Brent DiCrescenzo, as bad as he seems?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

review "concept" reviews.

― Dan I., Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Worse.

― Oliver, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Not as bad as he seems. A good writer with enough courage and creativity to have made some really embarassing misfires. Has terrible taste and thus is worthless as a buying guide, but the writing is often lively and entertaining. I vote CLASSIC.

― Ian, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

um, i really like Brents reviews.

what was that one he did in like the 1700s or something, and Puff Daddy was mentioned?

― gareth, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

For the record, I'm not keen on threads aiming to dress down individual crits, particularly ones who aren't making a living off it.

But anyway, what Ian said (good writer-horrible taste), with the caveat that were it not for him and Josh K I wouldn't like the Dismemberment Plan, so his taste isn't all horrible. It suggests something to me that he hardly reviews at all for Pitchforkmedia any more and he's still their best-known writer by some distance.

― Tom, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

If only because one reads, say, the "rap" that follows "Check Your Head" in the 90's favorites list, or his Kid Koala review, and thinks "Jesus Christ, who should I hold responsible for this ?".

― Dan I., Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Kid Koala review was great. Wish I had thought of it first.

― Ian, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Of course the rap is unspeakable but who else on that site would even dare try doing that?

― Tom, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm not so sure you can say his taste is 'horrible' anyway. He pushes it at the extremes (so that the Beatles and Radiohead are the best thing ever, say), but aside from being limited in some ways he likes a lot of good music.

― Josh, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

what was that one he did in like the 1700s or something, and Puff Daddy was mentioned?

The third Supergrass record. I'll stay out of this, I've already said my bits in the Pitchfork thread, but Tom is spot on with Brent's notoriety -- and he's not even written much online this year.

― scott p., Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

yes that was it! i loved that review. you see, i'm not interested in Supergrass, but i would read the review anyway, because i know it would be good.

― gareth, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Pre-Kid A review Brent = classic Post-Kid A review Brent = dud

― Jeff, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I liked the Bedhead/Macha one set in a classroom of the future where the teacher mentions Brent and the students sigh reverently.

― Tim, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Is that the guy in the paper with the dark hair, parted in the middle? If so, he's officially famous because I recognize the name and the face. If not, well, fuck, I dunno who he is then. I thought I saw that name around here once or twice. Was I merely fantasizing about Brent DiCrescenzo (again)?

― Nude Spock, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh, google shows me he's the pitchfork guy. No, I do not like his reviews and would not go by/buy anything he says.

― Nude Spock, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I know it's mean to say (and I've said it before, thus I'm doubly mean) but I think most of the Pitchfork writers are pretty bad. To be fair, I'm assuming they're mostly really young.

― Sean, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think he's managed some successful reviews, but what bothers me concerning his "epic" pieces is how he recycles words and phrases, as if he's perfecting the Brent D. uber-review (eg. "this album belongs in Valhalla" applies to both Modest Mouse and Radiohead, "the new new age", referring to both Burning Airlines (or was it Jets to Brazil?) and The D-Plan amongst others.

― Mitch Lastnamewithheld, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

There are only so many adjectives, unless you invent new ones. "This squamesque new album by Hairy Harry is utterly zingle."

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

By Jove Ned you've got it.

― Tom, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i make up adjectives all the time! thats one of the best things about music crit!

― jess, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I wouldn't go as far to say zingle, Ned. It's a little too *restrained* for that. It leans close to the more frelpic tendencies of the new Hacky Sack LP.

― Mitch Lastnamewithheld, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

having a thread like this really just goes to show that he has some talent. I agree with Tom, that D-Plan review was pretty on point, and it opened my tastes wide open. So I'd say, yea, he's a good writer.

― Brock K, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think the first reply is the funniest (and most accurate) thing I've read on this board.

― gygax!, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

To be fair, I'm assuming they're mostly really young.

Except Mark. He's older than god.

― dleone, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

stretch the 'well people are talking about x so x must have some talent' argument long enough and you'll find it encompasses things like weblogs from bores who are just good at talking about themselves and the aguilera-as-snider period. his name has certainly accompanied some of the pitchfork product that rises above that site's usual ignorant bilge, but how steep is the curve that music writing's being graded on, here?

― maura, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Aguilera-as-Snider period was ace!!

Difference is that in some ways it's the job of a critic to get people's attention. The weblog bores get talked about because they've been around forever and are dully prolific - the argument I used with Brent is that he has a notoriety despite not actually doing *anything* much these days online.

― Tom, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

(W)hat Ian said (good writer-horrible taste), with the caveat that were it not for him and Josh K I wouldn't like the Dismemberment Plan

Ouch. I thought you said you weren't keen on threads dressing down crit(ic)s.

Aside: Isn't it the Dismemberment Plan's skillz that makes you like them, not what somebody wrote aboot them?

