Music: Bitter

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Bassist, singer, sometime hip-hopper Me'Shell NdegeOcello created a wake-up call in her first album, Plantation Lullabies, brimming with funk and flavor and attitude. Her new CD, Bitter, is more of a good-night kiss, slow, atmospheric and a bit weepy. Bitter, which features narcoleptic production by Craig Street, has carefully structured songs and cautious vocals, but it lacks NdegeOcello's edginess and verve. The songs are about breakups and betrayal, but the emotion is buried. This album feels like that uncomfortable pause in an argument when there's nothing left to say or throw or do but sit quietly, crying tears of rage.

--By Christopher John Farley