Antipopper has some interesting things to say about David Bowie’s art-funk masterpiece Station to Station. I think Anti vastly overrates contemporary R&B, which, with the exception of Timbaland/Missy, the occasional interesting song Dr. Dre manages to crap out (one a year, usually; cf. “In Da Club” and “Lay Low”), and the Neptunes’s one good idea which they’ve now somehow parlayed into an empire, is the most joyless, artless, mercenary music I can think of since mid-80s power balladry. On the other hand, the bits about the scratchy aridity of disco guitar and the black-or-whiteness of Bowie & Prince are quite smart. (BTW, “Stay,” from this very album, is the forgotten Bowie masterpiece, and probably my favorite Bowie song of all time. Sexy, propulsive, funky, heavy, futuristic, human, rockandroll.
Also, this is a rare find: I disagree with both the letter and the spirit of virutally everything this Forager post about Tolkien says!