R.L. Burnside, “Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down,”

Epitaph/Fat Possum. The 73-year-old former sharecropper expands on the boogie-meets-B-boy sound of 1998’s “Come On In.” It’s a rare treat to find a blues album that actually flirts with new ideas and makes them work.

Fatboy Slim, “Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars,” Astralwerks.

This white Brit’s homage to old-school wild style strives for something more than skin-deep sensation, with singers Macy Gray and Bootsy Collins providing a soul-stirring undertow.