Atmosphere - "You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having"(Rhymesayers Entertainment, 2005)

I'm just a man that loves rap
So much in fact
That I put every piece of myself
Inside these fucking tracks!
- Atmosphere - "The Arrival"

From the opening braggadocio of "The Arrival" to the hope for the future that comes through loud and clear on the album's closer "Little Man," You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having (Atmosphere's fifth album) is an astounding aural experience. Slug, the reigning rap hope of Minneapolis, focuses his rhymes on intelligent and well-developed subjects. And that he finds a way to successfully mix the upbeat anthems with the political suggests he's only beginning to show what he really has in him.

"Panic Attack" is a scathing attack on today's "I've got to feel good" culture, in which we take bastardized "self-help" from the weight loss gurus while doping ourselves with psychotropic drugs at the slightest hint of a problem. And that kind of overt message in a song can quickly be a death-knell for an album. But you know what? The song's infectiously catchy, it's got a beat that you can dance to, and you'll find yourself rapping along with the mind-bending chorus. The two minutes of brilliant commercial-audio samples at the end are just a bonus.

But he doesn't let messages overpower the fun. "Watch Out" rips on rappers like LL Cool J (for "making albums for the girls and shit") and on sanctimonious people who latch on to every cause ("with all those Wellstone bumper stickers") as he tries to stake claim to his own lyrical ground. "When you open up your mouth, I can just smell that you don't know what you're talking about," he raps slyly, before ripping on the rest of the rap culture. "Cars drive by with the booming system, I must be getting old 'cause that bass sounds ridiculous! And nowadays everybody's biting Tupac, so fuck it, I'ma stand over here and do the moonwalk." What's that? A Michael Jackson reference that relates to his music? I thought that was illegal now!

From there the album develops into a sampler's paradise. Each song blends into the next with well-placed gospel, blues, jazz, rock and soul samples that tie the album together. There are flaws -- drug songs like "Pour Me Another" fall flat on their face, as one would expect -- but what there are on this album of that ilk are few and far between. As a whole, You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having is one of the best rap albums I've heard this year. At its best the album channels Aesop Rock, Blackalicious and (thanks to the producions of beat-master Ant) even at times a touch of Paul's Boutique-era Beastie Boys. And at its worst, the album's still a good sight better than anything on urban radio today.

Grayskul - "Deadlivers"(Rhymesayers Entertainment, 2005)

What would you get if Eminem eliminated his albums' fluff, or if D12 managed to record an album free of outright bullshit tracks? I'd have to say Grayskul has come as close as an album has in recent years to combining the best of both worlds. This album, released on Rhymesayers back in February 2005 is chock-full of exquisitely developed beats, and Rob Castro, Onry Ozzborn and JFK combine to add impressive wordplay to the mix. This is a complex album that plays out like an underground mixtape, and while there's nothing on here truly fit for radio (though "Behold" comes pretty damned close) Deadlivers is a worthy album for the collection of any music fan who claims to care about deftly produced hip-hop with an intelligent edge. And unlike many albums by more commercially successful acts, it plays like an album, not as a collection of singles where namedropping's more important than substance. This is an impresive debut to say the least.

Versus The Mirror - "Home"(Equal Vision Records, 2006)

In the burgeoning genre of screamo (definition: heavy-metal based emo delivered through screams), I've heard good and bad bands and have come to understand what makes a good album in the genre. The screaming vocals need to be balanced by a competant backing group with at least somewhat melodic hooks. That much we can say Versus the mirror has handled. The band itself has crunchy hook-filled guitar melodies and a heavy percussive edge that gives the music a lot of weight. But the lead singer leaves something to be desired. The monotony of his screams is never broken, which makes listening to the entire album a chore. There's something to be said for balancing the screams with a touch of melodic singing. That said, "Birthed By Architecture," "Smoke It To The Rope," and "Boy Gets What He Wants" have the raw power to succeed in the genre. Whether the band eventually will get noticed outside of the narrow confines of what screamo has to offer will depend on whether the vocals ever develop depth.

