Why is Quality Control -- an album no doubt many will love simply because of its hip- hop politics -- so damn bland? For all their good intentions, J5's results are so monochromatic, of such a singular focus on staying true to a specific kind of hip-hop blueprint, that even the inclusion of grinning left-field randomness... lacks the fun it means to inject.

The duo deliver an evocative, mostly instrumental set that effectively serves their inspiration, as well as their fanbase.

Harding has streamlined his lyrics and placed them in taut, soulful settings à la John Hiatt...

Because her samples are so shameless, so out in the open, what No More Drama sounds like in the end is Blige singing along to the radio: equal parts fan and artist.

Two Against Nature marks a timely return of two chilly, heartless hipsters.

This maturing band is getting closer to a fully realized vision.

Mojave 3's lead singer, primary songwriter and aforementioned poet, Neil Halstead, writes simple, graceful love songs populated by lonely characters who are usually hopelessly hopeful and usually, albeit fleetingly, in love.... Excuses for Travellers is beautiful music for romance's never-ending cycles of beginnings and ends.

A six-piece with musical roots in the '60s, fronted by a sensual-sounding blonde bombshell called Debbie, the Januaries' most obvious reference point is Blondie.

On the plus side, the album sounds really nice.... The problem is, things get a little too lazy and hazy; Reveal's 12 tracks all move with almost the exact same dreamy, midtempo lope.

Even though Mirror drifts toward the pop end of the spectrum, this session is undeniably more satisfying.

Take away the album's lone misfire -- the cliché-filled "Rock the Boat," produced by Rapture and E. Seats -- and this work is nearly perfect.

Colvin has a small but honeyed voice, never too sad or too happy, and multi-instrumentalist [producer John] Leventhal has encased it in caressing arrangements, complete with the occasional string quartet. The ensuing pleasures are generally low-key, and while one can appreciate the attentive craftsmanship applied to each song, the cumulative mood is a little snoozy.

I readily admit I was confused by its unusual instrumental combinations, by the turn-on-a-dime melodies and rhythms, and the "still searching after all these years" lyrics -- by its relentless eclecticism. Still, I kept listening, and at the end of the day found myself having trouble escaping these meandering, insinuating songs.

Fans of new British bands like Gomez or Minibar should find plenty to like.

Gerald ups the ante again, incorporating astounding vocalists, intricate bass and drum patterns, and mood-altering melodies and tones to take the electronic dance community by storm.

The funk-by-numbers grooves of Everybody's Got Their Something borrow heavily from the likes of Sly Stone, Chaka Khan and early Prince, but do so with such affection and spirit that it's hard to take offense.

This is Duncan Sheik at his most orchestrally, acoustically indulgent, and it's a lovely, haunting effort.

One of the most exciting pop-music experiments to along in a long while.... Selmasongs works as an album, not just as a souvenir of a daring cinematic and musical venture.

It's not inappropriate to think of Ten New Songs as an audio book of poetry with musical accompaniment.

Live in New York City is that imperfect creation in which the whole equals something less than the sum of its parts. Taken one song at a time, though, it can be as compelling as live music gets.

Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) finds Partridge and Moulding at the top of their game, making the collection a fitting match for past XTC triumphs...

Radiohead have remembered how to feel, and do so without relying on the arena rock bluster of The Bends, the Orwellian remoteness of OK Computer or Kid A's pretense as a sort of MC Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. That's why Amnesiac sounds like their best album.

Judging by the funked-up grooves and the hardcore-with-heart rhymes, he's got the goods to satisfy both the faithful and the fickle.

Twangy guitars, melancholy pedal steel and mournful, high country fiddles abound on this collection... Tomorrow's Sounds Today forgoes the livelier and more genre-bending studio tricks that pushed mid-'90s albums such as Gone and This Time into brave new sonic realms. This time around, as it was in the beginning, the mood is modest, the sound is sparse and sans embellishments.

Alison Krauss & Union Station are one of the best instrumental bands in acoustic music today.

Throughout the album, Cole & co. offer up one pop nugget after another, all carefully honed through warts-and-all shows held in New York over the last few years. The result is that The Negatives isn't just Cole's most consistent disc in 11 years; it's also quite possibly his best ever.

These 14 live offerings are a satisfying sampling from each of the band's five albums, though happily the selection leans more heavily toward Penthouse...

This time around, the group eschews player-hating specificity but hits equally hard (albeit with subtler blows) against the commercially dominated empire of gangsta and hoochie rap.