Remember when Beck used to be funny? Too bad: That was a long time ago, and he's outgrown the frantic comic edge of his early days. But on Guero, he shows he can make vital music as a depressive yet functional adult. He teams up with his old producers the Dust Brothers, who bring back the eclectic style of his hipster youth -- the fuzz-guitar freak funk of "E-Pro," the Latin bounce of "Que Onda Guero," the bossa-nova soul of "Girl." Marriage, fatherhood and religion have done nothing to elevate his mood since 2002's Sea Change -- if anything, he sounds even more morose now. "I push, I pull, the days go slow," he sings, "into a void we filled with death." But if Nineties classics like Mellow Gold and Odelay summed up the creative exuberance and anything-goes openness of the Clinton years, Guero explores the Bush-era malaise that has infected his soul along with the rest of the country, as the Dust Brothers add muscle to the music.

Next: Bright Eyes, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning