Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media  otherwise known as Pitchfork or P4K, is a webzine dedicated to the critique of music, created by Ryan Schreiber in 1995 for the sole purpose of discovering new music. Over time, Pitchfork became known as a website for hipsters owing to Pitchfork's abilities to throw previously unknown bands into the limelight with glowing reviews (see Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Deerhunter, etc. etc.).

Whether Pitchfork is actually good at reviewing music is ultimately up to you, but you should know that there is no more controversial site on all of /mu/, with threads of angry autists spewing hate on the site at an alarming frequency.

That said, p4k-core and /mu/core really aren't all that different, although you'll definitely be called a pleb if your last.fm 3x3s are full of the latest batch of albums to be awarded the coveted status of the site's Best New Music, regardless of how much you actually enjoy those albums.

Secretly though, 99% of /mu/ checks Pitchfork the instant it updates every weeknight and immediately listens to anything above an 8.0.

On October 13th, 2015, Pitchfork announced that it had been acquired by mass media company Condé Nast. Many people, including former staffer Chris Ott, believed that the acquisition would inevitably lead to a change in coverage. Since the acquisition, the site has only become more controversial, as many believe the site now primarily praises and pushes major label pop and hip hop music, as opposed to the indie music that Pitchfork was associated with during the 2000s and early 2010s.

Guide to Pitchfork
Pitchfork awards albums a score anywhere from o.o (Yes, they gave an album an o.o instead of a 0.0 once) to a 10, with most albums garnering a score somewhere between a 6 and a 7.5. Albums above an 8 are highly recommended by the site, especially those given Best New Music status, which nobody quite understands the criteria for. Some /mu/tants argue that Pitchfork is crap because in their minds anything the Fork gives below an 8 is the site declaring it to be unworthy of listening to, but in reality, albums from 7.0 up are considered to be good for fans of the genre/band, but not essential or groundbreaking works. '''Use your judgment. Only you know if you like it or not.'''

Rating Key
This is the official rating key that Pitchfork had on their website during their earlier days.
 * 10.0: Essential
 * 9.5 - 9.9: Spectacular
 * 9.0 - 9.4: Amazing
 * 8.5 - 8.9: Exceptional; will likely rank among writer's top ten albums of the year
 * 8.0 - 8.4: Very good
 * 7.5 - 7.9: Above average; enjoyable
 * 7.0 - 7.4: Not brilliant, but nice enough
 * 6.0 - 6.9: Has its moments, but isn't strong
 * 5.0 - 5.9: Mediocre; not good, but not awful
 * 4.0 - 4.9: Just below average; bad outweighs good by just a little bit
 * 3.0 - 3.9: Definitely below average, but a few redeeming qualities
 * 2.0 - 2.9: Heard worse, but still pretty bad
 * 1.0 - 1.9: Awful; not a single pleasant track
 * 0.0 - 0.9: Breaks new ground for terrible

Reviewers

 * "#based" Ian Fucking "burrito" Cohen (the only worthwhile reviewer on that shit site)
 * Eric Harvey
 * Paul Thompson
 * Lindsay Zoladz
 * Kim Kelly
 * Mark Richardson
 * Puja Patel
 * Ruth Saxelby
 * Mike Madden
 * Zach Kelly

Album of the Year Winners

 * 1999: The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I
 * 2000: Radiohead - Kid A
 * 2001: The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2
 * 2002: Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
 * 2003: The Rapture - Echoes
 * 2004: Arcade Fire - Funeral
 * 2005: Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
 * 2006: The Knife - Silent Shout
 * 2007: Panda Bear - Person Pitch
 * 2008: Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant/Fleet Foxes
 * 2009: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
 * 2010: Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
 * 2011: Bon Iver - Bon Iver
 * 2012: Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city
 * 2013: Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
 * 2014: Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels 2
 * 2015: Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
 * 2016: Solange - A Seat at the Table
 * 2017: Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.

