An Open Letter to Pitchfork Media from the Airborne Toxic Event
Dear Ian,
Thanks for your review of our record. It’s clear that you are a good writer and it’s clear that you took a lot of time giving us a thorough slagging on the site. We are fans of Pitchfork. And it’s fun to slag off bands. It’s like a sport — kind of part of the deal when you decide to be in a rock band. (That review of Jet where the monkey pees in his own mouth was about the funniest piece of band-slagging we’ve ever seen.)
We decided a long time ago not to take reviews too seriously. For one, they tend to involve a whole lot of projection, generally saying more about the writer than the band. Sort of a musical Rorschach test. And for another, reading them makes you too damned self-conscious, like the world is looking over your shoulder when the truth is you’re not a genius or a moron. You’re just a person in a band.
Plus, the variation of opinions on our record has bordered on absurd. 80 percent of what’s been said has been positive, a few reviews have remained on the fence and a few (such as yours) have been aggressively harsh. We tend not to put a lot of stock in this stuff, but the sheer disagreement of opinion makes for fascinating (if not a bit narcissistic) reading.
And anyway we have to admit that we found ourselves oddly flattered by your review. I mean, 1.6? That is not faint praise. That is not a humdrum slagging. That is serious fist-pounding, shoe-stomping anger. Many publications said this was among the best records of the year. You seem to think it’s among the worst. That is so much better than faint praise.
You compare us to a lot of really great bands (Arcade Fire, the National, Bright Eyes, Bruce Springsteen) and even if your intention was to cut us down, you end up describing us as: “lyrically moody, musically sumptuous and dramatic.” One is left only to conclude that you must think those things are bad.
We love indie rock and we know full well that Pitchfork doesn’t so much critique bands as critique a band’s ability to match a certain indie rock aesthetic. We don’t match it. It’s true that the events described in these songs really happened. It’s true we wrote about them in ways that make us look bad. (Sometimes in life you are the hero, and sometimes, you are the cuckold. Sometimes you’re screaming about your worst fears, your most vicious jealousies and failures. Such is life.) It’s also true that the record isn’t ironic or quirky or fey or disinterested or buried beneath mountains of guitar noodling.
As writers, we admire your tenacity and commitment to your tone (even though you do go too far with your assumptions about us). You’re wrong about our intentions, you’re wrong about how this band came together, you don’t seem to get the storytelling or the catharsis or the humor in the songs, and you clearly have some misconceptions about who we are as a band and who we are as people.
But it also seems to have very little to do with us. Much of your piece reads less like a record review and more like a diatribe against a set of ill-considered and borderline offensive preconceptions about Los Angeles. Los Angeles has an extremely vibrant blogging community, Silver Lake is a very close-knit rock scene. We are just one band among many. (And by the way, L.A. does have a flagship indie rock band: they’re called Silversun Pickups). We cut our teeth at Spaceland and the Echo and have nothing to do with whatever wayward ideas you have about the Sunset Strip. That’s just bad journalism.
But that is the nature of this sort of thing. It’s always based on incomplete information. Pitchfork has slagged many, many bands we admire (Dr. Dog, the Flaming Lips, Silversun Pickups, Cold War Kids, Black Kids, Bright Eyes [ironic, no?] just to name a few), so now we’re among them. Great.
This band was borne of some very very dark days and the truth is that there is something exciting about just being part of this kind of thing. There’s this long history of dialogue between bands and writers so it’s a bit of a thrill that you have such a strong opinion about us.
We hear you live in Los Angeles. We’d love for you to come to a show sometime and see what we’re doing with these lyrically moody and dramatic songs. You seem like a true believer when it comes to music and writing so we honestly think we can’t be too far apart. In any case, it would make for a good story.
all our best–
Mikel, Steven, Anna, Daren, Noah
the Airborne Toxic Event
–
Here’s the review, from the front page of Pitchfork:
The Airborne Toxic Event: The Airborne Toxic Event
[Majordomo; 2008]
Rating: 1.6
I probably couldn’t get anyone here in Los Angeles to admit it, but the city lacks a flasgship upstart indie band and wants one in the worst way—one both a little fresher than Spin cover stars Beck and Rilo Kiley and with more mainstream potential than the bands from the Smell. The onus would likely fall on the folkier, cuddlier Silver Lake/Los Feliz scene, but over the past three years it feels as if the area’s bands have failed to rise to the occasion.
It’s no surprise that many are betting the house on the Airborne Toxic Event– their debut album is lyrically moody, musically sumptuous, and dramatic. Their name is even a transparent DeLillo reference, and every one of the 10 tracks sounds like it can be preceded with radio chatter. The Airborne Toxic Event have done their homework. But unless you’re a certain French duo, homework rarely results in good pop music, and The Airborne Toxic Event is an album that’s almost insulting in its unoriginality; while the sound most outsiders attribute to Los Angeles has been marginalized to Metal Skool and the average customer at the Sunset Boulevard Guitar Center, TATE embodies the Hollywood ideal of paying lip service to the innovations of mavericks while trying to figure out how to reduce it to formula.
Throughout, the Airborne Toxic Event show a surface-level familiarity with early 00s critics lists, but aren’t able to convey what made those much-lauded recods emotionally resonant. Can’t convert unthinkable tragedy into cathartic, absolutely alive music like Arcade Fire? Just steal the drum pattern from “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)”? Can’t connect with the listener with the same fourth-wall busting intimacy as Bright Eyes? That’s when you trot out the run-on sentences and get all tremulous when you mean it, man. And that’s just the first song. Not privy to the Strokes’ accidental poetry and concise songwriting? Get a distorted microphone. Want a hit as big as “Mr. Brightside”, but take yourself too seriously to conjure a semblance of juicy melodrama? Grab a half-assed disco beat and boom, you’re now ready to write the limpdicked cuckold behind “Does This Mean You’re Moving On?”
And while it’s understandable that a debut should owe such enormous debts, what really rankles is the unrelenting entitlement that assumes cred via sonic proximity– it’s the musical equivalent of showing up to a bar with a bad fake ID and throwing a hissy-fit when you get carded. While lead singer Mikel Jollett can alternately sound like Paul Banks, Win Butler, Conor Oberst, or Matt Berninger, what ties the LP together is quite possibly the most unlikeable lyric book of the year, rife with empty dramatic signifiers, AA/BB simplicity, and casual misogyny. If Social Distortion did Bruce Springsteen instead of callow Johnny Cash fan fic, you might get the lock-limbed anti-rock of “Gasoline”, but my god– “We were only 17/ We were holding back our screams/ Like we tore it from the pages of some lipstick magazine.” Before you can comprehend just how clichéd and yet somehow meaningless that line is, by the next hook he’s replaced “screams” with “dreams” and “lipstick” with “girlie,” before he’s “only 21 [and] not having any fun.” Then something about “bullets from a gun.”
If only that were the low point. It pains me to pan “Sometime Around Midnight” on concept alone because, man, we’ve all been there. Stop me if you think that you’ve heard this one before: There’s a club if you’d like to go…except maybe when you go home and cry and want to die, and it reduces you to putting your thoughts on paper in rhyme form. The next morning, you thank god no one’s seen it but you. The Airborne Toxic Event aren’t so private, alas. As the ill-fated narrator sees his ladyfriend in a “white dress” “holding a tonic like a cross” while “a piano plays a melancholy soundtrack to her smile” (what bars do these guys go to?). He imagines holding her naked “like two perfect circles entwined.” After five minutes pass, she leaves with “some man you don’t know” and then your friends look at you “like you’ve seen a ghost.” There’s a possibility this is just a po-mo exercise, writing a song about writing a song about how some girl not wanting to fuck you is some sort of epic human calamity, but judging by the out-of-nowhere string section that opens the thing for the first minute, I doubt these guys are playing. It begins a stunning about-face that finds the band spending the rest of the record trying to be Jimmy Eat World.
In a way, The Airborne Toxic Event is something of a landmark record: This represents a tipping point where you almost wish Funeral or Turn on the Bright Lights or Is This It? never happened as long as it spared you from horrible imitations like this one, often sounding more inspired by market research than actual inspiration. Congrats, Pitchfork reader– the Airborne Toxic Event thinks you’re a demographic.
Clearly, Ian Cohen woke up on the wrong side of the bed when he wrote this review. Airborne is one of the best bands to come out in years. You can’t believe everything you read, go see one of their shows, or better yet buy a CD and really enjoy it. Poor Mr. Cohen, maybe he will be in a better mood soon.
