Shakira in "She Wolf"
Photo: Sony

On Thursday night, much to the delight of her fans and lycanthropes everywhere, Shakira premiered the video for her totally batty, completely amazing new song "She Wolf."

And while most of the chatter has (somewhat understandably) centered on her howling, hanging and hip-popping, we'd be remiss if we didn't point out that the song itself is actually pretty mind-blowing too: a whirling, pulsating take on the slinky Italian disco tracks of the '70s and '80s, the kind of thing you just don't hear in pop tunes anymore. But given the instant success of "She Wolf," it's a style we expect to be emulated by producers everywhere any day now.

You'd probably never guess it, but the song is the brainchild of none other than Sam Endicott, frontman of New York electro act the Bravery, who, along with producer John Hill, created the track mostly on a whim.

"I'm friends with John Hill. He and I co-produced the new Bravery album, and in the process of that, we would just make beats and stuff on the side. Just mainly for fun," Endicott explained to MTV News. "We've done a lot of it, and somehow, Shakira contacted him, asking if he had any stuff. ... We never had her in mind. We just made the thing independently of her, and then she liked it a lot, and she sang over it. She used some of the melodies we put in there and then wrote these crazy lyrics about being a werewolf. And that's how it happened."

If Endicott seems rather dumbfounded by the entire process, well, he is. And it gets even weirder. Not only did Shakira snag "She Wolf" from the duo, she also took two more tracks from them, which might end up on her much-anticipated new album, due in October. Though the whole thing happened pretty quickly, Endicott witnessed enough to be plenty impressed with Shakira's commitment to the project — and to making really bizarre pop tunes.

"When I first heard her singing on the song, I really liked it, because it's f---ing weird for a pop song. She definitely has a strange lyric sense. This isn't the first song she's done with some bizarre lyrics in it," he laughed. "I like the idea of a werewolf. And when I heard her idea for the song, I was like, 'You gotta have her howl at the moon at some point,' and she did it. She's a subtle wolf."

But even though he's suddenly found success penning songs for other artists, Endicott doesn't see himself changing careers anytime soon — not with a new Bravery album in the final stages (it's due later this year), at least.

"I don't look at it like [some new career]. It's more that I really like music, regardless of the genre. I just really like making it, I like being involved with it, I like being around creative people," he said. "If there was a country band right now that wanted to have me come in and play bass, I'd say, 'F--- yeah.' Or if there was a metal band that ... you know, someone was talking to me about working with Priestess at one point. I would love it."

And though Endicott admits to being probably the only person on the planet who has yet to watch the "She Wolf" video, he's heard it's "really great." Though, if he's being honest, he's a little disappointed that director Jake Nava didn't come to him for creative input on the clip, because he had a totally killer treatment in mind.

"I was hoping they would do the video like 'Teen Wolf,' " he laughed. "Like I was hoping she could be playing basketball and turn into a werewolf and dunk on some people. ... That would be great."

• Shakira's 'She Wolf' Premieres

• Shakira
• The Bravery

Linkin Park's Chester Bennington
Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Linkin Park weren't sure they'd be able to top last year's Projekt Revolution tour, but with a lineup that includes veteran rap and rock performers Busta Rhymes and Chris Cornell, as well as the Bravery and Ashes Divide, this year's bill may prove to be their most eclectic yet.

"We just pick groups that we think would be a good match together," Linkin Park MC Mike Shinoda said of the tour, which will hit 24 cities, kicking off July 16 in Mansfield, Massachusetts, and wrapping up August 24 in The Woodlands, Texas. "We want to create a bill that we think we'd enjoy seeing this summer."

After collaborating with Linkin Park on "We Made It," the first single off his eighth album, Blessed, Busta Rhymes was determined to join them on tour.

"Apparently, Busta was telling people, 'You don't understand, I'm going to be on that tour; you need to get me on that tour,' " Shinoda recalled. "I was saying to our touring committee ... with the single, it would be really great to do at least some shows with Busta."

Rhymes laughed at his efforts. "I was going hard, though, shamelessly," he said. "I wanted this bad."

"Busta, he's a performer," Shinoda said. "This isn't a DJ on the stage playing records."

With Rhymes and Linkin Park spending so much time together on the tour, are other collaborations on the horizon? "Absolutely. Why not?" Rhymes said. "Make an album, a couple of albums. Make a movie together. You know what I'm saying?"

Cornell decided to join the tour after enjoying his brief time with Linkin Park in Australia last October. "It's not that easy to find bands or artists [that are musically] different from what you do but that you like and your fans are going to like them, and it all makes sense but it's completely different," Cornell explained.

The former Audioslave and Soundgarden frontman described his spontaneous approach to creating a set list. "I sort of decide on the moment what the set list will be and sometimes even when we're onstage — it depends," Cornell said. "The funny part is when I'll forget. There will be a song that everybody loves that everyone expected to hear, and I forgot that song existed."

Cornell may also be debuting material from his recent collaboration with chart-topper Timbaland, who is producing Cornell's third solo album, which is planned for a September release.

"The idea of playing some new material is good," Cornell said. "Not every day is the same for me. Sometimes an audience feels different, so for me it requires a couple of different songs. You never know."

Metal band Atreyu will headline the tour's smaller Revolution stage, where 10 Years, Hawthorne Heights, Armor for Sleep and Street Drum Corps will also play.

"We just kept sending manila envelopes full of $1 bills," Atreyu lead singer Alex Varkatzas joked of how they made the lineup.

Before the U.S. leg of the tour begins, Projekt Revolution will head to Europe for the first time in the tour's five-year history, with a completely different lineup that includes N.E.R.D., the Used, H.I.M., the Blackout, InnerPartySystem and Enter Shikari. After three stops in Germany (June 21, 27, 28), the tour meets up with Jay-Z in Milton Keynes, England, on June 29.

"For some reason, there's an interest in this tour, there's an interest in what it means, and I think that it's translating in other places," Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington said. "We've never showed up to the U.K. and sold 50,000 tickets, but when we say we're doing Projekt Revolution and we have these different bands, all of a sudden it's, like, awesome."

One thing that hasn't changed since last year is Linkin Park's commitment to making the tour "green" by donating $1 from every ticket purchased to help reduce global warming through their charity, Music Relief.

Even after five years of putting this tour together, Linkin Park are excited to hit the road again. "When all the musicians on a tour feel like this is really an opportunity, and we're probably not going to be able to do this again, you're living in that moment, and you're being present with the fact that this is a really special thing we get to do," Bennington said. "It's just like I'm living out a fantasy."

• Linkin Park
• Busta Rhymes
• Atreyu
• The Bravery
• Chris Cornell

Incubus' Brandon Boyd performs at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on Thursday
Photo: Ethan Miller/ Getty Images

LAS VEGAS — If you had a million years to think about it and a million dollars to book it, you could probably dream up a more critically reviled double bill than the one served up Thursday night by the good people at Rolling Stone and the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

Here it was: Incubus and the Bravery — two bands that have barely received a splash of positive ink — sharing a stage in a parking lot at a theme casino resort on a sweltering Las Vegas evening. Of course, conventional "critic speak" about these bands is full of vim and vigor, but clearly empty on perspective.

(Glimpse Incubus and the Bravery performing at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Vegas, and don't miss pipin'-hot party-scene shots of Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and more.)

Incubus have harnessed the power of modern-rock radio and translated it into millions of records sold (their latest, Light Grenades, debuted at #1 last November) and have earned a dedicated niche of fans with their psychedelic dabblings and loud/soft heroics (see "Incubus Plan To Rest After Tour — But You Won't Find Them Vacationing In Vegas"). And the Bravery, as evidenced by their reception on this night, have still got their fair share of fist-pumping crowd-pleasers.

It may be a stretch to say that both bands are in the same boat — critically ignored, sort of scoffed at by those "in the know," yet still chugging along — but you could probably argue that they're at least in the same fleet. (Incubus would be something like a totally sweet pontoon boat, while the Bravery are like a battle-scarred German sub, if one were to extend the nautical metaphor even further.) The main difference between the two lies in how they respond to this situation.

