the Shizz w/ MMbizz

The impossible happened. No, MTV didn’t cancel Teen Mom. In case you haven’t heard, Pitchfork gave its first 10.0 review in nearly a decade.

Who received the honor? Sufjan Stevens? Arcade Fire? Massive Attack? No, no… definitely no.

It was Kanye West. The same Kanye who gave us the aut0tuned mess that was 808s and Heartbreaks two years ago, the same Kanye who hid out in Hawaii after he hilariously humiliated Taylor Swift and himself last year, and as @melimoz can attest, the same Kanye who writes crazy Twitter rants that take up the entire feed. Oh yeah, and the same Kanye who’s on the top of George W’s hate list… even above Al Qaeda (for real.) I could go on.

To put it lightly, most casual fans gave up on Kanye West. I mean, who wouldn’t? So when he released his first single “Power” in July for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, I didn’t pay attention. I listened, thought it was ok and moved on.

A few weeks later, I heard he collaborated with indie favorite Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver.) When I heard the results (“Monster” and “Lost in the World,”) I forgot all about the T-Swift situation and focused on the fact that I was listening to two of the best tracks of the year. Nicki Minaj joined Kanye, Vernon and Mr. Beyonce’s husband Jay-Z in “Monster” to provide her best collab effort so far. “Lost in the World” brilliantly sampled Gil Scott-Heron‘s “Comment #1″ and Bon Iver’s “The Woods” as I wrote a couple months ago.

“Monster”

“Lost in the World”

Fast-forward to last month when Kanye released his 34-minute music video/opus for “Runaway” aka Bird Girl Goes to Thanksgiving. The video included most of his new songs while providing what can probably be considered crazy, strange, WTFable, metaphorical imagery.

I liked the rest of the songs, but felt “Lost in the World” and Monster were definitely the strongest. On my imaginary album review site, I gave My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy an 8/10.

When the album officially released last week, I decided to read some reviews. To my surprise, critics on every site praised Kanye, and the lowest score I found was a 4/5. That’s when I saw it. Pitchfork’s 10.0.

Keep in mind that Pitchfork is notorious for giving fickle/ridiculous reviews to good records. Fiona Apple’s Extraordinary Machine received a 6.2, Cold War Kids’ Robbers and Cowards got a mere 5.0, and Tegan and Sara’s So Jealous (one of Rolling Stone’s top albums of the year) got a 3.4.

The best score I could remember Pitchfork ever giving (not including reissues) was a 9.7 for Arcade Fire’s Funeral in 2004. Seeing as Funeral was a flawless masterpiece, I didn’t think a 10.0 was possible (though someone recently told me that Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot got a 10.0 in 2002.) After some research, I found that 12 albums have gotten 10.0s.

Albums that received 10.0s by Pitchfork (not including reissues) via Salad Days Music

1. Radiohead – Kid A
2. Radiohead – OK Computer
3. Bonnie “Prince” Billy – I See A Darkness
4. The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin
5. …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – Source Tags and Codes
6. 12 Rods – gay? (EP)
7. Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The “Royal Albert Hall” Concert 1
8. Robert Pollard – Relaxation of the Asshole
9. Amon Tobin – Bricolage
10. Walt Mink – El Producto
11. Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

and…. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Something doesn’t add up. Most people have no idea who those artists are, other than Radiohead, The Flaming Lips and Bob Dylan. Why would Pitchfork tarnish its reputation of hating anything anyone’s heard of before? Kanye is just the kind of guy Pitchfork would tear up and give a 0.0 to just because they can. I thought Pitchfork might explain themselves in the review, but author Ryan Dombal doesn’t give too many details.

One can only guess what kind of statement Pitchfork is trying to make with this rare 10.0, but I don’t think it’s just about the quality of the album. As I said, it deserves a 8. Maybe an 8.3 and a spot in the “Best New Music” category.

-mmbizz