Two years and counting, friends. Here is a month-by-month breakdown of some of the highlights for the newcomers:

Following the previous anniversary drop in May of last year, I flexed my poetic deficiencies with a review of that Arcade Fire record via a song-by-song haiku format. I also interviewed the Jack Bauer of the rap game, Clean Guns‘ Zilla Rocca, an MC I was all too happy to give some shine to. Other notable drops included an autopsy of my favorite Roy Ayers jam and a discussion of my technical methods in regard to the site.

In early June I shared my reactions to a box of forgotten and slightly embarrassing discs I found while reorganizing my closet. I had the pleasure of interviewing the perpetually slept-on Deadbeat, purveyor of the finest digital dub around. I trashed Lily Allen and that vomit-inducing song of hers and indulged in some haiku-hating on The Polyphonic Spree. I also dissected my favorite 9th Wonder beat, presented the first installment in a list of my recommended ‘non-essential’ jazz records, and wrote a guest drop for Jeff’s Passion of the Weiss with an autopsy of a devastating Kool G Rap verse.

Being the gentleman that he is, Jeff returned returned the favor in July with a hilarious autopsy of the High School High soundtrack. In between bouts of obsession with a particular Love Unlimited slow jam, I haiku’d that lackluster Interpol record, constructed a ‘Preemo Favorites’ mix for the masses, and talked shop with Kevin McCaughey of Montreal’s Ion Dissonance.

August saw rare reviews of two summer reads for hip hop geeks and a slew of lists: my top five favorite Barry White jams for my man Scholar over at Souled On, my ten favorite metal/hard rock drummers, and a list of ten great records that I’ll never listen to again. Dan Love and I also debuted our collaborative efforts in the Pete Rock Appreciation Society (or P.R.A.S.) with our top five favorite Soul Brother remixes.

As September rolled around I rediscovered the back catalogue of Compton’s DJ Quik, and more specifically, those soulful instrumentals he blessed his releases with. Tiring of reviewing various snail-mail press kits, I passed along a few newly-released discs to my good friend Nate Dubbz. I also dissected a Redman and Erick Sermon production and presented the second installment of the popular ‘non-essential’ jazz platters list.

Early October found me addicted to the kick drum patters of mid-’90s hip hop beats, which I meticulously digressed upon. I vowed to never again review anything that remotely smelled of ‘indie rock’ and instead immersed myself in RZA’s instrumentals for those classic Wu joints, which I assembled into another mix. I indulged in the spirit of Halloween by presenting six (how apropos) of the most frightening pieces of music known to the corporeal.

I spent the first week or so of November internets-free by lounging around in the Caribbean during a long-awaited vacation, but I had time to make a list of the more inappropriate inclusions on ten hip hop classics, as well as analyzing a long-forgotten MF Grimm cut.

In December I reviewed the Wu’s highly anticipated 8 Diagrams (2008), a rumored “shit sandwich” that somehow got better with every listen, and big upped London DJ Chris Read’s The Diary (2008) megamix. I had time for a list of nine records I associate with winter before the year-end best-ofs dropped, this time in parts one and two, with some good, old-fashioned hating to cap off the year.

Shortly after the New Year I discovered the music of Norway’s Enslaved, which quickly mutated into an unhealthy, festering fixation with the band; I would literally go entire weeks without listening to anything else. Yet somehow I was able to occasionally break free for an autopsy of De La Soul’s oft-overlooked masterpiece Buhloone Mindstate (1993), another P.R.A.S. installment with the help of Dan Love, and a list of the top five sexiest ballads penned by The Isley Brothers.

External forces (read: my insanely busy day job) kept me away from the site for most of February, but I was able to defend the last dying breath from the almighty Swans, compose a primer on late-period Coltrane, and took a few minutes to share the experience of my first live show.

I struggled to find time to post during the month of March, but managed to review the latest from Ms. Badu and a handful of upcoming jazz releases. I also fulfilled a lifelong dream by discussing one of my all-time favorite records with one of my all-time favorite drummers, Shudder to Think’s Adam Wade, who was kind enough to assist me in an autopsy of the band’s definitive statement, Pony Express Record (1994). Then, on March 30th, the headaches started when WordPress released an upgrade that wasn’t anywhere near compatible with my web host.

