SPOOKY, DJ Optometry (Thirsty Ear) cd 15.98
An interesting project -- DJ Spooky, resident illbient black boho issuing missives to the masses from NYC (eeuw, I'm starting to talk like him), enlists the talents of excellent avant / free jazzmen: shimmering piano courtesy Matthew Shipp, cakewalkin' groovy bass from William Parker, squeals and cries from Joe McPhee's horns, athletic, careful drumming from Guillermo E. Brown. And of course, Spooky on laptop / turntables / kalimba etc. I was all set for this to suck, but it doesn't suck. It's "jazzy" trip hop that works. It's actually some of the most accessible work I've heard from these jazz virtuosi, so it's a nice introduction to them if you find truly free jazz too abstract to enjoy. Once in a while some sadly predictable breakbeats cheapen the music, but those segments don't occur too often. Augmented with the vocal flow of Carl Hancock Rux, Napoleon, High Priest (Anti-Pop Consortium). Pauline Oliveros even makes an appearance. If you like the clips below, you'll like the album.
WARNING: Just for heavens sake *don't* read the liner notes -- Spooky's so frickin' pretentious he ruins the experience. Let others do the critical analysis, no one wants to hear you analyze your own work, man! It's as if he thinks we won't "get it" unless he takes us by the hand and explains. The guy needs an editor:
"Check the vibe as jazz for the gene-splicing generation. An echo of the here and now put through the hard drive... It's a voodoo economics of the sound waves rolling across the basilar membrane... It's a post-rational thing... It's a synaethesia [sic] thing...Use your eyes to hear and your ears to see -- check the rhythm reality." Aaargh! Is he stoned or something?
RealAudio clip: "ibid, desmarches, ibid"
RealAudio clip: "Reactive Switching Strategies for the Control of Uninhabited Air"
RealAudio clip: "It's a mad, mad, mad, world"

SPOOKY, DJ System Error. Al-Yamamah Mix (Horus) cd 17.98

STRAIGHT OUTTA HUNTER'S POINT (ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK) (Mastamind) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is the soundtrack from first time director Kevin Epps' documentary about Hunters Point, a San Francisco community and neighborhood that has been struggling for years with gangs, drugs, poverty, pollution, unemployment and gentrification. The film focuses on the hip hop subculture/industry as it examines those bigger issues. The soundtrack was voted one of 2001's top ten records by independent rap magazine Murder Dog, and for good reason. Bristling with energy and anger, 'Straight Outta Hunter's Point' features all rappers and prooducers from the neighborhood, and stands up to any hip hop compilation released recently. The sound is a little bit gangsta, a little Cash Money 'bling bling', a little No Limit dirty South, but with a sound and lyrical content that is all Hunter's Point. Really great. See the film if you can.
RealAudio clip: T-KASH / TOO INCOGNITO "Victim Of Da RAPGAME"
RealAudio clip: HECTIC / BABYFINSTA / BIG T "Thug Shit"
RealAudio clip: HECTIC / FEDDY / BABYFINSTA "Feddy Its Getting Hectic"

STREETS, THE Original Pirate Material (Atlantic) cd 13.98
Mike Skinner, otherwise known as The Streets, is this white British hip hopper with a Birmingham accent who raps about the mundanities of a life filled with trips to Mickey D's, pints of lager, barely scraping by, doing too many drugs, life's injustices, and so on, and on. That's really about it. Your standard hip hop blueprint, nothing wrong with that. And the musical backdrop to Skinner's rapping is pretty much doing what it's supposed to do, supplying beats and rhythms, chiming in with a sampled soulful vocal loop every time he has to stop to catch a breath. Really not that exciting. So why was this record nominated for Britain's prestigious Mercury Prize? I guess it's his style of rapping, which is this utterly monotone spoken flow (if you could call it that: his clearly enunciated passages actually sound sort of clipped). Very unpretentious, which is a good thing. It's not bad, and I kind of like the vocals, but... Hmm. Maybe if the instrumental accompaniment was better than the dub lite / UK-garagey / Casio preset stuff that's there now, then it would be great, but for now it's just kind of a novelty. Gold Chains is better than this. If it means anything to you, The Streets is the first band signed to the major-label sponsored VICE (yep, the magazine) Recordings. Oh, and it also includes 3 videos you can play on your computer. (They're just ok.)
RealAudio clip: "Don't Mug Yourself"
RealAudio clip: "Weak Become Heroes"