The Bravery seem hell-bent on changing widespread critical opinions of their music, no matter what they might say to the contrary. Often panned as nothing more than Killers-come-lately, they ditched much of their pogo-ing and strangely crunchy (and strangely appealing) synths on this year's The Sun and the Moon, a record chock-full of five-part harmonies, whistled refrains and Bryan Adams references, although some find it lacking in the tune department.

Taking the stage just as late afternoon became early evening, the Bravery dove headfirst into a pair of sleek tunes from their self-titled debut, "Fearless" and "Public Service Announcement," rather unnecessarily beefing them up with muscle chords, wailing guitar solos and "whoop-whoop" backing vocals.

On songs from Sun, that more-is-more ethos was even more apparent, with even less pleasing results. "Bad Sun" was bogged down by whistles and muddy slide guitar, "This Is Not the End" lost a genuinely pretty chorus to a wall of sonic dreck, and "Every Word Is a Knife in My Ear" — which frontman Sam Endicott described as "a good old-fashioned punk-rock f--k-the-government song" — stumbled right out of the gate due to a sleepy keyboard intro (though, to be fair, it did regain steam midway through). The problem was that each new wrinkle the Bravery added actually weakened them: the overcooked songwriting (seriously dudes, not everything needs to be bumped to 11) and, more obviously, Endicott's voice, which really can't handle the upper-registers he's trying to explore.

This unnecessary overexertion even extended to the band's outfits: Despite the heat, bassist Mike H. staunchly refused to shed his leather jacket until the set's end, and Endicott disappeared backstage just before "An Honest Mistake," apparently to retuck his shirt into his pants.

While the Bravery flailed gallantly, Incubus struck the opposite tact, delivering a set heavy with improvisation and instrumentation. They were the image of a band totally fine with its standing in the rock strata — and why not?

They strode onstage to a sea of camera phones held aloft and slowly broke into the sleepy chords of "Quicksand," from Light Grenades. Then they really let it rip on "A Kiss to Send Us Off," a big, bold example of a band playing to its strengths. DJ-turned-dude-who-plays-everything Chris Kilmore provided the shimmery layers of synth noise, guitarist Mike Enzinger brought the thunderous guitar stabs, frontman Brandon Boyd made with the karate poses, and the whole thing alternately expanded and collapsed time and time again, much to the delight of the now-packed lot.

They followed "Kiss" with "Wish You Were Here," from 2001's sunnier Morning View, and Kilmore's scratching was met with plenty of air-DJ-ing from the dudes in attendance. Boyd delivered most of the lyrics, then smiled and let the audience have the chorus, which was belted out with aplomb by everyone around (a motley crew that included a spiky-haired guy in a tank top, a Nicole Richie look-alike on her BlackBerry, a portable-fan clutching mom and a dude with a backwards ballcap on).

The love didn't stop there. Other hits, like "Drive," "Nice to Know You" and the booming "Megalomaniac," were all greeted with raised fists and lusty cheers, and spacier numbers like "Anna Molly" and "Love Hurts" didn't want for appreciation either. Fans even went nuts when Boyd broke out the djembe, which, as any rock journo knows, is a sign of the impending apocalypse.

And that's probably the point. The majority of people who write about and review music like what they like and hate what they don't. (I am, perhaps unfortunately, included in this group.) The real world has little, if anything, to do with that equation. And for all the jokes I've made, tonight's show was exactly what it was supposed to be: a solid rock concert in a casino parking lot. The kids had a good time (even the one who puked directly in front of me), and the bands did too. It was like one big love-fest in the middle of the desert. And the critics weren't invited.

Catch all the star-packed VMA action direct from Las Vegas on Sunday. MTV News' preshow kicks things off live at 8 p.m. ET, followed by the big show at 9 p.m.

For all the latest VMA updates and info on performers, presenters and voting, check out www.VMA.MTV.com. For reports, photos, video and much, much more from previous VMAs, dive into the VMA archives.

• Incubus' Vegas Vacation

• Adrian Grenier, Nelly, Shia LaBeouf, Britney And More Stars Spotted In Vegas
• Paris Hilton, Diddy, Timbaland, Janet Jackson, More Hit The Vegas Party Scene
• The 2007 MTV Video Music Award Nominees
• 50, Kanye, Diddy, Lil Wayne, Eve, Adam Levine Set For 2007 MTV Video Music Awards

• Incubus
• The Bravery

<i>Young Jeezy Presents USDA: Cold Summer</i>
Photo: Def Jam

A few years ago — well, back in 334 B.C., actually — Alexander the Great's Greek army defeated Persian King Darius III in the Battle of the Granicus. Now, on the Tuesday (May 22) anniversary of that feat, a fierce battalion of new releases barrel their way into stores. Lower the drawbridge — this week is going to be one serious battle royal.

Expect the most damage to be done by top generals in three genres, with Young Jeezy and his USDA crew representing the rap set, Maroon 5 suiting up (ever-spiffily) for the pop denizens, and Ozzy Osbourne rising from his coffin once again to power up the metalheads.

Here's the battle plan:

It's Getting Cold in Herre: Young Jeezy Presents USDA: Cold Summer is pretty much all about them — at last, Jeez Louise is getting to introduce his obligatory rap group, which also features Slick Pulla and Blood Raw. The only featured guests of note are Jadakiss and Bun B, who surface on a bonus-track remix of "Go Getta." Other ice-cold tracks include "Corporate Thuggin'," "Quickie" and "I Keep Tellin' Myself." No indication yet of which member is telling himself what.

Color Them Sadd?: At first glance, Maroon 5 don't seem particularly thrilled to be back — their sophomore LP is led by "If I Never See Your Face Again" and also features "Not Falling Apart" and "Better That We Break." But there are signs of hope on It Won't Be Soon Before Long, which follows their ridiculously auspicious debut (read: four times platinum), Songs About Jane: Frontman Adam Levine — who croons, "Give me something to believe in," on the band's "Makes Me Wonder" single — has promised that the album is more upbeat. So what about the LP title? "It can mean whatever you want it to mean, but don't spend too much time thinking about it," the band said in a statement. Roger, loud and clear.

Ozzsome: Ozzy's studio-album sales have been slipping in recent years — 1995's Ozzmosis went double platinum and its successor, 2004's Down to Earth, only pushed about a million copies. But the Ozzman is packing some extra insurance this time around: Inside limited copies of his Black Rain is a ticket code that should make your entry to Ozzfest — oops, sorry, FreeFest — easier. While we'd kill to see Osbourne reprise either Michael Douglas or Andy Garcia's New York cop roles in a remake of the 1989 flick of the same name, we'll be satisfied with Ozzy's musical deluge instead. Only Joan Osbourne and her Time Life release Breakfast in Bed stand in his way.

Would They Lie to You?: The Used finally delivered their live CD/DVD package Berth in February — a year or so late — but they're back just three months later with Lies for the Liars, their first studio effort in two and a half years. This one is padded with a bonus DVD too — well, the special edition is, at least (it has special casing and a larger booklet as well) — but has high expectations to measure up to: Its predecessor, 2004's In Love and Death, sold more than 3 million copies. In case that isn't enough Used goods for you, the band's going to cough up a yet-untitled EP of Lies outtakes in the coming months.

Strange Connections: AFI, who are often mentioned in the same breath as the Used, are surreptitiously connected to a couple of releases this week. Jade Puget, who has played guitar for the band for almost a decade, helped produce the debut album by AFI tour partners the Dear & Departed. Another act hailing from Orange County, California, the Appearance, are also stepping up this week with their first effort — which was recorded with AFI producer/engineer Chris Fudurich.

