Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock.^[1]

History[link]

Pitchfork was created in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1995 by Ryan Schreiber,^[2] then just out of high school. Influenced by local fanzines and college radio station KUOM, Schreiber, who had no previous writing experience, aimed to provide the Internet with a regularly updated resource for independent music. At first bearing the name Turntable, the site was originally updated monthly with interviews and reviews. In May 1996, the site moved to the domain PitchforkMedia.com, began publishing daily, and was renamed "Pitchfork", a reference to Tony Montana's tattoo in the 1983 film Scarface.^[3]

In early 1999, Schreiber uprooted Pitchfork from its Minneapolis base and relocated to Chicago, Illinois. By then, the site had expanded to four full-length album reviews daily, as well as sporadic interviews, features, and columns. It had also begun garnering a following for both its extensive coverage of underground music and its writing style, which was often unhindered by the conventions of print journalism. In October of that year, the site added a daily music news section. Early 2009 saw a complete renovation of the website's layout and a move to a new domain, Pitchfork.com. In June 2011, Mark Richardson was named the latest editor-in-chief of Pitchfork.^[4]

In 2008, the book The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present–edited and compiled by the Pitchfork staff and freelance writers–was released.

Influence[link]

The Washington Post cited Pitchfork in having played a part in "breaking" artists such as Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and Modest Mouse.^[5]

Conversely, Pitchfork has also been seen as being a negative influence on some indie artists. As suggested in a Washington Post article in April 2006, Pitchfork's reviews can have a significant influence on an album's popularity, especially if it had previously only been available to a limited audience or had been released on an independent record label. A dismissive 0.0 review of former Dismemberment Plan vocalist Travis Morrison's debut solo album Travistan led to a large sales drop and a virtual college radio blacklist. On the other hand, as one Washington Post reporter wrote, "an endorsement from Pitchfork – which dispenses its approval one-tenth of a point at a time, up to a maximum of 10 points – is very valuable, indeed."^[3]

Examples[link]

• Arcade Fire is among the bands most commonly cited to have benefited from a Pitchfork review. In a 2005 Chicago Tribune article, a Merge Records employee stated, "After the Pitchfork review, Funeral went out of print for about a week because we got so many orders for the record."^[6]
• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah member Lee Sargent has discussed the impact of Pitchfork's influence on their album, saying, "The thing about a publication like Pitchfork is that they can decide when that happens. You know what I mean? They can say, 'We're going to speed up the process and this is going to happen...now!' And it was a kick in the pants for us, because we lost control of everything."^[7]
• Wired magazine has attributed the success of indie rock band Broken Social Scene to editor-in-chief Ryan Schreiber's hype-generating review of the band. Frontman Kevin Drew said that, following the review, "Everyone was coming up to us, saying, 'We heard about you from Pitchfork.' It basically opened the door for us. It gave us an audience", and that the band "suddenly found [themselves] selling out venues."^[8]

Rating system[link]

Pitchfork's music reviews use two different rating systems:

• Album reviews are given a rating out of 10.0, specific to one decimal point.^[9] In addition, certain notable albums are rewarded with a label of "Best New Music" or "Best New Reissue".
• Individual track reviews were formerly ranked from 1 to 5 stars, but on January 15, 2007, the site introduced a new system called "Forkcast". In it, instead of assigning tracks a particular rating, reviewers labeled them: "New Music"; "Old Music"; "Video"; "Advanced Music"; "Rising"; "WTF"; their most favorably regarded songs, "On Repeat"; and for the least favored songs, "Delete". On March 12, 2009, Pitchfork switched back to an older system, rating songs in a range between 1 and 10 points.^{[citation needed]} Since that time, Pitchfork has stopped using a numbered rating system for individual songs and has introduced a feature known as "Best New Tracks" which consists of a selection of notable recent songs.^{[citation needed]}

Pitchfork.tv[link]

On April 7, 2008, Pitchfork Media launched Pitchfork.tv, a website displaying videos and original content related to independent music acts.^{[citation needed]} On March 12, 2009, Pitchfork.tv was incorporated into Pitchfork's new domain, Pitchfork.com.^{[citation needed]}

