I hadn’t listened to this song or album in awhile. I decided to put it on yesterday and I haven’t been able to stop listening.
Updated on 7/2/2009: To include R.E.M’s ‘Reckoning(Deluxe Edition)’ reissue.
Updated on 5/26/2009: A commenter by the name of Chris was kind enough to point us to a web archive that shows Pitchfork as if it were 2001 (Thanks Chris!). This is actually pretty fun to look around. The first news topic talks about Radiohead announcing the Amnesiac tracklist via bulletin board. After looking around for quite sometime I forced myself to focus and as a result I’ve updated all the links to show their original reviews. Some of these reviews I couldn’t find links to in the first place (cough cough Kiss) so there might be some new materiel for you guys to check out.
It is also worth noting that the White Stripes albums that were changed to 0.0’s during the relaunch are back to their original scores.
Updated on 4/20/2009: To include the Radiohead reissues of ‘OK Computer’ and ‘The Bends‘.
Updated on 3/27/2009: As we have discussed before Pitchfork did away with any review that was more than ten years old during their recent relaunch. I guess they also decided to go back and change a few ratings. The White Stripes 2002 reissues of ‘The White Stripes’ and ‘De Stijl’ were previously rated something like 8.3 and 9.1 respectively, but have recently be downgraded to 0.0’s.
Updated on 3/26/2009: to Include Serge Gainsbourg’s ‘Histoire de Melody Nelson’. I’m not sure what category I should included this album in since it is obviously a reissue but was still awarded best new music. If you know something I don’t know feel free to share.
Updated on 3/19/2009: It appears that in their recent site redesign Pitchfork decided to get rid of any album review that was over ten years old. This means reviews to albums like ‘OK Computer’, ‘The Soft Bulletin’ and ‘I See A Darkness’ no longer exist. I’m not sure why they did this, but I imagine it had something to do with reviews like this one. I’m going to leave the links just in case they put them back in the near future.
Updated on 2/13/2009: to included the Beastie Boy’s 20th anniversary reissue of ‘Paul’s Boutique.’
Updated on 11/24/2008: to include R.E.M.’s Deluxe Edition of ‘Murmur’.
Regardless of how you feel about Pitchfork, I don’t think any of us can argue the sites relevancy within the small confines of our music world. Needless to say Pitchfork is always a polarizing topic. You have those that hate the sheer existence of it and deem the writers pretentious music elitists with a little too much power, and then there are those individuals who appreciate the site and rely heavily on its recommendations. Regardless of what side of the fence we are on when it comes to this issue, we all still inevitably read Pitchfork. Truthfully, I read it every day and I look forward to it. I don’t always agree with their reviews (I’m looking at you Fuck Buttons), but I have my coffee, check the news and right before I start working I check the Pitchfork reviews.
I do hate that so many people put so much stock in their reviews, but like it or not a good/bad Pitchfork review can make or break a band. Many people claim Pitchfork is responsible for breaking bands like Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens, Interpol, Wolf Parade, and Broken Social Scene. I think it’s safe to say all these bands have plenty of talent, but I’m sure the little nudge Pitchfork gave them didn’t hurt their chances. On the other hand a poor Pitchfork review can destroy a bands career just as quickly. We all remember the monkey drinking its own piss review of Jet’s, Shine On, and the satirical review of the Black Kid’s Partie Traumatic.
I haven’t heard much from Jet lately, and I guess we will have to wait and see if the Black Kid’s can overcome their poor review. This got me thinking about how consistent Pitchfork has been with their reviews in the past, so I decided to try and find a list of albums that have received perfect 10.0’s throughout the years as well as a listing of those unfortunate albums that have received 0.0’s.. I didn’t have to look very long as some members of the Ateaseweb forum kindly pointed me to Pitchfork’s wiki page complete with all the information I needed.
I went ahead and linked to as many of the actual reviews as I could, but some of them have been taken down over the years. The list is broken down into three categories. The first list includes actual albums that received 10.0’s upon initial release, the second list included albums that received 10.0’s upon re-release, and lastly is the list of albums receiving a 0.0.
View the lists after the jump…
Last week Bruce Springsteen joined fellow Jersey rockers, The Gaslight Anthem, onstage at Glastonbury. They look like they’re having a great time. All I can say is Wow! I’ve never wanted to be anywhere more.