STYLE WARS (Plexifilm) 2dvd 24.00
Anyone at all into hip hop, rap music, break dancing or graffiti MUST own this!! In fact even if you're not into any of that, after watching this film you will be!! Originally broadcast on PBS in 1983, Style Wars is an amazing look at NYC in the eighties, and the emerging hip hop/graffiti phenemenon that would totally transform music, dancing, art and modern culture. Features the original film with 23 extra minutes of original outtake footage, several commentaries as well as amazing songs from Grandmaster Flash, The Treacherous Three, Trouble Funk, The Fearless Four and more!
The bonus disc features TONS of artists' galleries with interviews, trains and rare photos of pretty much all the important graffiti artists of the time, interviews with Fab 5 Freddie, Guru (from Gangstarr), Goldie, DJ Red Alert, an awesome 30 minute loop of over 200 whole train cars, and music from Def Jux-ers El-P, RJD2, Aesop Rock and a bunch more. Beautifully packaged and assembled as always by the folks at Plexi, who were responsible for the DVD version of the Wilco movie and the disturbing Christian haunted house documentary Hell House. Totally essential!

SUBTLE A New White (Lex) cd 14.98
Yet another gnarled tendril of the ever expanding Anticon tree of life breaks up through the hip hop soil reaching for the sun! This time on the always impressive Lex label. The Anticon connection here, at least the most noticable one is the presence of Dose One and his immediately recognizable high pitched stream of consciousness flow. Sonically, A New White is the logical progression from the last Clouddead record Ten, loping organic instrumentals, simple, skittering, funky drum programming, sweetly melancholic melodies and of course Dose One. The main difference is that Subtle is a full on band, with a seriously varied instrumentation: electric and acoustic cello, electric and acoustic bass, woodwinds, synthesizers, drums, guitar, keyboards, melodica and sampler that offers up a way more expanded, and much fuller sound. The Subtle seasonal eps released over the last year or two sort of slipped under the radar, but this release should have everyone scrambling to catch up on what they missed. Anyone who digs Clouddead, Alias, Boom Bip, Themselves and all that Anticon stuff will obviously love this.
MPEG Stream: "Song Meat"
MPEG Stream: "I Love L.A."

SUBTLE A New White (Lex) 2lp 22.00
Also, now, in stock on vinyl...Yet another gnarled tendril of the ever expanding Anticon tree of life breaks up through the hip hop soil reaching for the sun! This time on the always impressive Lex label. The Anticon connection here, at least the most noticable one is the presence of Dose One and his immediately recognizable high pitched str/Lexmelancholic melodies and of course Dose One. The main difference is that Subtle is a full on band, with a seriously varied instrumentation: electric and acoustic cello, electric and acoustic bass, woodwinds, synthesizers, drums, guitar, keyboards, melodica and sampler that offers up a way more expanded, and much fuller sound. The Subtle seasonal eps released over the last year or two sort of slipped under the radar, but this release should have everyone scrambling to catch up on what they missed. Anyone who digs Clouddead, Alias, Boom Bip, Themselves and all that Anticon stuff will obviously love this.
MPEG Stream: "Song Meat"
MPEG Stream: "I Love L.A."

SUBTLE f.k.o. (Lex) 12" 7.98

SUBTLE For Hero For Fool (Lex) cd 16.98
On their second album, Subtle (aka Jel and DoseOne also of cLOUDEAD, 13&God and Anticon) appear to have sat themselves right down in the vacant seats between TV On The Radio, Gnarls Barkley, Peeping Tom, heck, maybe even Black Eyed Peas and Outkast too! And they've done so with a rather comfortable ease. For Hero For Fool is a quirkful, good time blender magic of hip hop, pop, funk, soul and film score music. Groovy highlights include "The Mercury Craze" and "The Ends".
MPEG Stream: "The Mercury Craze"
MPEG Stream: "The Ends"

