On their fifth album, Welcome to My Party, Rusted Root decides to delve into full-fledged funkiness, tempering these elastic party grooves with their neo-hippie, acoustic earnestness. Both sides are polished rather heavily by producer Bill Bottrell, resulting in a record that feels like it positions the group to share territory with the Dave Matthews Band. Since they’ve been leaning in this direction for a while, this isn’t an awkward move. Rusted Root remains as versatile as ever as musicians, and there are moments where the production and their sound gel. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine