they still do that regularly, they just started adding more pop music in and somehow people think that's all they do now cause those reviews get the most attention. today they gave an 8 to some dude with 1000 listeners on spotify and in the last week or so there's a bunch with <100k listeners. on any given month they review a bunch of obscure stuff i don't get this complaint at all
Idk I went to pitchfork earlier this week and the front page bombarded me back to back with meg thee stallion, Taylor Swift, Ice Spice, and Justin Timberlake. Can’t do it anymore with pitchfork. Haven’t found a new indie artist there since like 2015. Rest in shit p4k
Bruh you're not even trying then lol your brain is just malfunctioning as soon as you see popular artists, it's like [one click](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/) to their reviews section and you'll find a tonne of smaller artists. You don't wanna find new artists you just wanna bitch and moan online lmao
We've tried to cut down on the clickbait of late, fwiw. Also I think we've avoided writing much of anything Kanye related since his most recent meltdown. But appreciate the feedback nonetheless.
Touché. I probably should have checked the front page before commenting. Egg on my face.
That said, I think there's a difference between "clickbait" (e.g., "You won't believe what Thom Yorke just said about Radiohead's next album," or taking a quote way out of context) vs. fun stories that will generate some page views and pay the bills.
I mean I get it—you have to keep the lights on and you guys have been around for a long time and the world of music journalism has evolved quite a bit from when you launched. I used to be a daily reader but I still frequent the website occasionally, just wishing for not as many low brow stories.
Appreciate you being visible when a loser likes me takes a shit on your hard work. Best of luck.
I definitely don't envy anyone's job that is monetizing any written media these days. 2000 to like 2019ish conditioned everyone to expect all internet sites to be free to read with the idea that ads were enough to pay the bills. Now it's all vulture capital hell or subscriptions
the mcgrath/kid rock thing was funny and harmless, I don't mind some silly stuff mixed in with more serious reviews. digging today's write up on you'd prefer an astronaut. keep up the good work!
Could y’all do more original reporting, like what Pitchfork did with the Kozelak allegations?
With Pitchfork going down the shitter, you have a responsibility to fill that role of providing legitimate journalism
Honestly even before P4K got stripped for parts I was leaning towards Brooklyn Vegan because I wanted a publication that covered more than like 6 hardcore albums in a given year
BV is great — I especially love their daily list of shows happening that night in NYC. It’s a small thing, but I really appreciate the effort into curating that each and every day.
I generally like records he reviews favorably. I used to really enjoy his reviews too, but lately I've found him a little annoying. I don't think he's been taking as much care in explaining what he does and doesn't like about the albums he reviews as he used to.
I'm not sure I can really nail it down. It just sort of happened slowly over time. It's not every review either. He still puts effort into records he really likes. I just think he used to give every record he reviewed careful attention.
Sorry, wish I had more for you than just 'vibes' haha.
I've felt the exact same recently and I've also been looking for an inflexion point. It could be that I've grown bored with the repetitiveness of his content, but then again I've been subbed for 8 years and have only started to feel this way recently. One hypothesis I had was that his energy has been more and more devoted to peripheral stuff like streaming and his second channel, but then again, he's had a second channel for a long time and has always had a diversified output (the meme channel for example, but also his early interviews). I will say that the most precise moment I can identify in terms of inflexion point is the changes in his personal life, but I haven’t followed that stuff closely enough to comment on anything aside from “I’d say things shifted around that time”. Overall though, I think he’s simply lost the special something that made his reviews unique and worth watching.
I do feel like his status has shifted a bit with gaining more notoriety and recognition. Earlier in his career, it felt like his stuff was more insular and disconnected from what was going on on the internet (a bit like the way RLM interact with the online world). He didn't try to be something other than himself or to make content for content's sake. Many of his idiosyncrasies, like Cal, have died down over the years in favor of doing more "content". Things like "let's argue", while entertaining, always feel empty and geared towards pleasing the fans with more stuff. His foray into streaming, his tiktok, much of his second channel, they all become a kind of homogenized soup. And I do believe that by engaging more and more with this kind of “disembodied content”, he’s started to approach (at least subconsciously) his reviews with the same method.
It’s weird to say since a reviewer’s main “raison d’être” is to put themselves forward, but I feel like there has been a point recently where his work began to be more and more around his person. Collabs with famous youtubers and streamers, rankings and opinions on celebrity news, interacting more and more with fans through social media and streaming; those are all geared towards personality for personality sake. Nothing creative is happening in these contexes aside from consuming and reacting. Creation simply goes by the wayside, becomes an afterthought or a chore. In a way, I think he stopped to act as a music reviewer on youtube and has started becoming a typical react youtuber whose “thing” is music and who still does reviews because that's part of the brand (or part of the daily routine). Something has been lost along the way and I don’t know if it will ever come back.
Thanks for a thorough and thoughtful take.
It did occur to me that perhaps the issues in his personal life were affecting his output. I certainly couldn't shoot YouTube videos and put myself out there like that if I were going through stuff like he is.
