I think the majority of these people didn't talk to the author because they don't give a shit. A quick wiki search reveals that all but one of the acts who were mentioned are still active and making music. That one is Sonic Youth and they kept on going for a decade after the 'killer' review, releasing 4 more albums. These acts are still out their doing their thing. Why would they care to talk about the fact that Pitchfork gave them a bad review a decade or two ago? Especially when the general critical consensus for most of these releases was nowhere near as 'brutal' as Pitchfork's. Thurston Moore essentially said (paraphrased): "I understood the nature of the score and it didn't get to me. In fact, the reviewer later revealed he now loved album, which was nice." The author spun that into Moore being "granted catharsis via a reviewer’s apology". It's clutching at straws.