another summer of sucky music

Summer is usually a good season gauge the kind of quality music that will come out for the rest of the year. So far, it's been pretty lackluster.

At the top of the season, AFI put out another record that distanced the band further from their punk roots and into the realm of showboating, theatrical old men (see: Queensryche). New London Fire's dance-pop debut finally came out, though nearly a year after the single "Different" was released. There were some minor hits with The Format, Cursive, and Against Me, but for the most part this summer pretty much sucked for rock music.

Hip-Hop, on the other hand, has been far more consistant and may become the juggernaut it once was. I am, however, talking about the kind of hip-hop that doesn't receive massive radioplay, so if you want to cite T.I. or whatever, then go ahead.

Despite some pretty bad reviews, The Roots and Method Man have released some of the best records on Def Jam since "Fishscale," which was marginally good. And even though his first week sales were pretty dismal, Rhymefest may have put out the best hip-hop album of the year (a title once held by ex-Artifacts MC El Da Sensai and conspiracy theorist Apathy).

Even a rapper-less record like Cut Chemist's "The Audience is Listening" was chock full of summer jams and tunes that lacked the suckiness that has plagued hip-hop radio stations of late.

While I wouldn't say that this summer has been as good as the summer of 1995 (otherwise known as the year of Premier), I will say that it's probably been the most exciting time for hip-hop since 1997.