New Releases: Kanye And Fiddy Battle To The Charts

The music world is apparently honouring Sept. 11 the only way it knows how: by releasing a bunch of records. Anyway, it's a very big week, so here are some of the titles you can pick up on your way home from work on Tuesday.

Kanye West and 50 Cent have been talking shit about each other all summer, with Fiddy boldly proclaiming that if West's Graduation beats his Curtis in sales, he'll retire. Well, let me be the millionth customer to chime in on the "Go Kanye" bandwagon. I'm sure 50's made some announcement that he's only joking on AllHipHop.com, but I think we should hold him to it. Who's with me? Oh, right, everyone.

It's been an unusually long time since Animal Collective shattered expectations, so it's nice to see that they're doing it again with Strawberry Jam, an LP that's stronger than either of their much lauded Sung Tongs and Feels. If we had to entrench them in an indie battle this week, it would be against The Go! Team. Their sophomore release, Proof Of Youth, is also out on Tuesday. I think Ninja could probably take Panda Bear, and Ian Parton might just be gangly enough to defeat Avey Tare.

Hot Hot Heat have talked non-stop about their newest LP, Happiness Ltd., almost since they started writing it. If you're wondering whether the follow-up to Elevator is really the return to their dancey roots that they claim it is, we can tell you that the answer is definitely no. And sticking with the battle royale theme, Steve Bays can't hold the jock strap of Black Francis (a.k.a. Frank Black), who makes a return to the moniker that made him famous on Bluefinger. Sadly, the rest of The Pixies couldn't make it to the party.