Music festivals[link]

Intonation Music Festival[link]

In 2005, Pitchfork curated the Intonation Music Festival, attracting approximately 15,000 attendees to Chicago's Union Park for a two-day bill featuring performances by 25 acts, including Broken Social Scene, The Decemberists, The Go! Team.^[10]

Pitchfork Music Festival[link]

On July 29 and 30, 2006, the publication premiered its own Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park, Chicago. The event attracted over 18,000 attendees per day. More than 40 bands performed at the inaugural festival, including Spoon and Yo La Tengo, as well as a rare headlining set by reunited Tropicália band Os Mutantes.^[11]

The festival has been held every year since, and has featured artists such as Animal Collective, Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, The National, The Hold Steady, !!!, Spoon, Ghostface Killah, Dinosaur Jr., Cat Power, Spiritualized, Mastodon, Yoko Ono, Stephen Malkmus, Vampire Weekend, De La Soul, Yo La Tengo, The New Pornographers, Of Montreal, Band of Horses, M. Ward, Iron and Wine, The Mountain Goats, Clipse, Girl Talk, Grizzly Bear, No Age, Ted Leo, Les Savy Fav, Devendra Banhart, Liars, and Deerhunter.^{[citation needed]}

The 2009 festival, which took place in July, featured Built to Spill, The Jesus Lizard, Yo La Tengo, and Tortoise performing setlists voted on by attendees, as well as performances by The Flaming Lips, The National, Grizzly Bear, M83, The Walkmen, Yeasayer, Blitzen Trapper, The Black Lips, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Matt and Kim, and Pharoahe Monch.^{[citation needed]}

All Tomorrow's Parties[link]

In 2007, the Pitchfork Music Festival was expanded to three days (Friday, July 13 – Sunday, July 15), with the first day being a collaboration between Pitchfork and the UK-based production company All Tomorrow's Parties as part of the latter's "Don't Look Back" concert series, in which artists performed the content of albums in their entirety. Performers that evening included Sonic Youth playing Daydream Nation, Slint playing Spiderland, and GZA/Genius playing Liquid Swords. The collaboration continued in 2008, with Public Enemy, Sebadoh, and Mission of Burma.^{[citation needed]}

Pitchfork also collaborated with All Tomorrow's Parties to co-curate the ATP vs Pitchfork festival in Camber Sands, UK.^{[citation needed]}

Criticisms[link]

Some critics have accused the site of rating albums from particular music scenes or artists more favorably in order to bolster its influence when the music becomes popular.^[12]

The majority of criticism, however, is aimed at the site's album reviewing style, with the site being accused of often placing the emphasis on the reviewer's own writing and personal biases over the actual music being reviewed.

Parodies[link]

• When Pitchfork asked comedian David Cross to compile a list of his favorite albums, he instead provided them with a list of "Albums to Listen to While Reading Overwrought Pitchfork Reviews". In it, he satirically piled over-the-top praise on fictional indie rock records, mocking Pitchfork Media's reviewing style.^[13]
• In 2005, Aziz Ansari and Rob Heubel hosted an episode of the NYC TV indie music show New York Noise while pretending to be Pitchfork's editors in chief
• In 2004, comedy website Something Awful created a parody of Pitchfork's front page. Entitled "RichDork Media", the page makes reference to nonexistent, obscure-sounding indie-rock bands in its reviews, news headlines and advertisements. The rating system measures music on its proximity to the band Radiohead.^[14] A similar, more light-hearted parody was created by Sub Pop.^[15]
• On September 10, 2007, the satirical newspaper The Onion published a story in which Pitchfork Media founder and editor Ryan Schreiber reviews music as a whole, giving it a 6.8 out of 10.^[16]
• In Jeffrey Lewis' suicide-themed song entitled "So What?", after describing a failed jump from a bridge, he jokingly sings, "A large garbage barge comes and drops twenty tons of toxic waste on my face/And as I sink from the sun to whatever’s to come/My last sight is the bums who all change their signs into twos, threes, and ones/And after this discourse there’s a 3.6, of course it must be Pitchfork."^[17]
• On August 12, 2009, the pop culture website PopSense satirically reviewed an entire day's worth of Pitchfork content in the style of a Pitchfork review.^[18][19][20]