SUBTLE For Hero For Fool (Lex) 2lp 24.00
Yes, available on vinyl too!
On their second album, Subtle (aka Jel and DoseOne also of cLOUDEAD, 13&God and Anticon) appear to have sat themselves right down in the vacant seats between TV On The Radio, Gnarls Barkley, Peeping Tom, heck, maybe even Black Eyed Peas and Outkast too! And they've done so with a rather comfortable ease. For Hero For Fool is a quirkful, good time blender magic of hip hop, pop, funk, soul and film score music. Groovy highlights include "The Mercury Craze" and "The Ends".
MPEG Stream: "The Mercury Craze"
MPEG Stream: "The Ends"

SUBTLE Wishingbone (Lex) 2cd 11.98

MPEG Stream: "Swanmeat"
MPEG Stream: "Farewell Ride"

SUGARHILL GANG Rapper's Delights (Castle) 2cd 15.98
Double disk set of the essential tracks by The Sugar Hill Gang plus lots of rarities, including a radio commercial and 12" b-sides. Comes with extensive liner notes on the history of The Sugarhill Gang.

SUGARHILL GANG, THE VS. GRANDMASTER FLASH The Greatest Hits (Earmark / Get Back) 3lp 36.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A 180 gram vinyl colection of greatest hits from two groups that brought hip-hop from the streets of New York to global hit status. These guys took rap to a multi-billion dollar business forever changing the concept of popular music. Remember when MTV finally started showing hip-hop videos? Remember Yo! MTV Raps with Fab Five Freddie and Ed Lover? These guys paved the way for hip-hop to break ground into popular consumption. And here they are, a show-down between the two bands. Great hip-hop! Not the first of the time, but the biggest! And some of the best! Hells yes.

SUPER NUMERI The Welcome Table (Ninja Tune) cd 14.98

SUPERSTAR JET JAGUAR Digital Tears: E-Mail From Purgatory (Day By Day) cd 14.98

SWAMP, DJ Never Is Now (Decadent) cd 15.98
Most of you probably haven't heard of DJ Swamp, which is not all that surprising. His big claim to fame is his stint as Beck's DJ. But the sound here isn't all that Beck, it's a bit grimier and grungier and 'underground' sounding. There's some good stuff on here, unfortunately, the sound is marred by the rapping, a sort of uninspired whiny whitey-boy drawl. Really detracts from some of his fairly impressive mixing/sampling skills. Not bad. Here's to hoping the next one is instrumental!
RealAudio clip: "Ring Of Fire"
RealAudio clip: "Worship The Robots"

SWAY AND KING TECH Wake Up Show Freestyles Vol. 6 (880) cd 15.98
Like the title indicates, freestyle raps galore, Sway and King Tech inviting a host of hiphoppers to do their stuff on the Wake Up Show. Some names: Pharoah Monch, the Jurassic 5, Eminem, Akinyele, GZA, Masta Killa, Onyx, DMX... Good stuff.

SWAY AND KING TECH Wake Up Show Freestyles Vol. 6 (880) 2lp 15.98
Like the title indicates, freestyle raps galore, Sway and King Tech inviting a host of hiphoppers to do their stuff on the Wake Up Show. Some names: Pharoah Monch, the Jurassic 5, Eminem, Akinyele, GZA, Masta Killa, Onyx, DMX... Good stuff.

SWIFT, ROB Dope on Plastic (Asphodel) 12" 6.98
Four versions of the title track, which can also be found on his solo album, plus three versions of "Do You Dance". Once again in budget-priced cd format.

SWIFT, ROB Dope on Plastic (Asphodel) cdsingle 3.98
Four versions of the title track, which can also be found on his solo album, plus three versions of "Do You Dance". Once again in budget-priced cd format.

SWIFT, ROB Presents Soulful Fruit (Stones Throw) cd 14.98
DJ Rob Swift of NYC's amazing X-Men! You remember him from Return of the DJ Volume 1. His full-length debut utilizes his turntable skills on some great jazz-funk grooves, getting into soundtrack-y DJ Shadow territory at points.

SWIFT, ROB Presents Soulful Fruit (Stones Throw) lp 14.98
DJ Rob Swift of NYC's amazing X-Men! You remember him from Return of the DJ Volume 1. His full-length debut utilizes his turntable skills on some great jazz-funk grooves, getting into soundtrack-y DJ Shadow territory at points.

