Pitchfork Weekly review

The Pitchfork Weekly iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad app combines a fresh take to social news feed interface and an engaging user experience to its already thoughtful, probing take on alternative music. This free download from the iTunes AppStore is cool, exciting, and powerful with its delivery of quality music news, MP3s, and podcasts in a smart package.

The Pitchfork Weekly iPhone app has a wicked social feed that will soon be emulated. It is a collage of images of musicians, cover art, and crisp photos. The photos are shaped and sized differently, and their edges meet. There is no blank space to visually separate the photos. As you slide your finger up and down, the titles of the stories hover over the photos. When the feed is static, the text disappears. This touch adds dynamic texture to the feed.

When you select an article, feature, or review to explore, the story is neatly organized as it slides up from the bottom of the screen. An article will have a photo, title, author, and date published at the top of the story’s feed. Then, as you scroll through the article, there may be collateral information tucked into the interface like a YouTube video and Soundcloud links. You stay within the Pitchfork Weekly iPhone app to play this content. This seamless integration is unusually well-crafted.

Pitchfork’s triple arrow logo resides in the upper left hand corner of the feed. If you tap the logo, the sort features appear on the screen. You can move between news, reviews, P4K.TV, features, audio, and BNM (Best New Music) with one touch on the screen. The feed’s content transforms and reflects your gesture. When you are viewing an article, the logo icon becomes your instant back button to move to the previous screen.

What appears to be a menu bar at the bottom of the screen is the Pitchfork Weekly iPhone app podcast and MP3 player interface. A touch on the icon on the far left results in a list of podcasts and MP3s sliding up from the bottom of the screen. You select one and tap the play icon. You can also pause, reverse, and fast forward from the home screen.

The Pitchfork Weekly iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad app is a step-forward in sophisticated, chic, and modern delivery of news, music, and information. It is a spectacular blend of digital magazine, video, and thought-provoking radio.