New Release Highlights for December 7: Daft Punk Scores Tron: Legacy, the Robots' First Original Recordings in Five Years

(New albums are typically released on Tuesdays, i.e., today. What
can you spend your hard-earned pennies on this week? Find out below.)

Daft Punk's original score for Tron Legacy

*Daft Punk, Tron Legacy
Megan Ritt from Consequence of Sound wrote a review for the soundtrack, which I will quote at length because, judging by what I've listened to online (check it out for yourself here), it sums the album up perfectly: "The challenge with reviewing the Tron: Legacy Soundtrack is whether or not to call it a true Daft Punk album. Sure, it's a full album's worth of Daft Punk music. However, the key word in the title is "soundtrack". This highly anticipated release-researched, leaked, and teased all over the internet--is, in the end, a film score. It's still Daft Punk's first release in five years, desperately snatched up by their ravenous fans, but when considering its worth as stand-alone music, we must bear in mind that it was never truly meant to stand alone. That being said, this music is... decent."

*The aforementioned video/trailer featuring "Derezzed" by Daft Punk

Deadmau5's 4x4=12

*Deadmau5, 4×4=12
Spin said of the new record, "4x4=12 is his third album as an artist-producer, and it's aimed beyond Electric Daisy Carnival's forest of fuzzy bras and platform boots. (After Random Album Title and For Lack of a Better Name, it's easily his most ambitious title.) Punchy progressive house predominates (the Baroque-inspired 'Some Chords' and the more linear 'I Said'). But 'Animal Rights,' a collaboration with DJ-producer Wolfgang Gartner, obviously grabs at Daft Punk's electro-funk crown, while 'One Trick Pony' and 'Raise Your Weapon' offer Deadmau5's approximation of dubstep's wobble and buzz." Stream the new record here.

*Duffy, Endlessly
Stream Endlessly via Myspace Music.

*The official video for Duffy's "Well, Well, Well"

Plain White T's' Wonders of the Younger

*Plain White T's, Wonders of the Younger
Contact Music reviewed the T's latest, saying "The band continues with creating great pop songs, which is typical of their sound. 'Broken Record' is a very catchy track that has subtle influences from the '60s. Lead singer Tom Higgenson states that his past lover is 'stuck in my head like a broken record'; the same can be said about the track ironically. Going back to their roots, 'Last Breath' is a beautiful ballad that may possibly be the best track off the LP. Combing very successfully the classical with rock, the track harbours a great orchestration instrumental; reminding us exactly what this band is best at doing."