The Allman Brothers
One Way Out (Sanctuary/BMG)
It is rare that a band gets its second wind in what many would consider its autumn years, but these good ol' boys are picking up some new tricks. Last year's Hittin' the Note was their best studio album since the Eat a Peach days when Duane was leading, and this two-CD live set, culled from their annual week-long engagement at the Beacon, shows them in top form. The sobered-up Gregg Allman is singing with a sense of command once again but thankfully has passed leadership to Gov't Mule's Warren Haynes. Original guitarist Dickey Betts had been turfed from the band two years ago to exorcise some demons, but his replacement, wunderkind Derek Trucks, proves to be the perfect foil to Haynes while outplaying Betts on his own licks. Duane would be proud! 9/10 (Johnson Cummins)

N*E*R*D
Fly Or Die (Virgin/EMI)
Whereas In Search of… was a Neptunes hip hop record reconfigured to rawk, the upstart super-producers' sophomore set as N*E*R*D is rock from the ground up. Hence, it's short on the wound-up bounce of the first, but still crackles with the crisp freshness and deceptive simplicity one expects from Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo (and their buddy Shae, whose exact function here remains unclear). It rocks nine ways from Sunday, too, a competent, creative co-opting of metal, new wave, alternative, post-Beatles piano pop and FM-radio classic rock (note Lenny Kravitz on "Maybe"). As idiosyncratic lyrically as it is musically, Fly Or Die leans to Pharrell's angry ruminations on unfinished high-school shit. "No one ever really dies," sure, but this one truly flies. 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

The Walkmen
Bows & Arrows (Record Collection/Warner)
These Washington/NYC transplants haven't shed much skin since 2002's Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone, but touring has earned them some new scales, an injection of vitality into their ethereal tangle of ringing, singing guitars. I've never been fond of drunken vocal stylings, and I wouldn't fault anyone for hating the Walkmen based on that car-ad soundbite ("I'm a modern guy, I don't care much for the go-go," etc.) but it only grates when the songs meander. "No Christmas While I'm Talking" drags like a dentist drill session, but it's an exception to a largely enchanted rule. 7.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Piano Magic
The Troubled Sleep of Piano Magic (Green UFOs)
This seventh installment in the Piano Magic story revisits the British/French collective's dark tones and sombre verse, but their sonic world hangs together with an exquisite ease they haven't managed in years. Singers Angele David-Guillou and Glen Johnson alternate lead vocals, hers bleeding softly into the piano and guitar dance, his half-sung poetry settling like a meek Ian Curtis over nervous rhythm, haunting synths and flash-floods of guitar. Their lone duet "Luxembourg Gardens" teases with a brief cathartic guitar squall amid sinister tension, never quite letting you off the hook but keeping you rapt in their delicate perversion. 8/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Zero 7
When It Falls (Ultimate Dilemma/Warner)
With their second round of spacey, pastoral synth-pop, Zero 7 are still mimicking Morcheeba, Mellow and above all Air (oh, and some Cinematic Orchestra in the horn arrangements). While I can't fault the fastidious production - everything fits and breathes easy - I can certainly chide the London duo on many counts. The grim finger of heard-it-before-and-better jabs at them (see above), and there's the listless rhythmic monotony, the dubious singers and that fucking harmonica on "Look Up." The effort to make this floral-print ear candy as pleasant as possible leaves it without any presence. 6/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Cypress Hill
Til Death Do Us Part (Soul Assassins/Sony)
The production here is high school, the rhymes are primary school, the flow preschool. It's as if the Hill has devolved or something. Does longevity somehow take what you had away? I'm not talking going soft, I'm talking about players who've lost their dribble, duck and weave. The Hill's rap-metal edge is dulled to make way for cheesy synth lines and really bad raps care of Sen Dog and B-Real, gone B flat. Tales of blunted murderation haven't changed and maybe that's part of the problem. The Hill's been reduced to a mound. 4/10 (Lateef Martin)

Cee-Lo
Cee-Lo Green Is the Soul Machine (Arista/BMG)
As one of the more memorable voices of the Goodie Mob, Cee-Lo has already shown that Andre 3000 is not the only artist from the South who tends to indulge a more flamboyant side. His first album was missed by many, a rut that this new LP will hopefully manage to avoid. Building on his frenetic rhyme style and a colorful array of spoken word, gospel and soul, "Cee-Lo the entertainer" takes on many acting roles on this record, doing his part as the reformed drug dealer, the club-crawler and the pulpit-preacher. Timbaland's signature "I'll Be Around" is Cee-Lo at his best with that mile-a-minute drawl and a shuffle, but it don't stop there. The sheer variety on this record ensures that it's bound to get stuck in heavy rotation. 8/10 (Scott C)

Squarepusher
Ultravisitor (Warp/Outside)
Hardcore IDM/drill & bass freaks be forewarned. While Ultravisitor does deliver on the mad reconstituted breaks, sub-bass and synth squawks, Squarepusher's most ambitious album to date disintegrates all preconceptions of what his music should sound like in a glorious cacophony of orchestrated noise, extended live bass solos, ambient jazz chords and nostalgic synth melodies. More akin to his heavily jazz-influenced Music Is One Rotted Note than his last masterpiece of programming Go Plastic, Ultravisitor favours Mr. Jenkinson's musical noodlings, making this his most accessible release to date (well, as accessible as Squarepusher can be). 8.5/10 (Raf Katigbak)

