Ah, the British Music Press

In the United States, there's a tendency to totally not understand the British music hype machine. While we have certainly benefited from some groups gaining enough hype (without England, there wouldn't have been much buzz in the U.S. for groups like the Pixies, the Breeders, White Stripes and the Strokes, even though they were home-grown bands). However, then there are other acts like everything-Libertines related, the Smiths, Kasabian, and Oasis, where the hype is grand, and Americans are left scratching their heads, saying, "huh?"

However, there is a new reason to feel a degree of contempt towards the British music press today. NME, the leader of British hype, reviews the new Mars Volta CD, "Amputechture." It laments the difficulty of the album, and while it may end up being pretentious or uninteresting (I haven't heard it yet), the review laments the shift from prog rock towards free jazz, complaining that "Nothing good ever came of free jazz."

Oh, and Oasis, the Spice Girls, Wham!, and others were cultural landmarks, demonstrating a high new art form?

I just find such petty complaints stupid in music. Just because it doesn't sound like what you expect doesn't mean it's bad. And as a "free jazz" (whatever that is) fan, the reviewer doesn't know what he's talking about. Obviously, everyone can cite John Coltrane's later work, which is my favorite of his (see especially "Ascension," "Meditations," and "Interstellar Space"), artists like Ornette Coleman, Joe McPhee, William Parker (thanks to Erik to introducing me to him), Rashied Ali, William Hooker, Matthew Shipp, Wayne Horvitz, and numerous others have done remarkable things with what has become "free jazz." I'm willing to wager that the music of these men (leading to an interesting question - where are the women?) is far more interesting, important, and intelligent than most of the British exports to the U.S. over the last 25 years.

So note to NME: get out of your box and consider music can be good beyond the expectations and genre-limits you impose upon it. After all, artists like Shipp and Horvitz are far more worthy of the hype you generally give to far more mediocre bands.