July 5, 2006
Sound Team Responds to Pitchfork Review
Austin's Sound Team just released their major-label debut, Movie Monster, a few weeks ago. We've been pretty impressed with it. Pitchfork, on the other hand, gave the album a less than stellar rating (3.7), though we're inclined to question the authority of any review mentioning the already-passé Snakes on a Plane reference. The above video is Sound Team's response:
In retaliation of the 3.7 rating, the band-- or someone purporting to be them-- posted a YouTube video depicting a sort of Sound Team effigy being mutilated, thrown off a cliff, burned, and dismembered by a Pitchfork. Creepy! That's exactly what we did to our promo copy this weekend!
Sound Team returns to Emo's this Saturday with a huge show featuring Glass Family, Dimes, The Black, Zykos, and What Made Milwaukee Famous.
Found via ultra8201 and pitchfork
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blech, that snooty, name-dropping review reminds me why i don't read pitchfork. it's never a good sign when the reviewer starts off talking about what other people think of the album as a way to buff up his contrarianism bonafides.
I was able to interview Bill from SOUNDteam, check it out.
I don't think the end result of the Pitchfork review -- the 3.7 out of 10 -- is horrendously off. Using the Rolling Stone/Austin Chronicle scale of 5 stars, I would have given it a 2 after listening to it a few times.
I haven't figured out that alleged hype around this band or Voxtrot; They're both doing something very derivative that's been done a lot before (and argurably better, but that's not for me to claim, because I think they both do it fairly well). I think it works well live, because they're relatively unique in the local Austin community and they (I repeat) do it fairly well. But, that falls apart on a larger scale where more and more people have heard their influences and are exposed to way more bands similar to them. Same thing goes for when it gets committed to CD. I don't get there where and why of the hype.
Anyway, if I was in SOUNDteam, I wouldn't get my panties in a bunch (and I doubt they did) -- their band puts on a very fun show that a healthy sized crowd in their hometown always enjoys. Whether or not they make it to the next level will matter less on Pitchfork and more on their ability to writes songs that people like outside of Austin.