Archive for 2005

I’ll Just Play My Music Louder

Katy Rose “Keeping It Together” – I suppose that Katy Rose owes her recording career due to the common record company tendency to flood the market with variations on a successful formula. In this case, V2 had a hunch that maybe the public liked Arvil Lavigne’s cute-badass-rock girl image, but desired an “authentic” version that sounded like post-Celebrity Skin Courtney Love adapting the screenplay of Thirteen. (Not a surprise: Rose is actually on the soundtrack to that movie.)

Rose’s music, particularly this import bonus track, is all about the fetishization of fucked-uptitude and psych-ward chic. I sincerely believe that this kind of lyrical message is deeply irresponsible when aimed at a target market of teenagers who are caught up in their heightened teen emotions and are often all too eager to self-diagnose and then act out on psychiatric disorders that seem dramatic and sexy. This is all blatant self-mythologizing; a deliberate attempt to glamorize serious problems. Rose’s persona comes down to “I’m off my meds, don’t you want to fuck me?” It plays into the despicable sexual fantasies of adults and the most selfdestructive impulses of teenagers. In sociological terms, this is all very gross.

That said, this is an excellent Modern Rock song. It’s got just the right amount of menace to it without coming off heavy handed, and the chorus really goes for the teen rebellion anthem brass ring. Hole is the most obvious reference point in terms of style, but there’s more to it than that. Rose’s vocal delivery on the verses reminds me of Billy Corgan in his faux-goth Machina phase mixed in with bits of Shirley Manson. This sounds like music concieved in an echo chamber of mid-to-late 90s radio rock, and I have no doubt that it actually was given Rose’s age and sensibilities. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)



Enon “The Nightmare of Atomic Men” – I love the title, it’s so Silver Age! Enon are going for some kind of sci-fi funk sleaze thing on this song, and it’s pretty successful on those terms if you aren’t distracted by the indie cutesiness of the female vocals on the chorus. (I find it catchy and endearing, personally.) There are some excellent keyboard sounds on this track – I especially enjoy the string hits and the wet synth bass. (Click here to pre-order it from Insound.)

I Gotta Rubicon

The Hank Collective “God Slick” – An email exchange from yesterday:

Hey Mike, this was just passed along to me by a member of the band. It’s really, really good! I’m definitely posting something from it tomorrow. I won’t tell you what it’s like, I’ll let you be surprised, but it’s very joycore. Just be sure to listen to the songs from the 2004 album.

Whoa. I’m sitting here smiling my head off right now. I assume your reaction was, “This EXISTS?!?!” Sort of Beat Happening on ecstacy. That’s AWESOME.

Yeah, “this exists?” was pretty much it. I’m still not sure how to describe this stuff. It’s like imaginary music or something – the kind of hypothetical music that writers dream up but never actually exists. It has that strange “lost classic” sound to it, as though it was just unearthed from a time capsule from 1991.

Ah yes, very true. Like the made-up band on the pop radio station in Wes Anderson’s version of Grand Theft Auto. (i.e., Grand Theft Auto: TWEE CITY).

(Click here to buy it from The Blue House.)

Circles Looping Circles Again

Psapp “Rear Moth” – This could very well be the most romantic, elegant song in the world to feature the sound of a squeeze toy as punctuation to its rhythm. The singer’s voice is close enough Laetitia Sadier to announce “RIYL: Stereolab, Electrelane, Pram,” but this is more than just a surrogate for the Groop. There is something kind of magical about Psapp’s record that I find difficult to articulate – it has Stereolab’s exociticism and low key sexuality, but also a whimsy that seems somewhat precious and child-like. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)

Empire State Human “Digital City” – The travel brochures for both Digital City and Paradise City claim to have girls who are pretty residing within city limits, but I reckon that the girls in Digital City are a lot cuter. This is a shameless retro-80s pastiche, but it’s solid stuff – if this was actually Duran Duran, it would be my favorite song in their discography. (Click here to visit the official Empire State Human site.)

