dirty agency.

This year, for my birthday, I watched the VMAs. Every year, MTV becomes the relative you barely see anymore and gives you a present to remind you just how out of touch they are with your life. I never payed attention to these Jonas boys but if there is one word I want to use when describing my musical taste, it’s definitely “safety”. The night concluded with a performance live via the end of the world (apparently) from Kanye West debuting his new single.

Is there anyone more inconsistent than Kanye West? Don’t criticize because the man will literally fight you. Sure, he gives a pretty bizarre performance at the VMAs but you know what? I actually liked it. Kudos, Kanye.

You see, I really want to like Kanye West. I really do. The album he produced for Common was some of Common’s best work in my opinion. I think Kanye West is a uniter. He is the key to getting you closer to your “regular” friends; an act you can both sit down and enjoy. But man, he BLEW IT with his last album. In the war between him and 50 Cent, neither won. Both albums were horrendous.

But here we go again with a new single. It’s not another “Stronger” but you know I actually kind of liked that song when it first came out. Kanye is the king of putting out great singles that annoy the hell out of you a month after the fact. Anyhoo, now we have “Love Lockdown”. It makes you wonder where he’s going with all of this. After downloading 5 different leaks of it, I buckled and bought the single from iTunes and wouldn’t you know it, the production is still sloppy and gritty as hell. But you know what? Maybe that’s how I like my Kanye.

Kanye West - Love Lockdown

With America’s birthday coming up in July, we have a lot to look forward to:

But let’s not forget how awesome June was. So we’re going to try something a little new here. Every month I’m going to post my top five songs for that month. To add to the confusion, it won’t necessarily be new releases. Instead it will be the top five songs I’ve added to my iTunes collection for that month. In no particular order:

Burntpiano - Push Em Up Now

Error :: Love - Dangerous Dance

Nick Catchdubs - Beeper Party Edit

KW Griff - Foot Stompin’

Grum - Go Back (Le Castle Vania Remix)

Yesterday, I watched a lecture on music from Evelyn Glennie, a world renowned deaf percussionist. In it, she talks about listening to what is NOT in the music she is reading in front of her. Rather than simply playing back that which is in front of her, she separates the technician from the interpreter.

It’s difficult to even begin to review Gregg “Girl Talk” Gillis’s follow up to Night Ripper. While preaching through a MySpace account with a simple “I Am Not A DJ”, Feed The Animals reinforces the notion that Girl Talk is not modestly regurgitating the last 40 years of music into our ears. Gregg is now toeing the line on so many different facets. This proverbial line is bordering on legality, composition and music theory, art, DJing, remixing, society, and (of course) partying. On the internet, we often call that last sentence “nuthugging”. However, let me explain…

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