''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American
online music publication (currently owned by
Condé Nast
Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Montrose Nast, and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan.
The company's media ...
) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog.
Schreiber started Pitchfork while working at a record store in suburban
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
, and the website earned a reputation for its extensive coverage of
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
music. It has since expanded and covers all kinds of music, including
pop. Pitchfork was sold to
Condé Nast
Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Montrose Nast, and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan.
The company's media ...
in 2015, although Schreiber remained its editor-in-chief until he left the website in 2019.
[ Initially based in Minneapolis, Pitchfork later moved to Chicago, and then ]Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Greenpoint is the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It is bordered on the southwest by Williamsburg at Bushwick Inlet Park and McCarren Park; on the southeast by the Brooklyn ...
. Its offices are currently located in One World Trade Center
One World Trade Center (also known as One World Trade, One WTC, and formerly Freedom Tower) is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Mer ...
alongside other Condé Nast publications.
The site is best known for its daily output of music reviews but also regularly reviews reissue
In the music industry, a reissue (also re-release, repackage or re-edition) is the release of an album or Single (music), single which has been released at least once before, sometimes with alterations or additions.
Reasons for reissue
New aud ...
s and box set
A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit.
Music
Artists and bands ...
s. Since 2016, it has published retrospective reviews of classics, and other albums that it had not previously reviewed, each Sunday. The site publishes "best-of" lists—albums, songs—and annual features and retrospectives each year. During the 1990s and 2000s the site's reviews—favorable or otherwise—were considered widely influential in making or breaking careers.
History
In 1996, Ryan Schreiber, a recent high school graduate, influenced by fanzine
A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...
culture and with no previous writing experience, created the website. Initially called ''Turntable'', the site was updated monthly with interviews and reviews. In May 1996, the site began publishing daily and was renamed ''Pitchfork'', alluding to Tony Montana
Antonio Montana is a fictional character and the protagonist of the 1983 film ''Scarface''. This character is portrayed by Al Pacino in the film and is voiced by André Sogliuzzo in the 2006 video game '' Scarface: The World Is Yours''. Embod ...
's tattoo in '' Scarface''. Schreiber wrote the website's first review, of '' Pacer'' by The Amps
The Amps were an American alternative rock band formed by Kim Deal in 1995, while her band the Breeders went on hiatus. The group consisted of Deal, on lead vocals and rhythm guitar; Luis Lerma on bass; Nate Farley on lead guitar; and Jim Macphe ...
.
In early 1999, Schreiber relocated ''Pitchfork'' to Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
. By then, the site had expanded to four full-length album reviews daily, as well as sporadic interviews, features, and columns. It had also begun garnering a following for its extensive coverage of underground music
Underground music is music with practices perceived as outside, or somehow opposed to, mainstream popular music culture. Underground music is intimately tied to popular music culture as a whole, so there are important tensions within underground ...
and its writing style, which was often unhindered by the conventions of journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...
. In October, the site added a daily music news section.
''Pitchfork'' has launched a variety of subsidiary websites. ''Pitchfork.tv'', a website displaying interviews, music videos and feature-length films, launched in April 2008. In July 2010, ''Pitchfork'' announced ''Altered Zones'', a blog aggregator devoted to underground and do it yourself
"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi ...
music. On May 21, 2011, ''Pitchfork'' announced a partnership with Kill Screen
''Kill Screen'' (stylized as ''KILL SCREEN'') was a print and online magazine founded in 2009 by Jamin Warren and Chris Dahlen and owned by Kill Screen Media, Inc. It focused on video games and culture, but also included articles based on ent ...
, in which ''Pitchfork'' would publish some of their articles. Altered Zones was closed on November 30. On December 26, 2012, ''Pitchfork'' launched ''Nothing Major'', a website that covered visual arts such as fine art and photography. Nothing Major closed in October 2013. On October 13, 2015, Condé Nast
Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Montrose Nast, and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan.
The company's media ...
announced that it had acquired ''Pitchfork''. A key aspect of its image, ''Pitchfork'' was previously entirely independent, with only two investors: Schreiber and ''Pitchfork'' president Chris Kaskie. Following the sale, Schreiber remained as editor-in-chief.
