Are you intimidated by Pitchfork? Afraid of its writers judging your taste with words to describe music you've never heard of? Relax, loser. Intern Anastasia is here to demystify their reviews.

This week: Atlas Sounds’ “Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel.”

Pitchfork Says:

Rating: 8.6
Bradford Cox spent the summer he was 16 in a children's hospital having multiple surgeries on his chest and back. His condition, Marfan syndrome, has proven difficult to separate from his music. … Cox plays and sings in Atlanta five-piece Deerhunter, but it's tempting to say he actually lives as Atlas Sound…Deerhunter's Cryptograms and Fluorescent Grey EP expertly brought together elements of krautrock, psych, shoegaze, ambient, post-punk, and indie rock, but Atlas Sound's full-length debut turns inward from that band's high-volume squall. Cox also trades the four-track of previous Atlas Sound vinyl splits for a laptop. The result is a gauzy bedroom pop album that drifts from ambient bliss-outs to sadsack avant-garage, from hospitals to heartache, as if passing through different stages of sleep on a sunny afternoon.

Full Word Count: 1,041

Anastasia Says:

Whatever disease Cox is suffering from is irrelevant. The music should stand on its own.

And how is the music? Pitfchfork says it's “gauzy bedroom pop,” with “ambient bliss-outs,” and “psychedelic electronic space-outs.” Translation: it’s pretty background music that’s even prettier when you’re high. Don’t expect drums, or frequent chord changes, or anything crazy like that.

Take “Quarantined,” on Cox’s MySpace. You get “Quarantined…and kept…so faaar away…from my friends…” repeated endlessly, with melodic “aaahs” and what sound like windchimes (glockenspiels?) in the background. You can’t dance to it, but you can sure sit on your bed and smoke a bowl to it. Or that's what the other NYU kids are saying.

Word Count: 110

Check out Atlas Sound on MySpace