― Vic Funk, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Vector of D-Plan transmission: I read Brent's review, it sounds interesting. I express interest, get tracks c/o Josh K, eventually like them, buy records. So without reading the review I'd not have heard of the band to ask Josh about them, etc. And so I wouldn't now like them - they'd just be another name to me.

― Tom, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Would he have tried them if it weren't for something he read? What if he listened to them once and nothing grabbed him the first time? What someone wrote about them might give him a way in, so that it's easier for him to hear what makes them good or interesting. (Otherwise, he might give up, or not want to put much effort into it.)

― Josh, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

If Pitchfork was printed and cost money, I wouldn't pay for it. Or even look at it. I think there's a terrible disparity between the site's reasonably professional design and its actual written content. It's not even as good as 'New Flesh', for fuck's sake. So I don't suppose it takes much to stand out from the herd there...

― Andrew L, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i know this might sound dumb, but who are the weblog bores that have been around for ever? this is occasionally referred to, but i'm not quite sure who it means.

― gareth, Wednesday, 5 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm assuming Maura's talking about kottke, camworld, usr/bin/girl.

― Tom, Wednesday, 5 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

DOH! 'New Flesh' = 'Your Flesh'.

― Andrew L, Wednesday, 5 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

but how steep is the curve that music writing's being graded on, here?

I guess that's a question for the Entertainment Weekly writer, since he (or she) is the one that's graded FT and Pitchfork. ;-)

― Nicole, Wednesday, 5 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What were the ET Weekly grades?

― Mark, Wednesday, 5 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I forget FT, it counted for nothing anyway because poor Tom had to change his url almost immediately afterward. But here's the pitchfork review and grade:

PITCHFORKMEDIA.COM (pitchforkmedia.com) Diehard indie-rock fans now have a place to call home. From daily news reports to a monthly MP3 sampler, Pitchforkmedia.com is a mandatory stop. Visitors can read hundreds of reviews (Bjork's Vespertine scored a mere 7.2 and wasn't "worth the wait")--or dig for older treasures in the archives, like the Les Savy Fav interview. And make sure to peruse the (oxymoronic) Top 50 Worst Guitar Solos of the Millennium--now, here's a site with lots of axes to grind. B --Vanessa Rothschild

I reckon the only reason Pitchfork got a B was because it was snarky about Bjork, which seems a bit unfair. People who have too much Bjerk love should be sacrificed to a pagan army of cats.

― Nicole, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

FT got an A minus.

Music writing labeled "brainy" is often dismissed as boring or irrelevant, but the B-word is the not-so-secret ingredient that makes Freaky Trigger -- an ultrasmart fanzine about pop music -- so irresistible. Weekly features plus reviews and older stories represent a fair mix of crowd-pleasing ditties (Top 40 radio standbys like Shaggy) and esoteric hipster raves (college-radio staples like Jim O'Rourke). Nearly everyone can appreciate FT's meditations on '80s music or the fantasy pop league (where rock stars are awarded points for their oh-so-rockin' behavior). A- Must- Visit: (url for I Love Music) Approach this message board with caution: Threads include "Do We Really Need A Post-Punk Canon?" Uh, yes.

― maura, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I was able to dig up a picture of Brent as a young lad. Seems he's always had bad taste.

http://coke.rotten.com/dog-knowledge/

― Nude Spock, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

http://coke.rotten.com/dog-knowledge/dogknows.jpg

― Nude Spock, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i fuck people who play golf

― paul cox, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ever get a hummer while dootin' on the potty?

― Nude Spock, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

six months pass...

I've only ever read one of his reviews, of Tool's "Lateralus", which is my favourite CD ever, and is musically and emotionally amazing, quite impossible to compare with other CD's. He compares this with Black Sabbath which is entirely stupid and shows categorically that he has no musical taste and fails to appreciate and properly compare music which is deserved of appreciation. The first response, Worse, sums him up in one word.

― Tom Jones, Tuesday, 18 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Comparisons are never stupid. Oranges are like BMWs.

― nathalie, Tuesday, 18 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

three years pass...

is this a quiet, humbled return home?

http://pitchforkmedia.com/columns/dicrescenzo/05-08-29.shtml

― gear (gear), Monday, 29 August 2005 16:48 (twenty years ago)

he also wrote a piece on the doobie brothers two weeks ago:

― scott pl. (scott pl.), Monday, 29 August 2005 16:54 (twenty years ago)

that 90s article is kinda lame, actually.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 29 August 2005 16:57 (twenty years ago)

yeah it's awful.

― gear (gear), Monday, 29 August 2005 17:01 (twenty years ago)

yeah, what the fuck was up with the lame attempts at "clever" in that Tim Kinsella tracklist?

― jonviachicago, Monday, 29 August 2005 17:03 (twenty years ago)

Christ.

