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Billboard CD reviews: Mos Def, Sonic Youth

ALBUM: THE ECSTATIC

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Mos Def's late-2006 release "True Magic" was so quietly whisked out in the dead week between Christmas and New Year's (without cover art, no less) that rumors circulated that the "real" album was coming sometime later (it wasn't). That might have been for the best. Where "True Magic" was the uncomfortable sound of Mos stretched too thin among his myriad pursuits, "The Ecstatic" is a more focused set with more high moments than Mos has hit since his near-perfect (and never remotely approached) 1999 masterpiece "Black on Both Sides." The killer first half is filled with off-kilter, dissonant soul hooks and Mos' hypnotic, just south-of-smoked-out verses, all nicely merging his obsessive drive for hip-hop innovation with a distinct purpose. The beats are better, too: There's an angry tuba and xylophone on the banging Chad Hugo-produced "Twilight Speedball," the epic and orchestral "Life in Marvelous Times" (they're not) and the humid, hallucinogenic Eastern vibes on the dark narrative "The Embassy." The back half is all over the place, prone to the sort of detours that seem designed solely to show off Mos' scope, like the all-Spanish throwaway "No Hay Nada Mas." Still, when's he's on, which is more than not, Mos is refocused and seemingly rededicated.

ARTIST: SONIC YOUTH

ALBUM: THE ETERNAL (MATADOR)

Almost 30 years and 16 albums into its esteemed career, Sonic Youth is starting to make it look easy. Hitting a second stride with "Murray Street" in 2002, the band maintains its leadership position among melodic noise-makers with "The Eternal," which is so chock-full of hummable pop hooks you'd think a hit doctor lent a hand. The group even embraces -- wait for it -- harmonies. Of course, these ditties are couched in nasty, stinging skronk and often extend into six-minute-plus ruminations on love, death and unrewarded desire. The album goes soft in the middle and the band sometimes wears its influences on its sleeve, but the guitar tones have rarely sounded better and new bassist Mark Ibold (ex-Pavement) brings a head-turning articulation to the low end. Don't miss the shotgun-blast opener "Sacred Trickster"; before/after reality check "Anti-Orgasm"; angst-y kiss-off "No Way"; or soundtrack-ready scene-stealer "Massage the History."

ARTIST: TAKING BACK SUNDAY

ALBUM: NEW AGAIN (WARNER BROS.)

"New Again," the title of Taking Back Sunday's fourth album and its second for Warner, may refer to the departure of guitarist Fred Mascherino and the addition of Matthew Fazzi. Yet on a stylistic level, the New York alt-rock band is also branching out from its emo roots, and they sound focused exploring complex melodies and thematic ideas. "Capital ME" is a scathing response to Mascherino's exit that lets the prickly guitar line do all the talking, while the exploding hand claps of "Sink Into Me" make the single the band's most immediate since "A Decade Under the Influence." Taking Back Sunday's appeal still resides in frontman Adam Lazzara's vocals, and on "New Again" he deftly captures the sarcastic, sometimes melancholy mood of his lyrics. The group may still rely on catchy vocal refrains, but the growth of Lazzara's songwriting has made its fourth effort a brisk, enjoyable outing.

ARTIST: RHETT MILLER

ALBUM: RHETT MILLER (SHOUT FACTORY)

Each of the Old 97's frontman's solo albums has come out on a different label -- first Elektra, then Verve, now Shout Factory -- but Rhett Miller's musical identity couldn't be more consistent. On this fine self-titled set (produced, as was the most recent 97's album, by Dallas-based Salim Nourallah) Miller works his familiar mixture of '60s-pop jangle and alt-country twang, singing about the highs and lows of love like someone who just experienced them for the first time. Instrumental accompaniment from Jon Brion and Apples in Stereo drummer John Dufilho provide valuable muscle and texture, though Miller's best here at his most stripped-down, as in "Haphazardly," a wistful ballad in which he discovers "what the house feels like without you in it."

ARTIST: GIRL IN A COMA

ALBUM: TRIO B.C. (BLACKHEART)

For a fledgling band, there's no more valuable ally than an already-established rock icon. Girl in a Coma counts Joan Jett as a mentor and a labelmate -- the band is signed to her Blackheart Records. Instead of Jett's arena-punk, though, this San Antonio-based Latina trio -- sisters Nina and Phanie Diaz and buddy Jenn Alva -- matches throwback vocals with a modern-rock attitude. Think the Ronettes, heavily tattooed, meeting My Bloody Valentine in a Texas alley. The act's sophomore release, "Trio B.C.," finds it full of swagger and in fine form with tracks like "Ven Cerca," featuring Nina crooning Spanish lyrics with a snarl. Droning, high-voltage guitars fill "Static Mind," while "BB" maintains a swinging, torch-singer vibe while evoking the spirit of the American Southwest. The members of Girl in a Coma may be proteges of a music legend, but they don't need to ride Jett's coattails -- these kids are more than all right.

(Editing by Dean Gooodman at Reuters)