Also cropping up this week — even though they don't have any new original material out — are Metric. They chalk up a reworked version of Stars' "He Lied About Death" for the band's Do You Trust Your Friends? comp, which also features Apostle of Hustle, the Dears and the Stills. Frontwoman Emily Haines is slipping out her new EP, What Is Free to a Good Home? exclusively on iTunes this week, with a CD version dropping July 24. The set features five songs that didn't make the cut on her Knives Don't Have Your Back debut LP, as well as a remix of the album track "Mostly Waving." And tour pals the Death of a Party pipe up from San Francisco to christen Double Negative Records with the first album released by either party, The Rise and Fall of Scarlet City.

Who Are You?: Expect to find a few people you might know in a few places you might not expect this week. If you're a Wolf Parade fan, don't overlook Handsome Furs' Plague Park — the Vancouver, British Columbia, duo is actually WP co-founder Dan Boeckner and his fiancee. Likewise, Ramones aficionados should take a peek at Uncle Monk, the introduction to the bluegrass two-piece of the same name, which features Tommy Ramone. Fiction Plane, who churn out Left Side of the Brain, are fronted by Sting's son Joe Sumner, while Young James Long is actually a new disguise for underground stalwart P.W. Long — he gets a hand from Taylor Young of the Polyphonic Spree on You Ain't Know the Man.

Elsewhere, Mike Gordon and Gordon Stone put a Phish shine on Adrienne Young's Room to Grow; and members of Get Up Kids, the New Amsterdams, Hot Rod Circuit and more help ex-Anniversary member Josh Berwanger with his Only Children's Keeper of Youth. Oh, and a couple of artists are leaving familiar folds so they can make their own solo outings: Meg Baird takes a breather from Espers to push her first opus, Dear Companion. And Tim Armstrong finally puts out his A Poet's Life — which has been available for free online since mid-April — in CD form (with a bonus DVD so you can get your money's worth).

Out of Sight: Deeper within the dense thicket of this week's releases lie a handful of titles that won't be screaming at you from the ends of the record racks. Metal spazz-out fiends the Number Twelve Looks Like You crank out a limited-edition four-track EP through Hot Topic featuring the new song "Sleeping With the Fishes, See?" Equally far-out electro-experimentalist Cex ekes out just 1,000 copies of his new Sketchi LP through Temporary Residence. Mont de Sundua — a clangy rock project courtesy My Morning Jacket's Jim James and members of the Insects — issue an eponymous LP that's only available at select Think Indie consortium record stores. And if you're into the whole multi-channel thing, Mobile Fidelity has a treat for you: The Super Audio CD version of the Pixies' watershed album, Surfer Rosa.

Song Title of the Week:

"Guess the Baby's Weight" from Young Knives' Weekends and Bleak Days

Other Notables:

Battles' Mirrored
After four warm-up EPs, the New York band comprising members of Tomahawk, Helmet and Don Caballero has finally mustered up the guts to put out a proper album — and The Guardian and Pitchfork have been falling head over heels for it. The band incorporates lyrics for the first time on the math-rock release, which features "Leyendecker," "Prismism" and "Ddiamondd."

The National's Boxer
Battles' fellow New Yorkers the National are a bit further along in the game — they're dropping their fourth album this week. The indie rockers have also been getting lots of Pitchfork love, and they primed their new material on MTV's 24-hour "Human Giant" marathon Saturday morning. The ever-prolific Sufjan Stevens notches another album credit on the full-length, which includes "Mistaken for Strangers," "Racing Like a Pro" and "Fake Empire."

Boris with Michio Kurihara's Rainbow
After hooking up with doom-metallers SunnO))) and a fleet of their Japanese experimental-noisemaking peers, including multiple stints with Merzbow, it's only right that Boris finally set up camp with Ghost guitarist Kurihara. The U.S. version of the album has a different closing song than the Japanese edition — we get "No Sleep Till I Become Hollow," they got "... And, I Want."

New Releases:

· 40 Cal. - Broken Safety 2 (Babygrande)
· Amandine - Solace in Sore Hands (Fat Cat)
· Amber Pacific - Truth in Sincerity (Hopeless)
· American Catapult - Trees of Mystery (Cooking Vinyl)
· The Appearance - Lost in Aurora (Adrenaline)
· Tim Armstrong - A Poet's Life (with bonus DVD; Hellcat)
· Meg Baird - Dear Companion (Drag City)
· Battles - Mirrored (Warp)
· Beardfish - Sleeping in Traffic: Part One (Inside Out)
· Ben + Vesper - All of This Could Kill You (Sounds Familyre)
· Benni Hemm Hemm - Kajak (digipak; Morr)
· Bergraven - Dödsvisioner (Hydra Head)
· Birds of Avalon - Bazaar Bazaar (Volcom)
· Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum (Graveface)
· Boris with Michio Kurihara - Rainbow (Blue Chopsticks)
· The Bravery - The Sun and the Moon (Island) [Buy]
· Michael Brecker - Pilgrimage (Heads Up)
· Brimstone Howl - Guts of Steel (Alive)
· Carnal Forge - Testify for My Victims (Candlelight)
· Cex - Sketchi (limited to 1,000 copies; Temporary Residence)
· Chick Corea and Bèla Fleck - The Enchantment (Stretch)
· The Dear & Departed - Something Quite Peculiar (Record Collection)
· Death Before Dishonor - Count Me In (Bridge Nine)
· Ediblered - Welcome to My Bad Behavior (Select)
· Erasure - Light at the End of the World (limited edition features two bonus tracks; Mute) [Buy]
· Fiction Plane - Left Side of the Brain (Bieler Bros.)
· Foghat - Live II (Metro City)
· Funker Vogt - Aviator (limited edition comes with bonus CD: Metropolis)
· Handsome Furs - Plague Park (Sub Pop)
· Hayseed Dixie - Weapons of Grass Destruction (Cooking Vinyl)
· Hiroshima - Little Tokyo (Heads Up)
· Holly Dolly - Pretty Donkey Girl (Capitol)
· Raheem Jamal - Boombox (Brick)
· Kraak & Smaak - The Remix Sessions (two CDs; Quango)
· KRS-One and Marley Marl - Hip Hop Lives (Koch)
· Ladyhawk - Fight for Anarchy (EP; Secretly Canadian)
· Amel Larrieux - Lovely Standards (Bliss Life)
· Chris Lowe - Black Life II (The Next Think Smokin') (Nature Sounds)
· The Maccabees - Colour It In (Geffen)
· Manes - How the World Came to an End (Candlelight)
· Marduk - Rom 5:12 (Regain)
· Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long (Octone) [Buy]
Read: "Maroon 5 Back With 'Harder' Album After Adam Levine Gets Sick Of Partying"
· Miracle Fortress - Five Roses (Secret City)
· Mont de Sundua - Mont de Sundua (self release; only available at Think Indie consortium record stores)
· Motor - Unhuman (Mute)
· The National - Boxer (Beggars Banquet)
· Octavia Sperati - Grace Submerged (Candlelight)
· The Only Children - Keeper of Youth (Side Cho)
· Joan Osbourne - Breakfast in Bed (Time Life)
· Ozzy Osbourne - Black Rain (limited copies come with Ozzfest ticket codes; Epic) [Buy]
Read: "Never Say Die: Ozzy Says He Wants To Make Another Sabbath LP"
· Judith Owen - Happy This Way (Courgette)
· Parts & Labor - Mapmaker (Jagjaguwar/Brah)
· Planet X - Quantum (Inside Out)
· Point One - Unlucky Stars (Adrenaline)
· Jean Luc Ponty & His Band - The Acatama Experience (Koch)
· Sherman Pore - For My Lady Love (Z-Entertainment)
· Reckless Tide - Helleraser (Locomotive)
· RedCloud - Hawthorne's Most Wanted (Syntax)
· Poncho Sanchez - Raise Your Hand (Concord)
· Arturo Sandoval - Rumba Palace (Telarc)
· Shapes and Sizes - Split Lips, Winning Hips, a Shiner (Asthmatic Kitty)
· Silent Force - Walk the Earth (Locomotive)
· Stars - Do You Trust Your Friends? (Arts & Crafts)
· Suidakra - Caledonia (Locomotive)
· Paul Taylor - Ladies' Choice (Peak)
· Jimmy Thackery and the Drivers - Solid Ice (Telarc)
· Ultra Naté - Grime Silk Thunder (Tommy Boy)
· Uncle Moe's Space Ranch - Moe's Town (Tone Center)
· Uncle Monk - Uncle Monk (Airday)
· USDA - Young Jeezy Presents USDA: Cold Summer (Def Jam) [Buy]
Read: "Jay-Z, Fabolous Hear Jeezy's New Project — But When Will Xtina Holla Back?"
· The Used - Lies for the Liars (also available with DVD; Reprise) [Buy]
· Voxtrot - Voxtrot (Playlouderecordings/ Beggars Group)
· Loudon Wainwright - Strange Weirdos: Music From and Inspired by the Film "Knocked Up" (Concord)
· We Are the Fury - Venus (One Big Spark/ East West)
· Wheat - Everyday I Said a Prayer for Kathy and Made a One Inch Square (Empyrean)
· White Rabbits - Fort Nightly (Say Hey)
· Adrienne Young - Room to Grow (Addie Belle)
· Young James Long - You Ain't Know the Man (EP; Southern)
· Hans Zimmer - "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" soundtrack (Walt Disney)
· Various artists - Just One More: A Musical Tribute to Larry Brown, a Great American Author (Bloodshot)
· Various artists - Roots Man Dub (two CDs; Heartbeat)
· Various artists - Super Cool California Soul 2 (Luv N' Haight)
· Various artists - "La Vie en Rose" soundtrack (EMI Classics/ EMI Music Catalog Marketing)
· Various artists - "Once" soundtrack (Canvasback/ Columbia/ Sony Music Soundtrax)
· Various artists - "Wild Tigers I Have Known" soundtrack (Jnana)

Notable Reissues and Archival Material:

· The Beach Boys - The Warmth of the Sun (Capitol/EMI)
· Jeff Buckley - So Real: Songs From Jeff Buckley (Legacy)
· James Chance - Soul Exorcism Redux (Roir)
· Maynard Ferguson - The Essential Maynard Ferguson (two CDs; Columbia/Legacy)
· Benny Goodman - The Essential Benny Goodman (two CDs; Bluebird/Legacy)
· H.I.M. - Uneasy Listening Vol. 2 (Universal Republic)
· iiO - Reconstruction Time: The Best of iiO Remixed (Made)
· Lujuria - Lo Mejor De (Locomotive)
· Charles Mingus - Charles Mingus in Paris: The Complete America Session (two CDs; Sunny Side) and Tijuana Moods (RCA/Legacy)
· Modern English - Everything Is Mad (High Times)
· Nina Simone - Just Like a Woman: Nina Simone Sings Classic Songs of the '60s (RCA/Legacy)
· Squealer A.D. - Confrontation Street (Locomotive)
· Various artists - Motown Remixed Vol. 2 (Motown)

Music DVDs:

· Elvis Costello - "The Juliet Letters" (Rhino) [Buy]
· Doro - "20 Years: A Warrior Soul" (two DVDs and one CD; Locomotive)
· Jerry Lee Lewis - "Greatest Live Performances of the '50s, '60s and '70s" (Time Life)

Digital Releases:

· Emily Haines - What Is Free to a Good Home? (EP)
Available on iTunes; CD digipak due July 24 · The Young Knives - Weekends and Bleak Days (Hot Summer) (EP)

Coming Attractions:

May 29: · Les Claypool - "Fancy" DVD (Prawn Song)
· Danzig - The Lost Tracks of Danzig (two CDs; Megaforce) [Preorder]
Read: "Glenn Danzig Preps 'Final' Tour, Film, Box Set And, Uh, Dolls"
· R. Kelly - Double Up (Jive) [Preorder]
Read: "New R. Kelly LP Includes Akon, Jeezy, 'Flirt' — But No 'Closet' Till July"

June 5: · Chris Cornell - Carry On (A&M) [Preorder]
Read: "Chris Cornell Ready To Carry On As Solo Artist: 'I'm Best In My Own World' "
· Marilyn Manson - Eat Me, Drink Me (Nothing) [Preorder]
Read: "Marilyn Manson Reveals He Came Close To Suicide; LP 'Was My Salvation' "
· O.A.R. - Live From Madison Square Garden (two-CD set and two-DVD set; Everfine/Lava/Atlantic)

June 12: · Fabolous - From Nothin' to Somethin' (Def Jam) [Preorder]
Read: "Fabolous' 'All-Stars' Jay-Z, Jeezy, Rihanna Make LP Somethin' To Be Reckoned With"
· Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris [Preorder]
· Various artists - Instant Karma: The Campaign to Save Darfur

• Young Jeezy
• Maroon 5
• Ozzy Osbourne
• Stars
• Battles

Linkin Park's <i>Minutes to Midnight</i>
Photo: Warner Bros.

Sixty-seven years ago Tuesday (May 15), McDonald's was founded. In the spirit of fast food, let's see — real quick-like — what helps turn this week's new releases into Happy Meals.

Time's a Wastin': For starters, Linkin Park serve their ominously themed third studio album, Minutes to Midnight — for which they spent 14 months in the studio and racked up a stupefying 100 demo songs. Rick Rubin put his Grammy-winning spit-shine on the LP and even let the bros use his 808 drum machine, which rap-rock crossover pseudo-brethren Beastie Boys used on License to Ill more than 20 years ago.
Happy Meal: The special edition comes with a Music Video Interactive DVD containing downloadable MP3s for all the tracks, plus videos, a "What I've Done" ringtone and much more.

Look, Up in the ...: Wilco's Sky Blue Sky is already drawing critical raves — duh, it's Wilco — and, were it born 30 years ago, would have fit comfortably on AOR radio. Their melancholic sixth release follows 2004's A Ghost Is Born, their first to crack the Billboard albums chart top 10 — and unless Rick James or Megadeth have something to say about it, this could very well be the second-biggest release dropping this week.
Happy Meal: Move over, LP — Wilco have a special edition of their own, and it also comes with a bonus DVD littered with surprises: a 45-minute documentary co-directed by Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty, interview clips with the six bandmembers and more.

Still Getting His Freak On: Rick James had put the finishing touches on a new studio album before he passed in August 2004, and almost three years later, Deeper Still finally makes its way into stores. The set features 11 tracks, 10 of which James wrote or co-wrote and all of which he produced, even though the funk master had originally wanted it to be a double album consisting of 20 cuts.
Happy Meal: "Do You Wanna Play" is, according to a press release, "an unadulterated invitation to carnal pleasures," while "Secrets" and "Funk Wit Me" are equally intimate, to put it politely.

Give (It) Up: For their fourth effort, metalcore stewards Hopesfall huddled with Mike Watts — no, not the legendary punk bassist; Mike Watts, producer of like-minded bands like As Tall as Lions and As Cities Burn. The North Carolina group's latest includes "Swamp Kittens," "Cubic Zirconias Are Forever" and "Devil's Concubine."
Happy Meal: The brilliant Magnetic North cover art.

Playing Tag: Rawkus Records is back as you probably know, and the label is hoping it has a new Mos Def or Talib Kweli on its hands in newcomer Marco Polo. The NYC-by-way-of-Toronto rapper, who is a former member of the Beat Society and was named one of Urb's Next 100 artists, produced his first album all on his own.
Happy Meal: Guest spots by Masta Ace, Large Professor and Kool G Rap round out the release.

Wain's World: Speaking of self-produced albums, Rufus Wainwright's Release the Stars is the first he did completely by himself — although it was executive produced by Pet Shop Boys conspirator Neil Tennant. The emotional singer/songwriter also got assists on his fifth album from guest stars Richard Thompson, Joan Wasser and veteran Welsh stage actress Siân Phillips.
Happy Meal: Look no further than Wainwright's quintessential operatic heart-on-his-sleeve outpouring, which inevitably crops up again throughout his latest LP.

