By  Brian Hiatt

Mere months after Rolling Stone named Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” one of Best Songs of the 2000s, the singing half of to duo, Atlanta rapper-gone-crooner Cee Lo Green, now finds himself in contention for the best track of 2010 with the viral, retro-soul sensation “Fuck You.” It’s been a long musical odyssey for Cee Lo, from his days as a member of the rap collective Goodie Mob to Gnarls, but for the first time he’s climbing the charts as a solo artist. Brian Hiatt recently caught up with Cee Lo to talk about “Fuck You” (and his his distaste for the radio edit “Forget You”), his new album The Lady Killer, the future of Gnarls Barkley, and his dream of a residency in Las Vegas.

Before “Fuck You,” you had “Crazy” hanging over you.

I was just talking about that the other day. “Yay! I’m not a one hit wonder.”

It seems like “Crazy” didn’t even blow up this fast.

I don’t think so. I’m proud of that accomplishment, too. The idea that Rolling Stone put us in the top 100 out of the top 500 songs of all time — that’s awesome. I can’t believe I got the chance to do that in my lifetime.

The idea of the gold-digging woman and all that — how much of that is fiction, and how much did that draw from some point in your life?

There had to be some back story of how the lady killer was caused, or created. And most things are created due to trial and error, you know? The truth, as far as it being exact, or a current event in my life … I’m rich. Nah, I’m just kidding. Well, I was rich before taxes — now I’m just fortunate.

What do think about 50 Cent recording that stuff over it?

I was cool with it. It was very flattering for him to take the melody, record his own version, and then not stop there, but actually go a giant step further with the video. It was just a testament to what this song was so quickly becoming. I don’t think I would have stopped anyone from joining in and having some fun with it.

The lyrics are negative in the chorus and negative, but the song still comes out feeling happy, because it’s cathartic. It’s joyful somehow.

Well, that’s the core resistance of both of those energies, man. It’s the yin and yang, it’s the exact math of a perfect circle, you know? What car do you know cranks up without a positive and negative charge?

The rest of the album will have to be really good to live up to this song.

[Laughs] I was like, yo can we follow this up? But at the very least, I have a great record prepared for you. It is a brand new chapter in Cee-Lo Green. It’s my lighthearted and bubbly and liberal side. I think so many people have become convinced that I was Gnarls Barkley 24 hours a day, and that’s not true.

Do you think that’s a darker side of you, in Gnarls?

In comparison to Lady Killer, yes. But even Lady Killer has its edge — you know, I definitely do like edge. I believe that my audience is not anticipating what I’ll do the same, but what I’ll do different, you know?

What is the current state of your relationship with Brian Burton — Danger Mouse?

Oh, we talk every day. He called me and we had a good laugh about the record. He kinda called me to let me know that he was listening, and he knows where we’ve been, he knows that song stems from something very, very true to life — it’s definitely an extension of our sense of humor. I’m the talkative one and he’s the quiet one in Gnarls Barkley, so people know me a bit better, but the mystique [we each have] is equally attractive. He’s actually a very funny guy. He’s outspoken and opinionated, and his opinion for the most part is that he doesn’t like hardly anything. We kind of have that love-hate relationship with each other, too. For the most part we don’t like what either one of us does around the other. He feels like I’m at my best when I’m with him. He does have a point.

Do you think you’ll do another Gnarls record someday?

We’ll definitely do one more. And that’s so crazy, because we were only supposed to do one. I feel so young. I feel like I can do anything right now. I feel like people are hearing me for the first time and I’ve been around for seventeen years, for god’s sake!

Technically this is your first solo smash after all these years.

That only goes to show, if you stay diligent and you dedicate yourself … I was accustomed to moderate success and critical acclaim and being ahead of my time and for once in my life, I’m right on time. It’s very reinvigorating and rejuvenating. I feel there is a whole ‘nother 20 years worth of music in me.

And “Forget You” is the clean version.

Yeah. But I must say, I don’t like it as much. And neither will you — but you have both versions.

I’ve heard little rumblings that parents groups are mad about this song. In the scheme of everything in today’s world, this seems pretty minor, but are you prepared to be confronted by a few angry moms and grandmas?

I will make sure I have my iPad with me and go right to YouTube and say, “Yo, let me play you something so far worse. Let me play you 100 songs you don’t want your kids to hear.” They’ll beg me to play them my song before they hear those. [It’s like] John Lithgow in Footloose. Know what I’m saying?

Yeah. He would not like this song.

That only goes to show how big of a hit record it is at this point. I didn’t mean to offend anyone. It was done in good taste and it wasn’t meant to be an insulting thing. I’m sorry, kiddies.

Are you going to go on a solo tour? What are you doing for live shows?

