This is kind of random, but when you're listening to your headphones do you ever wonder whether you're losing your hearing? Well, it might just be that your ears are clogged with excess wax and you need to get them cleaned out! I went to an otolaryngologist (ears, nose & throat doctor) last week because I thought this might be the case. She took one look, and proceeded to stick a tweezer into my ears and pull out two huge, bullet-shaped dark-brown crack-rocks of wax. She showed me how they were actually molded into the precise spherical dimensions of my ear canals. Cool! I mean, it was kind of gross -- the pieces of wax reminded me of the date nuggets in my breakfast cereal -- but it felt damn good! Liberating, somewhat like evacuating your bowels. (Sorry, I know this post is earthier than my ususal.) And maybe it's psychosomatic, but I swear I'm hearing better than ever. It's like the music is flowing right through my ears into my brain, man!

BITE-SIZE BISCUITS

For the week of October 23rd

* Per Okayplayer, ?uestlove is currently working with Pharrell on a new live-instrumentation version of the latter's disappointing solo debut, In My Mind, which came out earlier this year. Remember, Pharrell did the same thing with N.E.R.D's In Search Of...; for the US release it was re-recorded with help from the band Spymob. Err, I'm not so sure about this one, guys. The N.E.R.D. album was pretty good to begin with. But I'll wait and see.

* Speaking of ?uest, the guy is like an effing one-man musical movement -- he's got his hands in a million projects at once. In addition to the Pharrell project, apparently he's currently producing Al Green's upcoming album (very exciting), drumming on Jill Scott's next joint (also exciting, she hasn't let me down yet). And this may be just a rumor, but I heard something recently about a collaboration between ?uest, Andre 3000, and W. Marsalis for a track-by-track remake of Kind of Blue. Again, I've got my prejudices but I'll hold my tongue til I hear it, assuming it ever happens.

* Speaking of Andre, what do you all think about this Cartoon Network thing? It's old news, but it sounds like it is definitely happening. The Outkast rapper has been working on his own animated TV series and is contributing a new song for each episode. "Class of 3000" debuts November 3.

* On a much more serious and non-musical-related note, please take a minute and read this incredibly powerful and moving letter by Kevin Tillman, brother of Pat Tillman who was killed in Afghanistan and whose death was exploited in a despicable manner by the Bush Administration.

MORE JAY-Z

After reading my recent post on Jay-Z, a pal of mine who's been living in Liberia sent me this photo he shot out of his car window in Ghana...

BECK'S "STRANGE APPARITION" AND MORE

I'm sure tons of other people have pointed this out already, but this song, "Strange Apparition," off Beck's new album The Information sounds very similar -- in an homage way, not a ripoff way -- to the Rolling Stones' "Torn and Frayed" from Exile on Main Street. I like it!

And I like the whole new CD. But not quite as much as 2005's Guero, at least not yet. Guero was one of my favorite albums of last year, and it was produced by the Dust Brothers, who were responsible for Beck's joyous Odelay. But he actually started working on The Information, with producer Nigel Godrich, before he did Guero, after 2002's solemn Sea Change.

I seem to be in the minority in favoring Guero over The Information. Most critics are saying exactly the opposite. The two records are fairly similar, and they're both very good, but the highlights of the new one don't quite reach the same level for me as those of its predecessor. But maybe I just need to give it more time. In addition to the Stones-esque tune mentioned above, I am really enjoying "Think I'm in Love," "Soldier Jane," and "No Complaints." I've always been partial to singing Beck over rapping Beck, and the ratio is about the same on this album as the last. While I like some tracks more than others, I can listen to the disc from start to finish and it gets better each time. Have you heard it? What are your thoughts?

Ps: Also, speaking of the Stones' Exile, check out this recent excerpt in Rolling Stone (the magazine) from an upcoming book about the wild, behind-the-scenes making of the classic 1971 album.

JAY-Z LEAKS FROM KINGDOME COME

This is what everyone's talking about, so here are my two cents. Just in case you've been living under a rock, the background: after months of speculation, Jay-Z officially announced in September that he's ending his ridiculous pseudo-retirement, which only lasted about three years. Excitement is now brewing for his "comeback" album, Kingdome Come, due November 12 and featuring production from Just Blaze, Kanye, Timbaland, Rick Rubin, the Neptunes, etc. -- basically the same all-star cast that created his highly-regarded retirement album, 2003's The Black Album, but with some new surprises such as a Dr. Dre-produced song with Coldplay's Chris Martin on vocals.

