An underrated gem of a record, which finds David Hidalgo and Louie Perez writing some of the most inventive and appealing R & B-inflected pop songs of their career. In a perfect world, "Life is Good" would've been a Number One hit.

+  +  +

Three women welding personal politics to bracing punk rock on a stunning, tightly-wound guitar album. For anyone who's forgotten rock's capacity to inspire, this is a faith-renewing record, often as great as the Ramones and Sonic Youth songs they've drawn inspiration from.

+  +  +

Their most straightforward and consistent album, soulful and reverent without sounding clichéd. An impressively confident work by a rap act that never felt tethered to the trends of its genre.

+  +  +

Sprawling, plaintive and deeply passionate, Jeff Tweedy leads the charge of a roots album that does both rock and country traditions proud. A blissful melding of the Clash's impact and Gram Parsons' sensitivity.

+  +  +

A multimedia feast — book, CD, art exhibit, Web site — collected as a tribute to one of rock's finest bands, presenting a range of material inspired by Dada, Jackson Pollock, dub reggae, Hank Williams and the Sex Pistols. And that's just for starters.

+  +  +

Twentysomethings obsessed with the Velvet Underground isn't a surprising concept; what issurprising is this Austin, Texas quintet's seemingly endless ability to translate that obession into gracefully crafted songs, all performed with a monastic intensity.

+  +  +

Gloomy, claustrophobic and richly textured, Tricky's second full-length album is a cavernous and engrossing affair. Filled with nightmarish imagery that slithers around its layered beats, its impact is immediate and impossible to ignore.

+  +  +

Like another Dust Brothers-produced masterpiece, the Beastie Boys' "Paul's Boutique," don't trust it to be the rap, folk or country it borrows from. Its greatness is on the level of pure sound — like an issue of People shoved in a blender, the junk-culture shrapnel keeps flying at you.

+  +  +

The concept sounds gimmicky: brooding Appalachian folk, played over a plodding drum machine. But in truth, the spare, chill sound that results gives singer Will Oldham's cracked, tortured voice a strange sort of warmth and lends his lovelorn lyrics a deeply poetic weight.

+  +  +

Having left his old band American Music Club and no longer searching for mass appeal, Eitzel relaxes into a boozy, jazz-tinged record, establishing him as one of the most sophisticated songwriters this side of Elvis Costello.