Rock/Pop/Alt - Even though Snow Patrol has been banging around the U.K. for almost 15 years, it wasn't until the band's 2003 album Final Straw - their first with producer Jacknife Lee - and first major hit "Run" that they finally began their ascendancy to massive chart and tour success. For U.S. audiences, it began in 2006 with the album five-million-selling Eyes Wide Open and the huge, can't-escape-from-it single "Chasing Cars". A year ago, Snow Patrol released their fifth album A Hundred Million Suns, a tougher-edged version of the band's grandeur rock style that received some solid reviews but failed to meet the commercial expectations raised post-"Chasing Cars."

 New November 10 anthology Up To Now, as the title suggests, collects thirty tracks from the Snow Patrol catalog, including rarities, covers, radio hits and selections from frontman Gary Lightbody's side-project Reindeer Section featuring members of various Scottish bands. Of particular note are three previously unreleased newer recordings including lead single "Just Say Yes", a song Lightbody wrote for Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger's never-released solo album and, according to the band, a more "techno" style that may be an indication of the band's new direction. Up To Now's deluxe version tacks on a third disc -- a DVD featuring two exclusive documentaries, ‘The Lightning Strike’ animated film and previously unseen live footage. Watch the "Just Say Yes" video after the jump...

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Snow Patrol - "Just Say Yes" (from the album Up To Now)

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Pop/Adult - Reworking rare Edith Piaf songs, recording them live in concert and, naturally, in French may automatically violate three cardinal rules of American popular music career advancement, but fortunately for us, the wondrously talented singer and songwriter Martha Wainwright doesn't exactly follow the canons of the "business" of music. At the suggestion of friend and off-center production genius Hal Wilner and perhaps taking a page from brother Rufus' recent foray into iconic female singer (ie., his glam Judy Garland tribute), the Montreal-raised Wainwright decided to take on her Francophile upbringing and boldly reinterpret the mournfully dramatic songs of the legendary Little Sparrow, considered to be the greatest and most popular French singer ever.

Recorded live over the course three nights in New York this past June, Sans Fusils, Ni Souliers, A Paris (November 9 in Europe, U.S. TBD) features fifteen Piaf songs -- only a couple of which most would recognize -- chosen from more than 300 that Wainwright researched via Wilner. "In doing the shows, I realized the record should be live," she remarks. "I think there was an energy that happened. And a tension and an energy in the music that really worked." Wainwright called upon some of the best "downtown" NY musicians and worked to keep the quirky twists of Piafs original productions while adding some bold new strokes. The result is a daring, powerful and personal work that - while not for every palate - challenges and then rewards. And isn't that what art is supposed to do?

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Martha Wainwright - "C’est Toujours la Même Histoire" (from the album Sans Fusils, Ni Souliers, A Paris: Martha Wainwright's Piaf Record) (Recorded live on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon)

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Pop/Folk/Jazz - Whether she's singing jazz standards, rustic folk ballads, sophisticated adult pop or the tradition-steeped, three-part harmony glory of the Canadian trio The Wailin' Jennys, versatile New York-based singer/songwriter Heather Masse has proven that she can do it all...and do it exceptionally well at that. With a an unaffected, beautifully textured voice that is both warmly inviting and strikingly pure, Masse brings a natural nuance to a song that is neither overly studied or under played. We heard one side of her talent with last year's flawless jazz/folk five-track EP Many Moons that featured simple piano/voice duets of uncommon elegance and another this summer on The Wailin' Jennys impeccable live album.

With the release of her new solo album Bird Song, arriving November 10 via Red House, Masse and her band have created her most fully realized work yet, a stunning, remarkably varied collection of uniquely American music that touches progressive folk, bluegrass-tinged Americana and contemporary adult leanings. Album opener "I Don't Wanna Wake Up Today" is a gentle blues/rock swayer featuring Masse's lovely vocals and tasteful piano and guitar shadings while the goose-bump inducing title track takes a soft rhythmic accompaniment, Masse's honey-dipped voice and a Celtic-meets-Appalachia melody to subtle, celestial harmonic heights. Highly recommended.

