Is the public ready for the King's Kid? Lisa Marie Presley thinks so.

Her first LP, To Whom It May Concern, and its single, "Lights Out," hit shelves this week alongside Godsmack's Faceless, which finds Sully and company revving their hard rock on songs like "I F---ing Hate You," "Changes" and "I Stand Alone."

Russell Crowe — yes that Russell Crowe — and 30 Odd Foot of Grunts release Other Ways of Speaking, an album full of tunes about the labor of love. Crowe, with his rough manner and voice, tears through songs like "Unfaithful Man," "What's Her Name?" and his duet with Chrissie Hynde, "Never Be Alone Again."

Some good old-fashioned, melodic indie rock comes from Yo La Tengo's Summer Sun and the Fruit Bats' Mouthfuls, while the X-ecutioners follow up on last year's Built From Scratch with Scratchology, a mixtape combining classic songs from Grandmaster Flash and Herbie Hancock. The joint also features new cuts from Rob Swift, Roc Raida and DJ Qbert, and Scarface serves up Balls and My Word, you understand?

And finally, what's new is old again — or something like that. This week, new releases of old material come from Fear Factory's B-sides and remixes album, Hateflies; Hot Hot Heat's Scenes One Through Thirteen, a collection of early recordings with nary a guitar to be found; the Sahara Hotnights' C'mon Let's Pretend, the precursor to last year's Jennie Bomb; and Stereolab's ABC Music: The Radio 1 Sessions, a two-disc retrospective ranging from 1991-2001.

Out Tuesday, April 8:

• 13 Cats - 13 Tracks (Cleopatra)
• Amazombies - Bitches and Stitches (Go Kart)
• Atari Teenage Riot - Burn Berlin Burn (Digital Hardcore)
• Autechre - Draft 7.30 (Warp)
• Black Keys - Thickfreakness (Fat Possum)
• Boomkat - Boomkatalog One (DreamWorks) Read: "Eminem, Britney Pave Boomkat's Road To Success"
  Buy Now: Boomkatalog One (DreamWorks)
• BPM - Brazilian Vibe Music (Iris)
• Peter Brotzmann - More Nipples (Atavistic)
• Johnny Cash - Sings the Songs That Made Him Famous (Varese)
• Catch Up - Catch Up (Crippled Dick)
• Central Falls - Love and Easy Living (Atavistic)
• Common Cold - Bleep Bleep Bloop (Action Driver)
• Countdown to Life - Tragedy Is So Irresistible (State of Grace)
• Country Sareno - 13 With a Bullet (Teen Angel)
• Russell Crowe and 30 Odd Foot of Grunts - Other Ways of Speaking (Artemis)
• Defecation - Intention Surpassed (Nuclear Blast)
• Delirious? - Access: D (Furious)
• DJ Scud - Ambush (Rephlex)
• The Essex Green - Long Goodbye (Merge)
• Fatal Flying Guilloteens - Get Knifed (Estrus)
• Fattburger - Sizzlin' (Shanachie)
• Fear Factory - Hateflies (Roadrunner)
  Buy Now: Hateflies (Roadrunner)
• Flashlight Brown - My Degeneration (Hollywood)
• Freeform - Condensed (Finest Filets from 1997 - 2002) (EFA)
• Fruit Bats - Mouthfuls (Sub Pop)
• Gallery of Mites - Bugs on the Bluefish (Meteor City)
• Generation X - Anthology (Capitol)
• Genuine - Bury the Hatchet (State of Grace)
• Ginuwine - Senior (Sony)
  Buy Now: Senior (Sony)
• Gob - Too Late No Friends (Nettwerk)
• Godsmack - Faceless (Universal)
  Read: "Godsmack Know They Can't Be Eminem In New Video"
  Buy Now: Faceless (Universal)
• Golden Dawn - Art of Dreaming (Napalm)
• Golden Dawn - Masquerade (Napalm)
• Hot Hot Heat - Scenes One Through Thirteen (Ohev)
  Read: "Hot Hot Heat Achieve Coolness By Writing Good Muzak"
• Immersed in Blood - Killing Season (Arctic)
• Internal Bleedings - Extinction of Benevolence (Crash)
• Jayhawks - Rainy Day Music (Universal)
• Jay-Z - The Blueprint 2.1 (Extra Tracks, Def Jam)
  Read: "Jay-Z Cutting Away The Fat And Releasing Blueprint 2.1"
• Jet Black Summer - Ladder of Divine Ascent (Lakeshore)
• Josefus - Dead Box (Akarma)
• Judas Priest - Live in London (Steamhammer)
• Kulia - Kulia (Fat Katz)
• Lagwagon - Blaze (Fat Wreck Chords)
• Last Second - Darkness Before Dawn (Acts 26)
• Lil' Cuete - There's Only One Way About It (East Side)
• Lullacry - Crucify My Heart (Century Media)
• Matchbook Romance - West for Wishing (EP, Epitaph)
• No Fun at All - Master Celebrations (Epitaph)
• Not Long After - Contrary to Popular Belief (New School)
• Maktub - Khronos (Velour)
• Mandingo - Reflexiones (Fonovisa)
• Martyr - Extracting the Core: Live 2001 (Skyscraper)
• Mary Lee's Corvette - 700 Miles (Bar None)
• Mensen - Oslo City (Gearhead)
• Mic Geronimo - Long Road Back (Warlock)
• MC Honky - I Am the Messiah (Spin Art)
• Mono - One More Step and You're Dead (Arena Rock)
• Mouse on Mars - Glam (Thrill Jockey)
• Mpact - Losing Sleep (The Orchard)
• NDE - End of Trust (Crash)
• Odetta - Odetta (Silverwolf)
• Panthers - Let's Get Serious (EP, Dim Mak)
• Lee Perry - Cutting Razor: Rare Cuts from the Black Ark (Rounder)
• Porch Ghouls - Bluff City Ruckus (Sony)
• Portastatic - Summer of the Shark (Merge)
• Elvish Presley - Black Elk Speaks (Bulb)
• Lisa Marie Presley - To Whom It May Concern (Capitol)
  Buy Now: To Whom It May Concern (Capitol)
• Radio Pirata - Ahora (Fonovisa)
• Red Snapper - Red Snapper (Lo)
• Rise Against - Revolutions Per Minute (Fat Wreck Chords)
• Santana - Birth of Santana: Complete Early Years (Cleopatra)
• Sahara Hotnights - C'mon Let's Pretend (Jet Set)
• Savettes - Nearer My God to Thee (Liquid 8)
• Scarface - Balls and My Word (Rap-a-Lot)
• Schneider Tm - 6 Peace (EP, Mute)
• Seven Witches - Passage to the Other Side (Noise)
• Shaggy - Lucky Day (SACD, MCA)
• Betty Sise - Moon Pastels (Silverwolf)
• Slam - Fabric 9 (Fabric)
• Soft Machine - Turns on 2 (United States)
• Soft Pink Truth - Do You Party (Soundslike)
• Soul of Darkness - Cry of the Inner Pain (Skyscraper)
• Stereolab - ABC Music: The Radio 1 Sessions (2 CDs, Koch)
• Stratford 4 - Love and Distortion (Jet Set)
• Summoning - Lost Tales (Napalm)
• Trey - Trey (Liquid 8)
• T Spigot - Experiments in the Hypnotic Production of Crime (Varese)
• Vonray - Vonray (Elektra)
• Sean Watkins - 26 Miles (Sugarhill)
• Lucinda Williams - World Without Tears (Universal)
• Cassandra Wilson - Jumpworld (Winter and Winter)
• Wolfsheim - Casting Shadows (Metropolis)
• X-ecutioners - Scratchology (Sequence)
  Read: "Mixtape Mondays: X-ecutioners"
• Yo La Tengo - Summer Sun (Matador)
• Various artists - "61" soundtrack (Jellybean)
• Various artists - "Ah My Goddess" soundtrack (Pioneer)
• Various artists - Babylon is Ours: USA in Dub (EFA)
• Various artists - "Armitage: Dual Matrix" (Pioneer)
• Various artists - "Bulletproof Monk" soundtrack (Lakeshore)
• Various artists - Complete Tribute to Britney Spears (Also Cher, Garth Brooks, Shania Twain, Big Eye)
• Various artists - Hip Hop Rap (Thump)
• Various artists - "Irreversible" soundtrack (Thrive)
• Various artists - "It Runs in the Family" soundtrack (Verve)
• Various artists - Lost Songs of Lennon and McCartney (RPH)
• Various artists - "Lupin 3" soundtrack (Pioneer)
• Various artists - "A Mighty Wind" soundtrack (Sony)
• Various artists - "Monday in the Sun" soundtrack (Milan)
• Various artists - Nu Electronica (Beechwood)
• Various artists - Playboy Jazz After Dark (2 CDs, Playboy Jazz)
• Various artists - Shut the Punk Up Vols. 1 and 2 (New School)

April 22:

• Evan Dando - Baby I'm Bored (Bar None)
• Flaming Lips - Fight Test (EP, Warner Bros.)
  Buy Now: Fight Test (EP, Warner Bros.)
• Madonna - American Life (Warner Bros.)
  Read: "Madonna To Follow Spiritual Muse For New Album"
  Buy Now: American Life (Warner Bros.)

April 29:

• Kelly Price - Priceless (Universal)
  Buy Now: Priceless (Universal)
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell (Touch & Go)
• Various artists - American Idol Season 2: All-Time Classic American Love Songs (RCA)

May 13:

• Macy Gray - The Trouble With Being Myself (Epic)
• Third Eye Blind - Out of the Vein (Elektra)
  Read: "Third Eye Blind Recruit Fred Durst, Andrew W.K. For Third Album"
  Buy Now: Out of the Vein (Elektra)

June 10:

• Metallica - St. Anger (Elektra)
  Read: "Metallica To Give Rock And Roll A Good Thrashing"

June 17:

• Limp Bizkit - Bipolar (Interscope)
  Read: "Snoop Dogg, Bubba Sparxxx May Appear On Limp Bizkit Album"

• Godsmack
• Lisa Marie Presley
• Jay-Z
• Lucinda Williams
• Boomkat

Boomkat
Photo: DreamWorks

Even though she was cast to play Eminem's deceitful girlfriend in "8 Mile," Taryn Manning still hadn't met Marshall Mathers the morning her scenes were scheduled to be shot. So, a few hours before the cameras started rolling she nervously walked up to Slim Shady as he was sitting on a curb.

"I was dying inside," Manning said. "I was like, 'Oh, God, why do I have to do this?' So I started approaching kind of slow, but with a purpose. Before I reached him I said, 'Well, I'm Taryn, and I'm playing Janeane' so he would understand I'm not some weird groupie on the loose, which I felt like at first."

Manning, who along with her brother Kellin, plays in the soulful trip-hop group Boomkat, was especially anxious to meet Eminem because, as a fellow musician, she holds Shady in the highest regard — so much so that she vowed not to mention to him that she was also a vocalist. But one of the girls in the makeup department had a bigger mouth.

"After she told him I sang, he came up to me and said, 'Taryn, I didn't know you were an artist,' " Manning said. "And then he grabbed five-song CD I had, and he really fell in love with the song 'Wastin' My Time' and wound up putting it on the '8 Mile' soundtrack. So we just love him."

Em was jazzed enough about Boomkat to want to sign them to his Shady Records and possibly produce their debut album. But when he jumped up and said, "This looks like a job for me," Manning had to reluctantly decline the offer since the group already had an oral agreement with DreamWorks.

"I don't know if he was mad about that," Manning said. "Maybe he was a little because we talked on the phone and shared ideas. He really liked our edgy songs a bunch, especially 'The Wreckoning,' and he said we should take the less tangible road and make it harder."

The song is currently getting strong radio play, and will be the first single from Boomkat's debut, Boomkatalog One, which drops on April 8. The track is about the karmic backlash that's gonna hit a guy who does his girl wrong.

"It's saying, 'You don't care about me and you're walking out the door, but you're gonna get yours,' " Manning said. "I didn't want it to come off angry or ruthless, it was more of a survival thing — a feeling like I can get through this. You did me so wrong, but I'm going to be all right."

Maybe it has something to do with being part of the Hollywood scene, but Eminem isn't the only megastar musician that Manning considers a friend. She's also tight with Britney Spears, with whom she acted in the film Crossroads.

"She's really funny," Manning said. "She's a great girl, and I like her a lot, but she's always worried about not being a diva. She'll be like, 'I'm not trying to be a diva, but can I get a coffee?' That's her thing for some reason. If you ask for coffee in the middle of the day you're presumed [to be] a diva. So I don't know, maybe she thinks she is a diva because she always wants coffee."

These days, Manning doesn't get to see too much of Spears, but she still considers her one of her industry role models. "She really can't be bothered by petty things, and I think that's great," Manning said. "If people want to say rude things about her or criticize her, she really can't be bothered by it anymore. She's learned to get past that kind of stuff, so I really respect her."

Manning is currently wrapping up a couple of small film projects. After she finishes, she doesn't plan to take any more for a while.

"One thing I hate is stress, so I've really taken a step back from acting, as much as it kills me," she said. "I get scripts in my house a lot that I read and they're [sometimes] for the lead role. I could really put my heart and soul into a great audition and probably win a couple of these parts, but I really don't have the time. Boomkat is my life right now."

• Boomkat
• Eminem
• Britney Spears

Ozzy Osbourne will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Friday. The metal-pioneer-turned-TV-star will be immortalized in front of the Ripley's Believe It or Not? Museum. ... Rapper Capone's day in court to face charges of second-degree assault has been adjourned to April 29. The accusations stem from a fight at a Queens, New York, nightclub last September, in which Capone was allegedly involved. ... Boomkat, a duo composed of multi-instrumentalist Kellin Manning and his actress sister, Taryn — co-star of Britney Spears' "Crossroads" and the upcoming Eminem flick, "8 Mile" — have inked a deal with DreamWorks Records, which will release their debut in September. A yet-to-be-determined single is expected to surface at radio in late May. ...

Darling buds of punk Green Day have posted news of a forthcoming B-sides, covers and rarities compilation on their Web site. Among the tracks that may end up on the disc, which is expected this summer, are covers of the Kinks' "Tired of Waiting for You" and the Ramones' "Outsider." ... Punk-O-Rama Vol. 7, the latest addition in the popular (and cheap) punk compilation series, is due June 25. Among the 19 tracks on the album are Guttermouth's "My Girlfriend" (from their upcoming summer release), Bad Religion's "The Defense," Rancid's "Bob," the Hives' "Supply and Demand" and "Black City" from the Swedish garage band the Division of Laura Lee. ...

Electronic music innovator Frank Tovey, perhaps better known as Fad Gadget, died of heart failure April 3 at his London home. Tovey, who suffered from heart problems since his childhood, recently toured with Depeche Mode and was working on new material at the time of his death, according to Mute Records, his longtime label, which released The Best of Fad Gadget in December. ... To commemorate this year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, event promoter Goldenvoice has produced trading cards featuring performers on the eclectic lineup, according to the Los Angeles Times. Artists taking the stage at the event include headliners Björk and Oasis, the Foo Fighters, the Strokes, Dilated Peoples, Pete Yorn, Belle and Sebastian, Queens of the Stone Age, the Beta Band, Cake, Jurassic 5 and Saves the Day. ...

Alcon III, a fan convention in honor of crown prince of parody "Weird Al" Yankovic, is set for April 26-27 in Elk Grove, Illinois. Although the creator of such classics as "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" and "The Night Santa Went Crazy" won't be attending the event — which is scheduled to include live performances, lookalike contests, lip-synchs and a charity auction of "weird" wares — the presence of drummer Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz should appease the 400 fans expected to attend. ... The Who will issue four previously unreleased songs June 11 on a new best-of record called The Who: Ultimate Collection. ... Goo Goo Dolls drummer Mike Malinin performed with his Latin-flavored side project, Act of Faith, Thursday at the Roxy in West Hollywood. Ex-Oingo Boingo bassist John Avila is in the band as well. ... The Flying Tigers, the Los Angeles rock trio featuring ex-Powerman 5000 bassist Dorian Heartsong, will release their self-titled debut on April 16. "Maybe" is the first single. ...

04.05.02

Staind frontman Aaron Lewis has redefined his own Family Values — his wife, Vanessa, gave birth to Zoe Jane Lewis on Friday (April 5). Congratulations to the couple and their daughter, who weighed in at 7 pounds, 11 ounces. ... Nickelback have announced they will play the third annual Rolling Rock Town Fair, which takes place July 27 in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. On April 9, seven other acts will be announced for the bill, which in past years has featured Stone Temple Pilots, Staind, Incubus, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Moby and more. ...

For $14.95, you too can be shaken all night long, as hard rock pioneers AC/DC plan to present a concert pay-per-view on May 11. Filmed at a live show in Munich, Germany, the 18-song set includes "Hells Bells," "Back in Black" and "Highway to Hell," among others. ... Singer and onetime Aussie soap starlet Natalie Imbruglia is heading for the silver screen alongside John Malkovich and Rowan "Mr. Bean" Atkinson in the spy spoof "Johnny English," according to Reuters. The songstress reportedly plays a female agent in the film, which begins shooting Monday (April 15). ... Robert Plant will release Head First, his first solo album in nine years, on July 16. The disc will include covers of Jimi Hendrix's version of "Hey Joe," Tim Buckley's "Song for the Siren" and Tim Hardin's "Morning Dew." ...

The smooth, suave frontman of Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry, has set May 21 for the release of his latest solo studio effort, Frantic. The 13-song album will contain new material as well as re-imagined covers. ... Phish keyboardist Page McConnell announced plans for an eight-show East Coast tour with his new project, Vida Blue, which also features Meters drummer Russell Baptiste and Allman Brothers Band bassist Oteil Burbridge. Kicking off at Calvin Theater in Northampton, Massachusetts, the tour hits the likes of Washington, D.C., and Myrtle Beach, Florida, before wrapping up in New Orleans.

• Ozzy Osbourne
• Capone -N- Noreaga
• Green Day
• Boomkat
• Fad Gadget

MTV Exclusive: Boomkat Photos

• Boomkat

• Joe Budden
• Boomkat
• Justin Guarini
• Kelly Clarkson
• Michelle Branch