So let’s catch up.

Eminem chose Recovery over Relapse 2. Kele from Bloc Party is releasing a solo album (zomg). Courney Love is on stage again. Drake’s making videos that are all the rage. MGMT delivered their sophomore LP to the masses and I need to spend more time with it. Guru’s spirit left his body and passed on. Christina Aguilera’s back, but somewhat missing the mark with that single.  And I miss Kanye… a lot.

In high doses, the music keeps coming. I don’t know about y’all, but I can barely keep up…

PodZilla

The Gorillaz album is on the very top my list so far this year, and standout track “Rhinestone Eyes” won’t disappoint you. Miguel may have wowed us with “All I Want Is You” featuring J. Cole, but I can’t stop listening to “Ooh Ahh” off his EP- wait for him to go Maxwell on this one. Rolling Stone said Grace Potter & The Nocturnals were a band to watch this year, and since their frontwoman vocalist has pipes that are somewhat reminiscent of Janis Joplin’s and Lzzy Hale from Halestorm , I’m getting on board. Watch the whole video if you can, but if you can’t, start about halfway in at 2:30- something pretty special starts to happen!

If you know me, you know how I feel about Pac Div’s music and -more specifically- (*cough, cough*) Mibbs. Carney is a band that should definitely be on your radar, too: the brothers (singer and guitar) are enchanting in different ways, and the leadoff single is ridiculously catchy. That said, they bite some classic rock favorites of mine so hard that I’m hesitant to fully support them yet, and I fear their carnival-themed shtick might get stale. Speaking of gimmicks, after almost three years of routing for Janelle Monáe and defending her music (and bow-tie), I became exhausted and tapped out. And then the album arrived. Great. Finally. A few people I respect even said that it might be one of the best LPs so far this year. Bold statement? Maybe. Time will tell.

Yes, this Gyptian song has been all over the radio for a while, but I was admittedly loving it off the first listen a few months back (and still lose my mind when it comes on). The video is horrrrrible, but let’s see if it will last long enough to be a “Summer anthem.” Agnes is huuuge in Europe, and it’s just a matter of time until she blows up here and seizes the land of pop. The Black Keys album is solid from top to bottom, so I had no choice but to include them too. Representing for the goons: Vado’s buzz is growing, and with the support of Cam, he’s sure to help Harlem get the traction it’s been missing since the Dipset drama- oy. Cudi being on the hook is an incredible bonus, but I’m told this track was made two years ago. Oh well, it still bangs— Sliiiiiime.

On a side note: A lot of people are uninterested in the Nas/Damian Marley album, but I’ve been patiently waiting for it since the inception of the project. Damian has his father’s magic (something that I was lucky enough to witness first hand and be captivated by the other night at Highline), and Nas is actually spitting again- thank god.

While Kelis is catching a bad wrap for her court-awarded allowance, I’d really like to believe that she was madly in love with Mr. Jones and just got tired of him being a burnout. That shit gets old, and I’m sure she didn’t want Knight to see that his pops was a smoke monster poor role model.

As always, Podzilla is just a smörgåsbord of tracks that I’m nibbling on, so if you press play, I truly hope you enjoy the goods.

Someone recently told me that I’m doing a disservice to my blog by writing these music summary-type posts instead of taking my ideas and penning more focused, long-form pieces. That person is probably right, but I’ve got to admit: inspiration comes and goes. Please bear with me!