A tip for aspiring rock stars: Pick a band name close to that of your mentor. It worked for Italy's Afterhours, whose Ballads for Little Hyenas (One Little Indian) sits comfortably next to Afghan Whigs, whether you shelve your discs alphabetically or by microgenre. Head Whig Greg Dulli is all over Ballads—co-writing four of its 11 songs, playing on nine and producing the whole damn thing—but his influence runs deeper than that. Singer-guitarist Manuel Agnelli clearly listened to the master long before he studied at his feet, but his group had five albums to get tight before English speakers caught on. And if Agnelli sounds almost too Dulli-esque, grunge-soul tracks like "White Widow" and "Judas' Blood" feed an appetite that's hard to satisfy. Good stuff, but it's no substitute for the real thing. The Twilight Singers, Dulli's post-Whigs outlet, just dropped Powder Burns (One Little Indian), and it's a long overdue return to straight-up rock. Getting clean hasn't dulled his gift for evoking sex so dirty you can practically smell it: "My Time (Has Come)" is as hot as anything since the Whigs' "John the Baptist" back in '98. When Dulli's in town, it's time to make party.