Fresh off being name one of Time magazine's Top 50 websites of 2012, Pitchfork continue to make up for their inability to understand music by presenting web conscious content like something they are calling Pitchfork Advanced.
Essentially, you get to stream an upcoming album exclusively on Pitchfork, starting with Yo La Tengo's newbie Fade, which sounds very good on first listen. I am not sure what they think they're offering along with the album. The simple answer is "not much". Actually I just looked around and would go further and claim nothing. But why tell the truth when you let the blowhards at Pitchfork toot their own horns:
"Pitchfork is happy to announce the launch of Pitchfork Advance, an immersive music streaming platform designed to emulate the classic album experience. Pitchfork Advance showcases an interactive listening environment featuring pre-release albums streams with dynamic graphics and a host of tools that will allow fans to engage with album art, lyrics, credits, track listings, artist info, and more while they listen.
Pitchfork Advance debuts today with a stream of the Yo La Tengo album Fade, out January 14 in the UK and January 15 in the U.S. via Matador. All pre-release streams will be exclusive to Pitchfork.com."
Similar in design to Pitchfork's state-of-the-art Cover Stories, the Pitchfork Advance platform allows users to scroll through multiple screens of artwork in full-browser graphic mode while listening to a fully-controllable stream of the album. Users can choose the amount of info and artwork displayed on-screen, including track list, credits, context, and release info. Each stream will be unique and tailored to the album art. The service also includes pre-order links.
"Digital music has evolved, but album art hasn't," says Pitchfork founder/CEO Ryan Schreiber. "In the vinyl and CD eras, album packaging was considered an extension of the music. The artwork, lyric inserts, and credits added another dimension that mp3s haven't replicated. Our hope is to bring that experience online, and perhaps even help it to evolve. There are no limits to the medium online."
Really? I can think of a couple. And check out the preening egotistical "help it evolve". Get the fuck out here you weaning bet wetting egomaniac. Evolve this.
Oh, and one final thing, will the entire world stop making me work for my entertainment. Isn't my money enough?