This week, NZ Music Month 2009 draws to a close. That’s right; the party’s over for another year, which means the end of free and frequent gigs, and the marking of one’s torso with a bull’s-eye courtesy of Hallensteins. The event succeeds in its aim to “showcase homegrown talent”, giving local bands support and exposure. However, it indicates dangerous territory for music writers, as it tends to relay to the media and the public that NZ music is all good by definition—despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This raises thorny questions as to the role and integrity of Kiwi writers writing on Kiwi musicians. Is it better to regurgitate the official line—that ‘it’s all good’—than risk rocking the boat?
In March, The Dominion Post’s Simon Sweetman blogged about Fat Freddy’s Drop, confessing that he found their music “underwhelming, insipid and uninspired”. He didn’t mince his words, but hell, why should he? It’s his opinion, and moreover, it’s a blog. In any case, his readers took it as an open invitation to bring da ruckus. As tends to be the case with discourse on the Internet (salient.org.nz included), the article’s 206 comments are witty, insightful and grammatically correct. Sweetman is accused of being soulless, attention-seeking, and “mean and boring”; Chris Schulz, stuff.co.nz’s Entertainment Editor, stated, “if you don’t like Fat Freddy’s Drop, you’re not a true New Zealander”; and in an interview with Kim Hill, the band member DJ Mu accused Sweetman of racism.
In his response, Sweetman states that the origins of what we’re listening to shouldn’t be as important as its individual merit, and that the role of reviewers is to give a fair and intelligent account of their opinions. A comment on the Fat Freddy’s Drop post, suggesting that reviewers refrain from writing on music that is not to their tastes, embodies the entire problem: the role of music writers is not to list their likes and dislikes, but to an express an opinion of an artist’s works, regardless of their origin. Sweetman’s recent article ‘What makes it ‘NZ’ music for you?’ is an interesting read on the same topic. It’s about time we take off the kid gloves and express an honest opinion, rather than damn with faint praise—so, if you feel the need to pan Little Pictures on salient.org.nz (and it seems a lot of you do), go ahead and do so. After all, Mark and Johanna’s mums sending you a firmly-worded letter: possible. Telling it like it is: priceless.