MONDOmagazine

Songs omitted include: Boys of Summer, Summer Girls, Summer of ‘69, Summer Lovin’, Kokomo.

By Sal Hassanpour

There’s something about listening to acoustic-guitar heavy blue-eyed soul and unabashedly perfect pop would-be-hits that says “summer” to me, more than anything else at this point in my music listening history. (Objectively, I’m already way past “music snob”.) Here’s a tribute, then, to these wonderful bands, most of whom survived solely on an intense cult following before recent re-release campaigns saved most from near-obscurity.

So apply some mousse, put that denim jacket on, go outside, and put this in your Walkman as you glide through the city. On a hoverboard.

1) Haircut 100 – “Love Plus One” (from Pelican West, 1982; 1995)
Think “Come On Eileen” but cuter. The tightest rhythm guitar riff in the world sets-up what follows: Loads of bongos, saxophones, vibraphones, super-silly lyrics and wobbly, melodic bass. In sum, Nick Heyward’s Haircut 100 were the most adorable bunch of geeks you could find in 1982: Check out the sweaters! (Not to mention splashing water onto women and a “boiling pot” shot that’s surely the inspiration for a certain Daft Punk video). In any case, this is the best slice of sugary indie-pop to start your day, one that bands like The Coral, Mystery Jets and Guillemots have clearly been studying.

2) The Go-Betweens – “Streets Of Your Town” (from 16 Lovers Lane, 1988; 2004)
Screw Depeche Mode, Echo And The Bunnymen, The Cure and New Order. Screw The Smiths. As much as I have loved and love those bands still, Australia’s The Go-Betweens were the best band of the 1980s. The problem is, you either fall obsessively in love with them or they seem to you like no more than an rootsy version of Crowded House. Nevertheless, this is the quintessential guitar-pop anthem for bumming around the city in the summer, with a cool faux-flamenco guitar, heart-warming woodblocks and violinist Amanda Brown’s sunny refrain (“Shine”). The lyrics by the sorely-missed Grant McLennan (who passed away last year) speaks of “shining knives” and “battered wives,” but it’s the pop melody that’ll put a pep in your step.

3) Prefab Sprout – “Bonny” (from Steve McQueen, 1985; 2007)
With superstar producer Thomas Dolby at the helm, a smart acoustic riff blows in like a cool breeze and the keyboards echoes like sips of ice-cold water. The lyrics are drenched in the “Missed chances and the same regrets” that spring up when the one we love has left for good, but Paddy McAloon’s soulful delivery seems to be exorcising the sadness right out of him, and we’re left feeling that everything will be OK.

4) XTC – “Grass” (from Skylarking, 1986; 2001)
Part of the appeal of 80’s guitar-pop was how deliberately and knowingly naïve much of the lyrical sentiments were. Part of it had to with a resurrection of that delicate British psychedelic “paisley pop” vibe, and one of the more simple moments of 80s neo-psychedelic pop comes from XTC’s Todd Rundgren-produced career highlight. The lyrics have to do with “the things we used to do on grass” and how “the way you slap my face just fills me with desire”. Wikipedia tells me that Andy Partridge described Skylarking as “a summer’s day cooked into one cake”. Whether the statement was actually said, it holds true for “Grass”.

5) The Durutti Column – “Sketch For Summer” (from The Return Of The Durutti Column, 1979; 1996)
This is simply the best instrumental guitar song ever recorded. I could play it literally forever and it would never grow old for me. And all it is, is a beat-box emulating a heart beat, some fake bird-song and overdubbed guitar with loads of echo FX. “Sketch For Summer” draws out the mysterious, deadly, secret and tragic underside of summer that lurks just beneath the surface of warm, pleasant days.

6) Aztec Camera – “Working In A Goldmine” (from Love, 1987/ Best of …, 1999)
When people use the term blue-eyed soul, it’s this kind of super-slick, slap-(bass) happy pop perfection they’re talking about. In this case, imagine a young Billy Bragg covering Chaka Khan’s “Ain’t Nobody”. Only the biggest humbug wouldn’t smile when Roddy Frame’s free-associating lyrics dish out lines like “Drowning in the sunshine” and “‘I believe in your heart of gold”. This is the aural equivalent of a sugar high after eating too many popsicles.