For Better Or Worse

Marijata “No Condition Is Permanent” – I want to think of this song as being optimistic, but that’s not really it, is it? It’s more about the solace that comes from knowing that nothing lasts forever, good or bad. It’s a sentiment that can yield defeatism, or a faith in resistance and opposition. It’s pretty clear to me that this is a song of faith and reassurance – who would ever bother to make music as intense, funky, and passionate as this to get across a sad sack message? This is a selection from the new volume in the excellent Ghana Soundz series, which collects Afrobeat, funk, and soul gems from Ghana in the 1970s. (Click here to buy it from Other Music.)

TTC “Ebisu Rendez-Vous” – I haven’t been very fond of the French hip hop that I’ve heard in the past, but this is fantastic. Like the best non-American hip hop, this is not an attempt to ape popular US rap (new or old), but rather something different and distinctly European. This track is entirely comprised of spacey electronic robo-textures that evoke images of a sci-fi future as well as a peculiar mixture of languor and restlessness. (Click here to buy it from Ninja Tune.)

The Only Mirror In The Room

AK-MOMO “Greasy Spoon” – Okay, I think I have this figured out now: I dig nu-folk when the folky elements are recontextualized and obviously postmodern (like, say Cocorosie, or Stephen Malkmus and Mary Timony’s appropriations of Ren-Faire Brit folk psychedelia), but whenever it seems that the artist is aiming for authenticity (Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart, etc, etc), I am turned off, big time. AK-MOMO fall into the postmodern camp, setting their beautiful lullabies to a distant backdrop of vintage optigans and melotrons that imply a nostalgic past. It’s like the musical equivalent of Guy Maddin’s vaseline-lensed movies (ie, The Saddest Music In The World), but less academic and more poignant. (Click here to buy it from Parasol.)

Relaxed Muscle “Sexualized” – I can’t believe that I’ve never actually posted this song – in my mind, this is a big Fluxblog classic. (A direct result of putting it on so many mix cds, I suppose.) This is Jarvis Cocker’s frantic, in-the-red anthem of sexual frustration. The character in the song sees sexuality in every facet of life and pop culture, but it is always inaccessable or forbidden, which drives him mad. The guitars are overheated and manic; the vocals convey a palpable anxiety and desperation. This is the sound of futile lust and horny impotence, and it fucking ROCKS. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)

Drunk At The Funky Pickle

Cadence Weapon “Oliver Square” – First line: “It’s corrupt where I’m from, Edmonton.” Really? I had no idea. My ignorance is revealed – the only things that I associate with the city of Edmonton are a gigantic mall, the Oilers, and cold weather. I know that I wouldn’t normally expect excellent hip hop music to come from Edmonton, but here it is. The track is built around keyboard textures that sound like a funky malfunctioning Gameboy, but the main attraction is Cadence Weapon’s solid flow and wordplay, which is sort of like a brainer, less bombastic version of Ludacris. (Click here for the official Cadence Weapon website.)

The Jealous Lovers “Fight For Survival” – This has a lot of the same “weird kids fucking around in their basement” appeal as the Moldy Peaches’ first album, but with the folky elements replaced by lo-fi funk. The production values are very amateurish, resulting in a track in which all of the parts of the arrangement sound distanced from one another. The horns and percussion sound like field recordings, and seem as though they are meant to be heard as quotations in the context of the song. The bassline and the keyboards may as well have footnotes attached to them. The disjointed sound works for the Jealous Lovers, and goes a long way in distancing them from the colder, less organic sound of many of their post-Electroclash peers. (Click here to visit the official Jealous Lovers website.)

Fluxblog has been nominated for a Bloggie in the Best Entertainment Blog category. You can vote here. Thanks to everyone involved in nominating the site, I really appreciate it.

Does This Look Like A Facelift That Would Lie To You?