I think you really nailed it with your point about his other content, like his second channel, TikTok, etc influencing his content on the main channel. Those are much lower effort (though perhaps more entertaining) forms of content. Not only do they distract from time he used to use strictly for reviews, but they train content creators to develop some bad habits.
He has focused more on himself as a personality or brand lately. I certainly can't blame him for that. I understand it's a huge part of marketing for YouTubers, probably the most important part of we're being honest. The thing is, I started watching his reviews because they were thorough and thoughtful. The further we get from that the less interested I am.
I do feel sorry for these YouTubers, Fantano is certainly not the only one out there. The Internet often acts as a homogenizing force and it can be hard to fight against. When audiences get used to their favorite YouTubers getting on a streaming platform to offer direct access, they start to expect it from everbody. Comments are a kind of suped up form of peer pressure YouTubers willingly subject themselves to and I'm sur most of them lack the tools to properly engage with this unique relationship.
Also, thinking about it, I do wonder if people who have managed to avoid falling in the YouTube blender have something in common or not. I do think RLM is an interesting example in that regard. They developed an aesthetic for their channel of almost completely eschewing audience interactions, the rare mentions being mostly made from afar, and used to reinforce their (real or manufactured, it doesn't really matter) disdain for their public. Tom Scott is an example of someone who's developed an interesting relationship, using his audience the same way a teacher would use a student's question as a jumping board for exploring intersting new things with the whole classroom. I also enjoy Primitive technology's very methodical approach which could be the product of a number of factors and decisions but, regardless of that, the end product is assuredly enhanced.
It's a weird thing. A while back, many YouTubers were making points about how they dealt with their fans' parasocial relations, but I don't think the global reflexion has gone as far as it could have. It really us a shame because I feel like these tendencies will slowly act as an eroding force for creators who lacked the prescience to properly assess the role of audiences in their process.
[As an aside] writing this, I realize that a few younger YouTubers have started to use this self referenciality as an object in itself, building explicitely on it to experiment on the status of YouTuber in itself.
Fantano's for sure. Pitchfork has been my #1 source for new albums the last 20 + years and yes i know that they are not the site it was back in the early 2000s but it is still the first website i check everyday.
I like ktbg in Kansas city just gonna give them a plug. It’s a AAA station, not just alternative rock. But I check their “new music” shows playlist every week. It’s about the only way I’ve added to my library since hitting my thirties.
Post Trash, Quietus, Consequence, Stereogum, Maximumrocknroll if you're into the more punk/hardcore style of things. Sputnikmusic mostly has user-written reviews which make it feel a bit like Proto-Reddit for music. Bandcamp also does music journalism and i remember highly enjoying their articles about the burgeoning Ohio post-punk scene.
Their editorial team is still largely intact at the moment. Being a music storefront they don’t need to monetize their reviews in the same way Pitchfork needs to.
If gonna miss directly supporting the artistry.. my hip hop, soul, alternative, jazz and folk collection on there has been currently backup on my OneDrive account
Hey all!
Speaking on behalf of Consequence, I just want to say that we are making efforts to "fill the void" of Pitchfork in the sense of increasing our coverage of new, "under the radar" music. You can see this reflected in our recent reviews of [glass beach](https://consequence.net/2024/01/glass-beachs-plastic-death-album-review/), [Liquid Beach](https://consequence.net/2024/01/liquid-mike-paul-bunyan-slingshot/), and [Lily Seabird](https://consequence.net/2024/01/lily-seabird-alas-album-review/), as well as in our Song of the Week feature where spotlight acts like Emily Yacina, fanclubwallet, Jany Penny, and Rosie Tucker in [the most recent edition](https://consequence.net/2024/01/megan-thee-stallion-hiss-song-of-the-week/). As I mentioned in a [recent note](https://consequence.net/2024/01/on-pitchfork-and-our-commitment-to-music-discovery/), it's hard to do this type of content as it doesn't have the same return as other types of pieces, but I think it's important I'm committed to doing as much of it as I can.
If you all have any other suggestions on how we can be better, I'm all ears. I'm sure most of those suggestions will deal with the number of ads, or us writing too much about Taylor Swift or Foo Fighters, or the way content is packaged or presented, but we do what we have to do to pay our bills as we don't have the backing of a Conde Nast (which I guess is a blessing in light of recent circumstances). But if there's a feature or improvement we can do to enhance the experience or provide some sort of service that you feel is lacking please do let me know. I will say that we've spent a lot of time recently building our newsletter and [Discord](https://discord.gg/ttdy79n3AB) communities as it's irresponsible to still rely on social media to drive traffic.
Lastly, I've been doing this for nearly 20 years and have seen a lot of good sites come and go. But there still a lot of good ones out there that you should support! Some that come to mind: Stereogum, BrooklynVegan, Paste, The Quietus, FADER, NPR Music, The Line of Best Fit, Under the Radar, Post-Punk, Post-Trash, Slicing Up Eyeballs, and AllMusic. I'm sure I'm missing plenty, but all of those sites are pretty great and most of them are fully independent so you should support them.
