miss jackson are you nasty?

I'm not quite sure when Janet Jackson's career went off a cliff. (Sorry, it's just "Janet." with the period, now. Whatever.) It definitely predated the whole Super Bowl nipple show, for which I Still Blame Timberlake...flashing that poor woman's boob while singing "Gonna have you naked by the end of this song" and then claiming it's a wardrobe malfunction, and letting her take the heat. I mean, really! Not cool, JT. We know you grabbed the wrong damn part of that rip off bra on purpose!

Back up from breasts to dear Janet; Miss Jackson if you're nasty. Love of her be damned, the fact remains that several consecutive albums have just not been doing it for me. And I say this having once been Hard Core for Ms. J. (Indeed. In one story from my past, yours truly can be found stripping for a bar full of guys to Janet's "Nasty" for New Year's Eve, with the 45 sluggishly playing at the wrong 33 1/3 speed. I know, I know. Grandpa's telling stories again. Let's save that one for another time, my sweets).

Now to be honest, every album she's done has always been about the Monster Dance Jams for me, and all else is padding. Discipline, her brand new disk for a brand new label, is out. It is being pushed as Very Edgy Dominatrix. In reality it is heavy on the ballads, which is a big problem. 22 tracks, and well over half are either a.) syrupy ballads featuring Ms. Jackson's nasal tse-tse fly range, or b.) spoken word "interludes" that seem a little too stuck in Rhythm Nation days to be fresh. I count 7 danceable songs total. Color me disappointed. Having persused the rest, it's already been sniffed & identified as garbage and jettisoned off my playllist.

Now: as for those upbeat tracks. I am no fan of the first track "Feedback". It seems so, I don't know, so second-rate-Britney. I half expect some skanky Lohan-esque thing to slink out singing some shit like this. Or an Olson twin. But it's beneath Janet frigging Jackson, you know?

And "Rock with U"? Is it really wise to remake your freaky pedophile brother's tracks, badly, and remind us all anew of your broken brother? I need a shower.

Sigh. Well, at least there is a Missy Elliot track, "The 1", with some promise. Any track that starts out talking about men with seven inches has my rapt attention. But one track, provocative as it may be, does not make a comeback. Better luck next time, dear.

Fischerspooner!

That's right, bitches. Fischerspooner. New single! "The Best Revenge" puts the awe in awesome. Some kind of playful horn work in there that seems new, otherwise it could have easily been pulled from their last disk. I don't care, I want it. More, more, more!

Hot Chip continues to amaze. "Don't Dance" currently rocking my mind.

The LCD Soundsystem/Nike+ album now is out with a couple bonus tracks on it, repackaged as 45:33 ...only so-so are the new tracks. Even geniuses have their off days, I suppose.

I can't hear your voice: do I have a choice?

"You're my number one guy-y-y..."

Enthralled of late with all things Hot Chip.* There's a bunch of unfamiliar new tunes on my main playlist of late (of the Discover This! variety) and much of it is disappointing AltRock forgetable garbage. Made in the Dark is filling that void happily...it is All I Listen To, sprinkled with Hot Chip's back catalog gems.

They are simply weird, and I mean that in the best most flattering and fanboy way. The sound is like some 80's synthesizer band with a big heart on for the Beatles and trippy 70's rock. They sound like a favorite forgotten cassette tape that's melted just a bit on the dashboard.

The track "If I Could Have One Pure Thought" is far too modest. These cats have stacked the decks with sonic ideas assaulting from all directions. It also might be the sleeper hit of the album.

I thought they were One to Watch with "Boy from School" and its amazing video off the (B minus!) previous album The Warning. Do yourself a favor and check out "Down with Prince" from the older (C plus!) Coming on Strong, which sounds nothing like Prince until it does. Miraculously, and snarkily. And funkfully.

This new album is pretty darn awesome (A minus!), and reviewers praising its ballads ("Made in the Dark", "We're Looking for a Lot of Love") are spot on. Having approached this album from its Monster Jam first two singles "Shake a Fist" and "Ready for the Floor", I am only opening up to the slow jams now, "Touch Too Much" currently playing in the background as I write this. Is it even a ballad by the time it is done? It's just jaw dropping. Odd, odd, crazy shit. Gooood shit.

*that is, in the spare minutes where the PS3 is not still gobbling my time (see also: feverishly monitoring eBay video game auctions, and obsessively downloading every Unreal Tournament map and Playstation Network downloadable in sight. Enough. I sense another blog coming on, sigh.)

music, schmusic.

Ah, the best intentions. Well, there have been other distractions of late. Namely a big shiny PS3 full of games to occupy my time. It is, truly, all that & a bag of chips.

But music never is far, wherever I be. And thanks to Medialink from nullriver, all my iTunes and other media on the Mac is right there on the beloved Sony box, over Wi-Fi no less.

Steve Jobs ought be quaking in his boots about this...that Apple TV sure is sitting unused lately! (Added bonus: PS3 can play more types of media. No more ripping .avi files to .mp4 just to squeeze through the Apple gateway!)

p.s. "Little Weapon" from Lupe Fiasco is still top of my pops, daddio...