Will.I.Am, of the Black Eyed Peas, is set to release his third solo album on September 25th. Not surprisingly the CD will have many cameos and guest artists. Some of the already confirmed artists include Snoop Dog on the song "Donkey," Fergie on several of the tracks, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Macy Grey, and many more. It seems to be that this is Will.I.Am's style: He has never had a successful solo career. He has always done a lot better producing and being a guest on other recordings.
Will.I.Am, or William James Adams Jr., was born in LA, where he was able to soak up the great music scene. Originally signed to Ruthless Records, Will.I.Am proceeded to found the Black Eyed Peas. Serving mainly as a producer and lyricist, Will.I.Am helped the Peas rocket to unprecedented success. This success helped Will.I.Am gain many opportunities, several of which were for producing. He contributed to the several albums from such artists as Diddy, Sergio Mendes, Justin Timberlake, and Fergie. I think all of this contributing, and not soloing, has really put a damper on his solo work. Although his new album, Songs About Girls is set to be released on September 25th, he is still working on side projects, including Michael Jackson's comeback album, and numerous other Clear Channel approved gems.
The first single, "Got It From My Mama (Genetics)" is a wonderful start to his album. It has a really catchy beat, a nonsensical Fergie melody, and an awesome hook. What else do you need from a hip-hop song? Well, I guess you can say the songs sole message is about sex, so rims and drugs are missing. The song is so catchy. I can just picture this being the next wannabe teen anthem. You can almost hear the little tweens shouting, "I got it from my mama," in a Mean Girls "Milk Shake" way (you know, when the 8 year old is stripping to Kalis). Anyway, this song is really catchy, and super danceable, so I like it.
If the rest of the album is as good as "Got It From My Mama (Genetics)," the album will be a best seller. I don't know about you, but I can't wait to listen to "Donkey," a club anthem featuring Snoop Dog. I wonder what kind of sexy action occurred during that video shoot?
Preview: (courtesy dillonMP3)
Will.I.Am - "Got It From My Mama (Genetics)": Download
Will.I.Am - "Got It From My Mama (Genetics)" Music Video Flash Video [3:56m]: Download

News Sources:
Austin Scaggs, "Will.I.Am's 'Songs About Girls': Sneak Peek," RollingStone.com
Julianne Shepherd, "FIRST SHOT: will.i.am 'Songs About Girls'," Vibe.com
Dillon Doyle is an avid blogger. His main blog is DillonMP3.

First she was America’s favourite Idol then she was America’s favourite rebel, while simultaneously being Clive Davis’s least favourite person. But whatever Kelly Clarkson is to you, for the month of August she is the Artist of the Month (AOM) for Music Choice (MC). After being signed to RCA upon winning the first series of American Idol, Kelly, the small town girl from Burleson, Texas, achieved superstar status when her first album Thankful went double platinum in the US. After a few stumbles — anyone remember that terrible film From Justin to Kelly co-starring Idol runner up Justin Guarini (blech)? — her career was on track with a second studio album in 2004 Breakaway this time going 5x platinum and cementing Clarkson in the American consciousness. During her extensive European tour to support her newly acquired fan base, Clarkson began writing for her third studio album My December. The controversies started even before the official release of My December, with less-than-inspiring ticket sales leading to Clarkson dumping her management and signing with Starstruck Entertainment who canceled the planned arena tour opting instead for smaller, more intimate venues.
