Terrible Pitchfork review leads to excellent exposure for band you’ve never heard of

Before today I hadn’t heard of The Airborne Toxic Event. There’s a good chance I wouldn’t have heard of them if Pitchfork had given them a 9/10 review, either, since I don’t read that particular oracle so much these days.
However, the band was actually on the wrong end of a rating of 1.6 from writer Ian Cohen for their eponymous debut album. That’s 1.6 out of 10. Even for Pitchfork, that’s pret-ty brutal. So brutal, in fact, that the band decided to respond - not with a foul-mouthed onstage outburst, or a childish “Get In The Ring”-style track, but with a rather dignified open letter. Quaint, no?

In an intelligent, thoughtful defence of their art, the band calls out Pitchfork for its tendency to “critique a band’s ability to match a certain indie rock aesthetic” rather than the band and its music.
And, since their response has been picked up by numerous sites as well as this one, it’s proven a pretty good way of getting their name out there. I haven’t had the urge to go and listen to their music, but that’s more down to my own pitiful lack of get-up-and-go than anything. Good on ‘em, I say.
Having said that, if anyone wants to respond to any articles on this site, the “LOL ur gay f*ck u” style of missive deposited in the comments section is still just fine.
Read the open letter in full at the band’s official site, or listen to their music at their MySpace.
[source: I Guess I'm Floating]