Gettin' stewy with it!

Still trying to figure out what happened to DJ Shadow between The Private Press and The Outsider? It's called 'hyphy' and Jody Rosen over at Slate has got the 411 for the rest of us:

Go Dumb: Why hyphy is the best hip-hop right now

NIN: Year Zero Mania

Wow. It looks like Trent Reznor's really going big for the next NIN album, entitled Year Zero. I'm not even going to try to paraphrase this -- just take a read for yourself:

Rolling Stone Rock and Roll Daily: “Year Zero” Project = Way Cooler Than “Lost”

That is some crazy shit. If only I had time to chase it all....

Civil War in 30 Seconds

It's been pointed out to me (mainly by me) that I don't post often enough about comics. So here to rectify that, direct from Chris Sims' Invincible Super Blog, is:

Civil War in 30 Seconds

Wow, he's right! That did save me $25!

Except...wait! – I ordered the trade.

Dammit.

Top Ten Albums of 2006: #9 - "The Information" by Beck

There's no way I 'm smart or lucky enough to have predicted Beck's long-lasting critical and popular success when I first heard "Loser" back in 1994. I have no doubt that Beck himself knew all along, as he's been at least a couple steps ahead of the rest of us the whole time. And so in 2006 we're lucky to get his tenth album, The Information.

(Wow, another tenth album in my Top Ten...I feel dizzy.)

Beck's always had a delightful sort of musical schizophrenia. His albums tend to ricochet from genre to genre; more or less sticking to one vibe per release and then taking a hard left turn for the follow-up, rinse and repeat. This one though, this one he somehow managed to bring it all together in one place. Apparently this album was started before Guero but finished afterwards. You can certainly hear signs of that in the attention to detail throughout, a quality no doubt at least partially attributable to the album's producer and co-conspirator Nigel Godrich.

While I'd stop short of calling this a more "mature" Beck – because the quirky goofiness is all still here, just better focused – this is definitely a guy at the height of his game, taking his fun very seriously. There are recurring themes both musical and lyrical; hints that The Information might even be a concept album concerned with the Information Age and its discontents. Whatever it's intended to be, the end result is fun, funky, inventive and thoughtful all without tripping over itself. While it might not be obvious at first listen, this might just be the best thing he's ever done.

Top Ten Albums of 2006: #10 - "Hello Everything" by Squarepusher

By my count, this is Tom Jenkinson's tenth album as Squarepusher. When you've gotten that far down the road, what else is there to do but release a greatest hits collection, right? Longtime fans of Squarepusher are wise to his ways however, and probably expected nothing less than a complete departure from What Has Come Before. But if you're Jenkinson though, meeting expectations is simply not part of the game. And so we get Hello Everything, which is neither fish nor fowl...and yet a bit of both.

While every track on Hello Everything is a new composition, listening to the album one gets a sense that we're being given a tour of the widely varied styles that Squarepusher's releases have explored over the years. It's all here: the manic drum'n'bass in "Hello Meow", the droning tension in "Vacuum Garden", the slow layered build in "Rotate Electrolyte", the electro-prog jazz in "Plotinus" and the signature Squarepusher spastic attack of "The Modern Bass Guitar". In a sense we do get a greatest hits, but on Jenkinson's terms not ours.

More than anything else though, Hello Everything has something completely new: warmth. Every track – even the most abstract – is infused with a sense of joy and light (but never "lite"). Squarepusher's been a lot of things over the years, but the last thing anyone expected was out-and-out happy. Perhaps the strangest thing: is seems to suit him well. At no point in the album do I find myself thinking "this doesn't work". In fact, I really like the change of pace.

Ten albums in, and still surprising us. Thanks for that!

Top Ten Albums of 2006: Kickoff

I can't remember any year in this decade that I've had as much trouble deciding on my personal Top Ten as I've had for 2006. That's a big part of why it took me to the end of February to get them posted -- I couldn't decide!

There was no shortage of releases (is there ever?), and no shortage of really outstanding ones either. I had significantly more than ten releases that seemed deserving this year, and they were all so different that I couldn't figure out how to rank them. Anyone who's ever done this knows that the ranking is always totally arbitrary to begin with, but forcing yourself to decide on an order for your list is part of the fun.

So over the next few days I'll be posting my Top Ten Albums for 2006, building up to the Album of the Year. Stay tuned, and keep those comments coming!

Tops of My Pops for 2/25/07

A weekly look at what I'm listening to, from my Last.fm user stats:

Top Artists for the week ending Feb. 25, 2007
1. k-os
2. Gnarls Barkley
3. Spoon
4. Sondre Lerche
5. Severed Heads
6. Dub Syndicate
6. Depeche Mode
8. Underworld
8. M83
8. Lamb

No time to comment – I'm writing my "Best of 2006" list!

See also:
The 'Tops of My Pops' archives

Tops of My Pops for 2/18/07

A weekly look at what I'm listening to, from my Last.fm user stats:

Top Artists for the week ending Feb. 18, 2007
1. Arovane
2. Tim Hecker
3. Burial
4. The Dead Texan
5. Thom Yorke
6. Massive Attack
7. Beck
8. Underworld
8. Gorillaz
8. Radiohead

No time to comment – I'm working up my "Best of 2006" list!

See also:
The 'Tops of My Pops' archives

Tops of My Pops for 2/11/07

A weekly look at what I'm listening to, from my Last.fm user stats:

Top Artists for the week ending Feb. 11, 2007
1. David Bowie
1. Radiohead
3. Dub Syndicate
4. Harold Budd
4. Depeche Mode
4. Kraftwerk
4. Incubus
8. African Head Charge
8. Johnny Cash
8. Arovane

No time to comment – I'm working up my "Best of 2006" list!

See also:
The 'Tops of My Pops' archives

Tops of My Pops for 2/4/07

A weekly look at what I'm listening to, from my Last.fm user stats:

Top Artists for the week ending Feb. 4, 2007
1. James Brown
2. David Bowie
3. Squarepusher
4. Pete Rock
5. Severed Heads
6. Lootpack
6. Yesterday's New Quintet
6. Spoon
6. Underworld
6. The Sea and Cake

No time to comment – I'm working up my "Best of 2006" list!

See also:
The 'Tops of My Pops' archives

On surviving Battlestar Galactica

There's a nice joint interview with Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell on MSN today where they discuss the intensity and challenges that Battlestar Galactica presents them with as actors.

It's interesting to hear them say the things that everyone's been thinking for so long: how improbable it is that two actors with their resumes would end up being involved in a sci-fi tv show, and how astonishingly different it is from anything anyone would've expected.

It really is the best show on television right now, and the current season is absolutely its best so far.

Sign up for Useless Account now!

Brilliant!

Steve Jobs vs. The Big Four on DRM

In an open letter posted on the Apple website Tuesday, Steve Jobs offers his "Thoughts on Music" to the public.

While innocuously titled, in reality it's an eloquently written argument in favor of completely abolishing all forms of DRM in music sales aimed directly at the big four music companies. It's rational, well-reasoned and bold.

I love it when Jobs decides to change the rules of the game...because he always gets his way in the end and once again he's on the right side of the debate.

This is going to be fun to watch!

Tops of My Pops for 1/28/07

A weekly look at what I'm listening to, from my Last.fm user stats:

Top Artists for the week ending Jan. 28, 2007
1. Beck
2. Josh Rouse
2. The Chameleons
4. Clark
5. TV On The Radio
6. Lootpack
7. Massive Attack
7. Moloko
9. Severed Heads
10. Iron & Wine

No time to comment – I'm working up my "Best of 2006" list!

See also:
The 'Tops of My Pops' archives