Beck's <I>The Information</I>
Photo: Interscope Records

Too Much Information?: Beck concocted a video for each song on last year's The Information — an album that contained 15 songs, the most the singer/songwriter had put on one album since 1994. He presented those clips in the form of a bonus DVD that came with the original CD release, but just in case that's not enough Information for you, he's now teeing up a brand-new, three-disc version. The hefty — and definitive, we hope — deluxe-slipcase edition features a trio of bonus tracks on disc one; a second CD boasting six remixes; and a DVD with a grand total of 17 videos. Hopefully that's not nausea you're feeling.

Nine Live: Nine Inch Nails are also feeling generous these days, lumping together 24 live performances — as well as alternate angles, two music videos, three rehearsal clips, an image gallery and discography — for "Nine Inch Nails Live: Beside You in Time." The band's North American winter tour gets the most lovin', with 19 selections — including "Love Is Not Enough," "March of the Pigs" and "The Hand That Feeds" — while the summer tour is immortalized with five clips, including "Somewhat Damaged," "Closer" and "Only."

On the Money: Money Mark must be pretty hot on Jack Johnson's MySpace friends list these days, having lent the singer/songwriter some piano support on a tour of Japan. Now Johnson is returning the favor by putting out Brand New by Tomorrow, the fourth effort by the "fourth Beastie Boy," on his Brushfire Recordings. Mark Ramos-Nishita gets an extra hand from Beach Boys bassist Carol Kaye on "Pick Up the Pieces," the first single, and sings mostly about heartbreak over the course of songs like "Color of Your Blue," "Eyes That Ring" and elsewhere.

Hip-Hop From Down Below: Slim Thug has a new tribe he's propping up from his native Houston: the Boss Hogg Outlawz, who Serve & Collect this week. Slim slaps vocals on just about every track on the group's effort, with newcomers like J-Dawg and Young Black also providing support.

About 350 miles to the east, in New Orleans, another established rapper is helping promote his hometown homies. The Chopper City Boyz, who have been all over B.G.'s albums in the past, are getting another boost from the big guy on their 19-track platter. On five slices, B.G. shows the group some brotherly love — seriously; one of the Chopper City Boyz is Hakim, B.G.'s younger sibling.

In yet another assist, Wu-Tang Clan affiliate Bronze Nazareth presents the Wisemen in the form of Wisemen Approaching, a guest-heavy effort that also features GZA, Killah Priest and Vast Aire.

Kicking it even deeper in the underground are Snowgoons, the German mixtape production team that counts DJ Illegal among its friends. They unload collabos with Sean Price, Pumpkinhead and others on their latest, German Lugers.

And ringing the darkest hip-hop note of all are Dälek, the bleak Mike Patton pals who usher in their fourth studio album, Abandoned Language. While as dense as their previous efforts, Dälek's latest is decidedly less noisy and even edges toward mainstream accessibility on the throwback track "Isolated Stare." But it's also equally macabre, as evidenced on the David Lynch homage "Lynch."

Hey Wait, I Know You ...: Think Michael Pitt didn't pull off a convincing Kurt Cobain in Gus Van Sant's pseudo-biopic "Last Days"? Give the actor another shot with Pagoda, the new full-length from his real-life band of the same name.

Do Dean & Britta look familiar too? That's because Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips also partnered up — in the true sense of the term; they have been romantically involved — for Luna, the indie-rock titans who disbanded two years ago. Their new one was produced by David Bowie agent Tony Visconti, features help from Sonic Boom, and contains covers of Donovan and Lee Hazlewood tunes — not to mention an ode to a dead bunny ("Crystal Blue R.I.P.").

This week you might also recognize Bob Dylan bandmember Elana James, who steps up with a self-titled effort. And John Bigham, a guitarist who has cropped up on Eminem and Fishbone albums, chalks up The Good Girl Blues, the second effort by his Soul of John Black project.

Dig Pack: Patrick Park got his foot in the door before it closed: The singer/songwriter landed a spot on the final episode of "The O.C." Now he's trying to milk the limelight for what it's worth with a just-released exclusive iTunes EP, Stickbirdsongs, which features the track he performed on the show: "Life's a Song." Post-punks the Draft also have an exclusive iTunes EP: a self-titled effort that features "Stop Wastin' My Time," "Up All Night," "The Devil in the Shade" and "Na Na Na."