So for most of April I struggled to figure out how to fix the site, with generous assistance from the inimitable MacShaman. Site visits dropped to half of what they were a year ago, as readers were greeted by a blank page from the url. When I was actually able to post, the results were an overview of one of my favorite bands, Swervedriver, and five genres of music that I sheepishly enjoy. A switch to a new server remedied all of my site issues, so I kicked off what will hopefully be a return to regular posting with four transcriptions of Premier’s beats from Gang Starr’s Moment of Truth (1998).

In the tradition of last year’s anniversary post, I’d like to give a shout to the sites that support and inspire me. Push up ya lighters, blog fam:

The gang of contributors over at Audiversity, which offers standout coverage of obscure music and fine writing in equal measure.

Dallas Penn: saving the internets so you don’t have to.

Chilly Jay Chill and Professor Drew LeDrew always bring the noise with the best free-jazz audioblog in the blogosphere, Destination: Out.

Junior and company are still devoted to giving the kiddies audible treats over at EarFuzz.

Dan Love, blog brother from another mother, continues to hold it down (the microscope, that is) with the finest beat deconstructions and producer interviews over at From Da Bricks.

Christopher of Fuck I Look Like? continues to amaze me with his meticulously crafted drops on everything from 2Pac to the history death metal.

Geek Down’s Joseph is constantly opening my ears to new music, with a guidance that’s both insightful and witty. My adoration of that Pig Destroyer record (aka my 2007 Album of the Year) can be wholly attributed to this dude.

Cosmo Lee of Invisible Oranges fame oversees the finest metal blog around and is a huge inspiration on my own writing, with a clarity that is unmatched.

Aaron and the crew that comprise Metal Lungies, offering up hip hop entertainment and news in between their stellar Beat Drops and (my favorite) Remix Tuesdays.

Sebastian doesn’t post very often at New Artillery, but when he does it’s always worth stopping by, with the most ingenious ideas for posts (”iPod Chicanery,” “Record Collection Reconciliation”) and a taste in ’90s rock that’s eerily mirrors mine to a T.

Brandon “No Trivia” Soderberg is one of the finest writers I know and his thought-provoking drops on everything from television to Southern rap are not to be missed.

I bow in submission to the phenomenon known as Dr. Zeus’ Not a Blogger.

Rafi and company at Oh Word, who satiate my fix for hip hop absurdity and quality writing whenever I visit the site.

Morning routine: Wake up. Pour cup of coffee. Immediately check the daily brilliance that is Passion of the Weiss. Laugh until sides ache. Continue with day.

Just when you think that there isn’t a topic that hasn’t been covered to death, Dart “Poisonous Paragraphs” Adams digs up some long-forgotten shit like an exhaustive overview of G. I. Joe dolls or breaks out his encyclopedic knowledge of cult film trivia, and I’m left shaking my head in amazement.

For underground up-and-coming MCs and the latest in mixtape hotness, look no further than Fresh’s 33 Jones, which pretty much sets the standard for hip hop blogging.

Lastly, Travis at Wake Your Daughter Up remains one of my favorite sites to visit, a treasure of old-school showcases, long-forgotten jewels, interviews, and random thoughts on all things hip hop.

A DISTANT EARLY WARNING…

Starting Monday, May 5th, I’ll commence a project that I’ve been contemplating tacking for some time now. I’m going to cover one Rush song every weekday, randomly selected from their thirteen studio albums released between 1974 and 1989, for four weeks. It’s an idea too absurd and grossly unpopular for me to not be intrigued by it.

My reasons for doing this are multifold. I’ve always been inspired by Matthew Perpetua’s excellent Pop Songs 08, where he thoroughly covers every song from R.E.M.’s catalogue, and this project could be considered as my own little nod of the hat to him. So why in hell would I pick Rush, of all bands? The truth is, I’m intimately familiar with Rush’s discography (at least the chunk that encompasses ‘74 through ‘89), having subsisted on a steady diet of Lee, Lifeson, and Peart for an entire year during my high school days, much to the chagrin of pretty much everyone I knew. Perhaps most importantly, this site has always been about nurturing one’s inner music geek; if I could somehow incorporate the warning “Nerd Alert!” into the design somewhere, I probably would. Few bands of the past century are more qualified to be analyzed in this spirit and under these circumstances. For obvious reasons, I’ll only post mp3s of two songs from the five that are selected per week. As always, readers are encouraged to seek out and buy the albums they’re culled from.

In other words, I’ll see roughly 95% of you when June rolls around.