Stop trying to convince yourself–and me–that Justin Timberlake is actually a recording artists worth paying any fucking attention to.

Stop watching MTV thinking, “They have to play something good eventually.” They don’t.

Stop trying to remember the names, faces and music of the latest blue-eyed soul sensation. They’ll be gone in a year.

It’s time to find out about some new music. Rather, some old music that you don’t know about.

Wax Poetics
(Full disclosure: I wrote something for these guys that has yet to be published.)

But the reason I pitched them in the first place was that it’s just an amazing, amazing magazine. Here’s what the folks at the Utne Reader had to say when the gave WaxPo the 2005 Utne Independent Press Award for Arts/Literary Coverage.

This lovingly rendered bimonthly recaptures those grooves that were lost, both literally and figuratively, when jazz, funk, and hip-hop went digital. Like the vinyl recordings to which it pays tribute, the magazine’s mind-altering illustrations and kinetic photographs beg for a frame, while the prose crackles with truth and soul.

Remember when you were a kid and your parent’s friends came over for those grown up parties? Things started off calmly enough, but eventually your enjoyment of The A-Team was disturbed by their loud conversation, the blaring of the record player and that strange smell coming from the patio. This is the kind of music they were listening to.

Take it for a test drive with some of their free online content.

Soul Sides

Oliver Wang–aka DJ O-Dub–started this audio blog which led to the production of the instant-classic CD compilation, Soul Sides Vol. 1, in 2006. Vol. 2 is coming soon. He’s also the editor of Classic Material: The Hip-Hop Album Guide.

My wife and I had the pleasure of seeing DJ O-Dub in action at Star Shoes recently. There aren’t a lot of things that could cause us to brave the traffic nightmare that is Hollywood Boulevard, but it was worth it. Any idiot can cue up a few James Brown songs and call themselves a DJ. Wang has that special knack that all good DJs share of being able to play the song that you don’t technically know , but once it gets going, it feels like it’s always been one of your favorites.

A perfect example, The Impressions: We’re A Winner.