The Killers' Brandon Flowers
Photo: John Shearer/ WireImage

The longer Lollapalooza organizers wait to unveil the lineup for this year's festival, the more people will speculate. The Chicago Tribune and Billboard already leaked the news that the Beastie Boys, Depeche Mode, Kings of Leon and Jane's Addiction will be among this year's headliners.

And over the weekend, the Tribune added a few more names to that list: the Killers and Tool, who will reportedly fill out the remaining headliner slots for the three-day festival (August 7-9). Another act the paper says you can count on is the Decemberists, who might play their new concept album, The Hazards of Love, in its entirety, just like they did at South by Southwest.

The story also confirms that punk godfather Lou Reed has been asked to play a late-afternoon/ early-evening greatest-hits set. A spokesperson for the festival would not comment on the latest rumors and reiterated that the official lineup will be released on April 21.

The Tribune isn't the only Chicago paper speculating about the schedule. An article in the city's alt-weekly, the Chicago Reader, took a slightly more scientific approach to the task by looking at the festival's notorious blackout window for artists, which, according to writer Jessica Hopper, can bar an act from playing within 250 miles and 120 days of Lolla.

Using that logic, Hopper reverse-engineered a lineup by figuring out which acts appear to have Chicago-centric holes in their U.S. tours between April and Lollapalooza, or who might have priced out of Pitchfork's rival Chicago festival. On the basis of those parameters, Hopper offered up a possible return from Girl Talk, as well as potential sets from Bon Iver, No Age, Peter Bjorn and John, Animal Collective, Atmosphere, Bat for Lashes, Jason Mraz and Lykke Li. She even speculates that Taylor Swift — who has an apparently open spot on her tour on August 7 — could pop in, as well as hometown heroes Fall Out Boy, M.I.A. (who just confirmed her first post-pregnancy date for Coachella next month), PJ Harvey and maybe Lil Wayne, though he has a gig in nearby Hoffman Estates on April 10, 111 days before the festival.

• MTV News' Headlines Of The Day

• The Killers
• The Decemberists
• Tool
• Lou Reed

The Decemberists perform at Stubb's Bar-B-Q in Austin, Texas on Wednesday
Photo: Andrew Ross Rowe/ MTV News

AUSTIN, Texas — When the Decemberists, hyper-literate indie laureates of the Pacific Northwest, made the leap to the majors in 2006, they responded to criticism from the holier-than-thous with The Crane Wife, a conceptual long-player based on a Japanese folk tale and stuffed to the gills with proggy jams and planetarium-ready organ solos. The intent, it would seem, was to silence their detractors by making possibly the majorest of major-label debuts.

It's not clear who's angered them this time around, but boy, are they pissed. At least judging by their new album, The Hazards of Love, that is.

Because on Wednesday night at South By Southwest, the Decemberists unleashed Hazards upon the masses, playing the album in its entirety to a thoroughly slack-jawed crowd at venerable Austin rock spot Stubb's Bar-B-Q. This was certainly ambitious. After all, their new album rocks harder and stretches the conceptual angle further than anything the Decemberists have ever done before. It's less twee folk, more, well, everything else. Which translated into much soloing, some serious riffing and at least one guitar line nicked from Bon Jovi. There were five drummers simultaneously pounding, two ethereal singers emoting and one prerecorded children's choir.

It was over-the-top, it was theatrical, and it was, to say the least, a rather epic way to kick off SXSW 2009.

Expanded to a seven-piece with the addition of female singers Becky Stark (frontwoman of Lavender Diamond) and Shara Worden (a.k.a. My Brightest Diamond) — who portrayed two of Hazards' central characters, the pure-hearted heroine Margaret and the villainous Forest Queen — the Decemberists displayed newfound punch, hammering out downright Metallic chords and skittering Yes-y super-prog on the album's multipart title suite, and working out knotty rhythms on songs like "The Queen's Rebuke" (which showcased Worden's epic pipes). For the sneering "The Rake's Song," they employed five drummers, just because ... well, because why not? Throughout, frontman Colin Meloy and guitarist Chris Funk traded solos (and smiles), while multifaceted multi-instrumentalist Jenny Conlee added meaty organ lines and, in quieter moments, somber accordion.

And though their ranks were swollen, the Decemberists were by no means lumbering. Some of their finest moments on Wednesday came when they stripped things down, like the twangy guitar and accordion of "Isn't It a Lovely Night," or album (and set) closer "The Hazards of Love 4," a duet between Meloy and Stark, featuring gently swooning guitars and sparkly chimes.

And as the final chords echoed from the stage, Meloy and Co. hugged, shared a laugh and exhaled. They knew they had walked the musical tightrope and the crowd did too, lavishing them with cheers and applause. It was a brand-new look for the Decemberists — rocking, swaggering and over-the-top — and it was way better than most opening-night SXSW gigs should be. It was a lovely night, indeed.

Of course, across town at Vice, things were going down exactly like they were supposed to on the first night of South By: rather terribly.

Sharing the stage at a "Rock Band"-sponsored shindig with bands like Glasvegas and the Von Bondies, Swedish popsters Peter Bjorn and John were supposed to be one of Wednesday's "can't miss" acts, especially since they were going to be debuting songs from their upcoming album Living Thing. But rather than follow the Decemberists' lead and go for the gusto, PB&J just crashed and burned, delivering a set that veered wildly between "woefully unprepared" and "annoyingly disinterested."

They battled through a myriad of tech issues (or at least they tried to), they stopped songs midway through, and when they were playing, it was clear that they'd rather be back home in Stockholm. And when the audience turned on them, they laughed off the boos, which only further agitated the well-lubed masses and led to some rather amazing shouted put-downs ("Play like you f---ing care!" and "This would never happen in a video game!" being the two best).

Oh, and they didn't play "Young Folks." Or maybe they did. We sort of stopped paying attention.

Other quick highlights from the first full day of SXSW: A raw and rumbling set from Black Keys' frontman Dan Auerbach at the Parish, and a massive multiband bonanza at Red 7, featuring much-buzzed lo-fi punk Wavves, lo-fi-turned-hi-fi punks the Thermals and much-buzzed new-gazers the Pains of Being Pure at Heart.

MTV News was all over the South by Southwest festival this week, with blogs, articles and video on all the gigs, the artists and the scene!

• South By Southwest 2009: Looking Back

• The Decemberists
• Peter Bjorn and John

Photo: sxsw.com

South by Southwest is sort of like running a marathon, except you're drunk most of the time, and there's nothing but BBQ and tacos to eat, and have sun stroke, and you basically hear live music from the moment you wake up until the second you pass out. So, actually, it's not really like a marathon at all, except in duration (and probably perspiration).

Yes, it's that time of year again — SXSW is upon us. It's a magical week that comes around each March, when the city of Austin, Texas is overrun with hundreds of bands and thousands of hipsters in really tight pants, all braving the blazing Texas sun to catch can't-miss sets from much-buzzed blog acts, top-secret performances by some of the biggest names in music (there's a couple of doozies this year), and have a really gigantic, really debauched party.

At SXSW 2008, there were performances by mainstays like Paramore, N.E.R.D., R.E.M., and My Morning Jacket, star-making turns by Vampire Weekend, No Age, MGMT and Katy Perry, appearances by Perez Hilton and Rachael Ray, even a Britney Spears rumor (and, as luck would have it, we spoke to almost all of 'em). Rumor has it, there was also plenty of partying — though we don't really remember, to be honest.

This year, things are looking to be just as awesome. There are rumors (repeat: rumors) of performances by Metallica — under the relatively awesome Norse name of Volsung — on Friday and Kanye West on Saturday. We'll see the return of alt-rock greats Jane's Addiction — in all their original-lineup glory — and faerie queen Tori Amos. Big Boi, Rick Ross and Jadakiss are all scheduled to appear. There will be sets by the Silversun Pickups, Explosions in the Sky, Primal Scream, Devo, the Hold Steady, M. Ward and Peter Bjorn and John. Plus, indie heavyweights like the Thermals, the Decemberists (performing their new album, The Hazards Of Love, in its entirety) and Grizzly Bear, who will unveil tracks from their much-anticipated Vecktimest album at what promises to be a revelatory church show.

We know it's a lot to handle.

Of course, it wouldn't be SXSW if there weren't also a ton of up-and-comers grabbing headlines, too. From lo (perhaps even no)-fi noisemakers like San Diego's Wavves and Brooklyn's the Pains of Being Pure at Heart to NME-approved female electro-poppers Little Boots and Ladyhawke, there's no shortage of buzzed-up bands to catch in and around Austin this week. And that's not even mentioning bands like Passion Pit, Crystal Stilts, the Dirty Projectors and Marnie Stern — who's already given us an SXSW preview of her own. Throw in a strong hip-hop contingent — multiple sets by Asher Roth, Kid Cudi, Kid Sister and B.o.B — and you can see why the whole "marathon" comparison is more than apt. There literally is not enough time in the day to see everything, but that doesn't mean you're not gonna try your hardest to do it.

And, of course, MTV News is going to be there too — checking out bands, staying up way too late, making terrible decisions and trying very hard to remain sane. We'll be bringing you up-to-the-minute updates on SXSW on MTVNews.com, the Newsroom blog. We'll have live video of shows, interviews with bands and even a BBQ story or three. In short, we're going to try and bring you everything you're missing at SXSW 2009. It's hard work, for sure. But we do it because we care.

MTV News will be all over the South by Southwest festival this week, with blogs, articles and video on all the gigs, the artists and the scene!

• South By Southwest 2009: Looking Back

• Passion Pit
• Metallica
• Silversun Pickups
• The Decemberists
• Kanye West

Decemberists' Colin Meloy
Photo: MTV News

Colin Meloy sort of looks like a particularly sensitive accountant, or perhaps a rather mousy NPR field producer, or maybe both. But based on what he's saying about the new album from the Decemberists, it sounds like he and his band of merry Victorian pranksters are about to up the aggro.

