One thing I love about our new Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy rice cooker: when the rice is done, it plays a chimey little song that sounds just like the Beastie Boys' Girls. It also makes fantastic rice.

I've had a string of excellent subway music encounters that warrant sharing: A melancholy, yearning, embellished cover of Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive played on the marimba at the 7th Ave F stop in Brooklyn.

Not the theme to Laura, but something very close, very Hollywood, played on an erhu at the downtown Prince Street R stop in Manhattan.

A middle aged guy in a Hawaiian shirt, sunglasses and loafers, enthusiastically and unabashedly playing air guitar AND air drums, including kick, to whatever was on his iPod, somewhere on the uptown N train.

Summer 2012 -- It's hot outside, but I've been holed up in my air conditioned studio mastering singles for Joshua and the Giant, Allison Weiss and Thee Shambels, albums for the ultra-funky Hokumfactory and Louisville, KY's folk rockers Beady, a beautifully produced EP for Cosmicity. Plus, two incredible projects from Awesome Tapes From Africa: Bola Volume 7 and an EP of Bola Remixes.