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Yung Joc And N.O.R.E. Try To Put Raekwon Proteges Ice Water On Ice, In 'New Releases'

Also due Tuesday: Atreyu, Aesop Rock, Circus Devils, Ben Harper, Akon, Northern State, Obituary, VHS or Beta, Whitestarr.

Heading back to school this week? We're jealous, we swear -- so much so that in the spirit of the fall semester, we're sharing a few of our favorite school subjects.

Grammar: Even if he can't spell, Yung Joc sure knows how to make a debut: The ATL rapper's first album, last year's New Joc City, bowed at #3 on the Billboard albums chart. Now Yung is back with another word you won't find in Webster's -- "Hustlenomics" -- and a few upperclassmen in tow: Diddy, Snoop, Game and Bun B. With peers Rick Ross, the Neptunes, Young Dro and Jim Jones also in attendance, this could be one for the books.

Joc -- who sings on the Hustlenomics title track: "You can call me Malcolm X/ I hustle by any means" -- also goes by another name: J.O.C. That handle might call to mind another rapper, New York's N.O.R.E., who drops by this week with a Noreality check. Like Joc, the rapper formerly known as Noreaga also has some A-list support: Kanye West, Three 6 Mafia, Jadakiss, Kurupt and Styles P drop guest verses, while Swizz Beatz and others man the boards.

Economics: Speaking of words that end in "-nomics," Akon knows a thing or two about making a buck -- his second album, Konvicted, has gone platinum twice since it was released in November. Now he's double dipping by putting out a spiffed-up version of the album with extra tune-age -- three new tracks, including his hit "Sorry, Blame It on Me" -- and a bonus DVD. The video bristles with a 30-minute segment following the R&B singer back to his homeland, Senegal, and also includes clips for "Smack That," "I Wanna Love You" and "Don't Matter."

Physics: It might take an expert or two to figure out the complete scientific ramifications of Atreyu's Lead Sails Paper Anchor, but fans should take note of a few key details: The SoCal metalcore ensemble tucked in a hidden track; joining the group on "Blow" is none other than Buckcherry's Josh Todd; and a cover of Faith No More's "Epic" will be available on import editions. Want a taste of the album? Last week Atreyu posted it -- sans the hidden cut -- on their MySpace page.

Communications: Rappers know how to get by with a little help from their friends -- it's all about the publicity, of course. Likewise, Staten Island, New York, newcomers Ice Water turned to Raekwon for their new album, and you can tell by its title -- Raekwon Presents: Ice Water - Polluted Water -- that their efforts to recruit him were successful. Busta Rhymes, Rick Ross, Remy Ma, Three Six

Mafia and Jagged Edge kick it with the four-man crew on its LP as well. Aesop Rock is also a fan of the guest-verse thing, so he roped fellow-minded hip-hop taste-makers El-P, Cage and Rob Sonic onto his None Shall Pass LP. John Darnielle of Mountain Goats repute also makes a surprise appearance, on the album-closer, "Coffee."

Criminal Justice: Some 15 years into his career, Ben Harper and his Innocent Criminals have earned themselves a new Lifeline -- the 11-track album features "Fool for a Lonesome Train," "Needed You Tonight" and "Younger Than Today." ("Riding in Golf Carts With Tim Kash" not included.)

Computers: Perhaps taking a tip from Stars, Super Furry Animals are issuing their new album Hey Venus! this week -- waaay before the set is due to reach terrestrial stores in the U.S., on January 22. The electro-psych pop act's eighth effort includes "Let the Wolves Howl at the Moon," "Baby Ate My Eight Ball" and "Run-Away" -- which contains the unforgettable lyric, "We may have fought with teeth and nails: I still recall your banking details." And while we're on this subject, Louisville, Kentucky's technologically adept VHS or Beta look starry-eyed on their new one, Bring on the Comets, which features the title track, "The Stars Where We Came From" and "Alpha Theta."

Geography: When the Beastie Boys are involved, it's always easy to figure out where you're at: NYC. Adrock and Shitake Monkey's Chuck Brody produced Can I Keep This Pen?, the new album by female rap trio Northern State. The album -- which is dropping on Mike Patton's Ipecac label, oddly enough -- melds old-school hip-hop with new, club-ready electro-rock, and includes "Three Amigas," "Sucka Mofo" and "Iluvitwhenya."