7) PM Dawn – “Set Adrift On Memory Bliss Of You” (from Of The Heart, Of The Soul And Of The Cross: The Utopian Experience, 1991)
OK, I know. I can read the album’s date and this song does exude the spiritual, daisy-age hip-hop of the early Nineties in spirit, but sonically, it’s a mash-up of the guitar line from Spandau Ballet’s 1983 hit “True” and the distinctive beat from Eric B. and Rakim’s “Paid In Full” from 1987 – and therefore counts as a two-in-one! As if the song itself wasn’t enough, check out the jaw-dropping video, full of Day-Glo spiritual iconography crayoned onto the faces of children and mouth-watering underwater shots guaranteed to make you rush to the nearest pool. Like PM Dawn itself, “Memory Bliss” the song and video is so completely genuine and un-ironic it’ll almost make you cry.

8 ) The Stranglers – “Always The Sun” (from Dreamtime, 1986; 2001)
If you’ve heard of The Stranglers, it was probably “No More Heroes” on some “history of punk” compilation. Well, by the mid-80s, the band had dtiched those pretension (they were never, ever punk) and became the smart, sophisticated (on the surface at least) continental-pop band they were meant to be. For anyone wishing they were anywhere on the French Riviera driving a Lamborghini after a good tennis match, this what you put into the casette player.

9) The Lilac Time – “American Eyes” (from Paradise Circus, 1989; 2006)
It was due to the efforts of bigger bands like XTC, who butted heads with record companies to be able to release acoustic, pastoral-themed albums right in the middle of the great synthesizer era that the great guitar-pop bands crawled out of the woodwork. One-hit wonder Stephen Duffy (of “Kiss Me” fame) went down the acoustic path and produced some of the best-written pop songs of the sub-genre. Never mind that he’s writing for Robbie Williams now, this whimsical two-and-a-half-minute tune will make sure you have your “apple-pie eyes” showing, too.

10) Antena – “Camino Del Sol” (from Camino Del Sol, 1982 and a million re-releases ever since)
Imagine asking Kraftwerk to cover an Antonio Carlos Jobim album. In 1982, a trio of French synth and bossa-nova enthusiasts from the hot, sleepy and Southern town of Montpellier relocated to Belgium to do just that, and this slowly pulsating gem, whose French lyrics are all about quiet vacations and tropical climates, will transport you through time and space (on a Concord) as you end up gently swaying the night away on a Club Med beach in Cartagena circa Romancing The Stone.

11) The Blue Nile – “Tinseltown In The Rain” (from A Walk Across The Rooftops, 1984)
Everyone has what they consider underrated bands. Well, The Blue Nile have the lion’s share of perfect-rating reviews for their albums (I guess it helps that in two decades they’ve only released four). In terms of critical acclaim alone, then, they ought to rule the world by now, so “underrated” doesn’t apply at all. And yet, popularity for them has been more elusive than the Holy Grail. Never mind: When the next summer storm hits and you’re at home, listen to angel-voiced Paul Buchanan as you pour yourself a dram of good single malt and stare out the window, pretending you’re Michael Douglas.

12) The Style Council – “Long Hot Summer” (from Introducing: The Style Council, 1983)
This slice of breezy, blue-eyed proto P-funk/pop with nary a guitar, coming from the man who used to front soul-punkers The Jam is further proof that sometimes crossing over to the pop side is not a complete sin and nicely sums up this list, although I’d much rather have had this slightly more dubbed-out version instead. Thank you early VHS player buyers, and Youtube!

Want to channel the spirit of summers past (or nonexistent)? This list is for you.

By Jenny Bundock

This was supposed to be a list of twelve songs, but I had 15 on my list. I’ll discuss the top twelve songs, and then I’ll list honourable mentions of three more, because they should be on the list (or mix tape, or CD if you are into new technology, or “iPod play list” if you are eons ahead of me). Moving on, here are the 15 best summer songs in my meagre opinion, which may not be so meagre, if you like the genre of, well, everything.

I started this process during one of this summer’s theatrically hot days (you know the one where parts of the 401 started to buckle – that one) and I thought to myself, What songs would I like to hear on this piss-poor day?

12) The Mountain Goats – “This Year”
Why? Because I am going to make it through this year, if it kills me… and there will be feasting, AND rejoicing in Jerusalem next year. Trust me.

But seriously, what a kickass song to get up to. I noticed that if it comes on when my CD player wakes me up in the morning I can’t help but clap my way all the way into the bathroom. If you have to wake up because it’s too damn hot to sleep anymore, you may as well wake up happy.

