Most ridiculous "news" item on Pitchfork regarding the horribly overhyped crapfest known as The National's High Violet

Previous edition:

Most ridiculous "news" item on Pitchfork regarding the horribly overhyped crapfest known as Wavves

So... you don't like it?

except wavves was about a lame dude going nuts and this is just about a band putting out a record?

Yes, but do we really need, on average, a weekly update on the National's new album?

give the ppl what they want

whogivesashit.jpg

won't someone think of the pageviews

i mean, at least they're releasing music and not getting fucked up and trying to play shows in spain

The Antlers to Tour With the National (2/16)

this one cuz who gives a shit about the antlers

Most ridiculous poll thread tracking "news" items from the horribly overhyped crapfest known as Pitchfork's newsfeed

Everything is overhyped on Pitchfork. Plus, the music industry needs bands that once in a while sell more than 2.000 cds --> Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

have you considered not reading pitchfork?

I like the Antlers...

Not a big fan of the dreary, drudgy band 'The National' but has anyone realised that Pitchfork is a daily news site that needs fresh stuff every day. They are not a weekly or monthly publication so can't pick out the best, most interesting thing or weed out the truly inconsequential. This leads to some quite spurious headlines and ridiculous attempts to get attention and interest but that's the nature of this particular beast isn't it? Presumably this band is a pretty popular lot so they just blather about any old thing they do on any old news day. I mean not every day are we going to get a seismic and truly important story such as the recent MIA twitter ramble. These kinds of momentous staggeringly crucial events just don't happen every day.

For what its worth though I think the video of them playing a new song somewhere one day is the most useless. So that.

Never (knowingly) heard them. Probably never will.

I just fast-forwarded through several of their videos on youtube. Would it be accurate to say they sound like Interpol?

a little. less reverb, less faux drama to the lyrics, a somewhat brighter sound.

Sufjan

I've never heard them, but I believe them to be rubbish.

Would it be accurate to say they sound like Interpol?

Interpol is the fratty guy at the bar ordering kamikaze shots for everyone and chatting up the ladies in between doing lines in the bathroom, then driving home drunk. The National is that same guy staggering into the bar the next day around noon, hungover, pissed off at the world, sitting alone in the bar having his first beer of the day, and voicing his thoughts to the pint glass.

How does the pint glass respond?

"You lookin' at me?"

Bitching about a music website for talking about music seems... counter-intuitive.

Interpol is the fratty guy at the bar ordering kamikaze shots for everyone and chatting up the ladies in between doing lines in the bathroom, then driving home drunk. The National is that same guy staggering into the bar the next day around noon, hungover, pissed off at the world, sitting alone in the bar having his first beer of the day, and voicing his thoughts to the pint glass.

Jack says 'people who speak in metaphors should shampoo my crotch'

now I want a pint

http://joefernandes.net/goodfellas_painting.jpg

Matt Berninger looking one way, the pint glass the other.

More to the point, bitching about a site that's largely known/successful for daily updates posting regular items about a popular artist. (xpost)

http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/8558/wastec.jpg

l-r: [the fire] P4k news stories about The National's new record, ilxor, three of the many whose will to live was obliterated by the madness

a site that's largely known/successful for daily updates posting regular items about a popular artist.

I agree it's good to a point, but there should be a ceiling for how many updates for a single band are actually relevant before the site becomes the National's #1 online liveblog and fanzine.

have you considered not reading pitchfork?

― iatee

l-r: [the fire] P4k news stories about The National's new record, ilxor, three of the many whose will to live was obliterated by the madness

Made me LOL IRL, congrats.

Particularly the doe-eyed indiegrl...

have you considered not reading pitchfork?

― iatee

I've said this before... but, it should be intuitive that I only read the stories that are of interest to me. I haven't spent more than 2 seconds skimming over each of these National-related headlines... it's not like I read everything that Pfork (or any website, for that matter) chooses to publish.

ilxor, the ilxor who cared too much

it should be intuitive that I only read the stories that are of interest to me.

So stop reading National stories. Or read Billboard's news feed.

yeah the best way to show that you don't care about shit is not to start multiple ilx polls about it

mtv.com posts an absurd number of updates about katy perry, nahright.com posts an absurd number of updates about drake, this is the climate we're in whether you love it or hate it. but singling out one site of many for their posts about one artist of many is just goofy and pointless.

free ad-supported website attempts to support itself by drawing more people to its website, ilxor displeased

ilxor, maybe the thing you're reacting to here is the "tastemaker" component to Pitchfork's coverage?

People would rather yell at each other about nothing than actually talk about music on this forum.