[...] the Wiltern supporting the Fratellis last night and are up in San Francisco this evening, have posted an open letter on their website to Pitchfork Media regarding the 1.6 rating bestowed their album today by Ian Cohen. They close the [...]
Finally someone stands up to Pitchfork. I’m so sick of their bullshit. Good for Airborne
Way to go, guys, taking the high road on this. A reverse slam of Pitchfork would have been too easy.
You guys wrote this pretty eloquently, and this will generate buzz, but I’d have to say, perhaps the not the right kind of buzz. Because of this whole hoo-ha I’ve listened to you for the first time… and realised most of things that Ian Cohen said are dead on.
And he doesn’t compare you to Bright Eyes, Arcade Fire, etc. with any sort of postivity, he says you’re taking what they have and reducing it to formula… in the process losing what was so special about it. Don’t take it as flattery :/
You guys are decent. You’re quite a bit better than a lot of bands out there. You probably didn’t deserve quite a 1.6 or really anywhere near that, you’re better than that, but what most of the text says I in fact quite agree with.
Well done, that was classy. I hadn’t heard of y’all until the pitchfork review, and I thought, gee a band that got this big a bug under this guy’s ass couldn’t be all bad! It seems like this dude’s main problem with your record is the horrible fact that you love the same bands he loves, but he doesn’t love your band. This seems to merit a steaming pile of scorn. Weird. It’s kind of scandalous that there isn’t a comments section or a venue for dissent at pitchfork, isn’t it?
Very uncalled for. It’s fine if he doesn’t care for your music, but that was far too harsh. And you didn’t just blow right back at him. Instead you wrote a letter in the voice that he should have written his review.
And chill out alice.
http://www.social-cache.com/2008/09/owning-your-message-online-the-airborne-toxic-event-unusual-social-media-adherent
We live in a world of constant updating. News moves swiftly from PDA to mobile phone to laptop to desktop in seconds. We Twitter, we text, we temper our every moment if we are not careful; we modify our immediate world-view for consumption online to passive recipients who make what they will of our digital discourse. Who owns the information that you have set free? Dwell on that a minute as I move on.
Google is your friend for research and your archenemy if you don’t own what Google’s spiders discover as they crawl every nook and cranny of the web. The information that others post about you or your company should reference content that you have delivered, written and posted yourself and preferably be content that can be verified easily from third party sites and other online sources. Own your message, if you don’t someone else will.
Today I received an email from the publicists for the indie rock band, The Airborne Toxic Event [we'll leave the Don Delillo reference aside for now,] which contained an open letter to a ‘music critic,’ Ian Cohen, who works for the indie music fans’ online bible, Pitchfork. In short, in his review of the band’s new album, he eviscerated it as a work of musical plagiarism.
Cohen is of course entitled to his opinion, his purview as a critic demands it. He is a filter and an influencer and he writes for Pitchfork which in turn operates within those same modern parameters; Pitchfork has taken on the mantle of challenging the once-hallowed print journals of music criticism and therefore its responsibility does not end at the node of an ISP. Within that responsibility lies a problem - the print magazines had editors. Editors who once were the filters and influencers, soft blocking and often hard balling writers who turned in weak copy, guiding and counseling writers who had the metaphorical fish on the line and teaching them how to land the story. The internet has swept that aside and Pitchfork has happily built and attached its business to those loose moorings.
Worse still, Pitchfork does not embrace openness - you cannot comment on any of the posts - it’s a good old-fashioned web site, so communication is restricted and readers opinions will never be taken in to consideration.
And that’s why The Toxic Airborne Events’ open letter to the music blogs of the world was a very smart move. They were able to calmly and sensibly challenge Ian Cohen’s review without stooping to the same low levels that his review had reached. They took the high road. They accept his criticism but challenge the presumptions he has formed about the band - “You’re wrong about our intentions, you’re wrong about how this band came together, you don’t seem to get the storytelling or the catharsis or the humor in the songs, and you clearly have some misconceptions about who we are as a band and who we are as people.”
And they don’t hold back as they defend the music scene in Silverlake and Los Feliz that was once much lauded by writers such as Cohen - “….it also seems to have very little to do with us. Much of your piece reads less like a record review and more like a diatribe against a set of ill-considered and borderline offensive preconceptions about Los Angeles. Los Angeles has an extremely vibrant blogging community, Silver Lake is a very close-knit scene of bands. We’re one of them. We cut our teeth at Spaceland and the Echo and have nothing to do with whatever wayward ideas you have about the Sunset Strip. That’s just bad journalism.”