Then Clive Davis, head of Sony/BMG made it an open secret that he was deeply unhappy with Clarkson’s new album and demanded that she make significant changes to it before release. When Clarkson refused she reportedly said that Sony/BMG weren’t obliged to release the album. Clarkson recently apologised to Davis, saying that the feud had been “blown way out of proportion” by the press. Now after the furor surrounding her third album My December, Clarkson talks candidly to MC. In several interviews she discusses her new musical direction, as well touching on celebrity status, love and work, and $1 beer. As always with MC’s AOM, Kelly will be answering her fans' questions in a candid and unedited Q&A as well as taking viewers on a unique journey through her video library. Blogcritics is pleased to bring you an exclusive one minute clip of what you can expect see as part of Kelly Clarkson’s Artist of the Month profile.Music Choice US was launched in 1990 as digital cable radio, and has grown in the 17 years since its launch to include cable and satellite TV video-on-demand, digital cable radio music networks, online services, and most recently it has been made available on cell phones.Music Choice’s cable and satellite video-on-demand service reaches, nationwide, 23 of the top 25 markets. The digital and cable music radio networks cater to all musical genres with channels dedicated to everything from rock to rap and country to classical. The online services are available through Comcast and Time Warner Cable. This online service replicates the video-on-demand available on cable and satellite, streaming, interruption free, more than 50 music channels, with the added ability to customise music playlists with hundreds of music videos over multiple genres.A.L. Harper is an American lost in the history and passion of living in Scotland. She enjoys motorbikes, music, art and wanking. She is Blogcritics Assistant Music Editor and runs the Band of the Week feature, where we profile a different indie (unsigned/inde label) band every week (contact her for more information). She is also the Managing Editor for AllThingsGirl.com and a freelance writer for hire.

There are several interesting possibilities this week, but I can specifically recommend Peter Case's new album Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John. "24 Hours" begins the album with a song that will certainly be on the best of list at the end of the year. This song has some of the best hooks Case has conjured up in awhile, as well as his usual literate lyrics. Besides that though, this song also has the benefit of guest Richard Thompson on guitar and vocals, which really makes this a proper record. Interestingly though, Thompson's contribution of vocal harmonies on "24 Hours" did even more to benefit the song than his fancy guitar. Thompson's guitar playing is certainly a nice bonus, but Peter Case himself is actually a pretty fair picker. He's mostly got the fancy pickin' covered. But that second voice was really critical in the mix. Billy Joe Shaver is Everybody's Brother. This album seems to be interested in spiritual themes, with Jesus specifically mentioned by name in three of the songs. This includes "You Just Can't Beat Jesus Christ," a duet with Johnny Cash rescued from an old demo. The album was produced by John Jr. I'd be real interested to hear what kind of Jesus songs are coming out of the guy who kicked my ass with "Jesus Christ Is Still the King" just two years ago. I'm particularly interested in that according to this article, Mr Shaver seems to think that the ghost of Johnny actually helped him write the seven-minute epic title song "Everybody's Brother."Harry Shearer has a new album of Songs Pointed and Pointless. There are not many comedians as musical as Mr Shearer. I'm skeptical about overtly comic records. I so don't care to hear repeatedly about Adam Sandler's red sweatshirt. But Shearer was part of the brain trust for Spinal Tap and the Folksmen. That's another level of art. This might would deserve a listen, then.For an album called Camp Meeting, I would have expected that Bruce Hornsby was