Perla Batalla's fourth CD is named after the family-owned record store in Venice, Calif., where the singer grew up hearing the standards. That and having a Mexican father and an Argentine mother ensured an eclectic soundtrack for the vocalist's formative years and this CD bears witness to it. Many of the songs are Mexican-American standards, some treated traditionally, with guitar and vocals obviously influenced by Batalla's mariachi-singing father. Others have a little salsa bite or a touch of urban/English parlance, as in her modern interpretation of "La Llorona." "Cucurrucucu Paloma" is set to a soft piano treatment, with vocals so cool and far from the traditional (that is, highly emotional) that it could easily be set on repeat for a child's lullaby, albeit a sad one. — Mary Armstrong

King Kong

Under the aegis of producer/ex-Royal Trux-er Neil Michael Hagerty, King Kong moves on Big Bang from lo-fi Talking Heads-tasting funk-brittle to dippy B-52's-esque jam band (complete with roboticized storytelling, clicking guitars, monotone men sing-speaking and delectable female vocals behind). In fact, Bang's sound -- eerie ska organs and clavichords, cool clanging xylophones, muted disco bells and whistles, slow seductive rhythms -- comes off like Mesopotamia, the Egypt-by-way-of-Venus B-52's EP produced by Head David Byrne. Dry-ice chatterer Ethan Buckler and spacemate songstress Amy Partin are so fabulously Fred and Kate (on "Deep Blue Sky" and "Space Travel"), it's either homage or theft. Bang's story goes thusly: The Planet Kong calls an American astronaut in siren-like fashion to bask in its jubilant universe. By the time he gets to the bongo-filled "Black Hole" and the string-laden hand-jivey "Planet Kong on the Radar Screen" (a magnificent aping of Deodato's 2001 theme), our curiously corrosive Major Tom has conquered the new groovy universe he's been invited to. Or has he? — A.D. Amorosi

King Kong plays Mon., March 3, 9 p.m., $8, with Greg Weeks and Kandy Whales, The Khyber, 56 S. Second St., 215-238-5888.

Tania Libertad

Perhaps riding on the world music crossover fame of Cesaria Evora and fellow Peruvian Susana Baca, the renowned Tania Libertad has, after 30 albums, finally made a play for Anglo audiences with her first U.S. release, Costa Negra. A huge star in Latin America and Mexico (where she resides), Costa Negra pays homage to Libertad's Afro-Peruvian roots while smartly integrating elements of other musical styles, including jazz. Recorded mostly in Senegal, Costa Negra seamlessly integrates traditional Peruvian "black coast" rhythms with more contemporary Latino ones. Libertad covers Afro-Peruvian Pepe Vásquez's theme song, the black-power anthem "Ritmo de Negros," as well as the standard "No Valetín." There's also a poetic duet with Cape Verde's Cesaria Evora on "Historia de un Amor" that shows off both divas' flair for drama without either overreaching. Despite its occasional production slickness, Libertad's elegant vocals are a fine showcase for Afro-Peruvian music, whether on a punchy dance number like "Como Tu Bailas" or a weeper like "Ay Vida Mía." She moves with confidence between musical statements on race and class (the startling "No Me Cumbe") to the passionate and romantic boleros she's best known for. — Nicole Pensiero

Philip Glass

Anyone immersed in the glacial catalog of minimalist composer Philip Glass knows well his cinematic oeuvre; a body of epiphanistic "filmworks" best documented on the five-CD Philip on Film, where the hyper (Koyaanisqatsi) mixes and mingles with the heavenly (Mishima, Kundun). The Hours, though, is emotionally different from most of Glass' fickle filmic works. Here, Glass -- in slow, thick movements -- has implicated the visual with the nerve-charged electricity of his finest stage "operas." Like his opulent Satyagraha (from which bits of The Hours was derived, along with chunks of Glassworks and Solo Piano), Hours' tonic tale revolves around/within the stories of women actively existing in differing times and crisis-strewn circumstance. Performed by the Lyric Quartet and stalwart Michael Riesman, the music becomes an emotional sounding board for each character's desperate salvation. Hours' timeless still-life score transcends changes in period and manner by simply maintaining Glass' static sanguine melodicism laced with dense Moebius-stripped violins and chilly time signatures. Ripe with pensive suspense, Glass' music -- to say nothing of Riesman's soft, distant piano twinklings -- is heartbreaking without sap. — A.D. Amorosi

Philip Glass performs Sat., March 1, 8 p.m., $20-$32, Zellerbach Theater, Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut St., 215-898-3900. The U.S. premiere of Philip Glass' Concerto Tyrol will be included in the program performed by the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra Sun. and Mon., March 2 and 3, 7:30 p.m., $40-$67, Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center, 260 S. Broad St., 215-893-1999.