• If you were a music fan in 2008, you might have seen the Pitchfork review for Black Kids’ “Partie Traumatic” and asked yourself, “What the hell?!” Why’s that? Well, the band was built up by Pitchfork, with many people first hearing about them thanks to this review. Well, finally, with a couple of years of hindsight, Pitchfork has finally explained itself a little bit in their roundup of “One-List Wonders.” Key line: “Soon came signs it was all happening too fast.” Either way, “I’m Not Going To Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You” is still a great song. source

• Pitchfork gave it an 8.6 today. It’s been universally feted by other critics (minus The Boston Phoenix, which seems to be contrarian for the sake of being contrarian). It’s got people using big words to describe how awesome it is. But hey, decide for yourself. NPR has the Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs” up for streaming today. You can therefore decide if the Pitchfork guy is full of crap or if the Boston Phoenix guy wasn’t really loved as a child. Your pick. source

• Right or wrong, the social contract is simple: If you bring the hits, we’ll put up with your #(&@. With
  /\/\ /\ Y /\, M.I.A. has broken that contract. And she could not have chosen a worse time to do it.
• Pitchfork reviewer Matthew Perpetua • Ruining M.I.A.’s entire week with a 4.4 album review that simply savages the wildly experimental political rapper. She’s not had much good press of late, what with a New York Times Magazine article that simply did not put her in a good light (and a huge fight that revolved around truffle fries – no joke), and this review will likely compound her problems. When you fall from 8.9 to 4.4 on Pitchfork in the span of an album, it’s not helpful to your career. Just ask Travis Morrison. source

• Like the Hold Steady, Phoenix were on a steady rise, then made an amazing record and got some important looks. (‘Saturday Night Live’), then the Cadillac commercial. Things happened in succession to move the band to the next level.
• Vagrant Records COO Jon Cohen • Regarding the Hold Steady’s steady rise to prominence and their chance of a next-level breakthrough. Unfortunately for Craig Finn and company, Pitchfork just handed the band’s new album, “Heaven Is Whenever,” a middling review. The site’s rating, 6.2, is kind of a low number for a band that spent half a decade getting feted by critics. “this remains an uncharacteristically weak effort by a good band that may be in danger of running out of stories,” writes Stephen M. Deusner, who called it a transitional record. They might get past that, though – middling reviews never stopped Death Cab or Coldplay, did they? source

• 8.4 the rating of “One Life Stand,” which may blow them up source

Previous Pitchfork ratings

• 7.0 the rating of their breakthrough to mainstream popularity, “Made in the Dark” source
• 8.1 the rating of second platter “The Warning,” which they call a “step forward” source
• 8.0 the rating of first album “Coming on Strong,” which was a tad bit cheeky source

• 9.0 for “Teen Dream,” higher than their other albums source

• 131k sales figures for Animal Collective’s “Merriweather Post Pavilion,” which topped the list
• 205k sales figures for Phoenix’s “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” (No. 8), which is the highest-selling on the list
• 3.4k sales figures for Real Estate’s “Real Estate” (No. 20), the lowest-selling on the list; you should buy it source

• Jan. 5 Pitchfork puts up a review of Animal Collective’s “Merriweather Post Pavilion.” We put up an article titled “‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’ album of the year? Well, that was fast.”
• Dec. 18 Pitchfork names Animal Collective’s “Merriweather Post Pavilion” album of the year, punishing every other band on the list that didn’t get a 9.6 from the site back in January.

• 8.9 for their new EP, “Fall Be Kind”; they’re on a roll source

• 9.2 the average score of the top 20 albums of the decade; two albums (including the top one, Radiohead’s “Kid A,” and Wilco’s “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”) scored perfect tens, and most albums were above 9.0 source