Photo: Pandora.com

Does something about the quiver in Shakira's voice move you? Check out the smooth Latin sounds of Curumin. Avenged Sevenfold's finger-bleeding riffs speak to your inner shredder? Perhaps you'll dig the double-kick-drum blitz of "Desaster and Decay" by Burden of Grief. Can't get that riff from Gwen Stefani's "Luxurious" out of your head? Try cleansing your musical palette with some Fischerspooner or Kelli Ali.

Those are some of the suggestions made by the new Internet radio site Pandora.com. It can't say for sure that you'll like those other artists, but it gives you hundreds of suggestions for songs that might appeal to your personal taste.

For the past six years, Pandora founder Tim Westergren, 40, has been overseeing the ominous-sounding Music Genome Project, which has compiled a checklist of musical signposts (a.k.a. "genes") that help Pandora create a unique radio station.

Pianist and former film composer Westergren and his team of 35 Oakland, California, music geeks break down each song in their 400,000-tune database according to their genes, which currently number more than 400. "Each song is analyzed using this gene pool," Westergren said. "Like, there are 30 vocal genes, one of them is how nasal is the voice, how much vibrato, how much falsetto they use."

If, for instance, you pick Stefani as the signature artist on one of your stations (you can make up to 100 different ones), it will tell you, with some redundancy, that her music "features electronica influences, a subtle use of paired vocal harmony, mild rhythmic syncopation, repetitive melodic phrasing and paired vocal harmony."

The site will then start playing songs by either Stefani or artists who have similar genes, like Garbage, the French Kicks or, um, Britney Spears.

OK, so it's not a perfect system, but Westergren said that's part of the beauty of Pandora.

"Yes, it kind of takes the art out of it to some extent," he said. "But we're quantifying it in an artistic way because we're trying to describe musical characteristics. We're trying to be scientific, but there are things about music appreciation that we don't capture and I'm glad of that. The kinds of things we don't capture are the things that are hard to capture about songs, which is why we don't predict hits or always get it right."

So far the company has mapped the genes for 15,000 artists in four genres/genomes: rock/pop/country, electronic/hip-hop, jazz and world music. Inspired by his less-than-headline-worthy career as a struggling musician, Westergren has encouraged the site's "music guru," Michael Zapruder, to search far and wide for overlooked artists to fill out the more popular suggestions the site makes. The result is a mix so eclectic you're unlikely to hear it on even the most out-there Internet radio station.

Each song that's listed is accompanied by a box that allows you to say whether you'd like to hear similar songs or never hear them again, as well as a button that offers an explanation as to why that particular track is being played. There's also a link to either Amazon or iTunes to buy the music, though Westergren said being able to purchase the song is not a prerequisite for it to appear on the site.

Unlike other Internet radio services, Pandora creates your station on demand, instead of choosing from a list of top sellers or radio hits.

Pandora can be accessed for free with ads or for $36 a year without them; both services allow you to e-mail your stations to friends. Pandora keeps things mixed up by creating bundles of brief playlists that have a common thread before moving on to the next bundle of songs. Those songs are linked through the genes assigned to them by the 30-plus analysts on staff, who spend 20 to 30 minutes per song to suss out their unique attributes.

Dustin Hodge, 21, a senior at the University of Washington in Seattle, got turned on to Pandora a week ago through his roommate. "I decided to try it and I love it," he said. "I'm a computer science major, so the fact that they've gone through this music and analyzed it and can make suggestions based on what you like ... it's the only station I know of that tailors content to what you like."

Hodge said he created a pair of stations based around bands like Dredg, Disturbed and Mudvayne and has already been turned on to "tons" of bands he's never heard of but now loves, such as Minus the Bear, Seemless and Plain White T's.

"Even on iTunes you're not guaranteed that they'll play something you like and if they don't, you have no say," he said. "But Pandora really learns what you like based on the input, and I've found tons of music already that I would have never found otherwise."

