**1/2 DANGERMAN

(550 Music/Sony)

"I do not play no rock 'n' roll," croaks sepulchral bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell in a sample used for the title of the closing track on Dangerman's debut. Indeed, the NYC duo (guitarist/bassist Chris Scianni; percussionist Dave Borla) play not rock but some new kind of post-rock; call it urban folk. Like their NYC pals Fun Lovin Criminals, Dangerman offer a loose, hip-hop-inflected, street-scape melange (electric blues, Caribbean salsa, hard-bop jazz, Indian raga) that sounds pretty fly for a coupla white guys. Their rarefied taste in samples (McDowell, Willie Colon, Elvin Jones, Mongo Santamaria) echoes through their own playing styles (Scianni's fondness for slide guitar, Borla's Jones-like hard-swinging skins pounding). How much of this surprisingly rich texture is the twosome's is an open question given the omnipresence of producer Brendan O'Brien (Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine), who plays keyboard and mellotron and has a co-writing credit on every song. Still, what does it matter when the results are as melodic as "Let's Make a Deal," "Good Friend," "Remember," and "It'll Comeback"?

-- Gary Susman