A generation after serving as August Darnell's zoot-suited comic foil in Kid Creole and the Coconuts, this ageless Nuyorican jack-of-all-trades reappears with his first solo album in 27 years, and only second ever. It's a hoot, too: Homemade-sounding, salsa-percussive electro-rap, cheerfully stretched to the breaking point. Lyrics address things Coati Mundi likes (the mall, his dog), things he doesn't (brown-nosers, narcissists), and things he can't live without (money). The opener, "Voyage Libertad to the Boat Dance," is a nine-minute celebration of international freedom. But the pinnacle is "Bundas Bom," as forboding a slice of Brazilian-drummed acid-house as you'll ever hear.

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“The Pretender”

This song wasn't part of the planned track listing for 2007's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, and was put together in a day. "It happened after we recorded a lot of stuff," said Dave Grohl. Yet it ended up as the album opener and the lead single. Grohl called it "a stomping Foo Fighters uptempo song with a little bit of Chuck Berry in it." The singer hinted at the lyrics' political overtones: "Everyone's been f---ed over before and I think a lot of people feel f---ed over right now and they're not getting what they were promised."