Bring on 2011: Early reasons for music fans to be excited

Love’s capricious, sometimes cruel behavior, and the ambiguous feelings amor engenders, are the alpha and omega of the Julieta Venegas songbook. Since she began recording in the late 1990s, the Long Beach-born, Tijuana-bred musician has parsed her conflicting feelings about emotional commitment with surgical precision. Yet now at 40, Venegas appears to have reached a kind of truce with Eros, philosophically if not psychologically. Her recent visits to familiar thematic ground have come with great revelations but still carry considerable charm, sincerity and melodic subtlety. --Reed Johnson

Julieta Venegas plays the House of Blues, Anaheim, on Feb. 2. Tickets are $40, not including surcharges.  (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

If your Valentine’s Day doesn’t go as planned, the latest effort from PJ Harvey will likely soothe some of those brokenhearted wounds. The initial songs released from the effort are polar opposities -- the lush and electronic “Written on the Forehead” and the stark rock ‘n’ roll of “The Last Living Rose.” If they’re not exactly difficult listens, they’re not radio hits either, and Harvey fans wouldn’t be happy any other way.  (Stefano Paltera / For The Times)

There’s a sort of cold comfort in the songs of Beach House, a sensation that Midwesterners and East Coasters could perhaps compare to the relaxed feeling that settles in once one has spent too much time in the snow. The band has been stopping at larger and larger venues for headlining gigs, but a Beach House show is still one that feels intimate, as the stage is warmly decorated and voices float rather than anchor.

Beach House plays the Music Box, 6126 Hollywood Blvd., on Feb. 22. Tickets are $22, not including surcharges.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)