Slime and Reason presents an altogether more cheery Rodney Smith to the troubled soul we met on 2005's Awfully Deep, a record that found its creator battling depression and fighting demons from the psychiatrist's chair. Indeed, lead-off single "Buff Nuff" is possibly Roots Manuva's plain silliest track to date, a wobbly dancehall number produced by Sheffield newcomer Toddla T. ...

Manufacturer: Big Dada

The desire to seek culture and tradition from outside one's own backyard to influence your art and music is nothing new--from The Beatles through Marc Bolan, Paul Simon and up to Damon Albarn with his Mali Music, evidence is rife even in the mainstream. The only problem for M.I.A (aka London born Maya Arulpragasam) is that her backyard was flung far and wide in the first instance, growing up as ...

Manufacturer: Xl

Manufacturer: Atlantic

The collaboration of studio whiz Geoff Barrow and singer Beth Gibbons, Dummy was made at the same time as a short film noir called To Kill a Dead Man, and the same approach--gloomy, tormented, and wildly melodramatic--permeates the album. "Sour Times" (the hit in which Gibbons cries, again and again, "Nobody loves me, it's true") and the more cryptic "Glory Box" are the ...

Manufacturer: Universal / Island

Manufacturer: Polydor Group

You might expect the debut album from a woman who has collaborated extensively with Tricky and Orbital to be both wondrous and strange--and you'd be right to. What you might not expect is quite the depth of Alison Goldfrapp's beguiling, distracting 21st-Century noir visions on Felt Mountain. She and her fellow composer Will Gregory can mix in Brechtian cabaret, classical instrumentation, ...

Manufacturer: Mute

Manufacturer: RCA

Manufacturer: Jack Beatz

Manufacturer: Decaydance

For haters eager to see Kanye hit a sophomore slump--no such luck. Late Registration can't replicate the novelty of last year's College Dropout, but otherwise, this is an impressively more mature and labored-over album. Lyrically, Kanye's only improved a notch but musically, the album sounds incredible, especially with co-producer Jon Brion helping polish the songs to perfection. ...

Manufacturer: Roc-A-Fella