New Releases: Sloan Not Closing In On The End

09/18/06 6:00pm

Anyone who reads Chart knows that we like us some Sloan. The Toronto via Halifax indie icons have appeared on more covers than any other band, and Twice Removed was chosen as the best Canadian record of all time in last year's Chart poll. The group have lost a little bit of lustre since their glory days in the '90s, but hope to regain a bit of ground with Never Hear The End Of It, a 30-track epic that harkens back to a less polished rock sound. It's out on Tuesday.

DJ Shadow is best known for Entroducing, his groundbreaking electronic record, which is considered to be among the best ever produced in the genre. He's been almost as well known since then for his elusiveness, and has produced little in the way of recorded output over the 10 or so years since that record came out. The Outsider is Shadow's third album, and it's in stores this week.

We get a lot of flack for calling Clay Aiken creepy, pale, weird, the male personification of K.D. Lang, the scariest subject of fan fiction ever, and all around musically lame. But the people who send us those letters can't take a joke. Not that we're joking, but that doesn't mean it isn't funny (right, Claymates?). Aiken's new record comes out Tuesday and is called For The Last Time, I'm Not Gay. Kidding! It's A Thousand Different Ways To Tell A Man You Love Him. Or something like that.

We're not sure what Black Eyed Pea Fergie is The Dutchess of, but we're fairly certain it isn't music. I mean, I guess if you believed in music as a monarchy, then there might be lots of dutchesses. So I suppose, on that level, you could probably say that Fergie is somewhere on par with many of the other dutchesses of pop. But we're more inclined to believe that she's hanging around the serf level with The Spice Girls (in their solo careers). Judge for yourself this week when The Dutchess brings her solo bow to stores.

Here are some of this week's other releases:
CLAY AIKEN A Thousand Different Ways (RCA/Sony BMG)
BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY Thug Stories (KOCH)
THE CAPE MAY Glass Mountain Roads (Flemish Eye/Outside)
KENNY CHESNEY Kenny Chesney Live (BNA/Sony BMG)
CHINGY Hoodstar (Capitol/EMI)
DAN THE AUTOMATOR 2K7 — The Tracks (Decon/KOCH)
DJ SHADOW The Outsider (Island/Universal)
FERGIE The Dutchess (Interscope/Universal)
LILY FROST Cine-Magique (Aporia/Outside)
THE GHOST IS DANCING The Ghost Is Dancing (Sonic Unyon)
EMM GRYNER The Summer Of High Hopes (Dead Daisy/Outside)
JULIO IGLESIAS Romantic Classics (Columbia/Sony BMG)
INDIGO GIRLS Despite Our Differences (Hollywood/Universal)
JANE'S ADDICTION Up From The Catacombs (Rhino/Warner)
ELTON JOHN The Captain & The Kid (Interscope/Universal)
KASABIAN Empire (RCA/Sony BMG)
KID KOALA Your Mom's Favourite DJ (Ninja Tune/Outside)
DIANA KRALL From This Moment On (Verve/Universal)
JONNY LANG Turn Around (A&M/Universal)
LUPE FIASCO Food & Liquor (Atlantic/Warner)
JESSE McCARTNEY Right Where You Want Me (Hollywood/Universal)
MUSHROOMHEAD Saviour Sorrow (Megaforce/KOCH)
THE NEIN Transitionalisms (Sonic Unyon)
NEW FOUND GLORY Coming Home (Geffen/Universal)
SLOAN Never Hear The End Of It (Murderrecords/Red Ink/Sony BMG)
STRIKE ANYWHERE Dead FM (Fat Wreck/FAB)
WOOLLY LEAVES Quiet Waters (Outside)