In the face of a negative online story The Airborne Toxic Event did exactly right thing - they responded immediately and intelligently. No Pitchfork swift-boating for them
I agree with Dave and find it funny that the band’s reply is much more eloquent and sounds more polished and professional than the writings of someone claiming to be a journalist/critic. While Ian sounds like a petulant, over-zealous high school newspaper reporter, The Airborne Toxic Event comes away from this looking classy and mature. It’s much easier to verbally rip a band to pieces than it is to really examine the quality of the music and to set aside your own preferences and preconceived notions. It seems like Ian just likes reading his words in print so much that the quality and accuracy of the writing isn’t as important as making sure it sounds witty and informative. T.A.T.E. is right in that a review usually speaks more of the author’s state of mind than the talent of the band. Mr. Cohen’s review says to me that he is trying way too hard. This leads me to think he is new and insecure, hungry to prove himself and wanting badly to be relevant. I’ve seen that in my own reviews and have learned a lot from forum’s like this. I’d like to think that it has made me into a better author/critic but I suppose you can all judge for yourselves since I’ll be reviewing the SF show for Bay Area Backstage at myspace.com/michaelmagicr2cents and myspace.com/dianthrax. If I’m lucky maybe Ian will drop by to read it and rip my review a new one.
To the members of Airborne Toxic Event,
I just came across your letter via absolutepunk.net and as a recent fan in Indiana, I must say how impressed I am with your response to the Pitchfork review. I am also a fan of Pitchfork and until now didn’t even know that this low review existed until you replied to it. I bought your record just last week and have been listening to it repeatedly. You guys, combined with the Dodos, has been an awesome show in my car. Having read your letter now, I am currently inspired to read every bad review that Ian of Pitchfork has written and personally check out every band he thinks is bad because there is now hope that I might like those albums too. Is that to say that I like crap?? Hell, no. I love what I love and I like it that way and no bad review will ever change it. I love it because I listened to it and loved it, not because of what someone else said about it. That’s the way it should be. Cheers to future accomplishments. I’ll be paying attention and trying to catch the next show you might have in my area.
Way to take the high road. Pitchfork has become an ivory tower of pretention. It would be a much better site if they allowed feedback from readers and bands - they used to have letters to the editor that they’d publish, and it was a better site back then.
You not only repsonded eloquently and with a great deal of class, but you also let your readers leave replies. It takes far more courage to take a stand in a public forum where people can disagree with you than to simply be dismissive in a format that allows no other voices.
I can’t say I’m a fan but I truly respect the way you handled this. Well done.
[...] Pitchfork Review -Band’s Response Letter -Ryan’s Smashing Life response -Anyone’s Guess response ATE’s Official Site / [...]
Nice response, guys.
Not only did you guys FINALLY stand up to Pitchfork’s bullcrap, but you did it so eloquently I was laughing as I was reading. Brilliantly done - not only as a witty response, but for great advertisement.
By my ear, you sound like a decent band, not great, but far from bad. This polarizing review was a gift. Glad to see you are running with it. People will want to listen to see what the fuss is about.
Sorry, Marissa, I shall try to chill out as I was clearly being so wildly unreasonable and aggressive with my own opinion… I’ll try not to be so offensive next time.
Pitchfork only like bands that sing “panda panda panda” or something like that. And rap. So unless you’re a whimsical, light-hearted indie band that doesn’t take itself seriously, or a “hardcore” rapper, don’t expect to get a high score from them. For some bizarre reason they absolutely hate artists that sing about personal issues. It’s taboo to say that someone hurt you emotionally.
Every single one of my favorite artists has not gotten about a 6.0 rating on Pitchfork, I wasn’t surprised that they wouldn’t “get” your music, which is fantastic. I heard “Sometime around Midnight” back in February when Kroq was playing it and already then I knew it would be one of the best songs of the year. Much better than EVERY SINGLE SONG on Radiohead’s craptabulous “In_Rainbows”, which had not a single memorable hook on it.
Your band is awesome.
Agh, instead of “about a 6.0 rating”, make that “above a 6.0″. I’ve gotten so riled up I’m spelling things wrong.
[...] thick before there is even any mention of Airborne Toxic Event. As you so eloquently stated in your open letter to Pitchfork in response to this review, “it also seems to have very little to do with us. Much of your [...]