Taylor Savvy “Treat Him Like A Lady (Sometimes)” – I never realized how much Taylor Savvy sounded like John Mayer until I heard this song. It’s all in the voice, of course (though Savvy isn’t quite as reedy or affected as Mayer), because this track sounds a lot more lite FM/boy-band than acoustic Starbucks rock. It makes a lot of sense for Savvy to play up any similarities to Mayer, whether it is intentional or not, given that his whole act is about subverting his pretty boy looks and smooth pop with peculiar lyrics and his Justin Timberlake-meets-Chippendales stage show. If Savvy is going to send up the music made by men to seduce women, John Mayer is an excellent contemporary reference point. Bonus points: Savvy’s lyrical advice in this song (basically, you should treat men with tenderness and affection sometimes) seems like something that Mayer would actually write, given the level of humor and self-awareness that he displayed on his recent VH1 special. (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

Roots Manuva “Colossal Insight (Jammer & Mizz Beatz Remix)” – Though Roots Manuva is not quite as extreme as many of his UK hip hop contempories, it would be difficult to confuse his music with any current American rap artists. His vocal flow is fluid and somewhat conventional, but his tracks are often cold and trebly in a way which is obviously influenced by European electronic artists, whereas American electronic hip hop beats come out of the funk tradition and tend to emphasize warmer low-end frequencies. This track is particularly indebted to modern American r&b (especially on the chorus), but sounds as though it was programmed by a person immersed in Europop and UK Garage. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)

Elsewhere: This realvideo clip of Joan Rivers interviewing Alia “Maeby” Shawkat and Michael “George-Michael” Cera on the red carpet at the Golden Globes is priceless. Shawkat and Cera are clearly uncomfortable in the situation but play to their comedic strengths while Rivers seems more than ever like a batty old lady. Make sure that you watch the entire clip, because those last few seconds are hilarious. Also worth checking out, though not quite as funny, is this clip of Rivers interviewing “old friend” Jessica Walter, who she introduces as being Barbara Walters.

Also: Fluxblog appears briefly in an MTV News story about Music For Robots and a band of teenagers from Brooklyn called The Hysterics. I recommend the song by their frontman Oliver Ignatius on the MFR site – it’s very catchy and sounds a lot like Elliott Smith’s jauntier tunes.

Lose My Concentration

Basement Jaxx “Oh My Gosh” – I don’t know who this singer is, but she’s fantastic. Even as an instrumental, this song would be sexy and sassy, but this girl puts it over the top without coming off as hammy or overly affected. This single is taken from the forthcoming Basement Jaxx greatest hits compilation, which in a purely de facto it-has-every-great-Jaxx-song-except-for-“Cish Cash” sort of way promises to be among the year’s best releases. (Click here to visit the official Basement Jaxx site.)

Chica + The Folder “I’ll Come Running” – When dealing with source material as strong as this Eno song, there is a limit to how badly things can go. Luckily, this is a very inspired cover version, as it recasts the song’s narrator as an Eastern European woman, and renders the music entirely with cool, serene digital tones. (Click here to buy it from Hausmusik.)

If You Wanna, Let’s Skip The Sauna

Mutronium “I’m All Over You” – As the northeastern United States settles into a deep freeze, it’s probably a good idea to break out some summery pop for the sake of escapism. This song is an excellent Cars pastiche complimented by some noisy lead guitar straight out of the Joey Santiago playbook and dynamic programmed percussion that flirts with Big Beat, but remains grounded in contemporary power pop. In terms of pop-rock music, this is the song to beat in 2005. (Mutronium is an unsigned band. If you would like to contact the band, please email mutronium @ hotmail.com)

Benny Sings “Little Donna” – I suppose that a lot of my extreme fondness for this song is a direct result of growing up listening to lite FM radio. Like Phoenix, Benny Sings is unironic about this sort of pop music, and write and perform their material with considerable skill and intelligence. Unlike Phoenix, modern pop sounds are kept to a minimum, so songs like “Little Donna” could possibly pass for an actual AM radio hit from the 70s to most laypersons. Be warned – this song is insanely catchy. I feel like I’m never going to get this song out of my head, and I don’t really mind. (Click here to pre-order it from Dox Records.)

