Perfectly, almost aggressively pleasant.

It's All Around You soon becomes just another Tortoise record, so close to previous records in composition and execution that it's virtually deja vu for any listeners who know the band well.

Too often, Airs Above Your Station feels scattered and fades into the background too easily.

Compared to Chris Martin's solo work as Ampbuzz, Herzog's efforts can certainly be more forceful and less meditative, though often only by a matter of degrees.

Sure, it's more interesting than the still-born, awkward second Black Grape album Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, largely thanks to its intricate, layered production, but the end result is calculated without reaping the rewards of its precision.

That isn't to say that The Curse of Blondie is a classic Blondie disc, but it's the first good one since at least Autoamerican, and features one of their best-ever singles in "Good Boys."

An interesting album, spooky in spots, but other than the terrific "Slow and Steady," this one's a curiosity.

Even if the sound they pursue here is just a detour, its seamless and creative fusion of rock and electronic idioms deserves respect.

Amounts to little more than the sum of its inspirations and coy references.

Built From Scratch is a sharp ode to old school hip-hop that focuses on the roll of the turntable rather than the vocals of an MC.

The Datsuns re-create the sound of a beer- and weed-fueled Saturday night in 1973, borrowing and blending the revving guitar riffs and choked, macho vocals of Thin Lizzy, Bad Company, .38 Special, and on occasion, the hornier side of Led Zeppelin.

As before, Ginuwine rises above most of his dozens of imitators in the contemporary R&B realm, with a set of productions -- from the returning Troy Oliver -- that fit his voice perfectly and rate as slightly edgier than the norm.

The tracks with singing find Broken Spindles moving in one direction, and the purely instrumental pieces find them moving in another, and sometimes the contrast between the two styles just ends up as a clash of sounds.

Some may call that predictable, some may call it reliable, but there's little arguing that Afterglow is a solid effort -- it won't win new fans, but it will certainly satisfy the old ones.

2000 Years is a guitar-ripping dissertation --only it's sealed inside a musical envelope that's addressed to the likes of Adam and Eve.

It's not as cheeky as Pulp and not nearly as abrasive as British Sea Power; however, Clearlake is equally provocative.

What it lacks in discernible hooks, Das Not Compute accounts for with tautness and subcutaneous bad attitude.

New fans will find Sleeping With Ghosts to be a good record. Old fans, though, might think the band wimped out while growing up.

It's partly a party album like 2001's Bulletproof Wallets, but freer, more inspired, and tempered with pure street tracks that were missing last time round.

As on the first, the Bragg-written and sung music is the most convincing, since he captures the cadences and spirit of Guthrie's music. They sound like classic, weathered folk songs whereas Wilco's numbers are modern inventions, splicing music that is clearly theirs with Guthrie's words.

Ikara Colt creates an edgy, electronic/punk-inspired sound with Chat and Business, and the end result is impressively slick.

The intensity and energy get a little too repetitive toward the end of the album, but the returns aren't as diminishing as they have been on the Catheters' previous work.

Just a shade less stunning than his last full-length, Emotional Technology at least establishes him as one of the better album constructors in the singles-driven world of dance.

Not quite the big comeback DMX needed at this point in his quietly sagging rap career, Grand Champ regardless has its share of highlights.

The artifice outweighs the substance throughout Rock n Roll.

Few bands can get away with being in a holding pattern like Tindersticks.

Bloodflowers boasts all of the Cure's signatures: stately tempos, languid melodies, spacious arrangements, cavernous echoes, morose lyrics, keening vocals, long running times. If you want something transcendent, you're out of luck, since the album falls short of the mark, largely because it sounds too self-conscious.

Despite a bloated track listing and a mostly overblown concept, though, Trinity (Past, Present and Future) is an excellent statement from one of the most mature groups in the rap underground.