Hippie soul, political rock and punked-out cabaret

Interview, Oct, 2002

Gogol Bordello

Multi Kontra Culti vs. Irony (Rubric Records)

As the Grateful Dead of downtown New York's avant-garde scene, the biggest challenge for Gogol Bordello, a raucous Ukrainian gypsy punk band, is capturing their orgiastic concert experience on disc. It's a nearly impossible task. Their cabaret-style performances come alive with Mongolian throat singers, Brazilian drummers, burlesque ballerinas and singer Eugene Hutz's insane Iggy Pop theatrics. Multi is nonetheless a brave, fun and surprisingly successful attempt.

Victoria DiSilverio

SCAPEGOAT WAX

Swax (Hollywood Records)

On his latest outing as the oddly tagged Scapegoat Wax, sonic Svengali Marty James croons in a deep, sonorous register and paints from a broad palette. He swirls pop with metal ("Lost Cause"), jazz with hip-hop ("Crawlin"), and folk to dancehall dub ("Space To Share"), all without missing a beat.

Tom Lanham

PETER GABRIEL

UP (Geffen Records)

With his 11th studio album, the husky-voiced world music evangelist fuses cutting-edge electronic dance rhythms to songs about the cycle of birth, life and death. While several tracks feature Gabriel's most ambitious orchestral arrangements to date, he's at his best when he strips it all away: "The Drop," the album's high point, is the sound of one man at his piano, wondering what happens after the final breath.

Dimitri Ehrlich

INDIA.ARIE

Voyage to India (Motown Records)

This neo-soul flower child made her name singing a message of self-acceptance and love with the hit single "Video," which charmed the Grammy committee into nominating her debut album Acoustic Soul for seven awards. She spins more positive vibes and breathy vocals on her follow-up disc, but this one suffers from being not-so-neo-soul and oh-so-adult contemporary.

Leah Paulos

GORDON GANO

Hitting the Ground (Instinct Records)

When director David Moore enlisted Violent Femmes singer Gordon Gano to write this soundtrack, Gano came up with some really cool songs for some really cool people. PJ Harvey opens with the title track, sounding like Patti Smith doing "You Really Got Me." Such hipsters as John Cale, Lou Reed and Frank Black solidly follow. But it's Mary Lou Lord's gorgeous early Velvets-ish "Make it Happen" which cements the deal. Gano himself croons with Martha Wainwright. Call it revenge of the geek.

Anita Sarko

STEVE EARLE

Jerusalem (E-Squared/Artemis)

Springsteen masked his post-9/11 sentiment in murky metaphors. But truculent twangsmith Earle prefers to cut right to the controversial quick on his meanest rock record in years. Bravely, he puts himself in the position of the notorious American Taliban in the poignant "John Walker's Blues," neither condoning nor condemning the man's ill-fated decisions. A sinister "Ashes to Ashes" mocks organized religion; the laconically drawled "Amerika v. 6.0 (The Best We Can Do)" skewers U.S. malaise; and the chiming title track prays for peace on "the ground where Jesus stood." Razor sharp and righteous, politics rarely sound this compelling.

TL

JOHN PARISH

How Animals Move (Thrill Jockey)

One of rock's most gifted multi-instrumentalists and producers, John Parish has lent his idiosyncratic muse to the likes of the Eels, Sparklehorse, Giant Sand and PJ Harvey (who also sings on this album's spooky closer, "Airplane Blues"). On his first solo album, Parish presents a mystic melange featuring instrumentals that evoke everything from New Orleans brass bands to Sonic Youth-often in the same song.

Matt Diehl

ALISON MOYET

Home time (Sanctuary Records)

Yearning permeates Alison Moyet's first release in eight years. The grand voice of 1980s synth-pop duo Yaz is as lush as ever, newly framed by resonant bass and sweeping strings that hover between Bollywood and Massive Attack (who've also used Hometime's producers, the Insects). Drenched in unsatisfied desire, Moyet is moody and magnifico.

Vivien Goldman