Because of digital-rights management rules, there are some things Pandora can't do, like go backward or let you hear a particular song on demand. Also, you can't hear more than four songs by the same artist or three songs off the same record in three hours, and you can only skip forward a limited number of times per hour.

Westergren declined to say how many users the site has, but said more than 6 million stations have been created since Pandora launched in late October. He said fans are constantly telling him what they want via hundreds of e-mails a day.

Many of those e-mails end up with Zapruder, who buys hundreds of records for use on the site. So far he's charged up more than 15,000 albums, abiding by two main rules: Pandora has to own hard copies of everything it plays, and "the music can't suck." Zapruder buys 300 or more CDs a week, trying to split his purchases evenly among different genres and old and new material. "My one mandate is to make our library awesome," he said.

Zapruder added that he gets dozens of packages a week from unsigned indie bands and some of them make it onto the site. "It's good for the indie musician and it's good for us as long as the music is good. And if I do my job properly, your stations should always be changing."

For complete digital music coverage, check out the Digital Music Reports.

• Gwen Stefani
• Fischerspooner
• Shakira
• Burden of Grief
• Avenged Sevenfold

Hot Hot Heat's <I>Elevator</i>
Photo: Sire

The temperature is about to rise in record stores across the country as Canadian rock outfit Hot Hot Heat release their new album.

The Victoria, British Columbia-bred band are back after 2002's Make Up the Breakdown with Elevator, an album packed full of energetic pop-rock. While recording this LP, the band bid "Goodnight, Goodnight" to original guitarist Dante DeCaro and replaced him with Luke Paquin.

Expect to see some "O.C." junkies rushing the record store on Tuesday as the fourth installment of "The O.C." mix series drops. This time around, the album's creators make the most underground-friendly mix yet, with tracks by Imogen Heap, Pinback, the Reindeer Section and Flunk, among others. More mainstream names like Beck and Modest Mouse are thrown in for good measure.

Four years after Faith Evans released Faithfully, the R&B songstress is back to crown herself The First Lady. For her return, Evans was supported by producers the Neptunes, Jermaine Dupri, Chucky Thompson, Mario Winans and Bryan Michael-Cox.

The Crystal Method release their Community Service, Vol. 2 this week. The album features remixes of the Doors' "Roadhouse Blues," New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" and Smashing Pumpkins' "1979," as well as nine of the Crystal Method's original tracks.

Elvis' little girl, Lisa Marie Presley, is back with her own brand of hip-swaying swagger on Now What, her follow-up to 2003's To Whom It May Concern.

Also out this week are albums by Fischerspooner (Odyssey), British Sea Power (Open Season), Reel Big Fish (We're Not Happy 'Til You're Not Happy) and Adema (Planets).

Out Tuesday, April 5:

• Absurd Minds - The Focus (Dancing Ferret)
• Adema - Planets (Earache Records)
• Beelow - Presents Louisiana's Sickest (Bungalo)
• Benevento/ Russo Duo - Best Reason to Buy the Sun (Ropeadope)
• Bludshot - Another Day (Bludshot)
• Brainstorm - Liquid Monster (Metal Blade)
• British Sea Power - Open Season (Rough Trade)
• Armin Van Buren - State of Trance 2005 (Ultra Records)
• Kristin Chenoweth - As I Am (Sony)
• The Long Defeat - Choose Your Own Adventure (Sit-n-Spin)
• Alex Cortiz - Magnifico (Varese Sarabande)
• The Crystal Method - Community Service II (3AM/Ultra)
  Buy Now: Community Service II (3AM/Ultra)
  
• Dirty Projectors - The Getty Address (Western Vinyl)
• Eligh - Enigma (Legendary)
• Faith Evans - First Lady (Capitol)
  Buy Now: First Lady (Capitol)
  
• Eyeball Skeleton - #1 (My Pal God)
• Fantômas - Suspended Animation (Ipecac)
• Far from Finished - East Side of Nowhere (Victory)
• Fischerspooner - Odyssey (Capitol)
  Buy Now: Odyssey (Capitol)
  
