Around 5 p.m., an hour before doors, a line of young kids in gothic fits began to form outside Baby’s All Right in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Soon, it stretched all the way down the street. The occasion wasn’t a concert, but a launch event for Pitchfork’s new zine, accompanying a cover story on Swedish rapper Bladee. Inside, in the seating area near the bar, Printed Matter set up shop and sold zines on Pitchfork’s behalf. (If you missed out, they’re still selling them online.)
A delightfully strange mix of Drainers with X’s on their hands, longtime Pitchfork readers, and older media types poured into the main hall of Baby’s for a talk moderated by Deputy Director Jeremy D. Larson, featuring Meaghan Garvey, who wrote the Bladee story, Jason Nocito, who took photos for it, and Head of Editorial Content Mano Sundaresan. The panel touched on what it was like to spend time with Bladee in Sweden, how a legendary Bob Dylan shoot inspired his face paint, and how unusual it was for an artist so enigmatic to welcome writers and photographers into his home. Sundaresan also described his vision for Pitchfork’s new quarterly zine and the importance of physical media as a token of something tangible and long-lasting in an internet littered with dead links and websites that don’t exist.
Larson kept the vibes going after with a vinyl DJ set as Pitchfork readers and critics mingled at the bar, had their zines signed, and lounged around Baby’s flipping through their copies. Thanks for coming! Scroll down for photos.
