i talked about pitchfork recently, and now you should read pitchfork observed which was published in the new york observer. it’s the usual origin story, but it also shows how influential pitchfork has become in the indie music scene. some choice quotes:

The ubiquity of the “hipster” has never been quite this intense. You know the one: He’s riding the L train, wearing a snug striped sweater, plugged into his iPod, with some band you’ve never heard of – Animal Collective, the Books, Death from Above 1979 – piping into his ears. His girlfriend dons a mixture of textured fabrics, has multi-tinted hair (though in natural shades – no pinks) and is listening to the Futureheads.

nothing really related to pitchfork but the description is neat because it’s so crazy

Funeral, by the new Canadian band the Arcade Fire, and Travistan, by indie darling Travis Morrison. About two months ago, Pitchfork reviewed Funeral and gave it a rave. Writer David Moore emoted, with the personal intensity and creative hyperbole that’s a hallmark of PF scribes: “Their search for salvation in the midst of real chaos is ours; their eventual catharsis is part of our continual enlightenment.” Funeral earned the high mark of 9.7 on the site’s numerical rating system, where 10.0 is the top and 0.0 the bottom. Almost immediately, it became impossible to find Funeral in a New York City record store.

i must admit that i didn’t hear the hype around arcade fire from pitchfork, mainly it was due to excellent reviews of their live shows. then again, those might be written by people who read pitchfork to find out about them in the firstplace 😉

When Mr. Schreiber started Pitchfork, all he really wanted to do was tell other people about his favorite bands. “I wanted to meet bands-I thought that would be really cool. So I thought it would be kind of fun to start a magazine on the Web and write about my favorite bands and get to meet them,” he explains. “And once I heard about the promos, I was like, `Oh my God, unbelievable! Unbelievable!'”

shit, i need to start a music review site!

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: music, webgeek