On March 13, 2016, ''Pitchfork'' was redesigned. According to an announcement post during the redesign, they said:
In August 2018, ''Pitchfork''s longtime executive editor Mark Richardson stepped down. He began writing for the site in 1998 and was employed full-time in 2007. On September 18, 2018, founder Ryan Schreiber stepped down as the site's top editor. He was replaced by Puja Patel as editor-in-chief on October 15, 2018. On January 8, 2019, Schreiber announced he would be exiting the company. In January 2019, Condé Nast
Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Montrose Nast, and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan.
The company's media ...
announced it would put all its titles, including ''Pitchfork'', behind a paywall by the end of the year, though this did not occur.
Influence
Publicity and artist popularity
''Pitchfork''s opinions have gained increased cultural currency; some in the mainstream media view the site as a barometer of the independent music scene, and positive quotes from its reviews are increasingly used in press releases and affixed to the front of CDs. Some publications have cited ''Pitchfork'' in having played a part in "breaking" artists such as Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member S ...
, Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released nine solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nomi ...
, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (sometimes abbreviated to CYHSY) is the musical project of American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Alec Ounsworth, active since the early 2000s in and out of Philadelphia.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah have rel ...
, Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...
, The Go! Team
The Go! Team are an English six-piece band from Brighton, England. The band initially began as a solo project conceived by Ian Parton; however, after the unexpected success of The Go! Team's debut album, '' Thunder, Lightning, Strike'', Parton r ...
, Junior Boys
Junior Boys are a Canadian electronic pop group, founded in 1999 in Hamilton, Ontario by Jeremy Greenspan and Johnny Dark. Dark left the project shortly after, and was replaced by engineer Matt Didemus. The duo initially gained critical praise ...
, The Books
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
, Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene is a Canadians, Canadian indie rock band, a musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed by Kevin Drew (vocals, guitar) and Brendan Canning (vocals, bass) in 1999. Alongside Drew and Cannin ...
, Cold War Kids
Cold War Kids is an American alternative rock band from Long Beach, California. Band members are Nathan Willett (vocals, piano, guitar), Matt Maust (bass guitar), David Quon (guitar, backing vocals), Matthew Schwartz (keyboards, backing vocals, ...
, Wolf Parade
Wolf Parade is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 2003 in Montreal. The band released three full-length albums before taking a five-year hiatus in 2011. They announced their return in 2016, releasing a self-titled EP in May of that year, and a ...
, Tapes 'n Tapes
Tapes 'n Tapes is an indie rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
History
Formed in the winter of 2003 at Carleton College, the band has released four albums. First came the self-released ''Tapes 'n Tapes EP'' in 2004, followed by the full-length ...
, and Titus Andronicus
''Titus Andronicus'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593, probably in collaboration with George Peele. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy and is often seen ...
although the site's true impact on their popularity remains a source of frequent debate. Their influence on the formation of communities for independent artists has led to the term "The ''Pitchfork'' Effect". Spencer Kornhaber of ''The Atlantic'' described ''Pitchfork'' as "the most influential music publication to emerge in the Internet age".
Conversely, ''Pitchfork'' has also been seen as being a negative influence on some indie artists. As suggested in a ''Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' article in April 2006, ''Pitchfork''s reviews can have a significant influence on an album's popularity, especially if it had only been available to a limited audience or had been released on an independent record label
An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...
. A dismissive 0.0 review of former Dismemberment Plan frontman Travis Morrison
Travis Morrison (born December 16, 1972) is an American musician and web developer from the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., United States. He is best known as leader of indie-rock band The Dismemberment Plan and as a solo artist.
...
's '' Travistan'' album led to a large sales drop and a virtual college radio blacklist. On the other hand, "an endorsement from Pitchfork—which dispenses its approval one-tenth of a point at a time, up to a maximum of 10 points—is very valuable, indeed."
