Music / Sasha v Stephin

Stephin Merritt doesn't like hip-hop, which is fine, but he made the mistake of assembling a playlist for the NYT that included no black artists, thereby awakening playlist affirmative action policeman, Sasha Frere-Jones. Actually, SF-J has had issues with Merritt since 2004, but now he's throwing down and calling Merritt a "rockist cracker." Not to be confused with a "racist cracker," though he implies as much. The NYT nicely documents the origins and recent developments of the feud, and John Cook defended Merritt in Slate last week. What the blogosphere is saying: Jessica Hopper's tinyluckygenius (on Merritt's own role in fanning the, umm, flames), Jane Dark's Sugarhigh! (on the big picture).