SWIFT, ROB The Ablist (Asphodel) cd 14.98
Highly anticipated solo record by one of the X-Ecutioners NYC turntablist crew.

SWIFT, ROB The Ablist (Asphodel) lp 9.98
Highly anticipated solo record by one of the X-Ecutioners NYC tutrntablist crew.

T SKI VALLEY / FAMILY Catch the Beat/Family Beat (split) (Soul Jazz) 12" 10.98

T-LOVE Return of the B-Girl (Pickininny) lp 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
What a pleasant surprise! This self-produced-and-released massive hip hop statement from SoCal female MC T-Love features full-on kick ass rapping over a shuffling acid-jazz beatbox backdrop. Kool Keith of Dr. Octagon guests on one track ("Your whole family is wack!"), the Freestyle Fellowship are sampled, and beats and scratching by T-Love's musical collaborator This Kid Named Miles are scattered throughout. Local DJ Anna came in and bought 9 copies of this from us, yes it is that good. If you're tired of commercial testosterone-laden hip hop and its attendant sex and money preoccupations, this record will delight you, we promise. Everytime we play this record, two or three people come up and say "Wow who is this?!"

T-LOVE Return of the B-Girl (Pickininny) cdep 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
What a pleasant surprise! This self-produced-and-released massive hip hop statement from SoCal female MC T-Love features full-on kick ass rapping over a shuffling acid-jazz beatbox backdrop. Kool Keith of Dr. Octagon guests on one track ("Your whole family is wack!"), the Freestyle Fellowship are sampled, and beats and scratching by T-Love's musical collaborator This Kid Named Miles are scattered throughout. Local DJ Anna came in and bought 9 copies of this from us, yes it is that good. If you're tired of commercial testosterone-laden hip hop and its attendant sex and money preoccupations, this record will delight you, we promise. Everytime we play this record, two or three people come up and say "Wow who is this?!"

TABLA BEAT SCIENCE Live In San Francisco At Stern Grove (Axiom) 2cd 19.98
A live recording from a local outdoor performance. Tabla Beat Science pretty much typifies world beat music; emphasis on the 'world', emphasis on the 'beat'. Zakir Hussain on tabla, Bill Laswell on bass, former Skratch Pikl DJ Disk wielding turntables, plus personnel supplying sarangi, synths, vocals, etc.
RealAudio clip: "Trajic"

TECH N9NE Everready (Strange Music) cd 17.98

MPEG Stream: "Riot Maker"
MPEG Stream: "No Can do"

TECHNO ANIMAL Brotherhood of the Bomb, The (Matador) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Like their awesome "Dead Man's Curse" cd single I raved about a coupla months ago, this newest full length from Techno Animal is dark, dark screwed-up mutant hip hop with an unavoidably ferocious driving breakbeat on the bottom end. *Totally* heavy and intense, from the English duo of Kevin Martin and Justin Broadrick who've worked variously in such outfits as Godflesh, Sidewinder, Ice, God, The Bug etc.
About half the tracks are instrumentals and they stand on their own quite well -- interesting, dynamic, not repetitive -- but even their excellence pales in comparison to the tracks that have various hip hop MCs adding to the mix, cos those are REALLY good. With Dalek, members of Anti Pop Consortium, Rubberroom, El P from Company Flow, and last but not least Toastie Taylor toasting deliriously on "Piranha". I like this record more every time I listen to it. Highly recommended.
RealAudio clip: "DC 10"
RealAudio clip: "Piranha"
RealAudio clip: "Sub Species"

TECHNO ANIMAL VS. DALEK Dalek Vs. Techno Animal (Matador) 12" 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A teaming up of UK industrial/electronica and American indie-rap. Side one is a Techno Animal track -- Megaton -- and a remix of Dalek's "Classical Homicide", side two is the other way around: Dalek's "Homicide" and Dalek's remix of Techno Animal's "Megaton". Surprisingly "big beat" stuff for Techno Animal, the remix of Dalek has some serious ass bass that makes our neighbors call up and complain no matter how quiet we play it!

