Album Sweep: October 20, 2012 - Part Two...

Hey gang, it's time for part two of this week's "album sweep" sampling the records making their debut on Billboard magazine's Top 200 Albums chart. You can check out part one by clicking here, and as before, I've included links to buy the album from Amazonmp3, but if you can, stop at an indie record store! They'll love you!

Debuting at #47 is the third full-length album by singer/songwriter Tristan Prettyman, Cedar + Gold. Her debut, Twentythree, peaked at #27 in 2005...

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Brooklyn-based indie-dance duo Matt & Kim are the epitomy of hipster-pop, and their last album, Sidewalks, made it to #30 in 2010. Their latest, Lightning, comes in at #50..

Christian music collective Bethel Music places their second album into the top 200 at #51 called Bethel Live: For The Sake Of The World at #51. They previously took The Loft Sessions to #44 earlier this year.

Well it's only the middle of October, but lo and behold the first Christmas title to reach the chart this year comes in at #52. It's by country A-lister Blake Shelton, whose riding high from his exposure being one of the judges on The Voice, and his first holiday CD, Cheers It's Christmas, features guest spots from Reba McEntire, Kelly Clarkson, Michael Buble', and wife Miranda Lambert. His last studio album, Red River Blue, was his first to go to #1 on the Top 200 last year...

Singer Rene Cruz finished third on the first season the US version of The X Factor last year, and his first EP after being on the show, I'm Right Here, places at #55 this week.

Country singer Jerrod Niemann's last album, Judge Jerrod & the Hung Jury, was my favorite country album of 2010, and it made the top-10 of the Top 200 albums chart. He's back at #62 with its followup, Free The Music...

American alt-rock goddess Tori Amos has been on the chart for twenty years now, and her 1996 album Boys For Pele peaked at #2. She returns with an album of new versions of her old songs backed by an orchestra, Gold Dust, at #63...

Puerto Rican singer Tommy Torres already is a Grammy winner as a producer, and he's here as a musician in his own right at #71 with 12 Historias...

Indie folk band the Mountain Goats see their fifth charting album enter at #86 called Transcendental Youth. Their last, All Eternals Deck, made the top half of the chart at #72 last year...

British "folktronica" singer/songwriter Beth Orton debuts at #90 with her fifth album Sugaring Season. Ten years ago, her classic Daybreaker album made the US top-40.

Mexican-American folk musician Rodriguez is still benefiting from the exposure from the documentary about him, and his 1970 debut album Cold Fact comes on the top 200 Albums list for the first time at #113. The excellent soundtrack to that film also returns to the chart at #109.

Houston-area rapper Z-Ro has his eighth album to chart, Angel Dust, come in at #120. His 2008 CD Crack went up to #48...(MAJOR NSFW)

Folk singer Iris Dement is a critics' favorite, and her first album to make the big chart, Sing The Delta, arrives at #124...

Canadian alt-rockers the Tragically Hip are legends in their country, and although they've only had modest success in the States, they place their seventh album in the bottom half of the chart titled Now For Plan A (a companion to Van Morrison's No Plan B, perhaps?)...

My vote for bad-ass band name for the month is Axewound, and they are a metalcore "supergroup" based in England with veteran members of other rock acts. Their first album Vultures ascends to #178...(NSFW for the crazy)..

Another critics' fave, rapper Skyzoo, has the final new entry on the chart at #191 with his second full-length effort, A Dream Deferred...

Well that covers the second half of this week's new crop. Out of these the three I would choose first are the Beth Orton, Tori Amos, and Jerrod Niemann sets. But there's so much more worth it if you seek it out...