Jay-Z (file)
Photo: Roc-A-Fella

There's a lot of big music hitting stores this week, but the hottest new release of the batch doesn't feature a single note.

Jay-Z strips The Black Album down to the bare essentials, throwing out the samples and sounds and focusing on just his lyrics for the a cappella version. Though it hits the stores officially this week, it has been on the streets for months, fueling creations like Danger Mouse's The Grey Album (see "Remixers Turn Jay-Z's Black Album Grey, White And Brown").

Garage-rock quartet Division of Laura Lee aim to ensure fans haven't forgotten the Swedish Invasion as they release Das Not Compute, the follow-up to 2002's Black City, which was released in the midst of a barrage of albums by Swedish rock outfits.

If you judge an album by it's title, Killswitch Engage's The End of Heartache might imply a departure from the band's metal sounds and a move toward monster ballads, and Seven Mary Three's sixth studio album, Dis/Location, might find the band departing from its usual alt-rock sound. But don't count on either one.

Out Tuesday, May 11:

• A-Wax & Baby Bash - So Quick ... Like a Heist (40 Ounce)
• Arild Andersen - The Triangle (ECM)
• Another Damn Disappointment - Hooligan (Volcom)
• Beelow - Beelow Presents: Thugz Gone Wild (CD/DVD combo, Ark 21)
• Clarence Bucaro - Sense of Light (Rounder)
• Shirley Caesar - Every Day Is Mother's Day (Liquid 8)
• Cans - Beyond the Gates (Sanctuary/Noise)
• Vinicius Cantuaria - Horse and Fish (Bar/None)
• Carolina Road - The Road That Took You There (CMH)
• Charalambides - Joy Shapes (Kranky)
• Popa Chubby - Peace, Love & Respect (Blind Pig)
• Lloyd Cole - Plastic Wood(One Little Indian)
• Jamie Cullum - Twentysomething (Verve)
• Detroit Grand Pubas - Galactic A** Creatures From Uranus (Poker Flat)
• Dirty Dozen Brass Band - Funeral for a Friend (Ropeadope/Artemis)
• Division of Laura Lee - Das Not Compute (Burning Heart)
  Read: "Sweden's Division Of Laura Lee Reboot With Das Not Compute"
  
  
• Dragonforce - Sonic Firestorm (Sanctuary/Noise)
• Effcee - Perfect (two CDs, Hypnotic/Cleopatra)
• Filthee Immigrants - Filthee Immigrants (Thump)
• Steve Forbert - Just Like There's Nothing to It (Koch)
• The Frank and Joe Show - 33 1/3 (Hyena)
• Donavon Frankenreiter - Donavon Frankenreiter (Universal)
• Gift of Gab - Fourth Dimensional Rocketships Going Up (Quannum)
• The Girls - The Girls (Dirtnap)
• Gone Without Trace - Gone Without Trace (Thorp)
• Great Deceiver - Terra Incognito (Peaceville)
• Great White - A Double Dose (Deadline)
• Hint Hint - Young Days (Suicide Squeeze)
• Jay-Z - The Black Album (A Cappella) (Def Jam)
  Buy Now: The Black Album (A Cappella) (Def Jam)
  