Song of the Year Winners

 * 2003: Outkast - "Hey Ya!"
 * 2004: Annie - "Heartbeat"
 * 2005: Antony and the Johnsons - "Home There's Someone"
 * 2006: Justin Timberlake - "My Love"
 * 2007: LCD Soundsystem - "All My Friends"
 * 2008: Hercules and Love Affair - "Blind"
 * 2009: Animal Collective - "My Girls"
 * 2010: Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - "Round and Round"
 * 2011: M83 - "Midnight City"
 * 2012: Grimes - "Oblivion"
 * 2013: Drake - "Hold On, We're Going Home"
 * 2014: Future Islands - "Seasons (Waiting for You)"
 * 2015: Kendrick Lamar - "Alright"
 * 2016: Kanye West - "Ultralight Beam (ft. The-Dream, Chance the Rapper, Kelly Price, and Kirk Franklin)"
 * 2017: Cardi B - "Bodak Yellow"

Greatest Albums of the 1970s (Top 10)

 * 1) David Bowie - Low
 * 2) The Clash - London Calling
 * 3) Television - Marquee Moon
 * 4) Sly and the Family Stone - There's a Riot Goin' On
 * 5) Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
 * 6) Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Expres
 * 7) Led Zeppelin - IV
 * 8) Gang of Four - Entertainment!
 * 9) Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
 * 10) Brian Eno - Another Green World

Greatest Albums of the 1980s (Top 10)

 * 1) Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
 * 2) Talking Heads - Remain in Light
 * 3) Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
 * 4) Pixies - Doolittle
 * 5) R.E.M. - Murmur
 * 6) The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
 * 7) Pixies - Surfer Rosa
 * 8) Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
 * 9) Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
 * 10) Joy Division - Closer

Greatest Albums of the 1990s (Top 10)

 * 1) Radiohead - OK Computer
 * 2) My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
 * 3) The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
 * 4) Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (plebs)
 * 5) Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
 * 6) Nirvana - Nevermind
 * 7) DJ Shadow - ...Endtroducing
 * 8) Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
 * 9) Bonnie "Prince" Billy - I See a Darkness
 * 10) Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand

Greatest Albums of the 2000s (Top 10)

 * 1) Radiohead - Kid A
 * 2) Arcade Fire - Funeral
 * 3) Daft Punk - Discovery
 * 4) Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
 * 5) Jay-Z - The Blueprint
 * 6) Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica
 * 7) The Strokes - Is This It
 * 8) Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
 * 9) Panda Bear - Person Pitch
 * 10) The Avalanches - Since I Left You

Albums That Have Received a Perfect 10.0 (Not Including Reissues)

 * Radiohead - Kid A
 * Radiohead - OK Computer
 * Bonnie "Prince" Billy - I See a Darkness
 * The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
 * ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Source Tags and Codes
 * 12 Rods - gay?
 * Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert 1
 * Robert Pollard - Relaxation of the Asshole (Received a 10.0 and a 0.0 simultaneously)
 * Amon Tobin - Bricolage
 * Walt Mink - El Producto
 * Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
 * Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Albums That Have Received a 0.0

 * Bachman-Turner Overdrive - Remastered Hits: The Best of...
 * The Flaming Lips - Zaireeka (Reviewer claimed he didn't even listen to the album)
 * John Frusciante - Smile from the Streets You Hold (Reviewer refused to score the album, saying "You'll have to call this one on your own, sorry.")
 * Jet - Shine On (MonkeyPee/10 -- The review consisted of a video of a chimpanzee pissing into it's own mouth)
 * Fransisco Lopez - Untitled 
 * Travis Morrison - Travistan
 * Kiss - Music From "The Elder"
 * Kiss - Peter Criss
 * Robert Pollard - Relaxation of the Asshole (Received a 10.0 and a 0.0 simultaneously)
 * Sonic Youth - NYC Ghosts and Flowers
 * Various Artists - This Is Next
 * Liz Phair - Liz Phair