they care about music insofar as it makes them money. if you want to a good review, you pay them. the rest of the time they will either trash or hype releases for the sense of credibility it might give them, but fundamentally they don't give a shit.
for pitchfork, its just as important to deliberately shit on artists that (can't afford) to pay them. they like to give mediocre reviews to ACTUALLY good indie/experimental music because giving something a 6 or a 7 is deadly, give it a 0 and people will pay attention, but 6 or 7 just makes people pass it over as bland without even hearing it. all pitchfork really cares about is mainstream american pop music and that side of indie that intermixes with it. they deliberately shit on stuff because its the only way they can make themselves look credible. from their very beginning, their singular goal was to erase any differences between actually alternative and anti commercial stuff and create a seamless harmony between 80's 90's pop and stuff like radiohead and the most bland college rock indie. they are a business and they have been mostly a scourge to actual underground music for a long time now.
i dont give the first fuck about the actual musical merits of mainstream pop music, it might even have a certain quality to it, but i still
fucking hate it on a matter of principle and want a space where it can be ignored or destroyed as the mass appeal trash that it is. pitchfork was all about capitalizing on indie and trying to remove any boundaries between underground culture and mainstream culture. a vast amount of the shit it has actually promoted in its best of lists is pure fucking garbage. its a pop magazine for people who are a bit too cool for school. thats it.
i respect what swans is doing now, i dont think its as great as anyone else says it is but it its still good.
swans might have peaked with
this
that song is one of the greatest of all time. swans have done some of the best music of the past few decades. they are coming out with great stuff still. they deserve the respect, good for them for getting the hype and hopefully some cash. to be fair to swans, they didn't just go into a decline, they knock out amazing songs or pieces all the time. they're a great band.