Extreme metal, hip-hop and acapella classical

Play it: The Mountain Goats' eMusic Dozen (whittled to 9)
Play it: Kaki King - Until We Felt Red

John Darnielle is an Emusic member and contributer to the site. His playlist contribution of Extreme Metal Dozen turned a lot of heads, given the contrast to the type of music he writes. His follow-up to that was The Dirty Dozen, a collection of Booty Jams.

Well now he's contributed another, under the guise of his band The Mountain Goats, and much of it is equally eye-opening. Normally, I wouldn't bother to take an eMusic playlist and rework it as a Rhapsody one, but this one was so interesting I had to - and it's a good way to show eMusic some love. Darnielle's always had this rap/hip-hop fixation (his lyricism and timing are reflective of the best in genre,) but inclusion of Digital Underground's obscure Future Rhythm album still makes for a surprising pick. Even more so, the acapella classical of Anonymous 4 (An English Ladymass)

One album that makes sense (and gives me another reason to post on it) is Kaki King's latest Until We Felt Red. Produced by Tortoise's John McEntire, King's latest moves beyond mere guitar mastery, and into a more complete artist. Not only does she sing (don't know why she hasn't used that incredible instrument before) but she expands her style of playing, moving out of the shadow of her influences (Preston Reed, Michael Hedges, John Fahey, et al) and developing a style of her own.

Boy, I'm really mailing it in again today, aren't I? Not even going to bother to 'tag' this puppy.