I Can Spit Rock, Grime, Hip-Hop, and More

Kano, "I Don't Know Why" - I really have a hard time believing anyone would ever search out this song except for the beat; my exposure to Kano is admittedly low but lyrically I'd take "P's & Q's" off Run The Road before it. My exposure to Paul Epworth, on the other hand, is pronounced and greedy for expansion, and when I saw he'd produced a rap track my ears twitched way the fuck up. In retrospect, I probably should have expected that an Epworth beat would be (a) enormously similar to "99 Problems" if just because it's probably the most purely rock-ass mainstream song since the Strokes' "Last Nite", (b) enormously gimmicky, although I have to admit that I certainly never saw "War Pigs" being used to frame a track coming in the slightest, and (c) way, way, way, way, WAY more replayable than most of his rock stuff. I mean, lord knows I love all that Bloc Party and White Rose Movement and New Rhodes whooshing and clattering tomfoolery (probably even more than I love the actual bands' music itself), but dealing with such an obvious map only means you're going to learn the way there quicker. "I Don't Know Why" may only be a saunter down to the corner store in comparison to something like "Two More Years" or "Once A Glimpse", but hell, I need Doritos more often than I need fancy-schmancy furniture from Brentwood, if that makes any sense. (Click here to buy Home Sweet Home from Amazon.co.uk)

Phillip Glass, "Mishima/Opening" - I don't care if I only ever like one actual Phillip Glass piece without reservations (namely the soundtrack to Paul Schraeder's *criminally* slept-on masterpiece Mishima, from which this is obviously taken); as far as I'm concerned, arguing against Glass is like arguing against Phil Spector. Aside from the obvious similarities (ridiculoushair, tragically hilarious opinions of their own merits, "Phil", etc), there's the fact that both guys' aesthetic is basically "I'm'a push these musicians past the point of exhaustion in order to overwhelm the listener". Admittedly, it's more hit-or-miss than rep would lead you to believe (in both cases - I love that Spector box set to death, but there really is a mountain of filler on it, and let's not even get into the legion of discs of crushingly same-y Glass noodling) but that's not really the point in the face of music this effective - there's a reason why Andrew Niccol bogarted this particular piece for the Truman Show soundtrack.

All that being said, it's also unavoidable that South Park nailed him. Just nailed him. (Click here to buy the Mishima OST from Amazon.com)