I must admit something before you read my harsh reaction to Pitchfork’s Larry Fitzmaurice when he reviewed Interpol’s El Pintor. The post is old. But my angst hasn’t subsided after all these years. True. I should probably relax. Except, the publication (now acquired by Condé Nast) since then has taken a turn for the worse. Once a reliable source to unearth the underdogs and the hidden game-changers, Pitchfork is now a sewer of disposable teen poetry.
I don’t write elegantly when I am this frustrated and fed up. I just hope it makes for a fun read. Enjoy!
I read a Pitchfork review. It comes from a pattern of behavior I don’t want to go through right now. It was terrible. And here is why.
In 2014, Interpol released their fifth studio album, El Pintor. This is not my favorite album of the year and it is not going to be my favorite Interpol album, either. That being said, I am enjoying it and it has reportedly received favorable reviews by critics as well as universal acclaim from many of us. Of course, it is not everyone’s cup of tea and that is understandable. I think one has the right to rate an album (if one really has to scratch that itch of assigning numbers to things) low or find it average. The problem starts to manifest itself only when we bring a journalist’s work down to rational grounds. I saw something similar happening to Alt-J’s This Is All Yours when Juana Likes Music wrote about it.
Now, this should not be mistaken for any sort of guard against Pitchfork per se. This is the website in which people like used to Mark Richardson open new horizons to discover new and old music. They have changed the way I listen to music and have looked at it via brave new alternative and spectacular lenses. What I have problems with is when one turns this influential platform into a war zone and pens only to spread hatred and disdain based on emotional reactions and personal enmity with a successful (and now) mainstream rock band. And to do so, alas, adopting logical fallacies has seemingly been the easiest approach.
Therefore, for the very first time in my blogging life, I, an enormous lover of music…