Well, the whole site's a tastemaking endeavor, which is fine -- I can't think of a place, online or offline, that really writes in depth about music, but doesn't take a stab at tastemaking, intentionally or not.

That said, posting 17 news stories on one band in a four-month span does seem a bit gratuitous.

xp to HI DERE

People would rather yell at each other about nothing than actually talk about music on this forum.

It's been like that for like five years, lol.

So stop reading National stories.

I don't. As stated above.

Or read Billboard's news feed.

And, btw, I do.

I do, however, start ridiculous polls about National stories, which is arguably a bigger time-wasting endeavor than if I had bothered to actually read the stories like 99% of the Fork-reading population.

So stop reading National stories. Or read Billboard's news feed.

Would read Stylus, but, you know... :/

it's a NEWS FEED. they post, what, hundreds of items in any given month? would you rather there only be one story per artist in a time frame? because if you just want them to update the site less often then you're asking them to be a different kind of site, or go back in time to a different era of the internet. it's not like they posted 10 rave reviews of their album.

some dude otm, there were just as many joanna newsom news stories in the same period, gee I wonder how many vampire weekend stories they did?

I do, however, start ridiculous polls about National stories, which is arguably a bigger time-wasting endeavor than if I had bothered to actually read the stories like 99% of the Fork-reading population.

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Wednesday, May 12, 2010 10:01 AM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is also a weird assumption. i mean, doesn't anyone who visits the site, or any other website, just look at the front page and generally click on just the things that look interesting to them? even a National fan, i imagine, might only click on a couple of these, if they wanted to see their new video or check if the tour is coming to their town.

gee I wonder how many vampire weekend stories they did?

Alright, you win. I counted 20 VW-related stories since the beginning of the year.

there were just as many joanna newsom news stories in the same period

19 on Joanna... hmmmmmmm.

Try Beach House also. Probably Sleigh Bells in the near future.

People would rather yell at each other about nothing than actually talk about music on this forum.

It's been like that for like five years, lol.

― it means "EMOTIONAL"! (HI DERE), Wednesday, May 12, 2010 10:00 AM (1 hour ago)

Yeah but I'm pissed because I start a 1990s Reissue Thread and I revive a Spring Mix thread to innocently and enthusiastically talk about music here at ILM, because I love music (not gossip), and they get ignored I think mainly because nobody wants to argue with the thread title which seems to be the only reason anyone clicks on anything here. I should have called it "CHILLWAVE IS BETTER THAN JAZZ JOANNA NEWSOM NATIONAL PITCHFORK: 1990s Reissue Thread"

...it could be that nobody wants to talk about 1990s reissues all that much?

beach house > sleigh bells

wait, is this irrelevant? yes.

It's not difficult to be "> sleigh bells" is it though?

Presumably this band is a pretty popular lot so they just blather about any old thing they do on any old news day.

more likely the band has a PR deal with Pitchfork's media/promo arm but I'm just guessing

I'm confused...when Pitchfork says that the new National record is "where they're a viking," do they literally mean that the National sound like vikings? Or are they using "viking" as some vaguely-badass-denoting term of endearment?

this band isn't really that hyped anyways anymore. seems like now they've just become a sturdy dependable band that p4k dudes like.

...it could be that nobody wants to talk about 1990s reissues all that much?

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, May 12, 2010 11:48 AM (4 minutes ago)

Maybe, but I've seen enough of 90s topics met with enthusiasm here lately where I figured some people might be interested. I've just found that unless something is approached controversially, it is passed over. That seems obvious, but it disappoints me, because when I started my first thread: 90s guitar college rock indie... The 80s are back now lets hope this comes next?, I thought I found a place where I could talk about that kind of music, and music in general, but my most recent attempts haven't produced much discussion at all.

The National is one of those indie bands that's reached the point in their career where ppl on ILM will now show up in threads about them just to call attention to how much they dislike them

if you look around I am pretty sure you can find some people talking about music

Evan, didn't that first thread of yours succeed pretty well? Can't win em all.

Yeah thats the one that gave me hope! None since then! Oh well. Anyway, blah blah Pitchfork is dumb blah blah National don't deserve it this hype blah blah

now you're getting into the spirt of things.

i thought The National was a baseball league \(O_o)/

Probably the only time I will post on this kinda thread (famous last words). Glad the thread for Polvo got some attention when their new album came out at least.

Now, back to the fray! Maybe there is a new news story right now! Or, now. Give it a second ... now?

Gucci Mane's out of prison

I'm confused...when Pitchfork says that the new National record is "where they're a viking," do they literally mean that the National sound like vikings? Or are they using "viking" as some vaguely-badass-denoting term of endearment?