It really depends. I hope that the album is well-received, and I’ll see what venues are more fitting for it. I kind of had a vision — it’s a long shot, but I really wanted to do a residency in Vegas. I wanted to be one of the first from our generation to be able to do it. You know: “Live in Las Vegas!” That would be cool, if I could do something stationary, but still a spectacle of sight and sound and sophistication.

From Rolling Stone 9/3/10

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/17386/198422

Two definitions of irony: Wilco‘s biggest-sellling album, 2002′s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, was the record that got them a pink slip the year before from their original label, Reprise. Nonesuch, the company that next signed the band and released the record, was a subsidiary of the same corporation — which meant the parent, Warner Bros. Records, paid for the album twice.

With the recent announcement that Wilco have fulfilled their Nonesuch contract and are expected to launch their own imprint, the band — founded in 1994 and led, from the start, by singer-songwriter-guitarist Jeff Tweedy, formerly of alternative-country pioneers Uncle Tupelo — enters a new era of total freedom. But in February, 2002, when I interviewed Tweedy for Britain’s Mojo magazine, he was still recovering from the strange birth and near-death of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, a record that cost the group two members — original drummer Ken Coomer was replaced by Glen Kotche before the sessions started; multi-instrumentalist and co-writer Jay Bennett was let go after the record was done — and divided loyalists with its confrontational distortion and barely-country, raw-art rock.

The full wild ride — including Tweedy’s mounting tensions with Bennett (who died last year) — was documented, in almost daily detail, in Sam Jones’ documentary, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, also released that year. (Full disclosure: I am interviewed in the film.) But the wounds and experience were still fresh in these excerpts from our conversation, which took place in a New York hotel room a few weeks before YHF was finally released.

The Perfect Contradiction

Were there times, while making Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, when you were shocked by what you were doing, the music you were making? Like, “Is this really me doing this?”

That’s always the criteria, just in the sense that you want to finish something and go, “How did I do that? How did we do that?” Once you identify that as something you care about, it becomes this spiraling hall of mirrors.

For awhile, I was taking this approach of  documenting each song as accurately as possible: “Well, this is pretty much how it should go.” At the very least, that‘s what the song is — and then spending six months coming at each of the songs from another direction, seeing how much it is intact. I was basically trying to find something else in there that was more exciting than those six chords strung together with a bridge and a chorus.

Were you testing the strength of the songs?

By the end of the tracking, maybe I stretched them beyond that point — a lot. I obliterated a few of them. Then the final process, with Jim O’Rourke mixing — I was using his ears and expertise to pick through stuff and bring the songs back into focus, into sharper contrast with the noise. It was like writing a book in yellow on white paper, trying to put it back on black ink.

There is a lot of static and disruptive texture. But it is not scarification. It’s part of the mentality of the songs.

The stuff that didn’t survive was the stuff that was in the way of a melody coming through, of a visible song. Those were just different sounds, looked at the same way as a keyboard sound or guitar sound, as a way to frame or color a lyric. Like “Radio Cure,” with the scratchiness coming through — it made it easier to communicate the lyrics.

It actually has the effect of radio, which captures both distance and connection.

I’m mesmerized by that. Country songs on jukeboxes in bars always sounded better to me than playing country records at home. Not that I heard a lot of country songs on jukeboxes. But where I grew up [in Belleville, Illinois], you were more likely to than not.

Was there a point, as you made the album, that you knew it was good? That it was the right music to make?

Pretty early on. A certain amount of ambivalence from the label helped that, actually [laughs]. It made me feel we were doing something right — that they weren’t excited about it. Some contrarian [part of] me was satisfied by that.

The Long Goodbye

When did you find out Reprise didn’t like the record? Was it done?

We mixed six songs, kind of quietly, working with Jim in this little studio in Chicago. The response we got was they didn’t like it. And the only specific direction I heard through the grapevine — I never had a direct dialogue with anybody — was they said the vocals were “masked”. I could not figure out what that meant.

Was that a red flag?

I have an innate sense of well-being [laughs]. I didn’t really care. I was like, “Wow, I know something’s going down, and some battle will ensue.” But I wasn’t concerned, because I was convinced the record was great. So we finished it, maybe a month later. We sent that to them and didn’t hear from them for two weeks. When we did, my understanding is that they asked us to make some changes. They didn’t think it was releasable.

Was that the word they used?

That was the implication — that it needed work. And nobody was saying what that [work] might be. And before they had a chance to, we said, “It’s really done. This is what we are contracted to do, to deliver a record. And here it is. This is our record.”

And then, out of the blue, it was like, “Well, if you guys aren’t willing to make some changes, then we should talk about you leaving.” Leaving? We can do that? That was my response to Tony [Wilco's manager Tony Margherita]. “Leaving? Okay!” And they were deadly serious about it.  They ushered us out the back door with an efficiency in the legal department that you would never see if you were on the other end of things. It took longer to finish a contract with Nonesuch than to finish the contract leaving Reprise.

