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Alex Sepiol Spouts Off (email style):
Hi Jamie: I was bitching to Tim Byron about Pitchfork, and he directed me to your site and email. I mean, yeah, the daily updates make Pitchfork an easy thing to check when I arrive at my day job every morning, but this review pissed me off. They'd probably be proud of pissing a reader off, but a bigger problem is that the review seriously undermined their credibility as well. It was just so lazy and pitchformulaic. I can understand the XBXRX and Ex Models comparisons (and to a lesser extent, Deerhoof) - the writer was trying to situate the Mae Shi as part of contemporary indie rock. Fair enough... but 311? Rage Against the Machine? Besides the fact that those references are mistifying and irrelevant to the album "being reviewed," the writer is well aware that those sort of reference will induce snickering in the sort of readership that site gets. When the writer eschews references to talk about the music, it got downright hostile: "That said, when these straightforward songs aren't up to "Power to the Power" snuff, all the guitar gymnastics comes off as talentless bullshit, drenched in noise to mask an inability to play." I know the review got a 6.5, which is not "disastrous," and the writer pointed out several positive things about the album. But to dismiss the ability of the band in that statement... it's haughty and curiously spiteful, it's a writer in love with his own hateful rhetoric, and it communicates that the review clearly isn't about music. In their positive reviews, Pitchfork often tries to position themselves as tastemakers, an alternative media source for (relatively) undiscovered new talent. While this is self-serving, it also allows people to hear about cool new artists they might grow to love. The unfortunate flip-side is that the site has constantly threatened to become a monolithic arbiter of cool, rather than review music on its own merits. It's too bad, really. I love this album, but even if somebody didn't, it would be cool to hear them actually try to engage with the music and figure out what they didn't like about it. But then, I suspect that if the writer let his guard down enough and tried to think about it, he probably would've liked it. Anyway, cool site, and thanks for letting me air my grievances. I feel much better now. -Alex. |
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