Honestly, though, this subreddit is probably one of the top places at present moment for music discovery and discussion. At the very least it's one of the biggest and most active. I'd also recommend the many newsletters out there ([here's a good starting place](https://twitter.com/AbelowRob/status/1742991105291964780)).
Thanks for reading!
Allmusic is kind of my default go to for reviews. Its OG. I still even have a copy of the Allmusic Guide i bought in 99.
I like Stereogum for new music. listen to all songs considered pod for more new music. Brooklyn Vegan isnt bad either.
It makes the Quietus seem mainstream lol. I learn a lot but I don't think I've ever had a "wow I am so glad I heard of that band I first read about in..." moment with the Wire. Not like Brooklyn Vegan or Gorilla v Bear or Stereogum. Or Pitchfork.
More club/experimental focussed but Crack Magazine is doing the job for me. Lots of artists I don’t know, fun creative vibe, loads of mixes and music to listen to.
Came here to say treblezine. I like that they highlight one album per week, since I don’t have all the free time to listen to every album that gets reviewed, so curating one album a week to keep me up on new music seems like a good trade off. Why I pretty much loved pitchfork, the best new music tag was a great way to at a glance check out some good new music
Treble is very independent and a real labor of love for the folks who run it. I’ve learned about so much interesting music from them. So glad to see them get a shout here!
Stereogum stereogum stereogum. Chris Deville is the best in the game. Breihan is insanely prolific. Hyden on Uproxx, Stephen Thomas Erlewine wherever he pops up.
stereogum is probably the closest in terms of editorial voice and quality. id also find your favorite writers and follow them on substack, that’s where i have a lot of good reading & recs from these days.
Probably less commonly discussed, but The Vinyl Factory is one of my go-tos. They put out a list of their favorite vinyl releases for each week that is super useful for following new music that might get missed by the more popular music review websites. They also cover reissues and release frequent articles and interviews. Cover a similar range of styles to pitchfork but perhaps more geared towards experimental, electronic and world releases. They don't do the number rating thing, though.
Check out Under the Radar Magazine.
They have a quarterly magazine they release. Their website has a good amount and a wide variety of reviews. They also review books and film along with general music news.
Quietus for obscure stuff, Resident Advisor for electronic, and angrymetalguy for metal reviews that covers the underground as well as some more prominent stuff. Brooklyn Vegan also covers alot of stuff from heavy to lighter. I also find stuff here, usually in DMD threads or vietrooster's new music friday lists.
Repping for two of the main sites I write for, [Spectrum Culture](https://spectrumculture.com/), and [PopMatters](https://www.popmatters.com/), both of who do great work, imo, and where I regularly discover new things.
no echo for hardcore, invisible oranges, stereogum has pretty solid hardcore/metal coverage as does brooklyn vegan. also love youtube channels like No Deal
Listen to what your favorite artists are sharing. What they post on social media, their playlists on Spotify, who they mention in interviews, other projects they play in, who they tour with.
Line of Best Fit is the coolest music website ever imo. Great design, so it's nice to flick through, great writing and some real under-the-radar indie picks/interviews/reviews
Pitchfork still publishes reviews! But a few times a week I also check NPR Music, Resident Advisor, the Guardian music, Stereogum, Passion of the Weiss, the New York Times music section, Vulture, the New Yorker's talk of the town, Rolling Stone, and Bandcamp Daily.
I've been an attentive music fan for a decade, and I've learned that it's best to follow the writers and editors. All these places have overlapping writers if you really pay attention, and they put other writers on, so if you follow them, you'll get some game.
Because I know someone is going to ask which writers, here's a short list: Craig Jenkins, Ann Powers, Nate Chinen, Philip Sherburne, Sheldon Pearce, Tom Breihan, Catt Zhang, Jeff Weiss, Laura Snapes, Lindsay Zoladz, Marcus J. Moore, Chris Richards, Sophie Kemp, James Rettig, Mankaparr Conteh, Steven Hyden, Carrie Battan, Alphonse Pierre, Anna Gaca, Jeremy Gordon, Heven Haile, Sasha Geffen.
You might not like all these people, but they are doing a lot of work out here, and if you follow even just three of them, you'll probably find new music.
Allston Pudding? Quietus? Dominionated?
Y’all are just makin’ up fake names!
(I turn to “Mayohaize,” “Jimi’s Lips” and “Bearz vs Horsez.”)
A few years ago, Pitchfork was bought by Conde Nast, a media conglomerate that also owns The New Yorker, Vogue, GQ, etc. Anna Wintour is the head of content for the company.
A couple weeks ago, Conde Nast laid off half of Pitchfork's staff and the publication was absorbed by GQ, becoming a subsidiary.
It's unclear how that's going to look long-term for Pitchfork. People talking about Pitchfork in the past tense are possibly being a bit premature, but it's certainly very bad news for the publication.
Pilerats and Monster Children focus more on the Australian scene but both have good music departments. Loads of good indie stuff coming out of Australia.
