Music

''Glee.'' – Photo: Courtesy

New releases this month could carry a label reading, "as seen on TV."

Glee

Scene from the Broadway hit

The Book of Mormon

Forty years after “Godspell” and “Jesus Christ Superstar” stirred up religious fervor on Broadway, religion made a comeback of sorts on the Broadway stage last year. Far more irreverent and inspired, the Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning “The Book of Mormon” is unlike anything you’ve ever heard. Co-written by “South Park” masterminds Trey Parker and Matt Stone with music by Robert Lopez (of “Avenue Q” fame), “The Book of Mormon” is as hysterically funny as it is shocking. It combines Mormon teachings, current events and some of the foulest language ever uttered onstage not in a Mamet play. Still going strong on Broadway, the musical launches a national tour in Denver in August 2012 and a new company launches in Chicago in December 2012. Here’s your chance to get the original Broadway cast recording.

They Might Be Giants play the Pabst on Oct. 28.

They Might Be Giants

Twenty-five years and more than 15 albums later, They Might Be Giants is still going strong. “Join Us” might lack the novelty and inventiveness of the duo’s self-titled debut album or their first major-label effort “Flood,” but there’s still plenty here to recommend. Choice cuts include “Celebration,” “Protagonist,” “Judy Is Your Viet Nam,” “Spoiler Alert” and “2082.” 

Björk. – Photo: Courtesy

After her first couple of solo studio albums, Björk began moving in an increasingly less commercial and less accessible direction – and her devoted fans followed. In fact, it seemed as if the more bizarre Björk got, the happier her fans became. This trend reached its peak with 2004's "Medúlla." By 2007's "Volta," Björk sounded willing to make a concession to comprehensibility. But her latest work finds Björk once again venturing into strange realms. "Biophilia" is an interdisciplinary multi-media project that incorporates a 13-track deluxe edition CD, an app, live shows, a doc and a website. It was created by a "close team" who were "up for pioneering into new territories, improvising" and taking on multiple tasks. The result is a set of songs featuring, first and foremost, Björk's distinctive vocals accompanied by such custom instruments as a pendulum harp and a midi-controlled pipe organ. 

Kristen Chenoweth. – Photo: Courtesy

There's good and bad news when it comes to Kristin Chenoweth's country album "Some Lessons Learned." The good news is that it's not as humiliating as Gwynneth Paltrow's country music movie "Country Strong." The bad news: It's wickedly mediocre and generic. Exercising different vocal muscles than we're used to hearing the Broadway diva utilize, she sounds like she's trying to break in those cowboy boots and there's gonna be more than a few blisters when she slips 'em off her feet.

Madeleine Peyroux plays The Pabst Theater in Milwaukee on Oct.13

Madeleine Peyroux

With a distinctive voice that recalls none other than Billie Holiday, Madeleine Peyroux made an indelible impression with her 1996 debut album. Then she virtually disappeared. Fortunately, when she returned in 2004, she sounded just the way her fans remembered her. On her third album “Standing On The Rooftop,” Peyroux interweaves originals, including the remarkable title cut, with her lovely renditions of tunes by the Beatles (“Martha My Dear”), Bob Dylan (“I Threw it All Away”) and Robert Johnson (a thorough reinvention of “Love in Vain”). Poetry plays a delightful role on this disc. Peyroux teamed up with Andy Scott Rosen on “Don’t Pick a Fight With a Poet,” and the Auden poem “Lay Your Sleeping Head, My Love” is set to music by Marc Ribot

Kate Bush. – Photo: Courtesy

It's easy to follow in Kate Bush's footsteps, or rather footprints, when she's walking in the snow, as she does on her frosty new disc "50 Words For Snow." Closest in mood to her 2005 "Aerial" set, right down to the mini-epic length of the seven songs (the shortest track clocks in at just under seven minutes), the disc feels like the musical equivalent of a snowstorm. That's especially true of "Snowflake," which triggers the hypnotic sensation that occurs while sitting in a window and watching the snow blanket streets, sidewalks, houses and trees.

Parody/WiG Graphic

Lady Gaga is set to star in a 90-minute Thanksgiving TV special in prime time.

The Civil Wars perform Nov. 8 in Milwaukee at Turner Hall. – Photo: Courtesy

The Civil Wars

Cut Copy plays Turner Hall in Milwaukee on Sept. 22. – Photo: Courtesy

Cut Copy

The album opener on “Zonoscope” is as exhilarating as the urban waterfall depicted on its cover. Titled “Need You Now,” it gets things off to a spectacular start. You can almost feel the spray – or is that your dance partner’s sweat? The thrills continue with “Take Me Over,” which sounds like it fell out of 1982. Other dance delights include “Pharoahs & Pyramids,” “Blink and You’ll Miss a Revolution,” and “Corner of  the Sky.”