no age - weirdo rippers

the songs are okayish, the recording is very lo-fi, the lyrics if you
read them are kinda half-arsed but if you don't they sound like they
must be wonderful. there is the occasional moment of breathtaking
clarity. two guys in a room with fuzz.

pig destroyer - phantom limb

is metal as anything. the drumming is astounding. the breakdowns
stick in my head for days on end. the sound is intricate and intense.

dufus - ball of design

is pretty damn good! seth knows the world pretty well for a crazy
person.

battles - mirrored

is, to be honest, a slight disappointment, but maybe once i get over
wanting it to sound like their eps i'll like it better. very playful,
very clever, just not quite touching me how i want it to. though
there are moments.

belle and sebastian - tigermilk

my girlfriend's mum bought this for my birthday. it is still so, so
pretty.

low - drums and guns

sometimes i like to listen to this just through the left channel, so
almost all the lyrics are gone and it's very nice. other times i
listen to the whole thing and it's a really good boring indie record.
a lot of care went into this and it shows. i like it a lot.

stars of the lid - and their refinement of the decline

this record is really, astonishingly good. if you like
droney/boring/slow moving stuff, this record is for you. very organic
and sounds like it happened all at once, though of course it didn't.
at least two hours long.

steve reich - music for eighteen musicians

i can confirm that steve reich is worth investigation.

lil wayne - da drought 3

lil wayne has some fantastic lines and some great voices - what i
can't get a handle on is why he (a) chose such hit-and-miss beats for
this mixtape and (b) ripped them with so little sparkle. the volumes
are all out, half the tracks are just too dull to bear, it's just
such a shame. because when you're pulling out lines that are by turns
hilarious ("leaning like a three legged lion") and quite possibly
genius ("i'm so mother____ing high i could eat a star"), you don't
need your beats letting you down. maybe his album will be better. the
other question is whether or not he's freestyling on most of these.
sometimes you think so, other times it seems rehearsed. if it's all
written down, then some of it is disappointing. if not, it's pretty
damn good. some of it, it still counts as flat out amazing even if he
spent twelve years honing each couplet.

el-p - i'll sleep when you're dead

this record has really grown on me. it's great. i recommend it to
anyone looking for hip hop that doesn't so much hip and hop as it
does lurch and gouge. in a fuzzy, low key way.