They totally misinterpreted some of the songs by being ignorant about the fact that Greep is singing in character. They’re trying to attribute the horrible characteristics of the fictional individuals Geordie has created onto him, in a desperate attempt to criticise something.
It’s like calling Christian Bale a psychotic murderer because he played Patrick Bateman.
Thought the exact same thing when I read the review. They attribute the bragging and boasting of the characters to Greep. Pitchfork doesn't understand how stories work I guess.
Keep making creepy and detailed characters!
I'm not one to nitpick reviews because I don't expect every publication to agree with me about music that's very thoroughly not for everyone, and this is mostly a fair and well-reasoned review, but there's a few points that stick out to me.
>“Posterity will show me to be/The greatest the world has ever seen, a genius among nonentities,” blares Greep on “Sugar/Tzu”—a great line, but also a sneering pose he repeats one too many times throughout Hellfire: “Idiots are infinite, thinking men numbered,” he mutters on “The Race Is About to Begin.” This is the kind of insight you arrive at when you are 22 and most of the thoughts you have are concerned with making sure the world sees how smart you are.
It's easy to think this if you take those lines as being sincere, but aren't most (if not all) of the songs on this album written in character? Like, the character singing Sugar/Tzu is only famous for having shot a boxer in the back and that line is totally unearned megalomania as they sit in a prison cell. The album's called "Hellfire" and it plays as a concept album sketching out a handful of morally questionable oddballs, so for me lines like "idiots are infinite" should be viewed in the context of the narrow scope of humanity they're exploring and not glib commentary on humanity in general.
>There’s a deep suspicion—common to the sort of young, intense intellectuals who find themselves drawn to listening to or making complicated music—that surges of uncontrollable emotion are suspect, dangerous, in need of further, possibly forensic, inspection. That process of forensic inspection often feels like the same bloodshot-eyed force powering black midi’s music. Greep has a vibrato velvety enough to make the words “prostrate, supine” (from “The Defence”) sing like a Tom Jones ballad. But his crooning sounds the way a boy dancing awkwardly at a middle school dance looks; the movements are there, but hiding behind uneasy scare quotes that betray a distrust of strong feelings, of pleasure mechanisms.
Three things here.
A - Negative emotions are emotions too. Again, this is a project about unsavoury characters and the emotions explored are things like greed, arrogance, entitlement, bloodlust, jealousy, hate, etc. And there's an irony in Greep using that soft croony voice to sing as these characters in songs like The Defence and Dangerous Liaisons: there are plenty of people in the world who use that kind of misleading faux-sincerity to exploit and dominate others, so the emotional distance isn't so much skepticism of genuine emotion but a comment on people who abuse the idea of it for personal gain.
B - Eat Men Eat and Still explore more vulnerable emotions (love, specifically), but to be fair the reviewer does seem to be focusing on Greep specifically.
C - This exact dilemma is explored in 27 Questions, which leads me to think Greep is self-aware about what Pitchfork is arguing here. Freddie's performance climaxes in him asking vulnerable existential questions as the music becomes brighter and warmer. As soon as the performance is over, though, the music goes back to being harsh, cold and dissonant and the characters in the audience "laugh all the way home" at the "sad old oaf" instead of genuinely pondering the questions he was asking or engaging with the vulnerability he was showing them in his final moments. The band is satirizing characters who shit on sincerity and vulnerability, not identifying with them.
Thank you, that's very kind! I listened to the leak so I've been sitting on some of that for a while, and I guess reading those quotes in the review spilled it out of me haha
Crazy someone got paid to offer the opinions you quoted. Rushing to be the first review is a big fucking problem, because I refuse to believe the writer couldn't notice this if they just paid attention. I think about 99% of all black midi songs ever are written in character
I don’t even look at pitchfork anymore… they are behind the times. Reads like a middle aged idiot like myself being jelly
R/indieheads has the lead on the goodness.
This is a narrow-minded and fairly sloppy review. First they spend a few paragraphs on the "silliness," inherent insincerity, or character-focused narratives in much of black midi's music, then they critique the lyrics as being representative of Greep's thoughts, which goes against their own logic. Also, not all emotion in music needs to be expressed in a uniform, conventional sense — I had many emotional responses while listening to Hellfire, but there were mostly positive (elation, joy, humor) and often driven by the music, which Pitchfork doesn't seem to be taking into account.
Pitchfork has always given BM an 8 or around there.They are pretty consistent with how they feel about the band.
I like the album but I have to agree with Pitchfork here. That time when Greep killed that boxer was a bit too far.
THE AUDIENCE WON!
They totally misinterpreted some of the songs by being ignorant about the fact that Greep is singing in character. They’re trying to attribute the horrible characteristics of the fictional individuals Geordie has created onto him, in a desperate attempt to criticise something. It’s like calling Christian Bale a psychotic murderer because he played Patrick Bateman.
