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What is it that makes a proper power balladeer? WTL frontman Jason Paul could be used as a case study. Paul's vocals feel at once vulnerable but square-jawed--colored with emo but firmly in hard rock territory. Backed by sturdy--yet not overly aggro--melodies, they nudge the group over the top.

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The name might be LogMeIn, but the motto should be SignMeUp.

The fact that it's free to use for multiple remote PCs, with reasonable monthly plans if you need more--five computers for $20 per month or $200 per year--makes this remote-access program instantly appealing. The program differs from its competitors in that the application runs in your Web browser. If you're running Firefox, it asks to install a plug-in, then opens an emulator of the remote PC in a new window.

The control window gives you some standard options such as Ctrl-Alt-Del (which kills the connection) and changing … Read more

Imagine Antony's kid sister on a Portishead kick and you'll be fairly introduced to the lulling tones of Shara Worden. In her MBD persona, Worden headlines a snatchy attic orchestra--part dream-pop troupe, part postmodern drum circle--with a whorl of quivering vocals.

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Count Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Prize winner and internationally known humanitarian, as a member of the free-music movement.

Tutu has become involved with SOS Records, a label that plans to let users decide which acts it signs. Tutu was in New York on Tuesday to help launch the label's site, which will offer open MP3s free of charge.

In a telephone interview with CNET News.com, Tutu, famous for helping to end forced segregation of blacks in his home country of South Africa, said that after hearing about the idea from SOS Records' CEO Steve Nowack--during a chance … Read more

If you were to create a bionic band that compresses together the dazzling rhythms of B.T. Express, the sexy vocals of Prince, and the electro-funk sensibility of Afrika Bambaataa, you'd wind up with something similar to Plantlife. It's hard to pigeonhole the L.A. band's style, but like predecessors James Brown and Sly Stone, Plant Life has a knack for capturing the true essence of heartfelt soul music.

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The Scottish group's improvement on second LP "The Midnight Organ Flight" is simple: They do a better job of being themselves. The shrill indie-punk moments now are closer to drama than melodrama, and the group's mixing of dense rock texture with acoustic folk becomes truly deft.

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How come disco never sounded this good when we were stuck in the middle of it? These NYC folks are helpfully selective with their '70s history, giving the old sleazy beats new cool by pointing up their soundtrack heritage. Beneath sharp blues licks, scented with city energy, these rhythms stick.

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The San Francisco freak folkers, regular riding buddies of Devendra Banhart, silence concerns about the genre--deemed precious by some--on new LP "Thing of the Past." The set of obscure late-hippie folk covers is utterly convincing: a dignified and noble bow from youths to elders.

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Madonna claims she's only got four minutes to save the world, but Nina B manages to squeeze out an extra 40 seconds or so. How like the remix heroine. The latest from Nina proves she has mastered the lyrical overlay, in which fierce flows get catapulted from unlikely host tracks.

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