As the only table in my apartment continues to fill up with piles of CD's, I've been taking the time to stop and reflect on this years' amazing releases. It's no surprise that I should do this, because that's "normality" for me, and therefore it provides the perfect escape from the events of last week. What I wrote on September 10 now seems rather eerie, but those words don't disturb me as much as they probably should.

It's somewhat disturbing that Drugstore have this habit of putting the best songs at the end of their albums. "Accelerate" -- maybe the best song of the 1990's, and a B-side to boot! "Everything a Girl Should Have" recalls the delicate moments of their debut, and comes as a welcome bit of stripped down tranquility after the frequent overproductions which slightly marred the tunes that transpired before it. "More Than Friends" is a fragile, quivering lullaby, it's hardly even there, much like the Beatles' "Julia". It was probably written in ten minutes and recorded in a half-assed fashion on one take, how do they do it? How can they succeed like this when the rest of us would kill for five seconds of such genius? Fear them.

The Super Furries "Rings Around the World" has been come under criticism as being an overproduced mess due to the scores of Sony money that were on hand to record it. Do not believe these people. SFA didn't tone down their chaotic tendencies to make room for major label gloss. Their new record sounds just like 1999's "Guerrilla", which is part of the problem, because they've tried write a by-the-numbers sequel to that album, much like Blur did when they followed up "Parklife" with "The Great Escape". They've succeeded in writing some brilliant songs but there's really no progression from the breakneck pacings and unpredictablility of "Guerrilla". On the other hand, "Juxtapozed With U" is the best single they've ever done, and if it's not given strong consideration for the Single of the Year then we'll have to give it the full Donna Summer disco remix treatment and then try again next year.

What's more, two of the best groups of the 90's, Pulp and Spiritualized, will be releasing their first albums in a combined 7.5 years within a few weeks of each other. I need to keep reminding myself to not get too caught up with the old guard.