I have no doubt the album is going to be tight, since Jay seems to be following the same winning formula as The Black Album and 2001's The Blueprint. Fueling the excitement, not just one but two tracks from the album have now leaked, both produced by Just Blaze...

Last week we heard "Show Me What You Got" -- listen here -- which shrewd listeners/ music nerds recognized as jacking from both Johnny Pate's "Shaft in Africa" and the Lafayette Afro Rock Band's "Darkest Light" (the sax previously used, most notably, on PE's instrumental "Show Em What You Got" from It Takes a Nation of Millions... and Wreckx-N-Effects' "Rump Shaker"). The track is pretty nice, especially cause Just Blaze used live musicians. Here's Jay and Just talking about the making of the song in Elliott Wilson's column in XXL. While I dig the music, my overall feeling for this first single from the album -- if that's indeed what it is -- is only lukewarm, mostly because Jay comes off subpar (by his standards). Pitchfork nailed it here: the real problem is that Hov's lyrics are tired. All in all, I like it perhaps as much as "Encore," and it's certainly better than "Change Clothes," but it's definitely not up there with highlights of The Black Album like "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" or "99 Problems." I'm not even sure I like it as much as "December 4," one of Just Blaze's two Black Album contributions, and it isn't close to touching the other, "Public Service Announcement."

But the second song from the new album to leak, the title track "Kingdome Come," also produced by Just Blaze, does arguably match the drama and intensity of "P.S.A." Funkmaster Flex got his hands on "Kingdome Come" a few days ago -- listen here -- and it seems to be getting a better reaction among listeners than "Show Me What You Got." It sounds like classic Jay-Z. This one samples "Superfreak," of all things, but in an unexpected way. It totally works. Here he is, again, with Just and engineer Young Guru talking about the making of this track.

So, what do you people think of these songs? As much as I like them, especially "Kingdome Come," and as much as I am anticipating the new record, I recognize that no matter how good it is it's not going to be as important to hip-hop as, say, The Blueprint. Why do I say that? Has Jay passed his prime? I doubt it. Despite some recent lackluster guest verses (on songs by Beyonce and others), you can't deny Hov is still at the top of his game. But the element of surprise is missing. People know exactly what to expect: that masterful flow and irresistible swagger, over beats by a variety of proven A-list producers who have made magic with Jay in the past. I'm not complaining, believe me. After almost a decade, America still loves Jay-Z, which in our flavor-of-the-month culture is a testament to how good he really is. But at some level, I think we're all kind of longing for a new voice, someone on the level of Hov/Nas/Big/Pac. And Jay seems to understand this, too, which I guess is why he retired. But then when no one else stepped up to the plate over the past few years, he had to come back and show 'em "how to do this, son." I can't really argue with that.

In other Jay-Z news, he is currently doing his Bono thing, touring the world in connection with MTV and Kofi Annan/the UN to raise awareness about the global water crisis. Along the way, he is performing to adoring crowds in cities from Krakow and Bratislava to Accra and Johannesburg, from Bangkok and Taipei to Athens and London (where he was joined by Nas, and by Chris Martin for "Heart of the City" and Gwyneth Paltrow [!] for "Song Cry"). A Shanghai date was cancelled, though, when China's Culture Ministry objected to the rapper's "vulgar" lyrics.

Some might dismiss Jay's Water for Life tour as part of a contemptible recent Africa-chic trend, along the same lines as Madonna adopting a Malawian kid. Still, I admire him for doing what he can. And there's something inspiring and historic about these international performances. These aren't places where Western artists, especially rap artists, usually visit. Can you imagine what it means for some teenager in Lagos to see his hero Jay-Z on stage?

Ps: MTV airs a documentary about the Water for Life tour on Friday, November 24th.

