Arctopus review: Pitchfork blows one again

[mindspell]

Not only does the guy spend more than 2 sentences on the actual record but clearly has not understood the goal behind the music. I am going to have to order this one..

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/recor...rctopus/nano-nucleonic-cyborg-summoning.shtml

 

[avi]

yeah, pretty poorly written. saw it this morning.

 

[Josh Seipp]

wow...that's breathtaking

 

[FalseTodd]

man sometimes pitchfork feels like a giant exercise in alternately reiterating or "bravely subverting" generalizations about scene and genre that are fucking useless in the first place.

essentially that guy is making fun of arctopus for blowing the grade curve - and ironically, using their technical prowess, which he implies they use as a free pass into legitimacy, as his own free pass to call their music illegitimate.

 

[FalseTodd]

their review of the new Mars Volta made me want to claw my face off, and i don't even care if that record is good or not

 

[mindspell]

I am used to poor writing in Pitchfork but lately it seems that the reviews are malicious, poorly written and the writers seem to have no fun writing.

 

[avi]

I only read reviews of records that I'm interested in over there, so that's one 3-5 a week tops.
I still think they've gotten better over the past year, but then shit like this gets published. it's just childish. at the same time, you also get crap like this in the village voice: http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0510,smith1,61833,22.html
I may not be a great writer, but at least I'm not pompous. and I actually talk about the music.

 

[AndICried]

Am I reading incorrectly, or is this idiot trying to argue that warr guitar does not qualify as a valid instrument?

 

[mindspell]

Well, its written by George Smith, whom I tried to argue with on ILX a couple of times and is so far far up his own ass that it is impossible to have a decent argument with...

 

[mindspell]

No to mention that even though they make serious music, Meshuggah's Frederik Thorendal's making weird faces in every goddamn promo photo he ever took... for example...

 

[avi]

yeah, that bit about Meshuggah really bothered me b/c anyone that's familiar with the band knows that they can be very goofy if they want to be. they are serious musicians, but they aren't like Deicide or Manowar or something. they can laugh at themselves.

 

[xfer]

didnt that frances the mule review give like TWO out of ten? ridiculous site.

 

[xfer]

haha does that arctopus review say that the album is essentially all improv? how...dismissive.

 

[Greg B.]

When I saw Meshuggah, they played while being wrapped in toilet paper.

 

[inkybmistro]

Pitchfork is just really, really annoying. Every time I read one of their reviews, I just end up fucking furious and wondering why I ever looked at it. Possibly more irritating than the way that they irrationally bash things is when they unapologetically spew fanboy garbage. Really unprofessional.

example: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/f/fiery-furnaces/ep.shtml

 

[inkybmistro]

When I saw Meshuggah, they played while being wrapped in toilet paper.

S.S. Death!

 

[Helm]

The Death of Steve Sylvester.


Anyway, I really like the Arctopus, and if that jerk doesn't I'm not going to cry. I never take reviews very seriously, as describing music and it's effects on you is usually very misleading, but occasionally hilarious.

 

[Firedwarf]

man sometimes pitchfork feels like a giant exercise in alternately reiterating or "bravely subverting" generalizations about scene and genre that are fucking useless in the first place.

.

 

[mindspell]

gotta agree that Sam was amazingly concise in summarizing pitchfork in everything it is.

 

[IanDork107]

shit review. i have the ep and like it quite a bit. it's harder to get into that sort of thing on cd, but i'd imagine their live show is incredibly good.