Junkie XL is trotting out his digital-only soundtrack to the new Electronic Arts game "SSX Blur," an electronic-music effort that contains 15 songs, the titles to which reference various snow parks and hills across the world.

Chicago indie label File Thirteen continues its Digital Demand Series with two new entries this week: A Careless Act of Faith (Singles + Rarities) by arty noise-punks Thumbnail; and New Action Four EP, a rarities comp by the Thumbnail/Atombombpocketknife affiliates.

Other indie-rockers doing the digital-only thing this week: Ferraby Lionheart is reissuing his self-titled EP; Brooklyn, New York's Takka Takka have an eponymous effort of their own, albeit a full-length one; and Chicago's Baby Teeth run through songs by Windy City artists Liz Phair, Joanna Newsom and Curtis Mayfield on their We Live Here EP.

Song Title of the Week:

"Death to Birth" from Pagoda's Pagoda

Other Notables:

Various artists' A Touch of Class Still Sucks!: New York production duo A Touch of Class are often credited with "discovering" the Scissor Sisters, but whether you agree with that notion or not, the two parties did work together on the Sisters' early efforts. This week, A Touch of Class follow up their A Touch of Class Sucks! compilation from four years ago with a new set brandishing their tweaked versions of songs by the Sisters, Le Tigre, the Gossip, Erasure and more.

Radio Moscow's Radio Moscow: The Black Keys love their '70s classic rock, and they know what it smells like. Member Dan Auerbach helps Ames, Iowa, psychedelic blues-rockers Radio Moscow tap into their love of Jimi Hendrix and the Allman Brothers on this debut effort, which also delves into country and East Indian sounds. Songs include: "Lickskillet," "Ordovician Fauna" and "Luckydutch."

The National Lights' The Dead Will Walk, Dear: Where are the drums? Not to be found here, on this traditional-folk release that's hoping to cozy up alongside the Sufjan Stevens and Iron & Wine discs in your collection. The conceptual Americana release is the first by the trio and was recorded in a pair of houses in New York and Pennsylvania, as well as a church in Maryland.

New Releases:

· 4hero - Play With the Changes (digipak; Milan)
· Barn Burning - Werner Ghost Truck (Tarnished)
· Chris Berardo & the DesBerardos - Ignoring All the Warning Signs ... (Lamon)
· B.G. and the Chopper City Boyz - We Got This (Koch) [Buy Now]
· David Bromberg - Try Me One More Time (Appleseed)
· Paul Brown & Friends - White Sand (Peak)
· Johnny Bush - Kashmere Gardens Mud: A Tribute to Houston's Country Soul (Icehouse)
· Canon - Wide Awake (Mercy)
· Daath - The Hinderers (Roadrunner)
· Dälek - Abandoned Language (Ipecac)
· Dash Rip Rock - Hee Haw Hell (Alternative Tentacles)
· Dean & Britta - Back Numbers (Rounder)
· Do Make Say Think - You, You're a History in Rust (digipak; Constellation)
· Dr. Dog - We All Belong (Park the Van)
· Kelly Flint - Drive All Night (BePop)
· Donna Hughes - Gaining Wisdom (Rounder)
· Elana James - Elana James (Snarf)
· Thomas Lunch - Diagrams Without Instructions (digipak; Ingrooves)
· Money Mark - Brand New by Tomorrow (Brushfire) [Buy Now]
· My Teenage Stride - Ears Like Golden Bats (Becalmed)
· Andy Narell - Tatoom: Music for Steel Orchestra (Heads Up)
· National Lights - The Dead Will Walk, Dear (Bloodshake)
· Pagoda - Pagoda (Ecstatic Peace)
· Radio Moscow - Radio Moscow (Alive)
· Daryle Singletary - Straight From the Heart (Shanachie)
· Slim Thug and the Boss Hogg Outlawz - Slim Thug Presents: Boss Hogg Outlawz - Serve & Collect (Koch) [Buy Now]
· Snowgoons - German Lugers (Babygrande)
· SoSoHuman - Twenty-Six (Undeniable)
· The Soul of John Black - The Good Girl Blues (Cadabra)
· Otis Taylor - Definition of a Circle (Telarc)
· Temple of Brutality - Lethal Agenda (enhanced; Warcon)
· Nick Warren - Paris GU30 (two CDs; Global Underground)
· Matt Wertz - Everything in Between (Nettwerk)
· Willard Grant Conspiracy - Let It Roll (Reincarnate)
· Winterpills - The Light Divides (Signature)
· Wisemen - Wisemen Approaching (Babygrande)
· Joe Zawinul - Brown Street (two CDs; Heads Up)
· Various artists - A Touch of Class Still Sucks! (HBD)
· Various artists - Fabric 32: Luke Slater (FabricLive)

