Volume 3: Further in Time
While not as out-of-left-field revelatory and astonishing as  theirexalted debut,  nor as darkly magnetic as theirsophomore follow-up,Volume 3: Further in TimefindsAfro Celt Sound  Systemfleshed out, funky, and fiercely fresh. Now a band of  20-some-odd players, the Afro Celts push forward with unbounded energy and  focus, organically driven beats, and a thoroughly joyous fusion of West  African and Irish traditional music enhanced with dissonant Eastern  influence, psychedelic trip-hop groove, and a monster flood of sonic  waves. The resultant sound is somehow both cutting-edge futuristic and  primitive in its visceral virility. Demba Barry steps up with an  unexpectedly punchy African hip-hop-styled vocal on "Shadowman,"  "Lagan" plays out into an orchestral swan dive, and, throughout, Johnny  Kalsi and Moussa Sissokho come on like gangbusters with the drums. Real  World label honcho and world-music championPeter Gabrieldoes  a stunning turn on the eminently catchy "When You're Falling," andRobert Plantcontributes a powerfully epic rock vocal on "Life Begins Again." Fine  as all these moments are, the centerpiece of volume 3, where the band  achieves beyond perfect synthesis, is the ecstatic groove-lock on the  African acid ceilidh of "Colossus." Volume 3 is the tune-in turn-on  we've been waiting for.--Paige La Grone