A.J. Croce - "Cantos"(Seedling Records, 2006)

As far as rock star progeny go, A.J. Croce continues to prove that he's all about the music, not the quick money and fame his father Jim's name could provide. His albums show that clearly, as Cantos allows him to build on his influences (Paul McCartney, anyone?) and his many talents. The album is a stripped-down example of Croce's multi-instrumental skill, songwriting prowess and vocal abilities. The album opener shows all of this clearly: "Time Will Tell" is a great song hands down, despite the fact that most of the three minute piece is just Croce and a piano. Reminescent of McCartney's best work, combined with Billy Joel piano, it's hard to beat songs like this. Unfortunately, these aren't songs that are well attuned to today's radio climate, even in the adult contemporary market, so Croce's work is likely to continue to go unnoticed by the bulk of the music-listening public. Other key tracks include an astounding cover of "Maybe I'm Amazed" that channels the Beatles like few other artists have managed, as well as Croce-originals "Play" and "I'll Know It's Right" -- which features a guitar line his father could truly be proud of.

Spank Rock - "YoYoYoYoYoYo"(Big Dada, 2006)

Is it possible for a rap album to succeed based on techno-edged drum-'n'-bass beats and lyrics about hardcore sex? Perhaps. But Spank Rock doesn't find a way to pull it off on YoYoYoYoYoYo. There's a limit to how much a listener can stand regarding overt sex and misogynistic tendencies, and Spank Rock tops that with the first track "Backyard Betty." "Damn, that pussy is damp, bang it 'til the bell stops ringing," Alex Epton raps. And I immediately search for draino for my ears. I'm amazed I listened to this entire album, but even more amazed that they allowed such tacky vocals to ruin solid crunk beats like those that grace "Touch Me" and "Far Left." Though I guess I should have figured that's what I'd get when the album features a song called "Screwville USA." Live and learn, I suppose. And let this album rot in the junk bin where it belongs.

Funky Nashville - "Hitch A Ride"(Iceberg Records / 215 Records, 2006)

Much like in Canada, where it seems great music is around every corner, something must have gotten out into the water in Denmark. A few months ago I reviewed a Danish band called 2nd Street, and in the process I was contacted about Funky Nashville, a band Iceberg Records was hoping to be able to market to an American audience. I liked what I heard.

The band's music, a blend of surf-rock, pop, country and jump blues, is like nothing I've ever heard in this country, despite the fact that Funky Nashville draws from a number of significant American musical developments over the last fifty years. Particularly the country and surf-rock blend made me think radio might be intrigued by their prospects -- especially now that country music has been making consistent inroads into the pop market.

What I didn't expect when I first heard the band in the fall of 2005 was for them to craft an album that would become such a favorite. But this three-man band from Copenhagen has an inate ability to develop a hook. Each of the eleven tracks on Hitch A Ride are infectious and hip, awash with steel guitar (used as a bass element, no less!) and the staccato rhythm of mexican-styled trumpets, while vocalist / guitarist Sverre Stein Nielsen takes it all to the next level with his gravelly-yet-smooth blues vocals. Think Johnny Cash meets U2 in a bar with Cake-frontman John McCrea during a four-day bender and you might have a slight inkling of the potential this band posesses.

"Hitch A Ride," the first track (and lead-off single) from the album is a toe-tappingly addictive alt-country number with a killer hook; a non-traditional murder ballad involving a male hitchhiker taken hostage by a femme fatale driver, which has the potential to take college rock and top-forty radio by storm -- If only stations will be willing to take the chance. From there, the album is chock-full of single material. From the merenge-tinged "Mexican Stars" to "Ain't No Cowboy" -- something of a reworking of the likes of Dave Loggins' "Please Come To Boston," all would make solid additions to traditionally tepid summer playlists. In that particular song, the main character is pursued by a woman who wants him to return to town and settle down, but (unlike Loggins' protagonist) he chooses to dump her rather than give up the cowboy life. "I wish that you were homeward bound," she says, mournfully. He responds: "Baby, please don't worry; I'm sure you'll find another man." Now that's cold!

