In Brief

You’d like an album awarded the prestigious Mercury Prize--a U.K. honor for artistic achievement--to push the envelope a bit more. But this two-disc set from the drum-and-bass collective overseen by hotshot deejay Size is full of often arresting constructions that fill the full range of the genre, from rhythmic drivers to floating soul-jazz tracks to out-there sonic pastiches.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).

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Hear the Music

* Excerpts from these albums and other recent releases are available on The Times’ World Wide Web site. Point your browser to: http://preview.nohib.com/soundclips