With Say What You Mean, Seattle’s Maktub ramp up their rock & roll credibility, sidestepping an overly trendy trip-hop trap the quintet might have seen coming after 2003′s Khronos. The fancy footwork pays off — songs like the Al Green-reminiscent “Say What You Mean” and “Daily Dosage,” with its heavy soul crash, saw the act splintering from regional-favorites status to full-on, bring-’em-on blues-rock-soul heroes within a month of release. If credit could fall squarely on a single pair of shoulders it would, but given the enormity of frontman Reggie Watts’ Afro that’s an impossibility. Suffice it to say that his four-octave range and Prince-like charisma permeate every track; though fans of Sly Stone and Lenny Kravitz will climb aboard first, count on Watts pulling in listeners from musical planets across the stratosphere. – Tammy La Gorce