An Open Letter to Airborne Toxic Event Re: An Open Letter to Pitchfork
Who the hell is Pitchfork? And who appointed him/them gatekeepers? Pleaze… Keep Rocking TATE, and come to Sacramento soon…I miss L.A. in the worst way
All i can say is your music feels real and i can really connect with it. Thanks for a great album and your preformances are out of this world. I relly Hope Ian does come to see you guys live because i think it would change his mind completly.
Wow, I am not sure what that Ian guy is thinking but I feel quite certain he isn’t listening to the same band I just heard on the radio. I could barely sit in my seat because of the excitement I felt when I heard Sometime Around Midnight. The radio is full of shit but this song…omg, I can’t even explain it. I think Ian needs a hug. Ian, come get a hug from me and I will give you one of my earbuds so we can listen to these guys together. They’re the coolest thing since sliced bread.
I seldom choose my music and bands according to what a reviewer pronounces to be good or bad. It’s just an opinion. I could very well be more qualified to review the band simply because of my age and the sheer volume of music that I’ve listened to in my life and I think they are the greatest songwriters since Paul Westerberg in terms of how they say what they say/mean. Musically, they are simply a tremendous bundle of talent. But what sets them apart, in my opinion, is a less obvious quality which connects them with their audience~ and on so many levels. It’s a rare and wonderful energy that comes from the heart. Listening to and watching Airborne Toxic Event is an entire experience that isn’t just entertaining but emotional and exhilarating. I’m seeing their fan base growing day by day and it’s obvious to me that in a very short period of time, the band will be big… very big. I feel sure that, with the depth and range of their talent, coupled with the “heart” they posess, they’ll be around for a very long time and Ian Cohen will be wondering what he was thinking…
I saw this group at The Newport in Columbus, OH when they were supporting the Fratellis. This has to be one of the BEST concerts I have ever attended… with Electric Touch, Airborne Toxic Event and the headlining band… I got home and immediately d/loaded their CD and it’s been on heavy rotation ever since. It was also INCREDIBLY cool that the whole band stood out front after the gig to meet their fans, sign autographs and pose for pictures. You all deserve the BEST of success because you clearly give a crap about the people that listen to your music. In me, you have a convert and I can’t wait for you to tour as a headliner. I’ll be there; that’s a promise. BRAVO.
Best wishes,
- Ray (aka the sik pupi)
Hi there.
I recently saw ATE at The Wiltern and it was the first I really heard any their music, except for that one I kept hearing on the radio which I loved. I must say, that I was an immediate fan from the minute the first chord was strummed!!!! After the show, I was excited and I was telling my friends that this could very well be the last time we see The Airborne Toxic Event at a small venue such as The Wiltern. It is clearly my belief that this band from my home town (yo, what up…I lived in Los Feliz on Normandie & Franklin for a short period, but i’m in Hollywood Land now) is going to be the brightest band to shine and explode into something huge!
The Airborne Toxic Event is by far now my favorite band! Keep your heads up, these so called critics are just aspiring to only be as successful as your band…unfortunately, these critics probably don’t have the talent to write quality music such as yours…so they have been forced to write mean reviews whether out of hate, bad mood, or just to get attention! Because of your success, our band, The Wallburds, is influenced to keep going forward no matter what steps in our way too. Oh yes, I am sure we’ll get reviews such as this Ian dude. But hey, at least we know (just as you guys/gal) that our music is appreciated by a huge majority of music lovers with good taste and that is the only thing that matters and as long as we musicians keep expressing our thoughts into lyrics, then we know we have done our jobs. This type of review from such a so called critic will probably envelope into a song somewhere down the line here, what do you think??? I think a new song is in order about a failed attempt to write a so called music review.
Anyhow, I could not resist…I had to kick in a little reply about that Pitchfork review… Come on Pitchfork, can you not afford to hire somebody that has a better attitude? Got something about us??? Come Ian, I challenge you!!! Please tell us (The Wallburds) what you think of our music.
Peace!!!
(Written By: Jose of The Wallburds)
The A.T.E! Way to go guys. I liked the maturity of your reply - a very nice way of telling that guy where he can stick his pitchfork.