TOWER RECORDS MEMORIES

I know Tower Records may not be that "cool," but man, I'm feeling pretty damn emotional about their going out of business. I heard the news over the weekend and today I went to the Village store (the one in the pic below), which is close to my work, to see what the vibe there was like. It was a sad scene -- emptier-than-usual shelves, cheap-looking blowout-sale signs everywhere, a somber mood all around -- and it affected me more than I expected.

Getting vaklempt over the fate of a retail chain seems weird, for sure, but what can I say? I should be mourning CBGB, I suppose, but to be honest I've never been there. Tower, on the other hand, has been a big part of my life, bigger than I realized, for the last three decades. I've always lived in cities, so I never bought my music at suburban malls or anything like that. For me, it was a mixture of small hip record stores and big ones like Tower where I could spend hours roaming the aisles.

And I did spend a crazy amount of time at Tower. It was probably around 9th grade (1988-89) that I went totally music-crazy. The CD revolution was in full bloom, and my best friend JW and I devoured rock criticism and rock history books. Reading about all this great music from the 60s to the present was a mixed blessing because we realized how much we had to catch up on -- and our pocketbooks were limited. But whatever money we had, we used up on CDs. And when we weren't actually buying CDs, we were at Tower flipping through the racks, memorizing titles, familiarizing ourselves with entire bodies of work, thinking about what we wanted to buy.

This was in Seattle, by the way -- and it was mostly at the Tower store on University Avenue (known as "the Ave"), though there is also a great Queen Anne location near the Seattle Center. What I realize now is that this huge CD emporium was crucial to our musical awakening, more so than the little hip stores. The geography of Tower is forever etched in my brain, because it really was my brain: it was like a bricks-and-mortar version of the massive catalogue of music in my memory.

In the college years, I became even more obssessed with music, but Tower wasn't on the scene for me during this time. I was in Berkeley, CA, and as anyone who's been there knows, nothing compares to massive Amoeba Records on Telegraph Ave, which somehow manages to combine the appeal of the megastore and the boutique.

But in New York, there is no Amoeba equivalent. And when I found myself in 2000 working at a company in the Lincoln Center area, suddenly Tower (the one at Broadway & 66th, see the pic at the top of this post) was my second home again. I hung out there almost every lunch hour for the next five years! The staff was friendly and knowledgable, and I had some fun musical conversations with them. Again, like when I was a kid in Seattle, I soon memorized the layout of the store and kept mental lists of everything I hoped to buy someday.

The purpose of this post is primarily nostalgic. I'm not going to get into the causes of Tower's financial failings and what it all means for the music industry, because every blogger is probably writing about this stuff and I'm sure they know a lot more than me. Moreover, I don't really have any right to complain because I have hardly been buying CDs myself lately. But I can say that for me and many other men and women of my generation, Tower was where we grew up, where we listened and learned and got excited about music. I will miss it.

A MUSICAL PORTRAIT OF MY WIFE

My wife and I are very well-matched musically. I can't stress enough how important this is and how incredibly lucky I realize I am. Can you imagine spending the rest of your life with someone who listens to completely wack shit? Or worse, someone who doesn't share your genuine excitement about any music at all, who kinda likes everything she thinks she should like -- every generic, easy-to-swallow Norah Jones or Black Eyed Peas that comes along -- but doesn't truly feel anything or have any tastes of her own?

The conventional wisdom is that the most important factor in a relationship or marriage is to possess the same values, to believe in the same fundamental principles, such as the sanctity of family, the dignity of hard work, etc., etc., blah blah blah. I think this is pure bollocks. Balls. Balderdash. Big biscuits of bullshit. More often than not, such so-called shared values are just meaningless cliches uttered by holier-than-thou individuals trying to elevate themselves above those they consider sinners and sex fiends. I mean, these principles aren't exactly unique. How many people would admit they don't think family or work are good things?

Don't get me wrong, I love being married and I adore my wife. But there are other qualities that I believe are just as important to our continued love and happiness as all that shared-values stuff. For example, we both worship the sun and dig spending time on the beach. We have similar diets: healthy but flavorful, with lots of spice. We both like rum and mojitos and plum wine. And finally, music is a big part of our lives: we love discovering new sounds and we enjoy lots of musical moments together.

