FUTURE SOUNDS

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So when the Handsome Boy Modeling School duo of PRINCE PAUL AND DAN "THE AUTOMATOR" NAKAMURA boast that "rock 'n' roll could never hip hop like this," they're right in celebrating how much more physical funk rhythms and electronic trickery can be than the standard guitar-bass-drums setup. On the duo's excellent "So...How's Your Girl" they back up their case with the best hip hop album of recent months, staying slightly off-center while balancing a wickedly innovative combo of found sounds, guest vocals and plain-old butt-thumping rhythms.

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Meanwhile, the British production duo LEFTFIELD continue to explore the darker, more haunted side of club life on their ferocious "Rhythm and Stealth". Dancehall vets NEIL BARNES and PAUL DALEY work hip-hop, funk, reggae toasting, and ambient trance into their sinister sound. After becoming mid-'90s pioneers in progressive house musicÑone of the dominant sounds of the rave crowd in recent yearsÑthey're lunging forward once again. Leftfield's latest makes menacing music sound exhilarating.

Irish vocalist MAIRE BRENNAN points to a different kind of ecstasy on "Whisper to the Wild Water". Best known as lead singer of the traditional group CLANNAD, Brennan's solo album merges old-school Celtic sounds with modern ambience in enchanting ways. Earthier and more palpably emotional than her sister Enya, Brennan is a Christian who sings about faith in organic ways that is more evocative than the preachier forms adopted by most contemporary gospel singers. "Whisper" is a beautiful, and thoroughly modern, piece of work.

Meanwhile, there's always the possibility of personal absolution through song. FIONA APPLE found fame by pouring her obsessive emotional indulgences into verse, and from the start she seemed capable of a greater breadth than such peers as Jewel or Alanis Morrissette. But the new "When the Pawn..." will pleasantly reward those who thought she needed to mature. Her polished, piano-based rock is roughened up a bit, to good effect, but it's the depth of Apple's newly expansive reflection that brings additional power to her work.