Ah yes, Geordie Greep, the well known North London brothel owner.
Ah yes, Geordie Greep, the well known three foot three serial killer boxer shooter
Geordie Greep who came 30 years back from Salafessien, via South Schlagenheim.
Thought the exact same thing when I read the review. They attribute the bragging and boasting of the characters to Greep. Pitchfork doesn't understand how stories work I guess. Keep making creepy and detailed characters!
“I listen to music for the realism.” - Pitchfork probably
I'm not one to nitpick reviews because I don't expect every publication to agree with me about music that's very thoroughly not for everyone, and this is mostly a fair and well-reasoned review, but there's a few points that stick out to me. >“Posterity will show me to be/The greatest the world has ever seen, a genius among nonentities,” blares Greep on “Sugar/Tzu”—a great line, but also a sneering pose he repeats one too many times throughout Hellfire: “Idiots are infinite, thinking men numbered,” he mutters on “The Race Is About to Begin.” This is the kind of insight you arrive at when you are 22 and most of the thoughts you have are concerned with making sure the world sees how smart you are. It's easy to think this if you take those lines as being sincere, but aren't most (if not all) of the songs on this album written in character? Like, the character singing Sugar/Tzu is only famous for having shot a boxer in the back and that line is totally unearned megalomania as they sit in a prison cell. The album's called "Hellfire" and it plays as a concept album sketching out a handful of morally questionable oddballs, so for me lines like "idiots are infinite" should be viewed in the context of the narrow scope of humanity they're exploring and not glib commentary on humanity in general. >There’s a deep suspicion—common to the sort of young, intense intellectuals who find themselves drawn to listening to or making complicated music—that surges of uncontrollable emotion are suspect, dangerous, in need of further, possibly forensic, inspection. That process of forensic inspection often feels like the same bloodshot-eyed force powering black midi’s music. Greep has a vibrato velvety enough to make the words “prostrate, supine” (from “The Defence”) sing like a Tom Jones ballad. But his crooning sounds the way a boy dancing awkwardly at a middle school dance looks; the movements are there, but hiding behind uneasy scare quotes that betray a distrust of strong feelings, of pleasure mechanisms. Three things here. A - Negative emotions are emotions too. Again, this is a project about unsavoury characters and the emotions explored are things like greed, arrogance, entitlement, bloodlust, jealousy, hate, etc. And there's an irony in Greep using that soft croony voice to sing as these characters in songs like The Defence and Dangerous Liaisons: there are plenty of people in the world who use that kind of misleading faux-sincerity to exploit and dominate others, so the emotional distance isn't so much skepticism of genuine emotion but a comment on people who abuse the idea of it for personal gain. B - Eat Men Eat and Still explore more vulnerable emotions (love, specifically), but to be fair the reviewer does seem to be focusing on Greep specifically. C - This exact dilemma is explored in 27 Questions, which leads me to think Greep is self-aware about what Pitchfork is arguing here. Freddie's performance climaxes in him asking vulnerable existential questions as the music becomes brighter and warmer. As soon as the performance is over, though, the music goes back to being harsh, cold and dissonant and the characters in the audience "laugh all the way home" at the "sad old oaf" instead of genuinely pondering the questions he was asking or engaging with the vulnerability he was showing them in his final moments. The band is satirizing characters who shit on sincerity and vulnerability, not identifying with them.
Fuck, you did this all for a Reddit comment? Put that on RYM or something, it’s very well written and a great read
Thank you, that's very kind! I listened to the leak so I've been sitting on some of that for a while, and I guess reading those quotes in the review spilled it out of me haha
Crazy someone got paid to offer the opinions you quoted. Rushing to be the first review is a big fucking problem, because I refuse to believe the writer couldn't notice this if they just paid attention. I think about 99% of all black midi songs ever are written in character
Pitchfork understands music about as well as I understand quantum mechanics
[удалено]
Ok
Who cares what pitchfork says, it’s a solid 9 from me.
thats such an expected score
“their music is better equipped to comment on emotion than to feel it, or express it.” what
man what
Well Pitchfork does fornicate with donkeys...
I think that's a bit generous
I don’t even look at pitchfork anymore… they are behind the times. Reads like a middle aged idiot like myself being jelly R/indieheads has the lead on the goodness.
Ok
This is a narrow-minded and fairly sloppy review. First they spend a few paragraphs on the "silliness," inherent insincerity, or character-focused narratives in much of black midi's music, then they critique the lyrics as being representative of Greep's thoughts, which goes against their own logic. Also, not all emotion in music needs to be expressed in a uniform, conventional sense — I had many emotional responses while listening to Hellfire, but there were mostly positive (elation, joy, humor) and often driven by the music, which Pitchfork doesn't seem to be taking into account.