The new CD is perhaps the most accessible she’s ever made. Most of its tastiest tracks fit snugly into the trance tastes that dominate so much European and Montreal radio. The challenge for Mas, in singing such pop, is to make it her own, and this she frequently does. “On the Web,” a paean to Internet romance, “Summer Day,” “Un air d’Argentine,” and “Mas allí Mas allá” all have the flamboyant flutter so necessary to her songs of love and none of the theatrical overkill that did her no good. Almost as catchy are her versions — “Hoop Hoop” and “Year Year Year” — of 1980s Italo-disco, a style she never attempted in the ’80s. Back then, she sounded like a life in crisis. Today, at last, it seems that life is good.
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Wired for sound, Good vibrations, Beatshopping, More 
- Wired for sound
Spring may bring with it a surplus of sneezing fits, muddy puddles, and questionable tank-top choices, but it also packs a bevy of new releases.
- Good vibrations
J Mascis hates Lou Barlow. And the feeling is mutual. Dinosaur Jr, "Almost Read" (mp3)
- Beatshopping
In the vast land of Dorchester, studios and beatmakers lurk around every corner. And this Sunday at ZuZu’s in Cambridge, one of their own celebrates a new release by . . . DJing with cassette tapes. Handcancel, "March Playlist" (mp3)
- On the Racks: May 30, 2006
Plus, Jamie Lidell and Herbert get in the mix.
- Mythtruster
When it comes to getting an honest answer, there may be no better member of Belle and Sebastian than guitarist Stevie Jackson.
- A band, a part
My lingering qualms with Devendra Banhart's new album have very little to do with its substance and more to do with its consistency, a quality that throughout What Will We Be? seems present only in its glaring absence.
- Blues plus
Boston’s Ryan Montbleau doesn’t mind if you call his quintet a jam outfit. Ryan Montbleau Band, "Inspired By No One" (mp3)
- Mr. Lonely
Marilyn Manson’s Eat Me, Drink Me is the first record in that’s made me want to hang out with the guy rather than gawk at him from afar.
- Inside the L.A.B.
This Saturday, March 3, a new record store opens in Boston. DJ Alcala, "February 2007 mix" (mp3)
- The Big Hurt: Chinese Democracy at last!
Reports have surfaced that Chinese Democracy , the long-awaited album by former rock gods Guns N’ Roses, has been completed and delivered to Geffen.
- Man's work
“It's hard to figure out what it actually takes to be a man," Springsteen said during a rare post-sound-check interview. In recent years, though, he’s had the financial security and the time on his hands to figure it out.
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