Alone On A Mountain Top

Au Revoir Simone “And Sleep Al Mar” – It’s actually kind of refreshing to hear something as creepy and lecherous as this song come from an all-girl band. There’s no shortage of songs about older men desiring sexy young boys and girls, but good luck making a top ten list of songs sung from an adult female perspective about lust for teenage boys. This song is considerably darker than Au Revoir Simone’s previous material, but the band doesn’t overdo it, keeping the sinister vibe fairly subtle and cinematic rather than over-the-top and theatrical. It’s rather like a feminine version of Thom Yorke’s piano-based songs on the last two Radiohead albums. (Click here to visit the official Au Revoir Simone site.)

Architecture In Helsinki “Do The Whirlwind” – Though I normally use the word “joycore” as an adjective these days, this song would fit into a hypothetical genre of the same name rather comfortably along with recent music by the likes of United State Of Electronica and The Go! Team. “Do The Whirlwind” sounds like a direct descendent of the Tom Tom Club’s classic “Genius Of Love” not just in its floaty, low-key funk, but also in how it employs cutesy vocals to deliver deceptively heavy lyrics. (Click here to buy it from Remote Control.)

The Trendsetters Make Things Better

M.I.A. “M.I.A. (Arular Version)” – One of the things that I find most impressive about M.I.A. is her ability to make a string of seemingly random (but highly specific) images, references, and slogans seem like a fully formed polemic while rarely ever making any direct statements. Anyone who is even remotely informed will be able to read between her lines – there’s not a lot of room for ambiguity here, though obviousness is in short supply. It’s not entirely absent – “you can watch tv, watch the media/President Bush doing takeover” is pretty blunt, but it isn’t didactic. It’s just matter of fact. American imperialism isn’t big news to M.I.A., which is refreshing given that on some level, most anti-Bush/anti-Iraq war songs produced by Americans seem vaguely surprised about it. (Click here to visit the official M.I.A. website.)

Masha Qrella “Last Night” – In my experience, most hybrids of folk rock and electronic music have resulted in tepid yuppie pop that often sounds like standard AAA singer-songwriter fare with a tacked-on “trip hop” beat. Masha Qrella’s approach to merging acoustic and electronic elements is far more organic and much less selfconcious. “Last Night” is particularly inspired as it bridges two sections that sound like My Bloody Valentine if they did MTV Unplugged with a stunning, understated instrumental bridge which ranks among the most beautiful things that I’ve heard in months. (Click here to pre-order it from Boomkat.)

Elsewhere: Everybody knows that UK indie rock types are almost uniformly thin and pretty. But do they wear nice shoes? Find out over at Popstars Feets, a blog which gives new meaning to the word “shoegazer.”

All the Good Times I’ve Been Misusin’

The Wonder Band “Whole Lotta Love” – This is the A-side of Stairway to Love (Atco, 1979); the B-side is a whole lotta “Stairway.” It’s about as disco as Nazareth’s Expect No Mercy or Ram Jam’s “Black Betty,” which is to say there’s plenty of trouser-cuke buttrock boogie and poly-pantsuit-wedgie boogie in each. This would still get a teenager pantsed in most American high schools, but even with a Love Boat beat and some fem-vox behind it you can’t get more Neanderthal-jock than asserting you’re gonna give a girl every inch of your love.

