I have figured out why Korn exist. Korn exist so that young people threatened by genres such as pop and techno can say "See? Rock rulz man!"

I don't understand Yo La Tengo. They have no truly unique musical ideas. Everything they do has been done before by MBV, Velvets, etc. So why are they so freaking brilliant? Has any band ever combined this lack of originality with such brilliant songs? Their latest album delivers on what they teased throughout the 1990's -- capturing the atmosphere of the third Velvets album. YLT should have copied the liner notes from Spiritualized "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space" for their latest opus, because anyone listening to it is bound to develop withdrawal pains, lose sleep and feel disoriented. YLT are the ultimate example of borrowing a template and running with it. Forget that it sounds like something you've heard before. The sound you hear is the sound of magic.

Stereolab's "Cobra and Phases..." has been out for a few months now, and it continues to sound better with each and every listen. ETK has been acclaimed by the general public as their best album, I've always felt that the more hardcore set preferred their earlier material. Furthermore, the hardcore set has viewed their post "Mars Audiac Quintet" material as being a significant decline from their earlier Can-NEU!-Faustian tunes. Admittedly, I was of the same opinion, for the blatantly Can-inspired "Metronomic Underground" and the blatantly NEU!-inspired "Noise of Carpet" far outshone most of the experimental pop leanings of the remainder of ETK. I'm finally a believer in their new direction. Whereas "Dots and Loops" tended toward eclecticism to the point of navel-gazing, "Cobra and Phases" combines the anodyne melodies from "Music for the Amorphous Body Study Centre", with the funkiness and tranciness of classic Can and Faust which made us love them in the first place.

Ha! I've been saying for years that Kevin Shields' brand of guitar noise is hugely influential on the way ALL rock music is conceived and recorded today. Now, after absorbing Primal Scream's (excellent) new album, on which Kevin Shields does production work, hopefully the rest of the world will realize that the experimental, eclectic style of recent Blur, SFA, and the Scream is the TRUE future of rock, not Radiohead and Oasis' take on 60's and 70's nostalgia. Critics are finally coming on my side -- they all write that the Scream album is noisy, noisy, noisy terrorism and bloody great for it -- remember, you all heard it first from me, hail Kevin Shields, the most powerful force in rock!!

I've discovered the deep connections between the founders of techno and the founders of quantum mechanics. Schroedinger/Atkins: The genesis. Formulated the first quantitative model. Heisenberg/Saunderson: A different picture of quantum mechanics -- Saunderson used the house/R&B roots of techno, as opposed to Atkins futuristic bent (of course, the trainspotters know that the H picture of QM is really due to S, similarly, Atkins funkier exploits with Clear in the early 80's predated Saunderson's Inner City material. Incidentally, Atkins 1999 "Body and Soul" returns to the gritty, funky, R&B feel which was not featured as strongly in his late '80's Model 500 material). Saunderson and Heisenberg had more mainstream success with their work than the others. Dirac/May: The field assumes its modern form. The models/notations/rules they invented still exist today.

While flipping through the Oasis interview in this month's Uncut, I found a piece of journalism I've waited five years to read -- the acknowledgment that "Morning Glory" was panned upon release and applauded once the record buying public made the band filthy rich. And the opposite for "Be Here Now" (including the part about getting rich). I'd honestly thought that every journalist on the eastern side of the Atlantic had forgotten these facts. I thought revisionist history had been completely ingrained in people's minds. Anyway, no real revelations from Noel regarding the subject but kudos to the journalist for bringing it up.

Imagine Lou Reed's "Berlin" produced by Martin Hannett. Rather than commercial 70's rock production set to sad stories, we'd have had true echoey isolation. Jeez.

I finally realized why Smashing Pumpkins' "Perfect" has always sounded so familiar to me. It sounds just like Petula Clark's "Downtown"!! Think about it!!!

Duran Duran's "All She Wants Is" was way ahead of its time. It was dance-rock back when that term actually described something concrete. Featuring a unique combination of an atonal vocal melody, fuzzed out guitar and synthesizer noise, it's not that far removed from the recent Primal Scream material. Of course, with dance and rock being yin and yang to anyone outside of Manchester in 1989 (not to mention the prodigiously crap video), the Duranies never had a chance.

Notice how much Filter's "Take a Picture" sounds like MBV's "Don't Ask Why"?

While listening to the "Skampler" today, I recalled my proclamation of one year ago, stating that the Skam label was the future of techno. Somewhere in the multitude of German minimalistic techno CD's that I bought since then, I appear to have lost the plot. Or maybe not. Skam's artists employ beefy, irregular, electro/hip-hop influenced rhythms, while the Chain Reaction/EFA bunch employ rippling, irregular, echoed rhythms. In either case, the music has been stripped down to it's barest beats, while maintaining a distinctly electronic feel. More though required.

While listening to the "Skampler" today, I recalled my proclamation of one year ago, stating that the Skam label was the future of techno. Somewhere in the multitude of German minimalistic techno CD's that I bought since then, I appear to have lost the plot. Or maybe not. Skam's artists employ beefy, irregular, electro/hip-hop influenced rhythms, while the Chain Reaction/EFA bunch employ rippling, irregular, echoed rhythms. In either case, the music has been stripped down to it's barest beats, while maintaining a distinctly electronic feel. More though required.

I finally landed the single "House Music", by Eddie Amador. I've spent a good year and a half looking for it, ever since hearing the white label for the first time in a Montreal club. And when I asked the DJ for the name of that incredible house record, I was more than a little shocked at the response. Because it takes a lot of audacity to title a record "House Music". There's a record called "Techno Music", by Model 500, and techno music (the genre) was named after it. Wayne Gretzky had to be pretty damn good to earn the nickname "The Great One". What made Eddie Amador, then a relative unknown, think he had any justifiable claim to the title "House Music"? Now, I say I was shocked at the title, but of course I'd already heard the record, so I knew how well the shoe fit.