In the Mix

Sasha Frere-Jones has an argument starting essay in this week's New Yorker about the disappearing influence of black music on indie rock, in which he mourns the lack of musical miscegenation in contemporary pop and points out that acts like the Arcade Fire are so, well, white. (Not to mention Canadian.) Read it here.

Not sure how well this big idea holds up when you look at the little details on the ground, particularly indie bands such as the fabulously rhythmic LCD Soundsystem, as well as pretty darn funky electro pop acts like Hot Chip, Fujiya & Miyagi and the Rapture, all of whom are quite effective at their appointed tasks of getting (almost entirely white) audiences to dance themselves silly. Not to mention rock bands that shake their booties like Franz Ferdinand, or blog buzz bands such as Vampire Weekend, who've captured music geeks' attention by introducing African highlife guitars into the indie mix. And what about the White Stripes? Don't they play the blues, albeit with a drummer who doesn't exactly swing?

Still, there are larger points about segregation in pop music making, and the hip-hop rock divide, and the way the Internet super serves niche tastes, and the rise of Brian Wilson, as opposed to, say, James Brown, as an indie rock influence, that make plenty of sense. And I appreciated that F-J took a few shots at Wilco's overrated Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, an alleged masterpiece whose brilliance has always escaped me.

And while we're on the topic, here's a sampling of a provocatively named indie band (pictured above) from Jacksonville that makes a musical counter argument. They're called Black Kids, and two of their members, Reggie Youngblood and his sister Ali, are half black, half Filipino, and two are as white as the Arcade Fire. They're unsigned, but won't be for long, and have two of my favorite song titles ever on their Wizard of Ahhhs EP: "I'm Not Going To Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You" and "I've Underestimated My Charm (Again)." Their music can he heard, and purchased, here.