Petra Haden is known for mad-brilliant covers (Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'," the entire The Who Sell Out LP) in which she replicates each instrumental part using only her voice. On this long-brewing project with ex-Cibo Matto sound scientist Yuka Honda, she uses her soprano more conventionally but still makes magic, mixing feathery, Minnie Riperton-style soul singing with wind chimes, Fender Rhodes, and other trip-hoppy atmospherics (including guitar colors by Wilco's Nels Cline.) On "Eliza," a duet with David Byrne, she sings elliptically about a girl who is "big and strong." But elsewhere, her swirling, untranslatable phonemes suggest a goddess who rules the cosmos.

Listen to "Eliza":

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“Satisfied”

Only the genius of Tom Waits could combine the subject of mortality, a reoccurring theme in his work, with wordplay that name checks both Mick and Keith, whom he calls "Mr. Jagger" and "Mr. Richards," and the title of their magnum opus, "Satisfaction." And to show just how cool Waits really is, he even got Mr. Richards to play along, one of nine guest appearances the guitarist has made on three Waits albums. "This growling roadhouse stomp is a late-breaking response to the Stones' greatest hit," Rolling Stone said of the track.