N.W.A.

The elegant beat matrix of electro is to rave what the blues were to rock 'n roll. In other words... it all started with Kraftwerk.

Material's Intonarumori is a sprawling double-album sourced in the seedy underbelly of hip hop. And it's as ugly and twisted as you could hope for.

And so we've reached the halfway point in the Terminal Vibration saga, concluding the core eighties segment of the trip.

Picking up where the original Parallax 100 left off, this list represents the next hundred entries in my top 200 records of all time.

Folk have been declaring the death of the album for years now, but in truth it has always supported less volume than the 7" single (for instance).

During what's turned out to be an exceptionally busy week, I've been vibing out practically non-stop to Woebot's latest mix: "Bands a make her dance."

Each of these records is a chapter in the story of music's dalliance with the cosmos, tracing a fascination with the stars through the 20th and beyond.

This Spring mix comes out later than usual, and therefore the mood is a bit more dusted, more sun-baked than it otherwise might have been.

The five years between Straight Outta Compton and The Chronic were probably the most important stretch in the development of a distinctive West Coast hip hop sound.