Random Generator: Mar '08

Well, this was supposed to be a thoughtful post about race, given that I have seen a million different articles that are interesting, provocative and sad. Instead, I'm going to point you to them and instead write about something far more suited to my shallow talents - random generator!

1. I Want Your Love - Kelis. My love for Kelis diminished after reading her enlightened take on feminism (and yes, she reframed the term, but too late. Seriously, lady, just say YES I am and then say WHY).
2. Assault on Babylon - Thievery Corporation. Love it, love it. Just love everything about TC - I just wish they'd come back for live stuff - the concert I went to the first time I was in NYC was one of the best things I've ever seen.
3. Rodney Yates - David Holmes. How apt, having just watched the start of Ocean's Eleven last night, and also talking about that first trip to NYC - we listened to this non-stop in the apartment we rented. Weird how an album can capture both Las Vegas and New York so well, and come from an Irishman. I love that about music, its ability to transcend where you come from.
4. Red Velvet - OutKast. Outkast I have tons of, should listen to more - it's like Prince doing Hip Hop - both in terms of inventiveness and sound and on all albums, not just The Love Below / Speakerboxxx, but this, Stankonia, too - yet I don't, not enough, anyway. Stupid. But I like this.
   
5. On the Block - R.A. The Ruggedman. I quite like R.A. the Ruggedman, who can't quite seem to get over the success of Eminem as being the preeminent white rapper, poor dear. A couple of tunes on this album (Die, Rugged Man, Die) are excellent. Still, not desperately overexcited about him.
6. To the Sky - Maps. Recommended by a friend, painfully not yet listened to, but I like this. I think I shall try more. Dancey, electronica-influenced rock of a type that I am not yet sick of.
   
7. Acid Lab - Alex Reece. I've been getting back into my old school DnB, and jungle and this is from one of my favourite albums of the period, So Far.
   
8. Star Me Kitten - R.E.M. Hot damn, remember when the release of a new R.E.M. album was a big deal? Does anyone buy their albums anymore? They have a new one out, and I heard a single (on the guardian's music weekly podcast reviews section), and it was so... underwhelming. Same old, same old. Yet I loved this album. I saw them live on my 16th birthday - although I'd chosen that gig because Blur were supporting. I ate a very disgustingly melted Whole Nut from the machine at the tube station on the way home. It was a good day.
9. Pump Me Up - Trouble Funk. Off a compilation. I do like me some funk occasionally. And this is funky. When you listen to it it's utterly recognisable, because it's been sampled a great number of times by early 80s hip hop.
   
10. Sleep Well Tonight (live) - Gene. I used to love Gene, dammit, their melodramatic posturings and Smiths-lite angst-ridden tunes (and Martin Rossiter's wonderful floppy hair) playing to my teenaged heart. Still, their first album (and this song in particular) still frequent my iPod, and I love it.