making a gospel album. Turns out that he's going jazz, and fairly hardcore at that. He's taking a stab at Coltrane's "Giant Steps." He's also doing Thelonious Monk's "Straight, No Chaser."James Brown The Singles, Vol. 3: 1964-1965 sounds like something a fellow would need to hear. These 40 songs on two CDs seem to suggest as many as 20 singles in two years. While these are from roughly the peak of his creative power, I know no more than a half dozen of these songs. This sounds intriguing.I'm not familiar with these recordings, but my eye was caught by a five CD set of early Chet Atkins, and for under $30. The Early Years 1946-1957 sounds pretty interesting.Public Enemy has a new album, How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul???. Now, they once managed to make one good album, and maybe a couple of worthwhile singles. But, predictably, they years ago devolved into cheesy agit-prop. This dumbass album title pretty well lays out their shtick. Public Enemy are, of course, paragons of soul. You know they are, cause they're black and they're "mad" - though all that mad is an increasingly obvious contrivance.The PE problem is summed up in this Amazon product description obviously written by some record company flack: Public Enemy's been pioneers in combining verbal acumen with technological advances, performance artistry and theatricality, thematic integrity and artistic control. In an era where mega-national corporations dominate the marketplace and many rappers prefer being popular to being relevant, Public Enemy remain vibrant and topical. They've also forged and maintained a creative legacy that has a timeless quality, yet gives listeners intricate and compelling slices of life from the various eras in which these songs were conceived. They are not entertainers or performers but scribes and commentators providing insight and information through rhymes and music that has uplifted and still inspires legions of fans.Well no, they are NOT scribes and commentators, or are so only incidentally. They are, theoretically, musicians. They're making and selling songs, not writing newspaper stories. But in all that gushing PR verbiage, it doesn't even occur to them to say anything about PE being musicians, much less songwriters. That lack of interest in musicianship is the main problem with Public Enemy, and the main reason they don't sell. Those still inspired legions of fans have lifted the album to #4,232 on the Amazon sales chart.By the way, there's a simple answer to the titular question of this album: Write some real songs. Here's the complete list of this week's major new album releases, courtesy AMG:The Brunettes Structure and Cosmetics Sub Pop Indie Pop Peter Case Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John Yep Roc College Rock, Contemporary Folk, Folk-Rock, New Wave, Contemporary Singer/Songwriter Kat DeLuna 9 Lives Epic Urban, Club/Dance, Latin Pop Mirah and Spectratone International Share This Place KLP Indie Rock, Alternative Singer/Songwriter American Brass Quintet Jewels SummitMusic for Brass Quintet Teodoro Anzellotti Chanson Discrete Winter & WinterContemporary Music and Baroque Arrangements for Accordion Chet Atkins The Early Years 1946-1957 JSPFinger-Picked Guitar, Country Boogie, Instrumental Country, Nashville Sound/Countrypolitan, Country-Pop, Traditional Country Andy and the Bey Sisters 'Round Midnight PrestigeVocal Jazz, Standards, Hard Bop, Soul-Jazz James Brown The Singles, Vol. 3: 1964-1965 Hip-O Select.Com/PolydorSoul Billy Burnette/Shawn Camp The Bluegrass Elvises, Vol. 1 Thirty TigersContemporary Country, Country-Pop, Country-Rock Constantine Constantine 6th PlaceAdult Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock Drowning Pool Full Circle Eleven SevenAlternative Metal, Hard Rock, Post-Grunge Emerson, Lake & Palmer Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends SanctuaryProg-Rock/Art Rock, Album Rock Ella Fitzgerald & Billie Holiday At Newport VerveVocal Jazz, Traditional Pop, Standards, Swing, Ballads, Classic Female Blues, American Popular Song Ella Fitzgerald Live at the Savoy 1939-40 HepVocal Jazz, Traditional