
I'm going to step out on a limb here and try to offer up something that may be a little mainstream for all you bottom-feeders. Can we set aside the Cerebral Ballzy and Japanther for a second and talk about an actual musician? Like someone who can write music down on paper and just wrote and composed an opera? No?! Man, you're being punk for such an unpunk reason. I mean, how much more DIY can you get than actually knowing how to read and write music and composing songs using all 88 keys rather than the same three chords over and over and over? (I gotcha with that, didn't I?) Good, now listen. All Days Are Nights: Songs For Lulu by Rufus Wainwright is the best thing I've heard in probably something like forever. Rufus' plan from the beginning, I believe, was to do for opera and classical music what Steely Dan did for jazz. What did Steely Dan do for jazz? They made it appeal to millions of dumb pop-soaked ears, that's what. And that ain't easy. It's like someone figuring out how to teach you math through porn.

