Watershed has an intimate feel and a sophisticated sound that highlights the warmth in Lang’s voice, the maturity of her songwriting and the simple beauty of her arrangements.

Sure, it's a jumble, but, like the Beatles' White Album, it hangs together.

In a world gone mad, it's nice to know that some things--like Ministry's ability to tear up the floorboards with crushing efficiency--never change.

[The] consistent quality belies any notion of the extraneous.

Helm takes material from a variety of sources and makes it all his own.

While previous releases have found the pride of North Mississippi exploring various manifestations of their musical identity, on Electric Blue Watermelon they pull everything together and bring their artistic progression full circle.

No less than a half-dozen songs have hit potential.

Top to bottom, this may be Chesnutt's best effort since his 1996 disc About to Choke.

Rather than getting bogged down in concert-album fashion, Okonokos plays spanking new, almost re-studio recorded.

The Art of Love and War, on the re-launched Stax label, is as full-bodied an affair as this old-school-leaning, incessantly self-exploring diva has delivered.

Cease punctuates its magnitude among Sub Pop's top-drawer power elite (The Shins and Iron & Wine), asserting this Band of Horses' fast-rising run for the roses.

Overall, ADD demonstrates why Lewis blazed his way into AI's final round: He's out there, sure, but he's willing to reel it in enough to keep it real for the masses.

One of his best-balanced albums in years.

The drifting chords and soft voice are still in place, only now Johnson's instinct for melody has sharpened alongside his ability to self-edit.

Not so much a series of songs as it is a musical mood.

Shakira's bleating, biting voice is in fine form, and it gives the material an electric urgency.

The group has balanced its studio ambition with just the right amount of real world restraint, coming up with a disc that actually improves on the first while maintaining the trio's wry quirks.

Seven's Travels features some of Ant's most adventurous and assured production.

Less immediately ear-grabbing than the previous disc, this self-titled record nonetheless sinks in deeply after a mere handful of plays.

The disco-rock jitters come back soon enough with the next selection, 'Let Me In,' but there's no denying that the group's horizons have broadened. For every throwback Cure sound-alike, such as 'Give Up?,' there's a lush retort featuring the Abbey Road Orchestra-like 'Outta Heart.'

Scott weaves through the music like a woman who's taken her time contemplating what feelings ought to sound like.

Shotter's Nation, is surprisingly good and sonically upbeat (if not so much lyrically).

Even when he turns down the volume, he never tones down the creative intensity.

These are heartfelt songs: sometimes cheeky and occasionally heartbreaking.

With results that transcend category, Willis sounds like an artist renewed.

Fans of their live performances will appreciate its wall-to-wall rhythmic thrust and quirky textures, while aficionados and newcomers alike should welcome its surprising, seductive melodies and mature songwriting.

If the new album goes farther in advocating a political conscience--"On with the Song" takes jabs at the jingoistic rubes who dissed the Dixie Chicks, while "Why Shouldn't We" insists we'll have worthy heroes in office again one day--it largely invokes the same quiet, warm, and conversational tone as its predecessor.

The wide array of musical reference points show rap's sonic possibilities.