• The Judas Cradle - Too Bad They're All Dead (Eulogy)
• Killswitch Engage - The End of Heartache (Roadrunner)
• Lil' Flip - U Gotta Feel Me: Chopped & Screwed (Sucka Free/Columbia)
• Loscil - First Narrows (Kranky)
• The Marked Men - On the Outside (Dirtnap)
• Teena Marie - La Dona (Universal)
• Matches - E. Von Dahl Killed the Locals (Epitaph)
• Lori McKenna - Bittertown (Signature Sounds)
• Helen Merrill - Lilac Wine (Sunnyside)
• Minus the Bear - Bands Like It When You Yell "YAR" at Them (EP, Suicide Squeeze)
• Mountain Heart - Force of Nature (Skaggs Family)
• Maura O'Connell - Don't I Know (Sugar Hill)
• Evan Parker/Electro-Acoustic Ensemble - Memory/Vision (ECM)
• Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers - Keepin' It Real (Blind Pig)
• Craig Pruess - Language of Love: Music for the Kama Sutra (Artemis)
• The Real Tuesday Weld - I, Lucifer (Six Degrees)
• Rhythm of Black Lines - Human Hand, Animal Band (GSL)
• Pete Rock - Soul Survivor II (BBE/Rapster)
• Louis Sclavis - Napoli's Walls (ECM)
• John Scofield - EnRoute (Verve)
• Seven Mary Three - Dis/Location (DRT)
• Sloan - Action Pact (reissue, Koch)
• Spit for Athena - Extermina (Eyeball)
• Tomasz Stanko Quartet - Suspended Night(ECM)
• Teargas & Plateglass - Teargas & Plateglass (Lakeshore)
• Thornley - Come Again (Roadrunner)
• Tonemasters - Goin' With the Flow (Blues Leaf)
• Marshall Tucker Band - Beyond the Horizon (Ramblin'/Shout! Factory)
• U.S. Roughnecks - Twenty Bucks and Two Black Eyes (Hellcat)
• Unicorns - The Unicorns 2014 (EP, Suicide Squeeze)
• Ben Vitamin - Bohemia (Nardis/Liquid 8)
• We Ragazzi - Wolves With Pretty Lips (Suicide Squeeze)
• Jody Williams - You Left Me in the Dark (Evidence)
• Various artists - Creole Bred: A Tribute to Creole & Zydeco (Vanguard)
• Various artists - Dancehall Xplosion 2004 (two CDs, Jam Down)
• Various artists - Guitar Tribute to 40 Years of the Beatles (Tribute Sounds)
• Various artists - Parkinsong Volume One: 38 Songs of Hope (Rykodisc)
• Various artists - Reggae Xplosion 2004 (two CDs, Jam Down)
• Various artists - Smooth Sax Tribute to Earth, Wind & Fire (Tribute Sounds)
• Various artists - String Quartet Tribute to Creed (Vitamin)
• Various artists - String Quartet Tribute to George Strait (Vitamin)
• Various artists - String Quartet Tribute to Good Charlotte (Vitamin)
• Various artists - This Is Rave 6.0: From Dusk Til Dawn (three CDs, Hypnotic/Cleopatra)
• Various artists - A Tribute to The Darkness (Big Eye)
• Various artists - A Tribute to Ruben Studdard (Big Eye)
• Various artists - A Tribute to the Misfits (Anarchy)
• Various artists - A Tribute to Tupac Shakur (Tribute Sounds)
• DVD: Disco Donnie - Rise: The Story of Rave Outlaw Disco Donnie (Music Video Distributors)
• DVD: Various artists - Skgrilla Vol. 1 (Radikal)

May 18:

• Lenny Kravitz - Baptism (Virgin)
  Read: "Lenny Kravitz Ditches Funk, Feels Reborn On Baptism"
• Alanis Morissette - So-Called Chaos (Maverick)
• Morrissey - You Are the Quarry (Sanctuary)
• New Found Glory - Catalyst (Drive-Thru)

May 25:

• Everlast - White Trash Beautiful (Island)
• Avril Lavigne - Under My Skin (Arista)
  Read: "Avril Lavigne: No Looking Back"
• Slipknot-Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses (Roadrunner)
  Read: "Slipknot Album Preview: More Structured, But Still Programmed To Kill"

June 1:

• Auf Der Maur - Auf Der Maur (Capitol)
• Truth Hurts - Ready Now> (Pookie)

June 8:

• The Calling - Two (RCA)
  Read: "The Calling Returning With New LP, New Hired Hands"
• Corrs - Borrowed Heaven (Atlantic)
• Gene Simmons - A--hole (Sanctuary)
• Velvet Revolver - Contraband (RCA)
  Read: "Velvet Revolver Album Preview: GN'R + STP = Uphill Battle"

June 22:

• Mobb Deep - Amerikaz Nightmare (Jive)
• Stevie Wonder - A Time 2 Love (Motown)

• Jay-Z
• Division Of Laura Lee
• Seven Mary Three
• Killswitch Engage
• Lil' Flip