There are few more apt pairings than LCD Soundsystem and Pitchfork. Not only are they two of the most influential forces in independent music, but we have to assume the band and the webzine’s fans overlap by nearly 100 percent. Most importantly, both LCD and Pitchfork are major music nerds, throwing down obscure references at every opportunity. That synergy has led to one our favorite infographics in a while, comparing artists James Murphy name-drops in “Losing My Edge” with those Pitchfork mentioned in their song-by-song LCD retrospective. The result is pleasing both for your obsessive list-maker types and those who find either entity somewhat worthy of ridicule — and, of course, the large group that would fall into the center of that Venn diagram. [via I Love Charts]
1. Exciting news for those of us who didn’t score tickets: Pitchforkhas announced that it will stream LCD Soundsystem’s final show ever at Madison Square Garden on April 2nd. It will be a one-time only broadcast and will not be replayed.
2. Word is that Oscar winning-director Tom Hooper is close to signing a deal with Universal to helm a full-blown musical adaptation of Les Miserables as his follow-up to The King’s Speech; if this thing goes through, what are the odds that Hugh Jackman gets cast as Jean Valjean? [via Deadline]
3. So this happened: Lady Gaga has posted a new stripped down, “Country Road” version of “Born This Way.” Because if there was one thing that song needed, it was more mouth organ. [via NME]
4. According to new research, more than half of all Americans over the age of 12 are now on Facebook. The shocking part: That’s up from just 8% of Americans three years ago. [via Gawker]
5. Former Face-Off costars John Travolta and Nic Cage are reportedly eying two indie film projects that would allow them to share the screen again. First, there’s Shrapnel, which “follows a former Bosnian soldier who seeks vengeance against the American who badly wounded him by disguising a deadly war game as a friendly backwoods hunting trip.” There’s also a thriller called Sea Trial, which is based on a novel of the same name.
You know the recession is on when your favorite song of 2009 is Animal Collective’s “My Girls” — a track that uses kaleidoscopic electro-psychedelia to sing the praises of financial stability. Clearly, for better or for worse, Pitchfork’s best songs of the year say something about its (young, educated, cosmopolitan, indie-leaning) audience’s preoccupations. With that in mind, we’ve examined their top 10 tracks of 2010 and attempted to tease out what they say about us.
1. Yoko Ono says that Andy Warhol predicted the rise of someone like Lady Gaga and advised her to dress in a similar over-the-top fashion. [via NYP]
2. Watch the Throne — the Kanye–Jay-Z collaboration album — is actually happening, and the first single will be dropping January 1, 2011. [via Vulture]
3. In other Kanye West news, President George W. Bush told Matt Lauer that when he heard Kanye say, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” that “it was one of the most disgusting moments in my Presidency.” [via EW]
4. Controversial Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei — whose Sunflower Seeds is currently being shown at the Tate Modern — talks about the government order to tear down his new studio. [via Telegraph]
5. Rapper Gucci Mane has been arrested again in Atlanta. This time it was for “driving on the wrong side of the road, running a red light or stop sign, damage to government property, obstruction, no license, no proof of insurance, and other traffic charges.” [via accessAtlanta]
The folks over at Pitchfork have just posted some eyebrow-raising news: They’re throwing a festival. It’s called #Offline. It’s only a little over a week away. It features lots of awesome bands, including Times New Viking, Marnie Stern, How to Dress Well, Javelin, Avey Tare, and more. Oh, and it happens to be taking place at Brooklyn Bowl for three of CMJ Music Marathon’s five days. Many considered Pitchfork’s avant-garde offshoot Altered Zones an attempt to overtake bloggers’ territory. So, is it possible the indie mega-site is making a play to hijack CMJ? Well, what do you think?
Yesterday, in what was, perhaps, a nod to the ’90s-nostalgia zeitgeist that’s been sweeping the Internet — a phenomenon we at Flavorpill have been heartily on board with — Pitchfork posted a list of the 50 greatest music videos of the decade. Their countdown is packed with great moments, from Daft Punk’s “Around the World” to Blur’s “Coffee + TV” to Snoop’s “Gin & Juice,” we can’t help but point out that many of our favorite touchstones of the era were conspicuously absent. After the jump, watch 20 more videos that we think should have earned a spot on the list.
1. Just 13 days into her 90-day sentence, Lindsay Lohan is out of jail and into rehab. [via Gawker]
2. Despite its popularity and subject matter, Mad Men isn’t a particularly huge draw for advertising itself. [via Ad Age]
3. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia say that they will block BlackBerry services that they can’t monitor. [via NYT]
4. Pitchfork gives Arcade Fire‘s new album The Suburbs an 8.6, calling it “a satisfying return to form.” [via P4K]
5. Michael Moore plans to offer seed money to help refurbish old movie houses in Michigan, and eventually nationwide. [via Philadelphia Inquirer]
Despite soaring temps and sound quality at one stage (the headlining stage, unfortunately) that Pitchfork itself would give no more than a 5.8, the Pitchfork Music Fest this weekend in Union Park, Chicago (featuring Wolf Parade, Local Natives, Beach House, Panda Bear, Girls, and Best Coast, plus LCD and Free Energy), was the chillwave capital of the world. And if we’ve learned anything about music in 2010, it’s that where there is chillwave, there are bros. Seriously: there were more fanny packs, topsiders, oversized tank tops, cargo shorts, rip-off Wayfarers, and headbands than we could count. In the name of fashion, we have rounded up just a few of our top picks for your viewing pleasure. Thanks for the bro-down, Chicago! See you next year.
Liz Phair has a new album out, and Pitchfork gave it a 2.6 out of 10. That’s bad. Dismal, even. In April, Courtney Love’s resurrected band Hole didn’t do much better with Nobody’s Daughter — their album scored a 2.9. We know the music criticism website is infamous for having high standards, but these grades seem outright punitive.
Perhaps we’re paranoid, but does Pitchfork have something against women over 40? Has a blend of ageism and sexism crept into their reviews, or are they just brave enough to spurn complacent records and give them the grade they deserve? To indulge our suspicions, we compared some of Pitchfork’s album reviews of artists in this demographic with the averages found on the review-aggregate website Metacritic. Check out our findings, along with Pitchfork’s harshest criticism leveled against each member of this random group of mature women, after the jump.
— their album scored a 2.9. We know the music criticism website is infamous for having high standards, but these grades seem outright punitive.
