Jesse Malin/The Wans/Rainy Day Saints

Formerly of the glam punk outfit D Generation, singer-guitarist Jesse Malin shows his softer side on the just-released New York Before the War. The album opens with a tender piano ballad that finds Malin singing in a tense whisper. The tempo quickly picks up with "Addicted," a catchy tune that sounds a bit like something that Elvis Costello might have penned back in the '70s. Several songs here — the rowdy rocker "Turn Up the Mains" — have a real swagger to them. The gnarly sax solo in "Turn Up the Mains" certainly helps give that impression. Malin has described the album as "metaphor for surviving in an ever-changing, rapidly desensitized world." It's an apt description of a truly solid album. (Niesel)