Album

The Ting Tings - the English dance-punk duo of Katie White and Jules de Martino that will play Rams Head Live on Saturday - found inspiration for its latest album, March's "Sounds from Nowheresville," from three Jewish New Yorkers rapping about Humpty Dumpty, "The Empire Strikes Back" and Patty Duke. The Beastie Boys' 1989 landmark album "Paul's Boutique" seems at first like an odd muse for the Ting Tings Its platinum-selling singles ("That's Not My Name," "Shut Up and Let Me Go")

In 2009, Baltimore singer/songwriter ellen cherry was temporarily sidelined with a nasty throat infection. Unable to sing, she sat down at her upright piano and began writing the songs which would later become her new album, "Please Don't Sell the Piano. " It's about as bare-bones as you can get; while there are a few string arrangements, most of the album is just the piano and cherry's intimate, heartwarming voice. Produced by Baltimore Americana singer/songwriter Caleb Stine, "Please Don't Sell the Piano" is cherry's most personal album.

Estelle wants listeners to know she's not just the happy-go-lucky Londoner many first met on 2008's "American Boy," her cheery hit single with Kanye West. "The Life," the opening track to "All Of Me" (her first album in nearly four years, due out Tuesday), finds the 32-year-old Grammy nominee rapping in her heavy accent, "Tiny with a temper, I'm-a get it till I pass out. " She's not kidding about the temper. "All of Me" isn't a break-up album per se, but some of its more emotionally draining tracks were written as Estelle's three-year relationship crumbled.

Country music might have a history of making its women play by the rules. But Miranda Lambert has made a career of speaking her mind. Lambert's effortless ability to break your heart one moment (the Grammy-winning ballad "The House That Built Me") and find glee in revenge the next ("Kerosene," a song about Lambert burning down her cheating boyfriend's house, would make her hero Loretta Lynn proud) that makes her one of country music's most vital talents. "Four the Record," her latest album released in November, finds the 28-year-old newlywed (she married fellow country star Blake Shelton last May)

There's a moment from Kyle Durfey's adolescence that has always stayed with him. He was sitting next to his dad in their Crofton home, watching the sci-fi movie "Contact. " In the film, Jodie Foster's character sees her long-deceased father walk up to her on a beach in space. "I'll be damned," Gordon Durfey said to himself, just loud enough for his son to hear him. The significance wasn't lost on the teenager: Durfey realized his dad was imagining meeting his father again. It's a feeling Durfey knows well now. "The Lack Long After," the second album from Durfey's Baltimore screamo band Pianos Become the Teeth released in November on Topshelf Records, is about the death of Durfey's dad, who died of pneumonia in April 2010.

Very few rappers get second chances, but Wale did when he signed with Rick Ross' Maybach Music Group earlier this year. "Ambition" - the D.C. rapper's sophomore album released last Tuesday - proves, at least from a numbers perspective, Wale deserved another shot at stardom. "Ambition" will debut on the Billboard 200 at No. 2 after selling 164,000 copies in its first week. Justin Bieber's Christmas album, the icky-titled "Under the Mistletoe," will be the only record above Wale's, with 210,000 copies sold.

If Drake's brand of hyper-detailed rap-meets-loverboy-R&B turns you cold, it's time to step away from the Internet for the rest of the month. Late last night - hours after Drake hosted a two-hour radio stint on his hometown's Flow 93.5 and premiered his collaboration with the Weeknd, "Crew Love" - "Take Care" leaked, almost in its entirety. (We still don't have the closer "The Ride" or all of the bonus tracks.) But it's safe to start dissecting the record as a whole, or at least as a substantial preview to the retail version.

One look at the discography of Nils Lofgren, the longtime guitarist in Bruce Springsteen's E. Street Band, and it's clear the 60-year-old musician can't slow down. His new album, "Old School," which comes out Nov. 1, will be his 37th solo record, according to his website. Not that he's keeping count. "I can't tell how many of my own records I've made," he says. "The numbers aren't important. For me, what's important is that I had the idea to write another one. " Though he now lives in Arizona with his wife, Amy, Lofgren still has ties to the area.

J. Cole shocked a lot of industry heads and rap fans with the release of "Cole World: The Sideline Story," the debut LP he mostly produced himself. It hit No. 1 on Billboard its first week, and since hitting shelves Sept. 27, the album has sold more than 300,000 copies. He has no major singles or high-profile cameos; Cole merely built a following from the ground-up, with strong mixtapes and opening tour slots. Consider his show Thursday night at Baltimore Soundstage part of the earned victory lap. Cole is the type of rapper capable of writing radio-friendly hits ("Can't Get Enough" feat.

Sad news from a sad rapper: Drake officially canceled his Nov. 15 show at the Patriot Center this afternoon "due to scheduling conflicts," according to a Live Nation press release. Refunds are available at the point of purchase. The writing was on the blogspot, with the Toronto rapper taking to his October's Very Own blog to explain both pushing back "Take Care," his sophomore album (from his 25th birthday, Oct. 24 to Nov. 15 due to sample-clearance issues) and postponing the subsequent Club Paradise tour (it will now take place in early 2012, so "students are back from the Christmas/New Year break")