I'm confused...when I click the "Suggest Ban" button, am I suggesting that someone else ban the poster in question? Or am I suggesting a name-brand deodorant to the person who made the post?

both, you're kindly & anonymously informing the gods that said poster is a smelly heathen who deserves to be exiled from our realm

I thought we were just suggesting we ban Permalink!

O_O

Yeah, Polvo is great. Their new album is great- my #1 or #2 favorite of 09 (I can't decide). I'm glad they are back together!

Ditto, but let's not sully Polvo with this thread any more.

http://www.maniacworld.com/pole-vault-explosion.jpg

I never look at Pitchfork. I never feel like i'm missing out on some big news. If a band has a new album out and it's good, it will appear in the Top 10 Most Popular Downloads on What.CD and i'll make up my mind by listening to it, not reading about it.

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/4572/mg4apb1273684585.jpg

I never look at Pitchfork. I never feel like i'm missing out on some big news. If a band has a new album out and it's good, it will appear in the Top 10 Most Popular Downloads on What.CD and i'll make up my mind by listening to it, not reading about it.

brotherlovesdub I think you are an awesome dude so don't take me as being argumentative here, just saying because it's kind of something I strongly believe: I really wish this opinion ("only my own hearing is of value in determining how I think about a piece of music") would get a harsher interrogation, especially from its proponents. if other people's opinions about music are uninteresting, why are you even posting on/reading ilm?

prolly for the awesome polls like this one

IMO that question could and should be its own thread. Although, maybe not on ILM (ha).

let's do it!

Ditto, but let's not sully Polvo with this thread any more.

― grandavis, Wednesday, May 12, 2010 12:41 PM (17 minutes ago)

Haha alright.

I post/read here because I enjoy discussing music and I trust the opinions of a good number of people here. I don't look at names when I read reviews online but in general, sites like Pitchfork cover way more music than I'm interested in. A discussion on ILM is more valuable than a one way article/review on P4K to me.

an article on pitchfork, just to make the case, is something that a person (the very sort of person who posts on ilx, often; sometimes, actually a person who posts on ilx) has written, revised, submitted and rewritten: a considered opinion; people on ilx are, as often on the internet, posting as they listen for the first time while doing several other things. an opinion written after reflection is imo a better & more valuable one that somebody's gut response, which, while often better for lol value, is more reaction than opinion

I'm making the case for criticism in general here btw, not specifically for pitchfork, which is just the example at hand

It is OK to value recommendations from friends over reviews in magazines.

What if your friends are published in magazines?

if your friends are sorta just running off at the mouth during their initial distracted listening to something, then I would say you are taking bro-hood to ridiculous extremes by weighting their opinions at all

"my friends said it...it's of value even if they weren't thinking at all"

friend of mine just bought barenaked ladies tix tbh

Ad you let him? Some friend you are!

congratulations to the National on their new album!

xpost i tried to wrestle him to the ground, but it was too late. this is a guy who saw public image, REM, New Order, etc. in 1982. now look at him. don't look at him.

the lyrics of the new barenaked ladies single are about women running away from him. i always giggle at work when it comes on.

they look like they're deep in their "dark" period
http://www.exclaim.ca/images/up-barenaked_ladies.jpg

as opposed to
http://www.addictedtovinyl.com/images/albumcovers/200px-GordonBarenakedLadies.jpg

Always a good time to relink this thread:

TS: Most Retarded-Looking Barenaked Ladies Member on This Album Cover

wait which one quit

Quit...or was KILLED?

the retarded one quit iirc

he was a cocaine addict also

Which one was recently arrested for piles of coke? xp : )

the one with his mouth open coming out of the letter 'o'

oh, no sorry the one in the orange t shirt

Newman was too real for BNL

retarded candle burning at both ends, you know?

Isn't the one in the orange t-shirt the bald guy in the "dark period" photo?

no i think that's the dreads guy. orange shirt is on the far left. all that cocaine lost him a few pounds.

orange shirt guy is out of the band

Got it.

isn't orange shirt guy like the lead singer in the band? what a disaster for BNL.

he was the main lead singer, but the other dude sang a bunch

i wonder if my friend knows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4a2SqXNi0E

current singer does the raps in that song

sacrilege imo. like the Beatles w/o Lennon.

stopped listening to this band after fatbeard badshave shaved his goatee. and backing out of that tour w/dreamboat gorilla was such a dick move

If a band has a new album out and it's good, it will appear in the Top 10 Most Popular Downloads on What.CD

You really believe this is always the case...?

it's simple science

or maybe math

No, I don't actually and honestly I rarely download anything on the top 10 list unless I'm ratio boosting. Talking shit about Pitchfork is just too irresistable.

what? cd.
what? cd.
what? cd.