Leaked music[link]

In August 2006, a directory on Pitchfork's servers containing over 300 albums was compromised. A person managed to discover and download the collection, which included The Decemberists' The Crane Wife and TV on the Radio's Return to Cookie Mountain, both of which had previously leaked to peer-to-peer networks. Allegedly, one of the albums on the server, Joanna Newsom's Ys, had not been available previously on file-sharing networks.^[21]

Deleted and changed reviews[link]

Pitchfork has been criticized for deleting older reviews from their archive in an effort to keep up with the changing trends in indie music. One such example is the 9.5/10 review written for Save Ferris' album It Means Everything.^[22] Similarly, the original review of Psyence Fiction by UNKLE received 9.8/10, but the review was later deleted and when the group released their next album 4 years later, the website gave it a score of 5.0/10 and described it as an improvement on their debut, calling Psyence Fiction 'one of the most anti-climactic and jaw-dropping disappointments of recent years' which 'came up short on little things like, oh, vitality, restraint, emotional resonance, and tunes.'^[23]

Negative reviews of two By Divine Right albums were also removed from Pitchfork after members Brendan Canning and Leslie Feist became successful with the band Broken Social Scene and their own solo work. Steven Byrd's deleted review of By Divine Right's Bless This Mess, on which Canning and Feist play bass and guitar, went so far as to compare the band to "retard(s) with a guitar" who "wouldn't know Rock and Roll if she broke into their house and beat up their children," rating the album 1.8 out of ten.^[24] After Belle & Sebastian's "comeback" in the mid-to-late 2000s, Pitchfork removed their 0.8-rated review of The Boy With the Arab Strap from the site.^[25][26] The reviewer lambasted the band for writing songs that were "so sticky they should be hanging from Ben Stiller's ear, and I don't mean that in a good way."^[27] Pitchfork originally gave the Flaming Lips album Zaireeka a scathing 0.0/10 in a review that also derided all Flaming Lips fans.^[28]

Interestingly, Pitchfork has also removed the 9.4/10 review for the album Things Fall Apart by The Roots, presumably because it specifically stated that Pitchfork "will not un-publish anything."^[29]

Misinformation[link]

Pitchfork has been criticized directly by artists for misrepresentation, most famously in 2007 by the artist M.I.A. for what one of their writers later described as "perpetuating the male-led ingenue myth" with regard to her work.^[30][31] Some have argued this is not isolated to Pitchfork in the music press, while this incident was later cited and similarly condemned by the artist Björk.^[32] Pitchfork's articles on M.I.A. and her career since the incident have been noticeably negative and have attracted media commentary;^[33] an article titled "M.I.A. Uses Pitchfork Tweets to Diss Pitchfork" was printed by LA Weekly in 2010.^[34]

Pitchfork Album and Song of the Year winners[link]

Pitchfork Album of the Year[link]

Year	Artist	Album	Nation	Source
1999	The Dismemberment Plan	Emergency & I	United States	[6]
2000	Radiohead	Kid A	England	[7]
2001	The Microphones	The Glow Pt. 2	United States	[8]
2002	Interpol	Turn on the Bright Lights	United States	[9]
2003	The Rapture	Echoes	United States	[10]
2004	Arcade Fire	Funeral	Canada	[11]
2005	Sufjan Stevens	Illinois	United States	[12]
2006	The Knife	Silent Shout	Sweden	[13]
2007	Panda Bear	Person Pitch	United States	[14]
2008	Fleet Foxes	Sun Giant/Fleet Foxes	United States	[15]
2009	Animal Collective	Merriweather Post Pavilion	United States	[16]
2010	Kanye West	My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy	United States	[17]
2011	Bon Iver	Bon Iver	United States	[18]