The key, however, is that while crafting a series of solid singles, the band has built an album from the bottom up that tells the traditional cowboy story, updated to a modern setting and blending genres in a way that hasn't been done before to my knowledge. It's a brilliant effort, one that deserves to break through into the American radio market in a big way. To overlook Hitch A Ride would be a massive mistake. Here's hoping this won't be the best album of 2006 no one hears.

www.funkynashville.dk

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Show Your Bones"(Interscope, 2006)

As far as the garage rock revival goes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs remain ahead of the curve. Led by Karen O, they've distanced themselves from the likes of the Strokes and the Vines by producing mature indie rock, album after album. Never content to stay in one place, the band's latest effort Show Your Bones continues to build on what worked on their sophomore album Fever to Tell while leaving plenty of room for both Karen O's vocals and the rest of the band's musicianship to shine.

"Phenomena" features hauntingly caustic vocals by O as the band plays blisteringly -- guitarist Nicholas Zinner and drummer Brian Chase produce such a great firewall of sound that it is as much a part of making the hook so brain-freezing as O's repeated "something like a phemonena ..." chorus. On "Honeybear," Chase puts four to the floor, but uses the four-four structure to keep shaking up the song ... an added beat in an unusual place suddenly sends the entire song structure reeling, which allows the band to take a song with few chords and turn verses and chorus into distinct entities.

The band sounds even more comfortable on "Warrior," on which acoustic guitar and bongo drums (and what sounds like mildly distorted piano chords) provide an oddly elegant backdrop for vocals that show O's ability to be effective even without heavy guitar to back her. "A little space is good," said Chase in a recent Rolling Stone interview -- and while he was referring to band members not seeing each other constantly, this rings true in the band's music as well. Each member knows when to give the others space.

On "Dudley," one of the best tracks on the album, the band itself comes to the forefront as O channels Sleater-Kinney with her suprisingly restrained vocals. While Karen O's over-the-top persona has proven to be successful in the past, it's nice to see she's capable of reigning it in when the song demands it. This also suggests Yeah Yeah Yeahs have the chops to keep evolving in a genre that eats most bands alive by this point in a career.

In the end, Show Your Bones stands out as the best of the three albums Yeah Yeah Yeahs have produced in the last five years. For fans of solidly arranged and performed indie rock or punk, this is a must-own album. Show Your Bones stands up to repeated listens, suggesting that Karen O and company have left the rest of the pack far behind them.

K.T. Tunstall - "Eye to the Telescope"(EMI U.K., 2006)

You may have heard K.T. Tunstall and not know it. Her single "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" has been getting airplay on VH1 and on Muncie station WLBC for weeks, but her name doesn't roll off the tongue which makes it difficult to recall. I spent the good portion of last week singing the chorus ("no, no, you're not the one for me ...") with reckless abandon, assuming it was a new song by a favorite new artist of mine, Brandi Carlile. Amazingly, however, I learned the song was by Tunstall, a scottish folk-singer of much international regard, who seems to have stumbled on the grainy vocal style of Carlile by accident.

Regardless, "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" is an interesting introduction to an eclectic album. Eye to the Telescope is difficult to put into a category. There's the bluesy Katie Melua-ish track "Another Place To Fall" with an ethereal backdrop of guitar and bass, which contains another ready-for-radio chorus. Then she'll hit you with a straight up folk number like "Miniature Disasters" reminescent of Fiona Apple without the piano -- particularly when one considers the complex arrangement. So where do you place this? And by what quirk of fate is it actually succeeding in America? Perhaps the radio powers that be are on to the fact that musical creativity's been on an upswing heading into 2006.

