Danko Jones, 'Sleep Is the Enemy' (Razor & Tie)
On their third album, this huge-in-Sweden Canuck trio once again temper their comically belligerent, AC/DC-charged garage metal with hooks perfectly suited for the stripper pole or the fashion runway. But this time, not only would the eponymous frontman rip his nuts off for you, if you've got a sweet tooth, then he's your chocolate bar. Easy, ladies.
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Damone, 'Out Here All Night' (Island)
Makes sense that the title track has graced a Fox sitcom, as these way-too-polished metallic power-poppers traffic in post-teen earnestness while finding the common ground between Slayer and a Kewpie doll.
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Pearl Jam, 'Pearl Jam' (J Records)
Since Pearl Jam dragged grunge out of Seattle and into the spotlight 15 years ago with Ten, they've made a career out of stumbling over good intentions: fighting with Ticket-master, releasing hundreds of bootlegs, and attacking the president. These foibles have been reflected in their music, resulting in problematic albums that feel tentative and incomplete.
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LL Cool J, 'Todd Smith' (Def Jam)
James Todd Smith could've hung up his Kangol years ago, but while subgenres come and go, and young scrappers slip in and out of favor, the Queens MC legend carries on. He's perfected a formula -- wet-lipped ballads sprinkled with the occasional club banger featuring a young MC -- that's kept his career surprisingly viable. Hell, LL dropped a greatest-hits record a decade ago.
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Art Brut, 'Bang Bang Rock and Roll' (Downtown)
Wittier than any Brit this side of Ricky Gervais, frontman Eddie Argos testifies loudly, like a karaoke drunk with a head cold, but his stories always sing, and his frisky band of London pros never fail to fire up the precise boilerplate punk riff to roil the plot. This U.S. release of Art Brut's 2005 debut album adds three intriguing, if sketchy, new tracks.




