Billboard CD reviews: Dave Alvin, Joe Lovano

ALBUM: DAVE ALVIN AND THE GUILTY WOMEN (Yep Roc Records)

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Despite his estimable picking skills, it's been Dave Alvin's rich, resonant baritone, from solo Americana classics like "4th of July" to latter-day reworkings of vintage Blasters material, that lingers in the mind. That's never truer than here, where Alvin puts his Guilty Men on hold to give the music an estrogen injection by way of Marcia Ball, Cindy Cashdollar, Christy McWilson, Laurie Lewis and other distaff roots-rock talents. He sounds particularly inspired during a duet with McWilson on the twangy C&W shuffle "California's Burning," savoring each syllable he utters, while in a Cajun-style update of the Blasters' "Marie Marie" he growls and yelps delightedly against a three-gal backing chorus. Other highlights include a boogie-woogie tribute to Big Joe Turner ("Boss of the Blues") and a gorgeous strings-laden cover of Tim Hardin's "Don't Make Promises." The performances are so strong that one can only pray this collaboration turns out to be more than a dalliance.

ARTIST: JOE LOVANO US FIVE

ALBUM: FOLK ART (Blue Note Records)

Joe Lovano is one of the most imaginative saxophonists in jazz and easily among the most adventurous. As a leader, he explores expansive territory, including a celebration of Sinatra, duets with pianist Hank Jones and symphonic arrangements of his own tunes. For "Folk Art," his 21st Blue Note album, Lovano switches gears again with his first full collection of originals given voice by a new rhythm-oriented band, Us Five, which includes rising-star bassist Esperanza Spalding and the album's revelation, pianist James Weidman. Beyond merely blowing with avant-tinged, Coltrane-inspired tenor gusto, Lovano employs multiple strategies on several reeds, setting up melodic motifs, rhythmic start-and-stop phrases and playful dance-like romps. The 10-minute title track, with its tempo and thematic shifts, typifies the free architectural designs throughout, while the grooved and spirited "Dibango" is a treat thanks to Lovano's performance on aulochrome, a double soprano sax with a keyboard attached.

ARTIST: MAT KEARNEY

ALBUM: CITY OF BLACK & WHITE (Aware/Columbia Records)

"Everyone's talking about change on the airwaves," sings Mat Kearney in "All I Have," the first track on his second major-label set. Everyone, that is, but Kearney: On "City of Black & White" he largely reproduces the ample charms of 2006's "Nothing Left to Lose," which yielded a pair of big Adult Top 40 hits in the form of the title track and "Undeniable." Given his seemingly effortless knack for atmospheric guitar strums and handsome vocal hooks, Nashville-based Kearney's lack of adventure here is no call for complaint. Fans of the Fray and "Parachutes"-era Coldplay -- not to mention those who voted for the new American Idol, Kris Allen -- will find much to love in laid-back ditties like "New York to California" and "Fire and Rain," the latter of which isn't the James Taylor tune but might as well be.

ARTIST: THE CRYSTAL METHOD

ALBUM: DIVIDED BY NIGHT (Ingrooves)

Electronic music duo the Crystal Method hasn't lost its flair for funk and style as found on the act's debut release, "Vegas." "Divided by Night," the group's fourth album, is an accurate representation of the evolution of the distinctive sound mastered by Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland in the early '90s. This is evident in "Dirty Thirty," a tune that would fit nicely on the next big sci-fi movie soundtrack. But moving boldly forward, 10 of the 12 tracks are accented with guest appearances by the likes of New Order's Peter Hook on bass. Hip-hop anomaly Matisyahu lends his likable lyric ability to the energetic first single, "Drown in the Now," while angelic vocals courtesy of Stefanie King Warfield on "Black Rainbows" show these practiced veterans have a softer side.

ARTIST: STEPHANIESID

ALBUM: WARM PEOPLE (Nine Mile Records)

Stephanie Morgan is the founder of the annual POPAsheville festival, which celebrates Western North Carolina's emergence as an alt-rock haven, and her band, stephaniesid (pronounced "Stephanie's Id," as in ego and superego) is the ballast of that community. The group's second album shows why stephaniesid is ready to go national, or even international. The sound is anchored by the synthesizers and keyboards of Morgan and her husband, co-songwriter Chuck Lichtenberger, and driven by Morgan's one-of-a-kind voice. The band's best songs, such as "Hello From the South," "Drinking at a Party," "Bullet Train" and "Mission From God," sound like effortlessly poetic letters from an alert, compassionate friend. Morgan has access to deep feelings and possesses the gift of being able to express them with mood-appropriate music. Her voice changes with the mood: from girlish to womanly, delicate to bold, as the songs move from intimate to anthemic. With acute insights, shimmering synth hooks and smoothly shifting melodic textures, "Warm People" is difficult to classify but easy to love.

ARTIST: HIP HOP HOODIOS

ALBUM: CARNE MASADA: QUITE POSSIBLY THE VERY BEST OF HIP HOP HOODIOS (Jazzheads Records)

With boasts like "My nose is large and you know I'm in charge," Hip Hop Hoodios' Josh Norek and Abraham Velez became known on the Latin alternative scene as the bilingual answer to the Beastie Boys. It's not hard to imagine some of their songs starting out as dorm room shtick, but the Hoodios outlasted that first drunken weekend by pairing their chutzpah with a righteous party mix that includes hip-hop, Cuban and Mexican rhythms, klezmer and Latin rock performed by members of indie groups like Ozomatli, Los Abandoned and Barcelona's Pinker Tones, as well as Frank London of the Klezmatics. "Carne Masada" (a painful play on "carne asada," Spanish for "roasted meat"), includes favorites of their cult following of Latino and Jewish fans like "Agua Pa' La Gente," "Raza Hoodia" and their version of "Guantanamera" refashioned as an urban immigrant anthem. On five new tracks, the Hoodios' grooving siren call of the collectively maligned explores the Latin-Jewish historic connection beyond the dance floor ("1492") and offers more of their blessedly silly rhymes ("Asi Loncheamos! Two Matzoh Balls").

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