#music-criticism

#music-criticism

Since Pitchfork started publishing album reviews nearly 30 years ago, two things have remained constant: no comments section, and no second opinion. That is about to change. Coming in 2026, as Pitchfork celebrates its 30th anniversary, we're finally planning to add a comments section to all of our album reviews. That's over 30,000 pieces of music criticism on which you'll be able to leave your own Pitchfork review for the very first time. We can't wait for your takes to be on our website.

When I first started working as a music critic, I held nothing more sacred than a ranked albums list. The album felt like the idealized musical vehicle, a prime mechanism for the expression of true artistic vision and an opportunity to see that vision at scale. Songs there were always so many songs. Too many to really wrap your arms around and judge fairly, in my opinion. But albums were self-contained, easier to quantify and could be stacked up cleanly next to each other

When I was a kid, living in Lawrenceville, Virginia, I heard tales about how the James River was haunted: perhaps by the spirits of Indigenous people who were forced off this land, or maybe by those who gave their lives to revolution, or maybe by enslaved men, women, and children who drowned while trying to escape their plantations. The ghost stories seemed to suit a river that's connected to America's soul.

Of the many things to remember about David Stabler, the one that keeps coming back to me is his smile, a wide delighted upturn at the corners of his mouth that set his moustache twitching and traveled northward to his eyes, which were in on the joke. Isn't life grand? it seemed to say. Can't we just scoop it all up?

You're hearing an R&B intro sung a cappella by Rumi, the main character. It almost has a Mary J. Blige tragic heaviness to it. And then as the other singers come in, Zoey and Mira, what you end up with is something like an up-tempo club number. It doesn't quite go full EDM, but it does feel like it's designed for a Hamilton- esque chant along. What started as a tender, warm, introspective ballad ends up as a powerful fight song.

On this week's show, Steve, Dana, and Julia crack open the latest edition of The Paper, a new mockumentary set in the The Office universe. They debate whether the tried and true sitcom formula still delivers and assess its portrayal of local journalism. Next, they share their feelings about two couples who are terrible at sharing theirs in Splitsville, the marriage farce created and starring Kyle Marvin and Michael Angelo Covino with Dakota Johnson and ​​Adria Arjona.