Quintessential downtown guitar futurists Sonic Youth have a new studio, and a new album -- their best of the nineties -- to show for it.

Righteous rocker Ani DiFranco, famous for doing it all herself, puts together her very first group -- and creates her best album yet.

D'Angelo will sing no line before its time. But after a five-year wait, "Voodoo" is still spontaneous, dynamic, and sometimes oddly unfinished.

Madonna gets back to where she once belonged -- the dance floor -- and gets by with a little help from her producer friends.

Their names are Beck and Prince (or something like that), and they are funky. Unfortunately, they're also very conflicted.

With "Red Dirt Girl," country legend Emmylou Harris sails confidently into smooth waters -- without losing (too much of) her southern grit.

On his new album, Elliott Smith sounds like the man who came in from the home studio. And he's all the better tackling the world outside his navel.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Live in New York City (Columbia)
Pearl Jam
The Bootleg Series (Epic)

Fatboy Slim
Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars (Astralwerks)
Various Artists
Badlands: A tribute to Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska (Sub Pop)

Ethan Brown reviews new releases from Twista and The Glimmer Twins.