Heather Masse - "Bird Song" (from the album Bird Song)

Heather Masse - "I Don't Wannna Wake Up Today" (from the album Bird Song)

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Glasgow-based folk/pop trio Zoey Van Goey may have a twee nerdy charm just below the surface of their clever, often lyrically surreal and quietly mindblowing debut album The Cage Was Unlocked All Along, but we're certainly the better for it. Jangly guitars, electronica flourishes and the lovely vocals of Kim Moore bring an undeniable sunny disposition to the shiny surface of the ZVG mystique but beneath the well-mannered charm there's a deeper, darker subversive element bleeding through. There are songs of apocolyptic computer meltdowns and teaching English in Japan, romantic ballads of kidnapping, bandits and buried treasure. Described by one critic as "cuddlecore", this is music that seems to intersect somewhere between a smile and a grimace, smart songs that bring you back to reveal something new and interesting with each listen.

 The threesome's first single, 2007's "Foxtrot Vandals" was produced by Belle and Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch and moves at a brisk trot, all strum and propulsive, shimmering kick. But with producer Paul Savage at the helm -- and with many more months of writing and studio work -- Cage ended up veering off into more shadowy and daring territory: quieter, pulsing with electronics and decidedly more studied in tone. Songs such as the delicately structured "City Is Exploding" and the chiming, atmospheric "The Best Treasure Stays Buried" seem to drift with a languid nonchalance but the razor-edged lyrics - and Moore's wonderfully cryptic singing - keep the imagery and lovingly crafted melodies in sharp focus. Cage, released independently by the band in June just got wider U.K. distribution today and is available as an import. Highly recommended.

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Zoey Van Goey - "The Best Treasure Stays Buried" (from the album The Cage Was Unlocked All Along)

Zoey Van Goey - "City Is Exploding" (from the album The Cage Was Unlocked All Along)

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Folk/Americana - Acclaimed producer Don Was literally pulled off to the side of an L.A. freeway when he heard the voice of Pieta Brown live in the studio from trendsetting radio station KCRW. A few phone calls, emails and months later, Brown and guitarist Bo Ramsey met up with Was at his home to play him some new songs. Wanting to capture her remarkable voice "unadorned", Was grabbed his bass and joined Brown and Ramsey in the studio, mixing the impromptu sessions live as they went down. The result is the wondrous Shimmer (November 10, Red House), a seven-track mini-album that captures Brown's poetic lyricism, wonderfully sweet and smoky voice and the intimate immediacy that comes from three skilled musicians plying their crafts with palpable inspiration.

Residing stylistically somewhere between Lucinda Williams' alt-country twang and the eclectic, boundary-blurring songwriting of Cat Power and Leslie Feist, Brown draws deep upon her slow-cooked rural roots but unlike most, moves ahead into her own quietly daring territory. Beneath her soft, folksy drawl lies an intensity -- what Was calls "major star power magnetism" and the BBC has termed "seductive simplicity." Songs such as "You're My Lover Now" drift and sway with easy, graceful moves as Brown's deceptively wispy voice is suspended in air, seemingly close enough to feel her breath in your ear. Highly recommended.

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Pieta Brown - "You're My Lover Now" (from the album/EP Shimmer)

Pieta Brown - "It's Just As Well" (from the album Remember the Sun)

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Folk/Pop/Acoustic - Brenley MacEachern and Lisa MacIsaac grew up in rural Canada listening their parents' collection of Neil Young, Dolly Parton and Simon and Garfunkel albums alongside the traditional Scottish folk of their heritage. Together for almost a decade, the duo now known as Madison Violet have drawn on those early reference points in the release of three albums of arresting acoustic folk with a solid streak of bluegrass and Americana. Arriving as an import, their new No Fool For Trying - their first album in three years - is a stellar collection of rich roots-pop songs that bring to mind a melding of fellow Canadians The Wailing Jennys, Gillian Welch and The Indigo Girls.

 With vocals intertwined in hauntingly beautiful harmonies, songs such as the swaying, luminous "The Ransom" and mandolin-laced title track have an appeal that goes beyond restrictive genre borders, much like the O Brother Where Are Thou soundtrack or the recent Raising Sand project from Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. There's something so achingly lovely at the core of No Fool For Trying, so basic yet refined. While many of the songs deal with themes of heartache and loss (including a devastating track about the tragic death of MacEachern's brother), the result is an affecting and ultimately uplifting album that should, with the right introduction stateside, find a welcoming audience. Recommended.