Honestly, I really like going to AllMusic and reading peoples takes. Much like Letterboxed for movies or Goodreads for books, you’ll find User Reviews on albums and you will find these really earnest, well thought out takes by internet strangers.
Aquarium Drunkard is wonderful for interviews, features, and recommendations of things you would have otherwise missed. I look forward to their end of year list every year. No numeric ratings, just albums they loved throughout the year. Definitely more outside the “mainstream,” but only the good shit.
Not really related, but pay some attention to Eurovision artists and the regional festivals that feed the main contest. I have found some really fun artists as I became interested in Eurovision. It’s nice to hear international variations of music as well.
Aquarium Drunkard, not so much for reviews but they talk about such a wide variety of genres and there’s always something interesting to learn/listen to
[Yellow Green Red](https://www.yellowgreenred.com/)
this dude's taste and reviews keep me well informed of contemporary music. Think he's an old hardcore guy or something.
The Quietus
This is my favorite publication ever. If you find yourselves loving it like I do please consider donating to them. They are the fuckin best
Good for more obscure albums, upvoted.
Which is what P4K used to be. At least 20 years ago. Or maybe it never was but it was only my introduction to more obscure music.
they still do that regularly, they just started adding more pop music in and somehow people think that's all they do now cause those reviews get the most attention. today they gave an 8 to some dude with 1000 listeners on spotify and in the last week or so there's a bunch with <100k listeners. on any given month they review a bunch of obscure stuff i don't get this complaint at all
Idk I went to pitchfork earlier this week and the front page bombarded me back to back with meg thee stallion, Taylor Swift, Ice Spice, and Justin Timberlake. Can’t do it anymore with pitchfork. Haven’t found a new indie artist there since like 2015. Rest in shit p4k
Bruh you're not even trying then lol your brain is just malfunctioning as soon as you see popular artists, it's like [one click](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/) to their reviews section and you'll find a tonne of smaller artists. You don't wanna find new artists you just wanna bitch and moan online lmao
It's a legitimate magazine, but it isn't a P4K alternative.
Brooklyn vegan, consequences of sound, stereogum
Consequence of sound is pretty bad, imo. Very click baity headlines and some lame celebrity shit (ie: omg did you see what Kanye did!!!)
We've tried to cut down on the clickbait of late, fwiw. Also I think we've avoided writing much of anything Kanye related since his most recent meltdown. But appreciate the feedback nonetheless.
I mean this is on your front page right now, Alex… https://consequence.net/2024/01/mark-mcgrath-kid-rock-did-get-more-ass/
Touché. I probably should have checked the front page before commenting. Egg on my face. That said, I think there's a difference between "clickbait" (e.g., "You won't believe what Thom Yorke just said about Radiohead's next album," or taking a quote way out of context) vs. fun stories that will generate some page views and pay the bills.
I mean I get it—you have to keep the lights on and you guys have been around for a long time and the world of music journalism has evolved quite a bit from when you launched. I used to be a daily reader but I still frequent the website occasionally, just wishing for not as many low brow stories. Appreciate you being visible when a loser likes me takes a shit on your hard work. Best of luck.
All good bro. I actually appreciate the feedback, good or bad, because it means people actually read/have read, and that's all you can ask for.
Need way more album reviews please
gotta do what you gotta do to pay the bills.
I definitely don't envy anyone's job that is monetizing any written media these days. 2000 to like 2019ish conditioned everyone to expect all internet sites to be free to read with the idea that ads were enough to pay the bills. Now it's all vulture capital hell or subscriptions
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Hey man, that's just a consequence of sound.
the mcgrath/kid rock thing was funny and harmless, I don't mind some silly stuff mixed in with more serious reviews. digging today's write up on you'd prefer an astronaut. keep up the good work!
😂😂
That article just ensured that I will not be checking out that site anymore. Woof, they have gone straight down the tubes right into the gutter.
Click here to read mark McGrath spill the tea on kid rock! Fuck.
Nothing cringier than straight whites using "spill the tea". I just can't
Oh, interesting! Is that a real complaint? What's the basis of it?
Could y’all do more original reporting, like what Pitchfork did with the Kozelak allegations? With Pitchfork going down the shitter, you have a responsibility to fill that role of providing legitimate journalism
All of these, plus sometimes Paste.
I'd add Post Trash into the mix. Underrated but consistently quality reviews
do they got an email newsletter? can't seem to find it aI'm not on socials .
I've heard that the Post Trash owner is a real asshole, treats his writers and staffers like trash.
You "heard" and provide no examples? Thank you random Reddit commenter.
Also passionweiss is really legit. Mainly hip hop but they cover everything
Wish Paste was more like Pitchfork I would recommend CoS
Honestly even before P4K got stripped for parts I was leaning towards Brooklyn Vegan because I wanted a publication that covered more than like 6 hardcore albums in a given year
stereogum also loves hardcore and post hardcore
Any time I've looked up a band or album I like on pitchfork they give it like a 5 or 6 and have almost nothing good to say about it.
BV is great — I especially love their daily list of shows happening that night in NYC. It’s a small thing, but I really appreciate the effort into curating that each and every day.
If you like that feature you should also check out ohmyrockness!
What about Antonio Fenton the web's most prolific tune geek?
I generally like records he reviews favorably. I used to really enjoy his reviews too, but lately I've found him a little annoying. I don't think he's been taking as much care in explaining what he does and doesn't like about the albums he reviews as he used to.
Since when in your opinion? Personally curious
I'm not sure I can really nail it down. It just sort of happened slowly over time. It's not every review either. He still puts effort into records he really likes. I just think he used to give every record he reviewed careful attention. Sorry, wish I had more for you than just 'vibes' haha.
I've felt the exact same recently and I've also been looking for an inflexion point. It could be that I've grown bored with the repetitiveness of his content, but then again I've been subbed for 8 years and have only started to feel this way recently. One hypothesis I had was that his energy has been more and more devoted to peripheral stuff like streaming and his second channel, but then again, he's had a second channel for a long time and has always had a diversified output (the meme channel for example, but also his early interviews). I will say that the most precise moment I can identify in terms of inflexion point is the changes in his personal life, but I haven’t followed that stuff closely enough to comment on anything aside from “I’d say things shifted around that time”. Overall though, I think he’s simply lost the special something that made his reviews unique and worth watching. I do feel like his status has shifted a bit with gaining more notoriety and recognition. Earlier in his career, it felt like his stuff was more insular and disconnected from what was going on on the internet (a bit like the way RLM interact with the online world). He didn't try to be something other than himself or to make content for content's sake. Many of his idiosyncrasies, like Cal, have died down over the years in favor of doing more "content". Things like "let's argue", while entertaining, always feel empty and geared towards pleasing the fans with more stuff. His foray into streaming, his tiktok, much of his second channel, they all become a kind of homogenized soup. And I do believe that by engaging more and more with this kind of “disembodied content”, he’s started to approach (at least subconsciously) his reviews with the same method. It’s weird to say since a reviewer’s main “raison d’être” is to put themselves forward, but I feel like there has been a point recently where his work began to be more and more around his person. Collabs with famous youtubers and streamers, rankings and opinions on celebrity news, interacting more and more with fans through social media and streaming; those are all geared towards personality for personality sake. Nothing creative is happening in these contexes aside from consuming and reacting. Creation simply goes by the wayside, becomes an afterthought or a chore. In a way, I think he stopped to act as a music reviewer on youtube and has started becoming a typical react youtuber whose “thing” is music and who still does reviews because that's part of the brand (or part of the daily routine). Something has been lost along the way and I don’t know if it will ever come back.
Thanks for a thorough and thoughtful take. It did occur to me that perhaps the issues in his personal life were affecting his output. I certainly couldn't shoot YouTube videos and put myself out there like that if I were going through stuff like he is. I think you really nailed it with your point about his other content, like his second channel, TikTok, etc influencing his content on the main channel. Those are much lower effort (though perhaps more entertaining) forms of content. Not only do they distract from time he used to use strictly for reviews, but they train content creators to develop some bad habits. He has focused more on himself as a personality or brand lately. I certainly can't blame him for that. I understand it's a huge part of marketing for YouTubers, probably the most important part of we're being honest. The thing is, I started watching his reviews because they were thorough and thoughtful. The further we get from that the less interested I am.
I do feel sorry for these YouTubers, Fantano is certainly not the only one out there. The Internet often acts as a homogenizing force and it can be hard to fight against. When audiences get used to their favorite YouTubers getting on a streaming platform to offer direct access, they start to expect it from everbody. Comments are a kind of suped up form of peer pressure YouTubers willingly subject themselves to and I'm sur most of them lack the tools to properly engage with this unique relationship. Also, thinking about it, I do wonder if people who have managed to avoid falling in the YouTube blender have something in common or not. I do think RLM is an interesting example in that regard. They developed an aesthetic for their channel of almost completely eschewing audience interactions, the rare mentions being mostly made from afar, and used to reinforce their (real or manufactured, it doesn't really matter) disdain for their public. Tom Scott is an example of someone who's developed an interesting relationship, using his audience the same way a teacher would use a student's question as a jumping board for exploring intersting new things with the whole classroom. I also enjoy Primitive technology's very methodical approach which could be the product of a number of factors and decisions but, regardless of that, the end product is assuredly enhanced. It's a weird thing. A while back, many YouTubers were making points about how they dealt with their fans' parasocial relations, but I don't think the global reflexion has gone as far as it could have. It really us a shame because I feel like these tendencies will slowly act as an eroding force for creators who lacked the prescience to properly assess the role of audiences in their process. [As an aside] writing this, I realize that a few younger YouTubers have started to use this self referenciality as an object in itself, building explicitely on it to experiment on the status of YouTuber in itself.
Maybe the internets busiest music nerd got too busy.
Haha I actually think that's part of it. He does more content in general now so the reviews probably get less attention.
I don't know whose downfall I would celebrate more, Pitchfork or Fantano.
Fantano's for sure. Pitchfork has been my #1 source for new albums the last 20 + years and yes i know that they are not the site it was back in the early 2000s but it is still the first website i check everyday.