Quit...or was KILLED?

bwahahahahahha

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Well that's settled then.

I think it must have been the abandoned castle that put it over the top.

pretty good choice cuz it's representative of pfork tv getting really lazy and just posting videos of random indie band x playing in random place not used for music y

playing in random place not used for music y

This is what really, really annoys me.

Not that I can't appreciate a show in a non-typical venue, but here the set-up and staging and such is so... scripted, and stale.

for me it's just more of... what's the point? is surfer blood playing in a gas station any different than if they were playing in a roof top? otherwise it's kind of annoying, yeah -- like, i understand why you would want a band like grizzly bear to play in a church! that makes sense.

the xx playing in a parking garage or w/e it was was cool actually but it was mostly cuz of the editing and efx

guys "playing in an abandoned castle" sounds pretty f'n awesome

for the national maybe

ok i just watch that and it was cool! it was just like a 90s music video or whatever.

"announces tracklist" is pretty retarded

unless you're a rap artist and your tracklist contains info on who's producing and guesting on songs, is anyone really reading this stuff and giong "oh my god i can't wait to hear what bloodbuzz ohio sounds like!"

truth

"announces tracklist" is pretty retarded

yeah this is what i voted for. pointless.

Nothing probably trumps when Radiohead releases a tracklist. Hysteria sets in.

The National Crash the Billboard Album Chart at Number Three

Kinda more shocked Sleigh Bells made the top 40

top 5 placement of mega-hyped indie band followup is pretty common these days

I'd argue that if you're a fan of a particular band, whilst not ground-breaking or anything, it can be kind of interesting to see the tracklist to an upcoming album to see if any of your live favourites have made the cut.

Most of these headlines have now been ridiculously one-upped by Pfork's latest headline:

Hear Snippets of Two New Arcade Fire Songs: "The Suburbs", "Month of May"

Really? Snippets????

I understand why they're telling their readers far more than I understand why you're telling us.

I understand why they're telling their readers far more than I understand why you're telling us even bothering to read this thread.

ilxor otm, the only thing worse than reading pitchfork is reading a thread like this

this thread is kind of making me appreciate-if-not-respect PF! in a breathless Smash Hitsy kind of way. like how i imagine the british press was before a new duran duran album was gonna come out.

ilxor is certainly otm if he is in fact admitting that his thread is worthless garbage. I only came by to see how many votes this poll got so I know how angry to be when I put thought into an interesting poll about actual music and get less than 18 votes.

Hah, I'll admit the thread is garbage, sure. I also don't know why you're bothering to read/respond. You probably could tell by the thread title that it wasn't going to be interesting, so why bother?

I thought I might find some tracklistings or tourdates here.

top 5 placement of mega-hyped indie band followup is pretty common these days

wait top five is? really? cite a few others 'cause entering BB @ #3 seems pretty incredible.

also lol @ my man some dude thinking polls are for anything but haters - the whole point of a poll is for people who dislike something to vote against that thing so that when the results come in they can go "fuck yeah, I was on the winning side"

"crap" "fest"

evocative title!

j0hn there's no "against" button for voting options -- you can vote for something or not vote at all.

wait top five is? really? cite a few others 'cause entering BB @ #3 seems pretty incredible.

Modest Mouse, Spoon, Vampire Weekend, The Shins.

xpost that's not true - if you vote for one thing, you are voting against everything else on the list - dude you seriously can't disagree with this, people constantly say "voting x so y won't win so easily," etc

I don't know if four examples = "pretty common" though admittedly the sample you'd need is "# of mega-hyped indie bands following up on an album lots of people liked/# of bands who charted @ 5 or higher"

GUYS THE NATIONAL IS CURRENTLY TOURING HOLY SHIT I THINK THIS MAY CALL FOR ANOTHER FRONT PAGE ARTICLE

i'm pretty surprised it ranked that high on the charts, that seems pretty crazy to me. I'm also still kind of blown away that grizzly bear has a song that is on every commercial and tv show.

I only came by to see how many votes this poll got so I know how angry to be when I put thought into an interesting poll about actual music and get less than 18 votes.

