Editor’s Note: In Sound Advice, the first Saturday of every month, veteran NEWS entertainment writer Dale McGarrigle, former British music-press writer Adam Corrigan and a revolving stable of NEWS writers review new albums from across the musical spectrum.

“Whip It On” (Red Ink) – The Raveonettes

Rock in its purest distillation is potent stuff: an aural knife thrust, an ephemeral tension. Hard to handle; harder to handle right. Those who snare it achieve fame, if not always fortune. Those who don’t are left smoking along the wayside.

So who’s next up to bat? Welcome Copenhagen’s The Raveonettes as they step up to take a lusty stab at harnessing rock ‘n’ roll’s primitive force.

“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce,” goes the quote. Yet despite this riff being on its dozenth circulation, “Whip It On” contains more TNT than about 90 percent of this year’s offerings. Artfully raw, it attempts to prove that rock really is all about three chords. And, in an audacious move for a debut, the little scamps have even opted to restrict themselves to the “glorious” key of B-flat minor.

All clever and somewhat thrilling stuff. But The Raves have not yet found the originality of that other darling duo, The White Stripes. There’s still a little too much Sonic Youth in there, and even more Jesus and Mary Chain. Still, no faulting their taste in influences. And, as is always useful, they look great, have a pretty cool name, and call their tiredly drawled songs things such as “Attack of the Ghost Riders.”

“Whip It On” is an essential for your CD player. As to whether they will find a truly distinctive voice of their own, time will tell, as the cream slowly rises from the current wash of rock atavism. – Adam Corrigan

“Evolve” (Righteous Babe) – Ani DiFranco

Just before fully slipping into a hazy oblivion of jazz and funk jamming, the ever-prolific Ani DiFranco has brought much needed tension back into her music. Although she has remained a passionate – and passionately independent – artist, DiFranco’s latest efforts, such as 2002’s “Reveling-Reckoning,” have been somewhat muddled and meandering.

“Evolve,” her most recent studio album, is rife with herky-jerky rhythms, lyrical barbs, and personal confessions – DiFranco’s signature strengths. The horns, organ, and happy-time jams that have choked her songs have been pruned and tamed to better effect.

The result is a more focused album, allowing DiFranco’s evocative lyricism and musical freneticism to once again come to the fore. Beginning with the pluck and piano of “Promised Land,” DiFranco and her studio friends weave between terse funk (“In the Way”) and folk vignettes (“Icarus”), then ebb their way to the album’s subdued end (“Welcome To:”). There are no genuine surprises on “Evolve”; rather, the album fits snugly into DiFranco’s vast catalog of works reflecting her continued artistic and personal evolution. – George Bragdon

“The Senior” (Epic) – Ginuwine

It’s time to unveil another facet of the urban heartthrob on his latest album, “The Senior.”

Ginuwine compares his fourth album to the final year of high school, hence the title. He wants to show his growth. There’s still plenty of the love songs and sexual soirees that the D.C. native has earned a reputation for on the release. But Ginuwine also wants to show off his edgier, bad self.

There’s the anthem “Get Ready,” featuring rapper Snoop Dogg. There’s the club tune and single “Hell Yeah,” providing to Ginuwine by R. Kelly, which features rapper Baby. There’s the harrowing cautionary tale “Lockdown,” which finds the singer jailed after a shooting at a nightclub.

The tender Ginuwine, the voice behind the classic “Differences,” is still around, on such songs as “I Love You More Everyday” and “Better To Have Loved.” He’s a mature man on “Bedda Man,” “Our First Born” and “Big Plans” (featuring rapper Method Man). His sexy side flares up on the steamy “Sex” (not destined for radio play) and “In Those Jeans.”

For the most part, Ginuwine’s goal of diversifying his material, most of it self-composed, works. It shows that he’s not a one-trick pony. That’s essential in an ever more crowded field of male soul singers. “The Senior” will enable Ginuwine to continue to stand out. – Dale McGarrigle

“I’m Just a Girl,” (Arista Nashville) – Deana Carter

Deana Carter created great expectations with her 1996 Grammy-nominated debut album, “Did I Shave My Legs For This.” Five songs charted, and seven years later, “How Do I Get There From Here” remains a country radio staple.

Seems the bar may have been too high. Carter’s follow-up effort yielded none of the same commercial success, and that was soon followed by a divorce and an equally unamicable split with Capitol Nashville.

Now comes the release of her first original material since 1998, “I’m Just A Girl,” through her new label, Arista Nashville.

For those expecting “Strawberry Wine” or “We Danced Anyway,” forget it.

The Nashville native, daughter of legendary studio guitarist Fred Carter, has gone California.

The sultry, whispery voice remains, but the steel guitar backdrop of her earliest works has been replaced by a turn toward West Coast pop, a cross between Sheryl Crow and Belinda Carlisle.

Carter produced the CD and co-wrote or wrote all of its 12 cuts. Collaborators included the underappreciated Matraca Berg and Bakersfield, Calif.’s, own Dwight Yoakam, with whom Carter performed the dark duet, “Waiting.”

Most of the tracks are much breezier, from the rambunctious “Girls Night” to the passionate first single, “There’s No Limit.”

Much of this album is not exactly the kind of storytelling you usually hear on a country record, but Deana Carter isn’t even pretending she’s a country diva any more. – Ernie Clark

“Meteora” (Warner Bros. Records) Linkin Park

In the follow-up to the top-selling album of 2001, Linkin Park missed the edgy nu metal mark defined in its last album, “Hybrid Theory.” “Meteora” – Greek for “hovering in the air” – never leaves the ground.

Rhythms by guitarist Brad Delson and bassist Phoenix never develop beyond flat, generic metal, sticking to the same five or six notes throughout the 36-minute album. Drummer Rob Bourdon leaves little hope his beats will ever take on a dynamic edge. This second album of mostly straight rock drum lines shows he isn’t adding any complexity that couldn’t be replaced by a drum machine and his picture.

Lyrically, front-man Chester Bennington sticks to his trademark somber melodies and grainy, but emotional growling whines. His style fits, but subject-wise, he treads the same ground of pain, insecurity and abandonment. Surely, Bennington doesn’t plan on being an angsty teenager forever?

The album’s two standouts – and its only saving graces – are rap emcee Mike Shinoda and turn-tablist Joseph Hahn. Shinoda’s swaying rhymes on “Hit the Floor” and “Faint” transcend the music, establishing a new beat. Likewise, Hahn’s scratch solos give a hip-hop body to the music like no guitar ever could.

Japanese flute, violin and cello tracks add much-needed variety, but the creative pinnacle is captured in Shinoda’s eerie drum and bass instrumental, “Session.”

Despite LP’s best effort, “Meteora” doesn’t rise to any new levels. – Anthony Saucier