Albums:
1. Jon Auer - Songs From The Year Of Our Demise
2. Rhymefest - - Blue Collar
3. T.I. - King
4. The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
5. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
6. Field Mob - Light Poles And Pine Trees
7. Prince - 3121
8. Ray Cash - Cash On Delivery
9. DJ Khaled - Listennn...The Album
10. Asobi Seksu - Citrus
11. Donald Fagen - Morph The Cat
12. Lil Wayne/DJ Drama - Dedication 2
13. Carla Bozulich - Evangelista
14. Remy Ma - There's Something About Remy
15. Jaheim - Ghetto Classics
16. Junior Private Detective - Erase
17. B.G. - The Heart Of Tha Streetz, Vol. 2 (I Am What I Am)
18. Morningwood - Morningwood
19. Shawnna - Block Music
20. Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam

Not much movement here since June, but then, I haven't heard much new (except for the Rhymefest album, which is benefitting greatly from being pretty fresh in my mind and sounding pretty great at the moment, no telling how that will hold up in 3-4 months when I'm more sick of its obvious shortcomings) and haven't revisited the other stuff a whole lot since. My mild disappointment with the Jon Auer album has been perhaps momentarily blinded by a pretty great recent live radio performance of a few of the songs. A German version just came out with a couple exclusive bonus tracks on there, lord help me but I might have to track it down. Pearl Jam is hanging onto the list at all by a sentimental thread, considering that it's quickly supplanted Riot Act in my esteem as their worst studio album.

Singles:
1. T.I. - "What You Know"
2. DJ Khaled f/ Paul Wall, Lil Wayne, Fat Joe, Rick Ross and Pitbull - "Holla At Me Baby"
3. Foo Fighters - "No Way Back"
4. Justin Timberlake f/ T.I. - “My Love”
5. Evanescence - “Call Me When You’re Sober”
6. Omarion - “Entourage”
7. Muse - “Knights of Cydonia”
8. Ray Cash f/ Scarface - "Bumpin' My Music"
9. Fergie - "London Bridge"
10. Jessica Simpson - “Public Affair”
11. Frankie J f/ Mannie Fresh and Chamillionaire - “That Girl”
12. Pussycat Dolls f/ Snoop Dogg - "Buttons"
13. Chamillionaire f/ Krayzie Bone - "Ridin'"
14. India Arie f/ Akon - "I Am Not My Hair"
15. Pink - "Who Knew"
16. Lil Wayne - "Hustler Musik"
17. Ne-Yo - "When You're Mad"
18. Beyonce - “Ring The Alarm”
19. Beyonce f/ Slim Thug and Bun B - "Check On It"
20. Remy Ma - "Conceited"
21. New Found Glory - “It’s Not Your Fault”
22. Jamie Foxx f/ Ludacris - "Unpredictable"
23. Pussycat Dolls f/ Will.I.Am - "Beep"
24. Ciara f/ Chamillionaire - “Get Up”
25. Kelly Clarkson - "Walk Away"
26. Raconteurs - “Hands”
27. Obie Trice - “Cry Now”
28. Jagged Edge - “Stunnas”
29. LeToya - “She Don’t”
30. Daz f/ Rick Ross - “On Some Real Shit”
31. Tha Dogg Pound - “Cali Iz Active”
32. Snow Patrol - “Hands Open”
33. Fall Out Boy - "A Little Less 16 Candles, A Little More 'Touch Me'"
34. Twista f/ Pitbull - "Hit The Floor"
35. Yung Joc f/ Nitti - "It's Goin' Down"
36. Chris Brown - "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)"
37. Shareefa f/ Ludacris - “I Need A Boss”
38. The Killers - “When you Were Young”
39. Lupe Fiasco - "Kick Push"
40. Disturbed - “Land Of Confusion”
41. DJ Khaled f/ Kanye West, Consequence and John Legend - “Grammy Family”
42. Heather Headley - "In My Mind"
43. E-40 f/ Keak Da Sneak - "Tell Me When To Go"
44. Cassie - "Me & U"
45. Keane - “Is It Any Wonder?”
46. Keyshia Cole - "Love"
47. B.G. f/ Mannie Fresh - "Move Around"
48. All-American Rejects - "Move Along"
49. Click Five - "Catch Your Wave"
50. Prince - "Black Sweat"

It seems like most of the big event singles have been overblown hip hop moves by pop divas ("Promiscuous Girl," "Deja Vu," "Ain't No Other Man," etc.) that I'm pretty lukewarm on, besides "London Bridge," which I can't really make any excuses for liking other than that I do. I do like the Jessica Simpson song, though, partly just because she's doing straight up throwback Madonna pop (whereas when Madonna tried to do a throwback move it was joyless robo-disco), which isn't quite as sacreligious as all the other classic pop she's otherwise butchered in the past ("Jack And Diane," "These Boots," "Take My Breath Away," etc.). As sick as I am of Beyonce, though, I really have to give it up for the chaotic Swizz Beatz productions, which work so great with R&B that it's a shame he always tried to smooth out his style for all those old tracks with Eve and Mashonda. "When You Were Young" is pretty underwhelming (and combined with the Killers' 2nd absurd mustaches-and-cowboy-hats video in a row, could spell career suicide), but there's something perversely enjoyable about a big multi-platinum rock band coming out with a single where the vocal delivery is so weird and quavery that it reminds me of Lungfish. I appreciate the fact that even if Muse's singer is never going to make any attempt to sound less like Thom Yorke, they're at least going to do some kind of insanely silly surf rock epic that Radiohead would never ever try. New Found Glory has helped me learn that my tolerance for emo ballads is in direct proportion to their similarity to late-period Superchunk. And I think I like Keane a lot more when they're biting U2 than when they're just generic wimpy Britpop.

Labels: hip hop

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 31, 2006 at 11:59 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.