Pop, Standards, Swing, Classic Female Blues Flight of the Conchords The Distant Future Sub PopComedy Rock Robben Ford Truth ConcordModern Electric Blues Fuel Angels & Devils EpicPost-Grunge, Alternative Metal Ezra Furman & the Harpoons Banging Down the Doors Minty FreshIndie Pop, Alternative Singer/Songwriter Gallon Drunk From the Heart of Town [Bonus Tracks] SartorialIndie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Punk Blues Gallon Drunk Tonite… The Singles Bar [Bonus Tracks] SartorialIndie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Punk Blues Gallon Drunk You, the Night…and the Music [Bonus Tracks] SartorialIndie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Punk Blues Coleman Hawkins At Newport Live Verve LabelsMainstream Jazz, Bop Billie Holiday Remixed & Reimagined LegacyVocal Jazz Bruce Hornsby Camp Meeting Sony LegacyPost-Bop Alan Jackson 16 Biggest Hits LegacyNeo-Traditionalist Country, New Traditionalist, Contemporary Country Jennifer Gentle A New Astronomy A Silent PlaceNeo-Psychedelia, Indie Rock Jonas Brothers Jonas Brothers HollywoodPop/Rock, Teen Pop June Make It Blur VictoryPunk-Pop, Alternative Pop/Rock, Emo Kris Kristofferson 16 Biggest Hits LegacyOutlaw Country, Singer/Songwriter, Progressive Country, Soft Rock, Country-Rock, Traditional Country Magnolia Electric Co Sojourner So Hood RecordsAlternative Country-Rock, Indie Rock Pablo Marquez Musica del Delphin ECMRenaissance Music for Guitar Marissa Nadler Song 3: Bird on the Water PeacefrogContemporary Singer/Songwriter, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock Ksenia Nosikova Lera Auerbach: Flight and Fire ProfilContemporary Music for Piano Okkervil River The Stage Names JagjaguwarIndie Rock, Folk-Pop Operator Soulcrusher AtlanticAlternative Metal, Heavy Metal, Album Rock Dmitry Sitkovetsky Rodion Shchedrin: Parade a la russe Haenssler ClassicContemporary Chamber Music Original Soundtrack Superbad [Soundtrack] LakeshoreFilm Music, Soundtracks, Funk, Blaxploitation Gretchen Peters Burnt Toast & Offerings CurbContemporary Singer/Songwriter, Country-Folk, Country-Pop, Americana Oscar Peterson Trio At Newport Live Verve LabelsBop, Mainstream Jazz Plies The Real Testament Atlantic / WeaSouthern Rap, Gangsta Rap Grace Potter & the Nocturnals This Is Somewhere HollywoodAlternative Country-Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Contemporary Singer/Songwriter The Pretty Things Balboa Island ZohoFreakbeat, British Invasion, Rock & Roll, British Blues Public Enemy How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul??? Slam JamzHip-Hop David Ruffin Gentleman Ruffin Warner Bros.Motown, Soul Leon Russell Angel in Disguise MRICountry Boogie, Boogie Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Country-Rock, Blues-Rock, Rock & Roll, R&B Joe Satriani Surfing with the Alien [CD/DVD] Sony LegacyGuitar Virtuoso, Pop/Rock, Instrumental Rock Billy Joe Shaver Everybody's Brother CompadreAmericana, Outlaw Country, Honky Tonk, Singer/Songwriter, Country-Rock, Progressive Country Harry Shearer Songs Pointed and Pointless CourgetteSatire, Observational Humor Ralph Stanley Early Classics: The King Recordings Time/Life WEABluegrass, Traditional Bluegrass, Bluegrass-Gospel, Contemporary Bluegrass, Appalachian Folk UGK Underground Kingz [Bonus DVD] ZombaDirty South, Southern Rap, Gangsta Rap, Hardcore Rap Various Artists The Best of Newport '57: 50th Anniversary Collection Verve LabelsMainstream Jazz, Jazz Blues, New Orleans Jazz, Classic Jazz, Hard Bop, Post-Bop, Swing, Bop, Big Band Various Artists Thai Pop Spectacular: 1960s-1980s Sublime FrequenciesAsian Pop, Foreign Language Rock Jennifer Warnes Famous Blue Raincoat [Bonus Tracks] ShoutSoft Rock, Pop, Adult Contemporary Zap Mama Supermoon Heads UpWorldbeat, World Fusion, Acappella, Afro-Pop, Adult Alternative Pop/RockUnreformed hawkish Hoosier hillbilly and sometimes candidate Al Barger runs the still squeezin’ down the psychodelic Kentucky moonshine at MoreThings.com, what with the paranoid religious visions and the Pentacostal music and visions of God and anarchy running amok and such. Somebody oughta call the cops.
