Fans of dc Talk will love tobyMac's latest CD, Portable Sounds, which keeps the dc Talk sound alive in the new millennium. While some of tobyMac's new songs sound as if they're just missing Kevin and Michael's voices from the dc Talk era, the CD, as a whole, shows off tobyMac's talent for making his own unique musical gumbo.

Portable Sounds starts off with the upbeat "One World," a horn-infused rap-meets-rock tune that says what tobyMac has been saying for years: everyone should come together and celebrate our unity in diversity under God. "Made To Love," the CD's first radio single, follows "One World," and acknowledges how an individual, on a personal level, was made to love God.

TobyMac's ability to get people thinking about God's love continues on several tracks, including "No Ordinary Love," with its European pop/disco sound that makes it definitely danceable, and "Lose My Soul," featuring Kirk Franklin rappin' and Mandisa from American Idol getting' groovy on this funky jam that reminds the listener to keep their eyes on Jesus as the chorus goes, "I don't want to gain the whole world and lose my soul."

Portable Sounds is mostly melodic pop music, with hip-hop and alt rock elements. Though tobyMac's driver's license would indicate he's over 40, the way he dresses, his style of music, and his overall attitude makes him seem like he's much younger. His music especially appeals to kids, teens, and twentysomethings. TobyMac has undeniable charm and exuberant energy, and Portable Sounds captures that really well.

If you listened to Christian rock in the 1990s, dc Talk, a trio featuring Michael Tait, Kevin Max, and Toby McKeehan, Since going their own separate ways in the year 2000, each member has done their own thing, musically, with McKeehan, now known as tobyMac, having had the most success.

While his driver's license would indicate he's over 40, if you listen to tobyMac's new CD, Portable Sounds, you might think you're listening to music made by someone in their twenties. It's a blend of potent pop, rock, rap, and dance, as if Justin Timberlake, Kid Rock, and OutKast morphed into one skinny, blue-eyed bundle of stylishly dressed energy known as tobyMac.

When he's not wakeboarding, running in a triathlon, or busy running Gotee Records, a label home to fellow artists like Family Force 5, GRITS, and John Reuben, tobyMac is touring to promote his latest project, which feels remarkably fresh and fun on tracks featuring various female divas ("One World," "No Ordinary Love," and "Lose My Soul") while also sounding as if dc Talk never broke up on tracks like "Made To Love," "All In," and "Face of the Earth."

TobyMac is unique because he sounds, acts, and dresses like a teenager in many ways, which endears him to lots of young kids, while most artists his age could never get away with wearing tight black shirts, camouflage cut-offs, and sandals. The music on Portable Sounds does a great job reflecting his personal hip-hop-meets-rock style, alternating between danceable jams and loud, in-your-face rock, with some easy-going melodic pop songs thrown in for good measure.