New music Tuesday: Norah Jones, Them Crooked Vultures, and Kid Sister

The A.V. Club doesn’t have an opinion on the week’s biggest releases, including John Mayer’s Battle Studies and American Idol winner Kris Allen’s self-titled debut. But if you like those dudes, you probably don’t need an “ay” or “nay” from us. Lest you think we’re a bunch of indie-rock doofuses, we actually dig the new Norah Jones record The Fall, where the singer “makes her biggest push to brush away the coffeehouse connotations of her early work,” writes Dan Leibold in his B review. We’re also really enjoying the self-titled debut from Them Crooked Vultures, the new supergroup featuring Josh Homme, Dave Grohl, and John Paul Jones. Writes Steven Hyden in his B+ review: “The biggest pleasure of Them Crooked Vultures is hearing three supremely gifted players fall together quickly and easily on songs built on simple riffs that sound like they were made up on a lark five minutes earlier.”

Also be sure to check out Chicago MC Kid Sister’s long-awaited Ultraviolet—it’s a little slight, says Genevieve Koski in her B+ review, “but Kid Sister’s winking lyrics and charismatic flow elevate the album beyond a mere throwback.”