It takes a lot of guts to admit, but tThere are a few albums that I like and Pitchfork doesn't.

There are plenty of music magazines, E-zines and whatnot, but if there's one journal it's worth to agree with, its Pitchfork. Bands become the synonym to indie-quality and being cool to mention, the day after Pitchfork publishes a good review (see the Tapes n'Tapes album for an actual example).

Don't get me wrong, its thanks to PF that I got to know numerous great bands. Sometimes a PF reviewer over-glorifies, sometimes he recommends some rare chinese band, sometimes he gives a 10.0 that makes me wonder (why putting the 0 in the end?), but mostly they're quite accurate. Its also pretty nice to know PF likes what I usually listen to - Its a seal of calibre, confirmation that I listen to good indie music .

But sometimes, and it happens to the finest, it occurs that I liked an album that, could believe it - Pitchfork did not. And I dont mean those "guilty pleasures" songs/bands, that you listen to low-volume-headpones-on and write about in SOMB (see recent thread). I talk about an album that you REALLY liked, and thought was very good, but in the midst of day, you discovered that the PF folks not only disliked it - they HATED it. detested it. thought it is an utter shit. gave it a 3.651 or something. One of those reviews that make you ask yourself - WTF is this reviewer talking about? maybe's something wrong with me?

Here's my share of such albums:

And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead: Worlds Apart (4.0) -- I thought it was an album filled with good (sometimes a bit uncreative) ideas and great hooks that were excellently executed. PF thought it was, gently-speaking, mediocre-shmaltz, two-faced unoriginal pretentiousness and so forth. not nice.

Pearl Jam - Riot Act (4.9)- The first time I heard Riot Act I thought that it didn't sould like the old good PJ, but it was great nonetheless. Vedder's voice got a bit older, the sound maybe needs to be revised a bit,but ultimately its a great album. Pearl Jam got older, but not worse. PF thought otherwise. Riot act, it turns out, is filled with common rock riffs, and its an indicator to the fact that PJ is steadly pacing toward the lowness of a homogeneous bar band. No kidding.

Well, it seems like my musical taste is pretty uncreative common, frequently ordinary,of the masses mediocre shit.

So, what was that album for you? the one that you really liked and respected, but pitchfork massively slayed ?




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Flaming Lips -- Zaireeka. If I recall it got a zero out of ten. I'd give it a 7/10.



Most of the time I disagree with how high they rate albums.

Here's an interesting game; Find your top ten from last year see what the average score that pitchfork gave it was. I f they didn't review it mark it a 6.0

1 ) I Am A Bird Now - Antony and The Johnsons 8.6
2 ) Demon Days - Gorillaz 6.9
3 ) Open Season - British Sea Power 7.8
4 ) Leaders Of The Free World - Elbow 6.2
5 ) Alligator - The National 7.9
6 ) Coles Corner - Richard Hawley 8.1
7 ) Some Cities - Doves 7.8
8 ) LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem 8.2
9 ) Illinois - Sufan Stevens 9.2
10 ) Get Behind Me Satan - The White Stripes 7.3

7.8

I think that these reviews are at least 2.5 too low.

Badly Drawn Boy: About a Boy 4.9
Kings of Leon: Youth and Young Manhood 4.2
Oasis: The Masterplan 3.7 (seriously, fuck off)
Belle & Sebastian: The Boy With The Arab Strap 0.8
Delgados: The Great Eastern 5.7
Coldplay: A Rush of Blood to the Head 5.1
Coldplay: Parachutes 5.3

This happens so ridiculously often it's not even worth thinking about.

I think they disliked every album I like, so they can swivel.

Anyway, to play GKI's game, my top 10 (alphabetical order) got:

Annie - Anniemal (8.8)
Biosphere - Dropsonde (n/r)
Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase (7.6)
Boris - Pink (8.7)
Earth - HEX: Or Printing in the Infernal Method (8.2)
Jaga Jazzist - What We Must (7.7)
Jesu - Jesu (7.9)
Propagandhi - Potemkin City Limits (n/r - what the fuck?!)
Sleater-Kinney - The Woods (9.0)
Rachel Stevens - Come and Get It (n/r)

Average score: 8.3
(7.6 using GKI's system)

Now that's a fucking surprise.

