While there aren't any chart burners slated for this week's new releases (record labels rarely schedule their hit-makers for the dog days of August), there is still quality music to be had. From world to classical to folk to country there's something for the adventurous music fan, just don't expect to see any of these offerings plant themselves atop the charts any time soon.

Sarah Brightman
La Luna
Angel
The ex-wife of Andrew Lloyd Webber can be considered the Celine Dion/Bjork of lite classical music. La Luna puts the best possible face on that often lousy idiom, with lush orchestrated covers of Dido's "Here With Me" and Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale," as well as unearthly renditions of compositions by Beethoven, Handel, and Rachmaninoff. And the gothed-out Brightman has an unaccountably powerful soprano, which is interesting on its own terms.

John Wesley Harding
The Confessions of Saint Ace
Malt/Mammoth
The beloved British folk-rocker is aided here by Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Steve Earle, which will no doubt raise Harding's alt-country stock. His baritone croon is often compared to Elvis Costello.

Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
Beatin' the Heat
Surfdog/Hollywood
What in the name of Django Reinhardt is this 32-year-old nostalgic string band institution doing releasing an album on a neo-punk imprint?

Master Musicians of Jajouka
Master Musicians of Jajouka Produced by Talvin Singh
Point Music
Morocco's Master Musicians of Jajouka have remained a family business for 4,000 years; only a born-and-bred Attar can be part of the roiling maelstrom of woodwinds and percussion that so entranced Brian Jones and William S. Burroughs. But the Master Musicians have allowed Talvin Singh to present their most ancient music in 21st-century settings.

Teddy Thompson
Teddy Thompson
Virgin
The son of fabled Brit-folk titan Richard Thompson is not the cutting songwriter or blazing guitarist his old man is. But Teddy inherited something from his mother, Linda, that his pops never had: a lovely, moving voice. Thompson's debut album showcases his soothing pipes and solid songwriting.

Junior Vasquez
Live at Twilo
Virgin
Earlier this summer saw the release of Larry Levan: Live at the Paradise Garage, which gives an indication of what a night out at the storied New York disco the Paradise Garage was like in the late '70s and early '80s. But this set from Vasquez, in many ways Levan's heir to the DJ throne, arrives at a time when he's still rocking them bodies back and forth.

Amil
All Money Is Legal
Roc-A-Fella/Columbia

Blusyde Band
Overthere
Sydeview

Caviar
Caviar
Island

Chroma Key
You Go Now
Fight Evil

The Churchills
The Churchills
Universal

Do or Die
Victory
Virgin

The Juliana Theory
Emotion Is Dead
Tooth & Nail

The K.G.B.
The Space Cadet
DreamWorks

M.O.P.
Warriorz
Loud

Mack 10
Paper Route
Priority

Mile Driving
Under Stars
Aware/C2/Columbia

Mirainga
Nueva
Trauma

Native Trinity
Native Trinity
Meridian Entertainment

The New Rising Songs
Thieves and Angels
Virgin

Push
Down Like This
MCA

Jason Ringenberg
A Pocketful of Soul
Courageous Chicken

Take 5
Against All Odds
Elektra

Teen Idols
Full Leather Jacket
Honest Don's/Fat Wreck Chords

Carl Verheyen
Atlas Overload
Provogue

Wamdue Project
Program Yourself
Universal