* * Sneaker Pimps, “Becoming X,” Virgin....

* * Sneaker Pimps, “Becoming X,” Virgin. These coed trip-hoppers from the U.K. are introduced to America as the successors to Portishead (female vocals, male back-up). The Pimps are, however, decidedly more punk, thrashing around in a slow break-beat daze with a sneer here and a guitar riff there. There are pop moments, but this album is otherwise thin of lyric, loose of musicianship and mired in a haze of post-modern shoe-gazing.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).