• Fripp and Eno - The Equatorial Stars (Discipline Global Media)
• Graveworm - (N)utopia (Nuclear Blast)
• The Gun Shys - The Gun Shys (Aeronaut)
• Tord Gustavsen Trio - The Ground (ECM)
• Scott Hamilton & the Bill Charlap Trio - Back in New York (Concord)
• Hammerfall - Chapter 5 (Nuclear Blast)
• Fareed Haque Group - Cosmic Hug (Magna Carta)
• Hot Hot Heat - Elevator (Sire)
  Read: "Hot Hot Heat's Ups And Downs Inspire Elevator"
  Buy Now: Elevator (Sire)
  
• Issam Houshan - Wassan Pharaon (Ark 21)
• Illanotix - Killa Products (EV Productions)
• Brandon Jenkins - Down in Flames (Western Soul)
• Charles Lloyd - Jumping the Creek (ECM)
• Longshot - Open Mouths Fed (EV Productions)
• Lost City Angels - Broken World (Universal Motown)
• Magnolia Electric Co. - What Comes After the Blues (Secretly Canadian)
• Keiko Matsui - Walls of Akendora (Narada)
• Irvin Mayfield - Strange Fruit (Basin Street)
• Donnie McClurkin - Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs (Jive)
• Kate McGarry - Mercy Streets (Palmetto)
• OCS - 3 & 4 (Narnack)
• Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy (Secretly Canadian)
• Ellis Paul - American Jukebox Fables (Rounder)
• Pepper's Ghost - Shake the Hand That Shook the World (Hybrid)
• Lisa Marie Presley - Now What (Capitol)
  Buy Now: Now What (Capitol)
  
• Pretendo - Pretendo (54º40' or Fight!)
• Reel Big Fish - We're Not Happy 'Til You're Not Happy (Jive)
  Buy Now: We're Not Happy 'Til You're Not Happy (Jive)
  
• Serena Ryder - Unlikely Emergency (Isadora)
• Diane Schuur with the Caribbean Jazz Project - Schuur Fire (Concord)
• A Static Lullaby - Faso Latido (Columbia)
• Strength in Numbers - The Veil (Victory)
• Supersuckers - Devil's Food (Mid-Fi)
  Buy Now: Devil's Food (Mid-Fi)
  
• Todd - Purity Pledge (Southern)
• Vast Aire & DJ Mighty Mi - The Best Damn Rap Show (Eastern Conference)
• Ben Watt - Buzzin' Fly Vol. 2 (Astralwerks)
• Aaron Watson - Live at the Texas Hall of Fame (RED)
• White Circle Crime Club - Written in Black (54º40' or Fight!)
• Yellow #5 - Demon Crossing (Scat)
• Eli Young Band - Level (Carnival/RED)
• Various artists - Bonnaroo 2004 (Sanctuary)
• Various artists - Electro Bossa (Varese Sarabande)
• Various artists - Everything Comes and Goes: A Tribute to Black Sabbath (Temporary Residence)
• Various artists - Verve Remixed 3 (Verve)
• Various artists - Soundtrack to "Millions" (Milan)
• Various artists - Music From the O.C.: Mix 4 (Warner Bros.)
• DVD: "Edgeplay: A Film About the Runaways" (Image)

April 12:

• Mariah Carey - The Emancipation of Mimi (Island)
• Garbage - Bleed Like Me (Interscope)
  Read: "Garbage Breakup Ends With New LP — If They Did Actually Break Up"
• Mudvayne - Lost and Found (Sony)
  Read: "Mudvayne Lose The Makeup, Find Inspiration In Isolation"

April 19:

• Mike Jones - Who Is Mike Jones? (Atlantic)
• Flaming Lips - Latenight Tales (Another Late Night)
• Rob Thomas - Something to Be (Atlantic)
  Read: "Rob Thomas Ready For The Gravy After Testing Himself With Solo LP"

May 3:

• Amerie - Touch (Sony)
• New Order - Waiting for the Sirens' Call (Warner Bros.)
• Bruce Springsteen - Devils & Dust (Sony)

• Faith Evans
• Hot Hot Heat
• Lisa Marie Presley
• Fischerspooner
• The Crystal Method

Fischerspooner perform live at Coachella
Photo: Barry Brecheisen

Like the Wiseguys' "Start the Commotion" in 2001 and Dirty Vegas' "Days Go By" in 2002, Fischerspooner's "Emerge" just might be the dance song of the year, despite actually being a few years old.