However, the album as a whole lacks a concrete throughline. All the songs are exceptional on their own merit, but the eclectic nature of Tunstall's songwriting makes the album a difficult one to listen to straight through. It's like a greatest hits album -- a lot of hook, which brings you in, but in the end there's something missing that would give the songs merit as an album. That said, Eye to the Telescope should serve as a respectable introduction of Tunstall's sound to an intrigued American audience. While this one doesn't resonate as a complete album, there are some exceptional tracks here that should give the material a long shelf life. I look forward to hearing what Tunstall can do in the future.

April Verch - "Take Me Back(Rounder, 2006)

For those who never thought a Canadian folk-grass fiddle album could sound good, April Verch provides the proof that it can. Verch blends bluegrass with a touch of celtic flavor (particularly on "Grand Slaque") that makes this album hard to resist for fans of the style. "All in a Night" features a sound that, while based on a simple melody initially, turns into a solid alt-country piece. She follows that with "Monarch," a dark and moody guitar, violin and piano melody that is haunting -- worthy of the instrumental treatment Verch grants it.

Not content to stay in those genres, however, Verch continues to roam throughout the album, and that's to its benefit. "I Still Cry" is a country weeper in the vein of Roseanne Cash, while "Bride of Jesus" gets an acoustic gospel treatment that is second to none. With Take Me Back, April Verch proves that the beauty of her previous two rounder releases (Verchuosity in 2001, followed by From Where I Stand in 2003) was no fluke. "In a fair and just world, April Verch would enjoy the same crossover pop success as Alison Krauss," wrote All Music's Tim Sheridan. I say crossover success is unnecessary. What Verch does with Take Me Back is too refreshing to have Verch play the cruel radio single game.

Kathleen Edwards - "Back To Me"(Zoë Records, 2005)

Maybe twenty years in state'll change your mind
'Cause I know where the cops hang out
And I know where you'll be found
I know what you're all about
I know when you're going down ...

With venom, Kathleen Edwards opens her album Back To Me with "In State," which may be the best song about leaving an abusive relationship that I've ever heard. From there, Edwards crafts a magnificent album full of dark story-songs about real life, from a female perspective that is at once refreshing and original. She successfully blends country with straight-up rock in the vein of Sheryl Crow or Rosie Thomas. "Pink Emerson Radio" is a standout track; Edwards sings mournfully over a melody comprised of acoustic guitar and the echo of vibraphone and light soothing touches of electric guitar. Edwards proved with her debut album Failer that she could blend Lucinda Williams' folk with the sounds of contemporary country rock and still remain on the outside the conventional Nashville scene. With Back To Me she proves she should have a long career in the business, even if radio never comes calling.

Caitlin Cary & Thad Cockrell - "Begonias"(Yep Roc Records, 2005)

An under-the-radar album released last June, this album brings Caitlin Cary (formerly of Whiskeytown) together with fellow Carolina country singer Thad Cockrell for an alt-country album that rises above the rest. I've heard a lot of Caitlin's music over the years, and always thought she's gotten the rough end of things after Ryan Adams left Whiskeytown and stole all the limelight. But on Begonias she proves she's very capable of leading an album, and with Cockrell trading vocals the two have crafted some impressive classic country.

"Two Different Things" and "Something Less Than Something More" introduce the duo's sound, but on "Please Break My Heart" the two show what they really can do. The song, steeped in acoustic and steel guitar, sounds like Patsy Cline meets Don Everly, hearkening back to the classic country tradition of the fifties and sixties. This is a sound regaining a foothold on the country scene, thanks to artists like Tift Merritt, Roseanne Cash, Kasey Chambers and Jedd Hughes -- and Begonias gives good reason for this trend. This album is full of great songs which combine to form an equally great album, proof that good music's there to find if you look hard (or long) enough.