Los Lobos’ “Kiko� album heads a rock...

Los Lobos’ “Kiko� album heads a rock ‘n’ rap field for those of you trying to keep up with pop on a budget of $50 a month.

June

Arrested Development’s “3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of . . . “ (Chrysalis). There’s a disarming mix of old-fashioned hippie idealism and up-to-the-minute hip-hop imagination in this debut by a Georgia group whose “Tennessee� provides one of the year’s most delightful pop moments. Like much of the rest of the album, the wistful, spiritually tinged song tries to reconcile life’s blessings with its heartaches.

Cracker’s “Cracker� (Virgin). In his first outing since his days with quirky alternative rockers Camper Van Beethoven, David Lowery serves up more biting and amusing wisecracks in one song than most bands deliver in an entire album--and the lines don’t end with “Teen Angst,� the band’s exquisite single. Elsewhere, he summarizes his bittersweet outlook with this gem: “I see the light at the end of the tunnel now/Someone please tell me it’s not a train.� The music mixes soul and country elements with a guitar-laden base that offers mild traces of the Stones, but not in the cloning Black Crowes sense.

Los Lobos’ “Kiko� (Slash/Warner Bros.). After struggling in 1990’s “The Neighborhood� to regain the confidence and vision that characterized its pre-�La Bamba� popularity spurt, this classic Los Angeles band resurfaces with an almost perfect album--a collection that exhibits a cross-cultural warmth as inviting as anything since Paul Simon’s “Graceland� and a social consciousness as eloquent as anything since its own “By the Light of the Moon� in 1987. An album of the year contender.

July

Basehead’s “Play With Toys� (Imago). If this silky, seductive album arrived in a package with no marking, you might suspect that it was a bold left-field step by Prince--and cheer it as his best work in years. Michael Ivey, the leader of this alternative rap group, shares Prince’s humor--opening and closing the album with some tomfoolery that involves a performance in an imaginary honky-tonk bar--and his instincts for sensual pop. A hugely promising beginning.

Ministry’s “Psalm 69� (Sire). Berlin’s Einsturzende Neubauten never caught on commercially in this country in the ‘80s with its jack-hammer industrial assault, but the band offered such a commanding visceral experience that most other rock bands seemed pale by comparison. A few groups--notably Black Flag--approached its power, but Ministry may be the first one to fully balance the unyielding Neubauten starkness and contemporary rock sensibilities. In the constant howling and white noise, Ministry seems to be searching for understanding and order in an uncertain age--exhibiting the boldness and ambition brought to rock by Hendrix in the ‘60s and Bowie in the early ‘70s.

L7’s “Bricks Are Heavy� (Slash). Hard, hot and heavy, L7 plays grunge-rock with enough of a feminist edge for the band to be legitimately hailed a breakthrough. If that stance suggests calculation, the music itself retains a freshness and honesty that refutes the suspicion. These growls and wails are just conventional enough for the music to fit into rock’s hard-core brigade, but there are enough moments of individuality and ambition to rise above it.