11) The Sourkeys – “Demon or Deity”
I’m going to carry that clapping theme straight on through to the Sourkeys, because they are amazing and, like the Mountain Goats, you can’t be having a bad day listening to the Sourkeys. I picked this song because it gets me all ramped up for being hot all day.

10) The Weakerthans – “Aside”
If you’ve ever heard this song you shouldn’t have to ask why it is on the list. I am so confident in this assumption that I’m not even going to write a witty paragraph describing it.

9) Lily Allen – “LDN”
Anyone who thinks that they don’t like Lily Allen has never heard this song when it is sunny out. Personally, I adore her, and I’ll never stop. (Even though she has never heard of Rage Against The Machine – seriously, I heard her say it with my own ears – but I have forgiven her, and so should you.) That being said, if you want a really good song to get you out in the sun to watch crack whores, this is the one for you.

8 ) The Kooks – “Naïve”
This is that song for the ex from a previous summer who you inevitably see at various summer things like pedestrian Sunday or outside Sneaky Dee’s, and it’s so nostalgic seeing them that you forget that you were ever mad at each other, or that you haven’t talked in months… So you run over like a maniac to talk to them and you guys like freak out and hug and get as far as an excited “Oh my God! How are you!” and a “Good! So good! You?” “Good!” when there is that awkward silence that feels like an eternity because you realize that you hadn’t thought this far ahead when you decided to run over. This song is a good substitute for that nostalgia, without the inept attempt at sustaining a conversation.

7) Gravy Train – “Drinkin 40s”
Because university gets out before high school, and there is one right by my house – a Catholic high school, and EVERYONE wears those uniforms, like the girls have the shortest skirts ever. They come past my work and I swear I can see the better part of their asses just while they are walking. I then think of this song, and laugh to myself, imagining how awesome it would be to park my ass out on the curb across from the high school with five or six of my friends, drinkin’ 40s and waitin’ for Gravy Train to show up and pick up a young virgin switch from the bunch.

6) Kanye West – “The New Workout Plan”
Yeah. I went there. You want to make something of it tough guy? Say what you will about the song but three minutes and 30 seconds into this song, it does something so amazing that I can’t leave it off my list… AND it has a soul clap. A FUCKING SOUL CLAP. The defense rests.

5) M.I.A. – “URAQT”
Last summer my best friend and I drove around the Rocky Mountains listening ONLY to this CD as it was the only one we had with us… which was poor planning, but surprisingly, this song was the high point of our drive every time it came on. We think it’s the horn loop. That and it talks about jumping off things.

4) Black Eyes – “Deformative”
It’s short. It’s fast. It talks about being 16 and driving south from Baltimore. There is not another song in existence that makes me feel more like I was in grade ten than this song. Back when I had to walk everywhere… me and my friends running alongside houses in the dark on Saturday nights at midnight to elude the police. Getting rides from the older kids we knew to skate parks. Jumping out my bedroom window at midnight to a waiting crowd of four or five teenagers with a backpack full of whiskey and beer. It says it all. What better way to feel as invincible now as I felt then? Exactly.

3) Modest Mouse – “So much beauty in dirt”
Take everything you wish you did today and put it in a song and it is this one. In fact, I’m going to get real drunk and ride my bike right now.

2) Wolf Parade – “Grounds for Divorce”
This song is like, first year. Maybe because I moved to a place where there were buses, from a place that didn’t even have a streetlight (see song four for explanation), but this song and the way that it builds and its sort-of subtle excitement makes me feel like all my pictures from the last few years should be slide-showing to it, concluding with one of me and my six closest friends with our arms linked and an arm in the air holding a drink in a backyard.

1) Thrush Hermit – “From the Back of the Film”
If anyone just went, “Ooooohhhh maaaannnn!” then my life has a purpose after all. Don’t you love this song? Man! I can’t even adequately explain how perfect this song is for the summer, but I could listen to it every single day and every single time as soon as it’s over I’ll go “Fuck yeah!” It’s a great song. If you have never heard it, and you grew up in Ontario, shame on you. Get it. You can download it. I know you can. Hell, send me an email and I will send it to you personally.

Honourable mentions go to:

The Streets – “Don’t mug yourself”
(For the morning after new dates.)
Handsome Boy Modeling School Feat. Jack Johnson – “Breakdown”
(I think Jack Johnson is the unofficial spokesperson of summer anyways…)
Tegan and Sara – “Come on Kids”
(Go on kids…)

And that’s all. So go ahead and enjoy the heat. Eat right, sleep tight. Your friend, Jenny.

Or, John Hastings’ love affair with breezy guitar riffs.

By John Hastings

So, here’s my shot at a Twelve Songs of Summer list. It’s all over the place, but that’s what a good mix tape should be! I’ve spent summers at my cottage and lived on islands in Southeast Asia, so I’ve got all sorts of reasons for dropping songs down here. It was hard, but here’s my best shot, in no particular order, with a dash of explanation as well.

1) Ween – “Bananas and Blow” from White Pepper (2000)
Who better than Ween to get everyone laughing and dancing? This was a staple for me in Thailand. It couldn’t NOT be on the list and it might just be my favourite beach song of all time.

2) Lily Allen – “LDN” from Alright, Still… (2007)
A new track that I’ve been loving in 2007. It’s got cottage road trips written all over it – that or bike riding in the city. Don’t miss this awesome summer tune.

3) Led Zeppelin – “Over the Hills and Far Away” from Houses of the Holy (1973)
I had to throw a classic in here. Who doesn’t love a little Zep on a hot summer day? This one has a distinctly warm afternoon feeling to it. Classic – and awesome.

4) Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Around the World” from Californication (1999)
In 1999 I climbed the fire escape of Sam The Record Man on Yonge St. in Toronto to see the Chilis play a free show on the street below. I also won tickets from a case of beer to see them at The Docks. My friends and I KILLED this disc. It will forever be a wicked summer album and this is the first track off of it.

5) Stellastarr* – “My Coco” from Stellastarr (2003)
Though not one of my favourite bands, Stellastarr*’s song “My Coco” absolutely rules. This tune will make ANY mix better. Start an afternoon of fun in the sun with this gem.

6) The Decemberists – “July, July!” From Castaways and Cutouts (2002)
I didn’t pick this song just because it’s called “July, July!” but that does help. One of my favourite bands of the last 5 years, something from Colin Meloy & Co. had to make my list and this one simply radiates summer (yes – for obvious reasons).

7) The Tragically Hip – “Bobcaygeon” from Phantom Power (1998)
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, The Tragically Hip have a few special tunes that make any evening on the dock at the cottage a special one. This track is perfect in particular if you ever find yourself in cottage country just outside of Toronto. It was hard to choose as a fan of The Hip, but for a mix “Bobcaygeon” is great.

8 ) Porno For Pyros – “Tahitian Moon” from Good God’s Urge (1996)
Often overlooked, Perry Farrell’s Porno For Pyros rocked once upon a time. This song cannot be left out of a mix if you’re planning on skinny dipping on a beach or stargazing from your back porch. Beautiful and poignant. Don’t miss out.

9) Kings of Leon – “Red Morning Light” from Youth & Young Manhood (2003)
A bit of country twang always helps a cold beer on a summer afternoon. I started loving these guys during monsoon season in Taiwan and found a new love for them on hot summer days back in Canada. This is my favourite offering from their best album so far.

10) Modest Mouse – “Float On” from Good News For People Who Love Bad News (2004)
Maybe an obvious choice, but there’s just no denying that this song is totally awesome. Not my favourite album from these guys, but this song is so summer it hurts. That riff is just so damn catchy. Great for the car.

11) The New Pornographers – “Letter From An Occupant” from Mass Romantic (2000)
For some reason I’ve just loved this song for mixes since I first heard it. Neko Case is great on this track. I wouldn’t call it my first choice, but since I’ve been rocking it for so long I just couldn’t keep it off. I had to have that good Canadian rock n’ roll.

12) Sublime – “Santeria” from Sublime (1996)
One of the best songs ever written for the summer. ‘Nuff said.

So that’s my Top Twelve Summer Songs. I’m sure I’ve overlooked something that I absolutely love, but this will do. I’m going to burn this mix right now and catch some rays. Here’s to a great summer 2007!

The obligatory best-of-the-best list.

Earlier this year I reviewed the energetic and baffling Man Man’s Six Demon Bag, thinking it might make it into my top albums of the year. The novelty wore off quickly, however, and it ended up tossed by the wayside. An underwhelming anecdote about an underwhelming year: 2006 wasn’t exactly banner for music, in my opinion.

