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Pitchfork - The Best Music of the Decade So Far (2010 - 2014)

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Peru

Member
The problem with Pitchfork, or my problem, because I guess they're still making money and influencing other 'alt music' sites, is that they're stuck in an awkward position - fundamentally, in their album reviews, their album lists, "best new music" etc their focus is stuck on indie rock, white guys with guitars or synths, all that landfill shit they're partly responsible for introducing into the new canon - and yet for their 'tracks' lists and individual features they make half-assed attempts at matching the more modern, less canon-oriented music sites and aggregates - electronic music, rnb, uk club/urban, pop - but only get so far- there's a todd terje here track here and nicki here and its stuck inbetween what all their indie rock-oriented journalists push through. So you get individual writers, sometimes, with interesting perspectives and expertise, you get a random feature on the best k-pop tracks, a few years ago they had someone like tom ewing writing great poptimism-centered pieces - yet their overall profile is stuck in a different, dull place and these additions never really permeate their overall profile and become superficial representations of stuff they don't fundamentally know or care about.
 

Alrus

Member
I would have picked Call Your Girlfriend instead of Dancing on my own for Robyn.

I like Superbass but really? Nicki Minaj, as much as people dislike her, has done much better than that...
 

Grakl

Member
izCae8Z7DZKCq.gif


I don't even listen to a whole lot of music and I know that is an awful list. If I took that as fact then I would have to conclude that music is dead as an art form.
Are you an expert?
 

Winter John

Member
My Top 5 of the decade so far

5. Queens Of The Stone Age - Like Clockwork

4. P J Harvey - Let England Shake

3. The Knife - Shaking The Habitual

2. Tom Waits - Bad As Me

1. St.Vincent - St. Vincent
 

thabiz

Member
grimes number 1? looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool
 
There are some great tracks on there. 'Pyramids' is a God Tier song, and I love Grimes' music as well.

"Dance Yrself Clean" is my favorite LCD Soundsystem song. It was actually my introduction to the band, and I find myself not being as impressed by their older music on the strength of that track alone.
 
Dancing On My Own is the best song on the list.
I don't know if I've ever heard the original version, but I feel like I've heard it just from hearing the remixes. The Rex the Dog remix is so fucking good. Robyn remixes are the absolute best.
 

mattiewheels

And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
I figured that Frank Ocean song about rich kids would be on here.

I'm getting old, man. Whenever anything about pitchfork comes up, it confuses me and I realize I only listen to old music now.
 

Fevaweva

Member
their focus is stuck on indie rock, white guys with guitars or synths, all that

That hasn't been true for a while now. I feel like nowadays they review just as much rap, R & B and the like as indie rock/ "white guys with synths"

Also their unrequited love of both Drake and Kanye is legendary.
 

hodgy100

Member
There is not a single song in this list that I like / love :/ does this mean I have bad music taste GAF?

EDIT: I kinda Lie, I enjoyed Get Lucky for a while, but I've heard it so much now I can't stand it.
 

Gobias

Banned
A pretty decent list although I don't care about Beyonce or Usher. They chose the wrong Kendrick Lamar and Kanye song though.
 

bomma_man

Member
The problem with Pitchfork, or my problem, because I guess they're still making money and influencing other 'alt music' sites, is that they're stuck in an awkward position - fundamentally, in their album reviews, their album lists, "best new music" etc their focus is stuck on indie rock, white guys with guitars or synths, all that landfill shit they're partly responsible for introducing into the new canon - and yet for their 'tracks' lists and individual features they make half-assed attempts at matching the more modern, less canon-oriented music sites and aggregates - electronic music, rnb, uk club/urban, pop - but only get so far- there's a todd terje here track here and nicki here and its stuck inbetween what all their indie rock-oriented journalists push through. So you get individual writers, sometimes, with interesting perspectives and expertise, you get a random feature on the best k-pop tracks, a few years ago they had someone like tom ewing writing great poptimism-centered pieces - yet their overall profile is stuck in a different, dull place and these additions never really permeate their overall profile and become superficial representations of stuff they don't fundamentally know or care about.

I think the dissonance between the singles and albums lists has more to do with dance music and pop not really being album genres. Their top album lists are packed with hip hop and r'n'b. three of their last four top albums have been by black artists.
 

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
Not familiar with all the songs on the list but can't argue with Pyramids being on there- fucking fantastic song.
 

CoolOff

Member
Lol just looked through the 200 instead of just the 20, and Latch at 25? GTFO of here Pitchfork, that song is trash.

Also, the amount of PopGAF-approved songs is shocking to be coming from Pitchfork.
Or maybe it isn't...
 
I hate Pitchfork and their devotion towards Kanye (he sucks). Also the low-dose hipsterism mixed with ironic love for top 40 music is lol worthy coming from such a snobby publication.
 

andymcc

Banned
Only if you only read sites like Pitchfork.

Does anyone genuinely read p4k these days? Like being earnestly interested in their opinions in a non-ironic way?

Some of their features are still great and their lists are fine. Follow reviewers you like, not the site itself.
 

Menome

Member
Does anyone genuinely read p4k these days? Like being earnestly interested in their opinions in a non-ironic way?

