Well, it's finally here. With the end of the World Cup, we have officially entered into the sports deadzone. That isn't to say there aren't still sports going on, after all there's still summer league basketball, major league baseball, major league soccer, and NASCAR, but basketball is over, and European/international soccer won't be back until late August, around the same time that college football returns. Until then, we must ban together and make it through the sporting dead zone! 

Listening to great tunes goes a long way to help that. 

First up we have a song from German symphonic metal band Haggard, from their incredible concept album "Eppur Si Muove." This track, "The Observer," is in the perspective of astronomer Galileo, and centers upon one of his most famous (and possibly erroneous) quotations: "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended for us to forgo their use." 

Next is a song that I can never switch from or turn down whenever it comes on the radio. It's odd that despite his impressive and voluminous body of work, Phil Collins is defined by a single song more than any other. He's no one-hit-wonder, and yet this song is arguably far more famous than he is, much in the same way that "Seven Nation Army" has far outstripped Jack White's own personal brand. This is "In the Air Tonight." 

Up next is a song that was buckets of fun to play on Guitar Hero 2, which I will always contend was the greatest of all the guitar hero games. This is "Elephant Bones" by That Handsome Devil. 

Last up is a track from New York-based underground rapper C-Rayz Walz. This is "Thug Melody."