Lounge Against the Machine by Richard Cheese -- Well known contemporary "alternative rock" hits as sung by a lounge singer. Extremely funny, but much too short.

Down Here by Tracy Bonham -- This album rocks. This woman is the real deal; not a pretender like Meredith Brooks trying to cash in on the Alanis Morissette fad. Great music; great production.

Maroon by Barenaked Ladies -- A fun pop album, and a return to form for this band. Strong reminder of their first album, Gordon.

Gilles Apap and the Transylvanian Mountain Boys -- I'd been looking for this one for a few years after hearing it on an NPR station in Boston. Finally found it through CDNow. No, Amazon doesn't list it. This is the most passionate classical music I've heard in an extremely long time. Gilles is a stunningly good violin player. The selections on this disk are European Gypsy songs rendered with heat and fun. Amazing.

Righteous Love by Joan Osborne -- Good, but not great. Joan is in danger of becoming Bonnie Raitt.

No Mermaid by Sinead Lohan -- in the same category as Sarah McLaughlin, with a similar emphasis on celtic rhythms. This album is a better debut than Sarah's was. It'll be interesting to see how she fares in the future.

No Angel by Dido -- also in the same category as Sarah McLaughlin, and stronger still than Sinead Lohan's album. This one is captivating. It's been in rotation in my multi-disk player for almost a year. Highly recommended.

The Best of Suzanne Vega -- Features a couple of new tracks, including 'Rosemary', which is the reason I bought it. I'm not a fan of greatest hits albums, as a general rule. But, I'm glad I now have the song Rosemary. :)

Jill Sobule -- Recommended to me by a friend a couple of years ago, I finally tracked this one down. Fun folk which plays against your expectations.

...and a few other "known quantities", like the new Don Henley, Talking Heads' 'Stop Making Sense', Counting Crows, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Hmmm. Now that I look at it, this is a pretty sedate rotation for me. Usually, my multi-disk player has a few more bizarro selections than this. Maybe it's time to throw Propellerheads back into the mix....