How to Play Djembe: West African Rhythms for Beginners with CD (Audio) Book

In which a gaggle of pointdexters attempt to wax hilarious, authoritative, and/or iconoclastic on their nuevo canon. As you can guess, two thirds of the book is just Pitchbork scribblers' take on the received pre-2000 canon -- very few surprises, unless you are shocked by the inclusion of "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)" and the Suspiria soundtrack. Some mildly informative sidebars too, on grindcore and twee pop and such: BUT the sidebar on "Yacht Rock" was so droll and snobby it catapulted me into a violent pro-Firefall fugue state.

The 'forklifters don't make it very explicit in the book, but the last third is really Pitchfork's celebration of their own turn-of-the-century Gen-Z canon. There are many groovy songs here (also lots of indefensible wuss music on the order of Devendra Banhart and Animal Collective). But the writing damn near inverted my corneas with its preposterous press-kit wankery, e.g. "Many critics hoped Radiohead would become the biggest band in the world; instead they threatened to become the best." (That's a quote from editor-in-chief Scott Plagenhoef, in case you were worried I'm picking on some starving freelancer.) If we eat any more S'Mores like that we're likely to pass out before the circle jerk even gets off the ground!

There are three interesting writers here: Nate Patrin, Douglas Wolk, and Julianne Escobedo Shepherd. Look for their initials. As for the rest, have a bottle of whiskey and a damp washcloth at hand.