CHICAGO, IL. (Top40 Charts/ Western Publicity) This year, Pitchfork launched The Pitchfork Review, a print quarterly. While the Pitchfork website is largely dedicated to the discovery and consideration of new music, The Pitchfork Review derives from the same place of curiosity but with an eye towards history, examining artists both canonical and obscure. Moving against trends, Pitchfork has leveraged its success in the web space to launch a quarterly that combines the best aspects of classic fanzines, design-focused boutique publications, and traditional music magazines. Leaving aside the ephemeral moment-to-moment considerations of the web, The Pitchfork Review dives deep into music new and old, exploring sounds and cultures with a depth unavailable elsewhere.
To celebrate their first year in print, fans of music, comics, photography and critical thinking are offered a wonderful package - all four issues totaling over 800 pages (each issue retails at 19.99), three 7"s (from King Tuff, Kurt Vile, Zola Jesus and others) all wrapped in custom-printed paper for only $34.99.
Order: https://checkout.subscriptiongenius.com/thepitchforkreview.com/
Stories published this year include a multi-part tribute to music writer and cultural critic
Ellen Willis, a piece on the music in the films of Stanley Kubrick by Gary Giddins, and Punk scholar Vivien Goldman's chronicle of Jamaica's first musical couple: Don Drummond and
Margarita Mahfood. Erin Osmon followed the tumultuous rise and fall of Jason Molina of Songs: Ohia and
Magnolia Electric Co., while Andy Beta reconsidered the soulful sounds of Joe Tex. The Review also published an oral history examining the origins of New York's first legendary EDM club night, NASA, by Matt Diehl, along with Evan Kindley's untold story of the complicated, confessional, Oscar-nominated songwriter and poet Dory Previn.
In addition to great longform writing, The Pitchfork Review is designed to be a visually rich and tactile experience, making the best possible use of paper as a publication technology. It's packed with comics, photography, inserts, and features next-level design and typography, all coming together to form a publication that stands apart in the current landscape.
Pitchfork's foray into print would have been ill-advised had it stuck to the tenets of what made it so influential during its first 17 years as a digital-only publication: discovering and having the first word on important emerging music. While more and more people learned to explore new music though means of social feeds and algorithms, Pitchfork's strongest foothold has been something actually quite traditional—establishing an authoritative critical voice.
The Pitchfork Review is perfect bound, with gatefolds on both the front and back covers, and a soft-touch finish. The covers eschew marketing traditions in favor of reverently creating a product that sees itself as its own piece of culture, almost like an album cover, something that people will feel good about keeping on their coffee table for a few months. The magazine itself is a design-conscious collection of pieces, most noticeably so in its lineup of fine paper stocks that can define the tone. In addition to features gilded with photos from our day's finest music photographers, we present more than 30 pages in every issue of striking photographs on a premium 100# gloss stock.
About Pitchfork:
Pitchfork provides comprehensive, accurate, and discerning coverage of music with a special emphasis on independent music. Above all Pitchfork has a point of view; in an era when music criticism is widely seen to be on the decline, Pitchfork remains focused on in-depth and thoughtful analysis that's not afraid to have an opinion. While continuing to push boundaries with its award-winning Pitchfork.tv video coverage and innovative design and programming, Pitchfork remains committed to excellence in writing, reporting, and criticism.
For more information visit https://www.thepitchforkreview.com/.
