media consumption

Automated

Handsome Boy Modeling School - So How's Your Girl...

Riffing on a concept borrowed from an episode from Chris Elliot's Get a Life, Dan the Automator and Prince Paul gather a couple of dozen of their big-name friends to make this album. Can't really call it a "concept album;" it's basically an excuse to goof off. Confused? As Father Guido Sarducci explains, all will become clear when you join the Handsome Boy Modeling School, just $60. You won't be sorry for long.

Deltron - Deltron 3030

Here's a concept album: music from the 31st century. Amazingly it sounds like 21st-century music in the style of producer Dan the Automator, rapper Del tha Funky Homosapien, and turntablist Kid Koala (this also happens to be the funky half of the team that put together Gorillaz debut cd).

Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst

More wackiness from the Automator, this cd created in partnership with Kool Keith. There are plenty of dizzy beats and infectious rapping laced heavily with humor. Except be warned that the humor here has an overtly pornographic and scatalogic, ummmm, flavor. Not for the faint of heart.

U.N.K.L.E. - Psyence Fiction

Here James Lavelle pairs with DJ Shadow to create an "alternative" hip-hop classic. The scare quotes denote the music industry's discomfort with uncategorizable music such as this. One of the more interesting tracks is "Rabbit in Your Headlights," recorded in 1996 and featuring Radiohead's Thom Yorke on vocals. I had always thought that was strictly a Radiohead song, when really, it was just a foreshadowing of Radiohead's success.

Beck - Guero

And speaking of uncategorizable, here comes Beck. Except that he's easy to categorize: pop artist, with an emphasis on the "artist." What's hard to pin down is just how Beck manufactures such pristine pop from out of his magic bucket of sounds, from scratchy acoustic guitars and shouted Spanglish to mariachi horns and elctro-synthesized beeping.

Philip Glass - Glassworks

For those curious about Philip Glass (especially his early work), here he is at his PhilipGlassiest.

Other Entries for "In the CD Changer"