As all of the varieties of music get smooshed together these days, you start to see a number of interesting hybrids. Y'know it's happening when you have to check three different sections in the CD store for the same CD. What does funk sound like? What does Rock sound like? What is Jazz, anyway? It seems you have to go back ten years to find them in their origin form. Definitely not a bad thing.

Incubus is an excellent example. This CD successfully combines all sorts of shit without sounding like a mess. Here you have a song: it's got a phat-chunk bass beat twanging fast in back, some crazy electro squornks and bleeps coming and going, sudden snatches of full-blown guitar-jam, a rapid-fire Patton-esque vocalist (Brandon Boyd), all the while someone scratching vinyl and a drummer back there hammering merrily along. They keep it sorted out and dynamic and the results are yummy. Can the total be more than the sum of its parts? You decide.

-James P. Wisdom