The Neptunes consist of Grammy Award winning producers and songwriters Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, but the N.E.R.D. tri-fecta consists of Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, and longtime friend Shae Haley. ‘Seeing Sounds’ is an intense mash-up of hip-hop beats, rock riffs, rumbling crunk rhythms and soul music. This diversity of sound is what N.E.R.D. is best at and this album doesn’t disappoint.

A little background: ‘Seeing Sounds’, was inspired by a show the trio watches on the Discovery channel about synesthesia - a neurological disorder that causes people to experience sounds as colors or as objects in their minds. I can’t attest to seeing actual sounds, but this album puts N.E.R.D. back on the same track that ‘In Search’ was on. Long story short, it’s an album that fulfills my cravings when I’m in the mood for everything.

Cost: $11 @ Amazon

Somewhere in between The Cure and U2 lies OneRepublic. An anthemic rock band from Colorado Springs (insert requisite comparisons to The Fray here).

Lead by singer/pianist/producer Ryan Tedder and lead guitarist Zach Filkins, OneRepublic’s latest album shows that some good can come from MySpace. OneRepublic’s alternative pop/rock style meshes well and will undboutedly make the “road-trip” cut. Dreaming Out Loud includes the remix of ‘Apologize’, a Timbaland produced song awarded UK’s most popular radio song in history.

Cost: $11 @ Amazon | $10 @ iTunes

I was put onto the roots a couple years back. Their blend of hip hop with live instrumentals gives them that distinct sound and sets them apart from the other groups we hear polluting the sound waves.

The Grammy award-winning group has just released their 10th album release, Rising Down. The title comes from William T. Vollmann’s treatise on violence entitled Rising Up and Rising Down.

In my opinion this is probably their most politically influenced album yet, but don’t take that the wrong way, there are plenty of upper tracks with head bobbing beats.
The album contains a large number of guest vocalists like Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, Patrick Stump (Fall Out Boy), and the album has a more synthy sound than their previous ones. All in all this is a must have for your music collection.

What this means to you: The Roots create hip hop in its purest form and Rising Down is an instant classic.

Cost: $10 Amazon

What’s better than a Nine Inch Nails album to get the blood flowing? Well, how about a free one.

Today NIN made available their new lossless electronic album (including the better-than-CD quality WAVE format version weighing in over 1 gigabyte) to anyone who wants it. If you’re a guy we don’t understand why you wouldn’t. The $0 album can be downloaded, shared, re-mixed and used in anyway you’d like so long as you appreciate the genius, that is, Nine Inch Nails.

For you diehards, the CD and vinyl versions will be released in July.

Cost: Free @ NIN

Has it really been six years since we heard nappy hair Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz croon his way through “American Girls” on the painfully underappreciated Hard Candy?

Yes it has, almost six years since July 30, 2002 to be exact. so we’re expecting just as much from this album as you are. Instead of sharing with you our hopes of perfect blue buildings… oh wait, that’s a lyric we thought it best to share Adam Duritz’s take on the premise of the album:

“Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings is the story of what happens when all the bright lights start to burn instead of glitter and you become more of a part of the shadow they cast behind you than the person you are in front. Produced in two parts by Gil Norton & Brian Deck, it’s about a flood of sin and liquor and dissolution and insanity and it’s about trying to rebuild the life you wrecked in the wake of that flood. It’s about the way it feels. It’s about me. It’s a Counting Crows album. We’re back. We were only ever as far gone as you can go.”

What this means to you: Sounds about right for Counting Crows. Either way, we’re glad they’re back. Listen to You Can’t Count On Me and When I Dream of Michelangelo”.

Cost: $10 @ Amazon (preorder for March 25, 2008 Release)

There is something distinctly British about Your Vegas. No, it’s not that their band members hail from Leeds but perhaps the convergent sound of a British alternative group meeting Nirvana then deciding to make songs as sweeping as U2.

The album is short. 3 songs. But all three songs are ear-catching, emotional and it’s almost like someone created a brief best hits of the Your Vegas catalog. Lead singer Coyle Girelli gives a haunting performance with epic, yet sad vocals, it is British after all.

What this means to you: Their album costs one dollar on iTunes. One dollar. Buy it, listen to it and email us if you don’t like it. We might even consider paying you back for it. It’s that good.

Cost: $1 on iTunes [launches app]

Preview “In My Head” or “The Way The War Was Won” on imeem.

It’s taken a little while but The Killers have finally finished the tracks not completed for Hot Fuss and Sam’s Town and compiled them together with “All The Pretty Faces” (b-side of “When You Were Young”); two movie soundtrack tunes, “Shadowplay” (a Joy Division cover from Control, Anton Corbijn’s biopic of Ian Curtis) and “Move Away” (from Spiderman 3); as well as a cover of Kenny Rogers & The First Edition’s “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town” (written by Mel Tillis).

An exciting release of rarities and remixes. Also a great excuse for onomatopoeia.

What this means to you: After the much maligned Sam’s Town album, the Killers are back in fine form.

Cost: $10 @ Amazon