• DJ Eleven - Best of the Bay Mixtape
  Throwbacks from Rappin' 4tay,Eleven 5 to Mac Dre and new school Bay Tracks from Mistah F.A.B. & Keak Da Sneak - Great comp. on the Bay Area Hip Hop scene.
  
• Justin Timberlake - Future Sex Love Sounds
  Justin did it again, not as good as the first but no sophomore slump potential here. Also he had lots of help from Timbaland to keep you hooked through the whole album.
  
• Too $hort - Blow the Whistle
  He's had 16 albums with him on the front & I see 16 more from the Oakland native. Still reppin' the Bay & still keepin' it short but funky!
  
• EPMD - Strictly Business
  Hip hop classic with good beats that have been samples many times.Original and still fresh to this day. Eric Sermon has great rhythm & passion with his words and great sampling to complete the package of a classic!
• Del Tha Funky Homosapien - I Wish My Brother George Was Here
  I always wanted to hear him and then I found out he repped Richmond and I was on board. Luckily this album hasn't left my car's stereo. Love the album to death! Highly recommend.
  

Music Tip: Try to listen to the late nite programs on the Hip Hop stations - access to what's new and underground.

• Ultravox! - Ultravox!,Ha! Ha! Ha!, & Systems of Romance
  This band's first 3 albums, from ‘76-’79, featured singer John Foxx,and sound much different from this band's cheesy ‘80s era stuff. Now remastered with great bonus tracks, they straddle the boundaries of glam, punk, and electronic and still sound fresh and exciting. Ha! Ha! Ha!, the punkiest of the 3, is my favorite.
  
• Cosmopolitans - Wild Moose Party
  Obscure but wonderful early ‘80s N. Carolina girl group. Compiling material from 1980-’82, this is not unlike finding an unreleased early B-52s album. You could really use something this fun nowadays.
  
• Au Pairs - Stepping Out Of Line
  Described as the female Gang of Four, I'd rate them the best post-punk band, after Go4.This comp combines their two studio albums with essential singles and session tracks. It's funky, it rocks, and has smart politics worn on the sleeve. They were singing "we don't torture, we're a civilized nation" in 1981! Way ahead of their time. If you liked last year's Delta 5 reissue, this should fit the bill.
  
• Pointed Sticks - Perfect Youth & Waiting For The Real Thing
  Vancouver pop punks, late ‘70s/early ‘80s, favorably compared to the Buzzcocks/Undertones. They've reissued their only album with bonus tracks, plus compiled a singles/rarities disc. Unjustly overlooked at the time, they're on that sweet borderline between punk and new wave.

PLUS!...great bonus track laden reissues by Pulp, REM,The Fall (a whole slew of 'em!), Pretenders, John Cale, Lou Reed, etc., but I'll stop to mention one non-reissue:

• Bottle Rockets - Zoysia
  Alt-country from Missouri, red state Midwestern liberals whose honest music is about as down to earth as it gets. Direct, straight from the heart twangy rock & roll, there is zero hipster quotient to this music, so if you're not too cool,check it out.

Bonus hint: Check out our spoken word CDs! I'd especially recommend war correspondent Robert Fisk's gripping War Journalism & The Middle East.

• Pretenders - Pretenders
  Double reissue of the debut album from Chrissie, Martin, Pete & James.Well worth the wait! Demos, live cuts, alternate versions,b-sides, new liner notes,unseen photos! The best of what great CD reissues can and should be! Pretenders II is out as well.
  
• Chris Clark - The Motown Collection
  The sixties & early seventies white soul blonde bombshell from Motown. 3 Commercially unsuccessfully LP releases culled together with Lots of Extra tracks on two CDs. Hear the Motown sound from someone "new"
  
• Goldfrapp - SuperNature
  Long-anticipated 3rd album from the retro-styled, fused electro-dance duo. Alison Goldfrapp is once again at the center of the group & way out ahead of the rest in her mixture of earthy,soulful vocals with crisp, organic, electronic backing. This group's future is now.
  
• ESG - Keep On Moving
  2nd album from ESG/Scroggins Sisters’ second period of activity. These girls are still moving forward without losing their orginal uniqueness that has always made them very special, yet never overdoing it! The girls are back and the British Soul Jazz label has 'em!
• Burst! New Wave 1980! - various artists
  Double Japanese New Wave CD collection from Japan's Victor/Entertainment label. From the early eighties, these groups are still anticipating the future of music! Although most group names and song titles are in Japanese,this is still worth your time and money! Great for some hipster who really wants to be out there!
  

Music Tips : MOJO Magazine,Entertainment Weekly, and trusting yourself! They are YOUR ears after all!

