No rank outsider anymore, Gigi's big love now is dem funky dayz dat are back again. You know what they say -- one man's trash is another man's checkpoint. But we digress. Remember Gigi's 2001 solo debut, Unpicked Flowers? Pretty good, right? But have y'all heard the Charlotte singer/songwrer's self-titled second album, from last year? Lordy mercy! That cover she done of "Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchee Bridge" kills! It KILLS! Kills so much that Mr. Village Voice Chuck Eddy put it on one of his "Eddytor's Dozen" lists. Hell, the way it's going, Gigi might even make the next installment of Chucky's Stairway To Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums in the Universe. But we digress. Gigi's "Billy Joe" done already made Shelby Lynn's sound like some wispy chick singer for one of them one-named '90s dreampop groups like Lush or Belly or Snoozegazer. Gigi even damn-near almost sort of puts Bobbie Gentry's original to shame. But we digress. You're wantin' to know what floats Gigi's boat, aren't you? Well, looky here -- four funky, sweet, soulful sizzlers and one po' Pig Angel Band:

1. Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life. "The genius that is Stevie Wonder -- I love it all the way through, and can't get enough of the palatable sonic warmth that flows out of it like a deep dark liquid chocolate."

2. The Big Love. "My band -- the ones I give the most the most props to: Eric Lovell, David Clark, Jason Atkins and James Zogzas!"

3. Marvin Gaye. "Sexy, soulful and bizarre."

4. Hustle & Flow. "Ya know it's hard out here for a pimp, when ya tryin' to get the money for the rent."

5. The 5-piece Pig Angel Band. "Led by the bongo playing Pig Angel himself, rescued from a $1 store in Ohio."