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Madison Violet - "The Ransom" (from the album No Fool For Trying)

Madison Violet - "The Small of My Heart" (from the album No Fool for Trying)

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Pop/Alt/Folk - Having grown up on the banks of the Mississippi in Rock Island, Illinois, Lissie Maurus brings that "wide open spaces" vision and unpretentious midwestern sensibility to her new five-song EP Why You Runnin' (Fat Possum). A natural singer with a big, captivating voice - a sound that belies her diminutive frame - Lissie's music has evolved over the past few years of SoCal living, moving from standard singer-songwriter fare to recapturing the roots of her upbringing, a folksy but thoughtful melding of hymnlike chamber pop with a touch of Americana charm.

Produced by Bill Reynolds (Band of Horses), Runnin' positions her sandy textured voice in a spacious, reverbed setting surrounded by chiming guitars, pulsing rhythms and, on the lovely, soulful ballad "Oh Mississippi" (recorded in London with Ed Harcourt), with simple piano chords. "Little Lovin'", a spunky modern, folk/blues workout that builds to a hand-clappin', foot-stompin' intensity, gets the disc off to a rollicking start while the sweetly harmonied "Here Before" closes the five songs on a gorgeous, ruminative note. Look for Lissie as she opens for Ray Lamontagne on his upcoming November U.S. tour. Recommended.

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Lissie - "Wedding Bells" (from the EP Why You Runnin')

Lissie - "Little Lovin'" (from the EP Why You Runnin')

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Pop/Alt/Holiday - Holiday-themed albums are always tricky things, finding a way to create something artful without either pandering to wimpy traditionals or completely avoiding any whiff of standards (just ask that nice Jewish boy from Minnesota, Bob Dylan about his new Christmas disc). For the prolific Tori Amos, who seems to reinvent herself to varying degrees of success and excess with each album, we think it might just be the desire to tackle some of those old religious ghosts that have haunted the minister's daughter from the beginning (remember "Crucify"?).

So what we have is Midwinter Graces (Universal), a juggling act that mixes in Amo's own works, some of them biographical, with a smattering of traditional songs including "Coventry Carol", "What Child/Nowell" and "Emmanuel". “It’s a very different take on carols,” says Tori, as we get some odd celestial religious imagery on the cover and word that she was mainly interested in taking ancient songs and reworking them in a way to "reclaim them from thousands of years of religious appropriations." Track listing after the jump.

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Folk - It takes a certain amount of daring -- and special artistry -- to head into the studio knowing that it's basically going to be just your voice, your instrument and your particular creative vision on the line. For Austin performing songwriter Caroline Herring, leaving the comfort of the supporting roots/country musicians that have graced her previous three acclaimed albums to go it alone was part of a plan to try something new -- and deliberately take her out of her "comfort zone." "I didn’t have an absolute idea of what it was going to be when I started," Herring observes. "I just knew I wanted to get back into the studio and do something new and different while also representing my sound clearly and truly."

New album Golden Apples of the Sun (Signature Sound), offers sublime vindication for her decision. While it features the hushed simplicity of a stark acoustic setting, calling it simply a "folk album" is to miss the larger point. Assuredly working solo with just producer and instrumentalist David Goodrich on board, Herring makes Golden Apples decidedly retro, a throwback to the 60's and 70's folk period of Joni Mitchell and Judy Collins.

But there's also a timeless, uncluttered beauty at work in these songs that sounds equally fresh and modern. Whether she's singing her own songs, like the blissfully bare-boned "Tales of the Islander", or interpreting an array of covers (including an imaginative reworking of Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors"), Herring finds the core of each and embellishes them with only her voice, guitar and Goodrich's spare instrumental shadings. Rarely has the old adage "less is more" been proven as convincingly. Highly recommended.

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Caroline Herring - "Tales of the Islander" (from the album Golden Apples of the Sun)

Caroline Herring - "True Colors" (from the album Golden Apples of the Sun)

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Folk/Pop/Alt/Jazz - It's been thirty years since Rickie Lee Jones made her triumphant arrival with her finger-snapping folk/pop self-titled debut album, winning a Grammy for Best New Artist (along with securing four other nominations), scoring a Top 5 hit ("Chuck E.'s In Love") and receiving probably the best critical reviews of any album of 1979. Throughout her career of moving easily between jazzy pop, ballads, standards and even some soul searching spirituality on her most recent album, '07's Sermon On Exposition Boulevard, Jones has put what the New Yorker calls her "restless" nature and unpredictable, soul bearing live performances to the test of old fans and new.

