**1/2
The instinct to write off film soundtracks is probably justified, especially when it comes to soundtracks to film sequels. The romantic musical accompaniment to Barbershop 2, however, begins with a five-song KO: Mary J. and Eve's powerhouse "Not Today" segues into "I Can't Wait," a breathless, humid love track produced by Organized Noize, sung by creamy-smooth vocalist Sleepy Brown ("The Way You Move"), with verses by Andre 3000 and Big Boi. Even guest raps by Chingy can't harm the remix of Mya's watery crush-out "Fallen," touched by Zone 4's ecstatically Neptunesian production redesign. The Clipse contribute "Pussy"; Avant wants "Your Precious Love"; and we are reminded again of Mya's excellence with a reprise of "Things Come and Go." However, Westside Connection is curiously missing. Perhaps the whole acting-in-family-movies thing interferes with Cube's revivalist gangsta stee? JULIANNE SHEPHERD

SECRET MOMMY

Mammal Class

(Orthlorng Musork)

***
Serious types will scorn Mammal Class as simply the sonic doodles of someone with too many drugs in his system, too many wacky samples in his minidisc recorder, and not enough attention span in his brainpan. All of which is generally true, but if you have any tolerance for whimsy, absurdly warped tones, and aural middle fingers to pop/rock's biggest divas and prima donnas, you'll bust a gut to Secret Mommy's sophomore album. Secret Mommy (Vancouver producer Andy Dixon) prints his sound sources inside Mammal Class' Digipak and dares you to discern them. The conceptual rigor and lightning-fast edits he brings to each track are astounding. Anybody who can transmute Pink and Mary J. Blige samples into a glitch-punk cross between DAT Politics and Crass deserves respect--and perhaps some Valium. DAVE SEGAL

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Pure Tone Audiotonomy Vol. 2

(Eardrums 4 Eyelids)

***1/2
No one disputes the fact that Pacific Northwest producers are at least moderately influenced by our vitamin-D-annihilating rain and its accompanying depression. Hints of this crabapple-gloomy weather are tangible in everything from the dank beats of Oldominion all the way to Strategy's rainy, glitchy house. On Pure Tone Audiotonomy Vol. 2, 16 producers fold heft, gravity, and humidity into their beats, ending up with a mostly-splendid collection of West Coast electro, glitchy chill-out, honeyed downtempo, bedroom funk and soul, and way-out hiphop. This collection of Portland producers is a bit tighter than its more experimental, Mush Records-oeuvre predecessor (Vol. 1)--though a few of the DJ Shadow-ier selections would benefit from more focus--and it's got some monster tracks that take Portland-winter ennui to druggy aesthetic heights.

Many of the best cuts come from the Sickbay/Clan of the Cave Mack DJ/production crew, as with dr.ill's GRIiiimy "My Screen," a spacy, bass-in-a-vacuum slow jam that sounds like an early homage to Mos Def getting cast as Ford Prefect ("Fuck a space station!"). Diss Company showcases its talented emcees with the hot "Vers," Jammotron and DJ Void cutting up the sub-bass as "G-W-I-Z-S-K-I" reps P-D-X: "all-city/503/Like Tri-Met to the Max." There's incredible diversity here, and that's without even mentioning Chango getting the garage on; DJ Copy and Jung submitting fantastic, laid-back, jazzy blissouts; and Eternal Golden Void and DJ Grimrock whipping out a smart scratching/cruising hiphop jam. JULIANNE SHEPHERD

FANTïMAS

Delìrium Còrdia

(Ipecac)

***
I'll never forget how creepy Pink Floyd's Meddle was the first time I heard it, when my uncle, who dabbled in weed, told me to pick up a copy. The band opened the door on a world of black-magic mystery, which gathered steam through various nooks and crannies of tracks like "One of These Days" and "Fearless" and culminated in the beautiful dread of "Echoes," the 23-minute-long epic bad acid trip excursion into the world of oversized water droplets and screeching dolphins. That a band could hit such a range of dread--paranoia, isolation, and impending doom--without using words or visuals made their work much more potent to my young mind. Similarly, with Delìrium Còrdia, Fantômas present their third collection of instrumental experimentation--a single-song, 55-minute-long record driving you through a medieval science-fiction fantasy where clocks chime in berserk sequence, religious choirs spell coming darkness, single piano notes signal terror to come, and guitars erupt like volcanoes and then harden the fiery distortion into silent black masses. Everything about this record is creepy--in a Meddle sort of way, such that were a movie made to accompany this film, it'd be made of the grainy '70s horror-flick stock and be about hippies starting cults that kill. Leave it to Mike Patton and friends (Buzz Osborne of the Melvins, Dave Lombardo of Slayer, and Mr. Bungle's Trevor Dunn) to instill music with such dark delirium. JENNIFER MAERZ

**** Magnum *** T.C. ** Rick * Higgins