The new Missy Elliott album, This Is Not a Test!, is a combination of hip-hop bangers produced by Timbaland and R&B attempts produced by Elliott. By now you've probably heard the single "Pass That Dutch," the latest song to feature the Diwali beat (the clapping also heard on Lumidee's "Never Leave"). The song is a goddamn masterpiece, and it's just percussion and a one-note bass line. The next track on the album is "Wake Up." It features Jay-Z, and the beat has a drop-of-water sound, reminiscent of the one featured in Jeru the Damaja's "Come Clean" – the song rips.

Following the first few songs, the album takes some odd turns along with some expected ones. First, the odd: the R&B songs are pretty bland. They're listenable, but she's working with Timbaland, the guy who hooked up Aaliyah and Justin Timberlake – I'm sure he could've made something for her to sing on (and she can sing). Second, the expected: these turns are boring skits and cameos by all the current cameo kings/queens, R. Kelly, Mary J. Blige, Elephant Man, Beenie Man, Nelly, and Fabolous.

Lyrically, Elliott is all over the place, and she experiments with a few different flows, which keeps things interesting. She sticks to her guns, accepting and enjoying her extra pounds, declaring, "Love my gut so fuck a tummy tuck," and reassures squares that if they make legal money and keep their clothes on, "it's all right." On "Let It Bump," Elliott raps like it's 1985, and it's great. The hook is "I'm Missy on the microphone," she mentions Big Daddy Kane and (Roxanne) Shante, and the only thing that would have made the song better is if Biz beatboxed on it. Once again Elliott has made pop hip-hop enjoyable. (Nate Denver)

Ssion
Opportunity Bless My Soul (Version City)

An art-school project run gloriously amok, Ssion (pronounced "shun") regurgitate a steady diet of pop culture bric-a-brac, creating a chaotic, trash-punk pastiche. On his band's first full-length, Kansas City, Mo.'s Cody Critcheloe – the guy responsible for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Fever to Tell artwork – is joined by an entourage of gal pals and party fiends hell-bent on appropriating anything and everything that comes roaring outta their stereos. From B-52's geetar licks to lyrics lifted from Salt 'n' Pepa's "Shoop," Opportunity Bless My Soul sounds gleefully and unabashedly constructed from an adolescence spent ingesting Penn-era Madonna, MTV, Hole's Live Through This, Pussy Galore, and milk crates full of vinyl flea market finds.

Instead of coming off like a cheap, cut 'n' paste knockoff, however, the album is a brilliant blend of pop recontextualization, dirrty dance-rock, and unbridled, one-two-fuck-you enthusiasm. Using their record collections as crib sheets, Critcheloe and the Ssion-ettes unapologetically ape Meatloaf, channel pre-Botox Courtney Love, pay tribute to the genius of Ricky Wilson, and generally fuck shit up like mercenaries in Huggy Bear's girl-boy revolution. It's a rambunctiously fun approach that crashes music's pretentious boy-rock party. "If I was hot, this would sound like the Strokes / If I was smart, this would sound like Pavement," Critcheloe sneers irreverently, knowing full well he's up to something even hotter, smarter, and better. Unlike those acts, Ssion are more than the sum of their influences. (Jimmy Draper)

Floetry
Floacism 'Live' (DreamWorks)

The thin line between R&B and rap evaporates in the hands of singer Marsha Ambrosius and spoken word artist Natalie Stewart, collectively known as Floetry. The London-bred, Philadelphia-based songwriters come off at times like a double dose of Jill Scott (for whom they've written), and they've cornered the same alt-soul fan base.

Their debut CD, Floetic, released in October of last year, created such a sensation that Marsh and Nat (as they call themselves) followed it with a recorded New Orleans club date reprising nine tunes from the hit album. While the live disc captures the remarkable rapport between the performers and their fervent fans, it also exposes Floetry's weaknesses. The women too often stumble over each other, especially when Marsh is singing and Nat is speaking the same line. And Marsh's multi-octave scats, which draw on jazz, gospel, and European classical traditions, sometimes meander off-key.

Also included are three new studio tracks, of which "Wanna B Where You U R (Thisizzaluvsong)" is the CD's strongest cut. It includes an appearance by rapper Mos Def as well as an infectious funk groove that sounds like James Brown but actually was borrowed from 1975's "School Boy Crush," by Britain's Brown-inspired Average White Band. Floetry perform Thurs/11, Bimbo's 365 Club, S.F. (415) 474-0365. (Lee Hildebrand)

Weirdos
Weird World, Volume 2: We Got the Neutron Bomb (Frontier)

How many punk bands have a book named after one of their songs? You can probably name a couple, but there aren't many. The Weirdos had the honor bestowed on them when We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk was published a couple of years ago. As any proud West Coast punk historian will tell you, the Weirdos were among America's earliest punk bands. While not as shocking as it must have once been, their music stands up to that of most of their class of '77 competition, combining meatball-headed rock 'n' roll instincts and a sarcastic, apocalyptic sense of humor that suggests, deep down, they're smarter than they want you to think they are.