Music news, album reviews and release dates, updated frequently

It’s official: this week’s Billboard album sales chart has Kanye West’s “Graduation” in first place, selling a stunning 957,000 copies in its debut week and in the process scoring the 15th highest weekly sales total since 1991 and the biggest debut of the year. As we all know, 50 Cent had threatened to retire if his own “Curtis” failed to outsell Kanye (it didn’t, coming in second with 691,000 units sold). No word yet out of his camp as to 50’s next move, but we recommend golf.

One of the last remaining big-name holdouts (along with the Beatles) to making their songs available digitally, Radiohead has finally committed to selling their back catalog online–sort of. The bad news: consumers will only be able to purchase entire albums, rather than individual tracks; in addition, the albums will not be sold through iTunes (and in fact will only be sold through UK website 7digital.com). The good news: US buyers can indeed purchase the Radiohead material from 7digital (at about $14 per album), and the tracks are being sold as DRM-free MP3 files.

Speaking of downloading music, perhaps illegal downloading wouldn’t be so prevalent if legal downloading weren’t so undesirable. Case in point: the new website SpiralFrog.com, which launched Monday. While all downloads on the Universal Music Group-sanctioned site are technically free, users must jump through numerous hoops in order to obtain and listen to the songs. To download songs, users must sit through advertising (the source of the site’s revenue). To prevent their songs from being locked up, users must complete a detailed registration form and login at least once each month. In addition, downloaded tracks cannot be burned onto a CD or transferred to an iPod. And did we mention it’s not compatible with Macs at all?

If you enjoy TV chef/traveler Anthony Bourdain, holiday specials, ugly sweaters, or Queens of the Stone Age–especially in combination–then you won’t want to miss this.

The US release date for PJ Harvey’s next album “White Chalk” has been pushed back one week to October 2nd (it will still arrive in stores on September 24th in the UK).

Are you one of the 120 million people trying to buy tickets to the Led Zeppelin reunion show in London? Don’t worry–the deadline to register for a chance to buy them has been extended until September 19.

Pitchfork has news of a particularly unlikely collaboration: Chromeo are going to be contributing to the next album by Hall & Oates. Say it isn’t so.

Panic At The Disco! have officially aborted work on their planned follow-up to their debut “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out,” and have started the recording process all over again, with the goal of having a new album to release by the end of 2008.

And, finally, one last update before the weekend, since we know you’re dying to know: Kanye West still has a solid lead over 50 Cent in album sales this week. West’s “Graduation” now leads 50’s “Curtis” by 170,000 units, which means that we’re just days away from 50 Cent’s retirement.

As rumored for some time, the surviving members of Led Zeppelin will re-form for a one-off performance in London on November 26th as part of a tribute to late Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun. Band members Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones will join with drummer Jason Bonham (son of the band’s original drummer John) at the O2 Arena. Tickets will be issued via a lottery on the event’s website, which already crashed once today due to overwhelming demand. If you are interested in trying your luck, you have until Monday to register (note that tickets are approximately $250 each).

One band that won’t be playing live for a while are the White Stripes, who have canceled their upcoming 18-date US tour by issuing a statement that drummer “Meg White is suffering from acute anxiety and is unable to travel at this time.” UK band the Kaiser Chiefs have also called off their scheduled American tour, but only because they are anxious to return to the recording studio and work on album number three.

The soundtrack to “High School Musical 2″ leads all albums in US sales according to today’s newly-issued Billboard rankings. It is the first four-peat in the top spot in two years. And if you are worried about next week’s chart–which will include the albums released yesterday–rest assured that Kanye West’s “Graduation” is predicted to top 50 Cent’s “Curtis,” although each album is expected to move at least half a million units.

Oft-sampled New York post-punk band ESG have announced that they are calling it quits after over 25 years, with a September 21 show in Chicago set to be their last.

Ninja, the frontwoman for sample-heavy band The Go! Team, reported to NME that she is preparing to launch a solo career.

