Wow... they sure embraced their inner Nickeleon on this album. "Sex On Fire" is one of the dumbest songs ever written, with a pointless video to match, and their utterly predictable formula for the record shows itself in spades with "Use Somebody" and "Be Somebody." It's Nickelback for indie kids. Sure, their sound has changed over time, but they aren't getting any better, just different. That means they don't have a sound of their own. They're a patchwork of dick and whore anecdotes and stage posturing. At least Mötley Crüe and KISS were honest about their intentions instead of pretending to be actual viable artist. Don't kid yourself into thinking this music will last. It's bubblegum, not the Beatles. More songs about sex and themselves, and a whole lot of squonking...

Detrimentalist is an album that will draw many an unknowing junglist into the IDM breakcore fray. The whole thing is practically an homage to the many phases drum and bass has gone through since it was given a name, yet without ever sounding any less than modern. However, while the bulk of the album is dedicated to a nano second dissection of drum and bass history, "Miss Balaton" makes the album something truly special. It's one of Aaron's most moving and remarkable pieces, adding up to one of his most accessible and party friendly records. It's a peach through and through. As Hunter Thompson said, "buy the ticket, take the ride." There's no easing yourself into this guy.

I've never heard anything else by Paul Williams but this soundtrack to the cult movie stands on its own as a remarkable testament to love gone awry. It follows the story of a man willing to sell his soul for one more chance, a tale of beauty and the beast and Faust and the devil, brilliantly scored and cheesily acted. All the music and lyrics were penned by Williams. My favorite line is the chorus from "The Hell Of It": Good for nothing / Bad in bed / Nobody likes you / You're better off dead / Goodbye Goodbye. Nice and depressingly loving. It also deals with the idea of stolen music (Celine Dion).

The soft, analog beats, the dusty record samples, the stream of consciousness lovelorn rhymes, and the choice interpolation of Broadcast, Portishead, and "You Make Me Feel So Young" by Frank Sinatra all culminate into one of the freshest and most inspired hip-hop albums since cLOUDDEAD's Ten. The meditative lyricism of k-the-i skates around the styles of Doseone and Sage Francis, but comes out with a personal edge that places the oft-heartbroken MC among peers with the aforementioned, not among the imitators. "You're Not That Beautiful" is our generation's "Just A Friend" (Biz Markie), only less humorous with more emphasis laid on how k was the one who made the mistake ("but I'm lying to myself" being the concluding line). With his honest and even-handed delivery, it's hard to not feel for this guy. While emo-pricks clog the charts with lame ballads blaming girls for breaking their twelve-teen hearts, k-the-i's introverted exploration of the mental ins and spiritual outs of every failed relationship -learning about himself instead of taking the easy way out playing the blame game- is a real breath of fresh air in the music landscape. It's as honest and unpretentious as hip-hop gets, yet still pushes the envelope with the odd manic jazz flourish that recall the earlier instrumental work of The Herbaliser. Apparently Cambridge, Massachusetts is the new centre of the hip-hop universe. Sounds good to me.

"Enlightenment is for sissies. Living ethically and morally is what really matters."

This is the book that converted my girlfriend to Buddhism. I've never read a more practical guide to Zen before. The author was in the punk band Zero Defex, released five Syd Barrett like albums under the name Dimentia 13, and worked for the Japanese company that makes Ultraman. Yet he's also recieved Darma Transmission, essentially being ordained in Buddhism. He's a cool guy and he writes like we talk; no preaching. In fact, one of his main messages (also espoused by Buddha himself) is that you question absolutely everything, including his book. Even if you hate everything you've ever heard about Zen Buddhism, you should read this book.

I have something of a special relationship to Christ., the output of one Liquid Chris H. Last August, my father died in my living room (the irony of which is not lost on me). I took it pretty hard as it was completely unexpected, him being only 53 with no previous heart condition. I didn't do much for a few days, but in times of crisis, the two things I consistently turn to are humor and music. It was too soon for the former, so it had to be music. I hadn't really listened to Christ.'s first major release Metamorphic Reproduction Miracle at that point, but I wanted something somber and without vocals, and I knew that much about it. Mournful yet not depressive, dense but not busy, Miracle was a miracle. It fit the mood perfectly and gave me some much needed relaxation.

