Saturday, June 23, 2007

Listening late June 2007

Rawk rules: Queens of the Stone Age one week, White Stripes the next. This may be a summer for driving around with the windows down and the guitar music cranked.

Dizzee Rascal, Maths & English (XL) This time he tones down the spazzed-out rhythms, comes on much straighter and maybe a little radio-friendlier (though I doubt stations'll stop playing Rhianna for him). A couple of good mixes and, believe it or not, a ray or two of sunshine.

Bad Brains, Build a Nation (Megaforce) Well, King Ad-Rock aced the production job--none of their classic early Eighties recordings on ROIR and Caroline and SST sounded anywhere near this great. And, probably appropriately for guys in their 40s now, their dub reggae sounds more in-the-bones. Too bad HR has lost a half dozen of his best voices--psycho crooner, top-end screecher are probably gone for good. But rub a dub and he's your man.