How bored am I today?

I decided to look up a representative sampling of albums acclaimed by Pitchfork on allmusic. I settled on the top five albums from each of their four best-of-decade lists (70s-00s), for 20 albums total.

You know how allmusic has those “mood” tags to describe albums? Well, I tabulated the moods that are used most often to characterize Pitchfork’s favorite albums. Of the 20 I checked, the most commonly cited and therefore most Pitchforky moods are:

Literate, Quirky (9 albums)

Detached, Playful (8)

Energetic, Intense, Reflective (7)

Brash, Brooding, Cathartic, Cerebral, Freewheeling (6)

Some words fared less well…it seems that Pitchfork reviewers rarely go for albums with these moods: Bravado, Crunchy, Exuberant, Fun, Gritty, Laid-back/Mellow, Light, Party/Celebratory, Sexy, Springlike.

So now you know.

(We kid because we love.)

i don't know what "crunchy" music sounds like but that looks about right. haha

"Crunchy" is when the band are eating potato chips/crisps while they're recording.

very interesting, and nothing real surprising. Pitchfork guys, cold intellectuals ? sure.

Now I understand a little better why IMO most Pitchfork favorites suck poodle d...

Music has just as much right to be intellectual as it does to be visceral.

nicolas, is there anything highly rated by Pitchfork that you actually enjoy?

Of course there's an overlap, especially for past records.

I was just thinking about recent ratings, and espacially their 2009 top 5. Nothing that I like.

Of course there are Pitchfork acclaimed albums that I like : if you take their top 20 of the dacade, only 2 albums are in my own top 200 : Is This It and sound Of Silver.

With Pitchfork, most of the tie, only indie, Radiohead-like music is acclaimed. It's a bit exaggerated.

THeir choices are not universal, that's what I mean.
It is not the best music, but the best indie music from English speaking countries. That makes a difference.

Fleet Foxes was close to the top 20 right? That was one where I was shocked the fork rated highly.

i just came across this and thought about making a thread for it but i'll put it here instead.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/pitchfork_gives_music_6_8

Michael, that’s a great link (I’d expect no less from The Onion).

“Crunchy” is shorthand for “hippie-like.” Come to think of it, I don’t know that I’ve heard the term since the heyday of Phish.

Pitchfork, of course, was created as an indie site (to draw a distinction between actual indie and the “alternative” radio format that developed in the 90s), and although they’ve branched out into other areas, that’s still their center of gravity, much as Rolling Stone’s center of gravity is (was?) 1967.

I’ve really only gotten into the ‘fork in the last year or two, and although I don’t always care for their editorial tone, they’ve turned out to be the best source I’ve found for consistently directing me toward music I actually like.

BTW, speaking of Pitchfork and older music, my brother got me the remastered (stereo) Beatles catalog for Christmas…so of course I immediately checked out Pitchfork’s review. No less than SIX of the 13 albums got a 10.0: Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour (!), the White Album and Abbey Road. Of the others, the lowest was With the Beatles at 8.8 (not counting Yellow Submarine, which was a six-point-something).