On June 28, Pitchforkmedia published a news story about a mysterious posting on the Elephant 6 message board, attributed to Jeff Mangum, under the overly-sensational headline "Jeff Mangum Returns!" Pitchfork printed the entire posting, which certainly did seem to match what little is known of Mangum's current activities and interests.
The post described, among other things, the writer's recent recording activities, desire to tour again ("getting to gigs late with cars coughing and trombones smacking on doors...it can never be the same but i need to get as close as i can to that again"), and an upcoming return to the world of music ("everthing is happening soon, this is the year").
Everywhere in indiedom, there was much rejoicing and celebration. Jeff Mangum, pigeon-holed as either a mad genius or ultimate recluse, the driving force behind one the 1990's most revered albums, had been bitten by the bug and was ready to start scratching.
Except that it wasn't true. Within hours, Pitchfork had explained the post was, in fact, a very clever hoax, with Robert Schneider confirming that he had spoken to Mangum, who denied being the author: "i am sorry to inform you that this is not my post." And very quietly, Pitchfork's headline was suddenly changed from "Jeff Mangum Returns!" to "Jeff Mangum Returns?"
It took some balls from Pitchfork to even leave it as a question. A more suitable headline would have been "Jeff Mangum Still Wants to be Left Alone: We F'd Up." Now, I realize Pitchfork's primary objective is to get people to its site (Pitchfork's days as a small, niche indie-based website are long gone) and I have no problem with that.
For all its faults, including sometimes-incomprehensible music reviews, Pitchfork is still the best indie music-related site on the Web. Its upcoming Intonation festival boasts, by far, the coolest variety of indie acts this side of the ocean. And, perhaps most important of all, Pitchfork exposes both musical junkies like myself and casual observers (read: suburban kids with parents' money) to music that would otherwise receive very little notice.
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