Pitchfork Song of the Year[link]

Year	Artist	Song	Nation	Source
2003	Outkast	"Hey Ya!"	United States	[19]
2004	Annie	"Heartbeat"	Norway	[20]
2005	Antony & The Johnsons	"Hope There's Someone"	England	[21]
2006	Justin Timberlake featuring T.I.	"My Love"	United States	[22]
2007	LCD Soundsystem	"All My Friends"	United States	[23]
2008	Hercules and Love Affair	"Blind"	United States	[24]
2009	Animal Collective	"My Girls"	United States	[25]
2010	Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti	"Round and Round"	United States	[26]
2011	M83	"Midnight City"	France	[27]

See also[link]

• Internet Underground Music Archive
• The Hype Machine

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Pitchfork Media on Twitter
• Pitchfork Music Festival

Man Man
Background information
Origin	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Genres	Experimental rock
Years active	2003–present
Labels	Ace Fu Records, ANTI-
Associated acts	Mister Heavenly
Website	manmanbandband.com
Members
Honus Honus (Ryan Kattner) Pow Pow (Christopher Powell) T. Moth (Jamey Robinson) Chang Wang (Billy Dufala) Jefferson

Man Man is an experimental band from Philadelphia. They are known for their bizarre live performances similar to those of The Mars Volta and Mr. Bungle.

They are known for their multi-instrumental style that centers on the piano playing of lead singer/lyricist Honus Honus accompanied by a wide variety of other instruments played by the rest of the band. On recordings, Honus usually plays piano but during the live shows he uses a Rhodes Piano or a Nord Electro 3. Other instruments played by the rest of the band include a clavinet, Moog Little Phatty, sousaphone, saxophone, trumpet, French horn, flute, bass clarinet, drum set, euphonium, Fender Jazz Bass, Danelectro baritone guitar, xylophone, marimba, melodica and various percussive instruments including pots and pans, toy noisemakers, Chinese funeral horns, spoons, smashing plates, fireworks, and—on occasion—audience members' heads.

History[link]

Man Man released their debut The Man in a Blue Turban with a Face in October 2004 on Ace Fu Records, but they did not begin to tour extensively until their follow-up album Six Demon Bag was released in 2006 to positive reviews. During 2007, the band opened for Modest Mouse on several U.S tours, gaining them further public attention. Not long afterward, Nike began airing a series of commercials starring Rainn Wilson with Man Man's "10 lb Mustache" as the background music.^[1] "10 lb Mustache", "Feathers", and "Engwish Bwudd" were featured in season 3, episode 8 of the TV show Weeds. The band also recorded a cover of "Little Boxes" for the title sequence of that episode.^[2]

Man Man released their third studio album Rabbit Habits on ANTI- in 2008, and embarked on a North American tour in March 2008, with Yeasayer and Tim Fite splitting dates. They performed at numerous festivals including Voodoo Experience, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, All Tomorrow's Parties, Primavera Sound, and the Meredith Music Festival that same year.

Man Man released their fourth album Life Fantastic in May 2011 with producer Mike Mogis (of Bright Eyes and Monsters of Folk fame). The first song written for the album was "Steak Knives," which was inspired by a failed relationship and the death of a close friend. It took Kattner (Honus Honus) over a year to write.^[3]

Honus has made an album with Nicholas Thorburn of Islands and The Unicorns, and Joe Plummer of Modest Mouse and The Shins under the name, Mister Heavenly. Thorburn has suggested he and Honus are making a record in a new subgenre called "Doom Wop," consisting of slow, low-frequency music transposed with traditional doo wop harmonies.^[4]}}

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• The Man in a Blue Turban with a Face (2004)
• Six Demon Bag (2006)
• Rabbit Habits #186 U.S. (2008)
• Life Fantastic #157 U.S. (2011)

EPs[link]

