After dancing through the static on my walkman for years, hopping directly from signal to signal on my discman is heaven. It was startling to hear Shania's "Party For Two" followed by Shifty's "Turning Me On" while at the supermarket. Two of last week's Videos To Watch in a row! I can't get enough of dirty hokum. I've sung "After The Lovin'" at karaoke and I'll probably do it again.

I've also been using the discman to reaffirm the quality of my "albums of the year." So far, so great. Revisiting Bumblebeez 81 was especially rewarding. Everything I said about it in my Stylus review holds true, except "Tumbling Dice" and "Pony Ride" have grown on me. The video for "Come Ova" (on their site) uses tired ironic-playa imagery to try and strip away their valuable anonymity. Avoid. Stick with the mp3s and the video for "Pony Ride" (which can be found at Launch), if you're curious.