I was disappointed by a few hyped releases – the long-awaited Thermals album had maybe two rousing tracks; the reformed not-quite-Don-Caballero were hit-and-miss; TV On The Radio didn’t get nearly the critical acclaim for their sophomore release. A lot of my favourite albums are from artists I’ve never heard of, so I spent more time tracking down earlier releases and less time trying to stay current. And almost all the music I fell in love with came from Norway, and required headphone-listening, to appreciate the obsessive panning effects. I don’t feel as though I missed out on much, this year.

I’m by no means certain that others had the same experience, though, so without further ado I’ll present some alternative views on the best music that 2006 had to offer.

Allana Mayer
Music Editor

Miles Baker’s Winners Club

1. Cat Power – The Greatest (Matador)
I know a lot of people like Cat Power when she’s crazier, but I love her sane. I admit there are fewer surprises on The Greatest than Moon Pix, but Moon Pix was 10 years ago, no one should stay so crazy for that long. Many critics have talked about the Memphis musicians she hooked up with to make this record and how they are awesome—they are awesome. This is my top record because it has the swagger of a cowboy and melancholy of a tortured piano-girl. So I feel tough and weak all at the same time—that is the definition of me.

2. Final Fantasy – He Poos Clouds (Blocks Recording Club)
3. Hawksley Workman – A Treefull of Starling (Universal)
4. Hylozoists – La Fin de Monde (Boompa)
5. Regina Spektor – Begin to Hope (Sire Records)

Johnathan Isaac’s Inner Circle

1. Joanna Newsom – Ys (Drag City)
Ys is easily the standout album in a year of standout albums. Since 2004’s The Milk Eyed Mender, Joanna Newsom has polished and cleaned the edges of her childish sound. Yet it’s exactly Newsom’s off-kilter voice that provides the perfect foil for the beautifully arranged strings and harp. The five pieces, none of which are less than seven minutes in length, tell rich and detailed stories of all kinds of love, from her admiration of her sister in “Emily” to the bizarre exploitative romance between two metaphorical animals in “Monkey And Bear”. There is no denying the brilliant narrative quality of the lyrics, like children with their large shifts in focus and occasional hyper-attentive details. The album evokes strongly a page from the past through the use of unusual turns of phrase (the repetition of “why the long face” in “Sawdust and Diamonds”, for instance) and antique melodies. Ys is a porcelain ocean: pretty and pure on the surface, but deep and rewarding to dive into.

2. Boris – Pink (Southern Lord)
3. Various Artists - Jamaica To Toronto: Soul, Funk and Reggae 1967-1974 (Light in the Attic Records)
4. Venetian Snares – Cavalcade of Glee and Dadaist Happy Hardcore Pom-Poms (Planet Mu)
5. Keith Fullerton Whitman – Lisbon (Kranky)

Lonny Knapp’s Best Friends

1. Tom Waits – Orphans (Anti-)
Most collections of “new and unreleased” material by music industry dinosaurs tend to be nothing more than a washed-up artist cashing in on sub-standard material. But Orphans, a three-disc collection of new and archival recordings from Tom Waits, exceeds expectation. The first disc, Bawlers, contains drunken ballads and mournful dirges best listened to in the wee hours with a bottle of bourbon. Brawlers is raunchy blues tracks featuring backstreet characters so real you can smell the blood, sweat, and beer through the speakers. Bastards, the wildest of the discs, exorcises Waits’s demons, with odd animal grunts and howls accompanied by the rattling of chains and the clatter of a junkyard band. Carrying the entire collection is his voice: strange, wounded, guttural, and raspy––he can be a clown, a boogeyman, an angel, or a devil. His varied musical talent is represented in enough detail to satisfy die-hard fans; its enormity makes Orphans my favourite album of the year.

2. Amy Millan – Honey from the Tombs (Arts & Crafts)
3. My Morning Jacket – Okonokos (ATO Records)
4. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife (Capitol Records)
5. Solomon Burke – Nashville (Shout Factory)

Sam Linton’s Honour Roll

1. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife (Capitol Records)
I love this album enough to make it my Crane Wife. Granted, I tend to like all Decemberists albums, so any album they released was assured a spot on my top 5. But The Crane Wife merits my number one spot for the year by appealing to my inner music lover, my inner literature student, and my inner… guy who enjoys looking stuff up? All the Decemberists’ albums engage me in this sense, but The Crane Wife epitomizes this. Take either of the title tracks: we have an engaging and pleasant melody, an interesting narrative (packed with Colin Meloy’s trademark literary flair) and a link to a classic Japanese folk tale, to be read and perused for further enjoyment. The song “Shankill Butchers” comes alive once one has familiarized oneself with the real Shankill Butchers, a group of Ulster Unionist serial killers. The song “When the War Came” resonates much more once one gains an understanding of Soviet agriculture in the face of WWII. Even for those without mountains of free time on their hands, the album is still thoroughly enjoyable: you too may want to pick up your own Crane Wife. Or at least a Crane Girlfriend.

