Pitchfork

Today's Post has a somewhat maddening profile of Pitchfork and its founder Ryan Schreiber. Listen, I like Pitchfork and I think it performs a valuable service. I read it at least once a week, and I'd read it every day if it had a damn RSS feed. I've linked to it several times, and I own dozens of cds that I probably never would have heard of, much less bought, if it wasn't for Pitchfork.

But, please, spare me honesty talk. They clearly have an agenda, and that is to be indier-than-thou. (I don't care how much Schreiber likes Hall & Oates or Justin Timberlake.) So, don't tell me that Liz Phair got a 0.0 rating because her album was that much worse than "The Decline of British Sea Power." No, it was because she was indie rock's golden girl, who signed to a major label and hired the songwriting team that had written songs for Avril Lavigne in the hopes of reaching a broader audience. So she had to be punished.

And then there's the matter of "Travistan," Travis Morrison's solo album. I was never much of fan of the Dismemberment Plan, but--in the interest of full disclosure--Morrison is a DC native and a friend of friends. I've never heard the album, so maybe it was an unmitigated piece of garbage, but the whole thing had the feeling of a publicity stunt. After all, even Stone Temple Pilots eked out a 0.8.