"It's like I'm just writing what I'm writing right now, and it's trending towards kind of 'mossy and evil' a little bit. That's how I would describe it: mossy and evil," he laughed. "And I think the more mossy and the more evil, the better, at this point. I actually just saw some footage of [Canadian rock outfit] Black Mountain, and that's beautifully mossy, evil music ... so I want to make mossy, evil music too."

It's a change of pace for Meloy and the Decemberists, who made the leap to the majors (and actually managed to move a few units) with 2006's The Crane Wife. Since then, the band has been working on a follow-up in dribs and drabs — in between Meloy's solo shows and guitarist Chris Funk's fret-shredding appearance on "The Colbert Report" — and now, they've entered the home stretch. So recently, when MTV News spent a week in Portland, Oregon, to document the city's burgeoning music scene, we reached out to Meloy, who was nice enough to not only welcome us into his home but discuss at length the process of making the new record.

"We're doing a lot of stuff. We did about a week and a half in March, just kinda recording some odds and ends that I think we're gonna do something with in the fall, as like a little tide-the-fans-over kind of thing, because we realize it's been awhile since we put out a record," he said. "But I've demoed a lot of stuff for what will be the next proper Decemberists record, and we are going into the studio on the 28th of July to start work on that."

But before they actually enter the studio, Meloy needs to finish writing the album, so he's been spending most of July in France on a self-described "work retreat/ vacation" to wrap things up. It's just another break in tradition that he's trying this time around.

"[With the last record] I went to Chris Walla's house. He was touring with Death Cab and he offered up his house, so it was sort of a concentrated time of writing. I kind of put in office hours," Meloy explained. "I would just go over to his house, and he had a piano in his living room — not that I ever wrote anything on that piano, but it looked cool. It was there. I felt more writerly that way. This time I'm going a little farther away."

From the sound of things, the new album is going to be a completely Walla-free production (unlike the band's last two efforts). Seems the producer/guitarist is rather busy with his own band, Death Cab for Cutie (incidentally, Walla credits his work on Crane Wife with influencing the sound and feel of Death Cab's chart-topping Narrow Stairs). So the Decemberists are pressing on without him, bringing producer/musician Tucker Martine with them into Portland's Kung Fu Bakery Studios.

And while it sounds like the new album is shaping up to be a pretty massive departure for Meloy and the Decemberists, there's one thing he promises won't change: They're sticking with the epic rockers that have become their de facto trademark over the years. The lengthy rock tune, it seems, is a perfectly natural fit for the whole "mossy and evil" thing.

"It's probably gonna be more [on] the long side of things. That won't be different," Meloy said, smiling. "At least, that's the way it's looking right now."

• Portland's Organic Music Scene

• Death Cab For Cutie
• The Decemberists

Pete Wentz
Photo: Ethan Miller/ Getty Images

MySpace plans to rock the planet on November 10 with a series of 37 concerts aimed at raising awareness about the Darfur conflict and funds for relief. Rock for Darfur will find Fall Out Boy, Maroon 5, the Academy Is ..., Cartel, Coheed and Cambria, Colbie Caillat, Hot Hot Heat and the Decemberists donating to the cause a portion of the proceeds from their already-scheduled shows around the world on that day.

Some of the proceeds from the second annual series of shows will go to Oxfam International and the Save Darfur Coalition to help combat the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan as a result of the ongoing devastating civil war. The shows are being held on four continents, giving more fans the opportunity to support the cause. Last year's 22 Rock for Darfur concerts raised $50,000 for relief efforts, according to a MySpace spokesperson. Oxfam will use the funds to help provide those in Chad and the Darfur region with basic supplies such as clean water, shelter, blankets, soap and disease-prevention programs.

"As I watch the fire around my Southern California home, I know that the devastation of losing treasured personal property, a house or even a whole city cannot compare to the evil atrocities that the children and parents of Darfur have had to endure under the ongoing genocide," Megadeth singer/guitarist Dave Mustaine said in a statement. "I hope and pray you too will join in helping the people of Darfur in a small way by attending a 'Rock for Darfur' concert on November 10. All donations, large and small, are very necessary to help overpower this tragedy. I am doing my part, will you do yours?"

MySpace is also teaming with Warner Independent Pictures on the upcoming documentary "Darfur Now," which opens in select theaters on November 2 and features an appearance from Academy Award nominated actor Don Cheadle.

Here's the list of artists and locations where they will be performing:

· The Academy Is ..., Armor for Sleep, the Rocket Summer & Sherwood -- Buffalo, NY @ Evolution
· Clare Bowditch and the Feeding Set -- Adelaide, Australia @ Fowler's Live
· John Butler Trio -- New York, NY @ Terminal 5
· Butterfingers -- Brisbane, Australia @ The Zoo
· Colbie Caillat -- Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
· Cartel -- Memphis, TN @ Skate Park of Memphis
· Charlie Hunter Trio -- Milan, Italy @ Blue Note
· Coheed & Cambria -- San Diego, CA @ SOMA
· Dardanelles -- Launceston, Australia @ James Hotel
· The Decemberists -- Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
· Enter the Haggis -- Chicago, IL @ Martyrs'
· Envy on the Coast -- Syracuse, NY @ SUNY Oneonta
· Fall Out Boy, Gym Class Heroes and Cute Is What We Aim For (as part of the Young Wild Things Tour) -- Bridgeport, CT @ Harbor Yard Arena
· Family Force 5 -- Buffalo, NY @ Xtreme Wheels
· Gabby Glaser -- New York, NY @ The Annex
· The Heavy Pets -- Teaneck, NJ @ Mexicali Blues Café
· Hellogoodbye and Say Anything (as part of the MySpace Music Tour) -- Dallas, TX @ Palladium Ballroom
· Hot Hot Heat -- Glasgow, Scotland @ The Venue at Oran Mor
· Josh Kelley and Pat McGee Band -- Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
· Maroon 5 -- Las Vegas, NV @ The Pearl
· Megadeth -- Perth, Australia @ The Metro
· The Minus 5 -- Portland, OR @ Towne Lounge
· Mutemath and Eisley -- Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
· Emmitt Nershi Band -- Chicago, IL @ Abbey Pub
· NOFX -- Durban, South Africa @ Wave House
· Now On, Buff1 and Othello (as part of the Elevation Tour) -- Denver, CO @ Club 156
· Puddle of Mudd -- Sauget, IL @ Pop's
· Rogue Wave -- Birmingham, AL @ Bottle Tree Cafe
· Xavier Rudd -- Sydney, Australia @ Enmore Theatre
· Brandi Shearer, Coby Brown, Quincy Coleman and Meiko (an Amoeba Music showcase) -- Los Angeles, CA @ Hotel Cafe
· Sick of It All -- Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theater
· State Radio -- Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
· Streetlight Manifesto -- New York, NY @ Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center
· Three Days Grace and Seether -- Belton, TX @ Bell County Expo Center
· Suzanne Vega -- Seattle, WA @ Neumos
· Bob Weir & RatDog -- Myrtle Beach, SC @ House of Blues
· Zion I -- Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst

• 'Darfur Now': Putting A Spotlight On Genocide

• 2nd Annual Rock For Darfur Concert Performers

• Fall Out Boy
• Maroon 5
• The Decemberists

Nick Bollea's car after the Sunday crash
Photo: Tim Boyles/ Getty Images

Nick Bollea, Hulk Hogan's 17-year-old son, was discharged from a hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Monday morning (August 27) after being involved in a car accident the previous evening. Police said Bollea, who was featured in VH1's "Hogan Knows Best" reality series, was driving his Toyota Supra at a high speed along state route 60 when he lost control of the vehicle and slammed into a raised median at 7:30 p.m. in Clearwater. The car reportedly flipped over, and the rear of the vehicle collided with a palm tree. Bollea and one of his car's passengers, 22-year-old John Graziano, were airlifted to the Bayfront Medical Center following the crash. The nature of both Bollea's and Graziano's injuries was not immediately known, but a police spokesperson characterized them as serious. Graziano remains under the hospital's care in critical condition. Alcohol is not believed to have played a role in the accident, but police continue to investigate the crash. No criminal charges have been filed. ...

Jordin Sparks doesn't have a name for her debut album yet, but she's got a release date set in stone: November 20. In anticipation of the 19 Recordings/ Jive disc, the "American Idol" champ drew back the curtains on her first single on Friday, debuting "Tattoo" on AOL's Pop Eater blog. The track hits radio Monday. Sparks told The Associated Press that the effort was partly modeled after one of her own idols, Kelly Clarkson — but that she's a bit nervous to be following in the wake of Clarkson and Carrie Underwood's success. "They've risen the bar so high and I'm like, 'I hope I can reach it,' " she said. "Hopefully [my LP will] sell well and people will like it." ...

The runner-up to Sparks, Blake Lewis, is following suit — he just signed to 19 Recordings/ Arista and is planning to drop his first album late this year as well. Hit-maker du jour J.R. Rotem is already on board for the effort. ...

It's no McDonald's parking-lot tour, but Missy Elliott will be featured in a new Doritos ad campaign debuting September 17, Billboard.com reports. In the clip, she is seen working on a new song and snacking on Doritos Collision, different-flavored chips that spur her to fuse a little country into her hip-hop track. A contest to be held on SnackStrongProductions.com will allow visitors to create their own mash-ups using Elliott's track, although the prizes have yet to be determined. The site also features a help section in which Elliott will give tips. ...

Listen up, punk-rockers: Unreleased and rare tracks by Panic! at the Disco, Gym Class Heroes, the Used, Cute Is What We Aim For, Sparta, Head Automatica and more fill up Press Play: Volume 1, a new comp that was put together by Photo Finish and Alternative Press. A portion of the proceeds from the September 25 release will go to the Keep a Breast Foundation, a nonprofit organization that fights breast cancer. ...