With commercials as an outlet, electronic music hits can have an impressive lifespan, as the New York duo of Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner are learning with their electro-pop single, which is currently the centerpiece of VH1's latest promotional campaign.

"Emerge," which includes lyrics like, "You don't need to/ Emerge from nothing" and "Looks good/ Feels good/ Sounds good," was actually written around the time the duo formed in 1998 and is based on Fischerspooner's mission statement.

"It was written on a $99 piece of software called Rebirth," Fischer said at Coachella, where the duo performed a standout set (see "Iggy, Beasties, White Stripes Lead Three-Pronged Invasion At Coachella"). "It was really a punk rock exercise of making something of nothing. We had a very famous DJ listen to it early on and telling us that it wasn't '80s enough, that we need to amp up the '80s element. I disagreed."

"Emerge," like the rest of Fischerspooner's February debut, #1, is certainly inspired by the decade that produced leg warmers and "The A-Team," with simple Casio beats and vocal effects that would make Max Headroom proud.

The duo, however, are not just about music. Fischer and Spooner first collaborated when they were hired to film footage and write music for a show being pitched to MTV called "Cool Hunt" — "a sort of James Bond espionage thing where this girl was following this really cool person," Spooner said.

The show never made it on air, but the music Fischer and Spooner made inspired them to put their names together, so to speak, even though both say it was not any good and has since been destroyed.

"We dodged a bullet there," Fischer joked. "If that was released, we'd be screwed. We had a whole fire burning ceremony. It was really special."

The guys never lost their visual element and made a name for themselves by playing at art shows in New York.

"We started working on more music and bringing in collaborators — singers, choreographers, dancers, wardrobe, lighting, film and photography — and put together our own, what I like to say is a grass-roots folk version of mega-pop," Spooner said. "It's a strange somewhat contradictory hybrid in that it's kind of homemade, but it's also extremely glossy."

So glossy in fact that since the success of "Emerge" and Fischerspooner's live show, the duo have been asked to develop a cabaret show for a Las Vegas casino, as well as a major motion-picture musical.

After their version of Kylie Minogue's "Come Into My World" won Best Remix at the American Dance Music Awards in March (see "P. Diddy Debuts 'Let's Get Ill,' Timberlake, Dirty Vegas Win At Dance Music Awards"), the group has also been fielding phone calls from pop stars requesting remixes.

Meanwhile, Fischerspooner are preparing for the second single from #1, a cover of "The 15th" by British experimental rockers Wire. The video, which is included on a bonus DVD along with the album, shows a live band "performing" the song, which, ironically, Fischerspooner made entirely on computers and synthesizers.

"When we started, we didn't know anything about the music business or how to produce a record or anything," Spooner recalled. "It just had an appealing rawness to it that we just kept developing and working on for years."

• Fischerspooner

Beastie Boy Mike D at the 2003 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival
Photo: BarryBrecheisen

INDIO, California — If not for the palm trees and smoldering temperatures, it would've been easy to forget that the Coachella festival was in the Southern California desert.

This past weekend, Queens of the Stone Age and Ben Harper gave homecoming performances of sorts (both are from nearby towns) and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jack Johnson and Black Eyed Peas made the two-hour drive from Los Angeles, but for the most part it was all about England, New York and Detroit. (Click to see photos from the festival.)

From England came Blur, Johnny Marr and Primal Scream, along with the bubbling-under Libertines, the Music, South, Badly Drawn Boy, Gomez, Groove Armada and countless DJs. New York brought Saturday's headliner, a standout show from the Beastie Boys, and fellow icons Sonic Youth, along with Interpol, Fischerspooner, the Rapture and the Mooney Suzuki. There's only two of them, but the White Stripes had no problem representing Detroit's garage scene, while the Von Bondies and Whirlwind Heat were two of the most talked about breakthrough bands on the bill.

Coachella featured more than 75 acts playing on five stages over two days. Here's a rundown on some of the more memorable performances:

• The Beastie Boys took the stage Saturday without their instruments, but DJ Mix Master Mike more than made up for it with his own ill communication, tweaking every track and mixing in beats from Missy Elliott's "Work It" and Erik Sermon's "React." The trio rapped parts of at least three new tracks, all of which had the hip-hop simplicity of their latest single, the anti-war anthem "In a World Gone Mad." Mostly, though, the set was heavy on party starters — "Root Down," "Body Movin'," "So What'cha Want," "Intergalactic" and even a bit of the old gem "Brass Monkey" — a sharp contrast to Adam "MCA" Yauch's political banter between songs. "At the next election, vote anyone but Bush," he said at one point.

• Like the Beasties, the Chili Peppers focused their headlining slot on keeping the sun-drenched festival-goers on their feet. Though the band mellowed some on last year's By the Way, their hit-filled live show Sunday was as energetic as ever. Short of sporting only socks, the guys were their old selves, jumping around like caged animals, spouting random dialogue and giving it away now.

• N.E.R.D.'s one-hour set on Saturday was a bit misleading, as the first half was all Spymob, the Minneapolis rock group that doubles as N.E.R.D.'s live band, performing Police-inspired songs from their upcoming debut. When Pharrell Williams and company finally came out, they played three songs before taking a break so friend Kenna could sing his new single. For a finale, Williams brought out Kelly Osbourne and Black Eyed Peas' Will.I.Am for "Rock Star," though Osbourne proved hardly that, running offstage midway through.

• "Who here doesn't like the Hives?" singer Pelle Almqvist asked, silencing the crowd. "Who here came for the Hives?" he followed to a deafening roar. "Point taken." Obnoxious confidence is part of their shtick, but he did make a point. Both the Hives Saturday and the White Stripes Sunday drew enormous crowds curious to hear two of last year's breakthrough bands.

• In their sharp formalwear, Interpol easily rivaled the Hives for best dressed. The NYC band conjured its swanky interpretation of Joy Division, combining bleak atmosphere with pop hooks, and delivered nearly flawless renditions of songs from Turn on the Bright Light. Despite going up against the Chili Peppers, Interpol generated a large crowd that even lingered for a good while in hopes of an encore that never came.

• While "Song 2" and "Girls and Boys" generated the loudest response, Saturday's crowd was quite receptive to the moody and eclectic tracks a retooled Blur previewed from their forthcoming Think Tank. Frontman Damon Albarn dedicated a song to the late Joe Strummer during a set that mixed Think Tank tunes like the infectious "Crazy Beat" with Britpop classics like "Beetlebum."

• "Scottish people and the desert don't mix very well," Idlewild singer Roddy Woomble joked Saturday afternoon. The floppy-haired lads struggled against the sweltering heat as they began "Little Discourage" from 2000's 100 Broken Windows, but they'd found their places by the song's chorus, easing smoothly into several of the driving and emotive tunes from this year's The Remote Part and earlier tracks like "I'm a Message" and "Roseability."

• Damon Gough was dressed even more poorly for the weather, sporting the cap, beard and thick denim that have become synonymous with his Badly Drawn Boy persona. Gough, more than willing to show off his prowess with a guitar, harmonica and piano, even sang about playing Coachella. "I was told I was headlining the show," he crooned with his typical combination of wit, self-effacement and mock arrogance. "And I am, 'cause that's how I feel."

• Despite sound problems, Hot Hot Heat gave a blistering performance that brought over a herd of VIPs, including Tony Hawk and Kelly Osbourne, who were singing the catchy "Bandages" like everyone else when the show was over. The problems escalated as the night went on, and ended with the Libertines playing only two songs — not good for their first U.S. performance. Organizers squeezed them back in on Sunday so Stateside tastemakers could see the band British journalists are calling the next Strokes.