Notable Reissues and Archival Material:

· Akimbo - Harshing Your Mellow (Alternative Tentacles)
· Beck - The Information (deluxe-slipcase reissue with bonus CD and DVD; Geffen) [Buy Now]
· Bobby Blue Bland - The Definitive Collection (Geffen)
· Buckaroos - The Best of the Buckaroos (Sundazed)
· Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers - Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers (Sundazed)
· Guy Clark - Better Days (DBK Works)
· Robert Cray - The Definitive Collection (Hip-O)
· John Denver - The Essential John Denver (two CDs; RCA/Legacy)
· Goo Goo Dolls - Let Love In (with DVD; Warner Bros.)
· Sneaky Pete Kleinow - The Sneaky Pete Anthology (Sundazed)
· Yngwie J. Malmsteen - Instru-Mental (Spitfire)
· Johnny Mathis - Gold: A 50th Anniversary Celebration (Columbia/Legacy)
· Buddy Alan Owens - The Best of Buddy Alan Owens (Sundazed)
· Boz Scaggs - Silk Degrees (Columbia/Legacy)

Music DVDs:

· Chet Atkins - "A Life in Music" (MPI)
· Sidney Bechet - "Treat It Gentle: The Life and Times of a Jazz Master" (Kultur)
· Bratz - "Fashion Pixiez" (Lionsgate)
· Bob Dylan - "Don't Look Back - 65 Tour Deluxe Edition" (two DVDs; New Video Group)
· Charlie Gracie - "Fabolous!" (Alpha Video)
· Johnny Mathis - "Gold: 50th Anniversary Celebration" (Columbia/Legacy)
· Nine Inch Nails - "Nine Inch Nails Live: Beside You in Time" (Nothing)
· Dolly Parton & Friends - "Dolly Parton & Friends" (two DVDs; MPI)
· Pink Floyd - "The Roger Waters Years: Up Close and Personal" (with book; Hurricane)
· Carlos Santana and Wayne Shorter - "Live at the 1988 Montreux Jazz Festival" (Image)
· Flip Wilson - "The Best of the Flip Wilson Show" (three DVDs; Rhino)

Coming Attractions:

March 6:
· Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (deluxe edition with book also available; Merge) [Preorder]
· Jonny Greenwood - Jonny Greenwood Is the Controller (Trojan)
· Albert Hammond Jr. - Yours to Keep (enhanced; New Line)
· Korn - MTV Unplugged (Virgin) [Preorder]
Read: "Korn Quiet Down With The Cure, Amy Lee For 'MTV Unplugged' "
· Relient K - Five Score and Seven Years Ago (Capitol) [Preorder]
Read: "Relient K Pump Serious Rock, Sugary Pop In The Tank For Upcoming LP"

March 13:
· Gillie Da Kid - The Best of the GDK Mixtapes (Babygrande)
· Lloyd - Street Love (Motown) [Preorder]
· Musiq - Luvanmusiq (Atlantic) [Preorder]

March 20:
· C-Murder - Screamin' 4 Vengeance (Capitol) [Preorder]
· Decemberists - "A Practical Handbook" DVD (Kill Rock Stars)
· LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (Capitol) [Preorder]
· Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (Epic) [Preorder]
· Young Buck - Buck the World (Interscope) [Preorder]

• Beck
• Nine Inch Nails
• Slim Thug
• Money Mark
• B.G. & The Chopper City Boyz

Femi Kuti

Second generation Afrobeat star Femi Kuti has tapped producer/keyboardist Money Mark to collaborate on material for his next studio album, due out in the early fall.

Mark, who performed on several Beastie Boys albums — including Check Your Head and Ill Communication — recently flew to Paris to join singer/saxophonist Kuti for preproduction work on the new record.

