Damien Jurado

Waters Ave. S. (Sub Pop)

Sure, his alterna-folk sounds a bit like a Palace Brothers/Smog ripoff, but at least it's a really good one.

Camp Lo

Uptown Saturday Night (Profile)

If there's ever a summit between the cocktail nation and hip-hop's head honchos, this album will be the soundtrack du jour.

John P. Strohm and the Hello Strangers

Caledonia (Flat Earth)

For you longtime Philly music fans, there's something charmingly Wishniaks about this sound. Twangy and Alex-Chilton simple. And they get kudos for titling a song after the orange-tangerine hybrid, "Tangelo."

Sweetback

Sweetback (Epic)

Q: So what happens when Sade's band makes an album with Maxwell and Amel from Groove Theory on it? A: The sexiest music you've ever heard, just in time for Valentine's Day.

Sleater-Kinney

Call the Doctor (Chainsaw)

Straight out of the NW lesbian/riot grrrl school, but more tuneful than the rest of the class.

Thumb (Critique/BMG)

The A&R representative who signed these shmoes must have been punchy from moshing too much at Bush and Stone Temple Pilot shows.

Moby

Animal Rights (Elektra)

The techno poster-boy simultaneously goes hardcore punk and new age. Moby's been doing lunch with Yanni and Fugazi.

Jake

Hooked (Blackbird/Elektra)

Listening to an album's worth of Jake's mediocre hippie-funk tunes about heroin addiction makes going cold turkey seem like a piece of cake.

Less Than Jake

Losing Streak (Capitol)

Imagine if a bunch of kids at the Warped Tour got hopped up on Powerade and decided to form a punk-ska band. Their only redeeming quality is that they could probably kick Jake's ass.

Vanessa Daou

Slow To Burn (MCA)

Music for bad sex.