• Anyone expecting an explosion similar to their former band's musical bombast may have been disappointed by ex-At the Drive-In members Cedric Bixler and Omar Rodriguez's set with the Mars Volta on Sunday. Latin rhythms and long percussive jams were the name of the game as Bixler's nearly Whitesnake-like falsetto soared over every hacky sack and Frisbee game on the far reaches of the field while Rodriquez split his time between barely distorted picking (with scarcely a metallic palm mute to be found) and effects-drenched noise.

• Ben Folds played only the keys in his largely improvisational set, which ended with the singer/songwriter bringing "Song for the Dumped" to a crawl and ad-libbing vulgar yet hilarious lyrics. In a similarly fun set Saturday, Ben Kweller played a little piano, too, spewing out some of the poppiest songs of the weekend.

• On Sunday, Jack White and Juliette Lewis took in an early show from bare-bones rockers the Von Bondies in the Mojave Tent. Later, Los Angeles' Rooney finally gave that stage something that sounded local, blending Beach Boys-like harmonies with Phantom Planet-like tunes (singer Robert Carmine is Jason Schwartzman's brother). And finally, Fischerspooner treated a packed tent to a theatrical show complete with choreographed routines from dancers in feather hair extensions and fishnet bodysuits. The only group that could compete with that kind of spectacle was the Blue Man Group, who closed out their visual orgy with a cover of the Who's "Baba O'Reilly."

• A legion of Smiths fans gathered to catch a glimpse of former guitarist Johnny Marr and his backup band the Healers on Sunday, with so many of them proudly rocking vintage Morrissey T-shirts and tattoos that it almost seemed as if Marr's post-Smiths work with Electronic and other artists had never happened. Despite being cut short by organizers, Marr delivered a laid-back but potent performance of swirling tunes punctuated by his smooth croon. Much-buzzed-about English upstarts the Music were even more psychedelic the night before, invoking the spirit of the Stone Roses and basking in the glow of an impressive light show.

• While a majority of the rock bands at Coachella pounded out fierce odes to the Velvet Underground and the Clash, there were a few who offered a soundtrack for enjoying the tranquil atmosphere of the venue. Ben Harper, Jack Johnson and G. Love & Special Sauce all gathered huge audiences who toasted warm beers to their blends of blues and folk.

• In the group's first performance in more than 25 years, the Stooges (with Mike Watt on bass) treated Sunday's crowd to classics like "TV Eye" and "Fun House." Even those who had no idea who the group was ("Iggy who?" a security guard near the stage asked a friend) were able to enjoy Iggy Pop's erratic stage demeanor.

• Though Ian MacKaye has been notoriously particular about when, where and how he'll be interviewed during the two decades he's run Dischord Records and played in bands like the Teen Idles, Embrace and Fugazi, the two question-and-answer sessions he submitted to at Coachella were total free-for-alls, with kids asking him about everything from straight edge to music, politics, tour stories and the time he was kicked out of Disneyland. One member of the crowd asked the 41-year-old punk icon why he was willing to appear at an expensive festival while Fugazi refuse to play shows with high door prices. "My friend Patti Smith was saying that anyone who has a chance to get in front of a microphone right now and say they're against war should do so," he replied.

• Is Dallas the next Detroit? Two of the most talked about Coachella performances came from that city's Polyphonic Spree, whose 23 members offered a truly original orchestral pop sound, and Eisley, the female-fronted rock quintet handpicked for Coldplay's summer tour.

• Coachella would not be complete without surprises, and while Radiohead rumors proved untrue, Perry Farrell did pop into the tiny Gobi Tent for a surprise DJ set that mixed house music with the kind of tropicalia he explored on his solo album. Farrell's appearance makes him the only artist to play every Coachella.

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

• Beastie Boys
• Badly Drawn Boy
• Black Eyed Peas
• Blur
• Fischerspooner

This week the WB's "Smallville" soundtrack offers up some super music: Weezer's "Island in the Sun," the Flaming Lips' "Fight Test," Ryan Adams' "Nuclear" and Phantom Planet's "Lonely Day."