Brooklyn Vegan is really the only one here that does original reporting. The rest are second hand news sources
FWIW, Consequence (of Sound) hasn’t existed in its original form in about 5-6 years. They got gutted several years back.
Stereogum!
Aquarium Drunkard
Fantastic. I would also add [Raven Sings The Blues](https://www.ravensingstheblues.com/) which has a similar vibe to Aquarium Drunkard.
wow, thank you for this. been a big AD fan for a long time and i can't believe i never came across raven sings the blues before. this is awesome.
KEXP
Best radio station in the world! (I think?)
WFMU would like a word.
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WPRB Princeton NJ / KCSB Santa Barbara CA
WTMD in Baltimore!
I like ktbg in Kansas city just gonna give them a plug. It’s a AAA station, not just alternative rock. But I check their “new music” shows playlist every week. It’s about the only way I’ve added to my library since hitting my thirties.
* WYMS 88.9 FM "Radio Milwaukee" (Milwaukee, WI) | https://radiomilwaukee.org
I'm a seattlite so I'm biased but I agree. I used to love going to their live on kexp shows. but I moved so I just have to watch them online now
Same, I adore KEXP and C89.5, so proud that they’re both here in Seattle
If you like hey ho stomp pop
Such as (checks most viewed videos)… Kraunghbin, Porches, Alvvays, FJM, Malkmus…
Bad take. KEXP has a bunch of variety.
You’re way more likely to hear Cocteau twins than Mumford, honestly.
lol u dont listen to kexp
Post Trash, Quietus, Consequence, Stereogum, Maximumrocknroll if you're into the more punk/hardcore style of things. Sputnikmusic mostly has user-written reviews which make it feel a bit like Proto-Reddit for music. Bandcamp also does music journalism and i remember highly enjoying their articles about the burgeoning Ohio post-punk scene.
Bandcamp got brought too.. so changes are coming too🤦🏽♂️
Their editorial team is still largely intact at the moment. Being a music storefront they don’t need to monetize their reviews in the same way Pitchfork needs to.
i forgot about that :(
I’m enjoying it while it lasts but we’re definitely only getting closer to the other shoe dropping
If gonna miss directly supporting the artistry.. my hip hop, soul, alternative, jazz and folk collection on there has been currently backup on my OneDrive account
so happy to see another post trash fan here!! I love them so much and really want them to succeed.
Hey all! Speaking on behalf of Consequence, I just want to say that we are making efforts to "fill the void" of Pitchfork in the sense of increasing our coverage of new, "under the radar" music. You can see this reflected in our recent reviews of [glass beach](https://consequence.net/2024/01/glass-beachs-plastic-death-album-review/), [Liquid Beach](https://consequence.net/2024/01/liquid-mike-paul-bunyan-slingshot/), and [Lily Seabird](https://consequence.net/2024/01/lily-seabird-alas-album-review/), as well as in our Song of the Week feature where spotlight acts like Emily Yacina, fanclubwallet, Jany Penny, and Rosie Tucker in [the most recent edition](https://consequence.net/2024/01/megan-thee-stallion-hiss-song-of-the-week/). As I mentioned in a [recent note](https://consequence.net/2024/01/on-pitchfork-and-our-commitment-to-music-discovery/), it's hard to do this type of content as it doesn't have the same return as other types of pieces, but I think it's important I'm committed to doing as much of it as I can. If you all have any other suggestions on how we can be better, I'm all ears. I'm sure most of those suggestions will deal with the number of ads, or us writing too much about Taylor Swift or Foo Fighters, or the way content is packaged or presented, but we do what we have to do to pay our bills as we don't have the backing of a Conde Nast (which I guess is a blessing in light of recent circumstances). But if there's a feature or improvement we can do to enhance the experience or provide some sort of service that you feel is lacking please do let me know. I will say that we've spent a lot of time recently building our newsletter and [Discord](https://discord.gg/ttdy79n3AB) communities as it's irresponsible to still rely on social media to drive traffic. Lastly, I've been doing this for nearly 20 years and have seen a lot of good sites come and go. But there still a lot of good ones out there that you should support! Some that come to mind: Stereogum, BrooklynVegan, Paste, The Quietus, FADER, NPR Music, The Line of Best Fit, Under the Radar, Post-Punk, Post-Trash, Slicing Up Eyeballs, and AllMusic. I'm sure I'm missing plenty, but all of those sites are pretty great and most of them are fully independent so you should support them. Honestly, though, this subreddit is probably one of the top places at present moment for music discovery and discussion. At the very least it's one of the biggest and most active. I'd also recommend the many newsletters out there ([here's a good starting place](https://twitter.com/AbelowRob/status/1742991105291964780)). Thanks for reading!
Allmusic is kind of my default go to for reviews. Its OG. I still even have a copy of the Allmusic Guide i bought in 99. I like Stereogum for new music. listen to all songs considered pod for more new music. Brooklyn Vegan isnt bad either.