Religion: While Ozzy Osbourne has headed up another installation of Ozzfest this year, Black Sabbath fans have eaten up Heaven and Hell, the tour project featuring vets Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice. The group's March 30 performance at New York's Radio City Music Hall is being immortalized in audio and video form, with a two-CD set, DVD and deluxe CD/DVD being made available. The deluxe package also has tour memorabilia, including a tour program, backstage laminate and glossy photos of the band.

Zoology: Horse the Band pack quite a bite -- the electro/metalcore spazzes have piled bizarre songs like "Kangarooster Meadows," "The Startling Secret of Super Sapphire" and "Rotting Horse" onto their whirlwind fourth album, A Natural Death. Maybe what keyboardist Erik Engstrom said in a recent press statement will put you at existential ease: "Everyone who will ever live will die a natural death and will soon after be forgotten for eternity. Hopefully this album will serve as a warning to the human race to stop taking itself so seriously, as we have seen the dire consequences of its actions in the future. You are nothing."

Song Title of the Week:

"Eyebrows Are Nature's Makeup" from Two Loons for Tea's Nine Lucid Dreams

Album Cover of the Week:

Prinzhorn Dance School's Prinzhorn Dance School

Other Notables:

Circus Devils' Sgt. Disco

If you're ever wondering in the future whether Robert Pollard is still alive, just follow this simple test: If a month goes by and he hasn't put out anything new, start worrying. The former Guided by Voices major-domo formed this project with his one-time collaborators Tim and Todd Tobias back in 2001, and Tim surmises the otherworldly project as follows on the band's Web site: "We is from under space." The band's first effort -- which it says "is for everyone, not just for those who enjoy music" -- features 32 tracks, including "Lance the Boiling Son" and "Safer Than Hooking."

New Young Pony Club's Fantastic Playroom

London's latest electro-indie exports -- who toured as part of the NME Rave Tour with Klaxons and CSS -- have already made a stir overseas with their Fantastic Playroom debut, which came out in early July and earned four-star reviews from Q and Uncut. Now the five-member gang is bringing songs like "Ice Cream" -- featured in a recent Intel ad campaign -- "The Bomb" and "Tight Fit" to the U.S.

Obituary's Xecutioner's Return

Tampa, Florida's pioneering death-metal squad originally planned to issue its new disc on September 11 but shifted it forward because the whole Kanye/50 thing had the guys shaking in their boots. The band's seventh studio album, which leaked in late July, features the forebodingly titled tracks "Face Your God," "Contrast the Dead" and "Seal Your Fate."

New Releases:

· Tasmin Archer - On (MVD Audio)

· Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass (Def Jux)

· Paul Anka - Classic Songs, My Way (Decca)

· At Vance - VII (Locomotive)

· Atreyu - Lead Sails Paper Anchor (Hollywood) [Buy Now]

· Avagami - Metagami (Lens)

· Rick Braun and Richard Elliott - RnR (Artizen)

· Dee Dee Bridgewater - Red Earth: A Malian Journey (Emarcy)

· Caedmon's Call - Overdressed (INO/Columbia)

· Casting Crowns - The Altar and the Door (Reunion)

· Circus Devils - Sgt. Disco (Ipecac)

· Collective Soul - Afterwords (El Music; available exclusively at Target) [Buy Now]

· Matt Darey - Nocturnal (Koch)

· Debbie Davies' Blues Blast - Debbie Davies' Blues Blast (Telarc)

· Driver of the Year - ... Will Destroy You (Future Appletree/ Nail in the Coffin)

· Emanuel - Black Earth Tiger (Vagrant) [Buy Now]

· Encomiast - Encomiast (Lens)

· Fior Fiero - The Satellite EP (Anger Down)

· Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals - Lifeline (Virgin)

· Victoria Hart - Whatever Happened to Romance? (Decca)

· Heaven and Hell - Live From Radio City Music Hall (two CDs; deluxe edition comes with DVD; Rhino)

· Terri Hendrix - The Spiritual Kind (Wilory)

· The Honorary Title - Scream & Light Up the Sky (Reprise)

· Horse the Band - A Natural Death (Koch)

· Donny Hue and the Colors - Folkmote (The Kora)

· Ice Water - Raekwon Presents: Ice Water - Polluted Water (Babygrande)

· Jeremy Kay - Talking to My (10 Spot)

· Evelyn "Champagne" King - Open Book (RNB/Jaggo)

· The Last Goodnight - Poison Kiss (Virgin)

· Ledisi - Lost & Found (Verve)

· Liars - Liars (Mute) [Buy Now]

· Lyle Lovett and His Large Band - It's Not Big It's Large (deluxe edition comes with DVD; Lost Highway)

· Marsmobile - Minx (G-Stone)

· Michael McDermott - Noise From Words (One Little Indian)

· Sophie Milman - Make Someone Happy (Koch)

· Mink - Mink (Spitfire)

· Oliver Mtukudzi - Tsimba Itsoka (Heads Up)

· New Buffalo - Somewhere, Anywhere (Arts & Crafts)

· New Young Pony Club - Fantastic Playroom (Modular)

· New York Voices - A Day Like This (MCG Jazz)

· N.O.R.E. - Noreality (Babygrande)

· No Age - Weirdo Rippers (Fat Cat)

· Northern State - Can I Keep This Pen? (Ipecac)

· Obituary - Xecutioner's Return (Candlelight) [Buy Now]

· Pash - The Best Gun (Exotic Fever)

· Point of Grace - How You Live (Word Entertainment)

· Prinzhorn Dance School - Prinzhorn Dance School (Astralwerks)

· The Real Tuesday Weld - The London Book of the Dead (Six Degrees)

· Recordkingz - Heavyweight (ABB)

· Scary Kids Scaring Kids - Scary Kids Scaring Kids (Immortal)

· Scorpions - Humanity: Hour I (New Door)

· Christian Scott - Anthem (Concord)

· Siggi Schwarz & Michael Schenker - Live Together 2004 (MVD Audio)

· Brandi Shearer - Close to Dark (Amoeba)

· Brian Simpson - Above the Clouds (Rendezvous)

· Soul: ID - Sex, Love & Philosophy (ABB)

· Strong Arm Steady - Deep Hearted (Nature Sounds)

· The Subdudes - Street Symphony (Back Porch)

· Jacky Terrasson - Mirror (Blue Note)

· Toots & the Maytals - Light It Up! (Fantasy)

· Two Loons for Tea - Nine Lucid Dreams (Sarathan)

· VHS or Beta - Bring on the Comets (Astralwerks) [Buy Now]

· Natalie Walker - Urban Angel (Quango/Fontana)

· Kirk Whalum - Roundtrip (Rendezvous)

· Whitestarr - Fillith Tillith (VH1 Classics)

· Keite Young - The Rise and Fall of Keite Young (Hidden Beach)

· Yung Joc - Hustlenomics (Bad Boy) [Buy Now]

· Various artists - Cielo: Volare (two CDs; Kinkysweet)

· Various artists - Guilt by Association (Engine Room)

Notable Reissues and Archival Material:

· Akon - Konvicted (with DVD; Universal) [Buy Now]

· The Allman Brothers Band - Idlewild South (Mobile Fidelity)

· Jon Anderson - The Mother's Day Concert (MVD Audio)

· James Brown - 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of James Brown, Vol. 2 (Polydor/UMe) [Buy Now]

· Joe Cocker - Classic Cocker (deluxe edition comes with DVD; Capitol/EMI)

· Joe Ely - Musta Notta Gotta Lotta (American Beat)

· Crystal Gayle - Greatest Hits (Capitol Nashville/ EMI)

· Heaven and Hell - Live From Radio City Music Hall (two CDs; deluxe edition comes with DVD; Rhino)

· Bob James - 12 and The Swan (Koch)

· George Jones & Tammy Wynette - We Go Together/ Let's Build a World Together (American Beat)

· Kool & the Gang - 1's (Island/Mercury/UMe)

· Little Feat - Little Feat (Mobile Fidelity)

· Loretta Lynn - 1's (MCA Nashville/UMe)

· Patrick Moraz - Future Memories I and II (MVD Audio)

· Willie Nile - Beautiful Wreck of the World (MVD Audio)

· Edith Piaf - The Best of the Little Sorrow (Varèse Sarabande)

· Queensrÿche - Sign of the Times: The Best of Queensrÿche (collector's edition comes with bonus CD; Capitol/EMI)

· Paul Robeson - On My Journey: Paul Robeson's Independent Recordings (Smithsonian Folkways)

· Ringo Starr - Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo (collector's edition comes with DVD; Capitol/EMI)

· Sly & the Family Stone - Greatest Hits (Epic/Legacy)

· Tangerine Dream - Madcap's Flaming Duty (MVD Audio)

