For more than a quarter century, Pitchfork was a kind of Rolling Stone for the millennial generation, a bible for audiophiles whose authority was summed up by its simple slogan: “the most trusted voice in music.”

That changed for many readers in January when Pitchfork’s parent company, Condé Nast, enacted a sweeping round of layoffs that included removing its editor in chief and folding it under GQ, the men’s magazine.

Nearly a year later, five former Pitchfork journalists are getting the band back together to start a new online music publication, Hearing Things. The site, which launches on Tuesday, aims to capture the original independent spirit of Pitchfork while tuning out the stan armies that worship huge artists.

The founders of Hearing Things are tacking against major trends in both the music and publishing businesses. Magazines like Spin and Rolling Stone, once dominant cultural tastemakers, have been pushed aside by recommendation algorithms on Spotify and TikTok. Digital advertising is migrating toward juggernauts like Amazon. The biggest artists monopolize the cultural conversation.

But the founders are betting they will catch an encouraging tailwind for the media business. A crop of scrappy, worker-owned publications have sprung up in recent years, subsisting on support from die-hard fans. They include Defector, a sports and pop-culture site created by Deadspin veterans; Hell Gate, covering New York City; and 404 Media, a tech publication founded by alumni of Vice’s Motherboard.

Readers of Hearing Things won’t be getting a remixed version of Pitchfork. The founders have jettisoned a few of that site’s hallowed features, including the 0-to-10 album scoring system (“That’s their thing,” said Ryan Dombal, one of the founders), and Pitchfork’s sometimes-stuffy tone.