggers via the Hype Machine, which is a great place to find a few tracks from albums you might think of buying, and also to read reviews and find rare songs.

[sarpedon]

I used to read pitchfork every day, and like the poster above applauded them for agreeing with me on something and scoffed when they didn't; which looking back was pretty dumb. so I just stopped looking at reviews and started going by word of mouth, but this article makes me want to look at pitchfork again...

I do like music review sites that don't give an explicit rating, but that just describe the album and what they get from it. I feel like a 100-point-scale has too much potential for abuse, and does get abused, especially when smart-asses give albums a 0.0. speaking of which, I am glad Brent DeCreznio(or whatever his name is) left pitchfork, because his reviews unilaterally sucked, even the ones I agreed with.
metacritic is pretty cool though, since they just average every review they can find

[dutyfree]

Pitchfork is ok... better than a lot.. but still not great. I basically never read reviews, because I find them kind of pointless. One person's opinion is probably not going to be mine, and I don't like basing my opinion off someone else's anyway. They throw a decent festival though!

[moiety12]

I would suggest La Blogotheque for discovering new artists

and if like myself, less inclined in French, google always offers translation

[Sashinator]

Aug 7, 2008 18:40:32 GMT -5 moiety12 said:

I would suggest La Blogotheque for discovering new artists

and if like myself, less inclined in French, google always offers translation

I really like La Blogtheque and their Concerts a emporter
I thought they also had a site that basically had everything in English, at least Im pretty sure they do for the Take away Shows. But I always thought Last.fm was nice for finding stuff, although reviewing isnt in the mix.

[jules]

All music reviews are subjective so it not a case of liking or disliking any particular source of reference but finding the people whose subjectivity is in tune with your own. I don't have any particular gripe with any music site / magazine as I know that it is the reviewers opinion that you reading.

When I was young and the interwebbything wasn't around you'd read the NME, Sound or Record Mirror depending on what you were interested in, but even then you'd be looking at the writer when considering a review and you got to know which ones had a similar bent to you.

But the main source was not the press, but was from friends, going to gigs or from recommendation from your record store. I used to go into mine once a week and I'd chat to the owner for a while and he'd spin some of the new releases that he thought I'd like.

With the advent of the internet, I haven't really change that much (except the local record store no longer exists because it couldn't compete with the mega stores). The only difference is that the people who recommend music to me are all around the world.

One thing I have learned is that no matter how much I explore to look for new sounds and musical inspiration, I'll only ever scratch the surface and that it doesn't matter. I also couldn't care less if everyone else find something before me, because the pleasure of discovery is still the same. I actually enjoy the challenge of finding a back catalog and then going further back to seek out the influences.

[Scarychips]

I totally agree with jules on that one. Subjectivity and recommendations are key.

[names]

It's weird, after the initial Pitchfork explosion, there was some kind of Pitchfork backlash, and now there's a backlash-backlash, and it's okay to like Pitchfork again.

I find Pitchfork useful, in terms of flagging bands worth watching, but yes, my trusty music-loving friends have a far greater influence on what I'll spend my precious listening time with

That said, my friends' opinions are frequently stupid and wrong, so I've become a sucker for hunting down an artist mentioned by somebody I already listen to, in an interview or whatever. I mean, it makes sense that if I like X's music, I'd probably like the music they like - I just never wanted to be the kind of geek who did what celebrities told me...

[slinky]

I'm a fan of p4k. Take it for what it is.