T.I. – King: Been listening to “What You Know” on repeat for 2 weeks now. Still good. Reminds me of the ending of a video game with melancholy but hopeful synth strings falling all over the place, trying to jam too big a line into too small a place. The laid back drawl overtop tells you who owns this. The rest: yes. Requisite parts present, check. (Rattlesnake hi-hats, slow jam track with Jamie Foxx.) But boy’s found a voice like Fab, but less punk more class.

Spank Rock – Yoyoyoyoyo: Baltimore? Sounds like grounds for glorification of poverty again for the educated (and white) crowd. A.R.E. Weapons? But. This stuff is down and dirt. Anyways, Mr. Rock has the resume to be straight for this boogie – he’s from a Charm City row home. Whatever – that shouldn’t be what makes it OK. Mic skills are solid and dirty like it should be, not transcendent. It’s the dirty-ass bass that hits the quickest, brown notes and all. Electro-funk ready, get yr Sparks and dance.

Queens of the Stone Age – Rated R: Don’t know how many times I can write about this band without repeating myself. When I graduated from marginal radio rock like Foo Fighters and worse (Lit, Buckcherry, the Refreshments?!) I saw this as an OK place to ride the train. More importantly, AP said 4 out of 5 times I was correct. Instincts are alright sometimes. “Auto Pilot”, “In the Fade”, and, of course, “Feel Good Hit of the Summer” are all pretty great, as is everything else on here to my ears. Yeah, nostalgia for The Headphone Album of sophomore year.

My Bloody Valentine – Loveless: I was drinking with my girlfriend and friends at Tangier in Philly Saturday night. The bartender came over to see if we were OK and needed another. I was drunk, grossly so. Said “Nice tunes man” or something else vanilla. Dude said, “Yeah I saw them live one time and they were sooo loud. They hit one chord and the girl I was with threw up all over herself.” Don’t know whether this is good or bad, but for the rest of the night I thought he was trying to sell me ecstasy.