The Paris sessions are only expected to last about a week, although Kuti and Sodi, who produced and engineered Kuti's most recent album, 1999's Shoki Shoki, plan to travel to New York in April to finish recording the album with Mark, according to a spokesperson for Kuti.

Mark met Kuti, the son of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, last year when the keyboardist sat in on sessions for the Red Hot + Riot benefit album, which features contemporary artists covering Fela (see "Macy Gray, D'Angelo, More Tribute Fela Kuti").

"We got along pretty well," Mark said. "He showed me a tape of his new stuff, and I was just floored by it. So he invited me to go to Paris, where he'll start recording a new album. I'm pretty excited." Mark, who has released a pair of acclaimed solo albums, 1996's Mark's Keyboard Repair and 1998's Push the Button, said he was also looking forward to performing alongside Kuti and the Africa 2001 brass and percussion ensemble.

"I think I'll play for sure," he said. "It's kind of open. There are some songs that he has that need keyboards. He likes my feel and taste, which I'm still confused about, to be honest, why people choose me. He wants me to play on it, and I'm honored to do it." Kuti's publicist said several other guest artists, ranging from the Roots' ?uestlove to Common, may also turn out for the New York sessions, but the list won't be finalized until shortly before studio work begins.

The Red Hot + Riot album, which will benefit the Red Hot AIDS Charity Trust's initiatives in Africa, features contributions from Mark, Kuti, Macy Gray, D'Angelo, Dead Prez, Zap Mama and Bilal, among others, and is now expected to be released in late summer.

As for Kuti, MCA plans to release a single-disc version of the Shoki Remixed import this spring, which includes remixes of Shoki Shoki tracks from the likes of Francois K, I:Cube and DJ Gilb'r.

Kuti will also be taking to the road in April to support the release of Shoki Remixed, starting on April 26 in Austin, Texas.

Dates for Femi Kuti's spring tour, as provided by his publicist:

• 4/26 - Austin, TX @ Stubb's
• 4/27 - Austin, TX @ Stubb's
• 4/28 - Houston, TX @ Houston International Festival
• 5/2 - New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues - JazzFest
• 5/3 - New Orleans, LA @ Saenger Theater
• 6/17 - Los Angeles, CA @ Playboy Jazz Festival

• Money Mark
• Femi Kuti

Mike D
Photo: Danny Clinch

While Beastie Boy Ad-Rock is on the road in Japan with his BS2000 side group, bandmate Mike D continues to work on another non-Beasties project — producing a solo album by religious guru Bhagavan Das.

Das has been working on and off with Mike D — and frequent Beasties collaborator and keyboardist Money Mark — on the album for the last six months. Money Mark has described the album as an Eastern version of Moby's Play. According to a source close to the project, Mike D has been producing and playing drums on the Los Angeles recording sessions with Das, an American spiritualist, born Michael Riggs, who was converted during a pilgrimage to India in 1964 and has studied Hindu and Buddhism.

After a seven-year stint in Eastern Asia, much of which was chronicled in "Be Here Now," the 1971 tome by Richard Alpert, a.k.a. Ram Dass, Das returned to the U.S. and struck up friendships with beat poet Allen Ginsberg, counter-culture experimentalist Timothy Leary and Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia. Das penned his autobiography, "It's Here Now (Are You?)," in 1997.

Since the launch of the Tibetan Freedom Concerts in 1996, Mike D has expressed an interest in Buddhism. "The Path of Emancipation," a book by Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, was one of several volumes Mike D read while recovering from shoulder surgery last year (see "Beasties' Mike D To Undergo Shoulder Surgery").

Money Mark said the motivation for a Bhagavan Das studio album came in early 2000, right after Mike D asked him to help remix a track off Moby's Play for a U.K. single.

"It really is inspired by Moby's record," said Money Mark, who played keyboards on the as-yet-untitled Bhagavan Das album. "I think it was born out of the idea when Mike called me to help him remix a Moby song ['Natural Blues']. Then I think Mike took the idea and [went from there].

"Moby's record is based on the Lomax field recordings," Money Mark added, "and Mike actually met someone [Bhagavan Das] who is basically a walking encyclopedia of lots of old Eastern and American vocal pieces, and music was added to those vocals." Reps for the Beasties classify the Bhagavan Das album as a project that's "continuing to evolve," and they added that there were no firm plans for the album's release yet.

