Back in 2004, an unknown art-rock band from Canada called Arcade Fire released its debut album, “Funeral,” on a small North Carolina-based label called Merge Records. The album went crazy, earned a Grammy nomination, and sold more than 300,000 copies in the U.S. alone. Today, Arcade Fire headlines major festivals around the country.
What few fans may now recall is that the success of Arcade Fire reflected the less heralded success of Pitchfork, a grassroots online music review site that, by 2004, had become the most revered source of music criticism for the under-40 set. Pitchfork’s editors were the first to champion Arcade Fire’s record, and the band says the site’s review spawned all the success that followed.
So when Pitchfork champions another left-field act – and goes so far as to compare it to Arcade Fire – we should probably all take notice. [Read More...]
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