Examples of ''Pitchfork''s impact include:
*Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member S ...
is among the bands most commonly cited to have benefited from a ''Pitchfork'' review. In a 2005 ''Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' article, a Merge Records
Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expande ...
employee states, "After the Pitchfork review, Funeral
A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...
''] went out of print for about a week because we got so many orders for the record."
*Bon Iver was catapulted to mainstream and critical success after a 2007 ''Pitchfork'' review of the album ''For Emma, Forever Ago''. ''Pitchfork'' was the only publication to have included the album on a 2007 end-of-the-year list, while over sixteen popular publications included the re-release on their 2008 lists. In the summer of 2011, ''Pitchfork'' noted Bon Iver's Bon Iver, Bon Iver, self-titled release as "Best New Music", and later chose the release as the best album of 2011. ''Pitchfork''s critical acclamation of Bon Iver is widely seen as lifting the artist to commercial mainstream success, which culminated with his Grammy Award for Best New Artist
The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as ...
and Best Alternative Music Album
The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums in the alternative genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Ho ...
. ''Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' nominated Bon Iver as Person of the Year in 2012, noting the 2007 ''Pitchfork'' review as the "indie cred" that "led to mainstream success".
*Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (sometimes abbreviated to CYHSY) is the musical project of American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Alec Ounsworth, active since the early 2000s in and out of Philadelphia.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah have rel ...
member Lee Sargent has discussed the impact of ''Pitchfork''s influence on their self-titled debut album, saying, "The thing about a publication like ''Pitchfork'' is that they can decide when that happens. You know what I mean? They can say, 'We're going to speed up the process and this is going to happen...now!' And it was a kick in the pants for us, because we lost control of everything."
Size and readership
On October 24, 2003, Loren Jan Wilson of Pitchformula.com reported that ''Pitchfork'' had published 5,575 reviews from 158 different authors, with an average length of just over 520 words. Together, the reviews featured a total of 2,901,650 words. By 2007, they amassed 170,000 daily readers.
Criticism
In the 2000s the website's journalism favored independent music, favoring lo-fi
Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...
and often obscure indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
and giving only cursory treatment to other genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
s. The website had a reputation for publishing reviews early and for being unpredictable, often strongly dependent on which reviewer was writing. In a 2006 article in ''Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
'', Matthew Shaer accused ''Pitchfork'' of deliberately writing provocative and contrarian reviews in order to attract attention. Cynicism and elitism have been points of critique.
The website was sometimes criticized in those years for the quality of its writing. A 2006 article in ''City Pages
''City Pages'' was an alternative newspaper serving the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area. It featured news, film, theatre and restaurant reviews and music criticism, available free every Wednesday. It ceased publication in 2020 due to a ...
'' noted the large discretion the site gave to its writers, arguing it was "under-edited" and that the prose was often "overly florid". Shaer singled out some examples of "verbose and unreadable writing". In response, Schreiber told ''City Pages'' that "I trust the writers to their opinions and to their own style and presentation. The most important thing to me is they know what they're talking about and are insightful."
A 2007 review of the album ''Kala
Kala or Kalah may refer to:
Religion Hinduism
*Kāla, a Sanskrit word meaning ''time''
*Kāla, a Hindu deity of time, destiny, death and destruction closely related to Yama and Shiva.
*Kalā, a Sanskrit word meaning ''performing arts''
* Kala Bo, ...
'' by M.I.A. inaccurately said that Diplo
Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, a member of the supergroup LSD with ...
had produced the tracks, when he had produced 3 out of 11 tracks and M.I.A. had produced the rest. Another ''Pitchfork'' writer described the error as "perpetuating the male-led ingenue myth". M.I.A. and later Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...
argued that this was part of a wider problem of music journalists making the assumption that female singers do not write or produce their own music.
Leaked music
In August 2006, a directory on ''Pitchfork''s servers containing over 300 albums was compromised. A web surfer managed to discover and download the collection, which included The Decemberists
The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. The band consists of Colin Meloy ( lead vocals, guitar, principal songwriter), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (piano, keyboards, accordion), Nate ...