TERRACOTTA TROUPE INTERGROUND Homo Caeruleus Cerinus Instrumentals (Practice) 2lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
DJs! Here's an instrumental version on wax of the fab Shing02 album! 13 tracks of Japanese/American hiphop musick to cut up.

TERRANOVA Close The Door (Copasetik) cd 17.98
Terranova's trip-hop grooviness (with guest appearances from Tricky and Rasco) is definitely for fans of Kruder & Dorfmeister.

TEST ICICLES For Screening Purposes Only (Domino) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "Your Biggest Mistake"
MPEG Stream: "Pull The Lever"
MPEG Stream: "Boa Vs. Python"

TETREAULT, MARTIN / KID KOALA Phon-o-victo (Les Disques Victo) cd 15.98
By now, most readers of the aQ list know just how much we love the turntable, and all the non musical sounds associated with it, hiss and crackle and pop, skips and scrapes, we've reviewed records featuring turntables without records, recordings of ONLY the surface noise of lps, we love it. So of course we love folks like Philip Jeck, Martin Tetreault and Strotter Inst., who have truly stretched the boundaries of turntable as instrument, but our first exposure to what could be done with a turntable, as was probably lots of folks', was via hip hop and DJs. aQ used to be the source for all things turntablism, Qbert, Invisbl Skratch Piklz, and especially Kid Koala, who had amazing DJ skills, but gave them his own distinct spin (remember the Charlie Brown "I gotta rock" jam?, Or the warbly record player horn solos?). For whatever reason, that stuff seemed to fade back into the underground, or the more under, underground, whatever happened, we hadn't heard a peep from Kid Koala in almost 3 years.
But what a return! Two masters of the turntable, both approaching it from different backgrounds and with different influences, a dizzying mash up of textures and beats, of loops and song fragments, a live multiple turntable jam session captured on tape, and holy shit is it good.
Scratchy old jazz records begin to skip before morphing into big booming low end rhythms, wild drum solos are looped and layered, strange voices surface and then fade away, scratches are transformed into bird calls, blurred streaks of melody, crackle everywhere like rainfall, gorgeous sheets of low end buzz underpin skittery squiggles and jagged shards of hiss, effects drenched scratching unfurls like wild spaced out psychedelic freakouts, groovy fractured funk assembled from strange voices, nature records, and who knows what else, left to drift through a sea of haunting rumbles and mysterious grinding noise, finishing off with a wild assemblage of manipulated voices, super minimal click and thump beats, deformed music box melodies, and a symphony of scrapes and scratches and pops and clicks. Really amazing stuff. Weird and dark and playful and wild. Turntable freaks will dig this big time.
MPEG Stream: "Drum-o-scope"
MPEG Stream: "Pluto attack (la revanche des exclus)"
MPEG Stream: "The DJ Factory turn crazy"

THE GAME Untold Story (Chopped and Screwed) (Fastlife Music) cd 15.98

THEMSELVES Live (Anticon) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Live hip hop has always been a dodgy proposition. Bad sound, rapping over boring backing tracks, lots of "Hey! Ho! Put your hands in the air!!" kind of stuff. So a live record seems like a pretty bad idea. Especially when you're talking about a group that thrives on production, weird sounds, and studio fuckery. Thankfully and surprisingly, this is a pretty great set, and a testimony to the skillz of Dose One and Jel. Jel weaves a crazy musical backdrop of rumbling creepy soundtracks, bouncing boppy funky jazz, stuttering breakbeats, Phantom Of The Opera organs, beeping blooping electronica and monor key hip hop shuffles while Dose One spits an amazing, tongue twisting, never-ending flow in that distinctive and impossible whine of his.
MPEG Stream: "Track 1"
MPEG Stream: "Track 2"

