I think that "Fantastic Damage" is easily the worst thing to come out of the Def Jux crew and EL-P, ever. I must be the only who doesn't like it! The production is noisy, and horrible....it's like a pale reflection of what EL-P did for Cannibal Ox's "the cold vein." I also can't stand EL-P's constant "angry" schtick. Whereas many MC's (such as Gang Starr's Encore) and the guys from People Under the Stairs can deliver violently angry flows while maintaining their composure and tightness (ok, so I suck with adjectives right now), EL-P just turns into a sputtering mess the angrier he gets. I'm no hater or anything- "The cold vein" and Company Flow's "Little johnny from the hospital" are some of my favorite production jobs EVER. But "Fantastic Damage" is just noisy and out of control. Now, continuing with frustration- was anybody else horribly dissapointed by Zorn's recent "IAO"? I love the "death metal" track with patton and laswell, and I love the female chorus track, but the rest of the album just soudns like Cyro Baptista wanking for eleven minutes at a time while someone adds entirely affected "spooky" atmospherics. As far as the new DJ Shadow....I've had it for about 2 months, and it's very good....not life changing like his earlier stuff, but still an excellent instrumental hip hop album.