Air, otherwise known as the Parisian duo of Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel, can make vintage synthesizers, drum machines and a clunky acoustic guitar or two sound like lovely little fluffy clouds. Their latest, 10,000 Hz. Legend, is like some deranged dim sum of sound: Some of it is tasty, most of it is weird and, ultimately, you will never know what your ears are eating. "Don't Be Light" is an ethereal keyboard jig that sounds like Ennio Morricone coming down from a rave. "Radian" is a stone-cool flute jam, lush with warm gusts of organ and a gorgeous string section that sweeps overhead like angels doing a drive-by. There's a palpable sense of wistfulness to the track, a moody blues that repeatedly surfaces on 10,000 Hz. Legend then disappears again. But this vague angst is the only thread that runs through every song, and when Beck drops by and ruins "The Vagabond" with the same minstrel-show Prince impersonation he sported on Midnite Vultures, one begins to wonder if this isn't a compilation of electronic performers instead of an album by one band. At times, Air seem bent on impersonating the alternative acid-rock impersonations of Ween, whom they have professed a love for -- "Wonder Milky Bitch," with its deadpan vocals, Slinky sound effects and faux-bachelor-pad ambience, sounds like a parody of Serge Gainsbourg's decadent Franco-pop. Other tracks suggest that Godin and Dunckel have gone mental with their paste-up tools and constructed the whole album with the same cut-up poetry aesthetic that produced song titles like "Sex Born Poison." It's nice that 10,000 Hz. Legend sounds very little like Air's masterworks Premier Symptomes and Moon Safari. Unfortunately, it also sounds like Air trying very hard not to be Air. (PAT BLASHILL)

The Goo Goo Dolls What I Learned About Ego, Opinion, Art and Commerce (1987-2000) (Warner Brothers)

The Goo Goo Dolls make music that speaks straight to the hearts of disaffected fifteen-year-old girls. For most other folks, the love affair with the band's Top 40 juggernauts "Iris" (which is not included here) and "Name" (which is) are just about over, which makes this a reasonable time for the Goos to offer this career retrospective. What I Learned... offers twenty-two songs from six albums, remixed, remastered, and hand-picked by the band's two-pronged writing team, Johnny Rzeznik and bassist Robby Takac. Despite the thirteen-year span, the album doesn't show a whole lot in the way of musical evolution; whether they're thrashing away (as on 1987's "I'm Addicted") or strumming along (the 1991 gem "Two Days in February"), their inherent pop aspirations shine through. For those who just can't get enough Goo, the album also provides an Internet "pass key" that opens doors on a site featuring videos and alternate takes. What are you waiting for? (EVAN SCHLANSKY)

Mary Chapin Carpenter Time*Sex*Love (Columbia)

Mary Chapin Carpenter isn't the most unlikely country music star of all time. After all, there's a precedent for having success as a country artist and being born in New Jersey (as was Eddie Rabbitt), starting out as a politically-inclined, Washington D.C.-based folkie (like Emmylou Harris), or even hitting the books big time (Rhodes Scholar Kris Kristofferson, perhaps?). The straw-haired singer-songwriter with the husky, honeyed alto remains an anomaly in the crop of doe-eyed, slender-hipped Shanias and Faiths who currently dominate popular country music. But Chapin (as she's known to friends) seems destined for another hit with "Simple Life," an anthem for hurtling middle-age crazies that sets the tone of her eighth album. Known for her subtle lyric insights, Chapin struggles with the evolution into adulthood on "Late for Your Life," and describes the foibles of a career woman's unconscious living on "The Long Way Home." She's always straddled musical genres, and Time*Sex*Love boasts a clear pop streak, with the influence of the Beach Boys evident on the harmonies of "Maybe World" and the string arrangements on "What Was It Like" and "King of Love." Those songs have their sweetness balanced by the bite of producer/guitarist John Jennings, but a run-in with Sir George Martin during the album's London sessions might help explain the sitar on "In the Name of Love," which is more Lemon Pipers than George Harrison. The U.K. connection is more pleasantly evoked on the hidden track, "Going Home," which samples the robotic "mind the gap" warning broadcast on London's tube platforms -- driving home the point that Mary Chapin Carpenter has again bridged some musical gaps of her own. (MEREDITH OCHS)

Stereomud Perfect Self (Loud/Columbia)

These goateed hard rockers bring the usual noise on their debut, peddling senseless angst and chugga-chugga guitar riffs to America's lunk-headed masses. Cut from the same patch of baggy denim as Godsmack and Disturbed, Stereomud occasionally manage to compensate for their lack of originality with some memorable choruses. Producers Don Gilmore (Lit, Linkin Park) and Rick Parashar (Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains) add the radio gloss to "Pain" and "Steppin' Away," the former a cathartic keeper that highlights James Hetfield's influence on singer Erik Rogers. When the members of Stereomud break out with the string-laden title cut, they actually show a sensitive side. But that's too little, too late after hearing these hurt merchants glue so much bleak foreboding ("Down From Here") and alienation ("Don't Be Afraid") to so many tedious music beds. But don't say you weren't warned: The first line of the opening "Leave (Back Up)," admits "this won't be what you want to hear" -- a mostly accurate assessment of Perfect Self. (JOHN D. LUERSSEN)