' ''The Crane Wife
''The Crane Wife'' is the fourth album by The Decemberists, released in 2006. It was produced by Tucker Martine and Chris Walla, and is the band's first album on the Capitol Records label. The album was inspired by a Japanese folk tale, and cent ...
'' and TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio (TVOTR) is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2001. The band consists of Tunde Adebimpe (vocals, loops), David Andrew Sitek (guitars, keyboards, loops), Kyp Malone (vocals, guitars, bass, loops), and Jale ...
's ''Return to Cookie Mountain
''Return to Cookie Mountain'' is the second studio album by American rock band TV on the Radio. It was released July 6, 2006, worldwide by 4AD, and issued in the U.S. and Canada on September 12, 2006, by Interscope Records and Touch and Go Reco ...
'', both of which had been leaked to peer-to-peer networks. Allegedly, one of the albums on the server, Joanna Newsom
Joanna Newsom (born January 18, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Born and raised in Northern California, Newsom was classically trained on the harp in her youth and began her musical career as a keyboardist in the San Francisc ...
's '' Ys'', had not been available on file-sharing networks.
Parodies
* When ''Pitchfork'' asked comedian David Cross
David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series ''Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/Netflix sitcom ...
to compile a list of his favorite albums, he instead provided them with a list of "Albums to Listen to While Reading Overwrought Pitchfork Reviews". In it, he satirically piled over-the-top praise on fictional indie rock records, mocking ''Pitchfork'''s reviewing style.
* In 2004, comedy website Something Awful
''Something Awful'' (SA) is an American comedy website hosting content including blog entries, forums, feature articles, digitally edited pictures, and humorous media reviews. It was created by Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka in 1999 as a largely per ...
created a parody of ''Pitchfork''s front page. Entitled "RichDork Media", the page makes reference to nonexistent, obscure-sounding indie-rock bands in its reviews, news headlines and advertisements. The rating system measures music on its proximity to the band Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...
. A similar, more light-hearted parody was created by Sub Pop
Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are often ...
, a record label whose musical artists ''Pitchfork'' has reviewed (often favorably).
* On September 10, 2007, the satirical newspaper ''The Onion
''The Onion'' is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is based in Chicago but originated as a weekly print publication on August 2 ...
'' published a story in which founder Ryan Schreiber reviews music as a whole, giving it a 6.8.
* In 2010, writer David Shapiro started a Tumblr
Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a sho ...
called "Pitchfork Reviews Reviews", which reviews ''Pitchfork'' reviews.
* In 2013, the IFC sketch comedy
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...
television series ''Portlandia
''Portlandia'' is an American sketch comedy television series starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, set in and around Portland, Oregon, and spoofing the city's reputation as a haven for eccentric hipsters. The show was produced by Br ...
'' satirized the publication in a sketch in which a collective of children run a website entitled "Pitchfork Kids!" and give a highly favorable review to an album by the fictional children's music
Children's music or kids' music is music composed and performed for children. In European-influenced contexts this means music, usually songs, written specifically for a juvenile audience. The composers are usually adults. Children's music has hi ...
band ''Defiance of Anthropomorphic Sea Mammals''.
* In 2016, in the RiffTrax
RiffTrax is an American company that produces scripted humorous commentary tracks which are synced to mostly public domain feature films, education shorts, and television episodes. With the talents of former ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''M ...
comedy commentary for the film ''Icebreaker
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...
'', Mike Nelson quipped about the ticking of a Geiger counter
A Geiger counter (also known as a Geiger–Müller counter) is an electronic instrument used for detecting and measuring ionizing radiation. It is widely used in applications such as radiation dosimetry, radiological protection, experimental ph ...
, "This Geiger counter released an album of just this; Pitchfork gave it an 8.3."
''The Pitchfork Review''
In December 2013, ''Pitchfork'' debuted ''The Pitchfork Review'', a quarterly print journal focused on long-form music writing and design-focused content. J. C. Gabel, its first editor, had been the publisher of ''The Chicagoan
''The Chicagoan'' was an American magazine modeled after ''The New Yorker'' published from June 1926 until April 1935. Focusing on the cultural life of the city of Chicago, each issue of ''The Chicagoan'' contained art, music, and drama reviews, p ...
