ALT-ROCK
On his latest disc, Beck pairs up with producer Danger Mouse, the beat-master half of Gnarls Barkley. But don't expect this to sound like Gnarls Beckley. Modern Guilt is still very much a Beck album—and a good one. With 10 songs clocking in at less than 34 minutes—a throwback to the old LP days—it's a tighter, more focused set than 2006's uneven The Information. The new CD puts a modern spin on '60s psychedelia. The result? A spaced-out soundscape with plenty of trippy atmospherics laced with some Danger-infused electronica. A range of hazy hues are on display, from the Beatles-tinged "Orphans," featuring haunting guest vocals by Chan Marshall (a.k.a. Cat Power), to "Gamma Ray," which wades into surf rock.
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Modern Guilt," a Bowie-esque, bass-bumping groove
Love Is Dead
POP-ROCK
"I'm from a land called secret Estonia/ Nobody knows where it's at," sings Kerli on the hip-hop rocker "Creepshow." Certainly, her small Baltic country isn't known as a music hotbed—but that may change with Kerli's goth-pop debut. On tracks like the dramatic, string-drenched title tune, she conjures a white-haired version of Evanescence's Amy Lee, while on cuts like the dark, danceable "I Want Nothing," she comes off like the love child of Robert Smith and Björk. Best is "Walking on Air," the spooky, electronica-charged single, which lures you into Kerli's mysterious world.
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It's a real world party on Big Blue Ball, with Gabriel spearheading a multinational collaboration featuring artists from Africa to Asia. Natch, he sings lead on the first single, "Whole Thing."
ALISON MOYET
The Turn
Her new solo album finds the Yaz singer firing up some torch pop in sumptuous style. But the songs don't always measure up to that big, rich voice, and the arrangements—and Moyet—sometimes lay it on a bit too thick.
DWELE
Sketches of a Man
This neo-soul man recently appeared on Kanye West's single "Flashing Lights." On his well-sketched third CD, he draws inspiration from old-school R&B artists like Marvin Gaye and newer-school ones like D'Angelo.
THE WATSON TWINS
Fire Songs
After backing up Jenny Lewis on 2006's Rabbit Fur Coat, the Watsons take center stage on a moody alt-country disc that has its modest charms (like their cover of the Cure's "Just Like Heaven").
NEWTON FAULKNER
Hand Built by Robots
On an impressive debut album, this English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist sometimes brings to mind a younger, more soulful Jack Johnson with folk-pop ditties like "Feels Like Home."
The rapper, 25, sold over 1 million copies of Tha Carter III in its first week.
GETO BOYS, WE CAN'T BE STOPPED
One of the first albums where I cared about what they were saying instead of just bobbing my head.
SNOOP DOGG, DOGGYSTYLE
I listened to it day after day. I knew it word for word.
JAY-Z, IN MY LIFETIME, VOL. 1
"Lucky Me" is my favorite song of all. Period. I actually have "Lucky Me" tattooed on my neck. And I have a verse of that song tattooed on my leg.
MYSTIKAL, MIND OF MYSTIKAL
That album let me know that rap is really what I wanted to do.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
