Team Sleep
While theDeftoneswere racking up millions of album sales around the world and collecting Grammy Awards on the back of their apocalyptic metal sound, front man Chino Moreno was endlessly tinkering away on this side project that seems to owe more to the ethereal-electronic moods ofRadiohead. Team Sleep may not add any extra decimals to his bank account but it reveals that the singer is not just another testosterone-fueled crybaby.  Working with guest singersMary Timony(ex-Helium) and Rob Crow (Pinback), plus DJ Crook andHelladrummer Zach Hill, Moreno has made a beautifully crafted album that doesn't employ a single note of distortion or angst without complete intellectual engagement. Really, it's hard to imagine the dude fromPapa Roachcoming up with a sideways tribute to ivy-league schools ("Princeton Review") or a song inspired by an Edgar Allen Poe poem ("Tomb of Liegia,")--Aidin Vaziri