Today is the last day to donate to Said the Gramophone's 2011 Funding Drive. At midnight, absolutely nothing will change. We'll continue doing what we always do. But we won't let you give us money any more, not for a whole year.

If you haven't already donated, in these waning hours, please consider showing your support for the site. Our donor gifts - the first Said the Gramophone book, a secret 7" record, and our mixtape subscription series - are still available.

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Blue Belt - "Anymore". Never supposed to hear them tryin'; never supposed to see the strings. And so what of a hip-hop track where there's effort manifest, fingers playing with knots, two rappers clenching notebook-papers and nodding to themselves, Right, yeah. What of it? Listen to this, you'll see - it doesn't matter one bleeding bit. Blue Belt's song is lightfooted lovely, blueberry jam, every smudge an improvement. The namedrops are more bookish than thug - Oscar Wilde, Rufus Wainwright, Star Trek - but there's nothing namby-pamby in the setup, nothing nervous in the execution. And more than anything - the beat! oh, the beat. Nina Simone and the neatest of flute samples, perfect topiary, ah-ah-ahs that make me wish I was in a rap crew, just so I could invent something new. [Blue Belt are from Brooklyn - debut album july 26?]

Arthur Krumins - "Turned Away". I wonder sometimes if my bicycle is flirting with me, the way it squeaks. I pedal; it squeaks. I brake; it squeaks. I bump over the curb and it gives a happy, wheezy hiccup. Sometimes I bounce on the seat, I ring the bell, in a sort of reciprocation. Not because I'm "interested" in my bicycle, nor because I want to taunt it. But I want to encourage my bicycle's squeaky heart, its rusty longing. I want it to keep searching, in every shift of gear. Because one day my bike will glimpse its true love: a six-speed on a street-corner, with a basket at its front. And even if that other bicycle glides away, down a different boulevard, the years of squeaks will have been well-spent. They were not mistakes. They were investments in something true. [Arthur Krumins' music is free to download]

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Elsewhere:

It's already all over the Canadian blogosphere, but Kai Nagata's Why I Quit My Job is not only an eloquent attack on Canada's mainstream media - it's an inspiring provocation, asking: What do you want to do with your life?. (He has since posted a short follow-up.)

(photo source unknown)