Tori Amos – Abnormally Attracted to Sin
After the high conceptualism that lorded over 2005’s The Beekeeper and 2007’s American Doll Posse, singer and songwriter Tori Amos has decided to return to the relatively simple songs-as-songs approach on Abnormally Attracted to Sin. Those recordings, fine though they may have been, stretched the artist’s reputation and the patience of her fans to the breaking point. The scope of this set in comparison with the previous two offerings seems more like a retrenchment than anything else. Not that there’s anything at all wrong with that. There are songs on Abnormally Attracted to Sin that are as strong as anything she’s written.

Busta Rhymes – Back On My B.S.
Following up his troubled 2006 release The Big Bang, Back on My B.S. — or B.O.M.B.S. — is guided by the “return to form” template, sometimes to a fault. “Give Em What They Askin For” is an exercise in yelling, kicking, and screaming “I’m back” as loud as you can, and while fans will likely cheer, Busta and producer Ron Brownz are just preaching to the converted and should have left this hookless monster on a mixtape.

Jarvis Cocker – Further Complications
Perhaps it was inevitable that Jarvis Cocker would find no peace in domesticity. It may have treated him well for a brief period, resulting in the quite brilliant mature pop of his 2006 solo debut, but no other pop star has been as singularly sex-obsessed as Jarvis, so it was just a matter of time before his attentions wandered elsewhere…and so they have on his wildly depraved second album, Further Complications. Right from the start with the thumping “Angela,” Jarvis has flesh on the mind, just as he did during the days of His ‘n’ Hers with its songs about sisters, virginity, and fetishes, but where those songs were underscored by the vague melancholy of somebody who has only glimpsed his fantasy and frets that he will never see it again, the songs here pulsate with perversion, a middle-aged man making damn sure that he’s going to get with a tight 23-year-old body yet again; it’s the sound of a fetishist turned sexual omnivore.

Eminem – Relapse
Eminem placed himself in exile shortly after Encore wound down, a seclusion initially designed as creative down-time but which soon descended into darkness fueled by another failed marriage to his wife Kim and the death of his best friend Proof, culminating in years of drug addiction. Em none too subtly refers to that addiction with the title of Relapse, his first album in five years, but that relapse also refers to Marshall Mathers reviving Slim Shady and returning to rap. Relapse is designed to grab attention, to stand as evidence that Eminem remains a musical force and, of course, a provocateur spinning out violent fantasies and baiting celebrities. Strive as he might to make an impact in the world at large, Relapse is the sound of severe isolation, the product of too many years of Eminem playing king in his castle in a dilapidated Detroit, subsisting on pills, nachos, torture porn, and E! Daily News.

Iron & Wine – Around the Well
Named after a lyric from “The Trapeze Swinger,” Around the Well collects two discs’ worth of B-sides, rarities, soundtrack inclusions, and discarded tracks from the Iron & Wine catalog. Such compilations can be tricky to assemble, but Around the Well is both comprehensive and conveniently presented, with each disc representing the two amorphous halves of Iron & Wine’s career.

Method Man/Redman – Blackout! Vol. 2
With each having individual obligations all over the place, it took ten years for Method Man and Redman to record a follow-up to 1999’s beloved Blackout!, but one listen and you’d think it had only been ten days. Interplay during the intro proves that none of the chemistry is lost, then the slow-grinding “I’m Dope Ni**a” declares that happy and horribly high days are here again, with mentions of Club Nouveau plus Tango & Cash putting a date stamp on the duo.

Au Revoir Simone – Still Night, Still Light
The Beach Boys – Summer Love Songs
Ed Bruce – The Tennessean/Cowboys and Dreamers
Johnny Burnette – Johnny Burnette and More Kings of Rockabilly
Carbon Leaf – Nothing Rhymes with Woman
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – The Firstborn Is Dead
Nick Cave – Kicking Against the Pricks (Bonus Tracks/Bonus DVD)
Nick Cave – From Her to Eternity (Bonus Tracks/Bonus DVD)
Nick Cave – Your Funeral…My Trial (Bonus Tracks/Bonus DVD)
Kenny Chesney – Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
CIV – The Complete Discography
CKY – Carver City
Eric Clapton/Steve Winwood – Live from Madison Square Garden
Dane Cook – Isolated Incident
The Curious Mystery – Rotting Slowly
The Datsuns – Head Stunts
The Datsuns – Head Stunts
Drama – Gangsta Grillz: The Album, Vol 2
Drop Nineteens – Delaware
Dusty Rhodes and the River Band – Palace and Stage
Family Force 5 – Dance or Die with a Vengeance
The Field – Yesterday and Today
Jim Ford – Big Mouth USA: The Unissued Paramount Album
Johnny Griffin – The Best of Johnny Griffin
Headless Heroes – The Silence of Love
Hot Chip – A Bugged Out Mix
Mat Kearney – City of Black & White
Lenny Kravitz – Let Love Rule (20th Anniversary Edition)
Jeffrey Lewis & the Junkyard – ‘Em Are I
Frank London/Lorin Sklamberg – Tsuker-Zis
Joe Lovano Us Five – Folk Art
Jason Lytle – Yours Truly, The Commuter
Steve Martin – The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo
The Oak Ridge Boys – The Boys Are Back
Passion Pit – Manners
Roberto Juan Rodriguez – Timba Talmud
Savath & Savalas – La Llama
Polly Scattergood – Polly Scattergood
Settle – At Home We Are Tourists
Siouxsie & Banshees – Kiss in the Dreamhouse (Bonus Tracks)
Siouxsie and the Banshees – Tinderbox (Bonus Tracks)
Siouxsie and the Banshees – Nocturne
Siouxsie and the Banshees – Hyaena (Bonus Tracks)
Wadada Leo Smith & Jack DeJohnette – America
Ruben Studdard – Love IS
The Tractors – Trade Union
Pat Travers – Travelin’ Blues
U.S. (United Soul) – U.S. Music with Funkadelic
John Vanderslice – Romanian Names
Kate Voegele – A Fine Mess
The Warlocks – The Mirror Explodes
Faron Young – Here’s Faron Young/Occasional Wife
Hermas Zopoula – Espoir
John Zorn – Alhambra Love Songs
Original TV Soundtrack – True Blood (Original TV Soundtrack)