Various Artists

By Nate Byerley Catalyst

Send comments to: catalyst@wildcat.arizona.edu

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat

(Mammoth)

If music is an endeavor in expectation, then Rare on Air, Volume 4, will keep you guessing. But the best kind of guessing.

A compilation including Radiohead, Sarah MacLachlan, Tom Waits and Mazzy Star, Rare on Air features live performances broadcast on 89.9 KCRW-FM. Sorry kids, KCRW can only be heard in Santa Monica, Calif. - that's why they make these CDs.

The album opens with a well-crafted hip-hop number by Ozomatli, featuring a stunning musical dual between the Cut Chemist's turntables and a Jiro Yamaguchi on the table. The succeeding tracks are markedly tamer, but no less awesome.

Joan Osbourne's meshing of Country and Celtic in the tune, "St. Teresa," is a real redemption for her sinfully simple "What if God Was One of Us?"

El Fin de La Infancia's third wave ska number, "Cafi Tacuba," offers arguably the most rapidly articulated lyrics, in Spanish no less, ever recorded. Infancia's horn section, while not as clean as the vocals, deserves mention.

The less lustrous tracks include some pretty dull electronica by Gus Gus, and even as the queen of "live," Ani DiFranco's "Gravel" seems a bit clipped.

Still, everyone with a taste for the unexpected will leave Rare on Air with a good high.