Keane, 'Perfect Symmetry' (Interscope)
News flash: Coldplay aren’t the only dreamy British pop-rock band with an experimental streak. On album three, Keane trick out their pretty piano melodies with tasty synths ("The Lovers Are Losing"), booming rap beats ("Spiralling"), and fuzzy new-wave guitars ("You Haven’t Told Me Anything").
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Todd Snider, 'Peace Queer' (Aimless)
One of roots music’s slyest, smartest songwriters, Nashville-based Todd Snider isn’t up to the usual protest-song ploys on this eight-song mini album (which nonetheless protests plenty): "I did not do this to change your mind about anything," he explains in a spoken interlude.
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Lucinda Williams, 'Little Honey' (Lost Highway)
The first thing Lucinda Williams announces on her ninth studio album is that she found the love she was looking for standing behind an electric guitar. Twelve songs later, she signs off with a bit of wisdom from the late Australian philosopher Bon Scott: "It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll." The message?
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The Streets, 'Everything Is Borrowed' (Vice)
Mike Skinner caught loads of flak for turning his everybloke’s eye toward fame and fortune on 2006’s The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living.
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Oasis, 'Dig Out Your Soul' (Big Brother/Warner Bros.)
Haven't Oasis already released a record called Dig Out Your Soul? No, wait -- it was "Go Let It out." or was it "the Meaning of Soul"?
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TV on the Radio, 'Dear Science' (Interscope/DGC)
The fourth of November cannot come fast enough for TV on the Radio frontman Tunde Adebimpe. "This is beginning to feel like the long-winded blues of the never," Adebimpe wails near the end of his Brooklyn band's superb third album, his voice warped by rage and disbelief.




