A duet record for the new millennium.

"People" boasts an uncommon beauty and originality, brimming with tunes that glimmer with pure magic.

Power pop just doesn't get any more powerful or poppy than this, with all three singers in fine form and the band -- all high-strung keyboards and frenetic drums -- blazing away at the speed of sound.

This is the stuff memorable summer days are made of.

Gore's reworkings sparkle with visceral emotion, aching vulnerability, and sublime intensity.

Unlike recent collections Music and Ray of Light, the lyrical content of American Life relies less on spiritual introspection and more on woman-in-the-mirror confrontation.

It's hard to find fault with such a well-crafted record, but one does wonder what would happen if the Jayhawks cranked up the amps a notch.

While the casual listener may tire of the repetitive synthiness of Anxiety Always, fans of the genre will dig the act's '80s-inflected tunes.

She is simply magnificent.

Sounds like something carved out of the earth, a soulful howl of Hendrixian guitars and Zeppelin stomp.

Never has the pair sounded more fresh and self-assured; nor has it delivered such a fully realized work before.

Sleeping With Ghosts is glorious; an unrepentant emotional exorcism that cohesively hurdles between the bleak and wounded, the exuberant and defiant.

Isn't so much a revelation as it is a ready-made crowd pleaser that delivers on the familiar.

"The Listener" is a low-key, early morning album, perhaps something Lou Reed would have created had he spent his career playing saloons in Tucson, Ariz.

Though this music could easily be viewed as Longwave's take on Interpol's take on Coldplay's take on Radiohead, it isn't that derivative or boring.

The songwriter's fondness of esoterica makes "Pig Lib" a trying listen; even the song titles can elicit an eye roll.

Seamless without being monotonous, "Buzzcocks" is punk rock for grownups, teenagers, and everyone in between, without pandering or becoming a caricature of itself.

It's a strange balancing act that Rutili and crew capably pull off, straddling the chasm between the straightforward and the self-consciously left of center.

The group has abruptly cashed in a good deal of its personality for an unflattering, generic modern-rock sound.

"Supper" is superior to the particularly subdued sound of its immediately predecessor, "Rain on Lens," landing closer to the Velvet Underground-inspired stomp of 1999's "Knock Knock."

Highly cerebral, the visceral kick hits on the third or fourth play.

Well-produced, albeit predictable.

Like a prize fighter coming into her own, Lil' Kim finally realizes her true potential on her third Atlantic effort.

A challenging, yet highly rewarding listen.

Street Dreams is a little too padded for its own good, and a handful of tracks suffer from all-too-familiar samples that have been used in recent hits by other artists.

While the album isn't nearly as compelling as Wilco's latest, it proves a thoroughly enjoyable listen nonetheless.

The group's live shows are the stuff of legend--perhaps that's why the act's debut album, #1, seems a bit disappointing without the corresponding over-the-top visuals.

Not only shares some textural similarities with Radiohead's "Kid A," but rivals it as an art-rock classic.