Chib
Moco (Fat Cat/Fusion III)
Japanese sound artist Yukiko Chiba's 30-minute mini-album quietly invites the listener in to discover a miniature world of intimate moods and everyday miracles. Playful toy pianos tinkle as cellos lull you into a hypnotic state. While whale-like synthesizers weep from the depths of an ambient sea, music box tines and carnival organs skitter and bubble to the surface. The muddled and looped found-sound material taken from her daily life on the outskirts of Tokyo not only provides the haunting rhythmic backdrop but also gives the music a personal feel, as if Chiba is walking you through this microsonic make-believe world herself. 8/10 (Raf Katigbak)

Clara Hill
Restless Times (Sonar Kollektiv/Fusion III)
Seems like the Sonar Kollektiv camp has taken the art of impeccably produced soul music for 2004 to beautiful new heights, with the help of the young and talented singer Hill. Even if you've turned the corner on the cleaner-than-clean nu-jazz sounds of Jazzanova, it's hard to find fault in this solid debut. I wouldn't want to complain about an overabundance of depth, but I could say that the Berlin-based engineering stranglehold that SK has on this sound could venture into some new territory. Hill moves easily between a Berlin-style cover of Peter Brown's "For Your Love" and a monumental duet with Joe Dukie on "Flawless Part 2," showing her vocal chops for all who listen. This is a strong start for a very promising voice. 8.5/10 (Scott C)

Ivan Neville
Scrape (Compendia)
The next generation of the musical Neville family steps up to the plate and scores a solid run. Flexing a deep, gruff baritone, this younger Neville easily incorporates soul, blues, rock and a little bit of funk into his repertoire. An impressive list of talent - including George Duke (keyboards), Keith Richards (guitar), Bobby Watson (bass), Michael Brecker (horns) and Bonnie Raitt, Bobby Womack and father Aaron Neville on vocals - help him deliver a set that often has a social edge. Standouts include "The Ugly Truth" and "Ghetto Street," both of which purposefully incorporate elements of Marvin Gaye, and the ultra-funky, mainly instrumental title track. 8/10 (Gerard Dee)

Bohren & Der Club of Gore
Black Earth (Ipecac)
Musicians graduating from hardcore punk to proper jazz aren't unheard of. Rarely, though, do they bring the extremism and fierce negativity with them. These Germans have only dropped the speed and abrasion in seeking a new kind of heavy/scary and formulating their unique style of sepulchral lounge jazz. Black Earth is an iceberg, both in its deathly, dirge-like tempos and in its suggestion of what lies below, so much more vast and ominous than the elegant, slow-mo swing up top. The fabled forces o' darkness fill the shadows here, giving the quartet's tenebrous beauty an icy, unshakable grip. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Trio Derome Guilbeault Tanguay
10 Compositions de Jean Derome (Ambiance Magnetiques)
Mark Masters Ensemble
One Day With Lee (Capri)
Two CDs that have in common both the playing and writing of two very different saxophonists, both always worth a serious listen. The first, as the title suggests, focuses on a cutting-edge local trio playing Jean's music, music that spans the jazz spectrum. The other is by a 14-piece ensemble led by Masters, this time joined by altoman Lee Konitz on six of his renowned compositions including "Palo Alto" and "317 East 32nd," plus Ram Ramirez's "Lover Man," all beautifully arranged by Masters, abetted by solos from Lee, Cecilia Coleman, Gary Foster, Steve Huffstetter, Bill Perkins and Jack Montrose. There's lots to digest here. Both 9.5/10 (Len Dobbin)

Mini CD Reviews

Johnny Cash Life (Legacy/Sony) Greatest-hits packages are for your parents and little girls, but this one steers away from the claptrap. The greatest American songwriter - ever. 10 (JC)

Ed Bickert & Don Thompson At the Garden Party (Sackville) A long awaited reissue of material from 1978 with a bonus of four previously unreleased tracks from 1976. 9 (LD)

Destroyer Your Blues (Merge) This New Pornographer gives his main gig a run for its money. 9 (JC)

Ghostface & Missy Elliot "Tush" (DefJam/Ral) DAMN! Some dirty ol' back-and-forth pillow talk between these two, plus the ill beat! Crown Heights Affair? 9 (SC)

Arthur Russell The World of… (Soul Jazz/Fusion III) An overdue overview of the late Buddhist cellist whose artful, incongruous disco beat a path between CBGBs and Studio 54. 8 (RB)

Sondre Lerche Two Way Monologue (Virgin/EMI) Occasionally precious, largely delightful pixie pop from Norway, housed in string-laden chambers and lush Euro lounges. 7.5 (LC)

Various Under the Influence: Paul Weller (DMC/Fusion III) Soul, jazz, rock steady, hip hop and one lone Kinks track are what's close to the Modfather's (purple) heart these days. 7 (RB)

The Vines Winning Days (Capitol/EMI) Wheezing Aussie rockers barely bang the Beatles and Nirvana together coherently on this worse-for-wear sophomore stink-up. 5 (LC)

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