The p-fork hate towards Joan of Arc actually inspired me to check them out. and now The Gap is one of my top fifty all time faves (i think the fork gave it a resounding 1.9)

and to GKI:
1) Mountain Goats - The Sunset tree 7.2
2) Andrew bird - Andrew bird and the mysterious production of eggs 8.3
3) Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy 8.5
4) Gorillaz - Demon Days 6.9
5) The National - Alligator 7.9
6) Sufjan Stevens - Illinois 9.2
7) Animal Collective - Feels 9.0
8) Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary 9.2
9) Sigur Takk... 7.8
10) Eels - Blinking Lights 6.5

so on average like it's an 8.

I've tried to get recommendations on PF, but most of the time I have no fucking clue what they're going on about. All I need is a thread on SOMB to know if I'm gonna like a CD.

chances are if nick s. wrote it, i'll disagree with it.

Lateralus

which albums have pitchfork given 10.0 to?

agree on these. (obviously I don't agree on kings of leon )

basement jaxx - rooty, zarieeka (if you judge the music) and the belle and seb are probably the all-time misses in terms of raw points. At 0.8, even if one gave TBWTAS a really good, not great rating of 7.8, the margain of difference (7.0) is still really wide.

3.8 for Rooty! That one passed me by, Funny that is one of the only 5 star albums on All Music Guide from this decade.

walk mink - el producto.


my favorite p-fork rating has always been the 9.9 - like the album is almost near perfect.

On inital release

* ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Source Tags & Codes
* 12 Rods - Gay?
* Bonnie "Prince" Billy - I See a Darkness
* The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
* Radiohead - Kid A
* Radiohead - OK Computer
* Amon Tobin - Bricolage
* Walt Mink - El Producto
* Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Re-issues

* Boards of Canada - Music has the Right to Children
* Glenn Branca - The Ascension
* James Brown - Live at the Apollo (Expanded Edition)
* John Coltrane - The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording
* Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
* Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain
* DJ Shadow - Endtroducing... (Deluxe Edition)
* Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4: Live 1966: The Royal Albert Hall Concert
* Elvis Costello & The Attractions - This Year's Model
* Iggy & The Stooges - Raw Power
* Kiss - Alive!
* Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
* Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: LA's Desert Origins
* Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted: Luxe & Reduxe
* Pink Floyd - Animals
* Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run: 30th Anniversary Edition
* Television - Marquee Moon
* The Clash - The Essential Clash
* The Clash - London Calling: 25th Anniversary Edition
* The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace
* The Velvet Underground - Loaded
* The Who - Odds and Sods
* XTC - English Settlement
* Various Artists - No Thanks!: The 70s Punk Rebellion

For Gareth's game...

10. Broken Social Scene - S/T (8.4)
9. Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy (8.5)
8. LCD Soundsystem - S/T (8.2)
7. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (9.2)
6. M.I.A. - Arular (8.6)
5. Opeth - Ghost Reveries (6.0 - DNR)
4. Dungen - Ta Det Lungt (9.3)
3. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary (9.2)
2. The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday (8.7)
1. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (8.9)

Average - 8.5. OH GNOMES!11!! I AM TEH PITCHFORKS HOAR!!11!

I've seen people with 8.9 averages before. You are not quite a Whore, you are one of their bitches though.

Yeah, but in my own slight defense, they would never have put Bloc Party near number one.

amen, lbj. that kid makes my blood boil.

It does not deserve a 0.6. No way, no way, no way!


Deserves ALOT better than a 3.3. It's one of my all time top three records. I just cannot agree with this at all.


I still think this is a fabulous starting point for anyone who wants to get into B&S. Pitchfork, you were way off on this one.

yeah I read the review of that one. They thought it was too psychedelic , labeled the common FL fan as an acid-taker and gave it a zero because you needed to purchase (or already own) four CD players so you could listen to it the way it was meant to be played.

You see, when you create your next album, dear artist, try not to be too common, but on the other hand, stay away from being too damn pretentious.



I bet on my best money nobody's gonna get a lower grade than 7 on this one..