Former Verve man Richard Ashcroft releases his second solo album, Human Conditions, which finds the morose musician introspective as usual and also dabbling in some existential contemplation on such songs as "Lord I've Been Trying" and "Paradise."

Cheeky electro group Fischerspooner consider their album #1. The LP includes the breakout single "Emerge" and a cover of Wire's "The 15th." The Minus 5's Down With Wilco, meanwhile, was recorded around the same time as Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and features all four members of Wilco as well as R.E.M.'s Peter Buck.

Peanut Butter Wolf's Badmeaningood Vol. 3 has remixes of Grandmaster Flash, Human League and Iron Butterfly, while Roc-a-Fella rapper Freeway, known for the single "Roc the Mic" and cameos on Jay-Z's The Blueprint 2, finally releases his long-awaited Philadelphia Freeway featuring "What We Do."

And now what we do is list the rest of this week's releases ...

Out Tuesday, February 25:

• A18 - Forever After Nothing (Victory)
• Mindi Abair - It Just Happens That Way (Universal)
• Alpinestars - White Noise (Astralwerks)
• Scott Amendola Band - Cry (Cryptogramophone)
• American Hi-Fi - The Art of Losing (Island)
  Read: "American Hi-Fi Master Art Of Losing, Art Of Partying"
• Eric Andersen - Beat Avenue (two CDs, Appleseed Recordings)
• Richard Ashcroft - Human Conditions (Virgin)
• Audio Adrenaline - Worldwide (ForeFront)
• B3 Bombers - Live at the Green Mill (Alltribe)
• A Band of Bees - Sunshine Hit Me (Wall of Sound/Astralwerks)
• Doyle Bramhall - Fitchburg Street (Yep Roc)
• Burrito Deluxe - Georgia Peach (Lamon)
• Calavera - Tequilamatic (CBM)
• Communiqué - A Crescent Honeymoon (EP, Lookout!)
• Count the Stars - Never Be Taken Alive (Victory)
• Evan Dando - Baby I'm Bored (Generic)
• The D.O.C. - Deuce (Red Urban)
• David Darling - The Tao of the Cello (Hearts of Space/Valley Entertainment)
• Jesse Davis - The Setup (Alltribe)
• Dirty - Keep It Pimp & Gangsta (Universal)
• Vikter Duplaix - International Affairs (Hollywood)
• Echoboy - Giraffe (Mute)
• Essence - Mariposa (O.R. Music)
• Terry Evans - Live Like a Hurricane (AudioQuest/Valley Entertainment)
• George Fenton - "Sweet Home Alabama" score (Hollywood)
• Fischerspooner - #1 (Capitol)
• Freeway - Philadelphia Freeway (Def Jam)
• Funky Meters - Fiyo at the Fillmore Vol. 1 (Varese)
• Donald Glaude - Mixed Live 2nd Session (Moonshine Music)
• Peter Green Splinter Group - Reaching the Cold 100 (Eagle)
• Eileen Ivers - Eileen Ivers & Immigrant Soul (Koch)
• Juggaknots - Clear Blue Skies (Third Earth)
• Kem - Kemistry (Motown)
• Jeannie Kendall - Jeannie Kendall (Rounder)
• Jay Klum - Home Cookin' (Alltribe)
• Little Brother - The Listening (ABB)
• Lo Fidelity Allstars - Abstract Funk Theory (Obsessive)
• Lyle Lovett - Smile (MCA)
• Mae - Destination: Beautiful (Tooth & Nail)
• Tak Matsumoto - Hana (Favored Nations)
• Edwin McCain - The Austin Sessions (ATC)
• Maureen McGovern - Music Never Ends: The Lyrics of Alan & Marilyn Bergman (Varese)
• Memento - Beginnings (Columbia)
• Cory Morrow - Full Exposure (Write On)
• Mountaineers - Mountaineers (EP, Mute)
• Movielife - Forty Hour Train Back to Penn (MCA)
• Murder 1 - On High (Music Cartel)
• The Music - The Music (Capitol)
• Sevara Nazarkhan - Yol Bolsin (Real World)
• The Notwist - Neon Golden (Domino)
• Orchestre National de Jazz - Charmediterraneen (ECM)
• Paper Lions - The Symptom and the Sick (Kindercore)
• Peace 586 - Generations (Uprok/Tooth & Nail)
• Peanut Butter Wolf - Badmeaningood 3 (Ultimate Dilemma)
• Rachel Portman - "Nicholas Nickleby" score (Varese)
• The Rocket Summer - Calendar Days (Militia Group)
• Rockin' Highliners - Sputnik Cafe (Severn)
• Rufio - Rufio (EP, Nitro)
• Brady Seals - Thompson Street (Image Entertainment)
• Adrian Sherwood - Never Trust a Hippy (Real World)
• Slide Hampton - Spirit of the Horn (Manchester Craftsmen's Guild)
• DJ Smash - Phonography No. 2 (Blue Note)
• Soul Embraced - Immune (Tooth & Nail)
• Spyro Gyra - Original Cinema (Heads Up)
• Summon - And the Blood Runs Black (Napalm)
• John Surman With Jack DeJohnette - Free and Equal (ECM)
• Swingin' Utters - Dead Flowers, Bottles, Bluegrass and Bones (Fat Wreck Chords)
• Switchfoot - The Beautiful Letdown (Red Ink)
• Tosca - Dehli 9 (two CDs, Studio K7)
• Steve Turre - One 4 J: Paying Homage to J.J. Johnson (Telarc Jazz)
• Wilco & Minus 5 - Down With Wilco (Yep Roc)
• David Wilcox - Into the Mystery (What Are Records)
• Willie and Lobo - Manana (Narada World)
• Zao - All Else Failed (Tooth & Nail)
• Various artists - All Together Now (Music for Little People)
• Various artists - Covered in Filth - A Tribute to Cradle of Filth (Cleopatra)
• Various artists - Down & Out With the Dolls(Lakeshore)
• Various artists - Songs From the Material World: A Tribute to George Harrison (Koch)
• Various artists - Kloned and Remixed - A Tribute to Korn (Big Eye)
• Various artists - Sky Lounge (Water)
• Various artists - "Smallville" Soundtrack: The Talon Mix (Elektra)
  Read: "Weezer, Ryan Adams, Lifehouse On 'Smallville' Soundtrack"
• Various artists - This Is Electroclash (Hypnotic/Cleopatra)
• Various artists - Tribute to Avril Lavigne (Big Eye)
• Various artists - Tribute to Coldplay (Big Eye)
• Various artists - Tribute to LeAnn Rimes (Big Eye)
• Various artists - Tribute to P.O.D. (Big Eye)
• DVD: Various artists - Punk-O-Rama DVD Vol. 1 (Epitaph)

March 4:

• Cursive - Ugly Organ (Saddle Creek)
• Fabolous - Street Dreams (Elektra)
• Hootie & the Blowfish - Hootie & the Blowfish (Atlantic)
• Lil' Kim - La Bella Mafia (Atlantic)
• Special Goodness - Land Air Sea (Control Group)
• Voivod - Voivod (Navarre)
  Read: "Jason Newsted Says His New Band Can Kick Metallica's Ass"

March 11:

• Various artists - Punk Goes Acoustic (Fearless)

March 18:

• Buzzcocks - Buzzcocks (Merge)

March 25:

• Celine Dion - One Heart (Sony)
• Linkin Park - Meteora (Warner Bros.)
  Read: "Linkin Park Discuss Meteora, Plan Surreal Video"

• Fischerspooner
• American Hi-Fi
• Richard Ashcroft
• Freeway
• The Movielife

"Bring 'Em Home Now" Concert In New York

• Peaches
• Rufus Wainwright
• R.E.M.
• Devendra Banhart
• Bright Eyes

2003 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival

• Beastie Boys
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Ben Folds
• Ben Harper
• Blur