Drop Al a note, and try to talk some sense into him, will ya? gadfly at morethings.com

Some big news on the Switchfoot MySpace blog. Sony Records and Switchfoot have parted ways and now Switchfoot will go independent. It was also mentioned that a new Switchfoot album will come out in 2008 in support of this new venture. Furthermore, Jon Foreman, lead singer of Switchfoot will release his solo music and the music he makes with Sean Watkins from Nickel Creek (under the name The Real Sean Jon) on this new indie music venture.Switchfoot, based in San Diego, was first signed to an indie label called re:think, back in 1997. The re:think label was run by Charlie Peacock and was for artists who were Christian but didn't want to be marketed just to Christians. The goal being to allow Christian artists to not be limited to selling their albums just at Christian bookstores. Soon after, the re:think label was bought out by Christian label giant Sparrow Records, even though the name re:think remained. Switchfoot's debut album, The Legend of Chin was released in Spring 1997 and they began making the Christian tour circuit. Chin had very modest sales but through relentless touring the band began building a dedicated fan base.In 1999 Switchfoot released New Way To Be Human on the re:think/Sparrow label. This album was a bit different than "Chin" as it seemed to be a bit more in-your-face about Christianity. It contains some amazing songs from the guitar-driven title-song ("New Way To Be Human") to the call to fight loneliness and finding contentment in "Let That Be Enough". This album started to push Switchfoot up the Christian music totem poll and the follow-up in 2000 called Learning to Breathe solidified them as a popular Christian band. The desire of the band was still to be heard outside just the Christian realm but that was with limited success.Somehow some of Switchfoot's music was heard by a few people inside the music and television industries and their songs were beginning to be placed in some of the teen angst shows and were in the movie A Walk To Remember. This led Sony Music to take notice. The original re:think/Sparrow record deal was for 3 albums. Switchfoot had already begun working on their forth album, The Beautiful Letdown, without a record deal. I distinctly remember this time (May 2002) as I'd spoken to the band just as they'd finished up recording the album and were going to release it soon after (September 2002). A couple of months later Sony signed the band and immediately delayed the album for extra re-mixing and marketing. The album was finally released in February 2003 and made the Billboard Top 100 Albums the first week.A couple of months before the release of The Beautiful Letdown they released a single called "Meant To Live". They even gave it away for free for Christmas in 2002 as an MP3 on their web site. They'd recorded a live video at The Roxy in Hollywood but it hardly got played at all. Once the album was released they began two years of marathon touring to support the album. In the summer of 2003 "Meant To Live" started getting some air play. Switchfoot then did a concept video for the song and it started getting played on Fuse, VH1 and made it onto MTV in the fall of 2003. The song was able to get the album back into the Billboard Top 100 Albums. The follow-up single, "Dare You To Move" helped The Beautiful Letdown top out at number 16 on the Billboard Top 100 Albums. At the end of two years the band went on four full tours and sold over 2.5 million copies of The Beautiful Letdown.As they toured in 2004 they started writing and recording songs for the follow-up album. During this time Switchfoot began undergoing some criticism from Christian circles that they'd sold out to Sony and weren't up front about their faith. The new album, Nothing Is Sound was released in September of 2005 and more criticism came. The album had a lot of darkness to it focusing on issues such as loneliness, contentment and worthiness. This was not a "Jesus Loves Me This I Know" type of album but it was fantastic. Something else occurred during the making of this album, Sony went and added a bunch of Digital Rights Management (DRM) to the CDs to try and prevent piracy. Although the album debuted at number 3 on the Billboard Album charts it quickly stalled out. A lot of folks blamed the band for the DRM issues but it wasn't their fault. The album did not live up to expectations and only sold a little over 500,000 and I believe this is when Sony started to sour on Switchfoot.The follow-up to Nothing Is Sound was Oh! Gravity. which was released in September 2006. The album debuted at number 18 on the album charts but soon fell off the map. I've been privately speculating that Sony would drop Switchfoot at this point. I don't believe Sony knew what to do with a band made up of five guys who are happily married, live clean and want to live for something more than money and fame.
