EDITED BY MIKE BREEN

· VARIOUS ARTISTS -- RICHARD DORFMEISTER PRESENTS A DIFFERENT DRUMMER SELECTION (DIFFERENT DRUMMER).

For the past decade, Kruder & Dorfmeister have been the ambassadors of Vienna Dub; their singles (few) and remixes (many) are heavy on blunted beats and relaxed grooves for your chilling pleasure. K&D; mix discs have also been superb -- their 1996 contribution to the DJ Kicks series remains one of the definitive treatises on dubby Downtempo. Here, in a solo turn at the decks, Richard Dorfmeister explores the catalog of Birmingham's Different Drummer Records. Different Drummer traffics in a soft-edged Dub sound, often over chilled House rhythms. It's club-friendly, but it doesn't make for particularly compelling home listening. There are some high points: Three solid tracks from G-Corp, which provide an appealingly modern take on traditional Jamaican Dub, Overproof Soundsystem's killer new stepper, "Watch What You Put Inna ...," and Painted Van's echo-heavy "Miss Melody Wax." The rest roll along at near-identical tempos, with each track more or less indistinguishable from the next. There's a world of difference between nodding along and nodding off, and A Different Drummer Selection will have you reaching for the snooze button a few too many times. (Matthew Fenton)
CityBeat grade: C.

· RANI ARBO & DAISY MAYHEM -- GAMBLING EDEN (SIGNATURE SOUNDS).

Former Salamander Crossing vocalist Rani Arbo brings a lot more than a lovely voice to her latest project, daisy mayhem. On the band's sophomore album, Gambling Eden, there are traces of Arbo's Bluegrass roots, but there are just as many references to Delta Blues, contemporary and traditional Folk and N'awlins second-line Jazz. The exquisite gift that Arbo and daisy mayhem bestow upon the songs on Gambling Eden, which range from 100-year-old Folk and Spiritual classics to freshly-minted originals and covers, is the ability to inhabit the widely varied material with an equal spirit of energy and surprise. That quality is evidenced in the band's cover of the much-visited "O Death," recently considered nailed shut by Ralph Stanley on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, where Arbo and crew find within the song new subtlety and texture. Arbo's originals are of particular note; "Sparrow" sounds like something learned from an old 78, and the ostensible track, "Eve," is a gently grooved Folkgrass marvel. (Brian Baker)
CityBeat grade: B.

· MONDO GENERATOR -- A DRUG PROBLEM THAT NEVER EXISTED (IPECAC).

Mondo Generator is the brutal Punk side project of Queens of the Stone Age bassist Nick Oliveri, who channels all the rage and aggro-metallicism of QOTSA forerunners, Kyuss, with a sort of pummeling subtlety. Oliveri howls in a throat-shredding, wounded-animal approximation of Tonio K., tributing Greg Dulli at Jim Carroll's Hall of Fame induction, while the band (guitarist Dave Catching, bassist Molly Maguire, drummer Brant Bjork) and a host of guests (QOTSA's Josh Homme, Screaming Trees' Mark Lanegan, the Dwarves' Blag Dahlia, the omnipresent Josh Freese) create a crushingly dense soundtrack of punishing Punk urgency ("Here We Come") and visceral delicacy (the Iggy-fueled acoustic energy of "All I Can Do"). Where QOTSA has built a career on amplifying the best qualities of '70s Hard Rock, Oliveri has used Mondo Generator's two releases (2000's Cocaine Rodeo was the band's debut) to do the same for every subsequent high volume genre, from Punk to Metal to flat out Rock. Mondo Generator is Oliveri's version of a sonic roller coaster -- terrifying, but great fun. (BB)
CityBeat grade: B.

· WILLIE NELSON AND RAY PRICE -- RUN THAT BY ME ONE MORE TIME (LOST HIGHWAY).

What becomes a legend most? It isn't necessarily another legend. There are plenty of examples of fizzled superstar duets undone by a battle of clashing overstuffed resumes. If there was a potential for that scenario to play itself out in the Country arena, you couldn't find two bigger or more storied names to throw together than Willie Nelson and Ray Price. Luckily, the pair go back to Nelson's stint as bassist for Price's Cherokee Cowboys and they're not about to let a little duet album get in the way of five decades of friendship. It doesn't hurt that they're cut from the same worn but durable Country tradition (which they each helped to define), and so they beautifully complement each other, whether by craggy/croony duet ("I'll Keep On Lovin' You," "Deep Water") or by similarly counterbalanced harmonizing ("This Cold War With You," the title track) on rerecorded classics from the repertoires of each icon. And what's a Willie Nelson project without the Redheaded Stranger chasing melodies around on his guitar? Run That By Me One More Time is a lightly polished gem in a gorgeous antique setting. (BB)
CityBeat grade: A.

· FRIENDS OF DEAN MARTINEZ -- ON THE SHORE (NARNACK).

From the moment the heavy, distorted Blues of "Overload" rain down, you know On the Shore isn't your average two-disc, all-instrumental Steel Guitar Opus. True to their Arizona roots, Friends of Dean Martinez have created a desert soundtrack that's cinematic and evocative without being studied or humorless. Bill Elm and his steel guitar are clearly the stars here, but they have plenty of help. David LaChance is as reliable and tasteful a stickman as you could hope for, giving each song just what it needs -- gentle snare rolls here, an assault on the cymbals there -- and Mike Semple's varied tones on acoustic and electric guitar give the material a broad vocabulary. Even standards like "Tennessee Waltz" are infused with personality: The familiar melody is drenched in echo and sustain, then sent skyward, then reeled back in. Close your eyes, and let Friends of Dean Martinez enhance (or create) the movie in your mind. (MF)
CityBeat grade: B.

E-mail Mike Breen

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