Thelma Houston “96 Tears” – I haven’t heard Aretha Franklin’s version of the ? and the Mysterians cover-band stalwart, but I love her early-‘80s bubblegospel take on “What a Fool Believes”. Thelma’s “96 Tears” eats at the same table, but forsakes some of Aretha’s multi-voiced camaraderie and party-jam looseness for the dinky artifice of low-budget fuzo-disco circa 1981. She doesn’t have a lot of momentum for her voice to ride on here; the song unpacks at a relaxed midtempo and not much happens. The real money is the lyrics. All good soul girls have schadenfreude and instant karma in their library of stock emotions, and Thelma, world-class pro that she is, works it. (Click here to buy the Aretha album. The other two records are currently out of print.)



(Jody Beth Rosen is the author of Freezing To Death In The Nuclear Bunker and is the editor of Southside Callbox, which is currently on hiatus.)

Just To Dull The Shine

The Prime Ministers “Summer Shoulders” — There’s a particular trait common to those of us who were born, raised and still reside in the Midwestern portion of the United States — we don’t trust good weather. You see, in order to survive the long winter, one must turn their back on the sunshine and learn to embrace the cold air and grey skies. What begins as resentment towards those who live in warm weather states eventually morphs into a strong sense of community with your brethren who also bury themselves deep within their down comforters for months on end. But when the weather turns in May and thermometers creep past 70 for the first time, things begin to change. Not slowly, mind you, I’m talking overnight. And by that, your Uncle Grambo means that girls start showing SKIN, yo. You know that dame who you see in line for coffee at Starbreezy every day? The one who’s always bundled up in scarves and has salt stains on her boots? Turns out she’s not frumpy after all, that bird is fit (but she knows it)! And that girl from accounting who glances at you during your Tuesday morning status meeting? Glamorous gams revealed!

In short, that feeling is what this song is all about. Long unappreciated in their hometown of Detroit, The Prime Ministers are to the Midwestern suburbs what the Fountains Of Wayne are to those who live in the shadow of the skyscrapers of Manhattan — a band whose richly expressive, hook-laden power pop songs explode when they hit the speakers and make you glad to live where you live. (Click here to buy their latest LP, “Go For Glory”)

The Holy Fire “Hate Your Smile” — Despite the perception that Detroit’s music scene consists of angry white rappers (Eminem, Kid Rock) or angry white garage rockers (White Stripes, Von Bondies), we actually have some other angry white musicians round these parts. And, SURPRISE, a few can write a catchy rock song with the best of them. All kidding aside, a band called The Holy Fire is perfectly positioned to capitalize on all the attention that major labels are showing bands from The D™ these days. Only THIS band has got a trick up their sleeve. Sure, they play loud, they play fast, they look the part. But, more importantly, they’ve got the undeniable songwriting chops that will allow them to survive the impending giant flush that will signal the end of the garage rock era. Don’t be surprised if you hear this unreleased song (slated to appear on their upcoming full length LP) on rock radio by year’s end. When you add crashing guitars and an instantly memorable chorus to a subject that’s universal in its appeal (the feelings one experiences in the wake of a relationship gone awry), get ready to catch the next train leaving on the Buzz Central line. Obvs! (Click here to buy their debut EP from Insound)



Your Uncle Grambo is the dashing raconteur responsible for curating whatevs.org, perhaps best known for consistently producing Piping Hot Content For Your Sexy Bod. He would like to again thank Matt for the opportunity to talk about a few songs that have been in heavy rotation his stereo. He also added the following, “Bovs on your respective tees and mp-threes! Guest blogging, some say the hottest evs. Shmears.”

Bigger Than The Whole Wide World

Florida “The Girl on the Escalator” – This is like a “missed connection” classified ad reworked as a twee electro musical production. The song is a duet between a lonely boy who pines for a girl who passes him on an escalator to the London Underground and a hypothetical version of the girl in question. Obviously, the subject matter is quite bittersweet, but this song is a lot more touching than it needs to be, most likely due to its lovely, sad-cute keyboard progression and countermelodies. (Click here to buy it from Boomkat.)

