311

After a near 21-year career that challenged every notion, idea or previously accepted definition of rock music, Nebraskan rap reggae ska rockers 311 have reinvented themselves yet again with their ninth studio album that's already hit # 3 on Billboard. The quintet starts out with an infectious, funk-heavy song called "Hey You," sure to become another anthem for free thinkers, intellectuals and social delinquents. The album gets contemplative at "Mix it Up," where vocalist Nick Hexum deliberates the actual value of being good at math, working a nine-to-five job and compares these mundane scenarios to people merely having "conversations in the dark." Upliftershows a true progression of the band's sound through passages of heightened melodic experiments, and also through a richness of eclecticism that rock music often brings. The track "India Ink" is especially striking as it switches up between a pretty, three part vocal harmony and grungy, tar-like guitar riffs.