The day has finally arrived: The showdown between rap heavyweight champions is finally here. In one corner, we have Kanye West, rapper and producer, known for being extremely talented at the latter but not so much at the former, but still coming off of two successful albums (”Late Registration” and “College Dropout”) and now here with his third, “Graduation.” In the other corner, we have Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, rapper and Vitamin Water pitchman, who has sold millions of copies of his first two albums “The Massacre” and “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” but has threatened to retire from music if his new album “Curtis” cannot outsell West’s “Graduation.”

The odds are stacked against 50 Cent from the outset: The first three singles released from “Curtis” bombed earlier in the year, and West’s disc has been outselling his 5 to 1 in Amazon presales. And the critics don’t have many nice things to say about “Curtis,” although if anyone’s review-proof, it’s 50 Cent. For what it’s worth, West’s album also seems to be his weakest effort to date (judging by reviews), although it’s still a solid release–and it’s weaknesses, unlike those of “Curtis,” are not from a lack of trying.

Do we have a battle of disappointments on our hands? Find out in our Review Roundups:
50 Cent: Curtis
Kanye West: Graduation

Singer/actress Charlotte Gainsbourg is recovering after undergoing emergency brain surgery to fix a small hemorrhage.

Rappers 50 Cent and Kanye West are not just doing battle in record stores this week (each with much-hyped new albums). The pair will also face off in a presidential-style debate on cable network BET on Tuesday night.

R&B singer R. Kelly’s trial on charges related to child pornography has been delayed once again, from September 17th until the spring of 2008. Foxy Brown, on the other hand, had no such luck: she’s headed to jail for a year on a probation violation after fighting with two New York manicurists. And Kid Rock faces up to six months in jail for fighting rocker Tommy Lee behind the scenes at last night’s MTV Video Music Awards.

Speaking of justice, and the VMA’s, electronic duo Justice did not take home any awards at last night’s VMA ceremony. Neither did Kanye West, despite being nominated five times. He wasn’t too happy about that. Justin Timberlake and Rihanna each won twice.

It’s the prize that really pays off: The Klaxons‘ Mercury Music Prize win last week has driven sales of their album (”Myths of the Near Future”) up close to 500% in the UK. The band is about to begin writing their second album.

The on-again, off-again reunion of all four Blur members in the recording studio is apparently on again, with bassist Alex James telling NME that guitarist Graham Coxon will rejoin the other three members in the studio next month. If they do, the band will be working on their first album since 2003’s “Think Tank” (which did not include Coxon).

Also headed back to the studio this fall: No Doubt, who reportedly will be returning to a ska-flavored sound.

Cassius
Astralwerks will release the latest album from the French duo, “15 Again,” on October 23rd.

Child Rebel Soldiers
Originally a one-off collaboration between hip-hop stars Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, and Lupe Fiasco (who recorded a track together for a mixtape), Child Rebel Soldiers now plans to enter the studio in the near future to record an entire album.

Marc Cohn
The Grammy-winning singer (best known for his hit “Walking In Memphis”) is set to release his first album in almost a decade, “Join The Parade,” on October 9th. It’s also his first album since being shot in the head during a botched carjacking attempt.

Lupe Fiasco
Fiasco’s follow-up to “Food & Liquor,” to be titled “The Cool,” has been bumped to November 20th from an original late-October release date.

Dave Gahan
“Hourglass,” the second solo album from the Depeche Mode frontman, is due on October 23rd.

Primal Scream
The Scream are set to enter the studio in a few weeks to record the follow-up to “Riot City Blues,” which will likely find its way to stores in 2008.

Full release calendar

Universal Music Group announced Thursday that it would experiment over the next six months with selling digital music with no copy protection. Although the DRM-free downloads will be available through a number of online retailers, Apple’s iTunes Music Store will not be one of them.

Speaking of Apple, iPod owners will be able to play a new game on their MP3 players. “Musika,” from the creator of “PaRappa The Rapper,” challenges players to solve puzzles based on the song titles stored on the iPod.

And speaking again of Universal Music Group, the company has reportedly agreed to purchase V2 Music Group for approximately $14 million.