As for Ad-Rock, BS2000 just issued a new album, Simply Mortified, which Ad-Rock recorded with Beasties touring drummer Amery "AWOL" Smith.

BS2000 are slated to wrap their tour of Japan and Hawaii on February 22 in Honolulu, after which the band plans to mount a U.S. tour, starting on April 3 in Minneapolis.

BS2000 are slated to wrap their tour of Japan and Hawaii on February 22 in Honolulu, after which the band plans to mount a U.S. tour, starting on April 3 in Minneapolis.

Dates for BS2000's U.S. tour, according to Grand Royal Records' Web site:

• 4/3 - Minneapolis, MN @ Ascot Room - Quest
• 4/4 - Milwaukee, WI @ Rave 2
• 4/5 - Chicago, IL @ Metro
• 4/7 - Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
• 4/8 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
• 4/10 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Beehive
• 4/11 - Philadelphia, PA @ TLA
• 4/12 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
• 4/13 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club

• Beastie Boys
• Money Mark

After performing in June at the 1999 Tibetan Freedom Concert held in Chicago, hip-hop producers Prince Paul and Dan "The Automator" Nakamura are preparing to release a new album from its (concept) supergroup/side project, the Handsome Boy Modeling School.

• Beastie Boys
• DJ Shadow
• Money Mark
• Prince Paul

Blur's Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon have just completed a remix of Cornelius's "Star Fruits Surf Rider" for release as a single in the U.K. this month, and in the U.S. next year. A spokesperson for Matador records confirms that a double CD package featuring remixes of Cornelius songs by artists including U.N.K.L.E, Money Mark, Coldcut, High Llamas, Pastels, Buffalo Daughter and Pizzicato 5, as well as Blur, is slated for release in the artist's native Japan in November. The Blur single and the other cuts will likely be packaged and issued in some form by Matador in January or February.

Cornelius, born Keigo Oyamada 27 years ago, is a hi-tech pop rock multi-instrumentalist phenom who has released three albums in Japan, including his most recent effort, "Fantasma." That album sold close to half a million copies in his homeland and was the first to be released outside that country. It debuted in the U.S. on Matador earlier this year.

Cornelius is also the proprietor of his own label, Trattoria, which hosts a eclectic string of Japanese acts and non-Japanese artists including Apples in Stereo and Papas Fritas. He has reissued such oddities as the "Planet Of The Apes" soundtracks (he takes his name from the lead ape character from those movies) and former Rolling Stone bassist Bill Wyman's back catalog of solo work.

Earlier this year, Cornelius staged a concert described as a multi-media blowout at Japan's famed Budokan featuring video, ape characters, props and other extras, and offered a multi-media concert program that rivaled the stage production. A local radio station broadcast an extra rhythm track simultaneously with the concert, attendees could tune into the station on their Walkmans while watching the show.

Cornelius was recently ranked among the 50 most influential people in pop culture by "Ray-Gun" magazine.

• Blur
• Cornelius
• Money Mark
• DJ Shadow
• U.N.K.L.E.

Money Mark, the keyboardist noted for his work with the Beastie Boys and the Dust Brothers, will take a step out from behind his famous brethren with the release of his new album, "Push the Button," out on May 19.

Mark, a.k.a. Mark Ramos-Nishita, originally made a name for himself in the late '80s as a session musician for the Dust Brothers and as part of the Delicious Vinyl roster behind such songs as Tone-Loc's "Funky Cold Medina" and Young MC's "Bust a Move."

The multi-instrumentalist scored his break after a chance meeting with the Beastie Boys resulted in his collaborating on the group's "Check Your Head" record in 1992. Mark also recorded and toured behind 1994's "Ill Communication."

Since the release of the last Beasties record, Mark has branched out into a solo career, having released one full length, "Mark's Keyboard Repair" in 1995, and a mini-album, "Third Version," the following year.

For the new record, Mark wrote and played instruments on all the tracks, although he did receive a little assistance from Sean Lennon and Russell Simins of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion for the first single, "Hand In Your Head." The album's second single, "Maybe I'm Dead," will include re-mixes by the Psychonauts and former Vinyl compatriots, the Dust Brothers.

As for summer plans, Money Mark will head out on the road, both as a solo act -- complete with a backing band for the first time -- and as keyboardist for the Beastie Boys.

• Beastie Boys
• Money Mark