1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Login or Register to rate this item.

Since releasing the Magnetic Fields' seventh album, i, in 2004, Stephin Merritt has dabbled in musical theater with Showtunes and scored the audiobooks for Daniel "Lemony Snicket" Handler's A Series of Unfortunate Events kid-lit series (under the name the Gothic Archies). Maybe the offbeat side projects explain his unexpected interest in rock.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Login or Register to rate this item.

Paris-born, Barcelona-based Manu Chao has always been a traveler, roaming the U.K. to pick up punk, heading to Central America to immerse himself in salsa. The premise of 2001's Próxima Estación: Esperanza -- Chao moving casually between styles and languages as radio static smoothed the transitions -- was apt.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Login or Register to rate this item.

Like a lot of smooth, low-key electro, this London group's second studio album is pleasant but rather uneventful.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Login or Register to rate this item.

It's tempting to label Cleandenim a hip response to Michael Bublé, but in truth, this 22-year-old New York-via-Kansas jazz-pop prodigy is more obsessive Bacharach disciple than fashionable Sinatra impersonator.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Login or Register to rate this item.

Most girls and girly boys, including these teens at heart, eventually grow out of their catty phase. And on this foursome's fourth collection of infectious indie pop (their first since 2002's On), they downplay the sly smirking of the past.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Login or Register to rate this item.

Maybe it's because this duo have funneled all their unconventional ideas into children's music lately, but the Giants' 12th album (produced by the Dust Brothers) is their most straightforward yet.