What I have here, in 360 pages, is every review from Pitchfork that got an 8.0 or above. I know what you're thinking, what a great way to waste roughly 10 hours of your life, but it was a very rewarding experience. Having to go through 10,500 reviews was a very annoying and tedious procedure though. After doing it, I feel as if I understand Pitchfork much better, and can never again see it as the pretentious review site it is usually branded.

I hope someone can find an album that they will enjoy after reading over this list, because I have found many, and am still finding them while picking through the list. Share this list with a friend, so that they might find new music themselves. Hope you all enjoy:



http://www.yousendit.com/downl...lxYnU2UEN3TGpIRGc9PQ



If I've missed any albums, please, let me know so I can add them to the list.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: modestaretaloger,

I bet 3/4ths of those albums received an 8.3.

Nope.

8.0 - 443
8.1 - 200
8.2 - 233
8.3 - 245
8.4 - 207
8.5 - 202
8.6 - 152
8.7 - 113
8.8 - 83
8.9 - 68
9.0 - 102
9.1 - 48
9.2 - 47
9.3 - 45
9.4 - 31
9.5 - 30
9.6 - 16
9.7 - 15
9.8 - 9
9.9 - 1
10.0 - 31

Wow, you have given me a lot to look at here. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Looking over this list, I'm reminded again that Pitchfork used to give out a lot more higher scores. There were barely more than five albums originally released last year that broke 9.0. Maybe that's realistic... I don't know.

these days, the majority of pitchforks reviews are between 4-7.

quote:

and can never again see it as the pretentious review site it is usually branded.

Uh, yep, it is an extremely pretentious bunch of dribble.

quote:

Originally posted by Ninny Gooptz:
Uh, yep, it is an extremely pretentious bunch of dribble.

Ah, sweet opinions...

Opinion! That's a bloody fact right there mate.

...Why does this thread exist again? :S

^ because you can never hate pitchfork enough. p4k is such bullshit.

I can hate p4k without having there to be countless threads about it.

Also,

quote:

quotes are a beautiful thing

To be fair, although I usually don't care for most of Pitchforks highly rated albums, they do on occasion introduce me to something new (not so much recently, but they did give Iran a 9.7 or something, which is awesome). I say the list can be helpful if you let go of biases you have against them. After all, it's not like you have to read their ridiculous reviews.

quote:

Originally posted by Ninny Gooptz:
Opinion! That's a bloody fact right there mate.

Haha.

I think people have a misunderstanding of how Pitchfork reviews albums.

Say, for example, a band releases a deluxe edition to an album. If they don't include enough material on that deluxe edition to justify the deluxe title, the rating of the album will suffer. Pavement's "Slanted and Enchanted" and "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" are how Pitchfork sees deluxe editions of albums as being. Modest Mouse's deluxe edition of "The Moon and Antarctica" is not. It should be noted that deluxe edition reviews in no way reflect the original album's rating. "The Moon and Antarctica" originally received a 9.8, whereas the deluxe edition only received a 5.0 This does not mean the original's rating changes, but only that the deluxe just didn't have enough extra material to merit a higher rating.

Remastered albums will only grab their original rating if they only do it once, and the quality of the songs obviously improves.

The first reissue will always get the original rating or, in some cases, an ever higher rating. "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea", "Music Has the Right to Children" and "The Glow Pt. 2" (even though it just went up .1)

These reasons are where Pitchfork differs from other review sites. Other review sites see the ablum, no matter what form, as their original, whereas Pitchfork sees it as more.

I have a feeling that people label Pitchfork as being terrible or petentious because they give an album they like an "okay" rating. Heck, I even made a thread a long time ago by the name of "Albums You Never Would have Listened to if you Listened to Pitchfork." Yes, there are some reviews I disagree with, but looking back at it now, the amount of music I've found by listening to Pitchfork makes up for it.

That's all I'm going to say, and I just know somebody's going to reply to this like a smartass. Haha.

modest. What you have described is all fine and dandy, but it's just technicalities.
All that matters to me is the actual writing, and that has always been painfully pretentious, weak and unenlightening, save a handful of examples.

Pitchfork is useful in as much as any site that highlights an album, in the enormous release calendar worldwide. I find my gems all over the web, from the Atlantic Monthly to amateur web logs. Pitchfork is just another site...except for its' godawful essays.
The majority of writers there can't write, but think they can, and that is the definition of pretentious.

hahahahaha nice one bro

the pitchfork staff are just unbelievably arrogant. when you are assigning "value" to something as objective as music (or all art in general), you have to understand that such material is different for everybody. most writers acknowledge this by not taking themselves too seriously, but pitchforks reviews are written in such a way as to shit on anybody else s opinion. pitchfork is just like that asshole elitist that works upstairs at the record store.

Haha. I've only read one review from Pitchfork, and that was for "The Moon and Antarctica."

Stop reading the reviews and just check the rating.

Seriously, did you get paid to do this work. WTF?!
Anyway, if you wanna find new awesome music go to rateyourmusic.com That is the only place you need, even the most obscure albums ever have user reviews, reviews which are a million times more helpful/funny than pitchfork reviews will ever be.
These days pitchfork even gives 8.0 to Mi Ami and similar crappy bands, who cares anymore.

quote:

Stop reading the reviews and just check the rating.

In other words, quit being literate and thoughtful about art, and reduce everything to a number.
That's just awful advice.

quote:

Originally posted by Ninny Gooptz:

In other words, quit being literate and thoughtful about art, and reduce everything to a number.
That's just awful advice.

If the reviews are bad but the ratings are good, by all means, stop reading the reviews.
It's pretty simple.