Almost two years after that debut LP came out, Seeing And Doing's four new originals hint at the continuing evolution of his sound having toured steadily, playing various festival showcases, and even treating John Peel to an encore performance. While the same essential ambiance remains, these new tracks have more layers. They're richer, fuller, and somewhat more abstract. EP highlight "Marsh Of Epidemics," which receives a remix here at the hands of Anticon's Alias, sees noise upon noise, sample upon sample, and synth upon synth layered steadily to a shattering crescendo by minute five, while a too slow for stumbling beat works underneath like a hip-hop loop missing a few sections. If you like ambient at all, this is a must hear. Dig the Reefer Madness sample that kicks off "Magic Piano," too.

Prepare to heed the hype yet again. Just over a year since the internet made The Go! Team's UK debut a substantial Western import success, Memphis Industries' lawyers have finally cleared the sample happy, sunshine pop-hop amalgam for proper North American release, now remastered with two former b-sides mixed into the final tracklisting. The samples causing the fuss have been inconspicuously altered (where's Negativland when you need `em?) losing nothing to the UK version. If you have any remotely indie friends, they should've tipped you off to this Brighton sextet long ago. If not, consider this your chance to still get cred by buying something you don't really need...when you think about it.

An acoustic driven album from the New Mexico quartet, Chutes Too Narrow sees The Shins maturing to a full on experience. As opposed to the sociopathic delivery and ultimate misrepresentation of false emotions and hypothetical situations by groups like The Darkness, Jet, and The Kings Of Leon, James Mercer has more invested in his lyrics. Just as catchy and easy to listen to, it sounds like more work went into this production specifically the careful studio touches and craftsmanship in each track. No doubt they're stuck in the post-Beatles sixties, but they manage to create a sound that's their own, even more so than the like minds of Apples In Stereo, while others seem content in merely changing a few chords of selected rock classics and calling them influences instead of the inspiration, creative force, and original sources they really are. Ah, the slowly dissolving difference between influence and plagiarism ... welcome to the Xerox Generation, ladies and gentleman. Sure, their lyrics may never have been put together in that particular order before but, as any true music aficionado will tell you, it wasn't just the lyrics Robert Plant sang that made him great but how he sang them and The Shins have that, lets call it, soul. They're no fly-by-night fad but a band invested in themselves regardless of us throwing joints and knickers at them, although I'm sure they appreciate it. They'll be here long after Jet and Justin Hawkins have been Posh-ed into retirement to live out their days swimming in their piles of ill-got cash and appearing on "Thought They Were Dead" television specials. Even if you don't like The Shins' psychedelic revival, happy, floaty with a touch of melancholy music, you have to respect the effort.

Someone needs to check Lidell's mama 'cause there is way too much soul on this record for an Englishman. For a Warp records IDM laptop producer to up and drop an electro-funk R&B album of inarguable Al Green / George Clinton quality like this is plain shocking. I'm well aware of the abilities of chief Warp producers like Tom Jenkinson and Richard James, whom I'm quite positive are capable of producing an authentic, unique LP of any genre if they so chose but hey, they didn't and that alone is worthy of respect even though I find the abrasive Squarepusher/Aphex Twin sounds far more captivating personally. The title track "Multiply" is the obvious centerpiece of this release, breathing life into the soul of Otis Redding and, to an extent, Otis Day & the Knights from Animal House, thus treading the path back and forth between the dock of the bay and the hip kid frat party.

This is a much more aggressive release than I expected from Keiran Hebdan, the reigning king of folktronica, which is obvious from the first track "A Joy," a big beat banger aimed somewhere between the beginning of Chemical Brothers' "Come With Us" and Squarepusher's more ambient insanity. Only "Sleep, Eat Food, Have Visions" goes a little overboard when it busts out all tribal techno three minutes in. The rest of this album is the sound of a producer hitting his stride in the studio and continuing to grow as an artist with every succeeding release. For the most part, this album is Hebdan's usual mix of eclectic instruments, worldly beats, and static production only classier than ever before with more attention paid to DJs and the night crowd than indie café patrons. Everything Ecstatic harkens back to the passion of the old school raver days while evolving to relevant. You'll be hard pressed to find a Four Tet fan who doesn't think this is his most entertaining release yet.