The photograph on the cover of Retrospective 1982-2002, the new overview CD by Cedar Rapids’ Gayla Drake Paul, might at first seem to be a concession to modern marketing. The photo, dating from 1988, shows Paul in a tank top and unzipped jeans, her hand reaching under her shirt, exposing part of a breast.

• Delightfully British in the campy flavor of go-go boots and paisley house dresses, my pick of the week is Zap the World by Death by Chocolate, released this coming Tuesday on the Jetset label. This fresh and sassy sophomore effort is fronted by Angela Faye Tillett, a time-traveling London pop girl channeling a splendidly droll vibe whether she's musing on the perfect scrumptiousness of Cinnamon Grahams cereal or her favorite "lime-green fitted blouse with rounded collar and puce cuffs.

It's a shame when musicians who perform America's original art forms - jazz, blues, and other African-American musics such as gospel and zydeco - tell us that their music is much more respected and appreciated in Europe and Japan than in this country.

• This Tuesday brings the new Sonic Youth album, Murray Street, influenced by the recording's interruption last fall by the September 11 terrorist attacks. Named for the band's lower Manhattan studio address, which was hastily abandoned after only one month of recording, the album features dual saxophonists Jim Sauter and Don Dietrich of Borbetomagus.