• Man Man EP (2004)
• Little Torments 7" (2008)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Site
• Interview with Honus Honus, Ryan Kattner, The Inflatable Ferret 10/13/11
• Interview with RadioUTD
• Interview with Tiny Mix Tapes' Chris Ruen
• Interview with Pitchfork Media 05/22/06
• WHYME Podcast #49: Interview with Honus Honus of Man Man
• NPR Broadcast of the June 30, 2006 concert in Washington, DC
• Tiny Mix Tapes article on current tour.
• Set of 6 live videos at scheduletwo.com
• Honus Honus interview with Ted Coe on KCSB-FM's The Freak Power Ticket 08/30/10

Michael "HouseShoes" Buchanan is an American hip hop producer and DJ who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. As Detroit's Hip-Hop Ambassador to the World, Buchanan has been an integral part of the long burgeoning Motown resurgence.

His production is on I Miss the Hip Hop Shop by Proof and Witness My Growth by Elzhi. His debut album, the House Shoes Collection contained contributions from Phat Kat, Guilty Simpson and King Gordy.^[1] He has also worked as a manager for hip-hop record store Fat Beats. ^[2]

Career[link]

Buchanan, a resident DJ at the hip-hop staple St. Andrews Hall from 1994-2004 has had personal influence over (at least) a full generation of well respected emcees, producers, and then-future DJs.

As a DJ, Buchanan has toured extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe with artists Guilty Simpson, Illa J, Exile, Aloe Blacc, Percee P, Phat Kat, Slum Village and Elzhi, to name a few, as well as on his own. But he has garnered the respect of acts far outside the scope of Detroit hip-hop. Most recently, Buchanan performed as tour DJ on Mayer Hawthorne & The County’s Spring 2010 16-city headlining tour.

As a producer, Buchanan has worked with some of CSDR’s elite artists and musicians, contributing to the soundtrack that has defined his city. From the late and revered J Dilla and Big Proof, to Black Milk, Danny Brown, Invincible, Finale, Big Tone, Bugz, Marv Won, The Fat Killahz, Now On and those mentioned above.

His House Shoes Recordings has pressed the now classic Jay Dee Unreleased EP (1996), Phat Kat’s Dedication To The Suckers 12” (1999), I Got Next (2CD – 2004), and HouseShoes Loungin’ Volume One-Live at The Buddha (2004). The King James Version Vol. 1 (2008), his tribute to the late James “Jay Dee” aka “J Dilla” Yancey has sold well independently and received rave reviews. Two self-produced 10” limited vinyl issues have also been released this year on Do-Over Records and All-City Records, respectively. Buchanan has moved over 25,000 units of these titles.

Discography[link]

• Jay Dee Unreleased, 1997.
• Elzhi - Out Of Focus EP, 1998.
• Phat Kat-Dedication to the Suckers 12", 1999.
• The House Shoes Collection Vol.1 : I Got Next, 2004.
• Loungin' Vol. 1 : Live at the Buddha Lounge, 2005.
• NowOn (feat. Haircut aka Mayer Hawthorne) - Don't Call It A Mixtape, 2008.
• The King James Version: Chapter 1, Verses 1-5, 2009.
• Do-Over Vol. 1: Flying Lotus & House Shoes 10" 2010.
• All-City 4/10: House Shoes & Jordan Rockswell 10" 2010.
• J1's Starship 27 Volume 2(compilation): Castles, 2011

References[link]

External links[link]

• Myspace
• Certified hip hop interview

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Bradford Cox
Background information
Birth name	Bradford James Cox
Also known as	Atlas Sound
Born	(1982-05-15) May 15, 1982 (age 30)
Origin	Athens, Georgia
Genres	Experimental rock, ambient, punk, shoegaze, electronic, dream pop, psychedelic, noise rock, noise pop
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, electric and acoustic guitar, percussion, bells, tape, electric bass, drums
Years active	1994 - present
Labels	HOSS Records, Rob's House Records, Kranky, 4AD, K Records
Associated acts	Deerhunter, Atlas Sound, Lotus Plaza, Ghetto Cross, Black Lips, The Wet Dreams
Website	Deerhunter blog

Bradford James Cox (born May 15, 1982) is an American musician best known as the lead singer and guitarist of Atlanta, Georgia-based psychedelic and ambient band Deerhunter. He also pursues a solo career under the moniker Atlas Sound. Cox formed Deerhunter with drummer Moses Archuleta in 2001. The band has released 5 LPs along with several singles and EPs. Atlas Sound is a name Cox has used since he was ten to refer to his own music, but his first full-length produced under the name was Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel, released in 2008. Cox's method of creating music is stream-of-consciousness, and he does not write lyrics in advance.