Our tastes aren't perfectly aligned, but that's probably a good thing. When I first met her, she was a bit too into Lilleth-Fair fare for my liking -- you know, Ani DiFranco, Shawn Colvin, Melissa Etheridge, that whole estrogen-centric bag. And she has a few musical skeletons in her closet: she's a sucker for dance remixes by J-Lo, Britney, etc. When we first moved in together, it was very difficult for me to accept integrating our CD collections. What if a visitor came over and mistook her Madonna CDs for mine?!

But I'm making it sound worse than it is. The truth is my lady has pretty damn great musical taste. For example, she turned me on to Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds, Vol. 1. At the time (2000), I was skeptical of anything that reeked of spoken word poetry (OK, I still am), and I was missing out on an amazingly talented artist whom I ended up enjoying for years to come.

She also turned me on to Radiohead's OK Computer. To Grace Jones' Nightclubbing. And plenty more.

Some of her musical gods include Fela Kuti (this alone puts her in the 99.9th percentile in my book) and Led Zeppellin (when she rocks it out, she bangs her head and shakes her great curly Slash-like hair -- it's a beautiful sight).

She's also got a thing for certain blue-eyed soul artists. She loves Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" song. And she can't get enough of Joe Cocker. We bang his live joint Mad Dogs & Englishmen on the regular.

Unfortunately, in the blue-eyed soul category, she also loves Kenny Loggins' "This Is It." And she's a fan of some questionable soft-rock nuggets like Chuck Mangione's "Feels so Good." But truth be told, I kinda like Loggins and Mangione, too.

Off the top of my head, here is a brief list of her other musical faves: Ella Fitzgerald & Duke Ellington Live in Stockholm; Sarah Vaughan; Nina Simone; Al Green's "Love and Happiness"; Donny Hathaway's "A Song for You"; Marvin Gaye's "Got To Give It Up"; Bill Withers's "Can We Pretend?"; Funkadelic's "I'll Stay"; Van Morrison's "Sweet Thing" and his early Bang Masters CD; the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" and "Miss You"; John Lennon's "(Just Like) Starting Over"; the Allman Brothers; early Rod Stewart with the Faces; Buena Vista Social Club, Ibrahim Ferrer, etc.; Bob Marley's Kaya; Portishead; Brazilian Girls; the Gorillaz' Demon Days; Coldplay's Parachutes; Pearl Jam; David Gray's White Ladder; Lauryn Hill's "Just Like Water"; Van Hunt's "What Can I Say (for Millicent)"; the Roots, particularly their collaborations with female singers like Erykah, Jilly, and Jaguar Wright; Common's "The Corner"; Mobb Deep's "Shook Ones, Pt 2"; Jay-Z's "I Just Wanna Love You (Give It to Me)," "Lucifer," and his whole Unplugged CD with the Roots, particularly "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)" where Jaguar just kills it.

In recent months, new tracks that have captured her ears include: Bilal's cover of Radiohead's "High and Dry"; "Don't Feel Right" and the title track from the Roots' Game Theory; "Daydream" by Lupe Fiasco with Jill Scott on the hook; and "These Streets" by Tanya Stephens.

I would even go out on a limb and say that part of my hunger for discovering new music is because of her. I want to impress her by introducing her to new songs, keeping her constantly musically stimulated, and making music a continuing part of our lives. She also acts as a sort of bullshit detector; if I hear something, and I'm not quite sure if I like it or not, I play it for her and test her reaction. If she's not digging it, chances are it will fall off my playlist pretty quickly. And if the first 30 seconds of the song make her go, "Ohhh shit" or "He's about to drop the beat, yo!" -- her signs of musical approval -- I know it's a keeper.

Her birthday was yesterday, and that's part of why I'm devoting this post to her. When we got married a few years ago, she gave me a wedding present: an iPod. On the back she had it ingraved: "Here's to a lifetime of harmonies." Now tell me -- how lucky am I?! What an amazing gift, and what a beautiful message. That about says it all. The key to a long-lasting marriage/relationship really isn't flowers and diamond rings and values-shmalues. It's about continuing to enjoy each other and to revel together in what we love (sweet plum wine, the sensation of sun on our skin, music that makes us smile). For me, it's about continuing to make her go "Ohhh shit." I think we're doing pretty well...