2. The Pipettes – We Are the Pipettes( Memphis Industries)
3. Blind Guardian – A Twist in the Myth (Century Media)
4. Various Artists – Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys (Anti-)
5. The Old Soul – The Old Soul (Hand of God/Universal Canada )

Allana Mayer’s Coalition of the Willing

1. Band of Horses – Everything All The Time (Sub Pop)
If wailing shoegaze isn’t your thing, you’ll be turned off by Band of Horses; I was, on first listen. From the openings bars of (redundantly-titled) “The First Song”, you can already tell this album means to give your heartstrings a good tug. I made it through to “Funeral”, obviously the most single-worthy track, before I conceded that I was indeed hooked. Even Ben Bridwell’s voice, verging on whiny, contains attitude and certainty — though the lyrics are so ambiguous I hardly know what I’ve signed myself on for. Pensive yet unapologetic, Everything All The Time is such a perfect guilty pleasure I don’t feel the need to justify it. It’s great mopey pop: simply structured, but somehow compelling, and fraught with tension and regret. Admittedly, I’m tired of the more embellished bits, like “Funeral” and the ultra-depressing ending of “Part One”. But their divine harmonies and lulling acoustic work more than make up for it. I’m constantly charmed by the silly “Monsters” and roused by “Our Swords”. Just tell yourself you deserve a break from being cheerful all the goddamn time.

2. Subtle – For Hero, For Fool (Astralwerks)
3. Svalastog – Woodwork (Rune Grammofon)
4. Danielson – Ships (Secretly Canadian)
5. In the Country – Losing Stones, Collecting Bones (Rune Grammofon)

Gena Meldazy’s Power Squad

1. Rammer – Cancer (Blue Fog Records)
Toronto’s Rammer, and their new album Cancer, is nothing if not thrash-worthy, and their release party at Sneaky Dee’s was an eventful and disastrous exchange. An opening act completed their set with the burning of a wooden cross, and a bar brawl broke out in the middle of the dance floor with almost parallel timing. Rammer’s set was thus delayed when security threatened to cut power to the stage for the remainder of the night. For those familiar with earlier releases from this band, Cancer progresses to something more serious. The lyrics tone down on the stereotypical ‘fantasy’ element, from albums like Incinerator, (think: ‘Iron Witch’) and take a more sombre tone. If you are a heavy metal junkie, the entire Rammer discography is worth your while. If you don’t give a fuck either way, their most recent is a solid bet.

2. Criminal Damage - s/t LP (Feral Ward)
3. Fucked Up – Hidden World double EP (Deranged Records/Jade Tree)
4. Government Warning – No Moderation LP (Feral Ward)
5. Sonic Youth – Rather Ripped (EMI)

Leo Moncel’s Prestige Team

1. Cadence Weapon – Breaking Kayfabe (Upper Class Recordings)
Someone finally did it –– Cadence Weapon created the anthem for the barhoppers scanning the bus schedule after last call, plotting and plodding our ways home. Breaking Kayfabe covers a broad range of stories: everything from his father’s grow-op to consumerism to unrequited love. But each song is quite focused, and the writing is technically fantastic. The Weapon has an excellent command of internal rhyme structure, wordplay and tongue-twisters. He has a variety of unique flows and often uses several per track. To top it off, he produces his own beats and they’re unlike anything else out there. Fat, synth-y, bass-y bangers are heavily seasoned with esoteric little samples, and wild, digital bleeps and bloops. He occasionally mixes his beats too loud and buries the lyrics, as in “Grim Fandango,” a sin against such quality writing, but the album still makes for a great listen.

2. K’Naan – The Dusty Foot Philosopher (BMG Music)
3. The Streets – The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living (Locked On)
4. Jurassic 5 – Feedback (Interscope Records)
5. The Game – The Doctor’s Advocate (Geffen Records)