Joan as Police Woman To Survive (Reveal Records)

Even if you haven’t heard Joan “As Police Woman” Wasser, chances are you have listened to records she’s appeared on. On her spare second solo album, her many former colleagues and influences are present, particularly Antony and the Johnsons. But this is her record and it is Wasser’s lone, tender voice that cossets tracks such as the wrenching title song, “To Be Loved,” and its emotional doppelganger, “To Be Lonely.” Recalling the more rueful sides of Feist, Roberta Flack, and a smidgen of Cat Power, To Survive is not an album for the noonday sun. But, oh, night never felt so sweet. —Alison Powell

Martha Wainwright I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too (Zoe/Rounder Records)

On Martha Wainwright’s second solo album, the singer-songwriter claims her own plot of land free from the tree cover of her legendary folkways family. The 12 originals here move with seamless grace, from the anguished cry of “So Many Friends” to the touching confessional of “Niger River.” Lip-licking covers of Pink Floyd’s “See Emily Play” and the Eurythmics’ “Love is a Stranger” show Wainwright to be fluent in all of pop’s dialects. —A.P. Esperanza Spalding Esperanza (Heads Up)

Like a mash-up of Weather Report and Brazil ’66, Esperanza is a fascinating debut for the 23-year-old bassist/composer/singer who, at 16, was the storied Berklee School of Music’s youngest professor. Backed by such notables as former Biggie Smalls mentor, alto saxophonist Donald Harrison, Ms. Spalding belts out multi-octave Samba, free-form, trad, and scat in Portuguese, English, and Spanish, while power-playing basslines that occasionally channel Jaco Pastorius’s signature elephant bellow. A gorgeously sophisticated inclusion to anyone’s summer soundtrack. Hot cool. —Anita Sarko

Adele 19 (Columbia/XL)

This barely-legal Londoner has been called the anti-wino antidote to Amy Winehouse. True, she’s got the jazzy, elastic, “I can’t believe she’s not black!” voice and dusty-grooved Mark Ronson production. But Adele’s talent transcends easy comparisons. Shifting effortlessly from the neo-soul troubadour confessional “Daydreamer” to the positively soaring piano anthem “Hometown Glory” (a cousin of sorts to Sia’s “Breathe Me”), her passionate virtuosity simply proves stunning. —Matt Diehl

Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop)

These Pacific Northwest indie rockers appear beamed in from Pitchfork-hipster central casting. Devendra Banhart/Grizzly Bear neo-folk vibe? Check. Rootsy psychedelia evoking Band of Horses and (especially) My Morning Jacket? Indeed. But Fleet Foxes replace Banhart’s off-putting oddness with spookily ethereal beauty. And, like Radiohead, they know how to transform a song into their own image, making wildly unconventional, expansive arrangements catchy like the hookiest pop. —M.D.

Coldplay Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends (Capitol)

Coldplay follows U2’s example rather closely, down to having Brian Eno co-produce their fourth album; the results, however, prove far better than that. The Brit superstars’ latest could very well be their Unforgettable Fire—like that classic, it both expands Coldplay’s original vision while rendering it more miniature and immediate. The anthemic edge remains, yet with added nuance: the big moments get more parsed out, and leavened with sonic experimentation. The songs still prove epic and symphonic, just played by a more avant-garde symphony. —M.D.

Ladytron Velocifero (Nettwerk)

Yoking together seductive, poisonous vocals and seismic synth arrangements, Ladytron’s most affecting tracks—“Ghosts” and the hip-hop- infused “Predict the Day”—drip with the promise of raunchy bathroom sex. Polyglot Mira Aroyo shines on “Kletva,” a Bulgarian call to ears. Unlike most cloistered dance tracks, Velocifero’s tunes combine aloof electronic experimentation with aural viscera. Each welcome crescendo in each perfectly honed song rises with lascivious energy towards an earth-shattering, glass-cracking, sea-parting climax. Anyone got a light? —Nick Haramis