Let’s take you an audible odyssey. Welcome to 2002, when the X-Ecutioners were at the height of their popularity and “It’s Goin’ Down,” featuring Linkin Park’s Mike Shindoa was one of the more popular hip-hop tracks in the country. The album in question, “Built From Scratch,” was devised as an outlet for a group of DJs to go nuts and experiment with a buttload of new ideas, but it turned into something much more epic when several hip-hop stud muffins were brought aboard to lend a whole other level of credibility to the record.

Shinoda was just one of many guest artists to rap over the beats laid down by those crazy X-Men. Pharoahe Monch, Everlast, Big Pun, Kool G Rap, and the talented gentlemen of M.O.P. all lay down vocals for various songs, and all of them hit hard the way hard-hitting hip-hop should.

What started off as a group of 11 different DJs ended up as only four by the time “Built From Scratch” was released, and that group included Rob Swift, Roc Raida, Total Eclipse, and Mista Sinista. Roc Raida, who passed away in 2009 at only 37 years old, was probably the best-known of the group, having laid down beats for Big Pun and Skillz, as well as serving as the DJ for Busta Rhymes.

The rest of the guys, though, have no shortage of talent, as this sample-and-scratch heavy record proves pretty convincingly. In the hip-hop world, this crew is legendary, but as far as mainstream is concerned it’s been a few years since we’ve heard much from them. Two more albums—“Revolutions” and “General Patton vs. the X-Ecutioners”—were released by 2005, but the group has transformed into something a little different and now goes by a new name with mostly new members.

The audible odyssey, however, is in the books, and it’s a story I’d rather you not forget.

Sometimes, you listen to music because it’s musical. You feel like being moved by a melody or having some hard guitar or bass riff punish your ears in a fit of unrequited energy. Whatever. Music definitely plays the role of aural delectable.

But for many of us, music is also about the words—every syllable carefully chosen and arranged in a way that either best fits the tune or best fits the songwriter’s philosophies. We take a lot of meaning out of songs that say something worthwhile, and I’m guessing several people’s favorite artists are those who not only rock out, but speak out, too.

Ben Folds is typically one of those musicians who manages both words and melodies with an ability unparalleled by hardly anybody in the industry. But on his new album, “Lonely Avenue,” he didn’t write a single lyric. Nick Hornby, renowned author of books like “High Fidelity,” “About a Girl,” and “Fever Pitch,” took care of that aspect of this particular album’s tracks.

How do a great author and a great pianist come together for a project like this? Well, Folds is a fan of Hornby’s work and he came across an essay in one of his books called “31 Songs” in which Hornby praises the lyrics in Folds’s “Smoke.” Mutual admiration turned into a pretty incredible musical experiment that any fan of Ben Folds is going to absolutely adore.

Because Hornby is a writer of fiction, most of the tracks have a very narrative quality about them, and that added to Ben Folds’s gorgeous and intricate melodies makes for some very memorable music. “Picture Window” is my predetermined hit of the record, but tracks like “Claire’s Ninth” and “From Above” are also spectacular work.

We’re looking at a seriously unique project here that takes two people at the apex of their craft and puts them to work in a sort of symbiotic diamond. It’s poetry, it’s music, and it’s fantastic. Whether you listen to music for the tune or the words, you’re going to get more than your money’s worth on this one.

Check out a preview of the album here:

How many Smiths are there in any given phonebook? Twenty? Eighty? Infinity? Eighty-one?

Let’s just agree that there’s a lot. According to the most recent census, “Smith” is the most common surname in the United States, tagged to 2.5 million Americans. That’s one whole friggin’ percent of the damn population. To be a true individual, one can not be a Smith. It’s a law. Look it up.

If one were, say, a Messersmith, however, we’re staring down the throat of an entirely different beast. The throat of this particular beast, Mr. Jeremy Messersmith, is one of golden vocal cords, and it’s been providing fans (even the regular Smiths) with complex, sweet, throwback pop for almost half a decade now. And he’s just getting started.

His 2010 release, “The Reluctant Graveyard,” is full of haunting yet soothing tracks like “Organ Donor,” and “Toussaint Gray,” but my favorite of the batch is “Violet!” which sounds like it should’ve been on the Forrest Gump soundtrack. It would be right at home in the late 1960s, but it’s also right at home here in the 21st Century, so I’m not sure how to classify it. If you like the Shins, you’d like Messersmith. Same kind of vibe.

It also just occurred to me that some of our readers are undeniably cursed with the last name of “Smith,” and that some of the things I said in the intro may have been offensive. I’m sorry your last name is more ubiquitous than Betty White. Maybe if you added a little Messer to your Smith you’d feel better. It worked for our boy Jeremy, didn’t it? And now he’s making great music and getting featured on FreshScouts.

Maybe it could work for you too. Just maybe…

Check out “Violet!” here:

And make sure you grab “The Reluctant Graveyard,” too!

Jukebox the Ghost – Empire

Think good enough to open for Ben Folds. That’s pretty much all you have to know, but I’ll give you more anyway ‘cause I’m nice. This rock trio has a distinctly indie flavor, but just like Folds they keep it on just this side of pop so it actually sounds pleasant to the general public as well as the indie purists. “Empire” is typical of their style, and it’s a great track. Taste it, savor it with all your buds of taste. Or sound. Image like you could taste in your ear. Do that.

Stromae – Alors on Danse (Remix)

I’m not 100% sure how Kanye West got mixed up with Belgian singer Stromae, but this collaboration between one of America’s most influential artists and one of 2009’s hottest European songs is definitely interesting enough to warrant a listen.

Crooked I – Light Up Freestyle

We’ve featured damn near everybody in rap supergroup Slaughterhouse except Crooked I, so here ya go. It’s an extremely up-to-date social commentary that rides the beat hard enough for any hip-hope head to both bob and weave. Plus, it makes you think, which is what rap was invented to do.

For like a year back in college, some radio fat cat thought it would be a good idea to inject a dance and techno station into the ears and hearts of the natives, and though I never previously gave much consideration to the genre I found myself cranking it in the wee hours after driving home half-asleep from working long nights at a local eatery.

That late at night, music such a forceful, driving beat can either roust you into wakefulness or rock you into a droning coma, and depending on what song was playing I had my fair share of experiences with both. When listening to iiO, however—most famous for their huge club hit “Rapture”—I usually found myself tightrope walking somewhere in between those two states of consciousness.

It was awesome.

The thing about club music is that a lot of its notoriety comes from remixes that get passed around and bumped at discotheques worldwide, but my allure to “Rapture” and later iiO jams like “At the End,” “Kiss Me,” and “Runaway” were a little more than just a primal appreciation for heavy bass and creatively thumping beats. These songs are, at their heart, really good and really catchy little ditties. It’s not just formulaic ass-shaker music intended for E-heads grinding on each other’s scantily-clad, sweaty bodies. Okay, so it is that, but it’s more than that, too. It’s music in every sense of the word, and I likes me some it.

Today, iiO is a one-man show, as Markus Moser has lost his partner Nadia Ali to a solo vocal career, which is apparently going relatively well. Regardless of what they’re up to now, back in 2003 they were the business, helping me stay awake on the drive home from a job that I absolutely did not like. The dance and techno station didn’t last, perhaps predictably because it’s such a niche market, but for the short time it was around I genuinely appreciated it.

And thanks to it, I still appreciate iiO. And thanks to me, you do too.

Here’s the video for “Rapture”:

And the video for “At the End”: