As usual, it's all about Madonna.

This week her American Life hits shelves, with the requisite controversy surrounding the title track in the form of a pulled — then changed— video paving the way (see "Madonna Yanks Controversial 'American Life' Video"). The LP finds Madonna musing about America, Hollywood, herself and James Bond.

The Flaming Lips issue Fight Test, a seven-song EP which features covers of Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Head" and Radiohead's "Knives Out," plus the group backing Beck on "The Golden Age," in addition to two new songs, "The Strange Design of Conscience" and "Thank You Jack White (for the Fiber-Optic Jesus that You Gave Me)."

Blue Man Group has taken their act out of the theater and into record stores. Again. The painted threesome's The Complex boasts guest stars Dave Matthews on "Sing Along" and Rob Swift on "Shadows Pt. 2."

Meanwhile, the Murder City Devils' live album R.I.P documents their final show, the punkabilly Supersuckers opine that Motherf---ers be Trippin', and beat-maker RJD2's The Horror picks up where last year's Dead Ringer left off, with remixes from the earlier album, new compositions and live concert footage along with an animated video for the title track.

Following recent solo efforts from Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton comes the fifth Arab Strap album, Mondays at the Hug and Pint alongside Evan Dando's solo album, Baby I'm Bored, which boasts guests including members of Calexico, Giant Sand, Come, and Spacehog and comes seven years after the Lemonheads' last album.

But seven years is no match for the Yardbirds, whose Birdland comes a whopping thirty-six years after Little Games. Original members Chris Dreja and Jim McCarty are joined by guitarists Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Slash and Jeff Beck.

Out Tuesday, April 22:

• A Long Winter - Breathing Underwater (EP, Tribunal)
• Adios - Ropes (Tribunal)
• Agent 51 - Red & The Black (Surf Dog)
• All Girl Summer Fun Band - 2 (K)
• The Androids - Androids (Universal)
• Arab Strap - Monday at the Hug and Pint (Matador)
• Atomic Kitten - Atomic Kitten (Virgin)
• Attention - Say What You Mean What You Say (Suburban Home)
• Louis Belogeni - Twice Told Tales (DIW)
• Big Star - Big Star Story (Rykodisc)
• Blac Haze - So Much Drama (Warlock)
• The Blithe Sons - We Walk the Young Earth (Family Vineyard)
• Blue Man Group - Complex (Atlantic
• Blue Shade Witness - Blue Shade Witness (EP, Suburban Home)
• Blueline Medic - Text Bomb (Fueled by Ramen)
• Bozo Porno Circus - Degenerate (Underground Inc)
• Breather Resist - Only in the Morning (Deathwish)
• Ed Bruce - 12 Classics (Varese)
• The Caesars - 39 Minutes of Bliss (Astralwerks)
• Canterbury Effect - Every Piece of Me (Pluto)
• Carnal Forge - More You Suffer (Century Media)
• Caitlin Cary - I'm Staying Out (Yep Roc)
• Champion - Come Out Swinging (Bridge Nine)
• Chap - Horse (Lo)
• The Clinton Administration - One Nation Under a Re-Groove (Magna Carta)
• Club 8 - Saturday Night Engine (Hidden Agenda)
• Cockney Rejects - Out of the Gutter (Captain Oi!)
• Cult of Luna - Beyond (Earache)
• Evan Dando - Baby, I'm Bored (Bar/None)
• Day of Contempt - See Through the Lies (Good Life)
• Death Threat/Over My Dead Body - Split (EP, Bridge Nine)
• Death by Stereo - Into the Valley of the Death (Epitaph)
• Digger - Tattoo Broken Hearts (EP, Suburban Home)
• Dollarstore Cowboys - And the Horse They Rode in On (Infect)
• Earlimart - Everyone Down Here (Palm Pictures)
• Early Day Miners - Jefferson at Rest (Secretly Canadian)
• Electrocute - I Love Daddy (EP, Emperor Norton)
• The Fight - Wot! No Beer? (Fat Wreck Chords)
• The Flaming Lips - Fight Test (EP, Warner Brothers)
  Buy Now: Fight Test (Warner Brothers)
• The Fleshtones- Do You Swing? (Yep Roc)
• Folksongs for the Afterlife - Put Danger Back in Your Life (Hidden Agenda)
• Frenzal Rhomb - Sans Souci (Fat Wreck Chords)
• Friendly Fire - Initiative (Blackout)
• Generous Maria - Command of the New Rock (Abstract Sounds)
• Quinn Golden - Bottoms Up (Ecko)
• Hamartia - To Play the Part (Good Life)
• Gemma Hayes - Night on My Side (Astralwerks)
• I Farm - I Farm Is Lying to Be Popular (Go Kart)
• Mark Insley - Supermodel (Rustic)
• The Jet City Fix - Play to Kill (Infect)
• K-Blac - How U Luv Dat (World Wide)
• Killah Priest - Black August (Artemis)
• King JC - Ana Off My Chest (Playalistic)
• Kaki King - Everybody Loves You (Velour)
• Chantal Kreviazuk - What If It Means Something (Sony)
• La County Sareno - 13 With a Bullet (Teen Angel)
• Daniel Lanois - Shine (Epitaph)
• Lazily Spun - Lazily Spun (Camera Obscura)
• Leadfoot - We Drink for Free (Abstract Sounds)
• Locale A.M. - Breaking the Fourth Wall (Pop Smear)
• The Loveless and Goodnight Trail - Star Rover (Euphonious)
• The Lucksmiths - Midweek Midmorning (Matinee)
• Madonna - American Life (Warner Brothers)
  Buy Now: American Life (Warner Brothers)
  Read: "Madonna To Pirates: 'What The F--- Do You Think You're Doing?' ")
• Matchbox - Rockabilly Dynamos Vols. 1&2 (Raucous)
• Maria McKee - High Dive (Viewfinder)
• MC Mack - Macknificent (Basix)
• Bob Messano - Holdin' Ground (Fishhead)
• The Meteors - Meteors Live, Vol. 1-2 (Raucous)
• Joe Miller - Building an Iron Man (Topcat)
• Mobb Deep - Murda Mix Tape (Landspeed)
• Monade - Socialisme Ou Barbarie (Drag City)
• Mortician - Darkest Day of Horror (Relapse)
• Mr. Lil One - Tha Boogieman (Aries)
• Murder City Devils - R.I.P. (Sub Pop)
• Raymond Anthony Myles - Taste of Heaven (Sony)
• Nineteen Forty-Five - I Saw a Bright Light (Daemon)
• Nothingface - Skeletons (TVT)
• On the Rise - Burning Inside (Bridge Nine)
• Opeth - Damnation (Koch)
• The Oranges Band - All Around (Lookout!)
• Graham Parker - Blue Highway (Pilot)
• Peter & The Test Tube Babies - Live and Loud (Step 1)
• Phunk Junkeez - Rock It Science (Suburban Noize)
• Webb Pierce - Honky Tonk Hero (Varese)
• Pink Anvil - Halloween Party (Ipecac)
• Pipas - Cat Escaped (Matinee)
• Rasco & The Cali Agents - Presents Hip-Hop Classics Vol. 1 (Copasetik)
• Jerry Richards - Paradogs: Foul Play at the Earth Lab (United States)
• Riptones - Slant 6 (Orchard)
• RJD2 - Horror (Definitive Jux)
• Alasdair Roberts - Farewell Sorrow (Drag City)
• Ruth's Hat - Hitchhiker's Guide to Rock and Roll (Fast Music)
• Rydell - Always Remember Everything (Ignition)
• Scribe Machine - Fragile (Plan B)
• Derek Sherinian - Black Utopia (Inside Out)
• Single Bullet Theory - Route 666 (Crash Music)
• Skindred - Babylon (MCA)
• Slow Coming Day - Farewell to the Familiar (Tooth & Nail)
• Some Kind of Hate - Some Kind of Hate (EP, Bridge Nine)
• The Spades - Friday Night (People Like You)
• Star One -Live on Earth (Inside Out)
• Sunride - Great Infiltration (People Like You)
• Supersuckers - Motherf---ers Be Trippin' (Mid Fi)
• Swollen Members - Monsters in the Closet Instrumentals (Battle Axe)
• T Nutty - Last of the Flowheecanz (Murder Creek)
• Thirteen Forty-Nine - Liberation (Candlelight)
• Thirty Called Arson - You're Only a Rebel From the Waist Down (Pluto)
• Tokyo Sex Destruction - Red Soul Communitte (Dim Mak)
• Tower of Power - Oakland Zone (O.R)
• The Trouble With Sweeney - I Know You Destroy! (Burnt Toast)
• Unwed Sailor - Marionette and the Music Box (Burnt Toast)
• Uproar - And the Lord Said (Step 1)
• Usurper - Twilight Dominion (Earache)
• Suzanne Vega - Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega (Interscope)
• Via Tania - Under a Different Sky (Chocolate Industries)
• Sid Vicious - Viva le Rock (Pilot)
• Warsaw Pack - Gross Domestic Product (G-7)
• Wildchild - Secondary Protocol (Stones Throw)
• Ray Wilson - Change (Inside Out)
• The Yardbirds - Birdland (Favored Nations)
• The Young Savages - Untamed (Raucous)
• Zack Wylde's Black Label Society - The Blessed Hellride (Spitfire)
• Various artists - "Dysfunktional Family" soundtrack (Death Row)
• Various Artists - Kings of Classic Country (Varese)
• Various artists - "Lizzie McGuire Movie" soundtrack (Disney)

• Madonna
• The Flaming Lips
• The Yardbirds
• Mobb Deep
• Blue Man Group

Korn will headline New York rock station WXRK K-Rock's Dysfunctional Family Picnic Episode IV. Other groups lined up for the festival, set for June 8 at Jones Beach in Wantagh, Long Island, include P.O.D. , Incubus, Papa Roach, System of a Down, Jimmy Eat World, the Strokes, Hoobastank and 3rd Strike. ... The Area2 outing has added performance art collective Blue Man Group and jungle DJ Dieselboy to its roster. They'll join the likes of Busta Rhymes, David Bowie and bald-but-not-blue tour originator Moby on the trek, which kicks off July 28 in Bristow, Virginia. ...

After spending the summer on Ozzfest, Chevelle will release their second album, Wonder What's Next, on August 27. Nathan Karma Cox (Linkin Park, Disturbed) will direct the video for the first single, "The Red." ... The sick and twisted troupe known as the Jim Rose Circus are on the road celebrating their 10th anniversary. Having started in Canada on Tuesday (May 7), the trek will dip Stateside for 30 shows beginning June 2, during which time the Circus' freaky exploits will be filmed for a proposed weekly TV series. ...

Marianne Faithfull has selected August 13 for the U.S. release of Kissin' Time, which was released in Europe in March. Billy Corgan, Beck, Eurythmics' Dave Stewart, Pulp's Jarvis Cocker and Blur's Damon Albarn appear on the record, which features a cover of Beck's "Nobody's Fault But My Own." ... Elephant 6 associates Elf Power will hit the road in support of their fifth album, Creatures, starting May 23 in Lexington, Kentucky. The scheduled dates wrap on June 15 on their home turf (Athens, Georgia), with another leg to be mapped out for later in the summer. ...

05.06.02

It's round four for Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst and Staind as the boys team up in Los Angeles on Wednesday to shoot the video for "Epiphany," the next single from Break the Cycle. Durst has been in the ring with the metal quartet before, having directed the video for the band's breakthrough hit "It's Been Awhile" as well as clips for the Dysfunction singles "Just Go" and "Home." ... Roc-A-Fella co-CEO Damon Dash celebrated his 31st birthday Friday at Jimmy's Downtown Café in New York City. Besides his R.O.C. cohorts Jay-Z, Freeway and Memphis Bleek, celebrities such as Denise Richards and Los Angeles Clipper Elton Brand helped the exec celebrate. ...

Kid Rock and Hank Williams Jr. will perform their duet, "The F Word," from Williams' Almeria Club Recordings, at the Academy of Country Music Awards ceremony. The event will air May 22 on CBS (MTV's parent company, Viacom, also owns CBS). ... O-Town have added more than a month of dates onto their summer outing, the O2 Sneak Preview Tour, which will now wrap June 23 in Charlotte, North Carolina. As the outing's name declares, the group will debut new material from their upcoming O2 album, due June 25. ...

East Coast hardcore outfit Hatebreed have split with Lou "Boulder" Richards, ending a six-year relationship because the guitarist's "heart just wasn't in it anymore," according to the band's statement posted on their Web site, www.hatebreed.com. Hatebreed, who'll carry on as a quartet, recently filmed a video for "I Will Be Heard," the first single off their latest album, Persevere. ... Southern California punk veterans Strung Out, whose sixth album, An American Paradox, debuts in the Billboard 200 this week, will launch a club tour on May 17 in Las Vegas. The outing will end June 29 in Hollywood.

• Korn
• Papa Roach
• Moby
• Blue Man Group