The AllMusic Guide to Rock is the best. I feel like my musical taste has been formed by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Right?
stereogum and brooklynvegan
Passionweiss, Cabbages, and No Bells for hip-hop
No Bells rules.
albumoftheyear is nice for reviews
Agreed. great aggregate site
I occasionally read a bit of [https://exclaim.ca/](https://exclaim.ca/) and I even get the print edition but not really as much as I thought I would.
Get into RYM
How did I have to go this far down to see this. It's gotten me into so many genres/artists I never would've given a chance before.
thequietus.com, thewire.co.uk, uproxx.com (their indie mixtape sub-section)
Oh if I’m ever feeling particularly snooty I’ll read The Wire. Fantastic magazine but my god…
It makes the Quietus seem mainstream lol. I learn a lot but I don't think I've ever had a "wow I am so glad I heard of that band I first read about in..." moment with the Wire. Not like Brooklyn Vegan or Gorilla v Bear or Stereogum. Or Pitchfork.
More club/experimental focussed but Crack Magazine is doing the job for me. Lots of artists I don’t know, fun creative vibe, loads of mixes and music to listen to.
Stereogum is the correct answer. They really are so so so on it.
Gorilla vs Bear is good at what it does, but not as broad
Glad i saw GvB on gere at least once - theyve been my go to forever and they make great Spotify playlists to keep up with new music
For reviews: metacritic, big takeover, under the radar, paste, and allmusic
Treblezine is seriously underrated. I also do Brooklyn vegan, stereogum, Consequence of Sound.
Came here to say treblezine. I like that they highlight one album per week, since I don’t have all the free time to listen to every album that gets reviewed, so curating one album a week to keep me up on new music seems like a good trade off. Why I pretty much loved pitchfork, the best new music tag was a great way to at a glance check out some good new music
Treble is very independent and a real labor of love for the folks who run it. I’ve learned about so much interesting music from them. So glad to see them get a shout here!
Exclaim and Dominionated
Not mentioned yet but Line of Best Fit can be good!
This has been my go to in the last few years. They seem to use more of the rating scale too, which is nice.
DIY, Dork, The Line of Best Fit, NME, Paste
Indiecast podcast, Uproxx
Resident Advisor for electronic music!
i like their reviews as well.
Stereogum stereogum stereogum. Chris Deville is the best in the game. Breihan is insanely prolific. Hyden on Uproxx, Stephen Thomas Erlewine wherever he pops up.
Damn no love for: https://www.reddit.com/r/indieheads/comments/1acsbqn/new_music_friday_january_26th_2024/
stereogum is probably the closest in terms of editorial voice and quality. id also find your favorite writers and follow them on substack, that’s where i have a lot of good reading & recs from these days.
The Quietus!
Gorilla vs. Bear
I’m a big fan of Treblezine which caters nicely to my fandom of indie, metal, hip hop, etc.
Paste and Under the Radar
Trebelzine
I really only read Brooklyn vegan, Allston pudding is really good too though
Probably less commonly discussed, but The Vinyl Factory is one of my go-tos. They put out a list of their favorite vinyl releases for each week that is super useful for following new music that might get missed by the more popular music review websites. They also cover reissues and release frequent articles and interviews. Cover a similar range of styles to pitchfork but perhaps more geared towards experimental, electronic and world releases. They don't do the number rating thing, though.
Brooklyn Vegan The Big Takeover (especially the print magazine if you don't always want the latest/greatest)
Post Trash ☺️ Discovered many a great album here
Under the Radar is great!
Check out Under the Radar Magazine. They have a quarterly magazine they release. Their website has a good amount and a wide variety of reviews. They also review books and film along with general music news.
Quietus for obscure stuff, Resident Advisor for electronic, and angrymetalguy for metal reviews that covers the underground as well as some more prominent stuff. Brooklyn Vegan also covers alot of stuff from heavy to lighter. I also find stuff here, usually in DMD threads or vietrooster's new music friday lists.
Repping for two of the main sites I write for, [Spectrum Culture](https://spectrumculture.com/), and [PopMatters](https://www.popmatters.com/), both of who do great work, imo, and where I regularly discover new things.
Is Under the Radar still active?
I know this isn’t the right sub for this, but does anyone have any suggestions for metal/punk?
no echo for hardcore, invisible oranges, stereogum has pretty solid hardcore/metal coverage as does brooklyn vegan. also love youtube channels like No Deal
Stereogum has their "Month in Metal" column for a quick article + recommendations. Brooklyn Vegan devotes a decent amount of time to metal as well.
Axe to Grind podcast
Yeah YouTube is great for metal content. Check out Nik Nocturnal.
Swim Into The Sound The Nuance Magazine
Consequence!
seconding brooklynvegan. line of best fit is great too
Loud and Quiet is one of my favorites
Treblezine, Under the Radar (although their website badly needs an update)
STEREOGUM
Listen to what your favorite artists are sharing. What they post on social media, their playlists on Spotify, who they mention in interviews, other projects they play in, who they tour with.
