Yuletide mood swings

>> A cranky compendium of sourpuss hits

by LATEEF MARTIN

-- Annie Dufresne eyes the linguistic divide -- Genetically programmed for your listening pleasure -- Depressing sounds for the holidays -- Electronic sounds for the hard-to-please -- The sound of Christmas evil -- This year's bumper crop of comp CDs made easy -- DJ sets in your Discman this season -- Stuffing the R&B renaissance in your stocking -- Country cracker Christmas -- This holiday season, rock the Chanukah bush in style -- Some seasonal jazz hints -- Yuletide mood swings

Years of reviewing music has enlightened me: it's all about mood. I'll probably like a CD a month after I initially hated it, or vice versa. For example, I got excited about new Marilyn Manson and Ol' Dirty Bastard releases--both sucked. Yes, the fate of millions of artists can rest heavily on whether a critic is bitter, cranky, ignorant, close to the artist, or just plain jealous. Now you know.

So this is my cranky selection, 'cuz I'm fed up! My picks have surpassed the genres they've been tossed into and I believe that somewhere deep within their musical character, they just might be fed up too, and have created music that ain't like the other stuff out there. DJ Maues' Intersections mix CD is a Jeckyll-and-Hyde of selections. On Renegades, Rage Against the Machine cover their faves, from Dylan to Afrika Baambata, the Stooges and the Stones. P-Funk meets experimental hip hop meets drum & Miami bass on Outkast's Stankonia and the Pocket Dwellers' Digitally Organic brings hip hop, drum & bass and reggae into a holy trinity. Live.

Deltron 3030--Del the Funkee Homosapien. Dan the Automator. Kid Koala. Need I say more? Check their debut collab Deltron 3030. Shades of Culture's retrospective A Little Bit About Us reminds us why they're Montreal's first sons of hip hop. Toss Tool, Nine Inch Nails and Rush into a blender and you might end up with Mer De Noms by A Perfect Circle. And just when you thought Amon Tobin couldn't twist, flange, filter, puree and just plain fuck with sonic vistas any more than on his last two releases, he takes his tripped-out chill-hop/drum & bass by way of Brazil to yet another level on Supermodified.

Local fusionists 5 Line Legacy blend hardcore, hip hop, drum & bass, punk and reggae on their Switch EP, and finally, you want moody? White Pony by the Deftones is the album, unafraid of show a fragility beneath the hardcore veneer they've been building up all these years. Put that in yer bagpipe and smoke it.