Real Emotional Trash

I normally don't use this blog as a venting vehicle. However, all bets are off when I read or hear something that is, in my mind, absolutely absurd. And let me just say, this is long time coming. Don't ask me why, but I was perusing Pitchfork Media when I happened to stumble upon the site's early review of My Morning Jacket's Evil Urges. Mind you, this is absolutely one of the best albums I have heard the year, and nearly ever critic who has had the privilege to obtain an advance copy will agree with me. This record will be the band's OK Computer, and will thus launch these guys into the superstar stratosphere. I hate to be a broken record here, but I just wanted to set the record straight on the eve of the album's release. But anyway, back to the rant.

Pitchfork (and more notably Eric Harvey) gave Urges an embarrassingly low rating (4.7 out of a possible 10) and basically ripped the record to shreds. Pick your poison, but the gist of the review can be summed up by the following blurb: "Evil Urges ends the mean streak the band's been on since 2000, and threatens to squander some of the widespread goodwill they've been steadily building along the way." A declaration like this, which couldn't be any more INACCURATE, represents the hypocrisy and snobbishness that plagues this jokingly well-respected publication. A journal that has routinely rewarded musical innovation while blasting anything that bears any semblance of "mainstream," Pitchfork has become a tabloid in my mind -- just another publication that will say or do anything to make a splash. And while I will agree that it has introduced the music world to its share of groundbreaking bands, the minute said talent gains any modicum of notoriety, Pitchfork will turn its ugly head and drop an endorsement quicker than a bad habit. You name it -- they've embraced it, then blasted it: Ryan Adams, The Strokes, and now My Morning Jacket. I have said this many times before, but this is nothing but a Revenge of the Nerds situation. These "critics" were like the kids that got beat up in high school. Years of taunting has turned them into everything they grew to hate. Ironically, these "tastemakers" are really the least open-minded of all. I bet their office is filled with these people: