New Releases: Jay-Z Officially Worst Retiree Ever

11/05/07 5:30pm

by Noah Love (CHARTattack)

I remember a year ago saying, "Well, so much for the Jay-Z retirement" when Kingdom Come hit store shelves. Now, Jay's back with his second album in two years (third if you count the awful collaboration with Linkin Park), and it's fair to say that life in the slow lane wasn't where it was at for the king of New York. American Gangster is a quasi-soundtrack to the film of the same name, and it's out on Tuesday.

I think it's fair to declare the winner of the Blink-182 band-off. Angels And Airwaves are on album number two, while +44 are, well, whatever happened to Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker? Tom DeLonge is the undisputed champ — by default. Congrats, Tom. Anyway, Angels & Airwaves second album (never thought I'd type that), I-Empire, sees release this week. If you're not a teenage girl, hide.

Sigur Ros have had a fairly quiet year while they've been preparing a documentary about their 2006 European tour, Heima. To support it, they're also releasing a double-disc collection of odds and ends, Hvarf/Heim, which is out Tuesday. It features something so rarely seen in Sigur Ros recordings (and it's a welcome shift): brevity.

Check out ChartAttack.com this Tuesday for reviews of these albums and more.