The Disney Channel will air a special dance-along version of "High School Musical 2" on September 8 at 8 p.m. ET, People reports. Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens and other castmembers will instruct viewers on how to mimic their dance moves during the opening and closing numbers. ... Russell Simmons has stepped down from his post as CEO of Phat Fashions, the company he founded in 1992 that spawned Phat Farm clothing. "I leave the division and the brand in great hands. There are so many things I want to achieve, and this is the appropriate moment for me to move on to my next business venture," the hip-hop mogul said in a statement. ...

Mos Def is sounding off about José Padilla, the Guantánamo detainee who was convicted earlier this week of supporting terrorism. "We all know the history of insufficient evidence or testimony under duress — at the very least, legal circumstances that demand some sort of reinvestigation ... basically saying these people are not the criminals they're being made out to be," he told The Associated Press on Thursday. Mos Def will participate this weekend in the 10th annual Black August benefit concert at New York's Nokia Theatre. The event serves to create awareness about people who its organizers, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, believe have been unfairly convicted — Talib Kweli, Saigon and Dead Prez are also on the bill. ...

Music, martial arts and chess ... how could members of the Wu-Tang Clan not be involved? RZA and GZA are participating in the Hip-Hop Chess Foundation's first-ever Chess Kings Invitational, set for October 13 at the San Francisco Design Center. The rappers will talk on the tournament's Life Strategies panel about how music, martial arts and chess — activities the organization uses to promote nonviolence — have affected their lives. ...

Muse have plotted a handful of September dates with Juliette and the Licks: Seattle (September 9); Portland, Oregon (September 10); Orem, Utah (September 12); Dallas (September 16); Morrison, Colorado (September 18); Mesa, Arizona (September 20); and Irvine, California (September 21). Muse will also hit the San Diego Street Scene on September 22. ... Ben Kweller just squeezed out a new seven-track live EP, Ben Kweller: Live and Solo at the Artists Den, that was recorded December 13 at New York's Solo House. The disc of rarely performed songs is available now at digital outlets. ...

System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian will shoot a video for "Praise the Lord, Pass the Ammunition," from the rocker's solo debut, Elect the Dead, at an undisclosed venue in Hollywood next week with director Greg Watermann (Mudvayne, Lamb of God). Extras are needed for the video — those interested in auditioning can e-mail Watermann at serjvideo@gregwatermann.com. ... The track list for Thrice's upcoming LP The Alchemy Index: Vols. I & II - Fire & Water has been revealed. Fire will boast six cuts, including "The Messenger," "Backdraft" and "Burn the Fleet"; Water will also contain six tunes, among them "Open Water," "Night Diving" and "Kings Upon the Main." Look for the discs to hit stores October 16. ...

A writer/producer who worked on "In Living Color" and created Nickelodeon's "Roundhouse" is suing the Walt Disney Company, claiming it stole his idea for "Hannah Montana," Reuters reports. In the suit, Morris Taylor "Buddy" Sheffield says he pitched Disney Channel executives the idea for a kids' show about a high school student who leads a secret life as a pop star. Sheffield also claims Disney could owe him and his production company millions in lost profits and damages, and he wants compensation for legal fees. A Disney Channel spokesperson told the news service the network had no comment. ...

Kirsten Dunst's penthouse suite at a hotel in Manhattan, New York, was robbed earlier this month, according to court records obtained by AP. Thieves got away with a $13,000 handbag, cell phone, $2,500 in cash, an iPod, two digital cameras and ID cards belonging to the actress, who had been in the city to shoot scenes for her upcoming flick "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People." One suspect was arraigned Wednesday on burglary and grand-larceny charges, and is being held on $50,000 bond. ...

Hellyeah — the band featuring members of Mudvayne, Pantera and Nothingface — are on the hunt for a dozen women they'd like to act as their "Hellyeah girls." The winners will be featured in the band's 2008 calendar — to enter, contestants need to post an audition video to Break.com and send a link to the clip to hellyeahtv@gmail.com. ... The Dillinger Escape Plan will headline a U.S. tour this fall set to kick off October 4 in Cleveland, Ohio. Just five dates have been confirmed, but more will be announced in the coming weeks. The trek will also feature A Life Once Lost, Behold ... the Arctopus and Genghis Tron. Dillinger's forthcoming LP, Ire Works, lands in stores November 13. ...

The resurrected Jesus & Mary Chain are heading back to the studio to record their first studio album in nine years. The band will also treat four West Coast cities to more concerts: Las Vegas (October 20); Anaheim, California (October 22); Los Angeles (October 23) and San Francisco (October 26-27). ... Queen guitarist Brian May has finished his doctorate in a crazy little thing called astrophysics — he was awarded his Imperial College qualification on Thursday in London. May had been an astrophysics student before joining the band 37 years ago but dropped out as Queen became successful. His thesis? "Radical Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud." ...

Ted Nugent is at it again. The controversial right-wing rocker went on a profanity-spewed tirade at a concert last week, according to video footage posted on LiveLeak.com. With machine guns in his hands, a camouflaged Nugent yelled, "Obama, he's a piece of sh--, and I told him to suck on my machine gun. ... And then I was in New York. I said, 'Hey Hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset.' " He also went off on Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer before saying, "Any questions?" and shouting, "Freedom!"

08.23.07

In one minute, out the next: Nicole Richie checked herself into the Century Regional Facility in Lynwood, California, on Thursday (August 23) to start serving her DUI sentence — only to find herself checking out less than an hour and a half later due to overcrowding. Richie had been sentenced to serve four days in jail. "At this time, the criteria for a female arrestee sentenced to 30 days or less for a nonviolent offense is as follows: the arrestee is booked, screened and usually released within 12 hours," the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said in a press release issued to MTV News. "This procedure is based on jail overcrowding to manage population levels mandated by federal court guidelines. Based on the mandated guidelines and Ms. Richie's 96 hours sentence, she will be treated in the same manner as other inmates with a similar sentence." The jail is the same one where Paris Hilton served a portion of her DUI sentence. ...

The Kelly Clarkson train is slowly getting back on the tracks. After the early-summer one-two punch of dumping her manager and canceling the tour in support of My December, the singer has booked the first two shows of what is expected to be a fall/winter outing. The dates — an October 10 show at Verona, New York's Turning Stone casino and another on October 15 at New York's Beacon Theater — are in venues decidedly smaller than some of the arenas Clarkson had been originally booked to hit as part of her scotched 35-date summer tour. The full itinerary for her rescheduled trek is expected in two weeks, according to a management spokesperson. ...

Justin Timberlake is joining the cast of "The Love Guru," a sports comedy starring Mike Myers, Verne Troyer and Jessica Alba. The Myers-produced film is set to begin production next month in Toronto and tentatively be released in theaters June 20. Timberlake will play a hockey player tangled in a love triangle with the top player on a team owned by Alba. ...

Though she's not likely to attend the ceremony given her doctor's orders to take a break from touring and making appearances for the rest of the year, Amy Winehouse is one of the leading nominees for England's Music of Black Origin awards with four nominations for Best U.K. Female, Best R&B Act, Best Video and Best Song for "Rehab." Also nominated for four awards is rapper Dizzee Rascal. The show will take place September 19 at the O2 arena in London, with the winner chosen by a tally of public votes on the event's Web site. A number of American acts are also nominated, among them Kanye West, Common and 50 Cent in the Best Hip-Hop category; and Amerie, Robin Thicke and Ne-Yo, who will battle Winehouse in the Best Song category. Rihanna has a pair of nominations, including one for Best International Act, in which she'll face off against Diddy, Akon and T.I.. ...

In related news, Paolo Nutini has reshuffled his tour plans following news that tour partner Winehouse tabled her U.S. trek until next year. The Scottish singer/songwriter's jaunt will now run from September 7 in Buffalo, New York, through October 28 in New Orleans. "I'll be thinking a good thought for her, she is a remarkable talent. In the meantime, I'm truly excited about this upcoming tour of North America — I guarantee it will be my best yet," Nutini said in a statement. ...

Rapper Saigon was arrested at 1:45 a.m. on Wednesday in New York on Manhattan's West Side after police stopped him for a traffic violation and allegedly found a switchblade-like knife in the car console. According to his lawyer Scott Leemon, the rapper (born Brian Daniel Carenard) was pulled over while driving someone else's car in what Leemon called "another example of NY's finest targeting a member of the rap and entertainment industry ... the small pocket knife was found in a console in the car, not in his possession. As such, I am hoping after further investigation this will be another example of a rapper being wrongfully arrested." Because of a prior felony assault charge, the weapon-possession charge was bumped up to a felony, according to Leemon. Saigon was released on $1,500 bail and is due in court again December 5. ...

On the hunt for killer B-sides? How about Killers B-sides? The band — which put out its last studio album, Sam's Town, less than a year ago — is planning to pump out a rarities disc before the end of the year, Brandon Flowers recently told Billboard.com. The band's cover of Joy Division's "Shadowplay," rendition of Mel Tillis' "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" and "Spider-Man 3" soundtrack contribution "Move Away" are all on the tentative track list, which may include new material. The Killers have also teed up a different new song for release December 1: "Don't Shoot Me Santa," the band's next Christmas charity single for the Red Campaign. "Last year we were able to raise over $100,000 from the one song ['A Great Big Sled'], and hopefully we'll be able to do it again," Flowers said. ...

The Decemberists aren't planning just any old tour — on their upcoming trek, dubbed "The Long and Short of It," the indie-rockers will mix it up by playing at least two nights in 13 cities. They're also parsing the trek into "long" and "short" shows — the former ones will showcase their poppier material and the latter gigs will revolve around the band's epic songs. The jaunt runs from October 28 in Chicago through December 9 in Seattle. The Decemberists have also slapped together a new EP — The Perfect Crime #2 drops September 25 and features four tracks, including a remix by Junior Boys. ... Morrissey's tour plans are perhaps even more ambitious: For what is expected to be his last sweep through the States for a while, he'll hole up in Los Angeles for a marathon 10-night stand at the Palladium (October 1-13), play a four-night stand at San Francisco's Fillmore and a five-night one at New York's' Hammerstein Ballroom (October 28). Dates for the full trek are from September 21 (Las Vegas) through November 4 (Atlanta). ... Last but not least, Bright Eyes have beefed up their tour regiment, stretching their run from September 13 in Denver through November 19 in New York. ...

Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore doesn't have too many kind words to say about Avril Lavigne and John Mayer these days — although he's got plenty of respect for a certain avant-garde legend and another classic-rock hero. "I am playing with Yoko Ono, and she's well past 70 and she rocks," he told Spin for the magazine's September issue. "Neil Young rocks. It's certainly not John Mayer or Avril Lavigne. Those people don't rock. If that's the young generation in the culture, then [forget] it. In the underground, the old guys are cool. I like the fact that the older we get the more we can rock." ... Ramones fans, get ready to be bombarded: More than four hours of unreleased and rare concert material is being piled onto "It's Alive 1974-1996," a double-DVD set poised for an October 2 release. With performances of a whopping 118 songs, the set is highlighted by unissued video footage of the band's New Year's Eve 1977 gig at London's Rainbow Theatre — the show was previously captured in audio form, as the band's noted It's Alive live album. ...

Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder will perform at the world premiere of the Iraq war documentary "Body of War" at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11. The movie, which tells the story of paralyzed Iraq war vet Tomas Young — who appeared on stage with PJ at Lollapalooza — features two new songs written by Vedder, "No More" and "Long Nights." ... Talk about product placement. Southern-rap-news Web site MemphisRap.com claims Master P and his son Romeo have teamed up with T-Mobile to promote the new Sidekick LX by writing a song called "Sidekick" for their upcoming Miller Boyz album, due September 4 on P's new profanity-free label, Take a Stand Records. ... Fred Durst is in negotiations to direct "Comeback," an inspirational Pop Warner football drama starring Ice Cube, according to The Hollywood Reporter. ...

Samuel L. Jackson will emcee Save the Children's 75th anniversary event at New York's Lincoln Center on September 6. The event, to feature a performance by Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, will also serve as a tribute to former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, as well as Melinda Gates, for their humanitarian efforts. ... If you have tickets to see enigmatic metal-masked rapper MF Doom anytime soon and the guy onstage doesn't look, or even sound like, the Super Villain you know and love, you might be onto something. Bloggers have been abuzz over the past week about several recent West Coast Doom shows that have reportedly featured an impostor taking the stage in place of the rapper and performing (some say lip-synching) in Doom's place. The first sign that something was up, according to a fan who wrote into the Byron Crawford blog, was that cameras at a recent San Francisco show were strictly prohibited. The disgruntled fan wrote that Doom appeared 100 pounds lighter than usual during the 20-minute headlining performance. A spokesperson for Doom had no comment. ...

A forensics expert backed up defense claims made in the Phil Spector murder trial — and refuted by a prosecution witness on Wednesday — that Lana Clarkson might have continued breathing after she was shot at the music producer's mansion. Prosecutors sparred with the expert, Dr. Werner Spitz, afterward. ... The biggest ticketing agency in the country and the world's biggest concert promoter appear headed for a breakup. According to reports in Hits magazine online and Variety, internal documents about the negotiations from Ticketmaster said it is "doubtful" that Live Nation will renew its agreement with Ticketmaster when their current agreement expires at the end of this year. The loss of the Live Nation business, which Variety said accounted for about 15-20 percent of Ticketmaster's U.S. business in 2006, could mean Live Nation is gearing up to launch its own ticketing venture.

[This story was originally published at 8:00 pm E.T. on 8.23.2007]

• System of a Down
• Thrice
• Hellyeah
• Dillinger Escape Plan
• The Joseph & Mary Chain

Mew perform in New York on Friday
Photo: Bryan Bedder/ Getty Images

NEW YORK — MTV News' trek through the maze of venues and bands that is the CMJ Music Marathon continues. As we told you Wednesday (scroll down for prior CMJ reports), the festival is cluttered, confusing, exhausting, and, of course, a really good time.

FRIDAY, November 3 / SATURDAY, November 4

For all the whining, scrambling and gnashing of teeth that comes with it, sometimes CMJ is totally awesome. Like on Friday night, for example, when we were lucky enough to catch a Twin Cities doubleheader in the form of the mighty Hold Steady and the equally weighty Plastic Constellations, who, as luck would have it, played sets within minutes — and blocks — of each other. ...

The Steady topped an impressive bill at the Annex, taking the postage-stamp-size stage after Dirty on Purpose and the Cold War Kids had already rocked the invite-only crowd (we're not sure who this "private party" was for, but there were many casualties at the door, including our buddy Kevin — sorry Kevs). It was an abbreviated set, like many at CMJ, but it still packed plenty of punch, with Craig Finn and company blasting through a host of boozy standards from their new Boys and Girls in America album ("Stuck Between Stations," "Chips Ahoy!" and the set-closing "Southtown Girls") while the crowd pumped their fists. ...

As soon as the last guitar note had faded away, we made a beeline for Pianos, arriving just in time to catch the Plastic Constellations plugging in. Conjuring a stumbling racket like their Minnesota forebears Hüsker Dü — and earning geek points for singing about decidedly "D&D" topics like dragons and swords and stuff — TPC windmilled their way through a terse 40-minute set featuring material from their criminally overlooked Crusades LP and a pair of hard-charging new tunes, all while looking like they were having the time of their lives. They rule. ...

Uptown at the Nokia Theater, Austin, Texas' premier drone merchants, the Black Angels, served up a head-nodding set of hypnotic psychedelic rock — in marked contrast to the frantic roots-rock of headlining duo the Black Keys. While the Angels' influences are obvious — the Velvet Underground and Spacemen 3 being most prominent — they do the drone thing so well that any derivativeness is more than forgiven. They're also enormously fun to watch: less for charisma or stage antics than for the way they interact musically, with each of the six members tastefully contributing to the whole rather than showboating. (Having said that, slugger Stephanie Bailey is just about the most bad-ass drummer we've seen all year.) ...

Another of us headed over to the Mercury Lounge to check out some of Australian quartet the Drones' grunge-metal guitar torture. Alternating spare and bluesy riffs with all-out chaos, the band worked itself into psychotic fits of string-tearing, throat-shredding hysteria. Frontman Gareth Liddiard grew increasingly unhinged as the set wore on, grinding his boot into his effect-pedals while flinging himself across the stage. ...

The music was equally intense but somewhat sweeter at the Bowery Ballroom, where adorable London quintet the Fields politely made their way through a set of lovely anthems. Built around frontman Nick Peill's quickly strummed, effects-laden acoustic guitar, the group recalled a more lush, less meandering Broken Social Scene as simple riffs swelled into epic refrains. ...

Denmark's Mew took Fields' ambitious sound and pumped it up even bigger, adding a psychedelic film display on a giant banner hung behind them. At first the group came off as a psych-rock Duran Duran with Kenny G on keyboards (seriously), but that impression didn't last long: Singer Jonas Bjerre's soaring tenor is truly arresting and a perfect match for the band's polished art-pop. ...

Back in Manhattan, Lavender Diamond turned in a sublime set at Joe's Pub. Clad in a red velvet dress, kooky frontwoman Becky Stark delivered more LOLs with her loopy stage banter than a David Cross comedy night — and this was before the folksy quartet had played a note. When Stark opened her mouth to actually sing, it felt as if an angelic golden light had been cast over the room: The band is often lumped in with L.A.'s freak-folk scene, but its fairy tale-ish and precious qualities were more joyful than grating. The group is currently recording its debut full-length with former Pernice Brothers bassist-turned-producer Thom Monahan (Devendra Banhart, Brightblack Morning Light).

A completely different — but just as amazing — experience was to be had at the Studio B rave-up in Brooklyn, featuring Parisian dance duo Justice (a.k.a. Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay). The pair crafted a masterful set of slamming, sweeping peaks and valleys as the sweaty capacity crowd danced manically. Highlights included tracks from their Waters of Nazareth EP, a tweaked version of Justin Timberlake's "My Love," a remix of Franz Ferdinand's "The Fallen" and the duo's recent MTV European Music Award-winning (and Kanye West-enraging: see "Kanye Admits To Having Had A 'Sippy Sippy' (Or Two) Before EMA Rant") remix of Simian's "We Are Your Friends." At 4 a.m., the exhausted crowd was still yelling for more. ...

On Saturday in Brooklyn, we bore witness to an afternoon of booze, BBQ and Bobby Bare Jr., all thanks to the good folks at Bloodshot Records. In keeping its longstanding tradition (and its decidedly alt-country bent), the label turned the hipster haven Union Pool into an old-fashioned honky tonk, complete with cold beer in the can, an honest-to-goodness campfire and, well, about 5 million bearded dudes in delivery-driver jackets. ...

After downing several burgers and taking full advantage of Bloodshot's somewhat laissez-faire approach to free drinks, we somehow made it to Northsix for yet another invite-only shindig, a multi-band monster that went under the billing "New York to London." Once again, the beer was free and the room was hot, as a host of up-and-coming acts (most notably Illinois, who took great pleasure in antagonizing the industry-heavy crowd, and L.A.'s Pumpkins-esque rockers Silversun Pickups) made glorious noise. The party raged until 4 a.m. and, to be honest, we don't really remember a whole lot, but we're pretty sure one of our pals went a little heavy on the hospitality and was nearly booted for yelling "Australia sucks!" at the Phoenix Foundation (who are actually from New Zealand). ...

Not far away, at Brooklyn's coolest venue — Warsaw, a club tucked inside the Polish National Home, where you can get pierogies and sausage to munch on during gigs — the Secret Machines brought their ear-pummeling psych-rock and brain-tickling light show. It was the last gig on the act's tour behind its latest LP, Ten Silver Drops, and featured the band playing on a specially designed circular stage that was set up in the center of the room. After nearly 90 minutes of roaring crescendos and space jams, the trio wrapped the night with a fuzzy feedback loop after ripping through a high-energy take of "First Wave Intact." ...

