Mos Def Namedrops Fucked Up in the New York Times, Sort Of

Does anyone else suspect that Fucked Up have just become the Shins of 2009? As in, yeah, they're good, and they have some really big fans, but having hit the zeitgeist (Garden State for the Shins, CNN for Fucked Up), they're just being name-dropped by people to show they have cred? I can't count the number of big-name publications these guys are getting mentioned in, the latest being the New York Times.

Well, sort of. In yesterday's paper, American rapper Mos Def (who recently appeared on Troubadour by  K'Naan, by the way, who is another Canadian musician-turned-CNN fave-- what's with that?) was talking about his favourite bands of the moment, but for his last selection all that's there is a series of asterisks. But then he names the album, "The Chemistry of Common Life", and we all know who he's talking about. Here's what he has to say:


"You know how you hear something and you just relate? They rock. I like the title of their album too: “The Chemistry of Common Life” (Matador). I think I found out about them on the Net, I saw their name [unprintable in this newspaper], I said, “I’m game, I want to see what they’re about.” It’s raw, but it’s elegant. It’s intelligent, hardcore rock. It’s like Bad Brains, Minor Threat and Fugazi. A lot of people will call it punk, but it’s rock. It’s got good melodies. I listen to them on the road a lot. A lazy Sunday is a good time to listen to them. I would chill out to this music, read a book like “Animal Farm” and listen to this" 

You can read the full article here.