The year 2005 was a banner one for reggae music's traditional "one-drop" riddim pattern, immortalized in a song of the same name on Bob Marley's Survival album. One-drop music features a prominent kick-and-snare drum combination that lands on the second and fourth beats. Singles with these arrangements dominated reggae charts last year, notably Damien "Jr. Gong" Marley's massive "Welcome to Jamrock," which sampled from Ini Kamoze's 1984 one-drop classic "World of Music."

Swirling like electrons around the atomic "Jamrock" were a healthy crop of one-drop Rastafarian roots odes and romantic lovers-rock tracks from Jamaican labels like Don Corleon, Purple Skunk, Cali Bud, and Digital B. But one-drop isn't a fad – it's a major part of reggae's core sound. Rastafarian vocalist Fantan Mojah frequently taps into this foundation on his debut, Hail the King.

With his Bobo Ashanti movement-sanctioned turban-wrapped dreadlocks, St. Elizabeth native Mojah (born Owen Moncrieffe) professes his faith as deeply in his appearance as in his music. Mojah thundered up the charts in late 2004 with the system-bashing single "Hungry" on Down Sound Records, followed by a string of equally powerful hits.

Mojah's gritty delivery evokes reggae's "Crown Prince" Dennis Brown during his fertile late-'70s period. Like Brown, Mojah is comfortable singing both strident spiritual numbers ("King of Kings," "Rastafari Is the Ruler") and heartfelt lovers material ("Authentic Love," "Love Grows"). The album's title track flips the script with a rare non-one-drop track. "Hail the King" rides an acoustic guitar and Nyahbinghi conga riff, as Mojah hypnotically chants, "It don't take nothing at all to hail the king." If he keeps up the reggae quality exhibited on this album, legions of new fans will be hailing Mojah. (Tomas Palermo)

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Go Commando with James F!@#$%^ Friedman
(Defend Music)

James !@#$%^ Friedman is one f!@#$%^ good DJ. He's also super !@#$%^ busy, playing gigs around New York City like the Refuse! parties at APT, managing the US efforts of Output Recordings, and writing the odd story for magazines like XLR8R and Fader. He's survived the rave scene and does a mean impersonation of David Lee Roth's flying kicks – Friedman is a true underground industry veteran.

Thankfully, he still keeps his focus on putting together a mix that rocks. Sure, he may include media faves like Annie or Tom Vek on Go Commando with James F!@#$%^ Friedman, but he chooses the Rapture/Hush Hush all-anticipation-and-nervous-horns blend of the former's "Me Plus One" (the perfect track to start a compilation) and the swaggering, jagged Kaos mix of the latter. From the dizzying thrum of Copenhagen's Who Made Who (again remixed by Rapture/Hush Hush, who crank the sub bass and the Soft Cell vibe on "Space for Rent") to the way he drops the superball ricochet of "Skelter Skelter" by the David Gilmour Girls into the hollow echo of Out Hud's "It's for You," Friedman works the jagged edges of techno and electro for all they're worth. He may end with the somewhat overwrought nine-minute space disco of Zombi's "Sapphire," but when the previous hour is as much of a gas as this mix is, all is forgiven. On Go Commando, Friedman manages the neat trick of having his DJ cake and eating it too by turning cuts that almost nobody has ever heard of into a mix that !@#$%^ anyone can dance to. (Peter Nicholson)`

ROBERT POLLARD
From a Compound Eye
(Merge)

When Robert Pollard announced he would be retiring his insanely prolific band Guided by Voices with the "Electrifying Conclusion" tour, it was a grandiose act of showmanship worthy of Jay-Z. Given that Pollard was the only constant in the band and that he doesn't exactly have a reputation for being selective when it comes to releasing music, his first post-GBV album is exactly what you might expect. At 26 songs and 70 minutes, From a Compound Eye does what he's always done, only more so.

The record-collector pastiche of Pollard's songwriting continues to dominate his output on the new album. His strength – an effortless knack for '60s-inspired garage pop nuggets – is in full bloom on several songs (e.g., "Dancing Girls and Dancing Men," "Love Is Stronger Than Witchcraft"), though when Pollard strays too far from pop, as on the prog-punk of "Conqueror of the Moon," the results can be mind-numbing. GBV's last years of touring proved their fans include a million oafish frat dudes – one can practically hear them chanting along to this album's lyric "I'm a widow and I'm hot to do you" – and some of them, undoubtedly aficionados of Pollard's medium-crunch punk, will find plenty to dig here, though good luck not getting bored. Elsewhere, on the charmingly titled "Cock of the Rainbow" and "Other Dogs Remain," Pollard shows an intriguing interest in Floyd-inspired psych-pop, a genre our man would do well to explore further.

Like any Pollard release, From a Compound Eye isn't only an album – it's an installment in an ongoing mythic saga. Whereas that other Midwestern rock legend named Bob is lionized for changing masks, Pollard's fans recognize him for sticking to his guns, pumping out the same hard-fought jams year after year. Pollard's working-class aesthetic is as much a play as Dylan's chameleon, and this performative element is becoming clearer with time. Where GBV's foundational albums (Propeller, Bee Thousand) breezily surged with stylized songwriting, From a Compound Eye sounds like the work of an artist trying to maintain his persona: It's still convincing, but perhaps a tad less fresh. (Max Goldberg)

ROBERT POLLARD Feb. 25 Independent, SF $18 (415) 771-1421