desantoos

My questions can be divided into the following categories:

Genre Preference

Your Top 50 Albums list this year is nearly 50% hip hop. Is this an acceptable view of music releases this year? Do you really think there isn't a metal, country, etc. album worthy of your best-of list?

Why do artists in the hip hop community that get 7 scores go on the Top 50 albums list while many rock, experimental, and ambient albums that score the dreaded 8.0 not get on the list? The #50 album is a rap album--one of more than a dozen on the list--that scored a 7.0. Yet 8.0 rock albums like King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizards's Nonagon Infinity do not make the cut. Do you think there's something wrong with having so much emphasis on one genre?

You feature one jazz album on the list, yet you only reviewed something like 5 jazz albums from 2016 this year. How can you be sure that that particular jazz album is the best of jazz albums with such a low sample size?

Why do you feature a Brazilian album on the list and not any from any other non-English speaking country? Why is there no criticism on music from Asian countries? Desert rock gets reviewed on other publications, so why does it get dismissed or not reviewed on Pitchfork?

Integrity

You feature advertisements from artists who recently receive Best New Music distinctions. Is there a conflict of interest here?

You often give Best New Music distinctions to artists who you then announce will be part of the Pitchfork Music Festival. Is that a conflict of interest, and why or why not?

Do you change the scores of albums after they have been published? For example, some records indicate you had Pop by Gas at 10 but now it is at 9. Do you admit to changing published review scores and how frequently does this happen?

What was the score of Sun Kil Moon's latest album going to be before you quickly took down the review following attacks to your critic by the artist?

Writing Style

Why is it that when an album gets a poor review, often Ian Cohen or someone else will discuss their influences and how they are not the right influences, but when an album gets a good review there's discussion on the meaning of the album? Shouldn't all reviews try to dissect what an album means, at some level, so as to give the artist the benefit of the doubt?

Does most of the staff agree with the points of The Unbearable Whiteness of Indie article?

Your description of Frank Ocean's album to justify its lofty #2 spot highlights a blowjob joke he makes. How is that supposed to show that this is a quality album?

Review Choices

How do you choose what to review? For a while I thought it was by label but I noticed a number of Sub Pop releases fail to get a review.

How do you choose when to post a review?

Why does the Friday feature of releases you should listen to now that's in the news area often feature albums you either never review or give a poor score?

Why did you not review the Taylor Swift album but then feature it on your Top 50 Albums list in 2014?

Overarching Questions

Do you think of music as a hierarchy that artists must climb and your scores to be a barometer of how far they have climbed up that ladder? If not, how can it be that nearly all of the highest scoring albums this year are from artists that scored high in prior years?

This year marked the first time a woman has won Album of the Year since the Knife did it ten years ago. Which woman will win Album of the Year in 2026?

You are admitting guilt to a shit ton of things, including breaking the law on multiple occasions (assault and destruction of property, to name two). Not merely will it be difficult for you to drum up sympathy but it makes you look very unintelligent as posting this information could be used against you in a future tort lawsuit. It was an absolute mistake for you to do this AMA, hoping that Reddit's xenophobia would aid you in your case or at least make you feel a little bit better.

I thought your commentary for the Main Event final table was outstanding. From watching that program it seemed like the biggest problem you and Norman Chad had about poker these days are the young kids tanking... taking forever to make a decision to make a hand. What's the best fix for this situation?

I also think that it'd be nice, as a spectator, if sunglasses and hoodies were banned so that we the audience can try to read along the opponents. From what I've read it sounds like a few of the other major poker stars are against it but I wonder where you stand on it.

Finally, seems like you are a bit riskier at the table than the people who make the November 9. Perhaps more aggression works well for events that aren't 6000+ people, but I have to wonder if you think that ultraconservative play is what will dominate poker events with large fields. That final table seemed very tight. Will we see a shift or is that style inherently what gets you to the final table?

There have been several cases where gambling websites have done very wrong things. The SEC shut down a whole bunch of them over money laundering charges. Bots are in place to rig the system from the getgo. What makes you think you can trust any gambling website?

Do you have a lawyer? Is that lawyer okay with you having this online chat? Why is your lawyer okay with it?