Exit Planet Dust
Artist: The Chemical Brothers
Community Score: 7.85

The former Dust Brothers make oblique reference to litigation averted on their debut full-length. The Chemical Brothers' sound is big on bombast, replete with screeching guitar samples and lots of sirens and screaming divas. A breakthrough album of sorts, Exit Planet Dust was, upon its release, one of the few European post-techno albums to make... Read More

The Contino Sessions
Artist: Death in Vegas
Community Score: 8.50

The amount of hype that greeted this album upon release was notable even by U.K. press terms, leading to quite an unexpected amount of overall attention upon the band's second release. Justified? Not quite -- it's important to approach this CD on its own terms, and on that level it's a good album, but not a great one. Claimed goals at being... Read More

Rhythm and Stealth
Artist: Leftfield
Community Score: 7.80

Perhaps wishing to move from progressive-house flagwavers to trip-hop super-producers on a par with Massive Attack, Leftfield returned after almost five years of silence with a set of blunted trip-hop jams, stoned to say the least -- though glimmers of their house background do show through. Aside from a few uptempo stormers ("Double Flash,"... Read More

Ring of Saturn - LP
Artist: Goldie
Abductions and Reconstructions
Artist: Thievery Corporation
Community Score: 6.50

Abductions and Reconstructions, the 15-track collection of Thievery Corporation remixes done for other artists, includes luscious trip-hop versions of a more diverse cast of artists than most remix LPs -- including Rockers HiFi, Slide Five, David Byrne, Baaba Maal, Black Uhuru, Stereolab, Pizzicato 5, Gus Gus, and Hooverphonic. The Thievery... Read More

The Dirtchamber Sessions, Vol. 1
Artist: The Prodigy
Community Score: 7.86

As though he wasn't the feature player on each of the three Prodigy albums preceding it, The Dirtchamber Sessions presents Liam Howlett in a solo setting. But here, instead of showing off his production wizardry, his long history as a DJ and mixing abilities are on display. They're proved more than up to the task, as Howlett plays mix and match... Read More

Beaucoup Fish - BONUS DISC
Artist: Underworld
Community Score: 8.62
Volumen
Artist: Björk
Community Score: 8.00

Björk's video retrospective Volumen gathers 14 of her groundbreaking clips, ranging from "Play Dead," from the film Young Americans, to videos for her 1997 album Homogenic. From Sophie Muller and Stephane Sednaoui's dreamlike, quirky videos for "Venus As a Boy," "Big Time Sensuality," and "Possibly Maybe" to striking artistic and technical... Read More

The Dirtchamber Sessions, Vol. 1 - UK
Artist: The Prodigy
Community Score: 5.00

As though he wasn't the featured player on each of the three Prodigy albums preceding it, The Dirtchamber Sessions presents Liam Howlett in a solo setting. But here, instead of showing off his production wizardry, his long history as a DJ and mixing abilities are on display. They're proved more than up to the task, as Howlett plays mix and match... Read More

Mezzanine - UK BONUS CD
Artist: Massive Attack

Between the 1994 release of Protection and its follow-up, 1998's Mezzanine, trip-hop had worked its way into the mainstream. Massive Attack, however, remained something of a cult institution -- they had some chart success, yet they stayed the province of hip clubgoers and musicians, many of whom appropriated the band's innovations on hit records... Read More

Risingson
Artist: Massive Attack
Community Score: 10.00
All Is Full of Love
Artist: Björk

Bjork's DVD single All Is Full of Love is another brilliant fusion of emotion and technology, featuring Chris Cunningham's starkly beautiful video as well as two remixes of the song. Cunningham's innovative clip is as precise, delicate, and startling as the android-ized Bjorks that populate it, and the Funkstorung and Strings mixes of "All Is... Read More