Musical career[link]

Deerhunter[link]

Cox founded Deerhunter with bassist Paul Harper and drummer Dan Walton (who named the band) in early 2001. The band expanded after Cox met a teenage transient, Moses Archuleta, who was sleeping on the floor of Cox's friends. Archuleta initially played Acetone Organ and electronics. The band's first shows were experimental and based on improvisation. Cox continued recording slightly more structured material and releasing it on CD-R and cassette using the name Atlas Sound. Paul Harper moved to Ohio and was replaced by Justin Bosworth. At this point Colin Mee also joined the band on guitar. Dan Walton left and Cox suggested Archuleta move to drums. The band's live shows and recordings became more song-oriented. They recorded their debut 7" for Die Slaughterhaus. Josh Fauver joined the band in 2004 after Bosworth died in a freak skateboarding accident. This lineup recorded Deerhunter's debut LP on Atlanta label Stickfigure. Cox suggested Lockett Pundt, whom he befriended while attending Harrison High School in Kennesaw, Georgia, join the band on guitar so that he could concentrate on vocals and electronics. This lineup recorded their breakthrough record, 2007's Cryptograms. Colin Mee left the band after failing to show up for a North American tour. The band are now a four piece consisting of Cox on guitar and vocals, Pundt on guitar and occasional vocals, Fauver on bass, and Archuleta on drums.

Atlas Sound[link]

"Atlas Sound" is the musical solo project of Cox, although he has used the name to represent his music since he was a child. He had access to a cassette player with two tape decks, which he used to layer guitar and drum sounds, and his own voice. In listening to some of these old tapes (of which Cox believes he has over five hundred in storage) he found "Some of it is absolutely, terrifyingly bad, but sometimes I'm just like, 'Wow, that's cool.' That's actually how some Deerhunter songs happened. 'Spring Hall Convert' [from Cryptograms] was like that. That was a tape I made in ninth or tenth grade." Cox writes his music stream-of-consciousness, not writing lyrics in advance, and constructing songs by adding more parts until he feels "it's getting crowded."^[1] The name of his project is derived from the brand of tape player he used, Atlas Sound.^[2]

Cox began Atlas Sound in the wake of his work with Deerhunter because "I have ideas that I can't make work with a five piece rock band...There's kind of this palette of sounds that I use that I don't necessarily get to use with Deerhunter."^[3] Because the music Deerhunter makes is a collaborative effort, Cox does not want to assert himself as its principal songwriter. "I might have an idea for a fragment of a song, but I want to leave it skeletal so the guys can fill it out. Whereas with Atlas Sound, everything is done in an hour." Cox created the music for his first record in the software Ableton Live, utilizing an array of computer-based instruments, as well as his own live recordings.^[4]

To date, there have been four major releases by Cox as Atlas Sound: Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel (2008), Logos (2009), a four-album set of previously unreleased songs called Bedroom Databank (2010), and finally "Parallax" in 2011. The lyrics of Let the Blind Lead are autobiographical in nature, reflecting life experiences of Cox.^[4] In discussing his second album, Cox characterized his first as being a "bedroom laptop type thing" and "Very introverted." In contrast, Logos was written in several parts of the world, and is "not about me. There are collaborations with other musicians. The lyrics are not autobiographical. The view is a lot more panoramic and less close-up. I became bored with introspection."^[5] An unfinished version of Logos was leaked onto the internet in August 2008, over a year before its release date.^[6] In response, Cox almost ceased production on the record, later saying "I did not react well to the leak, in retrospect. It became the kind of internet-fueled drama that I was quickly learning to despise."^[5]

