About a month ago, we were fortunate to have The Two Man Gentlemen Band drop by the WRCT studio for an on-air interview and performance. The band, which consists of Andy Bean on the tenor guitar and Fuller Condon on the string bass, plays folk tunes with funny, clever lyrics.
“Pitchfork is incredibly pretentious.” “After I saw the review that Pitchforkgave my favorite album, I’ll never read them again.” “ Pitchfork doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”
It’s not uncommon to hear rhetoric like this when you talk to hardcore music enthusiasts. While I have issues with the way music journalism sitePitchfork operates, it’s disconcerting that there are people who unequivocally discredit everything Pitchfork does.
Pitchfork, established in Chicago in 1996, is one of the most widely known music journalism sources in the nation, coming into existence around the time when college rock burst into the mainstream. In the almost two decades since its creation, Pitchfork has become an indie taste maker and unrelenting hype machine. Predictably, people tend to either love or hate Pitchfork.
It’s not that hard to justify disliking Pitchfork. Its rating scale is unbalanced; its review process is seemingly skewed toward music that fits its projected image as opposed to the quality of the music, and their reviews tend to be pretentious ramblings that sometimes act as soapboxes instead of legitimate, in-depth critiques (see its review of The Airbone Toxic Event’s self-titled debut). However, the staff at Pitchfork undeniably has an expansive knowledge of popular music and a fine-tuned understanding of the type of music that its audience seeks out.
I don’t hold a lot of faith in Pitchfork’s reviews anymore, but the sheer amount of cultural knowledge that it brings to its reviews — information on contemporaries, influences, film culture, current events, and analyses of local music scenes— is impressive, to say the least. It’s completely legitimate to criticize Pitchfork, but to discredit it entirely is a gross oversight.
Prepare your eardrums: WRCT’s Anatomy of the Ear is back!
Starting Monday, Nov. 5, our DJs will be collaborating live on air to take you on a journey through the vast gamut of genres that WRCT is most fond of in hour-long blocks, every night from 6 p.m. until midnight. Be sure to tune in over the air on right here on the website!
Here’s the full schedule:
Monday, Nov. 5:
6-7 p.m. “Rustbelt Radio”
7-8 p.m. Blues
8-9 p.m. Americana
9-10 p.m. “Advanced Calculus”
10-11 p.m. Old-school hip hop
11-12 a.m. Underground hip hop
Wednesday, Nov. 7
6-7 p.m. Classic rock
7-8 p.m. Punk
8-9 p.m. Black/death metal
9-10 p.m. Progressive metal
10-11 p.m. Post-punk
11-12 a.m. Disco
Thursday, Nov. 8
6-7 p.m. International (Latin America)
7-8 p.m. International (Africa)
8-9 p.m. Indie rock
9-10 p.m. Math rock
10-11 p.m. Spiritual jazz
11-12 a.m. Big band jazz
All of this leads up to our favorite fall event: the WRCT Fall Dance Party. This year’s dance party will be at the Shadow Lounge (5972 Baum Blvd.) on Friday, Nov. 9, starting at 9 p.m. More information is available on the Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/375534539190681