Platnum “Rock Me” – File Under: I Can’t Believe It’s Actually German. The track sounds like a Basement Jaxx approximation of early Janet Jackson or Salt N Pepa, with beats that sound slick in both senses of the word. The vocals are a bit generic, but that’s not a problem when the chorus is about as catchy as smallpox. (Click here to buy it from Sonar Kollektiv.)

Just Like A Juggernaut

Charlotte Hatherley “Kim Wilde” – I suppose that the title comes from a sideways lyrical reference to “Kids In America” in the first verse, but I think that a more appropriate name for this song might be “Kim Deal” or “That Chick From Velocity Girl.” This record sounds like a tribute to the peppy, female-fronted alt-rock of the ’90s by a woman for whom Tuscadero, Veruca Salt, That Dog, and Belly are not merely canonical footnotes and cut-out bin fodder but rather a major source of inspiration. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)

Client “Pornography” – I could do without the rumbly, somewhat halfassed backing vocals by the guy from The Libertines, but after a few listens, it doesn’t seem to stick out so much. The word “pornography” is somewhat ambiguous in the context of these lyrics – I’m not sure whether their monogamy is being described as pornography, or if they are suggesting pornography as a coping tool for being in a monogamous relationship. I suspect that they just wanted to sex the song up a bit (or at least match the tone of the music itself), and they used the word because it slant rhymes with monogamy. (Click here to buy it from Rough Trade.)

Saw Dust In A Sandpaper Suit

Mclusky “There Ain’t No Fool In Ferguson” – As many of you probably know by now, Mclusky broke up as of this past weekend. It’s a shame, but I suppose that it was somewhat inevitable given the volatile relationships within the band and their recent run of bad luck on tour in America. I regret not seeing them when they played in NYC a few months ago, especially since I think that it unlikely that someone as obviously unsentimental as Andy Falkous would ever revisit his Mclusky songs when he tours with his next band. Mclusky were not an extremely consistent group, but at their best, they were among the finest punk bands on the planet. “There Ain’t No Fool In Ferguson” is a highlight of their career, and a strong example of the band doing what it did best – hooky, dynamic rock with lyrics as venomous and caustic as they are obscure. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)

M.O.T.O. “It Tastes Just Like A Milkshake” – Ah yes, an old family favorite. This is one of the most sublime power pop tunes of the ’90s; a blatant Cheap Trick imitation that blows away anything that they ever wrote or recorded, with lyrics so simple and silly that it is difficult to tell whether they are intended to be sweet or sophomoric. (Click here to visit the official M.O.T.O. website.)

Sorry for the (very) late entry today. I spent most of the day feeling as though I was missing two thirds of my brain. I’m still not 100%, actually.

Even If Nobody Else Sings Along

LMP (la musique populaire) “Hits Of ’69” – This is a selection from LMP’s A Century Of Song project, in which the duo recorded a song from every year of the 20th century. Apparently they could not decide on just one song from 1969, and so they created this epic disco medley covering The Archies, The Beatles, Jackie DeShannon, Joe Cocker, The Velvet Underground, The 5th Dimension, Joni Mitchell, Frank Zappa, Simon & Garfunkel, Miles Davis, Pharoah Sanders, and several others. There is a great deal of joy and reverence for the source material in this track, but it is almost completely devoid of the suffocating Boomer nostalgia that usually infects any tribute to this specific era. (Click here to buy it from Polyholiday Records.)

He Guides Me By Remote Control

Jacob Wunsch & Sebastian Ischer “He’s A Mighty Good Leader” – Wunsch and Ischer claim that their version of this gospel standard is intended to be a “club hit for sex-abstinent Christian teens.” That’s actually a pretty good description of this track, though I find it difficult to discern whether this it is meant to be ironic or sincere. I suspect that it may be the former, but that could just be because the song has a seemingly intentional creepy undercurrent and is sung by an indie-boy vocalist who sounds like an amalgam of Travis Morrison, Wayne Coyne, and Isaac Brock.

