These records rock. Harder than normal. New releases include Queens of the Stone Age, Velvet Revolver and Bon Jovi, along with some less heavy folks like Van Morrison, Suzanne Vega and Orbital.

With releases from Queens of the Stone Age (Era Vulgaris), Velvet Revolver (Libertad) and Bon Jovi (Lost Highway), our eardrums can only be grateful that Van Morrison (The Best of, Vol. 3), Suzanne Vega (Beauty & Crime) and Orbital (Live at Glastonbury) come on the scene to even things out.

OK, it's debatable whether or not Bon Jovi still rocks. But with with half of Guns 'n Roses and the singer of Stone Temple Pilots, it's no doubt Revolver does. And the antics QOTSA pull out in the desert (we don't even care which desert, we just wanna be there) ensure their position in the Kingdom of Rock. As do the riffs.

But all that rock aside, Suzanne Vega might be the coolest of the bunch. Not only did she graduate from Barnard, she was the first major label artist to perform on "Second Life", and has a daughter named Ruby Froom.

Soul Coughing then came along and named an album after her (Ruby Vroom). How many kids can say that? If you failed to return to Suzanne Vega after her famous "Luka", it's worth doing. Her songwriting has grown into this beautiful - although still-heartbreaking - atmospheric thing. One of the best albums is Songs in Red and Gray, which came out in 2001.

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