King Buzzo, from the Melvins royalty, produces this ninth album from the very unherd-like Cows. Sorry in Pig Minor is a big album -- huge in sound, sleek and fat. Not an easy or even listen, Sorry in Pig Minor rocks back and forth like a strait-jacketed lunatic ("No, I'm Not Coming Out") or bursts forth like an unleashed psychopath ("Cabin Man"). There is a wonderful disparity between the percussion (which sounds far away and primitive) and the rest of the music (which confronts and instigates). This album is the Cows at their cathartic best. The recording is psycho-grunge with punk rock horn that reaches to psychological depths.

The title notwithstanding, this debut from the former Faithless singer is pretty angelic-sounding stuff. You're bound to think of Sin�ad O'Connor, but the comparison is as misleading as it is inevitable. Granted, Dido's ethereal vocals here frequently recall O'Connor; but Dido's...