THEMSELVES Live II (Purple Guerilla) cd 13.98

THEMSELVES The No Music (Anticon) cd 14.98
Themselves is the renamed Them, a project of Doseone and Jel who also do time in the more well known cLOUDEAD. Them put out a record a couple of years back that we didn't list for some reason, but was one of the best post-hip-hop excursions into blissed out beat-oriented hip-hop flecked space rock. Or something. Hard to accurately describe what these cats do. Use cLOUDEAD and Anticon and Mush as a starting point, but then head way out. No, I mean WAAAAAY OUT! This is no longer hip-hop. It's gone beyond that. Kind of like the way the Boredoms are not 'rock'. This is epic and expansive; soundscapes of thick stuttery beats, washes of rumbling groove, creepy snatches of ghostly piano, disembodied voices and weird, WEIRD loops. And then there's the vocals. While it -is- rapping, it's gone beyond that too. A relentless, never ending, ultra nimble flow of whiny invective. Doseone's vocals are like a mix of whiny indie rock boy and Cypress Hill's B-Real. But they are all over the place, going from actual SINGING to ridiculously tongue twisting , head spinning rapping/scatting. Definitely for fans of Anticon and Shadow, but hip-hop-heads that aren't afraid to try some WEIRD stuff should definitely give this a listen.
RealAudio clip: "Track 1 "
RealAudio clip: "Track 3"
RealAudio clip: "Track 2"

THEMSELVES The No Music of Aiff's (Anticon) cd 14.98
Hip hop remix records have huge potential for disappointment. Actually remix records in general have pretty much become pointless and boring, albeit with a few exceptions. Thankfully Them(selves) first foray into handing over their raw tracks for other folks to fuck with has yielded some surprisingly good results. Most of these remixes of tracks from their most recent No Music album don't sound all that remixed, especially if you're not too familiar with the original tracks, since those original tracks are so dense and multi layered to begin with. Part of the reason this record sounds so good, and still retains all its Anticon-ness, is the fact that most of the remixes are handled by Themselves...er...themselves, as well as the usual Anticon suspects: Controller 7, Why?, Alias, and Odd Nosdam. The guest remixers though do their best to add their own stamp while keeping things flowing nicely. AQ fave Hrvatski adds some additional skitter, dreamy ambience and rumbling low end...before seriously junglizing the proceedings with murky throb, digital crunch and spastic beats. Hood smear some healthy portions of Jesus And Mary Chain fuzz and My Bloody Valentine guitar skree over everything turning their track into a pulsing drone. Grapedope (Tortoise's John Herndon) fiddles with the speed and pitch, giving the original loping hip hop ditty a stuttery, jumpy, playful bounce, and Notwist give Themselves (not themselves) a sweet indie techno pop makeover. Really great.
MPEG Stream: "Terror Fabulous"
MPEG Stream: "Good People Check (Hrvatski Remix)"

THEMSELVES The No Music of Aiff's (Anticon) lp 14.98
Hip hop remix records have huge potential for disappointment. Actually remix records in general have pretty much become pointless and boring, albeit with a few exceptions. Thankfully Them(selves) first foray into handing over their raw tracks for other folks to fuck with has yielded some surprisingly good results. Most of these remixes of tracks from their most recent No Music album don't sound all that remixed, especially if you're not too familiar with the original tracks, since those original tracks are so dense and multi layered to begin with. Part of the reason this record sounds so good, and still retains all its Anticon-ness, is the fact that most of the remixes are handled by Themselves...er...themselves, as well as the usual Anticon suspects: Controller 7, Why?, Alias, and Odd Nosdam. The guest remixers though do their best to add their own stamp while keeping things flowing nicely. AQ fave Hrvatski adds some additional skitter, dreamy ambience and rumbling low end...before seriously junglizing the proceedings with murky throb, digital crunch and spastic beats. Hood smear some healthy portions of Jesus And Mary Chain fuzz and My Bloody Valentine guitar skree over everything turning their track into a pulsing drone. Grapedope (Tortoise's John Herndon) fiddles with the speed and pitch, giving the original loping hip hop ditty a stuttery, jumpy, playful bounce, and Notwist give Themselves (not themselves) a sweet indie techno pop makeover. Really great.