Strung Out: The High Strung have been touring libraries — yes, you, uh, read that right — to hype their third album, which is appropriate in light of the many fictional character sketches and narratives brought forth in Get the Guests. That includes "Rimbaud/Rambo," about a narrator weighing the romantic potential of both; "The Curator," about a museum employee who covers the walls with his own art; and "Arrow," which imagines what would happen if Cupid were to stick himself with one of his love spears.
Happy Meal: Song titles include "There Was No One Before You, There Was No One Before Me," "The Meddler" and — wait for it — "What a Meddler!"

Friendly Fire: Welsh rockers Funeral for a Friend — who recently toured with My Chemical Romance — churn out Tales Don't Tell Themselves this week, with a big assist from Foo Fighters producer Gil Norton. The band's third album features the first single, "Into Oblivion (Reunion)" — the video for which landed 14,000 views in its first 24 hours — "Out of Reach" and "On a Wire."
Happy Meal: Norton employs strings, French horns and a 26-piece orchestra on many of the tracks.

The genesis of Genesis: The band is back this summer — without Peter Gabriel, beware — and Rhino is hailing the reunion with a six-CD/six-DVD set, Genesis 1976-1982. The first of three box sets the label is planning features the band's five studio discs from that era, expanded with bonus tracks, remastered sound, unreleased videos, photo galleries, interviews and much more.
Happy Meal: Fans will go gaga over rare B-sides, EP tracks and more that are littered throughout the hefty set.

Metal Mayhem: On the topic of "genesis," Job for a Cowboy — who have made the rounds with Cannibal Corpse and are set for this summer's Sounds of the Underground Tour — are using that term as the title of their first album. The LP features weightily named songs like "Altered From Catechization," "Reduced to Mere Filth" and "Martyrdom Unsealed" and was mixed by Grammy-winning Megadeth collaborator Andy Sneap.

Sneap also reconvened with 'Deth for their 11th studio release, United Abominations, which Dave Mustaine and the gang churn out this week. Recorded in Los Angeles and England, the old-school throwback album recaps the band's classic track "À Tout Le Monde (Set Me Free)" with new vocals by Lacuna Coil's Cristina Scabbia.

Happy Meal: Metalheads are always happy.

Odds 'N' Sods: Also this week, Zach Barocas is helping out his onetime Jawbox bandmate, post-punk icon J. Robbins, with a two-CD tribute comp, For Callum. The set has been crafted to raise funds for Robbins' son, who has spinal muscular atrophy, and it features contributions from Mission of Burma, David Grubbs, Jawbreaker and many more. It's only available at Catlick Records' Web site.

Also hard to find but available on Dischord's Web site is a remastered version of Fugazi's Red Medicine and a slew of entries in the Fugazi Live Series. The label is selling the remaining stock of CDs from the series, after which it plans to release the concert recordings digitally.

And speaking of digital releases, hip-hop producer and X-ecutioners collaborator Marshall Law has posted his 60-minute experimental mix, Testing the Waters, right here for free download.

Last but not least, Starbucks is exclusively releasing the collection Bluesville, featuring tracks by Albert King, Willie Dixon and other blues greats.

Song Title of the Week:

"And I Told Them I Invented Times New Roman" from Dance Gavin Dance's Downtown Battle Mountain

Other Notables:

Dungen's Tio Bitar: The Swedish psych-rockers take guitar noise to another level with their second disc, which also encompasses violin, flute, piano and organ, along with the usual bass and drums. Gustav Ejstes and company dish up "Ska Inte Tro Alt Det Ordnar Sig," "Mon Amour," "Familj," and other tracks you don't understand. Just don't let the artwork make you too dizzy.

Betty Davis' Betty Davis and They Say I'm Different: The funk and soul goddess — who counts Ice Cube and Herbie Hancock among her fans — gets some retro lovin' with her first reissues ever. Mrs. Miles Davis' first two albums — which she wrote and produced all on her own, like her other releases — feature three and four unreleased bonus cuts, respectively.

Tim Buckley's "My Fleeting House": There's another first in the archival world this week: the release of the only authorized Buckley DVD to date. The footage spans the entirety of his career (1967-'74) and includes 11 full songs and three partial performances, plus unreleased footage from "The Steve Allen Show," interviews with his collaborators and more.

New Releases:

· The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism (Ramseur)
· Balkan Beat Box - Nu Med (JDub)
· Before Their Eyes - Before Their Eyes (Rise)
· Blacktop Mourning - No Regret (Megaforce)
· Chaka Khan - Classikhan (Music World)
· Dance Gavin Dance - Downtown Battle Mountain (Rise)
· Dirty Sweet - ... Of Monarchs & Beggars (Seedling)
· Dungen - Tio Bitar (Kemado)
· Flatfoot 56 - Jungle of the Midwest Sea (Flicker)
· Funeral for a Friend - Tales Don't Tell Themselves (Atlantic)
· Great Northern - Trading Twilight for Daylight (Eenie Meenie)
· Howard Hewett - If Only (Machine Productions)
· The High Strung - Get the Guests (Park the Van)
· Hollywood Rose - Dopesnake (Cleopatra)
· Hopesfall - Magnetic North (Trustkill)
· The Horrors - Strange House (enhanced; Stolen Transmission)
· Ian Hunter - Shrunken Heads (Yep Roc)
· Rick James - Deeper Still (Stone City)
· Job for a Cowboy - Genesis (Metal Blade)
· JT and the Clouds - The City's Hot Yeah the City's Hot (Dishrag)
· Kari Kimmel - A Day in the Life (self-release)
· Lewis & Clarke - Blasts of Holy Birth (La Société Expéditionnaire)
· Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight (special edition comes with MVI DVD; Warner Bros./ Machine Shop) [Buy]
Read: "Linkin Park's Minutes To Midnight Preview: Nu-Metallers Grow Up"
· Harry Manx and Kevin Breit - In Good We Trust (Stony Plain)
· Marco Polo - Port Authority (Red Urban)
· Megadeth - United Abominations (Roadrunner) [Buy]
· Maria Muldaur - Naughty, Bawdy & Blue (Stony Plain)
· The Narrator - All That to the Wall (Flameshovel)
· The O'Jays - Imagination (Music World)
· Dolores O'Riordan - Are You Listening? (Sanctuary)
· Ozma - Pasadena (Reincarnate)
· The Phoenix Foundation - Horsepower (Young American)
· Pink Martini - Hey Eugene! (Heinz)
· The Race - Ice Station (Flameshovel)
· Fennesz Sakamoto - Cendre (Touch)
· The Shake - Kick It (Unicycle)
· Southerly - Storyteller and the Gossip Columnist (Greyday)
· Rufus Wainwright - Release the Stars (Geffen) [Buy]
· Wilco - Sky Blue Sky (enhanced; Nonesuch) [Buy]

Notable Reissues and Archival Material:

· The Alan Parsons Project - The Essential Alan Parsons Project (two CDs; Arista/Legacy)
· Betty Davis - Betty Davis and They Say I'm Different (Light in the Attic)
· Genesis - Genesis 1976-1982 (six CDs and six DVDs; Rhino)
· Jefferson Airplane - Sweeping Up the Spotlight: Live at the Fillmore East 1969 (RCA/Legacy)
· Moby Grape - Listen My Friends! The Best of Moby Grape (Epic/Legacy)
· The Remains - The Remains (Epic/Legacy)
· UB40 - Live at Montreux 2002 (Eagle)
· Chucho Valdéz & His Combo - The Complete 1964 Sessions (MVD Audio)
· Chucho Valdéz Trio - Jazz Bata (MVD Audio)
· Various artists - Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (Legacy)

Music DVDs:

· Tim Buckley - "My Fleeting House" (MVD Visual)
· Madonna - "The Wild Angel - The Unauthorized Story" (Eagle Vision)
· Garnett Silk - "Earth Day Celebration: A Reggae Tribute to Garnett Silk - Live 2003" (MVD Visual)
· TLC - "Now & Forever: The Video Hits" (La Face)
· Miroslav Vitous - "Live in Vienna" (MVD Visual)

Coming Attractions:

May 22: · Tim Armstrong - A Poet's Life (with bonus DVD; Hellcat)
· The Bravery - The Sun and the Moon (Island) [Preorder]
· KRS-One and Marley Marl - Hip Hop Lives (Koch) [Preorder]
· Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long (Octone) [Preorder]
Read: "Maroon 5 Back With 'Harder' Album After Adam Levine Gets Sick Of Partying"
· Ozzy Osbourne - Black Rain (Epic) [Preorder]

May 29: · Les Claypool - "Fancy" DVD (Prawn Song)
· Danzig - The Lost Tracks of Danzig (two CDs; Megaforce) [Preorder]
Read: "Glenn Danzig Preps 'Final' Tour, Film, Box Set And, Uh, Dolls"
· R. Kelly - Double Up (Jive)
Read: "New R. Kelly LP Includes Akon, Jeezy, 'Flirt' — But No 'Closet' Till July"

June 5: · Chris Cornell - Carry On (A&M)
Read: "Chris Cornell Ready To Carry On As Solo Artist: 'I'm Best In My Own World' "
· Marilyn Manson - Eat Me, Drink Me (Nothing)
Read: "Marilyn Manson Reveals He Came Close To Suicide; LP 'Was My Salvation' "
· O.A.R. - Live From Madison Square Garden (two-CD set and two-DVD set; Everfine/Lava/Atlantic)

• Linkin Park
• Wilco
• Rick James
• Megadeth
• Rufus Wainwright

The Bravery
Photo: Island

When the Bravery's Sam Endicott sat down to start writing the songs for his band's new album, he had a couple of very distinct goals in mind.

"I definitely didn't give a sh-- about being cool anymore," he said. "You can get so caught up in impressing the people on your block that you lose sight of everything that's important. It's important to be a good band, and it's important to make good music. Everything else isn't important.

"And secondly," he continued. "I decided I was definitely over talking sh-- about other bands."

Which means that as Endicott and his bandmates begin work on album number two, there will be no more blog backlash to deal with and no heated spats with fellow synth revisionists (see "Killers Beef, Hipster Backlash Can't Bring The Bravery Down"). Instead, drama-mongers will have to be content with the Bravery as a real rock and roll band.

"We've become a better band, thanks to touring for, like, 18 months, and it shows on the new record," Endicott said. "There's more of a live-band thing going on. We went so synth-crazy on the first one, we kind of burned out on it, and so it's exciting to hear a piano or an acoustic guitar. The first record, everything was really speedy, and this one has a much wider range of styles: slow synth songs, rockers, dance songs."

The band is one month into sessions with producer Brendan O'Brien (Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen) at his Atlanta studio, working on a batch of 15 songs. Endicott wrote the tracks in two feverish sessions, first in a makeshift recording studio on the back of their tour bus during their three-month stint opening for Depeche Mode in Europe and then back in New York City under equally grizzly conditions.

"In May, I came back to New York and I holed up in a hotel room and just grew a beard and kicked it J.D. Salinger style, and I wrote the other half of the album," Endicott said. "None of us had homes when we came back from tour, so we were all sort of like hermits, living all over the place."

And that concept of returning home after a long absence — and dealing with the repercussions of that time away — is all over the new record. Endicott said the LP follows in the same broken-relationship vein of the Bravery's first single, "An Honest Mistake" (see "The Bravery Fight Nerves As They Prepare To Drop Debut LP").

"It's even more about relationships," he said. "I guess I would say it's more personal. The whole band has been through a lot. There's a spiritual element to the record. It's about thinking about your life and what it means and what is beyond all this. I didn't intend to write it in that way; that just seems to be a theme. We've all in the last couple of years had to reassess our lives and take stock of things."

The band hopes to wrap up sessions with O'Brien in the fall and have the new — and still-untitled — album in stores in early 2007. And though Endicott is keeping specific details about the record close to the vest, he did reveal his plans for the first single — or, more specifically, all 15 first singles.

"I don't know what the first single will be," he said. "I'm no good at stuff like that. I just try to make 'em all good and whatever the people end up choosing, it'll be good. If I'm proud of all of them, then I'll be happy for whichever song they end up picking to be the first one out. So, at the moment, I would say there are 15 potential first singles on the record."

• The Bravery

Britney Spears
Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Britney Spears, who's dabbled in kabbalah and, most recently, Hinduism, is returning to her roots as a Christian — at least on TV. The singer will appear on "Will & Grace" as Jack's religious co-host on "Out TV," NBC confirmed Tuesday (January 31). In the episode, called "Jack Talk," "Out TV" is bought by a Christian television network, and Spears, brought in as Jack's sidekick, decides to do a cooking segment called "Cruci-fixin's." The episode airs April 13 at 8 p.m. ...

Lindsay Lohan landed in the hospital on Friday for the second time in a month after she suffered a gash on her shin when a ceramic teacup slipped from her grip, shattered and cut her, "Access Hollywood" reports. Lohan, who was visiting singer Bryan Adams' mansion in London when the incident occurred, received 10 stitches but is reportedly doing fine and is already back to work, her spokesperson told "Access." ...

Grammy week will kick off Monday night with a free, Verizon Wireless-sponsored concert by the Fugees on the corner of Hollywood and Vine in Hollywood. The group, which most recently performed at last summer's BET Awards, will debut material from its first album since 1996's The Score. ... Ludacris, Common and Oscar nominee Matt Dillon have signed on to take the stage as presenters at the Grammy Awards, slated for February 8 in Los Angeles. ... The Roots will host their third annual jam session the night before the Grammys on February 7 at the Key Club in West Hollywood, California. Dave Chappelle and Don Cheadle are co-hosting the event, which is sure to feature several special guests. ...

Destiny's Child will reunite to sing the national anthem at the NBA All-Star Game in their native Houston on February 19. TNT will televise the game beginning at 8 p.m. ET. ... T.I. shot a video on Sunday in Houston for his new single, "Front-Back Main" featuring Bun B. The clip, directed by Dr. Teeth, visualizes the Atlanta and Houston hip-hop scenes coming together, and includes a shot where T.I. drives a candy-painted Cadillac (à la Houston) and Bun drives a Chevy on rims (Atlanta-style). ...

The Game's manager, James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond, was convicted Tuesday of assaulting DJ Zxulu of WKYS-FM in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. According to The Associated Press, witnesses in the two-day trial testified that Rosemond beat the DJ after he made a joke about the manager's cell phone earpiece. Rosemond will be sentenced in April and could face up to 10 years in prison. ... We Are Scientists, Thursday and Rogue Wave are among the first acts announced for the 14th annual Noise Pop Festival in San Francisco. Running from March 28 to April 2, the festival will also include the National, the Dirtbombs and Kid Koala. Tickets go on sale February 5. ...

The Bravery, who self-produced their debut, are considering going another route for the follow-up. "We're intrigued by the idea of having some other creative force in there," singer Sam Endicott said. "If we can get like Rick Rubin or Brian Eno or like Quincy Jones, but I don't know what he's doing now." ... Rise Against are planning to finish their next record before heading out on the Warped Tour this summer, and singer Tim McIlrath is warning those who might expect another acoustic tune like their recent hit "Swing Life Away." " 'Swing' was never intended to be a Rise Against song, so if something like that happens naturally, that's great, but I don't want to have that token acoustic song on every Rise Against record either," McIlrath said. "I don't think being that band is a good idea." ...

