Album Sweep: February 9, 2013 - Part Two...

Hey gang, welcome back to part two of this week's "album sweep" where I sample the new music making its way on to the weekly music charts at Billboard magazine. You can check out part one by clicking here, and as before I've included links to buy anything you see available.

Syracuse, New York indie-rockers Ra Ra Riot enter the chart at #69 with Beta Love, their third full-length album. Their last, The Orchard, made it to #36 in 2010....

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California experimental rock duo Foxygen score their first chart album at #76 with We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic.

Christian metal group Love And Death, led by Brian "Head" Welch formerly of Korn, arrive at #81 with Between Here & Lost.

Jazz/hiphop fusion musician Jose' James comes in at #91 with his fourth solo album, No Beginning No End...

Veteran German metal band Helloween return with their first album in three years, their 14th studio set Straight Out Of Hell, at #97. Amazingly it's their highest-charting album ever - their Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part One and Part Two went to #104 and #108 respectively.

The Mexican music compilation Las Bandas Romanticas de America 2013 jumps in at #113...

NOW That's What I Call Love Songs, not to be confused with 2010's NOW That's What I Call Love, arrives at #124. This new collection has songs from Bruno Mars, Train, and Kelly Clarkson, but whoever made this up is nuts, almost half these songs aren't really "love" songs (I'm looking at you, Alex Clare...)...

Curb Records is picking their bones as former label star Tim McGraw is now with Big Machine, and they release yet another compilation of his previous work in collaborations as Tim McGraw & Friends at #126..

Nu-metal band Otep, named after their lead singer and out lesbian Otep Shamaya, come in at #133 with their sixth album Hydra. In 2009 they went to #47 with Smash The Control Machine...

L.A. indie-rockers Say Anything debut at #136 with All My Friends Are Enemies: Early Rarities. They have had three top-40 albums, with last year's Anarchy, My Dear reaching #22...

The final debut on the chart is by contemporary Christian singer Meredith Andrews with Worth It All, her fourth album...

That's it for the second half, by far not as strong as the first, but to pick three from this bunch I'd go with the Ra Ra Riot, Jose' James, and Foxygen sets.