Nonsensical lyrics arranged alongside infectious grooves, makes "Odelay" by far the most compelling album of the year. Beck proves that sampling — whether James Brown or Bob Dylan, hip-hop beats, country twangs or the funk — is where it's at.

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"Seasick" is stuffed with smart, addictive pop ("I'm up to my neck in party favors, pesticides and pills") that embraces, among other things, tortured love and man-to-man attraction, with a flair for the absurd — and the profound.

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Amorous destruction and failed relationships seem to be a Difranco specialty: "Don't treat me like something that happened to you," she sings on "Dilate." Wielding her guitar like a weapon, this month's Ms. Magazine cover girl never sounds desperate, just pissed.

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Bard extraordinare Amy Rigby insists that moms are people too. She muses about unraveling relationships, unrequited crushes and infidelity from experience and with stinging wit.

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"The sun may be shining but all I can see is black and blue," Germano sings on "Circus," a confessional, self-conscious diary of female alienation. Germano's voice quivers with longing and vulnerability as she names — then serenades — her demons.

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To view this last, live installment from Nirvana as some sort of elegy would be to miss the point. The songs are infused with so much raw energy and emotion, the music instead makes a great case for immortality.

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Cake dishes out quirky, sarcastic pop in an irresistibly eclectic country and funk-inspired package. Highlights on "Nugget" include a droll rendition of Gloria Gaynor's disco-era hit "I Will Survive" and the song "Nugget" whose catchy chorus is simply, "Shut the fuck up."

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With his simple guitar riffs and lefty ideals still in tow, Bragg reflects on fatherhood and growing older with thoughtfulness and wit. Only Bragg could sing about a "socialism of the heart " without sounding over-earnest.