In late 2010, Cox published four volumes of demos on his blog, entitled "Bedroom Databank". These demos were taken down from Mediafire by Sony, but they later apologized to Cox, stating that the files "were mistakenly removed".^[7][8] Atlas Sound was chosen by Animal Collective to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival that they curated in May 2011.^[9]

Other work[link]

Cox has also recorded as part of other bands, such as the short lived "Wet Dreams", an otherwise all-girl garage / noise band in which he played drums. He also recorded several tracks on the Black Lips second album We Did Not Know the Forest Spirit Made the Flowers Grow, playing drums on the song "Notown Blues" from that album. Regarding this album, Bradford said in an interview: "People look at what's successful, and what's successful is what's easy on the ears, things that aren't challenging," he says. "Nobody wants to listen to something that sounds awkward and makes you cringe because it's real personal or idiosyncratic. People just want to hear things that sounds familiar already to them. I make really accessible pop stuff, but at the same time I have no problem making something creepy or just odd."^[10]

Cox contributed to the Karen O-scored soundtrack for the 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are.^[11]

Equipment[link]

Guitars[link]

For the most part, Bradford favors vintage and modern Fender and Gibson guitars. Some of his guitars include:^[12]

• Fender Jaguar (1966 Sunburst with bound neck)
• Fender Jazzmaster (1964 Originally white, now yellow)
• Fender Stratocaster^[13]
• '74 Gibson Les Paul Signature ^[14]
• Fender Bronco (70s stripped natural finish)

Effects and amplifiers[link]

Pedalboard

^[12][15]

• Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner
• Line 6 DL4
• Home Brew Electronics Power Screamer
• Eventide PitchFactor
• Behringer Reverb Machine RV600
• Ibanez DE7
• Digitech DigiVerb (through Mic for Vocals)
• Digitech DigiDelay (through Mic for Vocals)
• MXR Distortion +
• Z.Vex Box of Rock
• Boss SL-20 Slicer
• Boss DS-1
• Boss SD-1

(this list is incomplete)

Amps

When playing with Deerhunter, Bradford will usually run his guitars through a Vox AC30 amplifier, and occasionally a Marshall half-stack or a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 410.^[12]

Songwriting[link]

Cox describes his mode of songwriting as 'automatic or stream-of-consciousness'. "Usually I go into a sort of trance and I'll have five or six songs afterwards", he said, speaking to Victoria Segal of Q in November 2010. "What is interesting is seeing how the band adapts them and mutates them into the final product. Lots of accidents and primitive irrational things happen. It can be difficult trying to explain the process to a producer or engineer. They generally want to help you polish things and I tend to want to sabotage that", he added.^[16]

Personal life[link]

Cox was born with the genetic disorder Marfan syndrome.^[17] As a teenager, he dropped out of high school (although later earned a GED) and his parents divorced, leaving him "to live in my childhood home alone. I literally lived in this large suburban house by myself." Cox has called his changing music taste growing up reflective of his life and mental state. Around the age of ten, Cox's disorder began to affect his body in more visible ways; this is the point at which he "first started looking awkward." With no friends, Cox became interested in how music could sound "heartbreaking or nostalgic or melancholy"; he identified with the title character of the film Edward Scissorhands, and especially enjoyed the soundtrack, which was composed by Danny Elfman. Cox's tastes shifted to music that was more "monotonous or hypnotic", such as the Stereolab album Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements. Around twenty years of age, his life situation brought about "a period", during which he became "only interested in this certain sort of suburban psychedelic pastoral thing. It was escapism. I didn't want as much emotional manipulation. It's kind of the opposite of Edward Scissorhands."^[18] Cox has previously described himself as gay,^[19] though he has since stated that he leads a non-sexual/asexual lifestyle.^[20][21]

Discography[link]

With Deerhunter:

