HONORABLE MENTIONS

Portishead
"Third" (Mercury/Island)
Beth Gibbons' solipsistic melodrama remains an indie meme as her guys corrode their electrodes toward something more outgoing ("We Carry On," "Machine Gun").

Wire
"Live at the Roxy, London-April 1st & 2nd 1977"/"Live at CBGB Theatre, New York-July 18th 1978" (Pinkflag)
First Cockneyfied punk aspirants, then art-rockers in utero -- the madness to their method ("Mary Is a Dyke [1]," "Mercy").

Wussy
"Rigor Mortis" (Shake It)
Placemark EP hooked to re-released title killer, three new ones and three live versions recommended to talent bookers nationwide ("Airborne [Live]," "Skip").

Willie "The Lion" Smith & Don Ewell
"Stride Piano Duets: Live in Toronto, 1966" (Delmark)
The master, pushing 70, and the acolyte, just 50, push each other forward and around ("Sweet Georgia Brown," "Charleston").

Greta Gaines
"Whiskey Thoughts" (Justice)
The grown-up, brainy tomboy of country's least sexist dreams ("L Is 4 L-O-S-E-R," "Braggart").

The Bug
"London Zoo" (Ninja Tune)
Warrior Queen, Tippa Irie and cohort add dancehall content to dub-step concept ("Poison Dart," "Angry").

Otis Redding
"Live in London and Paris" (Stax)
Hot mix of two concerts that duplicate the one memorialized as "Live in Europe" way back in 1967 ("Try a Little Tenderness," "Respect").

"The Rough Guide to Klezmer Revolution"
(World Music Network)
In klezmer revolution, so-called, there's the Klezmatics and then there's everybody else, with kudos to the following (Amsterdam Klezmer Band, "Sadagora Hot Dub"; Margot Leverett & the Klezmer Mountain Boys Feat. Michael Alpert, "Leibes Tanz").

Bill Easley
"Business Man's Bounce" (18th & Vine)
Swinging lounge saxophone without sleaze, soul corn or a case of the cutes ("Straighten Up and Fly Right," "Memphis Blues").

Tricky
"Knowle West Boy" (Domino)
Hmm-long-aborning rock album asks that we look past his sonics and hear his wordy wisdom ("Puppy Toy," "Council Estate").

"The Rough Guide to Klezmer Revival"
(World Music Network)
Often sprightly, always contained (Di Naye Kapelye, "Schwartz's Sirba/A Briv Fun Yisroel"; German Goldenshteyn, "Moldavian Freylakhs").

Harry Shearer
"Songs of the Bushmen" (Courgette)
Enjoy today's best-researched protest songs while they're still funny ("The Head of Alberto Gonzalez," "Stuff Happens").

Paul Shapiro
"Essen" (Tzadik)
The saxophonist's Ribs and Brisket Revue scarfs Borscht Belt blues and coffee-colored bagels-a-rooney ("Essen," "A Bissel Bop").

Hanggai
"Introducing Hanggai" (Riverboat)
From Beijing, classic folk-revival dynamics -- Mongolian ex-punk discovers throat singing, enlists provincial conservatory students to authenticize and traditional tune stock and urban musos to homogenize it ("Wuji," "Haar Hu").

Michael Winograd
"Bessarabian Hop" (Midwood Sounds)
Klezmer clarinet master salutes Russian-Romanian region far from Arabia ("Freylekh for Gwen Stefani," "Patriot Bulgars").

B.B. King
"One Kind Favor" (Geffen)
Other mainstays of 82-year-old's meticulous retro combo: steadfast Jim Keltner and mercurial Dr. John ("The World Gone Wrong," "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean").

Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby
"Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby" (Stiff)
Recorded at their home studio in the south of France, just like "Exile on Main Street," only without a drummer, a producer, or an engineer ("Please Be Nice to Her," "Men in Sandals").

She & Him
"Volume One" (Merge)
You'll wonder: Is Zooey Deschanel homier than Feist, or just a good actress? ("I Should Have Known Better," "Sentimental Heart").

B.B. King & Friends
"80" (Geffen)
Eighty is the new 64, and I don't mean Roger Daltrey's 64 ("All Over Again," "Never Make Your Move Too Soon").

CHOICE CUTS

Paul Shaffer and Richard Belzer
"Joe and Paul"
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog With Special Appearance by Max Weinberg
"Mahzel (Means Good Luck)"
Jason Alexander
"Shake Hands With Your Uncle Max"
("The Jewish Songbook" [Shout! Factory])

Tomer Yosef
"Underground"
"Little Man"
"I Want to Move"
("Laughing Underground" [JDub])

Jaguar Love
"The Man With the Plastic Suns"
"Bats Over the Pacific Ocean"
("Take Me to the Sea" [Matador])

KatJonBand [Jon Langford & Kat Ex]
"Bad Apples"
"Crackheads Beware"
("KatJonBand" [Carrot Top])

Michael Franti and Spearhead
"Time to Go Home"
("Yell Fire!" [Anti-])

Pat Todd & the Rankoutsiders
"Billion Dollars Cash"
("Holdin' Onto Trouble's Hand" [Rankoutsider])