9 minutes ago

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young and Peal Jam have contributed tunes to the anti-war soundtrack for a documentary about a U.S. soldier paralyzed in Iraq.

The 30-song, two-disc album "Body of War: Songs That Inspired an Iraq War Veteran" will be released March 18 via Warner Music's Sire Records label. All proceeds from the sale of the album will benefit Iraq Veterans Against the War.

"Body of War" focuses on Tomas Young, an Army soldier paralyzed upon arriving in Iraq. It will open on March 13 in Austin, Texas, and expand nationally in subsequent months. Talk show veteran Phil Donahue directed the film with Elaine Spiro.

The album was put together by Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, who composed the first single, "No War," specifically for the film. Pearl Jam's live version of Bob Dylan's "Masters of War" also graces the soundtrack.

Springsteen contributed "Devils & Dust," and Neil Young "The Restless Consumer." Other tracks include "Yo George" from Tori Amos, "Son of a Bush" from Public Enemy, and "Bushonomics" from Talib Kweli & Cornel West.

Reuters/Billboard

By Jeff Vrabel 19 minutes ago

NEW YORK (Billboard) - During the writing and recording of his new disc, "Everywhere at Once," Bay Area rapper/producer Lyrics Born found himself constantly going head-to-head with a demanding coach: himself.

"The only thing constant in this world is change," he said. "So what I said to myself was, 'How can I change, how can I still be relevant, how can I function in today's music world and have the attention of the people, yet still be able to bring that lyricism to it?' That was the challenge with this record."

Born Tom Shimura and one of the founding members of the Bay Area's seminal Quannum Projects label and roster, Lyrics Born addressed that challenge in recording his new set, due April 22 on Anti-. The 18-track "Everywhere at Once" maintains the rapper's gift for firing off tommy-gun rhymes with deceptive ease.

Following up 2003's "Later That Day" and its attendant remix record, 2005's "Same !@#& Different Day," he went into the writing process with the philosophy that he'd do "what nobody else is doing — or at least what I haven't done before. (The record is) funky, it's soulful, it rocks, it's hip-hop. There's a really broad range of issues and emotions being covered."

The rapper is downplaying his label shift to Anti-, saying that Quannum had a distribution deal with the label several years ago. "It's really no different," he said. "I still make the records I want to make, still work with the people that I always worked with. I've always said I didn't care if I came out on a major or on an indie, as long as I could make the records I want to make."

Key to the new album was the speed with which it was created. "I've been in the situation, back in the day, where you take two years to make a record, and you kind of dwell on things a little bit too much," Lyrics Born said. "I don't like to do that. I like to write a record, record it, listen to it, mix, print, done. It takes a while to learn how to get into that zone."

He also had to learn to work with a live band. Lyrics Born's 2006 live effort, "Overnite Encore," featured members of his band, a conceit that carried over into the sample-free new record.

"That was my next challenge, something I hadn't done yet," he said. "I thought, 'I can't really call myself a producer until I'm able to do that.' And I did that. The biggest thing was that I wanted to write my own material, write my own melodies and lines, and (having a band) was the next logical step for me."

Reuters/Billboard

17 minutes ago

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Recent reports have trumpeted a supposed reunion in the works for the Kinks. But Ray Davies, frontman of the British Invasion band, has told Billboard that fans shouldn't get their hopes up just yet.

Davies acknowledged that he's had reunion discussions with the members of the Kinks' original lineup — his brother, guitarist Dave Davies, bassist Pete Quaife and drummer Mick Avory. But "it depends on if Dave and I get together," he said, acknowledging that the younger Davies is still recovering from a stroke he suffered in 2004.

"He's gradually getting his strength back, but he's playing again, so that's a good sign."

New material would also have to be part of the equation. "I can't get a band together just to play the old hits," Davies said. "They'd have to be able to do, like, 10 percent new material. I think that will be the determining factor in the long run."

The problem: Dave Davies seems to want no part of a reunion, having posted on his Web site that "it would be like a poor remake of 'Night of the Livin (sic) Dead"' and declaring that Ray has been doing "Karaoke Kinks shows since 1996," when the band last worked together.

Ray's response: "He's getting well enough to shout at me. That's a good sign."

Reuters/Billboard

By Lars Brandle 20 minutes ago

LONDON (Billboard) - Out in the California desert, the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival is fast becoming an oasis for high-profile reunions.