The lineup for Ministry's upcoming MasterBaTour, which kicks off May 5 in Houston, has been released. As always, frontman Al Jourgensen will lead the charge, and this time out he'll get help from Slipknot's Joey Jordison at the kit, Killing Joke bassist Paul Raven, Prong guitarist Tommy Victor and Rigor Mortis guitarist Mike Scaccia. A new Ministry album, Rio Grande Blood, will surface on May 2. ... The Recording Industry Association of America announced its latest round of copyright-infringement lawsuits on Tuesday. In addition to the 750 "John Doe" suits against unnamed users cited for illegally distributing copyrighted music using such peer-to-peer services as LimeWire and Kazaa, 112 named defendants were sued earlier this month on similar charges. ...

ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons guest stars on the next episode of "Yes, Dear," along with Rascal Flatts and DJs Vic "The Brick" Jacobs and Steve Hartman, all playing themselves. In the episode, called "The Limo," Gibbons gets priority treatment at a fancy restaurant, much to the chagrin of the show's main characters, who are there to celebrate their anniversary. The episode airs Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. on CBS. ... The members of Pink Floyd issued a statement Monday denying persistent rumors that the band's planning to reunite for a tour this fall. "Since Live 8," during which the classic lineup did regroup for the first time in two decades to perform, "there are certain sections of the media that have deliberately misled fans and [the] public by inventing stories and quotes about Pink Floyd touring," David Gilmour said in the statement. "Nick [Mason], Richard [Wright], Roger [Waters] and I are telling fans directly that this is not happening. We are also asking the various parties who are fabricating these stories to desist, if only for the sake of the fans." ...

01.30.2006

Kelly Clarkson, Chris Brown, Common and MTV News' Sway will discuss the state of the music industry with high school students on February 6 as part of Grammy week. The What's the Download Rap Session, sponsored by the Recording Academy, will be held at Newman Hall on the University of Southern California campus. ...

Eminem's Shady Records isn't throwing Detroit's only pre-Super Bowl bash. Lil Jon will host a party at hot spot Agave on Friday, and at the same venue the following night, Ludacris and actor Anthony Anderson will be the main attractions for a soiree dubbed Hustle & Flow: Detroit Style. Luda will also be performing at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Friday with Young Jeezy, Juvenile, Twista and Juelz Santana. R. Kelly, meanwhile, will perform on Sunday at the Glass House, and Diddy has three shindigs booked: his Diddy's Cashmere Luxe Party at the Elysium Lounge on Friday; the 5th Player's Ball on Saturday and the Diamonds and Furs party on Sunday — both being held at Captain's Bar & Grille in Detroit. Former Detroit Pistons player Derrick Coleman is hosting the Platinum Party, which will feature Nelly, Murphy Lee, Ali and Gipp; that party's happening on Saturday at the Detroit Opera House. Nelly will join Jamie Foxx, John Legend, the Four Tops and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas for the Motown Music Fest at the Masonic Temple on Saturday. And lastly, Kanye West, Nickelback, Train and the Goo Goo Dolls will perform during the Pepsi Smash Super Bowl Bash on Thursday inside the city's State Theatre. ...

It may still be lacking a release date, but now at least there's a trailer available for "Idlewild," the much-delayed feature-film debut from Outkast. Currently streaming over at the movie's official site, IdlewildMovie.net, the trailer shows 'Kast's Andre 3000 and Big Boi as Percival and Rooster, two lifelong friends who open up a speakeasy called Church in the 1930s South. Several new Outkast songs are played throughout, and at the end of the trailer we're told that the soundtrack to the film is due in stores on February 14 — though Outkast's label says that information is no longer true, and that the album has no firm release date. ... Slip-N-Slide Records was awarded an injunction last week in its legal battle with TVT Records over the rights to an album's worth of material Pitbull recorded in 2001 — before he signed with TVT Records, which released his debut, M.I.A.M.I., in 2004. The injunction, granted by a U.S. District Court magistrate judge, bars TVT Records' efforts to thwart the release of the disc, Welcome to the 305. The record was slated for release last May but TVT obtained a cease-and-desist order, which scared off Slip-N-Slide's distributors. TVT's action, the judge determined, damaged Slip-N-Slide's business dealings with potential buyers. The injunction clears the way for the label to release the album, but there's no word yet on when Slip-N-Slide might do that. ...

Jennifer Garner, Scarlett Johansson and Teri Hatcher are among the actors who sing on a new album of lullabies and ballads called Unexpected Dreams: Songs From the Stars. Due March 28 and benefiting Music Matters, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's music-education program, the album also includes Ewan McGregor, Eric McCormack, Nia Vardalos, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Lucy Lawless. ... Dinosaur Jr. seem to be getting along just fine. The reunited indie-rock heroes have announced dates for an upcoming spring tour that will take the band to a number of cities for the first time since the original trio joined forces again last year. The spate of 23 announced dates kicks off on March 29 in Dallas and includes stops in New Orleans, Nashville, Salt Lake City and a two-night stand in San Francisco April 19-20. Even better for hard-core fans, the bandmembers are in guitarist/singer J Mascis' home studio recording new material, but they're not saying what it's for just yet. In the meantime, look for the release of their first-ever live concert DVD this summer. ...

Need more Joy Division in your Easter Mass? The BBC will air a live Passion parade from the streets of Northern England's musical mecca, Manchester, on Good Friday. While the BBC is keeping mum about who will play Jesus Christ, Judas Iscariot and Pontius Pilate, it has announced that Jesus will belt out tunes from some of your favorite Manchester bands, including Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" during the Last Supper, and a duet with Pontius Pilate on the Oasis hit "Wonderwall." ... Manchester music fans witnessed an early resurrection on Saturday when former Smiths bassist Andy Rourke joined his ex-bandmate Johnny Marr onstage. The surprise reunion took place at a Manchester versus Cancer benefit with Morrissey-free renditions of "How Soon Is Now?" and "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out," according to the BBC. The duo have not played together in public since the Smiths broke up in 1987. ...

Fans of Beenie Man put a new spin on the term "crowd participation" on Tuesday in London. A man made off with Beenie's $180,000 watch, but several fans who witnessed the crime, which took place at a record store, pursued the robber and got the toaster's watch back. ... Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson of the Roots will give a talk about the relationship between jazz and hip-hop Wednesday at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York. The event will be held at 7 p.m. in the Irene Diamond Education Center. ...

311 will move the 2006 edition of their 3-11 Day concert (held, of course, on March 11) from Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, which is still damaged from Hurricane Katrina, to the MidSouth Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee. At the 3-11 Day concert in 2004, 311 played a five-hour set of 68 songs. ... Manowar guitarist Karl Logan was injured last week in a motorcycle accident, from which he sustained severe injuries to his left arm. According to the band's Web site, the mishap "will prevent [Logan] from performing for an as-yet-unknown period of time," and will also delay the release of the band's forthcoming, still-untitled album. Bassist Joey DeMaio assured fans that the accident will not debilitate the 'War. "Nothing ever has, or ever will, stop Manowar," he wrote on the site.

• Britney Spears
• Lindsay Lohan
• Ludacris
• T.I.
• The Bravery

Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor
Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

With most of New Orleans pumped dry and businesses beginning to clean up after Hurricane Katrina, one of the city's musical gems has decided to come back home ... for one day, anyway.

Last month, organizers announced that they would move the seventh-annual Voodoo Music Experience to Memphis' Tom Lee Park (see "Voodoo Music Experience Relocates From New Orleans To Memphis"). Now organizers say that they will split the festival into two parts, with the first night's show (October 29) taking place in New Orleans, and the second (October 30) in Memphis. The concert will be the first full-scale, large entertainment event within city limits since the disastrous hurricane and subsequent flood hit the city on August 29.

According to a message posted on the show's official Web site, the shows will be focused on "Two cities united with a common goal: to celebrate and renew the city of New Orleans. As a sign of support and rebirth as New Orleans begins to rebuild, this observance of music will bring together the diversity of culture that serves as the foundation for both cities."

The invitation-only New Orleans show at Riverview Park will celebrate the efforts of those who've worked on the cleanup and recovery efforts in the city for the past six weeks. Previous ticket holders will be welcomed to the New Orleans show, along with police, firefighters, National Guard, military and others who've worked on restoring the city.