Giving a rating of 1.6 is absurd and just smacks of attention. How did he calculate that exactly? What system does he use to grade your music to such a precise decimal rating, the equivalent of 16%. It’s ridiculous. He’s the same breed of writer who will rate an album or show as something like 7.2 if he thinks it was pretty good and 8.0 to 9.4 if he thinks it was really good. Anyone can do that. Critics who grade bands anything lower than the equivalent of 50% are usually just doing so for the shock factor.
I, like gawd-zillions of others, always get a kick out of new music. Or more specifically, good new music. Nothing beats that feeling when you first listen to a record by your next new favourite band. It’s even better when you see them live. I always seem to have at least half a dozen new favourite bands, and I count you guys amongst my current faves. It was my pleasure meeting you at Virgin Fest in Toronto - enjoyed your show and our interview.
Best of luck with your music.
cheers, Brian, Music Vice
That was an amazing response.
I live in Birmingham (UK), and ive just stumbled across this pitchfork-gate affair and it shocks me, it genuinely does. The album is amazing. Euphoric, enthralling, ambitious. Amazing.
I think this post is infinitely more intelligent than the pitchfork review.
People hated Zeppelin too.
What a ridiculous review Ian has written.
It is painfully obvious that he is one of those people who is just disagreeing to disagree, just because it’s the different thing to do. His review is tinged with jealousy and cheap shots; this makes it even difficult to take seriously. It sounds like he was having a bad, bitchy day.
Come on now, does Ian’s review make a difference??? We all know that ATE will have millions of fans that cannot be wrong. I think Ian was just trying to get attention…right? Ian is merely nothing but an attention whore and he probably was ostracized as child by his parents, peers, and friends… So, he just wants attention and this is the only way he knows how to get it. Too bad, it’s not the good attention he needs. Ian is so trying to be like the Simon Cowell (American Idol) equivalent as a reviewer, but without the success of course! Even Simon had to be nice before he got his job. Really Ian, tell us how you really feel.
Anyhow, my review of Ian is simply this: Ian is a jealous, attention whorish, low-self esteemed, not cool at all, raging fool who does not have any sense of what good music is…there you have it! My review of a so called music critic Ian. Cheers Ian! Good luck in your future as a music critic that needs attention.
Jose
[...] An Open Letter to Pitchfork Media from the Airborne Toxic Event [...]
I give Ian’s review a 1.6! My only criticisms of the album is that there wasn’t 10 more songs and the lyrics from the beginning of innocence were removed. Eat a wiener Ian!
A really great response. I may be more inclined to side with the review, but I give you real props for your well composed and enlightening reply.
[...] WA KEXP Radio, on Monday last week they featured the much talked about (and Pitchfork Media’s recent admirer), The Airborne Toxic Event’s track titled Sometime around Midnight was [...]
After seeing these guys perform here in Dallas last night, I can not believe that this review is about the same band! I took my 15 year old son and his friend (whom for their age, tend to be very picky musically) They could not quit talking about the show!!! Another indication of true talent is when you cross music lines and boundries by including all ages and tastes. These guys do that on all levels, they are so talented with such feeling! We will continue to support them and spread the word here in Texas!!!
Peace and love always…
Yes…there’s always the critic that seems to be writing about themselves rather than the band. These guys must be miserable. It’s like Jack Black says in School Of Rock -”those that can’t do, teach…and those that can’t teach, teach Gym.” I’m sure some critics may fit into this somewhere. “Those that can’t do, critique…and those that can’t critique, well, they just critique anyway.” -perhaps?
Anyway, I saw your video on VH1s nocturnal something or other after I got home from a gig myself and I thought your song was great. Great lyrics too. Never heard of you guys til now.
Not sure why some of these reviewers require a band to be “important” in order to be praised. They seem to require the artist to fit perfectly into “their” world or they’re going to have an Obsessive compulsive crisis like Cartman from Southpark…PISSSS!!! PISS INSIDE OF MY ASS!!
anyway, rock on Airborne. I’ll be picking up your album this week.
Tim
Lancaster, PA
Impressive challenge.
Rock band displays better writing chops than Ian Cohen, presumably a “rock journalist,” oxymoron notwithstanding.
The ball is now clearly in Mr. Cohen’s court.
Let’s see if he can serve up a guitar and challenge Airborne Toxic Event to a “battle of the bands.”
Since we know those 1.6-rated rockers possess superior writing skills to Mr. Cohen, then perhaps a battle challenge performing music might settle the score and set up a potential rubber-match.
