You convinced her to make that self-titled pop album?

Criminal Minds II: Think Dirty

Criminal Minds Is Possibly the Worst TV Show I Have Ever Seen.
On the plus side, that makes it outrageously funny. Between Patinkin, Garofalo, and Whitaker, though, that show and its spin-off have attracted far too much actual talent. I'd wonder how they do it but I don't want to know…

None of us did, Detail. She handled the international relations of the Consortium? She had an affair with Krychek? I don't know exactly what she was on about. They hardly ever used her, anyway.

Me too, Crackity. I also think the best tracks on First Impressions are better than anything else they've done. If they'd cut that album by five tracks, it might be considered their masterpiece.

He's smelling his finger to try to figure out where the glove went.

I was introduced to Krug through Apologies, which is, I think, a great album. So I'd still be listening.

I don't know, Xaa. I think he's on for this whole album. He's not a pyrotechnic emcee, with dazzling bursts of ultravivid imagery or ridiculously complex rhyme schemes. He's confessional, and his lyrics set or match the tone of the whole album. As far as confessional emcees, he's one of the best out there today.

Mark, I'm not sure where you heard the prog in FR, but okay.

Kala and The ArchAndroid both skirt the edges of their genres. I consider Kala hip-hop, but I really have no idea what to call The ArchAndroid, except the logical follow-up to everything Outkast has done since Stankonia.

"Mending of the Gown" is great, but I think Dragonslayer- particularly "Trumpet Trumpet Toot"- is better than Random Spirit Lover, and is one of the very best records of the last decade.

Wolf Parade has the added benefit of having multiple songwriters with interesting side projects. Krug, in particular, brings a lot of ideas to the table because he feeds off/interacts with numerous other musicians.

I also like how this album pushes toward indie. Jim James has needed to be on a hip-hop album since he started covering "Tyrone" a decade ago, and the use of Dirty Projectors and Joanna Newsom is inspired. The resultant sound isn't revolutionary, but it's a step in a very positive direction.

Curious that you would mention Madvillainy and 36 Chambers, because those are two of the hip-hop albums I think are perfect. This album is damn strong- my favorite hip-hop record of the year so far- but it's not that good. There hasn't been a lot of innovation in hip-hop lately. This album doesn't break a lot of new…

I greatly enjoyed their show, but it wasn't because of the songwriting- these guys can fucking play. They work within conventional pop song structures, and seem to have added an Afropop flourish, as is fashionable. But most of the bands who write conventional pop songs with Afropop flourishes right now aren't…

I thought so. But I also thought it wasn't a quirkomedy. It has actual characters and scenarios that are actually funny, rather than arch, self-congratulatory in-references.

*Head explodes like a lightbulb filled with lighter fluid*

Neko Case's Scott Pilgrim Avatar
…can gaze condescendingly at me anytime.

Never met a French chick called me entranger.

Good point, Information. It was at then, at the end of s5 and the beginning of s6, that the mythology completely fell apart.