311 ~ Transistor
With Sublime and Sugar Ray having made whitewashed reggae a hot commodity on the pop charts, it makes sense that the prime movers of the genre are making a headlong comeback into the fray. With Transistor, 311 goes for the jugular, cramming the disc with over 20 songs, and just as many angles on its melange of rock, hip-hop and Caribbean musical styles. There are hyper rap-metal rehashes of the hit "Down" ("Tune In," "Starshines," and "Borders"), chunky guitar tracks ("Beautiful Disaster"), and lots of frivolous reggae-lite songs ("Light Years," "Stealing Happy Hours"). --Aidin Vaziri