Basement Jaxx - Scars
Previewed by “Twerk” — their booty-disco, “Maniac”-quoting team-up with Yo Majesty — plus the uplifting perfection of the five-star track “Raindrops” — sung by member Felix Buxton with Auto-Tune on the assist — Scars is an obvious return-to-form effort for Basement Jaxx, reigning in the big conceptual ambition displayed on Crazy Itch Radio for better or worse. Getting back to everyday business sounds like sweet relief on tracks like the good-timing “Twerk,” and while this is the lunk-headed party theme you’d expect from such a pairing, two of the other marquee-worthy collaborations far exceed expectations.

Harry Connick, Jr. - Your Songs
Much like 2001’s Songs I Heard and 2004’s Only You, 2009’s Your Songs finds vocalist/pianist Harry Connick, Jr. coming up with an urbane and passionate set of American popular songs and contemporary pop classics that he both performs and orchestrates. While his previous recordings leaned toward the classicist side — Only You featured songs of the ’50s and ’60s — Your Songs features a more eclectic mix of standards and pop songs with Connick’s own lush orchestration lending an overall aesthetic of languid romanticism.

Mika - The Boy Who Knew Too Much
Making an album even more vibrant than Life in Cartoon Motion would have been difficult for Mika. On The Boy Who Knew Too Much, he doesn’t try to top himself; instead, he reins in just enough of his debut’s indulgent tendencies to let his gift for great melodies and hooks be the focus. His multifaceted pop sounds a little calmer and a lot more confident here — rather than cramming songs with moments intended to impress that end up being overwhelming, “Dr. John”’s finger-popping minor fall and major lift and the calypso-tinged “Blue Eyes” actually are impressive because they’re so direct.

Pearl Jam - Backspacer
Pearl Jam made peace with their hard rock past on their eponymous eighth album, but its 2009 sequel, Backspacer, is where the group really gets back to basics, bringing in old cohort Brendan O’Brien to produce for the first time since 1996’s Yield. To a certain extent, the band has reached the point in its career where every move, every cranked amp, every short tough song is heralded as a return to form — call it the Stones syndrome — and so it is with Backspacer, whose meaty riffs have no less vigor than those of Pearl Jam; they’re just channeled into a brighter, cheerier package.

Various Artists - Where the Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968
Where the Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968, Rhino’s 2009 sequel to their 2007 Nuggets box Love Is the Song We Sing, shifts the spotlight down the Californian coast, moving from the epicenter of the hippie universe in San Francisco to hipsville central in Los Angeles, the land where fringe-wearing folk-rockers strolled down the Sunset Strip alongside studio cats on the make. Both groups of hipsters are equally well-represented on Where the Action Is!, along with the teens raising a ruckus out in the suburbs and the stars who stretched out, all based on the sounds they heard coming from the Strip, the section of Sunset that serves as the fulcrum for this entire set.

BarlowGirl - Love & War
Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty (Bonus Disc)
The Big Pink - A Brief History of Love
Billy Talent - Billy Talent III
Jahdan Blakkamoore - Buzzrock Warrior
Brand New - Daisy
Castanets - Texas Rose, the Thaw and the Beasts
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - White Lunar
Vic Chesnutt - At the Cut
Guy Clark - Somedays the Song Writes You
Alan Cumming - I Bought a Blue Car Today
Early Day Miners - The Treatment
Five Finger Death Punch - War Is the Answer
Girls - Album
Robert Gordon/Link Wray/Chris Spedding - Live Fast, Love Hard
David Gray - Draw the Line
Hawk Nelson - Live Life Loud!
Richard Hawley - Truelove’s Gutter
Hornet Leg - Ribbon of Fear
I’m OK You’re OK - Presents…
Islands - Vapours
Sean Kingston - Tomorrow
Diana Krall - Quiet Nights (Deluxe Edition)
Larry the Cable Guy - Tailgate Party
Le Loup - Family
Mae - (m)orning
The Majority - The Decca Years 1965-1968
Rose Melberg - Homemade Ship
Amy Millan - Masters of the Burial
Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk
Múm - Sing Along to Songs You Don’t Know
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Speed of Life
Noisettes - Wild Young Hearts (Bonus Track)
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band - Between My Head and the Sky
Pastels/Tenniscoats - Two Sunsets
Rain Machine - Rain Machine
Sea Wolf - White Water, White Bloom
Manassas - Manassas Pieces
A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Ashes Grammar
Angel Taylor - Love Travels
Thee Midniters - Thee Complete Midniters: Songs of Love, Rhythm and Psychedilia
They Might Be Giants - Here Comes Science
Three Days Grace - Life Starts Now
Times New Viking - Born Again Revisited
To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie - Marlone
The Twilight Sad - Forget the Night Ahead
Vertical Horizon - Burning the Days
Volcano Choir - Unmap
Rufus Wainwright - Milwaukee at Last!!!
Why? - Eskimo Snow
Renee Fleming -
Alarm Will Sound -
Joshua Bell -
Various Artists - Crayon Angel: A Tribute to the Music of Judee Sill
Original Game Soundtrack - Halo 3: ODST
Original Soundtrack - Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (Original Soundtrack)