Oft-reported-on British singer Amy Winehouse has reportedly checked into a London rehab facility. Winehouse, who has performed erratically (when not missing shows entirely) in recent weeks, was also hospitalized this week for what was reported as “severe exhaustion.”

Rapper 50 Cent has threatened to stop releasing albums if he is the loser of a highly-anticipated September 11 showdown with Kanye West. Both 50 Cent’s “Curtis” and West’s “Graduation” are released that day, and the former is now threatening that “Curtis” will be his final solo release if West outsells him.

Pitchfork reports that a new spinoff of James Murphy’s DFA label, to be called “Death From Abroad,” will release 12″ singles by non-American artists.

Gerard Way, frontman for My Chemical Romance, will launch his new Dark Horse comic book series “The Umbrella Academy” this fall, with the first issue due September 19. It’s about, in part, “a [closeted] space alien [who] has adopted seven extraordinary children to save the world.” Naturally. And he’s not the only rocker to put pen to paper; Neil Young is planning to release a graphic novel based on his 2003 album “Greendale” (which was also turned into a film). Of course, Young is listed as a “collaborator” on the comic, with a writer and artist also assigned to the project.

The Alkaline Trio have signed their first major-label deal, with Epic. Expect a new album next year.

A German classical music ensemble has re-recorded Lou Reed’s notoriously unlistenable 1975 album “Metal Machine Music.” A live performance recorded at the Berlin Opera House (with Reed) will be released as a CD/DVD set on September 4th, and will no doubt satisfy all three people who have been clamoring to hear the album in 5.1 surround sound.

And if you decide that you need an antidote to Lou Reed’s noise, why not try Michael Caine’s chill-out music. The British actor has collected his favorite tracks into a compilation (”Cained”) that will include music from Chicane (no relation) and Felix Da Housecat. It’s due in September.

Producer Timbaland will release his own special edition keyboard, a bargain at just $3,000.

Rapper Kanye West has apparently invited Swedish indie-rockers Peter Bjorn and John to be his backing band for an August festival date in Sweden.

Eminem’s music publisher has filed a lawsuit against Apple claiming millions of dollars in damages caused by Apple allowing unauthorized copies of the rapper’s songs to be downloaded into iPods.

NME reports that Har Mar Superstar (aka Sean Na Na frontman Sean Tillman), Adam Green (ex-Moldy Peaches), and Jamie Reynolds (Klaxons) are forming what will no doubt be a joke-rock supergroup. Called Mumps, the new band is apparently inspired by Harry Nilsson.

Speaking of Jamie Reynolds, the bassist broke his leg after jumping off a stage during a recent Klaxons performance, forcing the band to cancel an upcoming Australian tour.

The Foo Fighters have announced the first single from their upcoming album, “Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace.” Track “The Pretender” will be available in mid-August.

Hey ladies: now you too can smell like P Diddy. His new fragrance “Unforgivable Woman” arrives this fall as the sequel to men’s scent “Unforgivable.” Meanwhile, Michael Stipe is merely selling clothes, for Marc Jacobs.

The Sex Pistols are still going after the filthy lucre, with plans to release a special 30th anniversary vinyl edition of their landmark album “Never Mind The Bollocks…Here’s The Sex Pistols” in October.

Q has compiled a handy list of song titles with pointless parenthetical phrases. Somehow, they forgot Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me).”

Zach Galifianakis spoke to MTV about the rationale behind Kanye West’s new video, in which the comedian stars (and in which West does not appear).

NME reports that publishers are angling to get the rights to Keith Richards‘ recently-penned memoir, with at least one bid so far topping $7 million.

From time to time we gather the latest in music videos available on YouTube and other online sources. (At least, we think we do this from time to time; this is actually just the second time so far.) This week, we have new clips from Architecture In Helsinki, Liars, Tegan and Sara, The Black Lips, Caribou, Chromeo, YACHT, and Kanye West (with a video starring comedian Zach Galifianakis). READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE »