The hip-hop sound of the 1980's and 1990's gets peeled back like an onion this Tuesday, with Blue Note Records' release of Droppin' Science. Surveying the history of the label's catalog of funky vintage jazz breakbeats, broken down for use as the foundation of a whole new genre, the iconic label presents the original tracks and a look at the hip-hop gold each song inspired. From the "sampleography" of the Beastie Boys pulling from Jeremy Steig's "Howling For Judy" from 1970 into their 1994 hit "Get It Together," to A Tribe Called Quest, Main Source, De La Soul, DJ Krush, and J Dilla each copping a piece of 1974's "Think Twice" by Donald Byrd, the connect-the-dots history of sticky finger beat-making is a fascinating ride. Thirteen original classics fill the CD release, also available on old-school slipmat-scratching LP vinyl and stylish individual ring-tones of the original sampled loops. Other highlights include Lou Donaldson "Who's Makin' Love (To Your Old Lady)" from 1969, lifted by Marley Marl, Mary J. Blige and Biggie Smalls, and Joe Williams' "Get Out Of My Life Woman" from 1966, nicked by Biz Markie, Kool G Rap and Jill Scott.

The Envy Corps hail from Iowa, but the plan is to try to make a splash in Great Britain before the United States.

Philip Dickey had a burning question about Huckleberry's, the pizza place in downtown Rock Island that his band, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, will be playing next week.

It was not about the size of the room, or the setup, or the acoustics.

"Is it really good pizza?" he asked.

An unusual CD side project built around John Garcia of Kyuss is the hard-rock record to beat in 2008. Call it sludgy, greasy, or stoner suburban, but thank Zeus for the decidedly electric stomp yard of Hermano's Into the Exam Room, a perfect fantasy soundtrack for Thor and Loki to throw down to in a Ralph Bakshi animated ballet. Formed in 1999 with members of Supafuzz and Disengage, the band's Regain Records release is a hair-raising psychedelic dream, a real headbanger awash in the earthy musk of Eddie Hazel, Slash, Black Sabbath, Warrior Soul, Alice in Chains, Zodiac Mindwarp, and the Butthole Surfers.