Condé Nast buys Pitchfork Media.

Pete Best wrote:

Then I use something called a preference revealer, which you make a pairwise comparison and it sorts the order out. Does take 20 odd minutes to do a list of 100 but it isn't like you have to do n*(n-1)/2 match ups.

Ned Braden wrote:The front page of pitchfork is all steely dan récords for some reason and for a moment I was all, wait did Becker or Fagen just die or something?

Nick wrote:I’m going to be fascinated to see what happens when Pitchfork goes behind a paywall. Who is going to pay so they can get a fucking Best Coast review?

undo wrote:

Nick wrote:I’m going to be fascinated to see what happens when Pitchfork goes behind a paywall. Who is going to pay so they can get a fucking Best Coast review?

is this ever going to happen or what

Jesus Is Born has less in common with the slick, radio-friendly textures of 21st-century gospel music. It’s more of a descendent of more traditional singers like Mahalia Jackson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and the Clark Sisters. The Sunday Service Choir as a whole also seems to be taking cues from groups with no real lead singer like the Fisk Jubilee Singers, the Dixie Hummingbirds, and the Blind Boys of Alabama.

undo wrote:

My anecdotal "evidence" doesn't count for anything but I've been never read a word about this album and I boarded alongside all of you for well over a decade to say nothing of The Good Dr Bill, ben welsh, some girl, midnite vultures (?) and I can't be sure this was ever brought up.

2004 Was not a good year for music. Kid Rock was on top of the charts and digital file-sharing had eviscerated the music industry. The Stratford 4, a critically acclaimed quartet of shoegazers from San Francisco, were riding the waves of uncertainty as best as they could. Their previous album, Love & Distortion, was hailed as a noise pop classic by Rolling Stone and they’d gotten high praise from Spin and Pitchfork. After a year of legal hassles with Jetset (their previous label), they were finally in New York City, making a record with pop icon Ric Ocasec for Elektra Records. Safely ensconced inside Electric Lady Studios, they recorded their major label debut, the unwieldy-if-presciently titled “Keep Your Crazy Head On Straight”. The record was completed, mixed, mastered, artwork finalized and a release date was set.

When WEA (the Warner Brothers family of labels) was sold, The Stratford 4 and everyone else on Elektra were dropped. The band went on tour, first with their old friends BRMC then with Beulah, hoping the exposure would generate some interest in the album. They played shows with the Libertines, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Clinic, Luna, Camper Van Beethoven and others, but months of stress from legal woes had taken their toll. The singer quit the band and the music froze, suspended in midair.

2015 is an interesting time to be a musician. The chaos of file-sharing has settled into a handful of reliable online outlets and, amazingly, vinyl has made a resurgence. In January, Sheetal Singh (the bass player) has lunch with Chris Streng (the singer) in Nevada City. They joke about putting out the record themselves but when Sheetal gets home she contacts Jake Hosek (guitar) and Andrea Caturegli (drums). Everyone is back on board, this record needs to finally be heard.

WP64 wrote:
This year the #1 track is "WAP."

BGwaves wrote:Just curious, what is your relationship to pop music?