Sigur Ròs
Ágætis byrjun (Fat Cat)
This is the album that will finally get Sigur Ròs recognized as geniuses by people outside their native Iceland. Aside from the most important reinvention of the guitar since Loveless by My Bloody Valentine*, Ágætis byrjun* boasts the vocals of Jònsi Birgisson, whose falsetto lulls you into the next dimension. You won't understand a word of "Sevfn-g-englar" as it's sung in an invented Cocteau Twins-ish dialect of Icelandic. Even so, the words flow through your veins like pure opium, delivered on massive guitar crescendos distorted beautifully by a violin bow. Aacute;gætis byrjun hits that mythical point where translations are no longer necessary.
Fayman & Fripp
A Temple in the Clouds (Projekt)
Longtime cinema composer Jeffrey Fayman layered sheets of ambient electronics over two raw hours of Robert Fripp's keening, digitized guitar loops for this mesmerizing disc. Almost a decade in the making, their effort may lack the edge and grit of Fripp and Eno collaborations, but it has a devastatingly sumptuous beauty.
Joan Osborne
Righteous Love (Interscope)
After five years, the follow-up to Joan Osborne's smash debut Relish is here. With her blues-rock swagger and Joplinesque voice, Osborne opens Righteous Love with "Running Out of Time," a snaky Middle Eastern funk tune that makes you think Relish II is at hand. Instead of the marginal characters and lecherous desires that drove the 1995 release, her new focus is best summed up in the tender Dylan cover, "To Make You Feel My Love." Sure, there are full-tilt boogies like "Baby Love," featuring Osborne's roadhouse soulfulness. But this time she conjures a more mainstream attitude, thanks to input from Bonnie Raitt producer Mitchell Froom.
Benny Green
Naturally (Telarc)
A protégé of the great Oscar Peterson, pianist Benny Green is a bop stylist fond of octave runs. Green worked with Betty Carter and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in the '80s, then stepped out on his own in the '90s. On Naturally, he's back in a collaborative groove with Christian McBride (bass) and Russell Malone (guitar). More than half the tracks are originals; one of the best is a swingin' "Pittsburgh Brethren," incisively voiced by Green and Malone.
Chris Mills
Kiss It Goodbye (Sugar Free)
Mills' brand of country-rock evokes Johnny Cash and Hank Williams Sr., with some Springsteen thrown in. The deep-throated singer-strummer fuses earnest, liquor-soaked laments on broken lives and dead-end relationships with twanging electric and steel guitars. After downing lines like "Ninety proof ain't proof enough for me," it's hard to argue with the lonely sentiment of "Crooked Vein": "If I had friends, they'd all be worried."
Magnétophone
I Guess Sometimes I Need to Be Reminded of How Much You Love Me (4AD)
Magnétophone's obsession with the keyboard has gone further than reason could imagine, as the French duo twist, puree, and mangle the various hums of the instrument into a genre entirely its own. "Oh Darlin'" is a sweeping, alien-voice-infused quickie that sounds like ocean waves breaking on the moon, while "Californium" takes an entirely different turn with its heroin-withdrawal shakes and high-pitched tones. There's no need for vocals; the musical wails take on a truly human quality.
Damon & Naomi
Damon & Naomi With Ghost (Sub Pop)
Writing quiet, hauntingly unhappy songs and reissuing surrealist literature is what Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang do best. But here they team with Masaki Batoh, Michio Kurihara, and Kazuo Ogino of the Japanese psychedelic gothic-folk band Ghost for a surprisingly lighthearted set. On "The New World," Naomi's sun-tinted voice floats above the medieval moat of classic guitar, dancing harmonium, and a wandering bass line. A fluttery soundtrack to the daydreams of a lonely childhood, the album rings of both yearning and inspiration.
Various Artists
Bossa Mundo (Wave Music)
The sweet simplicity of bossa nova fired new life into jazz in the 1960s. Now Brazilian beats are humanizing dance music. In this compilation of samba-house hybrid sounds, musicians and DJs from East to West (including Kyoto Jazz Massive and Yasushi Ide) unite new disco with Brazilian whistles and some of the sexiest vocals since Everything but the Girl covered "Corcovado." Paris may be burning, but Brazil is pumping.
STREET CRED
Kvetch of the Day
Babes in Toyland
Jog-O-Rama
The Nuonvision Revolution
Memory Gardens
Alpha and Omega
The Zero Effect
ReadMe
Music
Surroundabout
Fear of a Freak Planet
Hasta la Vista, Baby
Just Outta Beta
Master of Vine Arts
Hooked on Symphonics
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