Arrange it!
‘Tis so much easier to sit back and sling arrows from on high then actually fight the battle on the ground.
Is the album perfection? Of course not. But it is a truly enjoyable listen from beginning to end. Isn’t that what music is about? Nowhere did I see any promises from Mikel et al to carry the torch for all that is sacrosanct in the hallowed bowels of the musical literatti. Instead, what ATE has done is produce a work of emotion, joy, pleasure and pain that is well worth the measly nine bucks. Isn’t that good enough?!
To Mr. Cohn: Have you ever produced something that required hundreds of hours of dedication, hard work, self sacrifice, financial investment (rehearsal space, equipment, strings, studio time etc. is not free)as is the case with ATE’s fledgling effort?
If not, then I strongly suggest (on behalf of all struggling artists who get scuttled by self serving critics like yourself before getting a chance to ever develop their craft and their audience) you expose your own expressions to criticism rather than hide behind the banner of Pitchfork, which curiously does not allow for any interaction with readers who are equally qualified to critique not only music, but your self-conscious, precious, arrogant and affectatious writing.
look…
http://speakquietly.blogspot.com/2008/10/bravest-band-around-perhaps.html
keep up the good music
We love indie rock and we know full well that Pitchfork doesn’t so much critique bands as critique a band’s ability to match a certain indie rock aesthetic.
As an old fart of 40 who long ago learned that every era of rock has about 1% exceptional, 4% novel, and 95% crap, I found Pitchfork to be extraordinarially vicious about anything that didn’t fit a certain “aesthetic”, not that they would go out on a limb and define such a thing. They drop in “lifestyle” music in every other review, leaving images of yuppies with a $7 latte in one hand and a carrot muffin in the other. I’ll even concede that I listen to some music that is a bit too twee and think the same. But I leave enough room that what is one person’s garbage is another person’s art. I also realize that the profession of reviewer doesn’t allow for a lot of leeway or else lose some teeth, but overall Pitchfork seems to reek of self importance and being above it all. It is a trap that a lot of reviewers fall into. They become petty tyrants of a kind, people who alot themselves a greater deal of worth than they actually have. In a way the internet, that which gave them their entrance into our consciousness, will also be it’s undoing and the likes of Pandora.com spread music BEFORE people read reviews. People will simply get what they like and not bother with reviews. The process of making music and disseminating it will by pass reviewers altogether. The void they filled between creator and (dare I say) consumer will disappear. They won’t have the time to meld minds one way or another. They’re irrelevancy is half a decade away.
[...] of this is old news, I know. The Pitchfork review came out on September 17, the group’s reply appears to have been posted the same day (!!), the KEXP Podcast on which I heard the song was [...]
As someone out of the “demographic”, I am a big fan of alternative radio. When my local station in Chicago played “Sometime Around Midnight”, I instantly fell in love. I have found my new band to follow. Frankly, I dont know what demographic the writer speaks of, but I feel it crosses into most. From heavy played alternative, to the adult alternative stations, and back to the indie stations that claim they are indie stations but play nothing but Radiohead and Van Morrison. I plan on purchasing the disc, yes, THE ENTIRE DISC, which, frankly, is how music should be purchased, in the near future.
There is a local music critic here, Jim Derogatis, that I am sure will write a review eventually. He talks a good game, uses big words, and frankly does not have an idea what good music is. So when he comes out and basically slams you record, dont take it personally. Although from the looks of it, you wont.
Good look to the band. See you in Chicago real soon.
First entire CD I have been comfortable sharing with others since Sam’s Town. Take your own advice and don’t read the reviews. And please come to Cleveland, it’s no LA but we love good music!
I’m from the UK and so have not heard of Pitchfork. But clearly from your response you are eloquent, have total conviction in your music and have a professionalism and respect for others’ work. As far as I’m concerned the CD is a work of art - I love this music so much I’m encouraging everyone I know to listen. So, you can’t be all bad can you?!
See you next week in Leicester!
I like the Airborne Toxic Event. Usually I have pretty good musical taste, but we all know that whatever pitchfork says is law, so I guess I dropped the ball on this one guys. Sorry.
Class act, mate
You ve shown some serious class in the face of a whole lot of pretension.
I have checked out your music.
1.6? Yes, in a scale that has Flaming Lips at 2…probably