Even though my average is quite high (if I had a top 2005 list I knew that for sure), I just couldn't agree with PF on their top 10 list, putting aside the albums on the #1 spot and the #10 spot.

PF top 10 albums of 2005
-----------------------
1. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (9.2)
2. Kanye West - Late Registration (9.5)
3. Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock & Roll (8.9)
4. M.I.A. - Arular (8.6)
5. Antony & the Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now (8.6)
6. Deerhoof - The Runners Four (9.0)
7. Animal Collective - Feels (9.0)
8. LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem (8.2)
9. Cam'ron - Purple Haze (8.7)
10. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary (9.2)

The PF average (of itself!) is 8.89, so... the dude (AlkalineDrown) who got 8.5 is almost even more Pitchfork than PF itself, if thats actually possible

On another note - why the heck using a decimal rating system, trying to be as accurate as possible perhaps, and then putting a number one which is lower in grade than number two, and a number 10 which is higher in grade than the rest of the list? Confusing stuff ...

i was going to say AWK. .6?!?! Like the SATs, you should at least get a .5 for putting your name on the fucking album. "wet" is at least a 7 for me.

i didn't know about the poor BFF review. "messner" has grown on me the older i get; maybe the 3.3 review came from a kid in high school who had real hopes and dreams and didn't understand that "regrets" and "jane" would have significant impact in his later life. fuckers.

I don't really my top ten list of 05 but I remember Pitchfork liked all of them and the only two they didn't (The Fall, Turbonegro) weren't given buttlove scores, so I'd probably be at like an 8 or something.

I don't get the point of the thread though, good music usually gets good reviews so

That Zaireeka review is ridiculous. GUYS I DON'T HAVE 4 CD PLAYERZ LOL ZERO STARS.

7/10 sounds about right. It's a lot of fun to get together with a few people and listen to a bunch of sound waves bounce off each other, but as an album it kind of tapers off.

"Wet" deserves five points alone for the title track. Seriously, it's a fun album and I agree that at least a 7 is warranted.

As for "Messner" I'll admit it was a grower so to speak for me. I didn't like it when I first heard it in fucking sophomore year of high school, but eventually it clicked with me. Reviews like this one are why I think Pitchfork should change to like a three person/review format. That way we can get a collective opinion with maybe a short 300 word blurb. It would be a lot more helpful I think.

agreed on both counts. what are your thoughts on "the wolf"? It never really grew on me; if i'm in an AWK mood (i.e. after sex or a funeral) i'll just pop in the first album. honestly, i don't think the songs are as good on "the wolf" as the first disc.

in Q magazine, they let readers write in to disagree with both current and past reviews. i would love if PF would do something like that...but it sounds a little too democratic. and, it means someone would be second guessing them, which I'M SURE they dispise.

Most of the desenters in Q are idiots. April's i sgiving someone The Wonder Stuff 4*'s. ffs.

Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs (8.3)
Troubled Hubble - Making Beds In A Burning House (6.8)
My Morning Jacket - Z (7.6)
Doves - Some Cities (7.8)
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (9.2)
Rogue Wave - Descended Like Vultures (7.8)
Wolf Parade - Apologies To The Queen Mary (9.2)
Cyne - Evolution Fight (didn't review)
Aimee Mann - The Forgotten Arm (7.4)
Lewis & Clarke - Bare Bones & Branches (didn't review)

so if i count the ones they didn't review as 0's, 6.4, otherwise 8.0

Hilariously, the Be Here Now review used to be an 8.9 and included some "I DON'T CARE IF IT'S NOT HIP" rhetoric. Over the years, :ryan: lowered the score several separate times.

"The Wolf" is trash. Aside from "Never Let Down" there is really nothing too redeeming about that cd. Yet live, it still translates into a fun time. Weird how that works.

count them as 6.0. so 7.6

i remember a bjm review on bravery, repititon, and noise, they trashed it saying how self-indulgent the recording was, the brit-pop 'faux' vocals, all the while overlooking that these are very good songs but a very consitent rock'n'roll band. they totally hate joan of arc, to the point that ryan schreiber probably wound up the butt of some cruel joke played by tim kinsellas. and every JOA review is like payback or something

i try to avoid this site now like the plague. considering their mountain stake at all things pop, indie, world, whatever. it's good journalism (some), and the zine often covers some music i like. but i'm fully grasping the notion that this zine is controlling your Ipods. that there is a pitchfork specific 'sound' direction, and there is a pitchfork audience willing to follow that direction. and that is sort of one big circle jerk.

