One reason I'm none too fond of music reviews as a general rule: Every now and then professional music reviewers seem to collide and collude against a specific musician for no obvious reason. Like, say, Tim Kinsella. Every time I read a Joan of Arc or Make Believe review, I can actually visualize some smarmy 22-year-old Pitchfork-sired music critic crouching behind Tim while another, perhaps a writer for Tiny Mix Tapes, pushes him. Then maybe they kick him in the face for complaining. The party line is that Mr. Kinsella is "pretentious", an argument which seems to imply that most other musicians aren't.Similarly, Damon Albarn always seems to be under fire. According to the press, he's "tempermental", a "vicious drunk", a "control freak", "self-important", a "celebrity complaining about celebrity", a wannabe. 2003's one-off Democrazy, a 5,000-run 10" vinyl released on his own independent, was the proverbial whipping boy that year, more or less existing for reviewers to crack their knuckles and accuse the man of being "completely self-indulgent". [Interestingly, similar projects such as The Microphones' Little Bird Flies Into Big Black Cloud - a 300-run on a boutique label - and Fugazi's Instrument, which was basically the same thing as Democrazy only mass-produced, were roundly lauded (if they were reviewed at all, in the case of the former).] Even the reviews of The Good, the Bad, and the Queen - tied with Person Pitch as the year's best album so far, in my opinion - that praise the album tend to either express surprise at just how good it is or play down the contributions of the other members, refusing to let the reader forget for a moment that this is a "weird" album by a Complicated, Wary Former Brit-Pop Idol. Albarn's cranky, narcissistic public persona was created by music journalists and will be perpetuated by the same.Which bums me out, because I personally think Damon Albarn is one of the better songwriters we have at the moment. Blur's 13 and The Good, the Bad, and the Queen's self-titled debut are inventive, meticulously-crafted modern classics."Just my thoughts, man. Just some things I was thinkin' about at the time." - Jay-Z