“Could Well Be In,” The Streets
What Mike Skinner excells at is the quick sketching of small details to create an expressive whole. He’s not the greatest singer/rapper or anything like that, but his quick delineation of character, setting and narrative is worthy of adulation, and his greatest achievement is this wonderful song. I love how he jumps right into the story with the quick opening: the lazy self-help type psychology present in so much of modern culture is quickly dived into, but dispatched with self-deprecating ease. But more than that, Mike Skinner sets out themes (themes? In music? In RAP music?) that’ll grace his greatest album, A Grand Don’t Come for Free, so deftly that it doesn’t actually strike you until dozen listens later (friendship/courtship, modern mores). The way he depicts everything so naturally, casually dipping in and out of modern vernacular (“I saw this thing on itv the other week”) is truly terrific to behold.