· Bill Taylor & Gerry Mulligan - Live at MCG (MCG Jazz)

· The Truth - Playground (American Beat)

· The Tubes - Remote Control (American Beat)

· Conway Twitty - #1's (MCA Nashville)

· Rick Wakeman - "The Burning" soundtrack (MVD Audio)

· Various artists - Classic Disco #1's (Hip-O)

· Various artists - Classic Rock #1's (Hip-O)

· Various artists - Hard Rock #1's (Hip-O)

· Various artists - Love Is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-1970 (Rhino)

· Various artists - Modern Rock #1's (Hip-O)

· Various artists - Putumayo Presents: World Hits (Putumayo)

· Various artists - Wattstax (three-CD box set; Stax)

Music DVDs:

· Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe - "An Evening of Yes Music Plus" (MVD Visual)

· Blaze Bayley - "Alive in Poland" (MVD Visual)

· Bill Bruford Earthworks - "Video Anthology Volume 1: 2000s" (MVD Visual)

· Cro-Mags - "The Final Quarrel: Live at CBGB 2001" (MVD Visual)

· Darzamat - "Live Profanity: Visiting the Graves of Heretics" (MVD Visual)

· Heaven and Hell - "Live From Radio City Music Hall" (deluxe edition comes with two CDs; Rhino)

· Incredible String Band - "Live at the Lowry" (MVD Visual)

· Kool & the Gang - "Videology" (IslandMercury/UMe)

· John Lennon - "John Lennon's New York: A Magical History Tour" (two DVDs; Arts Magic)

· Lene Lovich - "Live From New York at Studio 54" (MVD Visual)

· Mountain - "Live in Paris 1965" (MVD Visual)

· Notorious B.I.G. - "Bigger Than Life" (Image)

· Mike Oldfield and Tony Palmer - "Space Movie" (MVD Visual)

· Onslaught - "Live Polish Assault 2007" (MVD Visual)

· Solitude Aeturnus - "House of Despair" (MVD Visual)

· Tangerine Dream - "35th Anniversary at Shepherd's Bush" (MVD Visual)

· Johnny Thunders - "Who's Been Talking? Johnny Thunders in Concert" (MVD Visual)

· Rick Wakeman - "The Other Side of Rick Wakeman" (MVD Visual)

· Various artists - "Preserving Efforts Vol. 01" (MVD Visual)

Digital Releases:

· Gliss - Love Thy Virgins (hits terrestrial stores September 25; Cordless)

· Ben Kweller - Live and Solo at the Artists Den (EP; ATO/ Artists Den) [Buy Now]

· The Photon Band - Get Down Here in the Stratosphere (EP; Empyrean)

· Ringo Starr - Sentimental Journey; Beaucoups Of Blues; Ringo; and Goodnight Vienna reissues (Capitol/EMI)

· Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus! (hits terrestrial stores January 22; Rough Trade)

· Tigercity - Pretend Not to Love (exclusive iTunes EP) [Buy Now]

· Various artists - The Lizard Lounge Poetry Jam: Next on the Mic (Rounder)

Coming Attractions:

September 4:

· Every Time I Die - The Big Dirty (Ferret) [Preorder]

· Megadeth - That One Night: Live in Buenos Aires (two CDs; Image)

· Pink Floyd - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (limited-edition three-CD reissue; Capitol)

September 11:

· 50 Cent - Curtis (G-Unit/Interscope) [Preorder]

Read: [article id="1567100"]"50 Cent Explains Last Week's Blowup, Says 'I Will Be #1 On September 11' "[/article]

· Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (Domino) [Preorder]

· Hot Hot Heat - Happiness Ltd. (Reprise)

· Kenna - Make Sure They See My Face (Interscope) [Preorder]

· Kanye West - Graduation (Roc-A-Fella) [Preorder]

Read: [article id="1567104"]"Kanye West And Lil Wayne Counting On 'Barry Bonds' For A Hit Single"[/article]

September 18:

· Chamillionaire - Ultimate Victory (Motown) [Preorder]

Read: [article id="1556537"]"Chamillionaire Ditches Bad Attitude; Hooks Up With Snoop, Busta For LP"[/article]

· Mya - Liberation (Motown) [Preorder]

Read: [article id="1541356"]"Mya Gives Up Grudges And Ego, Picks Up Relationship Wisdom On Liberation"[/article]

· KT Tunstall - Drastic Fantastic (Virgin)

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