That Pitchfork Sound
By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment
There are several bands that I cannot seem to get into and most of them seem to be nearly universally liked by the public at large. The first examples that spring to mind are Animal Collective, Vampire Weekend, Grizzly Bear, St. Vincent, Dirty Projectors, Bon Iver, and Fleet Foxes. All of these artists get lumped into the same group in my head – bands with (what I’ve decided to call) “that Pitchfork sound” – even though they really don’t have that much in common. (Aside from the fact that they all have high ratings on Pitchfork.)
The best way I can describe the prevailing characteristic uniting the music of these different artists is a prosaic happiness…and this seems to be the quality that I have the most trouble relating to, since I prefer minor chords and dark themes. A few of them even seem to be striving for a generic prettiness, which also conflicts with my delicate and refined sensibilities. It seems to me that they’re trying way too hard to make music – dumbed-down music for the masses – that will give a general feeling of happy or pretty instead of just letting the music be. But that’s just my opinion.
And I don’t hate all the music from these people…I really like “Mykonos” from Fleet Foxes and a couple of the songs from Grizzly Bear are good, but, aside from those specific examples, I just don’t seem to hear the same things that everyone else does. So – if you like any of these bands – keep my anti-favoritism in mind, because that type of stuff just doesn’t work for me. We can still be friends though.
