Women of mettle.

Surprising new records from both Me'Shell NdegeOcello and Skunk Anansie's Skin showcase their uncommon charms

Bitter * Me'Shell NdegeOcello * Maverick Post Orgasmic Chill * Skunk Anansie * Virgin

American alternative funkster Me'Shell NdegeOcello and lead singer Skin of the British neomental band Skunk Anansie have more in common than mahogany-shade shaved heads. Both musicians are contemporary masters of territories where few women ever venture. They speak and sing their minds in ways that have won them a faithful cult and intimidated most media. Each has just released a third album and tours constantly, but rarely do you ever hear them on the radio or see them on TV. Although they continue in the trailblazing tradition of such black iconoclasts as Jimi Hendrix, Grace Jones, and Prince, both play primarily to clued-in whites. And, yes, they're both lesbian-identifying bisexuals whose sexuality is key to their persona and yet beside the point.

Their latest offerings, NdegeOcello's Bitter and Skunk Anansie's Post Orgasmic Chill, are by far their most surprising, ambitious, and yet most fully realized records. Neither could be summed up by one radio-friendly single, and the chances are slim that either album will be heard by anyone besides the faithful in this pop-obsessed, instant-impact era. Yet more than ever, both should be: This is music hungry to thwart expectations, mess with mainstream heads, and give maximum pleasure to listeners who surrender to its uncommon charms.

Not even NdegeOcello's divergent last disc, 1996's Peace Beyond Passion, could've prepared anyone for the calm yet extraordinarily intense aural pastures of Bitter. Leaving behind the admirable but often forced social observations of her previous work, this far more assured album focuses on love's unwavering devotion and its all-too-human practice. The funk has been similarly refined into a surreal balladry light on angular rhythms and heavy with warmth, tenderness, and nuances that should click with both Lilith Fair-goers and Seal fans.

Rather than the hip-hop rhymes and attitude of early songs like "If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)," NdegeOcello sings with an understated sweetness, even in the songs where she admits infidelities and wrongdoing. "Beautiful angels come to my bed / I am satisfied on their flesh I have fed," the bassist confesses on "Faithful" before admitting, "Only you satisfy me," on the very next track.

But it's the music that's the true star of this album. Rich symphonic arrangements mix acoustic guitars, string sections, pianos, stand-up basses, live percussion, and angelic harmonies. Imagine folk music approached by the sensibility of a female Marvin Gaye, and you'll get the spiritual sensuality of Bitter.

Once you get past the initial headbanging, Skunk Anansie's Post Orgasmic Chill reveals a similarly sensitive fervor. Like Queen or Led Zeppelin, this is one of the rare hardrock bands with a virtuoso singer who can revel in the extremes of heavy and light as well as several shades in between. Pummeling tracks like "On My Hotel TV" and "The Skank Heads" serve up the rhythmic metal currently coveted by Korn-loving teens, while orchestral ballads such as "Tracy's Flaw" and "You'll Follow Me Down" showcase Skin's near-operatic vocal abilities. It's easy to understand why Skunk Anansie has been tapped to supply the next James Bond theme: If '90s rock has a Shirley Bassey, Skin is it.

Many gay listeners know Skunk Anansie through some suitably dramatic dance mixes of "Brazen (Weep)," and although it remains to be seen if this album will also yield a circuit anthem, pained love songs such as; "Secretly" cry out to be similarly recontexualized. Like NdegeOcello, Skin can be a societal button pusher (a typical early Skunk title is "Intellectualize My Blackness"), but these days she's in her element while poring over matters of the heart. Here's hoping America opens its to hers.

Find more on NdegeOcello and Skunk Anansie and links to related Internet sites at www.advocate.com

Walters is a pop-music critic for The Advocate.