The Jesus and Mary Chain, the Pixies, Rage Against the Machine, Gang of Four and Bauhaus are just a handful of the acts whose return to the stage has taken place at the Indio, Calif.-based event in recent years.

The trend will continue this year when two of Britain's most important '90s alternative bands — the Verve and Portishead — make their respective U.S. returns after nearly a decade.

"The fans like them," said Paul Tollett, principal of Los Angeles-based Goldenvoice, which organizes Coachella. "But also they attract other bands to the bill and give a serious feel to the show." This year's lineup also boasts Roger Waters, Kraftwerk, My Morning Jacket, the Raconteurs, the Breeders and Love and Rockets.

"The festival's strength is that we know (which) bands to pick," Tollett added. "(But) we don't want every band that starts to play again. They need to be in top form for the show."

With that in mind, the reunited My Bloody Valentine turned down an offer to play its first show in 10-plus years at this year's festival, telling Tollett the band needed more time to hone its live show.

'FURTHER DOWN THE ROAD'

But the Verve and Portishead should be nearing peak shape for Coachella, which will serve as a launch pad for anticipated new album releases. Portishead's third studio album, appropriately titled "Third," will land April 28 internationally via Island and the following day in the United States via Mercury. It will be the trip-hop pioneers' first set since a 1997 self-titled album.

"They've been asking us for quite a few years," Portishead's Adrian Utley said of Coachella. "It seems like a good place to play, being out in the desert, and it was started by what seems to be some pretty cool people."

Utley described the band's new album as "the same mindset we've always had, only further down the road."

New tracks received their airing in December 2007 at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Minehead, England, which the band curated. More U.K. and European audiences will get a taste during a spring tour.

The status of the Verve's as-yet-untitled fourth EMI album, tentatively due in June, is less clear. In January, manager Jazz Summers, CEO of Big Life, was one of several artist managers to voice concerns over the new EMI regime's ability to handle big releases. The band is unsigned in the States.

The group split up in 1999 at the height of its commercial power before reuniting last summer. The first new music from the Richard Ashcroft-led act, a 14-minute jam dubbed "The Thaw Session," was released as a free download in October.

Parlophone managing director Miles Leonard said the Verve is "currently writing only," and neither he nor Summers would comment on whether the situation with EMI had been resolved.

The band's last album was 1997's "Urban Hymns." Tickets for a six-date U.K. tour in November 2007 reportedly sold out in less than 20 minutes, with a string of arena dates added soon after. A headline slot at Scotland's biggest festival, T in the Park, has been confirmed, while the coveted Sunday night slot on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2008 is also understood to be the Verve's.

Reuters/Billboard

Natalie Finn Fri Feb 22, 3:23 PM ET

Los Angeles (E! Online) - When Ne-Yo gets going, it's the sky—and apparently not the speed—that's the limit.  

The 28-year-old hip-hop star was arrested early Tuesday in Atlanta after Cobb County police clocked his Range Rover going more than 100 mph. 

Police spokeswoman Cassie Reece said Ne-Yo, whose real name is Shaffer Smith, was booked on charges of reckless driving and driving without a license and released later that day on a $1,300 bond. 

He's due in court Mar. 25 to answer to the charges. 

Ne-Yo, whose sophomore album Because of You won the Grammy this year for Best Contemporary R&B Album, has a home in Atlanta. 

The rapper-songwriter is currently embroiled in a lawsuit against the tour promoter behind R Kelly's recent Double Up Tour, from which Ne-Yo was booted after only two shows. 

The Arkansas native claims that he was attracting more ticket buyers and better reviews than Kelly, and that Georgia-based Rowe Entertainment unceremoniously dropped him at the behest of Kelly's people—a charge the R&B star's rep has adamantly denied. 

"Ne-Yo may think blaming the situation on R. Kelly will improve his chances of collecting from the promoter, but if he does, he is sadly mistaken," publicist Alan Mayer told E! Online last month. "Anyone remotely familiar with R. Kelly knows he is confident enough in his own abilities to be happy to share the stage with enormously talented people-the more talented, the better." 

But Ne-Yo is sticking to his story, although apparently he's saving his rage for the road these days. 

"Me personally? I've let it go," he told MTV News' Website recently. "I'm not the hold-a-grudge guy. I'm not gonna see R. Kelly in the street and run up on him and swing on him. I'm not gonna do a dis record about R. Kelly. It was what it was. It happened. For whatever reason, he, I don't know, I guess felt threatened by me and kicked me off tour. Life goes on. 

"I don't have a problem with the man. It's apparent he has a problem with me—he kicked me off tour." 

While not holding a grudge, Ne-Yo has also been busy prepping for his follow-up to Because of You and fielding songwriting requests from Usher and Janet Jackson, among others.

By DENISE PETSKI, Associated Press Writer 31 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES - Kevin Federline has agreed to give ex-wife Britney Spears visitation rights with their two young sons, his lawyer said Friday.

Federline attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan said in a statement the former couple has agreed to a modification of a court order that had stripped Spears of her visitation rights. The statement did not provide more details.

A court commissioner gave Kevin Federline sole physical and legal custody of their two little boys and suspended the pop star’s visitation rights on Jan. 4.

Spears has not been allowed to see sons Jayden James, 1, and Sean Preston, 2, since an incident at her home that led to the first of her two hospitalizations in a psychiatric facility this year.

Spears and her estate were placed under a temporary conservatorship after she was taken to UCLA Medical Center on Jan. 31. Conservatorships are granted for people deemed unable to care for themselves or their affairs.

18 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Deborah Voigt has withdrawn from this spring’s new production of Wagner’s “Siegfried” at the Vienna State Opera, which would have been the soprano’s role debut as Bruennhilde.

When the cycle was announced in October 2004, Voigt was to have sung two of the three Bruennhilde roles, but in December 2006 she said she had pulled out of “Goetterdaemmerung” because she wasn’t ready for the part.

Voigt’s spokesman, Glenn Petry, said Friday the singer had chosen to postpone the role. Voigt is being replaced in “Siegfried” by Nina Stemme, according to the Vienna State Opera’s Web site. The production, directed by Sven-Eric Bechtolf, opens April 27.

The Metropolitan Opera has cast Voigt to sing Bruennhilde in its new Ring Cycle, directed by Robert LePage. The production begins with “Das Rheingold” on the opening night of the 2010-11 season, followed by “Die Walkuere” in the spring of 2011, “Siegfried” in the fall of 2011 and “Goetterdaemmerung” in January 2012.

___

On the Net:

http://www.deborahvoigt.com

http://www.wiener-staatsoper.at

By Cortney Harding 41 minutes ago

NEW YORK (Billboard) - For a duo who refer to themselves as the "Satanic Everly Brothers," Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan are rather polite, friendly fellows.

Over lunch at an Italian restaurant in New York, they chatted easily about favorite TV shows (Lanegan is partial to AMC's "Breaking Bad," Dulli is obsessed with "Lost") and gamely retold the story of how an offhand comment to a writer finally compelled them to finish and release the long-gestating Gutter Twins record. That album, "Saturnalia," which arrives March 4 via Sub Pop, is a collection of moody, bluesy tracks that incorporate Lanegan's broken-down growls and Dulli's sexy rasps.

Lanegan and Dulli have both spent formative years recording for Sub Pop, with Screaming Trees and Afghan Whigs, respectively. Lanegan also has issued five solo albums via the Seattle label.

The Gutter Twins played their first show on Valentine's Day at New York's Bowery Ballroom and, after a quick trip to Europe, begin their maiden U.S. tour March 1 at San Francisco's Noise Pop festival.

The speed at which things are now moving for the duo is in stark contrast to the protracted assembly of "Saturnalia," which was put on the back burner because of Lanegan's commitments to Queens of the Stone Age and his own projects, as well as Dulli's work with the Twilight Singers.

"We recorded the first song on Christmas of 2003, and we recorded the last song, 'God's Children,' in September of 2007," Dulli said. "It was only really when Mark came on tour with the Twilight Singers in January of 2007 that we decided to really get down to business and finish it off."

Both men seem so satisfied with "Saturnalia" that they're ruling out possible reunions with their old bands. "I love all the guys from the Whigs, but we left it in a good place," Dulli said. "I think 15 years was enough," Lanegan said quietly when asked about Screaming Trees.

"We both learned a lot writing this record, because we each had to keep the other person in mind all the time," Dulli said. "But it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I think we work well together."

Reuters/Billboard