'' and founding publisher of ''Stop Smiling
''Stop Smiling'' was an arts and culture magazine founded by J. C. Gabel in the Chicago suburb of Darien, Illinois. He started the magazine at age 19 in 1995. The magazine was published on a bimonthly basis. The headquarters was in both Chicago a ...
''. ''Pitchfork'' planned a limited-edition quarterly publication of about 10,000 copies of each issue, perfect bound
Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book of codex format from an ordered stack of ''signatures'', sheets of paper folded together into sections that are bound, along one edge, with a thick needle and strong thread. Cheaper, b ...
, and printed on glossy, high-quality 8-by-10¼ paper. It was expected that about two-thirds of the content would be original, with the remaining one-third reused from the ''Pitchfork'' website.[ The '']International Business Times
The ''International Business Times'' is an American online news publication that publishes five national editions in four languages. The publication, sometimes called ''IBTimes'' or ''IBT'', offers news, opinion and editorial commentary on busi ...
'' likened the publication's literary aspirations to ''The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' and ''The Paris Review
''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip ...
''. It ended after 11 issues in November 2016.
Music festivals
Intonation Music Festival
In 2005, ''Pitchfork'' curated the Intonation Music Festival, attracting approximately 15,000 attendees to Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
's Union Park for a two-day bill featuring performances by 25 acts, including Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene is a Canadians, Canadian indie rock band, a musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed by Kevin Drew (vocals, guitar) and Brendan Canning (vocals, bass) in 1999. Alongside Drew and Cannin ...
, The Decemberists
The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. The band consists of Colin Meloy ( lead vocals, guitar, principal songwriter), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (piano, keyboards, accordion), Nate ...
, The Go! Team
The Go! Team are an English six-piece band from Brighton, England. The band initially began as a solo project conceived by Ian Parton; however, after the unexpected success of The Go! Team's debut album, '' Thunder, Lightning, Strike'', Parton r ...
, and an appearance by Les Savy Fav
Les Savy Fav ( ) is an American indie rock band based in New York City. Their style is influenced by art punk and post-hardcore. The group is known for the stage presence of lead singer Tim Harrington. The band is signed to Frenchkiss Records, ...
.
Pitchfork Music Festival
On July 29 and 30, 2006, the publication premiered its own Pitchfork Music Festival in the same park. The event attracted over 18,000 attendees per day. More than 40 bands performed at the inaugural festival, including Spoon
A spoon is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily for ...
and Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo (YLT; Spanish for "I have her") is an American indie rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan (guitars, piano, vocals), Georgia Hubley (drums, piano, vocals), and James McNew ...
, as well as a rare headlining set by reunited Tropicália
Tropicália (), also known as Tropicalismo (), was a Brazilian artistic movement that arose in the late 1960s. It was characterized by the amalgamation of Brazilian genres—notably the union of the pop culture, popular and the avant-garde, as ...
band Os Mutantes
Os Mutantes (meaning '' the mutants''; ) are an influential Brazilian rock band that were linked with the Tropicália movement, a dissident musical movement during the Brazilian dictatorship of the late 1960s. The band is considered to be one of ...
.
The Pitchfork Music Festival was held again in 2007. It was expanded to three days (Friday, July 13 – Sunday, July 15), with the first day being a collaboration between ''Pitchfork'' and the British music festival All Tomorrow's Parties
"All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released on the group's 1967 debut studio album, ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''.
Inspiration for the song came from Reed's observation of Andy Warh ...
as part of the latter's "Don't Look Back" series, in which seminal artists perform their most legendary albums in their entirety. Performers that evening included Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...
playing ''Daydream Nation
''Daydream Nation'' is the fifth full-length studio album and first double album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth, released on October 18, 1988. The band recorded the album between July and August 1988 at Greene St. Recording in Ne ...