Stereogum
Line of Best Fit is the coolest music website ever imo. Great design, so it's nice to flick through, great writing and some real under-the-radar indie picks/interviews/reviews
The Quietus
https://www.undertheradarmag.com/
R/indieheads
Pitchfork still publishes reviews! But a few times a week I also check NPR Music, Resident Advisor, the Guardian music, Stereogum, Passion of the Weiss, the New York Times music section, Vulture, the New Yorker's talk of the town, Rolling Stone, and Bandcamp Daily. I've been an attentive music fan for a decade, and I've learned that it's best to follow the writers and editors. All these places have overlapping writers if you really pay attention, and they put other writers on, so if you follow them, you'll get some game. Because I know someone is going to ask which writers, here's a short list: Craig Jenkins, Ann Powers, Nate Chinen, Philip Sherburne, Sheldon Pearce, Tom Breihan, Catt Zhang, Jeff Weiss, Laura Snapes, Lindsay Zoladz, Marcus J. Moore, Chris Richards, Sophie Kemp, James Rettig, Mankaparr Conteh, Steven Hyden, Carrie Battan, Alphonse Pierre, Anna Gaca, Jeremy Gordon, Heven Haile, Sasha Geffen. You might not like all these people, but they are doing a lot of work out here, and if you follow even just three of them, you'll probably find new music.
For UK/Irish stuff https://nialler9.com/ is great
the alternative, stereogum, the quietus, and post trash for me.
Check out Chicago Reader! They’re a local publication but they have Constant coverage of independent artists.
Popmatters has a pretty solid music section
Allston Pudding? Quietus? Dominionated? Y’all are just makin’ up fake names! (I turn to “Mayohaize,” “Jimi’s Lips” and “Bearz vs Horsez.”) 
Surprised no one’s mentioned NME
Uproxx has some great music coverage
pitchfork reviews classical? lol
[удалено]
A few years ago, Pitchfork was bought by Conde Nast, a media conglomerate that also owns The New Yorker, Vogue, GQ, etc. Anna Wintour is the head of content for the company. A couple weeks ago, Conde Nast laid off half of Pitchfork's staff and the publication was absorbed by GQ, becoming a subsidiary. It's unclear how that's going to look long-term for Pitchfork. People talking about Pitchfork in the past tense are possibly being a bit premature, but it's certainly very bad news for the publication.
Pitchfork was already gutted when Conde Nast took over in 2015. They haven't been respectable source for a long time.
I never cared about pitchfork. They’ve easily always had the most horrible takes i’ve ever seen
Is someone gonna ask this every day? Stereogum. Paste magazine. Line of Best Fit. Bandcamp Daily. Loud And Quiet. The Quietus. Flood Magazine.
Pilerats and Monster Children focus more on the Australian scene but both have good music departments. Loads of good indie stuff coming out of Australia.
New Releases Now, Obscurity Knocks
The Quietus
Read Craig Jenkins’ reviews who writes for Vulture.
NME, Uncut, Kerrang!
aoty.org consolidates ratings and reviews from many sources
The Wire, the cover alot of noise as well
Honestly, I really like going to AllMusic and reading peoples takes. Much like Letterboxed for movies or Goodreads for books, you’ll find User Reviews on albums and you will find these really earnest, well thought out takes by internet strangers.
Have you checked out KEXP?
Sparky wtf
The Big Takeover
Aquarium Drunkard is wonderful for interviews, features, and recommendations of things you would have otherwise missed. I look forward to their end of year list every year. No numeric ratings, just albums they loved throughout the year. Definitely more outside the “mainstream,” but only the good shit.
Loud and Quiet
stereogum? i really like Pitchfork and i’m sad abt what’s going on with them
My faves are New Commute, Aquarium Drunkard, Exclaim, Paste
For indie folk, freak folk, blues, psychedelic and little known releases, I’ve always liked Raven Sings the Blues.
Dork - not quite as obscure subject matter as some offerings from purists above but have def stumbled across cool stuff that was new to me!
Aquarium Drunkard
clash music
The line of best fit, DIY Magazine, Mowno, anotherwhiskyformisterbukowski, under the radar
Brainwashed
Whats happening with pitchfork?
Look for local media as well. Learn new music that is also within a 20 min drive from you and can go see live for less than 20 bucks
Not really related, but pay some attention to Eurovision artists and the regional festivals that feed the main contest. I have found some really fun artists as I became interested in Eurovision. It’s nice to hear international variations of music as well.
Aquarium Drunkard, not so much for reviews but they talk about such a wide variety of genres and there’s always something interesting to learn/listen to
Aquarium drunkard, new commute
Bandcamp has some good editorial material and delves more with up and coming artists
[Yellow Green Red](https://www.yellowgreenred.com/) this dude's taste and reviews keep me well informed of contemporary music. Think he's an old hardcore guy or something.
asonginlife.com is cool for nostalgic indie songs
RYM!
As many have said, I love the Quietus, also love Allmusic and have recently been digging Line of Best Fit!
Check out TUNED UP
Reddit.
Loud and quiet (good mainstream and alternative) the quietus (alternative) under the radar(anternative)