But her new album Balm In Gilead (Fantasy) is, she says, something close to a "debut album" in both attitude and content. Drawing from songs that she had begun over the course of twenty years, Jones pulled together an album that allowed her the chance to dig back into the past while reflecting her contemporary musical outlook. "All the other records, I've written in a year or two or three after finishing the previous one," Jones says. "This one has threads from many, many years. Some were just written recently, most were finished recently but started a long time ago." Among the highlights: "Old Enough", a funky pop gem featuring Ben Harper, the cathartic ex-love ballad "Bonfires" and the lovely, atmospheric "His Jeweled Floor".

"This record was made for people my age." Jones observes. "Neither young, nor old - we fall in between. We love all sorts of music, we've experienced life. I'm getting along and I pay my rent. I think my life is like everybody else's, and I was thinking about the audience, not just myself, as I wrote it. We're older now. And it's not all about me, or all about us. It's about our kids, and our parents who are dying, and the things that are relevant to us at this age. I really wanted to talk to us. To my generation, music is the balm that keeps us going."

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Rickie Lee Jones - "Bonfires In Hell" (excerpt from the album Balm In Gilead)

Rickie Lee Jones - "Wild Girl" (excerpt from the album Balm In Gilead)

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AC/DC - Backtracks (Box Set) (Rock/Classic)

Adrian Crowley - Season of Sparks (Pop/Rock)*

Anne Hills - Points of View (Folk/Acoustic)

Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets - Tell Me What I Want to Hear (Blues)

Asobi Seksu - Rewolf (Alt/Pop)*

Bad Lieutenant - Never Cry Another Tear (Rock/Pop)

Bibio - The Apple and the Tooth (Rock/Pop/Alt)

Big Kenny - The Life and Times of a Rock and Roll Cowboy (Country/Rock)*

Bon Jovi - The Circle (Rock/Pop)

Caroline Herring - Golden Apples of the Sun (Folk)*

Dashboard Confessional - Alter the Ending (Pop/Rock)*

Echo and the Bunnymen - The Fountain (Rock/Alt)*

Flyleaf - Memento Mori (Hard Rock)

Githead - Landing (Rock/Pop/Alt)*

Heather Masse - Bird Song (Pop/Adult/Folk)*

Hyperstory - Hyperstory (Pop/Rock/Alt)

Ian Siegal - Broadside (Blues/Rock/Guitar)

Jason Mraz - Beautiful Mess: Live From Earth (Pop/Rock)

King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King (Expanded Deluxe Version) (Progressive Rock/Classic Rock)

Ladytron - Live at the London Astoria (Electronica/Pop)

Lissie - Why You Runnin' EP (Pop/Folk/Alt)*

Madison Violet - No Fool For Trying (Import) (Pop/Folk)*

Martha Wainwright - San Fusils, Ni Souliers, A Paris: The Piaf Record (Pop/Adult)

Midaircondo - Curtain Call (Electronica/Alt/Ambient/Pop)*

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (of Mars Volta) - Xenophanes (Rock/Experimental)

Pieta Brown - Shimmer (Folk/Rock/Alt)*

R. Kelly - Untitled (R+B)

Radian - Chimeric (Electronica/Alt/Pop)

Ray Davies - The Kinks Chorale Collection (Pop/Rock)*

Rickie Lee Jones - Balm In Gilead (Pop/Rock/Adult/Jazz)*

Robbie Williams - Reality Killed the Video Star (Import) (Pop)*

Steve Tilson - An Acoustic Confusion (Folk)

Switchfoot - Hello Hurricane (Rock/Pop)

The Crash That Took Me - Chlorine Colored Eyes (Rock/Pop)

The Doors - Live In New York (Box Set) (Rock/Classic)

The Killers - Live at the Royal Albert Hall (Rock)*

The Little Heroes - Thank You (Pop/Rock)*

The Starting Line - Somebody's Gonna Miss Us/Live (CD/DVD) (Rock/Pop)

Tom Rigney and Rambeau - Serious Fun (Americana/Rock/Cajun)

Tori Amos - Midwinter Graces (Pop/Adult/Holiday)*

Zoey Van Goey - The Cage Was Unlocked (Pop/Rock)*