Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo practically sweat platinum. As the production duo behind the Neptunes, they have crafted monster hits for everyone from Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears to Jay-Z and Ol' Dirty Bastard. In their spare time they make the music they really like under the banner N.E.R.D. Equally inspired by Duran Duran's silk-spun new wave classics and the Beatles' strapping psychedelic epics, Fly or Die, the follow-up to 2002's In Search Of, is a bustling, bumping disc highlighted by rowdy tracks like "She Wants to Move" and "Jump," a collaboration with members of Good Charlotte. The nu-metal crunch of the last album gives way to a more suitable '70s vibe, making the band sound like an unholy cross between Sly & The Family Stone and E.L.O.--as filtered through A Tribe Called Quest. That's a good thing. --Aidin Vaziri