This week is kind of light in the new release department, but that’s okay because it allows you to spend that much more time with the phenomenal Wilco (The Album).
Check out the new releases, album art and streams after the jump…
Every week we team up with our friends at Hypeful to bring you the best new releases. This week is full of great music, but I’m giving my “pick of the week” to Sunset Rubdown’s Dragonslayer. This album hit me immediately and it’s been a struggle to listen to anything else. The fact that I’m giving my pick to Sunset Rubdown over Dinosaur Jr. should be a testament to the albums greatness because that Dinosaur Jr. album is stellar.
Anyways, check out the new releases, album art, MP3’s and streams after the jump…
On June 22, 1999 the Flaming Lips unleashed The Soft Bulletin, and for me, music was never the same. I remember listening to it for the first time and thinking it sounded like the Lips, but at the same time it didn’t. I thought it was weird that these weirdo rockers that gave us Transmissions From the Satellite Heart and Clouds Taste Metallic could create such beautiful songs that were full of pain yet so hopeful at the same time. Although if you listen to the albums leading up to The Soft Bulletin in order you can see the incremental steps they were taking towards their masterpiece. And if you were able to actually listen to Zaireeka then The Soft Bulletin probably didn’t come as a surprise at all.
The Soft Bulletin was the first album that really had an emotional impact on me. OK Computer did too, but to a lesser extent which has a lot to do with my age when it came out. As for the Soft Bulletin it’s tough to get through the album without actually questioning whether or not Wayne may have tailored the album just for me. I am sure I’m not the only one who feels this way when I listen, and I think this is why the album is so great. I know that I can put it on when I’m happy and in a great mood, but I can also put it on when I’ve had a horrible day.
The Soft Bulletin is without a doubt my favorite album of all time and it’s hard for me to believe it’s really been in existence for ten years. Every time I listen it still sounds brand new and touches me in a different way. I guess that’s really what make this album so amazing.
MP3: The Flaming Lips – Race for the Prize
photo via Twitter.com/Cuninho
I should preface this review by stating this was my first Wilco show, so if I come across as way too excited there is a reason for it. In the past I have bought tickets to see Wilco on three separate occasions and once to see Jeff Tweedy solo. Every time something came up that prevented me from seeing them. So as you can imagine I went into last night’s show just waiting for something to come along and screw up this occasion. Fortunately nothing came up and I got to witness an epic show. The band took the stage at 9:17 and immediately jumped into “Wilco (The Song).” You could tell from the minute they took the stage they were in fairly good moods. Next up was the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot staple “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart.” It sounded amazing and played a hand in setting the pace for the rest of the show.
Having spent some time with the new record I was hoping they would play quite a bit from it. Throughout the course of the show they played 23 songs and four were from the new album. The second new song was “One Wing.” You could tell those that haven’t really heard the new album were impressed. I was hoping for “Bull Black Nova” and after a brief wait my wish was granted. This song is so killer on the album, I knew it was going translate nicely to a live setting. Although, to say it translates nicely is a rather lofty understatement. The song played live is an absolute beast, and it was, without a doubt, one of the highlights of the show. It was at this point my friend Chris White turned to me and said they’ve already made up for that piece of shit Sky Blue Sky. While his opinion is his own regarding Sky Blue Sky, I will say the new album is instantly better.
Read the rest of the review and check out the setlist after the jump…
Each week we team up with our friends at Hypeful to bring you the best new releases. Check out a few of our recommendations after the jump…
Things have been pretty hectic around here lately which prevented us from getting the new release post up last week. I’m sure you’ve already purchased what you are going too, but I figured I’d go ahead and include last week’s new releases with this weeks post.
Speaking of this week it has plenty to offer. The only albums I’ve had an opportunity to really spend some time with are the Dirty Projector’s Bitte Orca, Sonic Youth’s The Eternal, Deerhunter’s Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP and the Starlight Mint’s Change Remains and all four are phenomenal.
Anyways sorry again about last week. Enjoy the music.
New Releases, Album Art, MP3’s and Streams after the jump…
MGMT have a great new video for the stellar song “Kids” of their debut album Oracular Spectacular. The video basically consists of a bunch of scary monsters and creepy puppets terrifying the hell out of small children. Oh there’s also a naked cartoon chick, hotdogs, fish and plenty of other weird images. A great idea for a video if you ask me. Oh yeah it also stars Joanna Newsom.
MP3: MGMT – “Kids”
