Katy Perry - Teenage Dream

 - Vancouver, British Columbia - One of my first memories of Katy Perry brings me back to an old job of mine, where satellite radio was the purveyor of our music. Unfortunately my employer only allowed us to keep it on one station, which was the Top 40 one. I learned each of the songs by heart from hearing them all of the time, but any of my co-workers from that time will be able to recall me abandoning customers without hesitation to run for the volume adjuster to turn off the radio when "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry came on. You see, for me, "I Kissed A Girl" was nothing more than sick form of exploitation of lesbians in the same sense than some straight girls kiss each other merely to attract attention to themselves and not because they particularly enjoying kissing girls, but that they are attention whores and are willing to do anything to attract the salivating glances of stupid men. For reasons such as this, I felt like "I Kissed A Girl" was a cheap ploy to get Perry attention, and unfortunately it worked.

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Dr. Dre - The Chronic

- Vancouver, British Columbia - Under most circumstances, I would likely entirely avoid all the names attached to this album. The Chronic is a collaborative project, primarily helmed by Dr. Dre, but also often featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg, RBX, Dat Nigga Daz, and a whole cast of others. Snoop Dogg and Dre are pretty much the only remaining people from the crew. (Not that the others are dead, I've just never heard of them). What attracted me to this album was that it made it onto Rolling Stones magazine's top 500 albums list, citing it as one of the best hip-hop albums, pioneering popular rap. Also, its era suggested quality because it was back before hip-hop was a dying genre. (Yes, it's still popular, but it has fallen into creative slums for the most part). Many other albums from the early 9's were strong pieces of work. I also happened to see it at the library so I could get it for free. Thought it wouldn't hurt.

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Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

- Burnaby, British Columbia - Fortunately, the Gorillaz are back with Plastic Beach. I entered this one with more excitement than I had their last two albums. It took me a while to get into the other albums, but once I did I found the music to be quite rewarding, especially Demon Days. The opening single was Stylo, and upbeat electronic song featuring Mos Def and soul singer Bobby Womack. I quickly fell in love with it and its strangely hilarious music video.

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