"In the course of the past few weeks, the outpouring of support from not only the music industry, but from people from all walks of life, who want to come together to celebrate New Orleans has been tremendous," festival producer Stephen Rehage said in a statement. "The ability to move forward in two cities — with so much music history — is overwhelming to everyone involved with this year's event. We want to thank all the artists who have shown their support by honoring their commitment to this historic event. We all look forward to making this weekend one to remember."

The festival was originally scheduled to take place over Halloween weekend in New Orleans' City Park. When Katrina hit, organizers moved the entire show to Memphis, but they had a change of heart when community leaders in New Orleans approached them about moving the show back for a day as a tribute to the relief workers. Proceeds from the festival will benefit the New Orleans Restoration Fund as well as Mercy Corps, Habitat for Humanity and other local organizations working to restore the city's famed cultural heritage.

The New Orleans bill will feature Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, Digable Planets, the Bravery, New York Dolls, LCD Soundsystem, the Secret Machines, H.I.M., Sevendust, VHS or Beta, the Rebirth Brass Band and more than 20 other acts.

The Memphis show will take place at AutoZone Park and feature Cake, the North Mississippi Allstars, the Decemberists, New York Dolls, Better Than Ezra, VHS or Beta, Sevendust, Cowboy Mouth, H.I.M., World Leader Pretend and the Giraffes.

Memphis will also host a series of free downtown concerts beginning on October 27 and continuing through the weekend; lineups for those shows have not yet been announced. In addition, such New Orleans legends as Dr. John and the Neville Brothers will play special New Orleans-themed concerts on the city's Beale Street.

To find out what you can do to help provide relief to victims of Katrina, head to think MTV's hurricane relief page.

• Nine Inch Nails
• Queens of the Stone Age
• Digable Planets
• The Bravery
• The New York Dolls

The Bravery
Photo: Candice Lawler

Who in their right mind would draft up a song called "Public Service Announcement" that pokes fun at someone who actually finds themselves on fire? The same band that would think it was a good idea to dodge flaming arrows and perform on speedboats in its music videos: the Bravery.

"It's like when you're in kindergarten, they teach you that thing, like if you catch on fire, you're supposed to 'stop, drop and roll,' and I always thought that was really strange," frontman Sam Endicott explained of the next single from the Brooklyn band's self-titled debut (see "The Bravery Fight Nerves As They Prepare To Drop Debut LP"). "I guess kids are on fire more in America. I don't really know [what that's all about]."

Naturally, the Bravery have big plans for the "Public Service Announcement" music video, which will most likely include them lighting stuff on fire.

"There may be some burning animals," Endicott joked. "We'll see what happens."

Drummer Anthony Burulcich said he'll take one for the team, if necessary. "I'm willing to be lit on fire for this, but I don't know if they'll let me," he said.

Fueled by the success of their past singles — including the somber "An Honest Mistake," "Fearless" and their current clip "Unconditional" — the Bravery have been hard at work trekking around the globe, playing shows (see "Bravery Kick Off Tour, Plan Video With Animals"). And in the rare instance the quintet actually finds itself on a break, the group has been trying to churn out new material for its next album.

"We're sick of playing the same songs all the time, and we want to start bringing in some new stuff," Endicott said. "There'll be more sort of like a human element to [the next LP]. We'll be playing with more chops, skill, that kind of thing, but then there will also be the synthetic stuff that will be even more synthetic. So I think we'll probably just go further in both directions."

• The Bravery

Beck at the KROQ Inland Invasion 5
Photo: Getty Images

DEVORE, California — Beck's band played the kitchen table, the Arcade Fire played motorcycle helmets and Travis Barker played Dr. Dre at the anything-goes Inland Invasion on Saturday, the unofficial end to the summer festival season in California.

While KROQ-FM's Weenie Roast traditionally marks the start of under-the-sun concert fun (see "Grohl's Nipple Squeezed, Audioslave Play With 'Fire' At Weenie Roast"), for the last five years the Los Angeles station has also capped it off with the Inland Invasion. Typically, the festival has focused more on honoring some of alternative rock's most influential acts; Devo and Tears for Fears headlined last year. But the event went slightly more modern this year, with Weezer, Beck, Oasis, Garbage and 311 among the top names — who made big debuts in the mid-'90s (which explains Cake and Live).

The '80s were represented with Madness and Fishbone, but the afternoon slots were mostly filled with up-and-comers like the Arcade Fire, Bloc Party, Jet, Kasabian and the Bravery. The newest band on the bill, however, was Blink-182 drummer Barker and DJ AM, making their public debut.

The concept is simple — Barker drums along to AM's DJing — but the execution was far more exciting than it sounds. First, AM spun mostly mash-ups, and interesting ones at that. Mixing AC/DC's "Back in Black" with Snoop Dogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot" sounded oddly natural, while Montell Jordan's "This Is How We Do It" with the Game's "How We Do" was clever. Barker played drums to an a cappella rock or rap vocal track (Dre's "The Next Episode" was brilliant), or he added multiple layers and fills to the existing beats — regardless, he was constantly banging away, and dripped with sweat after the 30-minute set. "I literally go jogging and stuff to stay in shape for this," he said backstage.

On a beautiful 80-degree afternoon, the sold-out audience at the Hyundai Pavilion came early, but didn't get fully to its feet until local favorites 311, Beck and Weezer hit the stage.

Culling mostly from their first few albums, 311 maintained a high-energy vibe capped by a group drumline. Beck also got creative with percussion, when his band returned after an acoustic set to sit around a kitchen table and beat on the various glasses and dishes with silverware.

Beck split time between his new Guero, including a funkified rendition of "Black Tambourine," complete with a breakdancer (straight out of Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" video — but with a tambourine, of course), and older hits like "Loser" and "Devil's Haircut," which he reinvented by twisting and turning in different directions (a little country here, a little soul there).

Weezer played a pure greatest-hits set, seamlessly transitioning from "My Name Is Jonas" to "We Are All on Drugs" to "Buddy Holly." At one point, drummer Pat Wilson grabbed a guitar to rip through the end of Queen's "We Will Rock You," prompting the rest of the band to share his drums.

After frontman Rivers Cuomo, hardly recognizable sans glasses, strummed an acoustic "Holiday in the Sun" from the middle of the venue, the rest of Weezer returned for "Undone (The Sweater Song)," during which a fan was brought up onstage to play the guitar part.

Between Live's Ed Kowalczyk, the Bravery's Sam Endicott (who wore the black suit and eye shadow as usual, despite promising shorts and a Hawaiian shirt backstage) and Oasis' Liam Gallagher, the Inland Invasion stage certainly saw its share of dynamic frontmen. Taking the cake, however, was the fest's only frontwoman, Garbage's Shirley Manson.

With her bright-red lipstick (and hair!) clashing with her black denim skirt, black net stockings and black leather boots, Manson shook, spun and slithered around to hit after hit. During the instrumental breaks in "Bad Boyfriend," she stared into the crowd and moaned. And later, she jumped off the stage and ran through the aisles, singing the entire time.

Also spreading their show past the stage was the Arcade Fire, whose guitarist literally dove over the barricade to get closer to fans. And that was hardly noticeable during their frenetic set, which began with a simple French horn playing the opening notes of "Wake Up," but quickly exploded into a small army of multi-instrumentalists tearing into the music and screaming the words to song after song. (Even bandmembers with microphones sang along.)

The band's Régine Chassagne was entertaining enough on her own, jumping from piano to drums to xylophone, and miming her way around an invisible box as she sang "Haiti."

Due to heavy early traffic, the Arcade Fire arrived (with gear) just minutes before showtime and dealt with technical difficulties for much of the set. But it was all for the better for the audience, who got to watch them destroy their instruments after the last song.

Hey, what better way to end the season?

For more sights and stories from concerts around the country, check out MTV News Tour Reports.

• Photos: The KROQ Inland Invasion 5 - 09.18.2005

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