Now we have the announcement that multi-platinum artists, Switchfoot is starting their own indie music venture. I've read that Charlie Peacock (the re:think guy) has been working with Switchfoot and I believe he's going to be involved in this new effort. Both the band and Peacock have learned some hard lessons lately so they should be able to take their knowledge and do something interesting.I'm hopeful that this new effort will allow Switchfoot and other artists to have more freedom to create without being dictated to, by record companies. Some of the singles that Switchfoot have released didn't make sense for alternative radio and I put that at the feet of Sony. Now they can release what they want and when they want. Don't be surprised if these guys figure out a new paradigm for marketing and selling music. The record companies have truly lost their way and it's up to the artists now.I’m just a regular guy in San Diego and blog at Broken Masterpieces.

In personal news, I was very confused by the announcement of the 2007 MTV Video Music awards, since when does MTV have anything to do with music and/or music videos? After a small bit of research (the only one for this article, promise), I realized that MTV has been known to play videos which sometimes feature background music. Like once, during an episode of Made, they played that “Hey There Delilah” song. And then later, on an episode of My Super Sweet 16, they played that “Hey There Delilah” song. I get it now.
But all has not been well with the rest of the musical world! From flying cellphones to flagrant use of the N-word, the industry has been absolutely buzzing with tension. It’s the kind of thing that makes execs want to curl up around a big pile of money and pay someone to cry for them. So let’s bring all you little folks up to speed:YouTube: That dastardly purveyor of videos about crazy pets and gnarly skate tricks has apparently been moonlighting in copyright violation, according to the NMPA. The NMPA (The MP stands for Music Publishers, decipher the rest yourself) is one of those groups that helps out music publishers and artists by vigilantly suing the shit out of people. I am also launching a lawsuit against YouTube for the grievous mental anguish I suffered watching that “Chocolate Rain” video. Amy Winehouse: The sobriety-disinclined singer checked into the hospital with the announcement that she had suffered severe exhaustion. I imagine that diagnosis didn’t actually come from a doctor, since I think a doctor might have said something more like “Oh my god, It’s melting the stomach pump!” As is cursory in cases of exhaustion, Amy cancelled the rest of her tour. True to form, she’s still not going to rehab. Although given her recent actions, I’d say we’re just about due for a new song.“They tried to make me do a concert…” W32.Deletemusic: This is the greatest idea I’ve read about in a long time. As named, It’s a computer virus that destroys music files on infected computers. I’ve long held the idea that dumb people should not be allowed to listen to music, and this virus is an indirect execution of that idea. If people aren’t smart enough to protect themselves from a computer virus, or to keep some sort of backup for their music library (like some sort of compact disc perhaps), then they’ve earned a one-way trip to silence-town. But alas, as certain as I was that this would finally destroy Aly & AJ, the virus proved to be a dud and few computers actually became infected. Universal Records: Listen up, execs, because this affects you. Universal is selling DRM-free music. For all that is lucrative and tasteless, we cannot allow this to continue. If Universal makes a dollar on the idea that listeners should do what they want with what they buy, other companies may follow. And if consumers don’t have security-compromising DRM software on their computers, how will W32.Deletemusic be able to get in and delete all their music (thus forcing them to buy more music)?Al Sharpton: Our country’s loudest advocate of black people stuff is back, and this time he’s fighting words… with words. Al’s scorn is upon the words “Nigga,” “Bitch,” and “Ho.” Al is proposing an official moratorium on the words to replace their current system of control, which is based mainly on white guilt and spell check. In a completely out-of-context statement, Dr. Dre said that some of these words will be easier to subvert than others. “Bitches ain’t shit” Dre remarked, “But hos…” The gangsta rap community, whom the moratorium is passive-aggressively targeted at, seems to be taking it in stride. And since they’re not actually trying to curb misogyny, violence, or self-degrading profanity, I think it’s fair to say it won’t cause too many ripples even if it isn’t ignored.Bayside: You may know them as that one band whose drummer died, or you may know them… well, okay you probably just know them by the dead drummer. But take it easy on them, their drummer died. Anyways, Dead-drummer band Bayside recently began a fee-based fansite. The yearly fee will allow fans access to all the dead drummer news and message boards they could ever want. If you’re really a fan, or if you’re really sorry about their dead drummer, you’ll fork up the thirty bucks. And if you’re thinking that Bayside has made efforts to capitalize on the tragic death of their drummer, shame on you. Their drummer is dead, show some pity (in money form please). 50 Cent: The vitamin-water magnate/movie star/target dummy is having a hell of a week. He kicked it off by announcing that he would stop making solo albums if he didn’t outsell Kanye on the day their albums both drop. Now, they’re apparently going to debate on television. I think 50 cent should debate himself on whether or not George Bush is a cool guy, since he’s taken both sides in the past. Either way, 50’s resolve appears to be failing after the leak of his new video on YouTube prompted him to storm into Interscope headquarters and throw a very un-gangsta tantrum. Yeah, nobody was injured, 50 just threw his phone and shouted that they were ruining his image. Judy Garland staged nastier outbursts.Chris Cornell: has never communicated. Ever. If you think he did, you’re wrong. So if you chatted with someone online who said they were Chris, they were lying. Or if you were listening to a Soundgarden album and thought he was singing discernible lyrics, you’re also mistaken. In his first statement ever, Chris said recently “Under no circumstances, under any name or address do I or have I ever communicated or corresponded with anyone online or otherwise.” So all of you trying to decipher the lyrics to that one Audioslave song (you know the one) can give it a rest. It’s all gibberish.Pearl Jam: The last vestige of grunge rock limps a little prouder today, as they’ve proven that they can still ruffle a corporate feather or two. During one of their many Bush criticism moments, the band was unceremoniously censored for using the phrase “George Bush, Leave this world alone.” AT&T, which produced the censored webcast concert, claims that they only censor excessive profanity and that it was a simple mistake. The incident has certainly raised a few free-speech eyebrows, and I for one feel that it’s about time we asked some hard questions about whom we allow control of our media. This administration thinks that it can bully support just because it is only accountable to itself, but they’ve underestimated the awesome power of the people!

What's nice about this time of year is that, with the rush of kids back to school, the big labels seem to lay off of releases for a few weeks, which allows the smaller labels to push out some high quality stuff that might otherwise be overshadowed. This week comes two little surprises.Floratone: The first is this sneaky little one that fans of Bill Frisell should pay very close attention to. A collaboration between the jazz guitarist and drummer Matt Chamberlain, it might seem pretty straight-forward upon first inspection - Frisell doing his Americana-tinged jazz guitar thing and Chamberlain laying down grooves behind him. But look at the names listed with them on the cover and you might begin to realize there's a lot more going on here - both producers Lee Townsend (a Frisell regular) and Tucker Martine are listed up there as members of the group.
Here's where it gets intersting: Frisell and Chamberlain got together to record some material a couple years ago. The two producers then took their material and worked their magic on the recordings, then handed the material back to Frisell and Chamberlain - who then added some more layers. In the end, frequent Frisell-band member, bassist Viktor Krauss dropped in bass on all the tracks while Eyvind Kang added some of his color to the mix on some songs. And what we get is another one of those genre-defying works that Frisell seems to be so closely associated with. It's not jazz, it's not Americana, but it has a strange forward-looking feel about it. This, by the way, is based off of samples I've heard. Frisell has been on a streak lately of great recordings, so I don't doubt this will be a fun listen, given how unusual it is.Erik Friedlander - Block Ice & Propane: As a jazz cellist, you may not think you've heard Friedlander but you've heard this dude and probably didn't know it, I would bet. He's been all over the music industry backing artists from Dave Douglas and John Zorn to Alanis Morissette and Joss Stone. If you've heard popular music, and even unpopular music, in the past 20 years or so, you've likely heard him somewhere and not known it.
In between all those sessions, he's quietly worked on a fascinating catalog of his own music, from the multi-cultural Topaz group to straight solo albums of just him on cello. This is one of the latter, a disc of solo recordings on which the cellist plays his instrument in pretty much every possible way a stringed instrument could be played - bowed, plucked, and even strummed like a guitar. While that makes for interesting listening for those intrigued by unusual techniques, what should appeal to listeners is how grounded he makes his playing - he is no mere chart-reader.
