Audience

Cosmic compilation boosts maligned high-fliers back into orbit

Bold, baffling romantic drama from Denmark

Notorious, long-delayed Korean shocker

Stunning all-star tribute to country music's first dynasty, produced by John Carter Cash As musical legacies go, the Carter Family takes some topping. From an obscure 100,000-watt Mexican radio station, the truly seminal recordings of Alvin Pleasant Carter, wife Sara and cousin Maybelle took country to a whole new coast-to-coast American audience in the '30s. As vocal-harmony innovators, they were as vital to the development of bluegrass as Bill Monroe.

Intense, peak-period live set featuring two previously undiscovered Nyro songs

Ol' Blue Eyes bootlegs go legit

It's an odd time to evaluate Paul Simon's solo career in light of his successful 2004 reunion tour with Art Garfunkel. But maybe all that boomer nostalgia needs a little levity, and the sweep of his solo work proves Simon has never dwelled on the past. The Studio Recordings 1972-2000 is that rare bird—an attempt to collect an artist's entire oeuvre.

Scrupulously weird indie-rock from Seattle suburbs

Songs of alienation and madness from reclusive Chicago genius

North London gets an audience with a living legend who's found a brand new lease of life