Who is the best and worst Pitchfork writer?

I can't stand Brent DiCrescenzo and Chris Ott, but they aren't writing for Pitchfork anymore, are they?

(ba dum)

I don't really have least favorites: I usually don't really pay attention to the names in those cases. Although I guess I was never that keen on William Bowers. I do think he's a talented writer, something about him just bugged me.

haha you make it sound like something i would lie/brag about.

jabberwocky: being dismissive or dismayed about something =/ "blood boilin'"

for all the purple prose, I still really like Brent D's Kid A review

Comparing this to other albums is like comparing an aquarium to blue construction paper.

^^ This makes me lol in the best way.

Best part is that when I first read this five years ago or so I totally agreed with all of it. Yes! Kid A! (Still love Kid A, don't think it's the best record ever though. But it's up there for me.)

i always assumed that review was tongue-in-cheek hyperbole

like even when i was in my "radiohead is awesome!" phase i read that and i was like uhhhh this isn't serious is it

if that's true then my whole life is a lie

So Nabisco is also gonna be New York Magazine's music critic.

Well deserved.

Amanda Petrusich is by far the worst. I submit:

Maybe more than any other band in operation, Seattle's Fleet Foxes are uncannily predisposed to singing about mountains: With its ghostly opening and perfect little Fender Rhodes riff, "Blue Ridge Mountains" feels ancient and huge, like it tumbled down from the top of the range and rolled straight into Sub Pop's front office. The atmospherics are so convincing-- and frontman Robin Pecknold's high, wearied vocals so effortless-- that when Pecknold mews the phrase "I heard that you missed your connecting flight" it feels genuinely anomalous: It's hard to imagine that Fleet Foxes and commercial airlines even exist in the same dimension. --Amanda Petrusich

My favorite used to be Eric Harvey, but I'm not sure if he's still writing. His blog, marathonpacks, has some wonderful writing. His piece on Wale's The Mixtape About Nothing is excellent and can be found here:
http://www.marathonpacks.com/2009/01/year-end-lengthy-write-ups/

I'll second the recommendation on Eric's writing, he's great, and a genuinely nice dude also.

i really liked Eric's thing on poloroids

I really like Mark Richardson (the guy who does the Resonant Frequency columns). Really good writer, can even make NMH sound interesting, which is nice. Can't name a worst since a lot of reviews seemed to have been taken off. Whoever wrote the 0.6 review they gave to Andrew W.K. was pretty bad. Most of their daily record reviews are confusing. Honestly if you cover up the rating and just read the review it's very hard to even guess what these guys rated it. The last one I read was their review for Underworld's Barking which he gave a mediocre score to besides seeming to like all the songs. Blah blah blah, these guys are old, blah blah blah, can't think of anything to say about the music.

Mark R. is probably my favorite Pfork writer, all things considered. I can name a few others I'd say are on par with Mark (nabisco, Tom E., Tim F., Eric H. all come immediately to mind) but none of them write frequently enough to really call my *favorite*. I guess the closest parellel is Tom B., who writes often enough, has pretty good tastes and judgment, and has a really distinctive personal voice that I can level myself with.

dave q, easy

One can argue that for every good Pfork writer there are 2-3 average-to-poor ones, but I think that's true of any critics' website, really.

Another great piece from Eric Harvey:
http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/7871-bad-moon-rising-the-practical-lessons-of-sonic-youth/

yes

How did I not realize until now that Rob Mitchum's full name is likely Robert Mitchum? You know, as in the actor.

This is like when I belatedly put together that Drew Gaerig rhymes with Lou Gehrig.

i'm disappointed p4k seems to have abandoned joe tangari's old dustry-grooves column. it was really great.

xxxp I gotta say I didn't find this piece particularly compelling (Harvey using himself in it seemed awkward). Does anyone other than Albini even care about this stuff?

Wait, is Harvey's piece the same thing that was on his blog a few days ago?

xxxp I gotta say I didn't find this piece particularly compelling (Harvey using himself in it seemed awkward). Does anyone other than Albini even care about this stuff?

yeah, seriously

albini produced bush right? surely he's not immune to getting some cash

dave q writes for pitchfork?

i'm disappointed p4k seems to have abandoned joe tangari's old dustry-grooves column. it was really great.

― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, October 13, 2010 11:13 AM (45 minutes ago)

just a heads up: Tangari's blog is http://everygreatsongever.tumblr.com/ if you're looking for more of his writing

"albini produced bush right? surely he's not immune to getting some cash"

Uh he "engineered" Bush.

How did I not realize until now that Rob Mitchum's full name is likely Robert Mitchum? You know, as in the actor.

I think I've half-joked about this before, but ... I'm pretty sure he is actually related to Robert Mitchum, the actor/calypso singer. Or else that's just the kind of joke you're REALLY DEADPAN about when your name is Robert Mitchum. But I seem to remember it's true?

^^ not like closely or collecting-checks related, but some kind of related

(congrats on the new gig nabisco; you deserve it)

no but seriously: who is dave q?

You want Dave Q, you got it.

Rather an outdated page in terms of links but even so.

hey! thank you, markers. (xp)

right on. thanks Ned! what happened to him, though? did he take off with mark s and momus?

Still hanging in London last I heard; met him back in 2007 there.

oh right on thanks again Ned!

You're welcome!

dave q is my idol/hero.

quite fitting, you're as unfunny as he was :)

grrrrrrrr

this is one of my favourite-ever threads

this is another one

(is this the origin-point for Aerosmith's critical rehabilitation/transformation into ILX darling?)

circling back to thank markers again for the link to that joe tangari blog. every great song ever is fantastic.

glad you like it! man, I haven't even read any of the entries there yet. maybe I should

they're uniformly dynamite. the most current is representative of the flavor, tho the blog covers all kinds of music:

Girma Bèyènè: “Ené Nègn Bay Manèsh” (Ahma Records 45, 1969)

In my last post, I mentioned buying Buda Musique’s Ethiopiques 8 compilation. Subtitled Swinging Addis, this comp is note-for-note one of the best CDs I’ve ever bought. It includes music released on the Ethiopian independent label Ahma Records between 1969 and 1975, the year Haile Selassie, Ethiopia’s last emperor, was overthrown and Mengistu Haile Mariam’s Derg regime destroyed the nightlife of Addis Ababa with curfews.

I really can’t recommend it enough. Compiler Francis Falceto really went out of his way to include biographical information on all the performers, translate the songs and provide context. The creative burst that accompanied the final years of Selassie’s reign left behind a truly amazing body of work—the fidelity may not necessarily be high, but the music is funky, soulful, dark and very distinctly Ethiopian. The scales and vocal styles stamp it with a national identity.

Girma Beyene is a keyboardist, arranger and singer who was hugely responsible for the sound of Ethiopian pop music in the 60s and 70s. He played in the original Ras Band, one of Ethiopia’s first independent bands, and when the band was poached by another hotel, he stayed behind and founded a second Ras Band. He was the guy who hired Tesfa Maryam Kidane, one of the country’s greatest saxophonists, and Beyene actually was the most prolific arranger of the late imperial period, arranging more records than Mulatu Astatke, who he also worked with on occasion.

Beyene stuck with it after the rise of Mengistu, too, leading the Wallias Band until he left them during a 1981 tour of the US, deciding not to return home. His music career didn’t last long after his emigration, and he faded into the Ethiopian immigrant community of the American East Coast.

“Ene Negn Bay Manesh” is one of only four songs he ever recorded as a singer. He doesn’t have the powerful pipes of a Tlahoun Gessesse or Alemayehu Eshete, but his hushed vocals perfectly fit the smoky, dark vibe of his songs. His organ playing on this song is deftly funky and has a blues tinge to it, and those horns sound like an opening to another world, so it’s fitting that this was the first Ethiopian pop song I ever heard.

i'm sure his writing isn't for everyone, but i love it.

Haven't read his blog but I agree Tangari's a great writer elsewhere.

new Tangari blog @ http://yeeshkul.tumblr.com/

ATTN DANIEL

R0b Harv1lla writes for Pfork, one of the best I've read recently:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15970-a-very-she-him-christmas

yeah that is good

She & Him, her Instagram-folk outfit with the quietly excellent M. Ward, proud parents of two cheerily frivolous full-length records many people took remarkable seriously, and why not.

"adorkable" oh nooooo