― some dude, Thursday, May 20, 2010 5:35 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I have similar complaints higher up on this thread. Why the fuck is everyone so obsessed with gossipy TMZ bullshit? Is it unpopular to want to have healthy optimistic discussions about music that you love?

xpost that's not true - if you vote for one thing, you are voting against everything else on the list - dude you seriously can't disagree with this, people constantly say "voting x so y won't win so easily," etc

this is more of a preemptive strike against The Luker Effect or whatev, actually, no hate involved

shit meant to be quoting this:

the whole point of a poll is for people who dislike something to vote against that thing so that when the results come in they can go "fuck yeah, I was on the winning side"

tracklists can be exciting. like when that rumoured smashing pumpkins double-disc tracklist circulated around '97. man i was psyched for that. that shit won't fly in this century, though

luker = lurker, obvs

blogger offended by popularity of national record

I think he just resents Brooklyn.

Which is deep.

I'm not a great fan of the new National record or anything, but I almost want to love it just to spite Lefsetz.

Can't believe we've got this far without mentioning Sufjan Beat. ZOMG.

i hate how my arrow turns into a crosshairs on his lame site

I don't know if four examples = "pretty common" though admittedly the sample you'd need is "# of mega-hyped indie bands following up on an album lots of people liked/# of bands who charted @ 5 or higher"

Yeah I probably should have said "Top 10" though apparently this was like the worst week for sales ever so maybe they would have hit a grizzly-bear-ish 8 if they were up against a big new walmart exclusive or something

and really i'm totally down with Pitchfork being OMG OUR GUY IS COMPETING WITH THEIR GUYS IF BUT FOR A WEEK since I'm all for kids being excited about seeing their favorite nerd band in the top ten, sure made my day as a sprout myself when odelay went double-platinum.

Watch Tame Impala Perform in a Forest

http://pitchfork.com/news/39153-watch-tame-impala-perform-in-a-forest

it's clever see because impalas are generally a grassland animal

I don't read a lot of Pitchfork. But the National make me sick.

Watch Ilxors Act Out Backlash on Message Board

Most ridiculous "news" item on Pitchfork regarding the horribly overhyped crapfest known as The National's High Violet

Watch Tame Impala Perform in a Forest

http://pitchfork.com/news/39153-watch-tame-impala-perform-in-a-forest

― ilxor has truly been got at and become an ILXor (ilxor), Wednesday, June 16, 2010 8:55 AM (2 hours ago)

seeing that headline on P4k yesterday pretty much affirmed my increasing lack of interest in any of this bullshit, tbh

They may have played in the forest, but they at least edited it together so it looks fake. During one of the songs you clearly watch the drummer play a fill that is not heard. That stuff bothers me, especially when it is so blatant.

always loved this Riff Market piece: http://www.riffmarket.com/2008/10/potential-ideas-in-vein-of-pitchforks.html

to me indie rock was never a genre that was very compatible with visual media -- you might have a decent idea of what a band looked like from a photo in the CD booklet or that one video they showed on 120 Minutes or a hazy memory of seeing them live, and they might've looked really cool or totally lame, but it didn't matter and you probably ended up associating with some cool abstract album cover more than any other visual. now every band has a hundred high res press photos and three videos from every album on youtube and live footage on pitchfork and it's like ugh where you'd get the idea that i want to look at you guys?

really? magazines had photos of indie rock bands to the best of my recollection.

i like "indie rock band you probably like if you read this site performing in a novel location." i always dream of playing shows in unconventional locations, feels pretty romantic

i love blogotheque/take away shows, and i guess this is just pfrok's take on it. nothing offensive about this at all imo

all this whiny self-hating indie guilt has been ruining ilm for me lately btw

all this whiny self-hating indie guilt has been ruining ilm for me lately for the past several years btw

seems inescapable suddenly, or maybe i never noticed it

really? magazines had photos of indie rock bands to the best of my recollection.

― call all destroyer, Wednesday, June 16, 2010 1:16 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

well sure like Pavement did photo shoots for magazines but i mean just your standard small/medium-sized nat'l indie band that maybe got their album reviewed in the back of the issue

both teflon donk and call all destroyer are OTM.

i keep fighting a good fight though. my user name is positive and i always try to be with the stuff i listen to and post about on this very site. in fact most of the time i don't even open threads like this...

For the record my only complaint was about the editing of that Pitchfork feature above. I've been really excited about this album release, but it either didn't come out when it was scheduled to in the US, or it has no distribution...

Oops, forgot what thread I was in. I meant the Tame Impala album release.

not the National, but

http://pitchfork.com/news/39981-band-of-horses-play-norwegian-wedding/

aw geir got hitched :)

:-D

http://pitchfork.com/news/50467-the-national-to-perform-one-song-over-and-over-for-six-hours-straight-at-moma-ps1-performance/

Kinda wish they'd gotten that indie rock Grateful Dead tribute off the ground.