Persona

Singer and oud player Dhafer Youssef is one of the most appealing stars of world music, yet his music still resists categorisation within that vague genre. Last year we heard him in a "supergroup" with Omar Sosa and Anga Diaz, but he sounds more comfortable accompanied by the talented crop of Norwegian musicians loosely associated with "nu-jazz". This cool style of playing, loose-limbed and hard-edged, provides the perfect backdrop to the Mediterranean warmth of Youssef's compositions. The most significant collaborator is producer-guitarist Eivind Aarset, who supplies backdrops of wide-ranging style and density, while remaining empathetic to Youssef's musical personality. Youssef can be deep, light-hearted, complex, funky and achingly romantic, sometimes all within one song. The album's pace is leisurely, full of atmosphere, groove and great playing, but rarely self-indulgent; you never forget whose album it is. By taking the most positive aspects of nu-jazz, Aarset and Youssef have forged a thrilling new sound that could make Divine Shadows a crossover hit.

As everybody knows, Paris Hilton is famous simply for existing. Even before she was a household name the heiress to the Hilton hotel fortune was famous in certain circles, partially because of her pedigree, partially because she was at every exclusive party, partially because of her very name, an instantly memorable and malleable moniker that spawned T-shirts ("Paris Hilton Is Burning") and gossip websites alike. All this hipster activity was bound to spill over into the mainstream and it did in a spectacular fashion in 2003 when she and Nicole Richie – her best friend for life circa 2003 – starred in the reality series The Simple Life, which saw the two pampered socialites attempting to fit into the real world of Wal-Marts and roadhouse saloons.

In the 1970s, Tom Waits combined a lyrical focus on desperate, low-life characters with a persona that seemed to embody the same lifestyle, which he sang about in a raspy, gravelly voice.

Dr. John revived his "Night Tripper" persona at the 2006 Bonnaroo Festival. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, his sense of urgency about Louisiana and the Gulf region allowed his spiritual persona free rein in concerts and interviews for the first time since the '70s. He wore the garb on-stage and brought his entire history as a musician to bear in his performances. He's become a full-fledged activist who does his part educating the world about his geography's unique significance as a musical, spiritual, and environmental territory. As an album, Tribal, employs some of the spookier elements of Dr. John's earlier recordings like Gris Gris, but it's all rooted in blues, funk, folk traditions, and R&B that have been at the heart of his musical career since the '50s.

One of the great new wave/early MTV records, She's So Unusual is a giddy mix of self-confidence, effervescent popcraft, unabashed sentimentality, subversiveness, and clever humor. In short, it's a multifaceted portrait of a multifaceted talent, an artist that's far more clever than her thin, deliberately girly voice would indicate…

Isolate: The Numa Years is a compilation album by Gary Numan. It contains tracks issued on his own Numa Records label during the years 1984-1986.
One of the founding fathers of synth pop, Gary Numan has influenced countless artists with his constantly evolving form of dystopian electronic rock music since the late 1970s. Establishing a lonely, android-like persona, he rose to fame leading Tubeway Army, a pioneering new wave band whose second album, 1979's Replicas, became the first of Numan's three consecutive gold-selling, chart-topping full-lengths in the U.K. The same year's The Pleasure Principle, his first solo effort, included the perennial favorite "Cars," which remains his biggest worldwide hit…

You might think that Castro's first album recorded for mighty blues indie Alligator – and twelfth overall – would mark a departure for this longtime rocking soulman. Despite a fuller sound, fleshed out with Lenny Castro's percussion and boosted by an ever-present horn section led by longtime cohort Keith Crossan, this is another typically solid effort from the singer/guitarist. Perhaps it's unfair to expect that Castro would somehow break free of, expand, or alter the blue-collar persona he has cultivated over his solo career as he shifts to a higher-profile label affiliation.

In the 1970s, Tom Waits combined a lyrical focus on desperate, low-life characters with a persona that seemed to embody the same lifestyle, which he sang about in a raspy, gravelly voice. From the '80s on, his work became increasingly theatrical as he moved into acting and composing…