I Want To Show You What The Stars Are Made Of

Saul Williams “Grippo” – If you can imagine late period Fugazi gone full-on hip hop, it would probably sound a lot like this track, possibly right down to the lyrical style. And that seems to be part of the point of this song, in which Saul Williams symbolically offers up hip hop to white boys on the condition that they “substitute the anger and oppression for guilt and depression.” This is a selection from Williams’ new self-titled record on The Fader Label, which is often quite brilliant but doesn’t feature anything else quite as extraordinary as this song. (Click here to buy it from Saul Williams’ official site.)

Annie “Me Plus One” – Having already put out two of the finest pop songs of 2004 (the melancholy dancefloor anthem “Heartbeat” and the unstoppable “Chewing Gum,” which literalizes the concept of bubblegum pop), Annie is back again with another instant classic off of her forthcoming Anniemal LP. “Music Plus One” is more like “Kylie Times Ten” – a symphony of girly ooohs and ahhs, semi-rapped bridges, disco beats and electro beeps; all coming together like a relentlessly blissful pop hook machine sent to us from the distant future to save us from ourselves.

Elsewhere: Music For Robots is now way prettier! Nice makeover, guys.