His answer? It’s not black enough; it lacks “swing, some empty space and palpable bass frequencies”; it doesn’t participate lustily in the grand (and problematic) tradition of musical “miscegenation” that’s given American music, especially rock ‘n’ roll, its kick.

To give bite to the accusation, Frere-Jones names a few names, beginning with the Arcade Fire and adding Wilco, the Fiery Furnaces, the Decemberists, the Shins, Sufjan Stevens, Grizzly Bear, Panda Bear, and Devendra Banhart, plus indie-heroes past, Pavement.

He contrasts them with the likes of the Clash, Elvis, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Public Image Ltd., Bob Dylan, the Minutemen, Nirvana, and even Grand Funk Railroad as examples of willful, gleeful, racial-sound-barrier-breaching white rockers of yore. As indicated in his pre-emptive blog post , the piece is a provocation, as is Frere-Jones’s M.O.

, and that is welcome at a time when musical discussion revolves numbingly around which digital-distribution method can be most effectively “monetized.” (Current champ: Radiohead.) But many commentators have pointed out his article’s basic problems of consistency and accuracy: Frere-Jones’ story is that the rise of Pavement as role models and Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg as rivals in the 1990s marked a quick indie retreat from bluesiness and danceability.