MUSIC: hip-hop/electronic/dance

1. Charango by Morcheeba: It's trip-hop (whatever that means). Yes, this album is mellow but it's got some groovy beats that gets me shakin' a little. Thank God for the bass. My favorite song is "What New York Couples Fight About" (great title, eh?). And the funniest song is "Women Lose Weight" which is about a guy whose wife has gained weight over the years and isn't attractive anymore. So he kills her because divorce would mean paying alimony. "I'll send that ass right/To the morgue miss," the husband says. And when he's caught he says, "Moral of the story/is desire is important/So watch your weight/it will keep your mate smitten/It's a given/Though looking back I realise/I didn't have to kill her." It's a very tongue-in-cheek rap. So don't take it too seriously! All in all, very interesting music. Not boring at all. And the vocals are great. It'll give you an extra bounce to your step.

2. Ultra.Chilled Vol. 3: There's a music genre or movement, if you will, called "chill out" that I didn't know existed. It's the antithesis of trance music (how do you dance to trance music anyway? All I can think of doing is jumping jacks). I don't really know how to describe chill out except that it's mellow music, instrumental or not, but it's electronic so it has a lot of energy to it even though it's chill. It can be downbeat techno, pop songs remixed, bossa nova-ish, cool jazz, or ambient. Chill out is closely associated with New Age (Oh no!). I guess in its essense, chill out is background music meant for relaxation. So in this 2-disc chill out collection my favorite by far is track 1 on the first disc "More than this" by Charlie Hunter featuring Norah Jones. Norah Jones has been so overplayed that this is refreshing. Also included is "Ghetto" by the Supreme Beings of Leisure, who are phe-no-me-nal. This song alone makes this CD worth buying. The first disc features songs by more conventional artists like Coldplay and Beth Orton while the second disc is more daring and different. Try it out if you need to calm your nerves.

3. Dance Party (Like it's 2003): Gasp! I bought a dance mix (what is the world coming to?). Well, this is definitely far from mellow unlike the previous two records above. When I worked at Crate & Barrel, there was this Korean guy who worked in the stock room who always listened to techno/electroni music, and I would secretly scoff at him for listening to such crappy music. Well now I own my very first dance mix. Even though I was very ambivalent about buying it I just got it because I knew the upbeat dance tunes would be good for my head condition (got to stimulate those neurons). The collection includes disco, techno, trance blah blah blah, you get the picture. Two songs I like very much are Lasgo's "Something" and DJ Sammy & Yanou's "Heaven." If you'd like some serious booty-shakin' then this collection is for you.

Hmm, maybe I should go into the budding field of music therapy.