• James Hunter - People Gonna Talk
  (Rounder 11661-2187-2)
  To my ears, the best and most refreshing Americana release of the year. Turns out he's got some other albums, but this former back up singer with Van Morrison finally puts it all together and captures the magic on "People Gonna Talk." Hunter combines a two sax attack,with a stripped down rhythm section, to produce a totally relaxed but riveting album of music. Sam Cooke is an influence, as are some Bossa rhythms, but the album is uniquely James Hunter.
  
• Los Lobos - The Town And The City
  These guys are my favorite band,and this is their best album since Kiko. It's a loose song narrative about the Mexican-American experience in the Southwest. It may take a few listenings before the tunes start to jump out at you, but they will.The song writing is superb, and my favorite is "Little Things."
  
• DVD: The Time Jumpers - Jumpin' Time
  (Crosswind TTJ-1)
  The Time Jumpers are the best unknown country swing band in the land.They're all Nashville session guys who play together every Monday night at the Station Inn. The band features two wonderful female singers, a three fiddle attack, a jazzy accordionist, upright bass, drums, rhythm guitar, hot lead guitar, and John Hughey, arguably one of the top five pedal steel players in the world.Although the 27 tunes are all classics of the western swing genre, the performances are fresh and surprisingly modern.

• Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Live At The Fillmore East 1970
  The world's greatest band circa 1970 with the late great Danny Whitten on guitar. I could wax rhapsodic on the 12 minute "Down By The River" if the 14 minute "Cowgirl In The Sand" didn't crush it 3 songs later.
  
• Arab Strap - 10 Years Of Tears
  The world's greatest band circa 1997-2006 calls it quits with a compilation of rarities and outtakes that are better than any other band's singles. If you never saw 'em live you blew it bigtime.
  
• Fucked Up - Hidden World
  After a slew of great singles, splits & compilation tracks Toronto's finest deliver a 72-minute hardcore critique of the biblical concept of heaven and hell. The most ambitious punk-rock LP since Husker Du's Zen Arcade. Epic song lengths (the crushing closer "Vivian Girls" clocks in at 9:26), bludgeoning riffs and gruff vocals reminiscent of John Brannon of Negative Approach all wrapped around the most thought provoking lyrics in hardcore. Slaughtering.
• Bad Brains - Live At CBGB 1982 DVD
  The DC godfathers move to New York and blow up the most hallowed hall in New York punk lore like Osama Bin-Laden. HR lays his claim as the most compelling frontman in American hardcore.
• Tom Waits - Orphans
  The ringmaster of the circus delivers a 3 CD set of discards that most song writers would sell their souls to Satan for. It's amazing how some "artists" can sleep at night or bother to wake in the morning after listening to this.

It ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe
If'n you don't know by now
An' it ain't no use to sit and wonder why,
babe
It'll never do somehow
When your rooster crows at the break of
dawn
Look out your window and I'll be gone
You're the reason I'm trav'lin' on
Don't think twice, it's all right

It ain't no use in turnin' on your light, babe
That light I never knowed
An' it ain't no use in turnin' on your light,
babe
I'm on the dark side of the road
Still I wish there was somethin' you would do
or say
To try and make me change my mind and
stay
We never did too much talkin' anyway
So don't think twice, it's all right

It ain't no use in callin' out my name, gal
Like you never done before
It ain't no use in callin' out my name, gal
I can't hear you any more
I'm a-thinkin' and a-wond'rin' walkin' down
the road
I once loved a woman, a child I'm told
I give her my heart but she wanted my soul
But don't think twice, it's all right

So long, honey baby
Where I'm bound, I can't tell
And goodbye's too good a word, babe
So I'll just say fare thee well
I ain't sayin' you treated me unkind
You could have done better but I don't mind
You just kinda wasted my precious time
But don't think twice, it's all right

• The Catholic Comb - Ghost Stories
  
• Lifetime - Somewhere In The Swamps Of New Jersey
  
• American Hardcore - Documentary/Compilation
• Saves The Day- Sound The Alarm
  

Misc.Picks

• Jawbreaker/Chrome/Death/Hüsker Dü/Grade

Tip: Tripp Underwood (The Unseen) - So This Is Reading?Book/CD

• Fujiya & Miyagi - Transparent Things
  They sound a bit like !!!. Great record. Super fun.
  
• Malajube - Tromp-L'Oeil
  My favorite new Canadian band. Kind of a French mess of an album but it works. I have no idea what they are saying, but I like it.
  
• Bloc Party - Weekend in the City
  I don't care what anyone says. I like this album better than the first already. I can't stop listening to it.
  
• Lily Allen - Alright Still
  Super catchy album. Great album to listen to when you wanna feel happy.She is super cute but can totally beat you up.
• Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
  Another great release from this instrumental band from Austin. It's like the soundtrack to what goes on in my head.