Also: The Gentle Voyeur is a promising new blog which collects links to fascinating and/or horrifying personal blogs from the most obscure, least trafficked corners of the internet. Highly recommended to fans of Found Magazine and The Audio Kitchen.

A World Spinning On Its Axis

Stephen Malkmus “Civilized Satanist” – I highly recommend checking out Joe Levy’s review of the recent Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain reissue in the new issue of the Village Voice, mostly because he makes a very good point about Stephen Malkmus’ body of work that I’ve been attempting to articulate for a few years now.

Levy says:

…you can hear how he used his habit of making lyrics up at the mic to map his unconscious, and how much power the music draws from just that. The sloppy off-the-cuff jokes (“I never had any children. . . . Maybe I’d like to fuck a woman and make one/But I don’t know if I should because I don’t have a real steady job”) make it plain that his great subject was a longing for love and domesticity at war with the bohemian pull of poetry, art, and rock & roll. So much for his much-bruited lyrical opacity.

Exactly! That theme of domesticity vs. romanticism is most obviously present on Brighten The Corners, but if you pay attention, it is there in the lyrics of the first Pavement 7″ right up through Malkmus’ new post-Pig Lib material.

Anyway, this is a recording from a one-off Stephen Malkmus solo gig at (I believe) a museum somewhere in California a few months before Terror Twilight was recorded in 1998. The show was widely circulated in Pavement fan circles at the time, but it is surprisingly difficult to find in its entirety online. (If you have the complete show in mp3, please contact me!) “Civilized Satanist” is only a speculative title for this song, which to my knowledge was never completed in the studio and was only ever played at this gig and another similar solo show in the same month. The song is built around a sample of Moby Grape’s “I Am Not Willing,” and features a mock-rap/spoken word vocal and lots and lots of noodling. The performance is very sloppy, but Malkmus’ remarks on his own errors (“that’s not a sample, I actually played that”) are very endearing.

General Electrics “Time To Undress” – Though I am certain that General Electrics were going for something reminiscent of an earlier era, this song seems like a retro-90s pastiche to me. Think Money Mark, The Automator, Cornershop, Air, Pizzicato Five – all of those mid-to-late 90s albums which sounded shiny and vaguely futuristic at the time of their release, but seem very dated at the moment because they are too recent to feel properly nostalgic. I am certain that there will be a widespread critical reevaluation of this sort of music within the next ten years, but until then, it will keep sounding undeniably pleasureable but ineffably awkward to the ears of neophiles like myself. (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

When The Beat Takes Over Me

Prince Francis “Street Doctor” – I am currently in a Nyquil-induced haze, so please excuse my writing today; I can barely form a coherant thought. I mostly just want to lie around and space out to my Studio One reggae compilations. This is a selection from the Studio One DJ’s comp, which collects some of the finest proto-hip hop toasting recorded at Studio One in the 70s. “Street Doctor” is a variation of “Sidewalk Doctor,” which itself was a modified version of Marlena Shaw’s “Woman of the Ghetto.” Prince Francis’ vocal emphasizes the track’s hypnotic quality and plays up its tense, stop-start rhythms. (Click here to buy it from Soul Jazz.)

Yuka Honda “I Dream About You” – This song features Miho Hatori on lead vocals, so it is essentially a Cibo Matto track that just happened to be on Yuka Honda’s new solo album. If you’re familiar with Cibo Matto, then this track won’t be a huge surprise – it is basically the same sort of “urban” sex pop that the band excelled at in the 90s, but with an extra dash of sexual ambiguity. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

For some strange reason, the Bloggies have opted to eliminate its “best music blog” category the very same year that music blogs have blown up and become a notable force for innovation in the blogging world. Weird. You can still nominate music sites in the apples-and-oranges “best entertainment site” category (and other categories such as group blog, American blog, blog of the year, etc), but whatever.