Friedlander's gift is that he connect emotionally with the listener, and reportedly on Block Ice & Propane he blends his considerable talents in jazz and avant garde with genres not necessarily associated with the cello such as Americana and bluegrass. It kind of sounds like a nightmare, but the little I've heard prove exactly the opposite. This is likely to be one of the more intriguing listens among jazz's 2007 releases.

So Van Halen has "reunited" with David Lee Roth at the helm for a big fall tour, only it's not a real reunion without Michael Anthony on board – Eddie's son Wolfgang will be filling in on bass. I'm going to be one of those dudes who protests at a band reuniting without a vital member in the group. Maybe Michael Anthony isn't the big draw to the band, but on those six amazing albums they put out, he and Roth were a crucial part of the vocal element of the band. With only Roth on vocals this time out… well, I just can't imagine not hearing Anthony's key super-high vocals backing him. I can't see anyone fitting that bill, and I certainly can't see Wolfgang belting out those high notes. But maybe, as the band claims, it's "not a reunion but a rebirth." Well, rebirth or not, this newborn is missing a limb.
Whatever reasons drove the split between Eddie and Michael should have been set aside. Michael clearly made it obvious at the 2007 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductions ceremony that he had no hard feelings for Eddie. Why Eddie couldn't swallow his pride and bring Michael back into the fold is beyond me and many others. He's a part of that history with the band and, more importantly, he's alive, so why not bring him back? I mean, he was featured on the first album cover equally with everyone else:

Left to right, top to bottom, there's Eddie, David, Alex, and Michael. Oh, wait, I must be incorrect:

(Enlarged and sharpened by me.)
This image was taken from the bars at left and right on the Van Halen site (you can roll over them to colorize them). Once again there's Eddie, David, Alex, and… Eddie?! That's right, Michael Anthony has been replaced on the official Van Halen site with another shot of Eddie on guitar, thus proving that Van Halen is just a bunch of really classy guys. I wonder if Michael's bass parts on the album will be replaced by Eddie, like what happened on the first two Ozzy remasters.
(Thanks must go to Disarm the Settlers, the Guided By Voices forum, where a thread about Van Halen alerted me to this album cover discrepancy.)
UPDATE: Thanks to Mark Saleski alerting me to the fact that someone in charge of the official site removed that image and put back the original album cover. Unfortunately for them, they forgot to change out the inactive image. I've grabbed a screenshot before they make another change:

Def Jam probably didn't give her weave insurance.Foxy Brown, the legendary rapper who was known for essentially describing the average date with R. Kelly, has left Def Jam Records for Koch Records. I note, and jest, that this is the home of Boyz II Men, who largely appear to be concerting in Japan.Brown, 27 and born in Brooklyn, was recently robbed on orders from an ex who she ejected from her life after she allegedly found out he was a pimp. After the charges were dropped on one of the individuals who assaulted her, Brown found herself once again in the throws of police when she assaulted her next door neighbor with her Blackberry.Perhaps she couldn't use her weave at the time.Things couldn't be worse in the land of female rappers. Remy Ma (real name Remy Smith) was recently given a Happy Meal of charges. Those included in the meal are one charge attempted murder, one for assault, and a small side order of weapons possession. To their credit, it is possible that Brown and Ma are following in the footsteps of rapper Kimberly Denise Jones (Lil' Kim) who recently was released from jail after being convicted of perjury. She is currently in the process of completing a second season of Countdown To Lockdown, which will showcase her release from prison. The rapper also is working on another album. Foxy Brown's latest court date will be September 26.Matthew Milam lives in Chicago, IL taking care of his elderly father who has lupus. He spends several hours of the day in his small apartment finding the words to put to something of a coherent article or blog entry. You can contact him at matmilam_at_gmail_dot_com or at his myspace