Neu! #1 (Astralwerks)

Few followers of the minimalist approach to rock have ever embodied the aesthetic as captivatingly as Neu! The short-lived German duo recorded only three albums (which are finally being issued domestically), but the impact of those recordings was integral to the evolution of sounds ranging from house to industrial to pop -- and reverberates in the work of artists as diverse as David Bowie, Sonic Youth and Radiohead. The band's 1972 debut is a dreamy trek through free-form ambient vignettes and seductive soundscapes, where delicate melodies waft around mesmerizing drones and driving grooves. "HalloGallo" pulses and glows, threaded with faintly psychedelic guitar that seems to have drifted in from the Beatles' quadrant of the universe, while seeds of industrial rock sprout in the jackhammer introduction to "Negativland." Neu! may not be new, but the adventuresome spirit of the music is as fresh as it was thirty years ago. (SANDY MASUO)

Sister Spit's Ramblin' Road Show Greatest Spits! (Mr. Lady)

The all-grrrl queer spoken word fest known as Sister Spit began as a weekly open mike series in San Francisco, hosted by Sini Anderson and Michelle Tea. The two Spitters soon hit the highway and Ramblin' Road Show preserves many of those moments for posterity -- sometimes loud and raucous, other times emotive and heartfelt, but always alive and kicking. Highlights include Tea's love-hate rant about America, "The Beautiful"; Beth Lisick's "Credit Card Test," which depicts the horror of being discovered with a badly shaved crotch; "Exume," Cooper Lee Bombardier's moving tribute to a dead friend; and Sara Seinberg's "Fuck You I'm Wonderwoman," for its title alone. Tour vets of every stripe will undoubtedly enjoy Anderson and Tea recounting "How Van #1 Was Lost." (GILLIAN G. GAAR)

Mission One (Insiduous Urban)

The symphony of strings that mesh so perfectly on "Intro" -- a fading instrumental less than a minute long -- makes it easy to pinpoint Mission's Berklee College of Music background. That institution may have been the brewery, but the finished brew also carries the distinctive flavor of their native Oakland streets. Emcees Raashan Ahmad and Moe Pope -- with the help of an assortment of musicians -- pool diverse studio productions and live instrumentation, making for an organic, funky debut. The team sounds intellectually solid on "Disturbing Behavior," a deep jazzy loop that creates a solemn atmosphere designed to raise the level of consciousness: "With money, cash and weed and fame/are as lame with all these Africans with Italian names -- change the strategy!" In the tradition of the Roots, Digable Planets and Black Eyed Peas, positively focused songs like "More Than You Know" or "Now I Shine" see Mission trying to break the cycle of hypocrisy and monotonous stereotypes within hip-hop. And all along the way, the magic of the music still supports a guaranteed head-nod, backspin or record scratch. (MARLON REGIS)

Spirit Caravan Elusive Truth (Tolotta)

Spirit Caravan's Scott "Wino" Weinrich would like you to meet "Retroman." He's a "sideburn sportin', ridin' a Norton/Stone cold leader if you ever seen one ... a one of a kind super freak." So revered in stoner rock circles is Wino, one can't be blamed for thinking the tune is at least semi-autobiographical. Founder of the Obsessed and former linchpin of St. Vitus, Wino's the real deal, and his influence guides modern Sabbath disciples like Fu Manchu, Nebula and Monster Magnet. It's not like Wino shies away from the role, either. When he barks (on "Lifer City"), "You're a lifer, what can you say," the sentiment is one of gritty pride, not world-weary resignation. Elusive Truth, the Caravan's second full-length, is split between burly -- but surprisingly precise -- hard rock thuggery and a molasses-'n-motor oil ooze that would make the Melvins proud (or envious, even). Add Wino's requisite mystical/existential subject matter ("The Departure [of Quetzalcoatl]," "Futility's Reasons," the title track), and there's plenty for a pot-addled mind to cozy up to. Not that there's anything wrong with that. (MARK WOODLIEF)

Everything But the Girl Back to Mine (Ultra)

Those who were underwhelmed by the dance-floor tunnel vision Ben Watt displayed on last year's double-CD Lazy Dog Deep House Music will find redemption in this collaborative effort with Everything But the Girl partner Tracey Thorn. Hearing the duo mix old school hip-hop treasures (Slick Rick's "All Alone" and the Roots' "Silent Treatment") with alluring contemporary folk sides (Beth Orton's "Stars All Seem to Weep" and Mary Margaret O'Hara's "To Cry About") makes it easy to see how EBTG arrived at their own urbane-yet-funky sound. More beat-fixated listeners will be happy to know that the set does offer takes on some thumping club cuts -- notably the Ananda Project's "Cascades of Colour," Carl Craig's "A Wonderful Life." Overall, Back to Mine is solid evidence that despite its reputation for inconsistency, EBTG are one of the most tasteful acts out there today. (AIDIN VAZIRI)

(May 29, 2001)