If I wanted to read a McSweeney's piece I'd go to McSweeney's. But I don't. Get this guy away from a keyboard.

― PB, Monday, 29 August 2005 17:06 (twenty years ago)

and Sniper was actually pretty good

― gear (gear), Monday, 29 August 2005 17:07 (twenty years ago)

i guess a rent check was due for Brent.

― gear (gear), Monday, 29 August 2005 17:09 (twenty years ago)

i thought his beastie boys thing was hilarious but reading that 90's piece was like seeing a shell of the man he used to be.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Monday, 29 August 2005 17:10 (twenty years ago)

I guess the Coreys project didn't really get off the ground...

― PB, Monday, 29 August 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

"Besides, even a gleaned collection of music from critically acclaimed records would sound scatterbrain and sit unsold because of an audience of critics afraid to accept anything presented remotely canonical."

Brent, I sure hope this crap gets you laid. It does nothing for the rest of us.

― Confounded (Confounded), Monday, 29 August 2005 17:16 (twenty years ago)

Oh, I'm as big a jealous Brent D hata as anyone, but that Doobies piece was solid.

― marc h. (marc h.), Monday, 29 August 2005 17:23 (twenty years ago)

big a jealous Brent D hata

There goes ILM having another Brent D. jealousy flare-up.

Where's my ointment?

― Confounded (Confounded), Monday, 29 August 2005 17:34 (twenty years ago)

oh it's totally jealousy. that's what i'm saying. that's why i write for pfm now.

― marc h. (marc h.), Monday, 29 August 2005 17:35 (twenty years ago)

Marc,

If you don't have any ointment for me, I'm afraid we can't speak today.

― Confounded (Confounded), Monday, 29 August 2005 17:39 (twenty years ago)

haha, fair enough. if you tell me what kind to buy i'll go down to the drugstore and pick it up for you. and then write a concept review about it. :-)

― marc h. (marc h.), Monday, 29 August 2005 17:42 (twenty years ago)

"'Gang Gang Dance At Budo Budo Kan!' at 72 dpi on your iPod photo LCD, if you're not quite ready, socially and psychologically, to fully embrace the easy boat-shoe-and-bourbon jammin' of the Doob's in public."

quit tryin' so hard, bood.

― drew the jew, Monday, 29 August 2005 18:03 (twenty years ago)

I also have only read DiCrescenzo's Tool review, and using that as a litmus test, he fails miserably. I get the impression that he has some personal gripe with the band, and chose to lash out with the most rambling, indirect, derisive review he could concoct.

Not too bad as a writer, I suppose.

― zane, Friday, 9 September 2005 04:56 (twenty years ago)

Okay, so I just did my research (after posting the above message) and found - among other things - DiCrescenzo's review of St. Anger, which is absolutely priceless (http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/m/metallica/st-anger.shtml). Again, not a good review, but excellent writing.

I still think the idea of "concept reviews" is banal. Perhaps DiCrescenzo's was a Kaufmanesque take on reviews - the readers be damned (http://www.deekmagazine.com/issues/december2004/pages/reviews_ReviewofReviewBrentFranz_1204.htm). But, as a reader expecting a critical review, you can only laugh so hard at this type of self-serving joke.

― Zane, Friday, 9 September 2005 05:51 (twenty years ago)

Kaufmanesque

Not to be used in vain, kindly!

― Confounded (Confounded), Friday, 9 September 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

Ah yes, St. Anger. I enjoyed the writing until the very last paragraph, wherein I proceeded to lose my shit at the Jheri Curl of insincerity.

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 9 September 2005 14:46 (twenty years ago)

Pfork needs the return of Ott more than anything. I know that many disagree, but I thought he was as consistently OTM as you can ask for.

― jb, Friday, 9 September 2005 15:15 (twenty years ago)

i really dislike most of the man's reviews but the "St. Anger" one is an exception.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Saturday, 10 September 2005 05:46 (twenty years ago)

i mean, if ever was an album as deserving of a specific reviewer as that one...

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Saturday, 10 September 2005 05:50 (twenty years ago)

Brent D.'s a nice guy with a great ear for good music.

― enjoy bell woods (sjjd111), Saturday, 10 September 2005 06:35 (twenty years ago)

five years pass...

this fucking guy

― i hate it when rats eat my bushels (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 18 July 2011 22:12 (fourteen years ago)

They wrote songs where beauty and melody was assumed on the count of clean guitar and picking chords, despite the fact that the two guitars had no knowledge of each other.

seriously what is this supposed to mean

― i hate it when rats eat my bushels (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 18 July 2011 22:19 (fourteen years ago)

Bob Rock's bass neither bobbed nor rocked

^touche

― hardcore oatmeal (Jordan), Monday, 18 July 2011 22:33 (fourteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.