Thanks, Tom.

(Scrolling down to the last paragraph, here. By the way, the reason there wasn't more rap played at the reception is because, well, most of the hip hop I listen to is, like, The Geto Boys, and, besides, I don't spend much time clubbing--read: any--so am not as familiar with what rap the kids might be dancing to.)

Speaking of Tom, I'd like to take this opportunity to echo Matos' praise. I've been reading Tom's Voice blog daily since its inception, and I enjoy the fresh exuberance he brings to his music writing. I know Tom, of course, so it might seem that I am biased, but actually we definitely see and hear things in different ways and draw on considerably different music experiences. He's nearly 10 years younger than I am, for one thing, and much more tuned in to the pop moment. I like the Animal Collective (a lot), he doesn't. He is vastly more knowledgeable about hip hop (and, hey, he's pointed me to more than a few excellent rap albums), whereas I listen to a fair amount of jazz and love stuff like Gastr del Sol and Smog and Jackie-O Motherfucker. (Incidentally, I hadn't noticed this before, but reading Simon Reynolds' Rip It Up and Start Again recently, I was struck by how often his descriptions of the actual sound of the music under discussion reminded me of Tom's descriptions. Yes, that perhaps ought to be the other way around, but, before this book, most of Reynolds' writing I'd read had been a) on his own excellent blog, outside of reviews and b) of the less descriptive sort anyway.) In any event, given that I have a different take than Tom on pop in general, I might be more likely to link to his blog when I disagree than otherwise, as indeed I already have, but I wouldn't want that to obscure the fact that I enjoy reading him.