The Burgeoning Metropolis HOT 5: Episode #2

Classic Pick: Nas (NYC) Illmatic
... with all the buzz (read: commercials) about the new movie about Biggie, it made me want to pull out all my old rap albums and, for my money, this one is the best. Most of the time my biggest beef with rap albums are that I never want to listen to them front to back, but this one... every track is awesome.

and now all the sissy stuff...

#5 The Rest (Hamilton, On) Everything All At Once
Haven't really digested this one, but I'm a sucker for a falsetto voice...
[mp3] The Rest - Modern Time Travel

#4 Notorious OST
other than the fact that "Hypnotize" has got to be a top-1o song you want to hear on the dancefloor at the bar - for a variety of reasons, including the fact that it may induce some type of Julia Styles in 10 Things I Hate About You-esque seizure - but the rest of the soundtrack, particularly the original stuff... meh.

#3 The Antlers (Brooklyn, NY) Hospice
I'm much more sold on the band/album this week. It's probably a little a spacey/atmospheric to really grab me, but "Kettering" and a bunch of their other songs have this really cool Explosions-In-The-Sky-esque (the band who scores Friday Night Lights) way of building their songs - although the vocals/instrumentation reminds me a little bit of Radiohead. Expect an actual review or something resembling a review at some point.
(See last week's chart for mp3s)

#2 Glasvegas (Glasgow, Scotland) Glasvegas
I'm amazed at how much cooler the mundane lyrics on this CD sound with a think Scottish accent. They kind of remind me of a cross between the Frames (Glen Hansard of Once's band) and U2. I'm shocked at how popular they -"Geraldine" has 400,000 + myspace plays - and I've never heard of them until a couple of weeks ago... huh... where have I been on this one...

#1 Rah Rah (Regina, SK) going steady
My pick of the week (mp3s there)... a countrified-down-to-earth-version of the Arcade Fire... now that's a tag-line that the band can really work with.