CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE

For years the Consumer Guide has graded 20 albums per month, and I could have done it again — there are plenty of LPs worth writing about. But because I've been obsessing on 12-inch singles, this month I'm breaking format. I'm hardly a 12-inch expert—-this isn't reviewer-serviced stuff, and because indie-label underground r&b seems to have been exploding ever since the collapse of disco as mass culture, I have a lot of catching up to do.