Dear Gay Jesus,

If you know me very well, you know that, though I love all types of music, hip-hop music is my obsession and my passion. And if you were to ask me who my favorite hip-hop artist of all time is, I would (after some hemming and hawing) pronounce that El-P's music changed my life more than any other hip-hop artist. That's saying a lot. That's counting "Nation of Millions." The reasons I usually give in defense of ranking a relative newcomer over the likes of Chuck D. are usually pretty vague. It all just comes down to a feeling. When I first heard El-P's "Fantastic Damage," I realized that there were new things out there waiting to be done - it isn't true that nothing's new under the sun. This dude is on some new shit. He's remixing a lot of rock records these days, and I am particularly fucking wowed by his remix of Hot Hot Heats "Goodnight, Goodnight" - a thunderstorm of 808 bass drums and minor chord synthesizers that makes me want to throw my chair out the window. You can buy it on i-Tunes, just search for "El-P." The drum sounds kind of sound like Spank Rock's "Bump Short" - it almost sounds like a sample of "Bump Short." Except, you know, it's better in every fuckin' imaginable way.