I have the News and Album Reviews on RSS so I know what's getting released. I've been tipped off on a couple of bands I now like thanks to the reviews too, but for the most part it's nowhere near an essential read, especially by being a bit too U.S.-focused at times. For example, when they miss out reviewing albums like East India Youth's that are supposed to fall under their remit, but will happily put a review up for the new Lana Del Ray release.
 
Pitchfork's opinions are kind of a joke at this point. Their reviews have never been amazing and just seem to be fluff based off of hype. Their news and features are great, however. It's the only place I visit for music news.
 

Kusagari

Member
Were they seriously that desperate to get 3 Nicki songs on there?

Super Bass is whatever but Come on a Cone and Beez in the Trap too?

Really?
 

Servbot24

Banned
Pitchfork's opinions are kind of a joke at this point. Their reviews have never been amazing and just seem to be fluff based off of hype. Their news and features are great, however. It's the only place I visit for music news.

I haven't read their news lately but I watch their video specials if I ever get linked to them and they seem alright.

But their reviews and lists are basically the equivalent of this guy:

giphy.gif
 

Catchiest, but not the most lyrically impacting. From that album, that would be either

The Art of Peer Pressure - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rxlRn_nub0

-or-

Sing About Me, I'm Dying Of Thirst - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yR7VB9FpJI

IMO, of course. With my preferred of the two being The Art of Peer Pressure. That's just an amazing record from intro to outro.

Anyway, having Nikki Minaj on this list at all is a slap in the face, to be quite frank about it.
 
Only if you only read sites like Pitchfork.

Does anyone genuinely read p4k these days? Like being earnestly interested in their opinions in a non-ironic way?

I joked about only listening to music that has been dubbed 'Best New Music' by Pitchfork, but in all seriousness, I do find a lot of new music from their site. Their review scale is ridiculous, and I can't stand to read the pretentious crap they write, but I do find the site incredibly useful.
 

omgkitty

Member
There's a lot of people in here shitting on Pitchfork, when it's not really necessary. Honestly, I don't think there's a single list of 20 songs anywhere that everyone would agree on. With something as personal as music, you can't please everyone. The list is their list. You don't have to like it or agree with it, but to just call them idiots or whatever is kind of going too far. Just because someone likes something you don't doesn't mean you have to laugh at them or throw a hissy fit about it. There's never been a website or a person I wholly agree with when it comes to music, so for people here to shit on Pitchfork when no one else is really that much better is kind of pointless.
 

andymcc

Banned
There's a lot of people in here shitting on Pitchfork, when it's not really necessary. Honestly, I don't think there's a single list of 20 songs anywhere that everyone would agree on. With something as personal as music, you can't please everyone. The list is their list. You don't have to like it or agree with it, but to just call them idiots or whatever is kind of going too far. Just because someone likes something you don't doesn't mean you have to laugh at them or throw a hissy fit about it.

music sucks where's the next led zeppelin
 
My problem with Pitchfork is that I get the impression they view the music industry through that typical elitist lens of "what is the back story of this artist". In other words, they're every bit as concerned with who the music is coming from, as they are about the music itself.
 

omgkitty

Member
My problem with Pitchfork is that I get the impression they view the music industry through that typical elitist lens of "what is the back story of this artist". In other words, they're every bit as concerned with who the music is coming from, as they are about the music itself.

The only time I've really had an issue with this is when it comes to their rap reviews, because they take a big portion of their review talking about the lyrics and how it actually relates to the artist. If you go back and read the Childish Gambino review, they simply shit all over him because of his message instead of if the songs were actually good or not, yet they still give Drake some of the highest reviews on their site for rap albums. I understand back story and lyrical content is important to some people, but sometimes a good song is a good song even if someone is just speaking gibberish.
 
The only time I've really had an issue with this is when it comes to their rap reviews, because they take a big portion of their review talking about the lyrics and how it actually relates to the artist. If you go back and read the Childish Gambino review, they simply shit all over him because of his message instead of if the songs were actually good or not, yet they still give Drake some of the highest reviews on their site for rap albums. I understand back story and lyrical content is important to some people, but sometimes a good song is a good song even if someone is just speaking gibberish.
Re: Thom yorke/Radiohead

:)
 

Servbot24

Banned
The only time I've really had an issue with this is when it comes to their rap reviews, because they take a big portion of their review talking about the lyrics and how it actually relates to the artist. If you go back and read the Childish Gambino review, they simply shit all over him because of his message instead of if the songs were actually good or not, yet they still give Drake some of the highest reviews on their site for rap albums. I understand back story and lyrical content is important to some people, but sometimes a good song is a good song even if someone is just speaking gibberish.

this^

lyrics are way overrated
 

sgjackson

Member
Does anyone genuinely read p4k these days? Like being earnestly interested in their opinions in a non-ironic way?

i'd say 20 percent of my pitchfork clicks are seeing if grayson currin reviewed an album i missed and 80 percent is laughing at the fact they feel the need to review the obvious metal year-end list contenders and give every single one of them an 8.0 to make sure people know they're good but make sure that nothing scary is best new music
 
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