OK, we'll ignore the stupidly small-minded 5/10 review of the actually mind-blowing Dirty Projectors album. We'll also ignore the pathetic, tedious campaign to get the Sex Pistols' 'God Save The Queen' to number one (it was a dreadful record then, it's still dreadful now - and how many more deserving 70s acts could the paper be re-evaluating?).
But we won't ignore the piece on Yeasayer. The band are entirely deserving of the coverage - indeed, credit to the NME for at last jumping on a sensible bandwagon. I've just pre-ordered their 'All Hour Cymbals' album for a bargain price from Play and am keenly anticipating its arrival in a couple of weeks. It's how the paper describes them that has sent me into an apoplectic rage though: 'World Music that doesn't make you want to puke'. What?! What does this really translate as? 'World Music made by White Americans'? Exactly what is the NME trying to say here? What do they define as World Music? The stupendous 2CD 'Best Of Ethiopiques' compilation I still need to blog about? The wonderful Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate collaboration from a couple of years ago that still gets plentiful airplay in my home? Excellent releases from Tinariwen, Orchestra Baobab, the lush tango of Astor Piazolla, or Portuguese Fado music, Fela Kuti, Brotherhood of Breath? The Balkan music that has inspired Beirut, given a mildly positive review elsewhere in the paper? Not to mention a whole range of music from parts of the globe NME journalists won't have heard about, never mind visited. What a bunch of total morons.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Actually, one member of Yeasayer is Indian, and was born in India. So its one Indian, two Jews, and a white.
Fair correction. Do you think this undermines my point though, which was perhaps more to do with nationality and territory than race? The NME, whether intentionally or simply out of mindless provocation, seemed to be implying that World Music is only palatable (and worthy of their coverage) when coming from the West, specifically America or the UK!
Post a Comment