The subject of John Titor came up in conversation today. In case you never heard, he showed up in early 2001 claiming to be a time-traveler from the year 2036.

Sadly, many people believed him, and many still do.

Apparently, the world in 2036 is recovering from a global war in which American civil liberties eroded to the point that, in 2004-2005, there were "Waco-type events" on a weekly basis, and the country finally fell into civil war, the opposing factions being centralized urban areas and organized rural militias. Then the militias allied themselves with the Russians, who subsequently nuked …

Man, it's been awhile. Hex came out in, what, 1993 or so? What gives? Graham Sutton gets some friends together, records a modest record which receives almost no promotion but invents the whole "Post-Rock" genre, then he just disappears for eleven years? Hm.

If you've never heard Hex, kick yourself now. When your posterior regains feeling, get a copy. You won't be sorry. It was (and still is) one of the true masterpieces of the 1990's, easily ranking along with records like Loveless and the first Low record in terms of sheer originality. …

Lali Puna have always come across to me as more of a "concept" act than anything else. After hearing the rabid, foaming fanyboyish praise that got heaped on Scary World Theory, I was completely dumbfounded. The whole thing came off as a premeditated Stereolab-meets-Notwist experiment, with little of the latter's subtle power and far too much of the former's fey smugness. I wrote it off as by-the-numbers Post-Rock and forgot about them.

Needless to say, I had no expectations for this record, but on impulse, I decided to check it out. Glad I did. Faking the …