'', Slint
Slint was an American rock band from Louisville, Kentucky, formed in 1986. The band consisted of guitarist and vocalist Brian McMahan, guitarist David Pajo, drummer and vocalist Britt Walford, Todd Brashear (bassist on ''Spiderland''), and Etha ...
playing ''Spiderland
''Spiderland'' is the second and final studio album by the American rock band Slint. It contains six songs played over 40 minutes, and was released by Touch and Go Records on March 27, 1991. Slint's lineup at the time of recording comprised ...
'', and GZA/Genius playing ''Liquid Swords
''Liquid Swords'' is the second solo studio album by American rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member GZA, released on November 7, 1995, by Geffen Records. Recording sessions for the album began midway through 1995 at producer RZA's basement studio in ...
''. Some of the other artists who performed over the weekend included Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野 洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking.
Ono grew up i ...
, De La Soul
De La Soul () is an American hip hop trio formed in 1988 in the Amityville area of Long Island, New York. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative ...
, Cat Power
Charlyn Marie "Chan" Marshall ( ; born January 21, 1972), better known by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and model. Cat Power was originally the name of her first band, but has become her stage name as a ...
, The New Pornographers
The New Pornographers are a Canadian indie rock band, formed in 1997 in Vancouver. Presented as a musical collective of singer-songwriters and musicians from multiple projects, the band has released eight studio albums to critical acclaim for th ...
, Stephen Malkmus
Stephen Joseph Malkmus (born May 30, 1966) is an American musician best known as the primary songwriter, lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Pavement. He currently performs with Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks and as a solo artist ...
, Clipse
Clipse, also known as The Clipse, is an American hip hop duo, chiefly active from 1994 to 2010. It consists of brothers Gene "No Malice" and Terrence "Pusha T" Thornton. Pusha T was known as Terrar during the group's early years, while No Mal ...
, Iron & Wine
Samuel "Sam" Ervin Beam (born July 26, 1974), better known by his stage name Iron & Wine, is an American singer-songwriter. He has released six studio albums, several EPs and singles, as well as a few download-only releases, which include a ...
, Girl Talk, of Montreal, Deerhunter
Deerhunter is an American indie rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 2001. The band currently consists of Bradford Cox (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Moses Archuleta (drums, electronics, sound treatments), Lotus Plaza, Lockett Pundt (guitar, ...
, Dan Deacon
Daniel Deacon (born August 28, 1981) is an American composer and electronic musician based in Baltimore, Maryland.
Deacon is renowned for his live shows, where large-scale audience participation and interaction is often a major element of the pe ...
, The Ponys
The Ponys were an American indie rock/garage rock band from Chicago, Illinois, United States, formed by singer/guitarist Jered Gummere, in early 2001. Gummere was concurrently in the punk band, Guilty Pleasures, at the time of The Ponys’ for ...
, and The Sea and Cake
The Sea and Cake is an American indie rock band with a jazz influence, based in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
The group formed in the mid-1990s from members of The Coctails (Archer Prewitt), Shrimp Boat (Sam Prekop and Eric Claridge), an ...
. Since 2011, a European winter edition of the festival has taken place in Paris.
All Tomorrow's Parties
In 2008 ''Pitchfork'' collaborated with All Tomorrow's Parties
"All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released on the group's 1967 debut studio album, ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''.
Inspiration for the song came from Reed's observation of Andy Warh ...
to curate half of the bill for one of their May festival weekends. This was the first event that ''Pitchfork'' has been involved in outside of the United States.
Rating system
''Pitchfork''s music reviews use two different rating systems:
* Individual track reviews were formerly ranked from 1 to 5 stars, but on January 15, 2007, the site introduced a new system called "Forkcast". In it, instead of assigning tracks a particular rating, reviewers simply label them one of the following categories: "New Music", "Old Music", "Video", "Advanced Music", "Rising", " WTF", "On Repeat" (the category of their most favorably regarded songs), and "Delete" (for the least favored songs). , the site had officially removed this system, opting to instead simply review tracks, while giving some a label of "Best New Track".
* Album reviews are given a rating from 0 to 10, specific to one decimal place.