Wimp.

awk shows are always fun. he needs to tour again. website says new album in '06!

1. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary (9.2)
2. Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy (8.5)
3. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (9.2)
4. Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft (8.5)
5. Architecture in Helsinki - In Case We Die (8.8)
6. Jamie Lidell - Multiply (8.5)
7. Dungen - Ta Det Lugnt (9.3)
8. My Morning Jacket - Z (7.6)
9. Devin Davis - Lonely People of the World, Unite! (7.2)
10. Stephen Malkmus - Face the Truth (8.7)

8.55 average. Although I would probably have The National instead of AiH in my top 10 if I had the list to do again today, which would make it 8.46. I guess I'm one of their bitches too then.

Heh. I liked the AWK album when it came out, hyped to distraction by the NME. I haven't listened to it in a long, long time though.

This thread has inspired me to dig it out sometime.

The B&S and Zaireeka reviews were written by Jason Josephes, who is, quite frankly, nuts. I don't agree with the B&S review, especially as it's coming from a guy who loved the first one. It's not that damn different. I do like the Zaireeka review, because I've never known anyone to successfully listen to that album before computers allowed cheap home mixing and burning. It's the one (four) album that literally is "unlistenable." The rating really should have been an "n/a." However, now that mixes have been floating around for years, someone at the site should go back and review it.

I always liked Jason Josephes. He wasn't afraid to say stupid shit.

I think the biggest low-rating surprise I've seen on Pitchfork was their disparaging review of Destroyer's This Night (4.2, I think?)--the webboard buzz on that album was huge, and I expected it to be pretty seriously championed on the site.

I liked Jason too, because he, like the first wave of writers, was truly honest and never caught up in some misguided attempt at being "cool."

Dude, have you heard any of his new stuff? Pure rubbish.

One CD through my computer, one through my stereo, one through my playstation/tv speakers, and one through a discman hooked up to shitty portable speakers. Fantastic listening experience, and even better when the 4 sources get slightly out of sync. I wish I could've been there for their parking lot experiments

I'm surprised they haven't released the album on DVD

it was the webboard buzz that made me want to check out that album, i think that might have still be the time of PFMS, and the p-fork review made me laugh.
p-fork seems to always be a little harsh to bejar.

no, has anything leaked?

also, i got his full pitchfork rantings from a few weeks ago; lemme know if i should post 'em. it's LONG.

using weezer is just plain cheating.
although i agree it is a pretty great record.

ahm... Do you accept Visa? I still have some unpaid bills to pay from that time when I purchased four CD players so I could play a Flaming Lips album... Disliking Pfork does not pay

Are the albums that you mentioned on your top 10 of '05? I got to hear the Dead 60s (before PF reviewed them) and they're ok, but truly nothing to write home about, definitely way off my top 10 or top 20 of any list (with the exception of "the list of albums which will make you lose money in an awful bet"... )

6.0 Opeth - Ghost Reveries
8.7 Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
9.2 Wolf Parade- Apologies...
6.0 Clutch - Robot Hive/Exodus
8.5 Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
8.2 LCD Soundsystem
6.0 Rachel Stevens - Come and Get It
7.5 System of a Down - Mezmerize/Hypnotize
6.0 Between the Buried & Me - Alaska
8.6 MIA - Arular

7.47

Top 10 albums Pfork didn't review? interesting... name some ?

Well actually dude, as many have shown already, thats not the case all the time.

My problem with this thread is who gives a shit about p-fork? Remember when they gave the new Liars album a 9.0 and everyone felt validated? That just goes to show you how people have no mind of their own. They need pitchfork to stay fashoinable... as if liking certain albums makes one fashoinable.

PFM rating: 4.2

Who the hell is Derek Miller?

Can I like music, even if I don't read Pitchfork?