CUT CHEMIST: The Audience's Listening (Warner Music)

Cut Chemist (aka Lucas Macfadden) has taken a while in getting around his debut album, having been an in-demand DJ for more than a decade. But the former turntablist with LA hip-hoppers Jurassic 5 and Latin outfit Ozomatli has crammed a lifetime of dazzling sounds onto The Audience's Listening. It's an impressive aural journey of beats, scratching and samples that reflects Cut Chemist's eclectic tastes and world-wide search for rare vinyl. It's pleasing to see the mixmaster set free to explore his own aural horizons. The Garden and Metrorail Thru Space are among the standouts.

JEFF CRAWFORD