On October 24, 2003, Pitchformula.com made a survey of the 5,575 reviews available on ''Pitchfork'' at that time, showing that:
* 6.7 was the average rating
* 2,339 reviews had been awarded a rating of 7.4 or higher
* 2,362 reviews had been awarded a rating of between 5.0 and 7.3
* 873 reviews had been awarded a rating of less than 5.0
British Sea Power's 2008 album ''Do You Like Rock Music?
''Do You Like Rock Music?'' is the third album from the Brighton-based English band, Sea Power, then known as British Sea Power. It was released on 14 January 2008 in the UK and 12 February 2008 in the United States. The album is preceded by the ...
'' was initially awarded a tongue-in-cheek rating of "U.2", however the page now gives a rating of 8.2, seemingly at odds with the critical review. Their rating of Run the Jewels
Run the Jewels, also known by the initials RTJ, is an American hip hop super-duo composed of Brooklyn-based rapper and producer El-P and Atlanta-based rapper Killer Mike. They released their critically acclaimed self-titled debut studio album ...
' remix album ''Meow the Jewels'' (2015) was a pictogram of a cat's head with hearts for eyes – highlighting the pictogram and right-clicking on it reveals that the actual score is 7.0. Their review of Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
' album '' Wake Up!'' featured the rating " 3:16", though using the same method of revealing ''Meow the Jewels'' actual score reveals the score to be 5.0. Rather than give a traditional review to Jet's '' Shine On'', the site simply posted an embedded video of a monkey urinating into its own mouth and a 0.
Albums rated 10 on release
The following is a list of albums given ''Pitchfork'''s highest possible rating, on initial release. The score is rare and has only been given to twelve albums since the site was launched in 1995. As of May 2021, 127 other albums have been given a 10.0 following a reissue or the publication of a retrospective review. Pitchfork has since deleted the reviews for 12 Rods
12 Rods (also known by the stylistic variants 12RODS and Twelve Rods) is an indie rock band from Minneapolis Minnesota. The group was formed in Oxford, Ohio in 1992, later relocating to Minneapolis in 1995 where it was based until its disbandmen ...
, Amon Tobin
Amon Adonai Santos de Araújo Tobin (born February 7, 1972), known as Amon Tobin (), is a Brazilian electronic musician, composer and producer. He is noted for his unusual methodology in sound design and music production. He has released eight ...
, Walt Mink
Walt Mink were an American alternative rock power trio formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota in 1989 by guitarist/singer/songwriter John Kimbrough, drummer Joey Waronker and bassist Candice Belanoff. The band released four studio a ...
, the Flaming Lips
Flaming may refer to:
* Anything set aflame or on fire
* Flaming (Internet), the act of posting deliberately hostile messages on the Internet
* Flame maple, the striped figures in maple woodwork prized for their beauty
* Fläming, a region in G ...
, and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
without replacing them, meaning that only seven albums continue to be listed with a 10.0 rating that was given on initial release. In a 2021 historical roundup, ''Pitchfork'' listed 11 albums as having received a 10.0 on their initial release: all of the albums below, with the exception of the Dylan live recording.
'' Relaxation of the Asshole'', a comedy album by the Guided by Voices singer Robert Pollard
Robert Ellsworth Pollard Jr. (born October 31, 1957) is an American singer and songwriter who is the leader and creative force behind indie rock group Guided by Voices. In addition to his work with Guided by Voices, he continues to have a prol ...
, was awarded a dual 0 and 10 on initial release. A later site redesign changed the rating to 0 only, although the explanation for the unusual rating remains in the text of the review.Robert Pollard - ''Relaxation of the Asshole'' review
– Pitchfork
''Pitchfork'' year-end lists
Album of the Year
Track of the Year
Video of the Year
''Pitchfork'' decade lists
Albums of the decade
Songs of the decade
See also
* ''The Pitchfork 500
''The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present'' is a book compiling the greatest songs from 1977 to 2006, published in 2008 by Pitchfork Media. The book focuses on specific genres including indie rock, hip-hop, el ...
''
References
External links
*
{{Pitchfork
1995 establishments in the United States
Online music magazines published in the United States
Magazines published in Chicago
Condé Nast websites
Internet properties established in 1995
Music review websites