THIRSTIN HOWL THE 3RD & RACK-LO Lo Down & Dirty (Class A) cd 15.98

MPEG Stream: "2 L's Up"
MPEG Stream: "Popo Coming"

THUG EMPORIUM EP (Quaketrap) cd ep 9.98

THUG EMPORIUM EP (Quaketrap) cd-r 7.98
A happenin' EP from the Mission's own Thug Emporium, this is underground hip hop done really well, like kitchen sink Cannibal Ox, with catchy yet sinister melodies forming a backdrop to the several guest MCs. No nonsense, no silly skits, no mistakes, nothing predictable. Fresh and genuine and homegrown. Recommended!
RealAudio clip: "HarDcOre"
RealAudio clip: "CitY oF QuaKeS"

THUUNDERBOY s/t (Table Of The Elements) cd 15.98
We could think up better ways to market this record that what Table Of The Elements came up with. They *could* have shrouded this album in mystery, saying: "Truly hypnotic, vangarde turntablism and cut-up audio collage by unknown sound artist Ted Conrad, circa 1973- '74 -- predating Christian Marclay and Boyd Rice!" Or they could have said what is probably the truth: "Legendary minimalist Tony Conrad smoked a lot of pot in the early '70s while stuck in Ohio. Instead of making films or composing abrasive minimalist music, he made recordings of his young son playing around his toy Fisher-Price record player. Indeed, he probably was playing with the turntable himself."
But Table Of The Elements chose instead to present this album with such hyperbole as: "Is it fair to argue that a precocious Ted [Conrad -- Tony's at the time infant son], the once and future Thuunderboy, anticipated in these excursions of the early '70s everything from the rise of turntablism and hip-hop to the creative strategies of such disparate entertainers and / or conceptualists as Fatboy Slim, Christian Marclay, and that erstwhile Savior of Pop (circa 1997), Beck? Or, rather does it affirm some unerringly democratic quality inherent in the very act of scratching and spinning, that a toddler could create hypnotic loops and decontruct pop banalities into perversely humorous after-the-fact commentaries on the star-making machinery?"
Arghhhh. So lame. Rant aside, the Thuunderboy recordings -- regardless of whether it was Tony Conrad or the toddler Ted Conrad making these sounds -- is a pretty amazing album of locked grooves worn into Donny Osmond 45s, played back at the wrong speed. If anything, it should be appreciated for what it is, a humble peek into the lives of Tony Conrad -- the minimalist trying his hand at fatherhood -- and young Ted Conrad -- the two year old kid who put up with a dad who kept playing with all of his toys.
RealAudio clip: "At Last"
RealAudio clip: "Let My"
RealAudio clip: "No Wait A Second"

TIMBALAND Timbaland Present: Shock Value (Blackground) cd 15.98

MPEG Stream: "Bounce (Feat. Dr. Dre, Missy Elliott & Justin Timberlake)"
MPEG Stream: "One And Only (feat. Fallout Boy)"
MPEG Stream: "Throw It On Me (Feat. The Hives)"

TIMBALAND & MAGOO Indecent Proposal (Blackground) cd 16.98
By track two on Timbaland and Magoo's second full length, you realise why Timbaland is the man. He makes every drum loop totally his own, every song a slithery hiccupping classic and there's very few producers who have such a knack for crafting such a bizarre and recognizable (and surprisingly popular) sound. Almost every song on the radio these days is either recorded, written or produced by the T-land, who almost single handedly changed the face of modern R+B/hip hop, taking the stale predictable 'funk', and chopping it up, coming up with his quirky, stuttery signature sound (and with those trademark 'What....uh huh.....what...' background vocals). And on 'Indecent Proposal'. Timbaland steps out from behind the mixing board and up to the plate to show the world just why everyone comes to him for -that- sound.
RealAudio clip: "Drop"
RealAudio clip: "Indian Carpet"
RealAudio clip: "Party People"

TIMBALAND & MAGOO Under Construction Part II (Universal) cd 14.98

TINCHY STRYDER Cloud 9 (Stryder) cd 14.98

TLC Fan Mail (LaFace) cd 17.98
An almost-unanimous store favorite. Some people aren't willing to admit that they like TLC. But, damn if this isn't a pretty great pop record. I'm sure you currently hearing 'No Scrubs' everywhere you go, and Aquarius is no exception. Those of you familiar with AQ faves Heavy Vegetable, will instantly pick up on the HV vibe all through 'No Scrubs'. I kid you not. Plus some skittery drum n' bass, some bad ass Lil Kim/Foxy Brown moments, and some Timbaland-style stutter. Be warned, there are a few weak ballads, but if you can forgive them their slow jams, you shall be rewarded. "A hard man is good to find."