The Roots have had a spotty track record over the past several years with their studio albums. Their last record, "The Tipping Point," was widely regarded as a disappointment, and with good reason. It was almost as if they were trying too hard to make something radio-friendly, or, more likely, ?uestlove, the group's drummer, heart and soul, was just beyond overextended with the 20 or so other projects he was working on. "Phrenology" was a beautiful mess -- it consisted of moments of sheer brilliance surrounded by merely good hip-hop that didn't really gel.

Not since the album that won them their Grammy six years ago -- "Things Fall Apart," the band's masterpiece -- have The Roots been so successful in putting together an album that really came together in the way that "Game Theory" does. Notably "Things Fall Apart" was the last album that featured rapper Malik B as the counterbalance to frontman Black Thought until he came back as a guest on a few tracks this time around. So that could be the difference. Or maybe it's just focus.

Foregoing the overindulgent hip-hop standard of the lengthy intro track, "Game Theory" dispenses with the introductions in less than thirty seconds and immediately hits you over the head with "False Media," a song that lays it all out for you right from the beginning with its spoken-word sections about children on ritalin and verses about soldiers under the control of greedy warmongers.

Those themes permeate the album, and as a result the record is some of the darkest, moodiest and heaviest work that The Roots have ever done. A definite sense of dread and fear runs throughout "Game Theory," and as a result the band seems to capture the popular mindset of the time better than they ever have.

But the interesting thing is that, even though the album is undeniably heavy and most certainly turns on your brain in the way that The Roots tend to do, most of the songs will still make you nod your head to their ridiculously catchy beats. "In the Music" just attacks the listener with a thunderous beat and a catchy hook that demands repeat listens. The title track is soulful and has a loud-quiet-loud style that makes it unique among hip-hop songs. "Atonement" is the song that uses the aforementioned Radiohead song (it's "You and Whose Army?" from "Amnesiac"), and, even though I'm almost immediately against the use of songs I can easily recognize in samples, it works.

What amazes me about this record more than anything else is how The Roots have really trimmed the fat off of their record. So many hip-hop albums are just collections of what the artist thought might catch the listener's attention -- to the point of being so overlong that they're unmanageable -- that one that shows an actual sense of economy is near revolutionary.

But then, The Roots have always been about bucking rap cliches (just watch the cliche-bashing video for the song "What They Do," one of their best early songs). So the idea that they would make the quentessential non-hip-hop-album hip-hop album seems more than appropriate. Let's hope they set the trend. A.

Bonus Mini-Review: Band of Horses, "Everything All the Time"

This came out back in March, so I'm a little late on the trigger here.

It's hard to know what to expect from a band called "Band of Horses." I suppose my first response was to assume that it would be alt-country or maybe irony-laden Unicornsesque rock.

In the end, this album is neither. There are tinges of alt-country, but for the most part this is straight indie power pop. Nothing revolutionary, but really good.

Standout tracks include the sad-yet-catchy "The Funeral," the nice little ballad "Part One" and the anthemic "I Go to the Barn Because I Like The."

There are some dreary spots on the record, but the largest portion is just enjoyable power pop that serves as near-perfect background music for just about anything. It does its job. B+.

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