Too much music criticism.

Actually, too much music writing, not enough music criticism. And too much of that music writing is lazy snarky gotcha crap. I should know, I've done it too. But it's all scenesterism maaaaaan; you cannot actually be the first to champion discs that everyone else has already championed.

Too much consensus about what the "important" records are every year. Most albums considered to be important just kind of happen to be by white people singing in English. Most of those are men. Every year there are a couple of black acts, or records by women, that grab hold of people's ideas about what an important record should be. (Hint: if you are a black act but you represent some kind of alternative or "correction" to black mainstream music [OutKast Gnarls Barkley Kanye West Arrested Development De La Soul], or if you are the one rapper taken seriously by critics every year [Ghostface Public Enemy], you just might be in there. But it's a lot easier to be Timberlake than Timbaland; you'll catch more flies with Montreal than you will with Atlanta, etc.

Oh god what a saddo here he goes. White guilt snooze, fake feminism bullshit, stop it stop it. We like what we like, we don't wanna hear about it.

Me I wanna discover new stuff from strange places, champion the stuff that no one else will touch. The problem is, most of that stuff really isn't all that yummy, at least at first. Got three 'world music' discs in the mail yesterday, just ripe for the picking -- but one was boring and two was also boring and three was self-consciously "wacky" and therefore just plain wack. But just because the path is rough and I'm walking it in bare feet and arrogance doesn't mean it's not the right path. Also: Alt.country can be counted on for some of the worst music of the year and I've already heard my least fave album of 2007 so far and it's like damn that competition was over quick. On the whole, I'd rather be in Indiedelphia.

Why complaining? Not sure. Just not sure I need the adrenalin/sugar rush of being FIRST ON IT, or even of 'hey wow free stuff in the mail yippeeeeeeee'. Getting old. Or I am.

But it's also like this: no one is listening. Or if they are, I'm mumbling and inarticulate, or too tired and unmotivated to do a good job, or just dummmm some days.

However, here you go: my new favorite record comes from Czech Republic. It is done by four more-or-less-a-capella female singers who call themselves Yellow Sisters. It's like the Roches beefed up, went ethnic, and then added some reggae toasting. I only got it because my friend hooked me up with a press pass, and then I got to download all the songs for like five albums of new stuff by lots of bands. Which is a pretty damm great use of the Internettage. Yellow Sisters -- a full-scale straight on bangeroo which isn't that boring and has killer harmonies in Czech. None of you will hear it, but please to czech out this site and forget I ever said all this elitist crap. Too tired to make any sense so I'll shut up.

http://www.indies.eu/en/alba/4/singalana/

Keep your yummy cake
I'm overweight already
Gotta shed this skin