Any preference for with publication has the better taste in the best of the best each month?
BNM was the first thing I turned to in each issue of CMJ and many of those albums form the backbone of my collection now.
I like Pitchfork's fine, but the knock on them is they tend to be a little predictable.

What say you?

Historically, CMJ's Best New Music has been my bread and butter. If it was listed and I liked the track on the CD, I bought the CD. If we compared the two sets since Pitchfork started their best new music feature it would be pretty even, possibly a slight edge to the Fork.

I like CMJ.

Pitchfork frustrates me in every way possible.

Never read CMJ, rarely give Pitchfork a second thought. It's not that I don't like the, I just know what they like. Oftentimes it isn't anything I would want to try out, much less buy.

I Pretty much get all my music news, reviews and opinions around here, even though we never talk about music

As far as rap music, I get whatever my boys tell me is bumpin that week on ATL radio or wherever they get shit from...I trust their judgement on such matters far better than y'all.

is there still a cmj?
i'm serious.
i used to love it and then, well you know...
wish it was still around in a timely manner.

pitchfork's reviews are unreadable, cmj's are non-existent. honestly i get more out of the Onion.

my new music picks are the best.

20 years ago and pre-internet I used to absolutely need CMJ.

Nowadays I hear such a huge crossection of new music online, I barely even need to read reviews.

I did well when I had a cmj sub (which arrived! like, all the time!) and bought the album for the three best songs on the disc. Those were happy times. I am always tempted to try again.

When I actually did college radio I was down with CMJ, just because they featured write-ups of the cds we were getting in. then when I graduated I bought an issue here or there, checked the website, etc. but it wasn't the same. Pitchfork is nice for maybe hearing about an album or reference, but never for actual opinion worth anything. I actually find their reviews to be nothing more than drivel most of the time, and perhaps thats their game and therefore laugh when people complain. In any event, I'd actually say this board has turned me onto more albums in the past two years than either. So thanks to everyone!

Between the two, CMJ.

But as of late, I learn about new stuff from the mighty OBNER... just because, it's better through word of mouth.

nice avatar


(sorry, i couldn't stop myself)

CMJ's reviews were bland as could be. You couldn't tell if they like it, loved it, or hated it.

I am not a huge fan of P'fork but at least I know where they stand even if it's on some asinine scale.

The only thing I really use is Metacritic, I don't go by ratings but by reading several of the quick reviews I think I can get a feel that I might like or not like something.

best watch it there, loogar. don't wanna piss the puma off.

Haven't been able to pick up a CMJ for over a year. I'll go with Pitchfork, however my main source is KEXP.

I've been relying more on word-of-mouth lately... CMJ isn't as "ahead" as they used to be when I was less well-versed, and how Pitchfork decides what counts as "best new music" perplexes me - it's in few ways relative to the "grading scale", and makes very little sense...

Dude, stop reading my mind!

If pressed, Pitchfork. The Wire has some great stuff in print. This board generally gives better opinions than any of them though.

Get ready to make fun of me, but reading people's reviews on Amazon actually helps me a lot because I feel like its coming from a source that I don't really know and the person was actually moved by the album by either strong like or dislike to take the time to write about it.

Agreed. Namely, Andy Battaglia, Scott Tobias, Stephen Thompson, and (sometimes) Noel Murray and Nathan Rabin.

Keith Phipps is an ass though. (Actually, I don't necessarily think so, but K. Phipps = ass is always the first thing to pop into my head when I see his name after a review because a friend of a friend, though with neither am I still acquainted, got on his horse about Phipps's critical chops after KP gave The Mummy a bad review. The Mummy did suck, though, correct? So, maybe the friend of one-time friend is an ass?)

And, Josh Modell is so predictably indie-emo-flavor-of-the-week-underground-hip-hop-or-prog-punk-or-glitch-pick-for-the-insular-indieites-to-gravitate-to-so-as-they-can-look-openminded as to be Pitchfork-2.

Could someone translate this for me? I'm lost.

Chad has now passed the second rite of Obner initiation.

oldbulee brings up a good point. CMJ doesn't always give give a clear indication of whether or not the reviewer liked the album (although sometimes, if you ask me, it is obvious, especially in the Best New Music columns...duh) but CMJ does describe the music, sound, and style of a band pretty well. CMJ also gives you a RIYL, which i think is brilliant, not only because it's a neat and useful idea, but because it gives you a point of reference in one tiny little one-line sidebar rather than dregding through 2 paragraphs at Pfork after which you may only glean that the reviewer is going to put the such and such song on a mix cd for his emo/folkie/indie etc. girlfriend.

Pfork definitely takes a side (unless it rates an album at a 5 or 6, which is kinda like sitting on the fence, no?) and they are upfront and non-vague in their opinions, but do they describe the sound of the album as well as CMJ? I don't think so.

bort

Second rite: Pronouncing one's mystification at the elliptic prose of Monty.

What's the first rite, though?

i can no longer find cmj magazine localy.