The Atlantic Ocean must be a pretty good fence

It's nice that the Brits are looking towards awesome musicians from our side of the pond, but I am especially thrilled that the US music scene is being recognized for some of the great lyricists that are writing today. It isn't every day that John Darnielle both gets recognized in a major newspaper and comes out with a marvelous quote that doesn't have to do with heavy metal.

Now, I know that on message boards across the internet, death is generally thought of as preferable to admitting that you learned about something from Pitchfork. The no-I-never-heard-about-it-on-Pitchfork animus is one of the most trollable tendencies a person can have; there's no surer way to initiate a flamewar than accusing somebody of getting their news from the most-read newsfeed in indiedom. This, I shouldn't need to point out, is bizarro-world Oedipal weirdness, but in the echo-chamber Oedipus never hears the oracle and gets to live blissfully ever after with mom. Win-win, right?

Well. We may be a lot of things over here at LPTJ, but "lying poseurs" isn't one of them, and the Donkeys are awesome, and I heard about them this morning from Pitchfork. They're signing to Dead Oceans, which is like the ultimate coup of good-band-name/good-label-name, and which puts them in great company, considering that the Bowerbirds are Dead Oceans soldiers now. I went over to eMusic and got the Donkeys album they had there, and it turns out these guys have been good since at least 2004. Fuck! How will I live with myself? Not only did I not get hip during their early shows, when they were obviously at their best - I'm four years late to the party.

I haven't listened enough to the Bowerbirds lately, or the Hold Steady, or Vampire Weekend, or the Mountain Goats. Also, I adore John Darnielle. Of course, I think The Gaurdian misses a few more really impressive songwriters, especially since we aren't even mentioning Canadians.

This particular American would like to use really cool maps to return the favor and prove that the Brits really are the awesome harbingers of civilization.

Update: I would like to point out that it is annoying that not a single one of the new good lyricists mentioned are women and even more annoying that I find myself having a harder time finding female lyricists that I connect to in the same way I have been with male songwriters lately. (Except Neko Case, that woman is amazing, and she needs to put out a new album, and I really hope her leg has healed because I saw her with the band (TNP) a few months ago and she had a cast up to her knee.)