• 2005 Turn It Up Faggot
• 2007 Cryptograms
• 2008 Microcastle
• 2008 Weird Era Cont.
• 2010 Halcyon Digest

As Atlas Sound:

• 2008 Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel
• 2009 Logos
• 2011 Parallax

See also[link]

• Deerhunter

References[link]

External links[link]

• MySpace
• 10 Minutes With Bradford Cox (Atlas Sound)
• Deerhunter's Cox Talks LP3, Atlas Sound, Dresses
• Video interview with Bradford Cox
• Linear Notes with Bradford Cox by DIRTY
• Atlas Sound article
• Pitchfork news story
• Straight article
• The Phoenix article

Sky Ferreira (born July 8, 1992), is an American singer, songwriter, model, and actress.^[1] On March 22, 2011, Ferreira released her first digital extended play, As If!.

Early life[link]

Ferreira is of Portuguese, Brazilian and Native American descent.^[2] She got her start in Los Angeles.^[1] She sang gospel songs in church throughout her childhood. Sky grew up around family friend Michael Jackson, stating in an interview: "We just became friends with him. When I was born, I was raised around him, I always saw him. I had holidays with him and stuff like that." At age 13, she started taking opera lessons to refine her singing voice.^[3] She spent the next few years maintaining a MySpace profile where she uploaded various demos of self-written tracks. Shortly before her 15th birthday, she caught the attention of Swedish producers Bloodshy & Avant by sending them a message through the social networking site. The producers were impressed and subsequently decided to work with her.^[4]

Ferreira is musically influenced by former Spice Girls bandmate Emma Bunton,^[5] Michael Jackson, Prince, Blondie, Elton John, David Bowie, Serge Gainsbourg, Meja, Lil Kim, Nicki Minaj.^[6] She also cites stars like Madonna, Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Alice Cooper, Nancy Sinatra and The Runaways as her musical role models.^[7][8]

Career[link]

[edit] 2009—2011: As If!

After signing with Parlophone Records in July 2009,^[9] Ferreira subsequently appeared in the video for "Pop the Glock" by Uffie and starred in the 2010 film Putty Hill as Jenny.^[10] In June 2010, Ferreira appeared on the cover of Jalouse magazine after being featured in Dazed & Confused, Interview, and Purple.^[11][12] At the same time, she began to write and record material for her debut studio album with producers and co-writers Bloodshy & Avant, Greg Kurstin, Nicole Morier, Klas Åhlund, Colin Munroe,^[13] Linda Perry,^[14] and FrankMusik.^[15]

After the release of "One" and "Obsession" as the first singles from the album, it was announced through a press release the album would be released on January 11, 2011.^[16] However, the album was postponed and an extended play titled As If! was announced for release on March 22, 2011 by Capitol Records.^[17] The release of the single "Sex Rules" on March 1, 2011 preceded the release of the EP.^[18] Ferreira was concurrently featured in the advertisement campaign for Calvin Klein's ck one.^[19] Sky Ferreira appeared on the Spring/Summer 2011 cover of Vs. magazine in the "Sky Ferreira: The Performer" fashion story, shot by photographer Ellen Von Unwerth for Vs. magazine.^[20] She also made an appearance in a recent ad campaign by Adidas.

[edit] 2012—Present: Wild At Heart

In October 2011, Ferreira announced in a magazine that she is still currently working on her debut album, but is changing her musical direction to a more 'Blondie' inspired sound, stepping away from electropop. A month later, Ferreira announced on her official Facebook that the new album is expected to be released on Summer 2012 and the first single on February 2012.

Ferreira announced via Tumblr that her debut album will be titled after one of her new songs, "Wild At Heart", and confirmed 'Swamp Girl' and '24 Hours' as the title of two other tracks off the album. Ferreira is about to release 2 music videos for her first new single 'Red Lips'. Another new track, 'Lost In My Bedroom', which is according to Sky is "The most electropop sounding from the record", has been leaked onto the internet.

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Extended plays[link]

• As If! (2011)

Singles[link]

Film[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Sky Ferreira on Myspace
• Sky Ferreira on YouTube