Kool Keith Black Elvis/Lost in Space (Ruffhouse/Columbia)

Rahzel Make the Music 2000 (MCA)

Skunk Anansie Post Orgasmic Chill (Virgin)

Black, bisexual, female and, yes, bald -- Skunk Anansie frontwoman Skin is pretty much the embodiment of everything mainstream America most fears and despises. Which makes her an apt leader for this brooding U.K. metal band, whose third album, Post Orgasmic Chill would scare the piss out of even brawny rockers Korn. Don't let that comparison fool you into thinking that Skunk Anansie plies the same kind of non-melodic funk/metal that Korn and their cronies do. Skin is a rock & roll diva, able to sound tuneful even when she's belting out throat-shredding lines like the chorus to "We Don't Need Who You Think You Are." The world has been waiting for a band like this ever since Living Colour called it quits. (JENNY ELISCU)

Bis Social Dancing (Grand Royal)

When Glaswegian trio Bis made their domestic debut three years ago, their super-energetic punk most closely emulated bands like Bikini Kill and Bratmobile, who had also paired shrill, sing-speak female vocals with simple, bouncy riffs. Problem was, the same things that made some people love the band -- they're fun! they're bouncy! they sing about being kids! -- made the rest of us gag. But the band's second full-length, Social Dancing is a vast improvement, showing the group to have matured considerably in recent years. Now that they've fixated on Eighties-style new wave disco, they've toned down the wackiness and added a much-needed dimension of subtlety to their music. And the album's good beats, catchy melodies and witty lyrics don't hurt either. (JE)

Asleep at the Wheel Ride With Bob: A Tribute to Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys (Dreamworks)

The guest list here is testament to both Bob Wills' vast influence and Asleep at the Wheel's Ray Benson's diverse taste. Featuring everyone from Willie Nelson to the Dixie Chicks to the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Ride With Bob does an admirable job at covering the full spectrum of the King of Western Swing's musical legacy. The eleventh track on this terrific album is a revelation; Merle Haggard's spry take on "St. Louis Blues" is as lively as anything Hag has recorded in well over a decade. Additional sparks fly frequently on this tribute, particularly when twenty-something fiddle phenom Jason Roberts' takes to scat singing over his sawing on "End of the Line". (ANDREW DANSBY)

Bottle Rockets Brand New Year (Doolittle Records)

Skynyrd's Ronnie Van Zant and AC/DC's Bon Scott may share some weekly gig together in one of the afterworld's seedier nightclubs, but here on Earth, nobody marries garage, blooze and the dirty boogie better than the Bottle Rockets. Brand New Year lacks an all-out perfect, shoulda-been-a-classic along the lines of "Perfect Far Away" (from 1997's 24 Hours a Day) or "Radar Gun" (from 1995's The Brooklyn Slide), but it does rip open with "Nancy Sinatra," a leering, gas station pin-up worthy paean to Frankie's go-go boot & mini-skirt-wearing pride and joy. It only gets greasier from there on out, and the endless barrage of jackhammer riffs don't so much walk all over you as stomp you into the ground. And yes, you like it. (RICHARD SKANSE)

East River Pipe The Gasoline Age (Merge)

Reclusive New Jersey boy F.M. Cornog has been writing and recording songs under the name East River Pipe since 1993, establishing himself along the way as one of our generation's great eccentric songwriters. Much like the Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt, Cornog's clean, jangly guitar melodies and ethereal keyboard parts subtly display a love for new wave. But that love is tempered by his interest in crafting timeless pop songs, not retro kitsch. On his fourth long-player, Cornog, during which his bleakest days were spent living in a Hoboken subway station, he continues to craft quiet, swaying tunes whose pretty sounds and clever lyrics force a smile, even when they're part of some of the saddest tunes you've ever heard. (JE)

Various Artists The Acid House-Music from the Motion Picture (Capitol)

The Acid House soundtrack brings with it big expectations, as the last Irvine Welsh-book-turned-film was Trainspotting, which spawned two of this decade's most popular soundtracks. Like Trainspotting with Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life," The Acid House mixes T. Rex's 1971 "Hot Love" in with Nineties rock and techno gems like the Chemical Brothers' "Leave Home," Welsh's Scottish countrymen the Pastels' "Nothing to Be Done," and Dimitri from Paris' "Toujours L'Amore." The album's brand new tracks couldn't be mellower -- see Oasis' Bacharach-tinged ballad "Going Nowhere," Belle and Sebastian's uber-genteel "Slow Graffiti," and Beth Orton's slow-strummin' "Precious Maybe." If these songs serve as any indication, this film's gonna be a downer. (BILL CRANDALL)

Other Star People Diamonds in the Belly of the Dog (A&M)

After this year's Universal/Polygram mega merger, that Other Star People even got to release their debut album is a major upset. Why did the new conglomerate choose to support these Southern Californian second wave new wavers? Apparently, it's the songs, stupid. Led by Xander Smith and former L7 bassist Jennifer Finch, this two-boy, two-girl band serves up potent, sassy hooks a-plenty. Cars/Devo/Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker mans the boards and former Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes lends his fingers -- how's that for New Wave credentials? (BC)

Sarah Dougher Day One (K)

On her solo debut, Portland's Sarah Dougher -- who, since the dissolution of her previous band, the Lookers, has played with Cadallaca and the Crabs -- establishes herself as the sister spirit of female singer/songwriters like Lois Maffeo and Rebecca Gates, who combine their lovely, soulful voices with spare accompaniment. Dougher's songs aren't pretty, in the strictest sense of that word, because their predominant subject matter -- lost love -- is delivered so achingly, that the tunes elicit the same sorrow they describe. "You may ask me why I'm singing such a sad tune, because summer, it doesn't start until after June," she sings on the album's closer. And the proof of her ability to craft a mood is that she makes that seem like as good a reason as any to be sad. (JE)

Julie Miller Broken Things (Hightone Records)

Julie Miller's voice is a difficult pill to swallow: high and shrill enough to tingle the hair on the back of your neck, like Emmylou Harris piped in from an alternate, pseudo nightmare universe. But as unsettling as Miller's voice is, her songs are even more so, and when the two come together (backed by such stellar help as Steve Earle, Emmylou and Julie's husband/guitarist par excellance Buddy), the result is nothing less than bewitching. Broken Things is not an album you'll likely want to (or could) fall asleep to, but it's a haunted fever dream of rare beauty that commands full attention and repeated listenings. (RS)

Bardo Pond Set and Setting (Matador)

If heroin recorded an album, it might sound like Bardo Pond's Set and Setting. Feedback-laced guitar drones and slow-motion drum beats are the backdrop for Isobel Sollenberger's delicate moans -- in a few songs, you'll swear her tongue's gone numb. Despite the band's claims that their music is "good vibes," songs like "Lull" and "Crawl Away" will never be summer barbecue staples, but they are pretty darn intoxicating. (BC)

THE ROLLINGSTONE.COM STAFF
(August 10, 1999)