The Pitchfork News/reviews thread

[stochasticism]

A little off subject, but have you heard the new forgetters album?

Just finished listening to this album. Lyrically. Blake is on top of his game on this record. The first two tracks do absolutely nothing for me though, it just seems slow and plodding and just stumbles out of the gate. Starting with the third track though the album gets really good and is some of his best stuff.

[bmack86]

Dude, he didn't mention it's Blake Schwarzenbach! Fuckin' awesome.

[TallGuyCM]

And Chris: Google Chrome+AdBlock add-on. Pitchfork is a nice, clean, white page.

Heck yeah. Thanks.

[fastmusicfan]

Sorry, Bryan, I kinda assume you know everything. That is very much a compliment, not a knock. Anyway, it is indeed Blake Schwarzenbach, and I haven't really seen it reviewed or fussed over anywhere but Punknews.org. It's somewhere between Jets to Brazil and Jawbreaker, though that's probably obvious. If anybody likes the album, I think the 4 song ep that came out last year (possibly the year before?) is great, like, really great. I'm hoping I grow to like the full length nearly as much. I'd loooove to see them live.

[bmack86]

Ha, just saw that. Will definitely be giving a listen to the EP as well.

The Bish Bosch review is pretty damn bad.

[bmack86]

But then they have interviews such as the recent The Out Door with Neurosis, where you get great quotes like this:

You can look in a bluegrass catalogue, and you're going to have Doc Watson, Bill Monroe, and the Stanley Brothers. And then you're going to have a lot of super-polished, fast pickers who don't feel it. You have the same thing in heavy metal. You have these guys who play fast or whatever, but they don't feel it. The question is, what raises the hair on the back of your neck? Well, Ralph Stanley raises the hair on the back of your neck as much as a good heavy riff. That kind of emotional impact is rare because people are afraid to let themselves go and surrender themselves to music.

[IceyHotshot]

I tend to regard the Out Door as an entirely separate thing from the rest of P4K

[SoulDischarge]

By and large, their features are vastly superior to their reviews, or at least far more consistent as review quality is mostly dependent on the writer.

[Miroir Noir]

Ian Cohen takes on Mellon Collie. I endorse so much of the thinking here, from the perspective of being the right age for this album the first time around, to the round about explanation of how this album shares the DNA of my favorite respective albums of 2011 and 2012.

[bmack86]

I liked a lot of that review, but a line in the last paragraph really rubbed me wrong:

When the world is a vampire, you don't want history lessons or a list of influences, you want fucking magic. You don't want lifestyle music, you don't want Our Band Could Be Your Life. You want music that you can live inside.

Fuck you, the Our Band Could Be Your Life music is, for me and many other people, the real fucking magic. That's the sound of bands that can envelop you not with only their sound, but with their lyrics, their actions, their visuals, their everythings. I love Mellon Collie, but I call major bullshit: Big Black or the Replacements or Beat Happening mean more to me than the Pumpkins ever can.

[bmack86]

an interview with Chris Owens, formerly of Girls. It sounds like he's actually healthy and thriving now. That's super exciting, as I kind of pictured him burning out and ODing.

[rage patton]

Wow. That was an incredibly insightful interview. It is interesting how he views his career trajectory and I love the honestly of his answers. I look forward to hearing what comes next from Christopher Owens. Thanks for sharing that.

[bmack86]

Right? I could never have expected that from him. It's so damn encouraging.

[xuclarockerx]

Fuck you, the Our Band Could Be Your Life music is, for me and many other people, the real fucking magic. That's the sound of bands that can envelop you not with only their sound, but with their lyrics, their actions, their visuals, their everythings. I love Mellon Collie, but I call major bullshit: Big Black or the Replacements or Beat Happening mean more to me than the Pumpkins ever can.

Glad to see someone else doesn't like it when critics tell us how we're supposed to feel.

[SoulDischarge]

Predictions for top 10 albums? I'm saying Frank Ocean takes the top spot, the rest being filled out by Grimes, GYBE, Kendrick Lamar, Tame Impala, Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, Beach House, Fiona Apple, and maybe Swans.

[JustSteve]

Jack White will be in there, won't he?

[JustSteve]

Glad to see someone else doesn't like it when critics tell us how we're supposed to feel.

There are many times I find myself liking certain music more if I take time away from this board. So many opinionated assholes here.

[rage patton]

Predictions for top 10 albums? I'm saying Frank Ocean takes the top spot, the rest being filled out by Grimes, GYBE, Kendrick Lamar, Tame Impala, Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, Beach House, Fiona Apple, and maybe Swans.

I would be extremely surprised if Japandroids is not in their top 10.

[bmack86]

Jack White will be in there, won't he?

Not in Pitchfork's. Probably in their top 50, but even then I wouldn't be shocked if they kept it out. They've never reviewed White's shit that well.

[SoulDischarge]

I would be extremely surprised if Japandroids is not in their top 10.

It'll be in the top 20 at least.

[TallGuyCM]

I'm guessing Frank and Kendrick get the #1 and #2 spots respectively, just based on the fact that their albums both received the highest ratings from them this year.

[spence]

I bet Andy Stott, Burial, Metz and Flying Lotus will be in the top 20 as well

[xanman86]

Looks like Big Boi won't be making the top 50

[Spooks]

Perfect 10! Well deserved: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17407-voodoo/

[TallGuyCM]

Perfect 10! Well deserved: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17407-voodoo/

Absolutely. Fucking. Deserved.

By far my most cherished discovery of this past year, I hadn't heard it before then...bmack and ods kept talking about it in some thread I think, way before the announcement of that HOB show.

[ods..]

[TallGuyCM]

^ Yes, that exactly. Far and away my favorite jam on the album.

[guedita]

Damn. I haven't listened to any r&b this year but that track was something, ods.

[TallGuyCM]

Haha, don't get your hopes up. The album's a reissue from 2000.

[guedita]

Ha....oh yeah. I know I've seen that name before. STILL DOPE.