(FORTUNE Magazine) – Brad Mehldau Largo Warner Bros. The notion of a jazz pianist who performs Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" and a whammy-pedal homage to Black Sabbath might strike you as insufferably precious, but the novelty factor fades and you're left with music that burrows under your skin. Mehldau and producer Jon Brion breathe life into every note--old and new.

The Flamin' Groovies Slow Death Norton Records Long cherished by record collectors with strong opinions and bad skin, San Francisco's Groovies were too late for Merseybeat, too early for punk, and way too cool for the early '70s. One taste of "Dog Meat" (and the rest of these monster-riffing relics) will make you as drool-prone as any flea-market geek.

Joseph Arthur Redemption's Son Enjoy Records It's hard to find a guy who writes sadder ballads than Joseph Arthur, yet paradoxically it's hard to find someone whose songs have so much power to lift the soul out of its doldrums. He's like a comic-book hero who draws superhuman strength from his own melancholy. Call him the Incredible Sulk.

Parker and Lily Here Comes Winter Manifesto Records Like a Jeff Koons sculpture or a David Lynch movie, the music of Parker Noon and Lily Wolfe revels in the kink at the heart of kitsch. It's all nice and pretty on the surface--chiming bells, twinkly keyboards, breathy vocals--but what keeps you coming back is an underlying thrum of creepiness.

The Soundtrack of Our Lives Behind the Music Universal The singer could be mistaken for a lumberjack, and the band specializes in the zonked anthems you haven't heard since you cruised around in a van painted with a purple sunset. The album first came out last year in TSOOL's homeland, Sweden. Is the U.S. ready? Hell, yeah--since 1976.