I realized recently that not only was I growing tired of listening to the same music over and over, but that I hadn't purchased a new cd since...well, in way too long. Maybe May or before???

So last night, I purchased 3 new cds.

The first, Sean Lennon's "Friendly Fire," is a magnificent album. I'm listening to it at work right now. He's really inherited the Lennon chord progression gene. One reason why the Beatles and Lennon/McCartney were so great was that they knew how to break away from the same three chords that every musician uses in their songs. You can tell this kid grew up listening to his father's music. Like Elliot Smith, Sean Lennon's music recalls his influences without ever sounding derivative. I really dig it.

Beck's "The Information" is pretty good too. I don't know where it ranks in my Beck collection. Upon first listen, I place it on a rung below his recent "Guero." But it's still a great album. Like "Guero," his previous album, it has a healthy mix of Beck's version of hip hop and his more straightforward songs. His songs are always great, I don't care what album they're on. But sometimes his more hip-hop sounding stuff can get repetitive. I think that producer Nigel Godrich added a lot of nice touches, but I'm ready for another Dust Brothers produced album that sounds like the next logical step in "Odelay's" ground breaking tradition.

One of the things that kind of has me worried about Beck is that for so long, each album sounded different from one another. But here we have an album that sounds a lot like his previous work. Luke texted me last night asking me whether I liked "Guero" or "the Information" more. I replied "I'm leaning towards "Guero." After I sent it, I felt like writing back, "Is there really that much of a difference?" "The Information" sounds almost like a sequel.

The last album I purchased was Gnarls Barkley's "St. Elsewhere." Someone recently asked me what kind of music I listen to. I gave my usual "pretty much everything" response. What I should have said was "music like Gnarls Barkley, Beck, Gorillaz, etc." I love musical hybrids that don't fit into easily labeled genres. Is Gnarls Barkley hip-hop? Is it pop? Is it rock? Is it soul? It's all of those and more. I really like music like this. I'm glad Gorillaz and Gnarls Barkley songs are as popular as they are. It means that as much as popular music sucks, there are still enough people out there that like good music to make these songs hits. The album's really great, btw.