And finally, on Sunday, though CMJ was drawing to a close, we got the sort of unexpected treat that can make the fest so totally worth it. After stumbling up to Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn's hipster main drag, to soothe our sore heads with some bloody marys, we found ourselves sharing a bar with none other than the Shins, who were in much higher spirits than us, tossing back beers and watching the New York Giants squeak past the Houston Texans. (OK, so they were actually sitting across the room from us, but whatever.) Serendipitous? Perhaps. A mirage? Most certainly not. After all, this is CMJ. And you never know who you'll be sharing a bar with.

With no less than three hot-ticket shows occurring Thursday night — the Sub Pop Records showcase at the Bowery Ballroom, featuring the Shins; Hot Chip at Webster Hall; and the Horrors at the Annex — hands were wrung, schedules drawn up, plans made (then dashed) and curses uttered. Most CMJ goers were left with one of two daunting options: scrapping one show in favor of another, or arriving at a venue really early, making it through a bunch of bands they didn't want to see and complaining about persistent foot pain and back aches from all the standing around — or maybe that's just us.

THURSDAY, November 2

With no less than three hot-ticket shows occurring Thursday night — the Sub Pop Records showcase at the Bowery Ballroom, featuring the Shins; Hot Chip at Webster Hall; and the Horrors at the Annex -- hands were wrung, schedules drawn up, plans made (then dashed) and curses uttered. Most CMJ goers were left with one of two daunting options: scrapping one show in favor of another, or arriving at a venue really early, making it through a bunch of bands they didn't want to see and complaining about persistent foot pain and back aches from all the standing around -- or maybe that's just us. ...

One thing CMJ attendees learn really fast: When it comes to getting into the conference's biggest shows, your badge might as well be a "kick me" sign — unless you're prepared to get to the venue a couple of hours in advance to wait in the doubtless already-long line of badgeholders. Oddest of all, when you finally get in, the venue is likely to be three-quarters full. (We've stopped asking why: It's like when you see a lane on the highway blocked off for miles, without any construction in sight.)

This was the case at Thursday's Sub Pop Records showcase at the Bowery Ballroom — which one of us was foresighted, smart, lucky, connected and (most importantly) sexy enough to get on the guest list for. We arrived in time to catch Portland, Oregon's the Thermals, whose adenoidal mix of punk and pop was impressively on point. (We heard the Oxford Collapse, who preceded the Thermals, were also pretty great.) Next up were the Album Leaf, whose pretty, gauzy sound you'd think would go over like a Catholic-school slumber party in a live setting. However, head Leaf/keyboardist Jimmy Lavelle was accompanied by a full band (drummer, guitarist, violinist) who beautifully embellished the songs' swelling, sonorous peaks. The evening's headliners, the Shins, have some stellar songs and may have changed Natalie Portman's life in "Garden State," but live they're a little snoozy. Frontman James Mercer is anything but, relegating himself to stage left so the keyboardist/bassist Marty Crandall — he of the terrible jokes — takes center stage. And although the band has a new album, Wincing the Night Away, due in January, they played old material at half-mast. It also didn't help that they hit the stage at 1 a.m.; we decided to hit the hay midway through their set. ...

At a packed Webster Hall, hotly tipped British electro outfit Hot Chip bobbed their way through a set that the NME described as "rousing" but we felt was closer to "eh." They played the truly excellent songs from their sophomore album, The Warning, some not-so-excellent ones and bowed a couple of brand new-songs, too... all while hammering keyboards, tweaking knobs and jerking around like geeky salmons out of the brook. Of course, the crowd — which was loaded bloggers clutching Canon ELPHs, dudes in glasses effortlessly texting with one hand and, strangely, goofy white guys with afros — ate it up, but we would've liked to see a bit more of the Devo-esque moxy that separates Chip's records from the millions of faceless electro-drones out there. ...

Speaking of which, it's one thing to hold up your cellphone for a favorite song, but the eerie blue/green glow of Sidekick and Razrs is lighting up the audience like an alien invasion at every venue (and majorly distracting from the stage action). If you're there to rock, chill with the texting, OK cowboys? ...

Anyway, during a set by Canadian odd-pop-rockers Malajube at the Mercury Lounge, we noticed a sign on the wall behind the soundboard that read, "No pyro/hazers smoke machines." We don't even know what hazers are, but we're glad they're not allowed because they might have caused the monstrously over-perfumed woman standing in front of us (perhaps a bandmember's mom — or maybe an aunt, considering her whining about having to pay admission for the show) to burst into a chemical fireball. The band's unusual fusion of pop hooks with off-kilter song structures works pretty well on record, but the mix was off and the keyboardist could roll out his falsetto a little less often. ...

The Vice showcase a few blocks away was running about an hour behind schedule, leaving us to see the entirety of the Panthers' set. Now, there's nothing wrong with worshipping Black Sabbath, but here's the thing: there's no smiling in metal. We're OK with the Ozzyesque maniacal grin that says, "You think I'm leaning in to kiss you but I might take a bite out of your cheek," but Panthers singer Jayson Green's goofy smirk just didn't work with his band's dinosaur stomp, which heavily featured tracks from their upcoming album, Sweet Beast. One thing kept coming to mind as we watched him wail away: Andy Metalakis (or maybe it was Ozzy Milonakis). ...

On the other hand, Atlanta's Black Lips laid down a shambolic bubblegum/garage fusion that rocked the roof off of the joint. It was an odd situation: the shabby-looking-and-sounding quartet often wandered off-key, off-beat and off-kilter, but their enthusiasm, sense of fun and infectious songs made technical proficiency seem like just something else to laugh at. While the band is renowned for onstage misbehavior, on this night they kept it light: On the last song, the rhythm guitarist (who was actually wearing a shiny gold grill) smashed a beer bottle, played slide guitar with the neck and then dragged the jagged end across his shirt (although we didn't see any blood). ...

Friday looks even more jam-packed schedule-wise, as evidenced by the following IM exchange:

MTV News Reporter: Apparently, we need to go to the show right after work CMJ-Dazed Fiancee: what? CMJ-Dazed Fiancee: oh CMJ-Dazed Fiancee: ok MTV News Reporter: Because the line-up is Dirty on Purpose, Cold War Kids and then the Hold Steady CMJ-Dazed Fiancee: well if thats what we gotta do CMJ-Dazed Fiancee: so when does it actually start? MTV News Reporter: 6:30, but nothing will probably happen until like 10pm MTV News Reporter: AAAAARGH

WEDNESDAY, November 1

Sure sign that you're at CMJ, #1: A guy in beer-mug pattern pajama bottoms and a fuzzy pink bunny hat is standing on the corner outside the downtown club Pianos. (He's gotta be in a band.)

Sure sign that you're at CMJ, #2: The singer of Somebody Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin utters this so-indie-it-hurts statement: "That song is on the colored vinyl re-release of our first album. There's a couple [in the back of the club] if you want to buy one."

Given the ridiculous number of shows by bands most people have never heard of, there are several ways to attack CMJ. You can dash frantically from one hipster set to the next, hoping to catch a song or two. You can opt to only see bands based on the ridiculous pictures next to their names in the CMJ festival guide. Or you can camp out all night at a club like the Knitting Factory, which has three stages on three floors, each hosting multiple acts (approximate total number of stairs climbed or descended by one reporter on this night: 1,800).

Some rewards of an evening at the Knitting Factory:

» The Two-Man Gentlemen Band, who wore Mark Twain-meets-"Clockwork Orange" white suits with suspenders and porkpie hats and played old-timey ragtime tunes on banjo, kazoo and stand-up bass.

» Dracula Zombie USA: Three women in wifebeaters and black miniskirts wearing dead-president masks, accompanied by a male cohort clad in a Dracula cape and George Bush mask. They played a dance-beat-fueled riot-grrrl mashup we'll call punko — or maybe discunk?

» The Mall: The lead singer screams into a microphone fashioned out of an old phone handset. What more do you need to know?

» A well-dressed couple cuddling lovingly while seated on a red beanbag near a dumpster. A passerby sniffs, "Is that one of those things where they just fell into a trash pile and said, 'Ha ha ha!'?"

» Rah Bras: The drummer, wearing a clingy halter top and a Mardi Gras mask, uses his thong-clad butt as an improvised percussion device. (Again, what more do you need to know?)

» A couple of hipster dudes blocking traffic on the steps as they try to jam their skateboards into a single backpack.

» Shellshag: As soon as we saw the 6-foot tall male singer in girl jeans, a skintight tank top (with a fake dress shirt collar and zebra-striped tie painted on it) and a cropped gold lame sweater holding a star-shaped guitar, we naturally thought, "joke band." But then we heard the tribal, Melvins-ish sludge-metal sound he made with the girl drummer (wearing bells on her ankles and around her waist). Tribal metal sleigh-bell grunge is the next big thing — and guys wearing girl jeans with tank tops is the next big fashion statement.

» QUOTE OF THE EVENING: "Are you just trying to moderate my anger by putting your water on my banjo case?"

Elsewhere, the Club NME Party at Harmony Palace advertised performances by Brazilian synth rockers CSS, heavily hyped goth-punks the Horrors and "special guests." While it's usually a very bad sign when said guests go on first, they turned out to be the highly touted Swedish outfit the Sounds, who plowed through a bubbly set of highly danceable, new-wave-inflected material. Word gradually spread that CSS' lead singer was feeling too ill to perform, and after an hour of truly inept DJ-ing (reportedly by the members of CSS who felt good enough to DJ, although if that were the case our ears beg to differ), the Horrors salvaged the evening with a stomping, in-your-face, 20-minute set of punk rock. Lead singer Faris "Rotter" Badwan leaped into the bewildered crowd, perilously swinging the microphone stand and screaming like a banshee. ...

However, the evening's best band may well have been the one with the least printable name. Holy F--- are four guys from Toronto who play a wild brand of experimental electronic noise that somehow melds itself into a hard-core dance party. At the Canal Room, two keyboard/sound manipulators hunched over racks holding a mind-boggling number of wires while a rhythm section — containing an extremely nimble bassist and a monster of a drummer — held the whole shebang together. As the psychotic din gradually inspired some crowd members to actually (gasp!) dance, the group was joined by New York MC Beans, who barely paused for air between his poetic screeds. It's often more entertaining to see a rapper accompanied by a live band than a DJ, and any MC who can keep up with a swirling mish-mash of electronic jams is clearly on his game. ...

Over at the Mercury Lounge, the Mobius Band inadvertantly distracted us with their striking resemblances to local indie-rockers (drummer Noam Schatz could pass for Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan; singer/guitarist Ben Sterling looks a bit like ex-Luna frontman Dean Wareham). The Brooklyn-via-Massachusetts trio's mellow glitch-rock has echoes of the Postal Service's lo-fi electro, with shuffling beats underscoring melodies that veer from the mini-anthemic to the wistful. It took a little while, but the group finally worked themselves into a mellow groove that benefited greatly from sporadic, tiny crescendos. ...

Further uptown, the Knife played a set filled with loads of tension (but not quite enough release) to an astonishingly packed house at Webster Hall. The group's superb new LP, Silent Scream, was heavily represented, but the dance beats never kicked in for long enough to send the crowd into the raptures it was anticipating. Such sublime subtlety and menace can sometimes get lost in a live setting. ...

But enough about music, let's get to the first thing on many people's minds: FREE STUFF! Similar in theory (if not in content) to the gift bags filled with iPods, designer clothing and blingage you read about A-list actors receiving at Sundance, the CMJ gift bag is a magical combination of promotional ephemera, plastic junk and CDs you will never listen to, with a couple of pins and the occasional "WTF?" item thrown in for good measure (this year's: a G.I. Joe's severed head). Here's the breakdown of this year's goodie bag, by the numbers:

» Number of fliers, publications and other paper-based products: 119, including a 94-page edition of the CMJ New Music Report, a poster for the Gorillaz's "Rise of the Ogre" autobiography, a postcard with Borat's face on it, and a flier for the Center for Neurofeedback and Integrative Health, Inc.

» Number of Energy Drinks: 1: UpShot — "the smallest, most powerful energy drink" and proud sponsors of the "Kickass Tour."

» Number of Energy Drinks That Don't Taste Like a Robitussin/Espresso Combo: 0

» Number of Condoms: 1

» Number of Promotional Cigarette Tins and/or sets of Monsters of Indie Rock trading cards: 2. The cards especially rule, conjuring up fleeting memories from our Donruss-fueled youths. Plus, now we've totally got a Bob Pollard in mint condition.

» Number of Action-Figure Heads: 1, promoting the return of "Kung-Fu Grip" G.I. Joe figures to Hot Topic Stores nationwide.

» Number of Sampler CDs: 6, plus a full copy of Public Enemy's underwhelming New Whirl Odor. Best of the bunch? Either the disc for "powerful, aggressive" rockers Box of Poems ("Currently Unsigned"!) or the full-blown rancor of the sampler from Psychopathic Records: home to such luminaries as Insane Clown Posse and Dark Lotus and, as the raspy-voiced man on the disc tells us, "the label that runs beneath the streets."

Tuesday, October 31

As music-industry conferences go, the CMJ Music Marathon is a rougher ride than South by Southwest. It's more cluttered and confusing, with hundreds of bands playing at nearly 70 venues scattered across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Hoboken, New Jersey, between Wednesday and Saturday. Assembling a "must-see" list practically requires a degree in quantum mechanics with a minor in cartography. The lines are a bit longer, the crowds a bit angrier and the haircuts more asymmetrical.

Though Austin, Texas' 20-year-old SXSW schmoozefest draws bigger names these days, CMJ is older (the 2006 edition marks its 26th year in the Big Apple), and it has catapulted more acts to stardom, with a list of alumni that includes U2, Beastie Boys, Soundgarden, Green Day and the Killers. It's heavily attended by music-industry executives (and wannabes), college-radio personnel (ditto), musicians (yep) and even fans, some of whom will attend the discussion panels and speeches that take place during the day; all of whom will try their best to get into the most buzzed-about gigs and parties at night, and who will try to see (and rub elbows with) today's most promising up-and-coming artists while spending as little money doing so as possible.

The most exciting shows, early in the week, look to be hyper-literate songsmiths the Decemberists, power-pop titans the Shins, L.A. buzz band the Cold War Kids, Swedish sibling duo the Knife and an unlisted show from boozy, Bruce-y Brooklyn rockers the Hold Steady.

None of this is news to the jaded types who attend the convention, but we'd like to think that at least some of our readers aren't bloggers or publicists or business-savvy musicians, but real music fans who've probably never been to CMJ or SXSW (because passes to the weeklong conferences are expensive). So we're going to try and bring the experience of CMJ to you. There will be loads of info about bands and music, but also about packed clubs, mile-long lines, surly bouncers and late-night quests for pizza. We'll trek from the seediest clubs to the 2,000-capacity concert halls, analyze the vaunted CMJ gift bag, crash the discussion panels and as many parties as we can get into.

We've got an elite squadron of writers on the ground, gig lists in hand, ready to report and — most certainly — rock. Check one-two! Let's do it!

[This story was originally published on 11.02.2006 at 2:01 p.m. ET.]

• Wu-Tang Clan, Clipse, More At The 2006 CMJ Music Marathon

• Mew
• Secret Machines
• The Decemberists
• The Shins
• The Horrors

The Killers' <I>Sam's Town</I>
Photo: Island

Sam's Sons: The Killers choked four singles out of their debut, Hot Fuss, which went on to become the longest-running rock album on the Billboard top 50 in 2005 — even though it was released in June 2004. Producers Flood and Alan Moulder are together again for the first time since they worked on Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and with some amusing cowboy imagery à la Muse, the Las Vegas posse is hoping to mine more gold in Sam's Town. Songs include: "Bling (Confession of a King)," "Why Do I Keep Counting?" and "This River Is Wild."

Beck's Back: He's already put out more videos for his new album than some bands put out in their entire careers, but now it's time for Beck to finally deliver The Information. A bonus DVD that comes with copies of the Nigel Godrich-produced disc features all those videos — 15 in total, one for each track — plus stickers to help you build your own album cover. Songs include: "Strange Apparition," "1000BPM" and "Horrible Fanfare/ Landslide/ Exoskeleton."

Girl's Next Door: Amy Lee has some pretty big shoes to fill — her own. Having sold more than 14 million copies worldwide of their debut, Fallen, Evanescence are probably feeling the "Weight of the World," as one of their new songs puts it. You've probably already heard "Call Me When You're Sober," the first single from The Open Door, but keep an ear out for a string section on "Good Enough" — and don't expect a Nirvana cover on Evanescence's similarly titled "Lithium."

Take Off: There's myriad import versions of Jet's Shine On flying around out there. The version issued in their Australia homeland has five extra cuts — including two that appear, oddly enough, at the beginning of the track list. Japanese editions come with a different bonus cut, "Hold On," while most territories also have a limited digipak run, which you should be able to identify by the shrink-wrap.

Don't Sleep: He's cropped up on some major Outkast hits over the years ("The Way You Move," "So Fresh, So Clean"), but it's finally time for Sleepy Brown to rouse the masses with his solo debut. Mr. Brown comes through Big Boi's Purple Ribbon imprint and features a guest spot from the 'Kast member on "Margarita," which Pharrell also supports. Outkast proper appear on the last track, "I Can't Wait," while other songs include "Me, My Baby & My Cadillac," "One of Dem Nights" and "Till (Your Legs Start Shaking)."

Indie-Rock Till You Drop: This is another packed Tuesday for new releases — and one of the most rock-heavy ones in months — but it could also prove to be a watershed week for underground acts on the verge, so to speak. Here are the top 10 indie-rock releases to look for:

• The Decemberists' The Crane Wife: Probably the most established indie-rock band putting out new material this week, this Portland, Oregon, troupe is actually doing so on a major label: Capitol. Based on a Japanese children's folk tale, the conceptual LP — co-produced by Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla — actually delves into dark tales of murder on songs like "You'll Not Feel the Drowning."
• Various artists' The DFA Remixes: Chapter Two: While various artists are indeed represented here — Nine Inch Nails, N.E.R.D., Hot Chip, Goldfrapp — the emphasis is clearly on the two-man combo that is Death From Above. Many of these mixes by the heralded underground duo are seeing commercial release for the first time.
• The Kooks' Inside In/ Inside Out: These Brighton, England, lads have already put out five singles in the U.K., before even issuing their maiden release in the U.S. This LP has already gone double-platinum in the Kooks' homeland, and they've sold out four headlining tours. As Stan Lee would say, 'nuff said.
• The Dears' Gang of Losers: Scrolling over to yet another part of the globe, these Montreal musicians actually put three tracks not available on the Canadian version of their LP on the U.S. edition. The band — which openly cites Serge Gainsbourg as a major influence — has shed most of the orchestral elements from 2004's No Cities Left in favor of more basically structured songs, which include "Sinthtro," "Ballad of Humankindness" and "There Goes My Outfit."
• Ad Astra Per Aspera's Catapult Calypso: The Lawrence, Kansas, post-punks actually infuse their songs with some Latin and roots sounds on their full-length debut, which features "Scatter Baby Spiders," "The Romantic One" and the epic closer "Flannery's Coming Home." Plus it boasts one of the most colorful album covers hitting stores this week.
• Cities' Variations: AAPA have some competition on the post-punk front in this Chapel Hill, North Carolina, gang, which is putting out a remix disc only months after issuing its debut. Ladytron put an electro touch on "Writing on the Wall," while lesser-known acts like Free the Robots and Daedelus also do some retooling. A second remix of "A Theme" was contributed by Mike Westbrook, who got a spot on the disc after winning a contest on the Yep Roc Records Web site.
• Thunderbirds Are Now!'s Make History: Detroit may have had some bad news over the weekend, what with its Tigers having lost their grip on the AL Central division title, but hopefully the city will find some recompense in the latest opus from these spazz-outs. That it was produced by Enon's John Schmersal and mixed by Les Savy Fav's Syd Butler should give you an idea of what to expect: 11 tracks of odd fits and starts, burps and farts.
• The Meeting Places' Numbered Days: Recorded in conjunction with the Ship — an Elephant 6-like group of Los Angelinos that includes Earlimart — the band's second album was captured by Grandaddy's Jim Fairchild. Blending piano and glockenspiel with kraut sounds and noise-pop, Numbered Days includes "Cardboard Robot," "Love Like the Movies" and "Mumble."
• Planes Mistaken for Stars' Mercy: Hop over to Denver for a louder dose of rock on songs like "Killed by Killers Who Kill Each Other," "Little Death" and "To Spit a Sparrow." Produced by Matt Bayles of Mastodon and Isis note, the CD is also adorned with glorious artwork by Pig Destroyer collaborator Chris Taylor.
• The Hold Steady's Boys and Girls in America: No, proceeds from this disc do not go toward the Boys & Girls Club — the title is actually a line from Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" — but don't let that stop you from picking up these 11 passels of spunky rock. This CD actually serves as the masthead for BoysandGirlsinAmerica.com, an online community through which the band is encouraging fans to submit video about "Your first date to your worst date, your party fouls and your massive nights."

Song Title of the Week:

"Melody With Balls" from Warpig's Warpig

Other Notables:

Pepper's No Shame: With their single "Your Face" figuratively blowing up at radio, the Los Angeles-via-Hawaii band is ready for its frenzied fanbase to spice up the mainstream. Recent tours with 311 and the Wailers surely planted some seeds of interest among reggae-rock aficionados, but in case that didn't do the trick, Nick Hexum produced the effort, while No Doubt's Tony Kanal lends some bass parts.

Sean Lennon's Friendly Fire: Boasting contributions from such random guests as Jon Brion, Bijou Phillips and Cibo Matto's Yuka Honda, perhaps the only thing stranger about this set is the motley crew that appears on the companion DVD's short film: Carrie Fisher, Asia Argento and Lindsay Lohan. Lennon covers Marc Bolan and conjures images of "Dead Meat" on his first album in eight years, but plays fewer instruments than he did on his solo debut, Into the Sun.

Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3's Olé! Tarantula: Hitch recruited one-half of R.E.M. — Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey — for what he's calling the "rockingest record I've made in years." Kurt Bloch of the Fastbacks acts as engineer, while many other guests are also along for the ride: Soft Boys Morris Windsor and Kimberly Rew, plus members of Harvey Danger and Presidents of the United States of America. Those who preordered were gifted with a bonus disc with live tracks and more.

New Releases:

• Ad Astra Per Aspera - Catapult Calypso (Sonic Unyon)
  
• Oleta Adams - Christmas Time With Oleta (Koch)
  
• Akron/ Family - Meek Warrior (Young God)
  
• Akwid - E.S.L. (UniVision)
  
• Amon Amarth - With Oden on Our Side (two CDs; Metal Blade)
  Buy Now: With Oden on Our Side (Metal Blade)
  
• Trey Anastasio - Bar 17 (Red Ink)
  Buy Now: Bar 17 (Red Ink)
  
• Badi Assad - Wonderland (Deutsche Grammophon)
  
• Beck - The Information (Geffen)
  Read: "Beck Giving Fans Sticky Fingers With Quasi-Hip-Hop Album"
  Buy Now: The Information (Geffen)
  
• Big Rich - E-40 Presents Big Rich A.K.A. Fillmore Rich: Block Tested, Hood Approved (Koch)
  
• Bleu Da Vinci - Bleu Da Vinci Presents: The World Is BMF's - The Compilation (with DVD; Koch)
  
• Brand New Sin - Tequila (Century Media)
  Buy Now: Tequila (Century Media)
  
• Brazil - The Philosophy of Velocity (Immortal)
  
• Breaks Co-Op - The Sound Inside (Astralwerks)
  
• Jim Brickman - Escape (SLG)
  
• Lindsey Buckingham - Under the Skin (Warner Bros.)
  Buy Now: Under the Skin (Warner Bros.)
  
• Don Byron - Do the Boomerang: The Music of Junior Walker (Blue Note)
  
• Edie Carey - Another Kind of Fire (Accidental Poet)
  
• Celtic Woman - A Christmas Celebration (Manhattan)
  
• Chthonic - Seediqbale (Down Port)
  
• Cirque Du Soleil - Corteo (Cirque Du Soleil)
  
• Cities - Variations (EP; Yep Roc)
  
• Clark - Body Riddle (Warp)
  
• Dears - Gang of Losers (Arts & Crafts)
  Buy Now: Gang of Losers (Arts & Crafts)
  
• Decemberists - The Crane Wife (Capitol)
  Buy Now: The Crane Wife (Capitol)
  
• Delerium - Nuages Du Monde (Nettwerk)
  
• Plácido Domingo - Moments of Passion (Sony Classical)
  Buy Now: Moments of Passion (Sony Classical)
  
• Don't Die Cindy - Most Imperfect Skies (Cake)
  
• Richard Dorfmeister vs. Madrid de los Austrias - Grand Slam (G-Stone)
  
• Evanescence - The Open Door (Wind-Up)
  Read: "Amy Lee Says New Evanescence LP Has More Sensuality"
  Buy Now: The Open Door (Wind-Up)
  
• Michael Giacchino - "Lost: Season 2" soundtrack (Varèse Sarabande)
  
• Goldenboy - Underneath the Radio (Eenie Meenie)
  
• David Grover & the Big Bear Band With Steve Ide & Friends - Passin' It On (Koch)
  
• Stefon Harris - African Tarantella: Dances With Duke (Blue Note)
  
• Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 - Olé! Tarantula (Yep Roc)
  
• The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America (Vagrant)
  Buy Now: Boys and Girls in America (Vagrant)
  
• Into Eternity - The Scattering of Ashes (Century Media)
  Buy Now: The Scattering of Ashes (Century Media)
  
• Jeremiah - Chasing Forever (Siri)
  
• Jet - Shine On (Atlantic)
  Read: "Jet Reveal Commanding Track List For Shine On LP"
  Buy Now: Shine On (Atlantic)
  
• Jonezetta - Popularity (Tooth & Nail)
  
• K-Ci - My Book (Bungalo)
  
• Kennedys - Songs of the Open Road (Appleseed)
  
• Killers - Sam's Town (Island)
  Read: "Killers Album Preview: Massive Sound, Epic Ballads, Big Ideas Fill Sam's Town"
  Buy Now: Sam's Town (Island)
  
• King Britt's Interpretations - Nova Dream Sequence (Compost)
  
• Gladys Knight - Before Me (Verve)
  
• Kooks - Inside In/ Inside Out (Astralwerks)
  Buy Now: Inside In/ Inside Out (Astralwerks)
  
• Koop - Koop Islands (!K7)
  
• Jake La Botz - Graveyard Jones (Charnel Ground)
  
• Amos Lee - Supply and Demand (Blue Note)
  
• Sean Lennon - Friendly Fire (with DVD; Capitol)
  Buy Now: Friendly Fire (Capitol)
  
• Les Georges Leningrad - Sangue Puro (Tomlab)
  
• Los Straitjackets With the World Famous Pontani Sisters and Kaiser George - Twist Party!!! (Yep Roc)
  
• Make Believe - Of Course (Flameshovel)
  
• The Manhattan Transfer - An Acapella Christmas and The Symphony Sessions (Rhino)
  Buy Now: An Acapella Christmas and The Symphony Sessions (Rhino)
  
• Meeting Places - Numbered Days (Words On)
  
• Monica - The Makings of Me (J)
  Read: "Monica Overcomes Pregnancy Rumors, Ex-Boyfriend's Suicide To Form Makings Of Me"
  Buy Now: The Makings of Me (J)
  
• Nina Nastasia - On Leaving (Fat Cat)
  
• Nuttin' but Stringz - Struggle From the Subway to the Charts (Koch)
  
• Lisa Palleschi - Released (Lightyear)
  
• John Patitucci - Line by Line (Concord)
  
• Pepper - No Shame (Atlantic)
  
• Pillar - The Reckoning (Flicker)
  
• Planes Mistaken for Stars - Mercy (Abacus)
  
• John Popper - The John Popper Project Featuring DJ Logic (Image)
  Buy Now: The John Popper Project Featuring DJ Logic (Image)
  
• The Radiators - Dreaming Out Loud (Sci Fidelity)
  Buy Now: Dreaming Out Loud (Sci Fidelity)
  
• The Receiver - Decades (Stunnin Models on Display)
  
• Reyes Brothers - Ghetto Therapy (Latin Thug/ Koch)
  
• Rodrigo y Gabriela - Rodrigo y Gabriela (ATO)
  
• Sharam - Dubai (Global Underground)
  
• Skillet - Comatose (Atlantic)
  
• Slats - Boom Patrol (digipak; Latest Flame)
  
• Sleepy Brown - Mr. Brown (Virgin)
  Buy Now: Mr. Brown (Virgin)
  
• Some Action - The Band That Sucked the Life Out of Rock N' Roll and Killed Itself in the Process (Gigantic)
  
• Spitalfield - Better Than Knowing Where You Are (Victory)
  Buy Now: Better Than Knowing Where You Are (Victory)
  
• George Strait - It Just Comes Natural (MCA Nashville)
  Buy Now: It Just Comes Natural (MCA Nashville)
  
• Subtle - For Hero for Fool (Astralwerks)
  
• Robin Thicke - The Evolution of Robin Thicke (Interscope)
  Buy Now: The Evolution of Robin Thicke (Interscope)
  
• Thunderbirds Are Now! - Make History (French Kiss)
  
• Tokyo Police Club - A Lesson in Crime (Paper Bag)
  
• Transit War - Miss Your Face (Orange Peal)
  
• Trentalange - Photo Album of Complex Relationships (Coco Tauro)
  
• Twelve Tribes - Midwest Pandemic (Ferret)
  
• Unk - Beat'n Down Yo Block! (Koch)
  
• Visionaries - We Are the Ones (We've Been Waiting For) (Up Above)
  
• Warpig - Warpig (Relapse)
  
• Wolf - The Black Flame (Prosthetic)
  
• Michael Wolff - Love and Destruction (Wrong)
  
• Chris Young - Chris Young (RCA)
  Buy Now: Chris Young (RCA)
  
• Various artists - Adult Swim and Stones Throw Presents Chrome Children (with DVD; Stones Throw)
  
• Various artists - The DFA Remixes: Chapter Two (Astralwerks)
  
• Various artists - Fabric 30 - Rub-N-Tug (Fabric)
  
• Various artists - Rep Yo Set (Reputable)
  
• Various artists - Totally Hits 2006 (Warner Strategic Marketing)
  
• Various artists - We'll Inherit the Earth ... A Tribute to the Replacements (1234 Go)
  
• Various artists - "The Break-Up" soundtrack (Lakeshore)
  
• Various artists - "Sherrybaby" soundtrack (Lakeshore)

Notable Reissues and Archival Material:

• Tim Buckley - The Best of Tim Buckley (Rhino)
  
• Captain Beefheart - Doc at the Radar Station and Ice Cream for Crow (Astralwerks)
  
• Ray Charles - Ray Charles With the Voices of Jubilation (Medialink) and Ray Sings, Basie Swings (Concord)
  
• Chicago - 16 and 17 (Rhino)
  
• Darkest Hour - Archives (A-F)
  
• Desmond Dekker - This Is Desmond Dekker (Trojan)
  
• Depeche Mode - A Broken Frame, Some Great Reward and Songs of Faith and Devotion (two-CD deluxe editions; Rhino)
  Buy Now: A Broken Frame, Some Great Reward and Songs of Faith and Devotion (Rhino)
  
• Earth, Wind & Fire - In the Name of Love (Kalimba)
  
• Gloria Estefan - The Essential Gloria Estefan (two CDs; Epic/Legacy)
  Buy Now: The Essential Gloria Estefan (Epic/Legacy)
  
• The Future Sound of London - Teachings From the Electronic Brain (The Best of FSOL) (Astralwerks)
  
• Journey - Captured, Frontiers, Raised by Radio and Trial by Fire (expanded digipaks; Columbia/Legacy)
  Buy Now: Captured, Frontiers, Raised by Radio and Trial by Fire (Columbia/Legacy)
  
• John Kay & Steppenwolf - Live in London (Rainman)
  
• Chris LeDoux - The Ultimate Collection (two CDs; Capitol)
  
• Steve Perry - For the Love of Strange Medicine, Greatest Hits and Street Talk (expanded digipaks; Columbia/Legacy)
  
• Pet Shop Boys - PopArt (two CDs; Capitol)
  Buy Now: Pop Art (Capitol)
  
• Pink Floyd - Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd (two-CD special edition; Capitol)
  
• Elvis Presley - Elvis Christmas (RCA/BMG)
  
• Pretenders - Pretenders and Pretenders II (two-disc sets; Rhino)
  Buy Now: Pretenders and Pretenders II (Rhino)
  
• Boz Scaggs - Hits! (Columbia/Legacy)
  
• Sons of the Pioneers/ Roy Rodgers - The Republic Years (Varèse Sarabande)
  
• Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Pete Seeger Sessions - American Land Edition (special edition with DVD; Columbia)
  Buy Now: We Shall Overcome: The Pete Seeger Sessions - American Land Edition (Columbia)
  
• Dakota Staton - Dynamic! (Blue Note)
  
• UT - In Gut's House and Griller (Blast First/ Mute)
  
• Joe Williams - A Man Ain't Supposed to Cry (Blue Note)
  
• George Winston - Ballads and Blues 1972 - The Early Recordings: Special Edition (expanded digipak) and Complete Solo Piano Recordings: 1972-2004 (10-CD box set; Windham Hill/ Legacy)
  
• Various artists - Nick Jr Winter Wonderland (Nick)
  
• Various artists - Paint It Black (Virgin)
  
• Various artists - What It Is! Funky Soul and Rare Grooves (1967-1977) (four-CD box set; Rhino)
  
• Various artists - Windham Hill Holiday Guitar Collection (Windham Hill/ Legacy)

Music DVDs:

• Phil Collins - "Classic Albums: Face Value" (Eagle Vision)
  
• Elvis Costello & the Imposters - "Club Date: Live in Memphis" (Eagle Vision)
  
• Robert Earl Keen - "Live at the Ryman: The Greatest Show Ever Been Gave" (Koch)
  
• John Lennon and Yoko Ono - "Give Peace a Song" (Hip-O)
  
• Level 42 - "Live at Wembley" (Koch)
  
• Bob Marley and the Wailers - "Classic Albums: Catch a Fire" (Eagle Vision)
  
• Meat Loaf - "Classic Albums: Bat Out of Hell" (Eagle Vision)
  
• Pat Metheny Group - "The Way Up - Live" (Eagle Vision)
  
• Moe - "Live From the Fillmore" (Fat Boy)
  
• Pixies - "Live at the Paradise in Boston" (Eagle Vision)
  
• Pretty Ricky - "Live Concert: Live From the 305 (Volume 1)" (Atlantic)
  
• Steely Dan - "Classic Albums: Aja" (Eagle Vision)
  
• STS9 - "Live as Time Changes" (Sci Fidelity)
  
• James Taylor - "A MusiCares Person of the Year Tribute" (Rhino)
  
• U2 - "Classic Albums: The Joshua Tree" (Eagle Vision)
  
• The Who - "Classic Albums: Who's Next" (Eagle Vision)
  
• Various artists - "Moments to Remember: The Golden Hits of the 50s and 60s" (Shout! Factory)

Coming Attractions:

October 10:

• The Blood Brothers - Young Machetes (V2)
  Preorder: Young Machetes (V2)
  
• Teddy Geiger - Underage Thinking (special-edition re-release with demo bonus tracks; Columbia)
  Read: "Teddy Geiger Milks 'Fat Cows' For Underage Re-Release"
  Preorder: Underage Thinking (Columbia)
  
• Various artists - "American Hardcore - The History of American Punk Rock (1980-1986)" soundtrack (Rhino)
  Read: "Think You Know Punk Rock? Hardcore Vets Recall Real Blood-And-Sweat Years"

October 17:

• C-Murder - The Tru Story ... Continued (limited-edition version with DVD and bonus tracks; Koch)
  Preorder: The Tru Story ... Continued (Koch)
  
• Glenn Danzig - Black Aria II (Megaforce)
  Read: "Glenn Danzig Preps 'Final' Tour, Film, Box Set And, Uh, Dolls"
  Preorder: Black Aria II (Megaforce)
  
• Xzibit - Full Circle (Koch)
  Read: "Xzibit's An Indie Rapper Again, With Game And Quik In Tow"

October 24:

• My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade (Reprise)
  Read: "My Chemical Romance Unveil Black Parade Track List, Album Art"
  Preorder: The Black Parade (Reprise)
  
• Sparta - Threes (Hollywood)
  Read: "Sparta Return With New LP, Outlook, Tour — And No Need For 'Hipster Points' "
  Preorder: Threes (Hollywood)
  
• Various artists - "The Nightmare Before Christmas" soundtrack (special two-CD edition; Disney)
  Read: "Fall Out Boy, Panic, Marilyn Manson Add To New 'Nightmare Before Christmas' Soundtrack"

• The Killers
• Beck
• Evanescence
• Jet
• Sleepy Brown

Death Cab for Cutie
Photo: Appio

Though we won't know the winner of the inaugural New Pantheon award until next month, the list of nominated albums just got a whole lot, uh, shorter.

Organizers for the New Pantheon — a replacement for the on-hiatus Shortlist Music Prize, given to the year's most outstanding under-the-radar album (see "Linkin Park's Bennington, Shinoda Help Do The Honors For Shortlist's Successor") — gave MTV News an exclusive first look at the 10 albums that'll compete for the hardware.

Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine, M.I.A.'s Arular, Sufjan Stevens' Illinois, Antony and the Johnsons' I Am a Bird Now, Death Cab for Cutie's Plans, Bloc Party's Silent Alarm, the Kings of Leon's Aha Shake Heartbreak, Animal Collective's Feels, the Arcade Fire's Funeral and the Decemberists' Picaresque are the 10 finalists for the inaugural New Pantheon award, which will be handed out February 6 in Los Angeles.

That list was culled from an initial slate of more than 90 albums, submitted by the New Pantheon's panel of celebrity judges, which include Beck, ?uestlove of the Roots, country musician Keith Urban and actor Adam Brody ("The O.C.").

Back in November, Tom Sarig — one of the founders of the Shortlist Prize and the man behind the New Pantheon — stated that his goal was to honor "left of center" albums that the mainstream might have missed, and for the most part, it looks like he's succeeded. Only Apple's Machine and Death Cab's Plans could be considered "hit" albums. Antony and the Johnsons' Bird did take home the Mercury Prize — given to the most outstanding British or Irish act — in September.

To be eligible for the award, an album must not have been certified as gold (500,000 copies shipped) by the RIAA in the period of July 1, 2004, to October 30, 2005.

• Death Cab For Cutie
• M.I.A.
• Fiona Apple
• Bloc Party
• Kings Of Leon

Don't Mess With Texas: SXSW 2009

• Metallica
• The Decemberists
• The Von Bondies
• Voxtrot
• Tori Amos

Rage Against The Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Amy Winehouse, More At Coachella 2007

• Arctic Monkeys
• The Jesus & Mary Chain
• Stephen Marley
• Satellite Party
• Jane's Addiction