It's an exciting week! New releases by hot bands like the Ting Tings, the return of pop legends like Donna Summer and Jesse McCartney, and--perhaps best of all--the new album by 3 Doors Down!

Throw in the debut album by actress turned singer Scarlett Johansson and Dancing With The Stars champion Julianne Hough and it could be the best week yet!

I don't know about you, but I can't wait to buy all these CDs and leave them lying around my stereo to impress my many, many visitors!

Ahh, heck, who am I kidding? Nobody buys CDs anymore! And no one ever comes to visit! And I haven't listened to any new music since--heck, I don't know--Seven Mary Three! Is it my fault no one's ever been able to top them?

But enough about me! Let's talk about my opinion!

The Ting Tings: We Started Nothing (Columbia/Red Ink) Four things you should know about the Ting Tings: 1) They're the ones who sing "Shut Up And Let Me Go" from that new iPod ad.  2) Their lead singer is an attractive female from Great Britain.  3) We shot an interview and performance with them in Austin this March that you can watch here, and 4) The other guy in the band--not the attractive female--is named Jules DeMartino. That's right, DeMartino! Which would make them the best new band in the world if they could only spell properly! And how about that crummy British food?

3 Doors Down: 3 Doors Down (Republic/Universal) It was a very strange dream. I'd received the new album by 3 Doors Down and noticed their new album was also titled 3 Doors Down! Then I put the album on my stereo, started playing it, and noticed that every single track on the album was, amazingly, also titled "3 Doors Down"! Then a neighbor knocked on my door, told me she heard the music I was playing, and wanted to meet me! "Why?" I asked, genuinely puzzled. "Because," she said,  "I simply had to meet the person who would allow such ordinary sonic bilge to spoil the charm and elegance of our neighborhood!" Then she pulled out a gun and shot me!  But here's the kicker: She lived four doors down!

Scarlett Johansson: Anywhere I Lay My Head (Atco/Rhino) It's always awkward when an album you expect little from ends up sounding much better than you imagined! Yet here's pretty Ms. Johansson, defying tradition by releasing an arty album of Tom Waits covers that, were it to have been issued on the 4AD label in 1991 by My Florid Ovum, be regarded as an unsung classic of the age! It sounds great! Perhaps it's time we put aside all preconceived notions about music and begin listening to it with the fresh ears to which it's entitled! Or maybe you could just meet me at the bar later!

Jesse McCartney: Departure (Hollywood) I confess I'm puzzled by the behavior most men exhibit after a failed relationship, but this really takes the proverbial cake! If you're one of the most famous songwriters in pop music history--heck, in all of 20th century music--why let a messy divorce case screw with your head?  The former Moptop's name change was bad enough, but the apparent plastic surgery on display here makes "Jesse" look all of 20 years old! Luckily, the Old Boy still has the gift of music within him, and Departure may measure up to Band On The Run or even "Coming Up"! But, dude--man to man?--you should take your own advice and let it be!

Julianne Hough: Julianne Hough (Mercury Nashville) If there's one thing I like more than Dancing With The Stars, I haven't been able to figure out what it is yet! And sure enough, here's the pretty blonde woman who's now become a household name as a result of the show!  This sounds about as good as any other new country album I've heard lately, and heck--she's significantly more attractive than most singers whose new albums have crossed my desk this week! I'm thinking it's an entirely legitimate new piece of product, it's the way business is now being done in the music industry, and--what the heck--I'd like to take her out to dinner as soon as possible! Won't you join me in buying her new album?

Foxboro Hot Tubs: Stop Drop And Roll!!! (Jingle Town/Warner Bros) An apparent "side project" of famous rockers Green Day, this quite listenable album now puts them in a delicate situation: It is simply a billion times better than any album released under the Green Day name! Perhaps it's time they take to heart that they've been pandering to a youth audience that has grown tired of The Corporation They've Become and now views them--and other former contemporaries such as Blink-182--as literally the enemy that has taken advantage of them from the get-go, by-products of a dying music industry that won't rest until it has extracted every last nickel from each youthful consumer before shriveling up and dying in a series of messy corporate bankruptcies! On the other hand, Wikipedia says they sound like the Fratellis!

Donna Summer: Crayons (Burgundy) I can remember working at a record store when Donna Summer's first album Love To Love You Baby came out, and the general consensus among myself and my fellow clerks was that the album cover--which featured the singer in a negligee, head tilted back, her eyes closed, apparently preoccupied--was cool! What do you expect from a bunch of record store morons? But it's 2008, and here comes her first studio album in 17 years, with a sticker on it blaring "THE QUEEN IS BACK!" and a cover photo that makes her look all of 24 years old! To which I say: cool! The title track features Ziggy Marley!

Curt Smith: Halfway, Pleased (Kook Media) I have a warm spot in my heart for the music of Curt Smith, know to many as one-half of Tears For Fears, who from the mid-'80s onward has pursued intelligent music-making with dignity, grace, and more than a few catchy tunes as a bonus. His first solo album since the reunited TFF's Everybody Loves A Happy Ending of 2004, this new disc features Smith again collaborating with Charlton Pettus (also on that last TFF set) and is good stuff indeed. Check out more details here; you'll like what you find.

Univers Zero: Univers Zero (Cuneiform) A very welcome reissue by one Europe's most respected--and cultish--bands ever. Their debut album, originally released in 1977, is a sophisticated batch of playing and composition that in terms of intricacy recalls the artier works of Soft Machine, King Crimson, Henry Cow and Magma, though sounding very little like any of those bands. Intense, unpredictable and something of a legend in the making, this band was heard by too few people at the time this recording was made; first time listeners today will be stunned that this music is over 30 years old. I'm stunned I am! Highly recommended!

Bun B: II Trill (Rap-A-Lot Asylum) Fact: Everybody has their own unique reason for liking things! Some people like Bun B because of his work with rap act UGK, and some like him because of his collaborations with Jay Z, Paul Wall and the Ying Yang Twins! Some like him just because he's a likeable guy! But I like him because his name implies the existence of another, better Bun! And we don't hear enough about Bun A, do we?