Placebo - Black Market Music

The London-based trio Placebo carries on the modern-rock banner with this third collection of glam-influenced guitar pop. Black Market Music may not contain anything as immediately catchy as Without You I'm Nothing's "Pure Morning," but the dark hooks of "Taste in Men," "Special K," and "Slave to the Wage," with its Pavement sample, sink in deep after just a few listens. "Spite and Malice," featuring a guest turn from One Inch Punch rapper Justin Warfield, is a surprisingly successful marriage of Britpop and hip-hop, while the moody drone of "Passive Aggressive" showcases the band's more reflective side. And while songs about tumors and hemoglobin threaten to close the album on a lyrically bleak note, two bonus cuts change the mood: a reprise of Without You I'm Nothing's title track with Brian Molko's hero David Bowie joining in on vocals, and a cover of Depeche Mode's "I Feel You." Black Market Music isn't exactly the feel-good album of 2001, but it gives hope to those who still have faith in the future of Britpop. --Bill Forman