Oh screw you, Stereogum.

Not because the album’s great — it isn’t, it’s too long and same-y; ‘passable’ at best with a few singles and a lot of filler — but because Stereogum comes across as deeply, worryingly calculating and cynical here. If you follow the site you might have noticed they were clearly among the very worst and obnoxious buzz offenders, prominently reporting each and every new LDR remix and live appearance.

But of course, “talked-about singer releases forgettable debut” doesn’t lend itself to a narrative that can be milked much further, does it? I really don’t see how you could possibly claim this album is shockingly and, most of all, unexpectedly bad other than intending to extend the buzz cycle by somehow framing this a disastrous failure and joyously kick in the n-th backlash wave.

Ultimately, in Stereogum’s case this pretty much serves as a textbook example of “they build ‘em up to kick ‘em down” and I don’t think this kind of disingenuous schadenfreude is a good thing to have in the landscape of musical criticism.

(via hndrk)