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Audiofile Planet Earth Music From Broke Jive Better known as (hed)PE to its fans, this band from Orange County leaked a teaser disc with four songs from its forthcoming album, Broke (scheduled to hit shelves Aug. 22). Known for its assaulting blend of aggressive hard-core, punk and hip-hop, (hed)PE's contemporaries include bands like Incubus and Rage Against the Machine. It's part of a growing pool of second-stage rap-core bands that are attracting legions of new fans. (hed)PE's strengths are its clean sound and accessible songs. The screaming "Killing Time" and the raging "Waiting to Die" hint at influences from Faith No More, while the ghetto-tinged "Bartender" serves up some of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' funk. It looks like (hed)PE, which hasn't released an album since 1997's self-titled debut, is still on its way up. (Sarah Quelland) Lucy Pearl Lucy Pearl Pookie/Beyond Whenever R&B and hip-hop artists from different groups collaborate, the results are often overproduced and lackluster. That isn't the case with the neo-soul super-trio Lucy Pearl, which consists of graduates of two of the best soul acts of the '90s (ex-En Vogue member Dawn Robinson and singer/songwriter Raphael Saadiq from the underrated and much-missed Tony! Toni! Tone!) and a DJ/producer from one of the most brilliant hip-hop groups ever (Ali Shaheed Muhammad, the wizard behind the jazz grooves of the now-defunct Tribe Called Quest). Highlights on this brash and breezy self-titled debut include the slinky "Dance Tonight," the playful "LaLa" and the terse, hard-rocking "Hollywood," sort of a companion piece to Public Enemy's 1990 anti-racial stereotyping rant, "Burn, Hollywood, Burn." Robinson, who had the most powerful and versatile voice of all the En Vogue singers, has never sounded sexier. (Jimmy Aquino) [ San Jose | Metroactive Central | Archives ]