Another week, another Tuesday, another flurry of new music. As new albums drop, this column will do its best to track the notable releases so you don’t have to. Only new material is included in this list; compilations, re-releases, live albums and remixes will generally not be covered.

This week is the last week of notable releases for December. Presumably musicians have more sense than to release records on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. That does not mean, however, that the week is lackluster. Some anxiously awaiting records (and at least one that I personally view with no small amount of trepidation) hit shelves today so as you’re perusing albums at your favorite record store or scrolling through your favorite electronic music retailer keep these in mind.

• Chingy - Hate It or Love It

His fourth studio album and second on the Disturbin’ Tha Peace label. I’m guessing the title will define listeners’ reaction to both this album and southern rap in general.

• Mary J. Blige Growing Pains

The R&B singer’s eighth studio album. Keep an ear open for the track “Til’ the Morning” written by Pharrell Williams and produced by the Neptunes.

• Rivers Cuomo Alone–the Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo

This is the aforementioned album I am viewing with skeptical hopefulness. While I said I generally will not review comps this is a collection of unreleased demo tracks recorded by Cuomo in his basement from 1992 through the present day. Six tracks predate the Blue album, including the original demo for “Buddy Holly.” What Weezer fan can resist? On the other hand, the final track was apparently not strong enough to make it onto Make Believe. The album is in chronological order though, so if you like you can stop listening when things start sounding Green.

• Lupe Fiasco The Cool

Lupe Fiasco built a huge buzz last year with his fantastic debut Food and Liquor and he follows it up quickly with a quasi-concept album. Based on characters from a song a from his first record – “The Cool” for those not paying attention – it’s a story of the title character who has repeated run-ins with the personifications of The Streets – offering fame and success – and The Game – offering addiction and crime. Fiasco has mentioned exploring this theme further in a radio-show and a comic book.

That’s it for this week. As alluded to at the beginning of the article, this feature will be absent for the next two weeks (unless something dazzling comes to my attention) but be sure to check out What’s New in 2008. There are sure to be some releases that you won’t want to miss.

© Eric Atienza 2007 for Listen In. Some rights reserved.

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