Run It Up the Flagpole...

Mike Skinner, a.k.a. The Streets, is one of our generation's great lyricists and visionary musicians. Though he's a slightly funny looking white guy with a heavy British accent (see left*), he's responsible for two of the best hip hop/electronica/British garage/grime/whatever albums of this decade: Original Pirate Material and A Grand Don't Come for Free. Or rather, two of the best albums of the decade in any genre, and it's much easier to say that than to make attempts at pigeonholing his sound. Unfortunately, his most recent two albums (the first of which I showered with perhaps undue praise here in 2006) have been less than stellar.

However, he's shown a remarkable return to form lately, and accordingly, I am pro...

The Twitter Album. In the past few months, Skinner has made available through his twitter eleven songs free of charge. And frankly, most of them are a lot better than Everything Is Borrowed, his most recent official offering, which while often insightful, ended up somewhat stiff and (dare I say it) overproduced. No financial issues hanging over his head (no need for a single, for instance) + the self-enforced time constraints of putting out a new song every couple days = excellence. I recommend: "Trust Me," "See If They Salute," and "Outside Inside." But it's all very enjoyable.

The Skinimixes are what you get when you have someone who (a) listens to all genres of music with (b) an unerring ear for both hot new stuff and forgotten classics and who (c) has a ton of high-tech mixing equipment and (d) probably too much free time. On his blog/website, Skinner has provided no fewer than eleven (and counting) of these mixes (again, free). There are certainly worse ways to soundtrack twenty-five to forty minute blocks of your life, and few better. Cop that ish.

First, 'ave a taste:

Skinimix 8 (Holler at that Susan Boyle Intro!)
Skinimix 5
The Streets: Trust Me

*For the record, he is not that tall, and I, though short, am not that short. We're standing on steps, because I basically ran up and stopped him on his way into his trailer during Bonnaroo 2006. My friend Paul G used to say that one should never meet one's heroes, but how else are you going to get a picture with them in which they appear slightly put-out and annoyed with you? Maybe he would have been happier if I wore a Birmingham Citeh shirt.