Insert Variable for the Venerable Sum

The worldly view of music and genre intertwined with the delicate fusion of tradition and mod, Insert a Variable to create different perspectives on the sounds one hears.  There is room for pause, but none for err.  Calculate the space and time through various generations and tastes to find the Venerable Sum in the likeness of Being...

Track Listing for Insert Variable for the Venerable Sum:

1. Themselves: "Home: Work" - Dose One & Jel (from Cincinnati, now San Fran) are 2 founders of Anticon, the underground indie hip-hop posse.  This is a prime example of Jel's masterful work behind the beat machine, and the eccentric background word-rhythms of Dose One. 
   
2. Atmosphere: "Puppets" - Rhymesayers of Minnesota is now massive, but a few years back, you could find Slug, the rapper, collaborating with Anticon (see above), especially in the improv classic album, Deep Puddle Dynamics.  Here we find Slug in his recent release from When Life Gives You Lemons, Paint That Shit Gold.  Bound to be more commercial than his underground classic days (which are far darker, I must say).
   
3. Lusine: "Still Frame" - wow, a Texan made this?  Haha!  Seriously, he's an all right bloke and worth checking for downtempo/techno.  Jeff McIlwain now resides in Seattle (thank Jesus, the Mr. Softee driver). 
   
4. PJ Harvey: "The Garden" - My all-time favorite woman musician, and one of my personal crushes.  This little intelligent minx changes her output on every album she releases.  You can find this track on Is this Desire?
   
5. Orsten: "Fleur Blanche" - found this track lingering in a Hotel Costes mix out of nowhere.  Personally, I loathe those mixes, but this track is nice.
   
6. DJ Krush feat Angelina Esparza: "Aletheuo (Truthspeaking)" - Krush Meister goes pop on this one, but does it with style on this crazy wicked beat.  Oh, and Angelina's voice is quite decent as well.
   
7. Maps: "It Will Find You" - I really like this little gem of a track by James Chapman, aka, MAPS.
   
8. Rodrigo y Gabriela: "Ixtapa" - this crazy-cool duo from Mexico City, now taking residence in Dublin, Ireland, take classical acoustic guitar playing to another level of THRASH!  The two met in a thrash metal band in Mexico City, then moving outside of the box into the world of classical guitar playing, yet keeping the rock/thrash metal theme prominent in their songs - here you can hear fine examples of the right way to fuse these two genres.
   
9. Beethoven played by Wilhelm Kempff: "Piano Sonata #14 in C Sharp, Op. 27/2 'Moonlight Sonata'" - what?  You didn't think I'd include classical numbers?  B* PLEASE!  This is one of my favorite pieces from Beethoven's masterful Middle Period - the darker, more refined, more mysterious compositions in his artistic/lifespan.  Oh, and Mr. Kempff was equally as brilliant conveying Beethoven's work, and is recognized as one of the more elite representatives to showcase Ludwig's work. 
   
10. Fleet Foxes: "Mykonos" - dang!  Check out this bizarre group from Seattle.  I dig this pretentious representation of "baroque harmonic pop jams," as they call it.  This EP, Sun Giants, is quite interesting, and I recommend it, WITH CAUTION.
    
11. Alias & Tarsier mixed Boom Bip: "Plane That Draws A white Line" - ok, Boom Bip is just that; BOOM BIP!  Alias is quite interesting, one of the founding members of earlier mentioned Anticon, but here not rapping, but producing...Tarsier is not good, but the remix of this track is classic Boom Bip form for you - if only we had a non-vocal version of this, it would make it that much better.
    
12. Hieroglyphics: "Let it Roll" - one of the best and most successful LA underground hip hop groups.  Souls of Mischief, Del the Funkee Homosapien, & The Pros make up this super group.  On this track you will hear Tajai of S.O.M. and Pep Love of The Pros passing the mic back'n'forth rippin' it up!
    
13. Fiest: "Sea Lion Woman" - oh snap!  This girl can mix up genres quite nicely, and here you can find the old cadence, sort of spiritual chants of Nina Simone.  Yes, a cover, but a nice version.  This chick won 2 Juno Awards (like a Grammy) for her second album, Let It Die.  This track is from her latest, The Reminder (2007)
    
14. Heernt: "Pi~3.1415" - a showcase from one of the finest jazz groups of my generation (late 20s, from Hoboken, NJ), and will continue to be a powerhouse in decades to come.  Mark Guilliana, the drummer, might be the next Tony Williams (THE greatest drummer out of the 60s a la Miles Davis - began rippin' it up and influencing others at the ripe age of 17), and here he pulls out all stops.  This trio is definitely worth keeping an ear or two on for years to come.