Did you feel rejected?

My initial response, on a gut level, was like somebody just said, “I don’t like you.” It didn’t resonate very long. There wasn’t any kind of emotional pain. That gut feeling went away, and I was like, “Okay, that’s insane.” I felt incredulous. I sincerely believed that this was the most contemporary and accessible record that we had ever made — and that it was more likely to be understood and heard by people today than a lot of our other records.

“Heavy Metal Drummer,” “I’m the Man Who Loves You” and “Kamera” — I felt they were better pop songs. My vision is obviously skewed. But that’s what I believed. And here I was having people react to it like it was Metal Machine Music, like I had delivered a tape of Nurse With Wound.

Having a Kick-Ass Time There is static, abstract noises, on the album. But it also has an intimacy — like the sweet yearning in “Heavy Metal Drummer” for an innocence that has passed.

I worry that people look at that song as too sentimental, very nostalgic. But I guess that’s what it is. The assumption I’ve heard a lot of people make is that I was the one playing Kiss covers — I wasn’t. I’m talking about that band that I can’t find anymore, that I wish I could, because now I would feel less superior to them, and be able to enjoy them more.

Being in Uncle Tupelo, being into punk rock and indie records, I’d feel so superior. It took me a long time to realize how these other bands were just having a fucking blast, how right they were. The relationship between that performer and that audience, the connection, the circuit of it, was more beautiful than most concerts I see now — and definitely most indie rock bands, where people are achieving an intellectual understanding of it. But the circuit isn’t there, because everybody is afraid to dance.

That’s a tough thing for people to accept, especially musicians. It could be true that the listener’s talent level is as important as theirs. I think a person who can jump around on a the dancefloor and have a kick-ass time is a talented listener. They’re getting something very valuable out of the exchange.

Actually, I saw Wilco on tour for [1999's] Summerteeth,  opening for Richard Thompson at the Beacon Theater [in New York]. You looked exhausted, at the end of your tether, and had an exchange with a kid in the crowd. You really lost it with him.

I wasn’t feeling very good — emotionally. I wasn’t having a bad time touring. From time to time, something snaps on stage. Sometimes you rely on the audience so heavily. You probably shouldn’t. But it is a collaboration. And when it’s not being acknowledged as that, it’s probably your fault. But you want it so desperately — the only thing available to you is to antagonize someone.

Your exact words were “fuck you.”

[Laughs] I don’t remember thinking about it. Except now, a lot of people I’ve been talking to from magazines, they go, “My editor warned me that you’re really moody.” And I’m so not that way. I’m polite and generous to a fault. I bend over backwards when I talk to people. And our publicist reminded me: “It’s probably because you’re an asshole on stage sometimes. [Grins] Hmm, probably.

From Rolling Stone 9/7/10

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/david-fricke/blogs/DavidFricke_May2010/199709/38726

By  Greg Prato

When Ronnie James Dio  passed away from stomach cancer in May, he was in the midst of launching a record label with his wife and manager, Wendy Dio. The future of the company — which they planned to call Niji Entertainment Group, and would use to release recordings by Dio and other artists — was thrown into doubt. But Wendy Dio now tells Rolling Stone that she will launch the label herself, with several releases scheduled for November. Meanwhile, she has been shopping Ronnie’s memoirs with an agent.

The Devil You Know: See Ronnie James Dio’s life in photos

Niji will get rolling on November 9th, when they release the double-disc set Dio at Donington UK: Live 1983 and 1987, which collects two vintage performances by Dio’s solo group. The ’83 performance, Wendy explains, “was the first appearance in the UK of the Dio band — it’s very energetic.” Four years later, the band came with a different lineup and “a lot more songs under their belt.” The first disc represents “a new, young band coming out of the box,” says Wendy, “and then the [second disc] is a more seasoned band.”

As for the memoirs, Dio completed most of the book before he died. “I’m just going to finish the end parts of it,” Wendy explains. “It’s actually [intended as] a three-book deal — the memoirs of Ronnie, a book of illustrated lyrics, and a photo book.”

Niji plans two other releases this year, both on November 23rd: A reissue of Holy Diver , Dio’s 1983 solo debut, on 180 gram vinyl; and Bitten by the Beast, an album by Ronnie’s cousin, David “Rock” Feinstein. Feinstein played with Dio in Elf, and also in a band called the Rods. “Ronnie recorded two songs with him last year,” Wendy says. “One of the songs is called ‘Metal Will Never Die,’ and will be featured on that CD.”

Wendy also turned up a few more tracks recorded after “Metal Will Never Die.” These were intended for parts two and three of the Magica series, which Dio launched in 2000. ” He wrote one song, called ‘Electra,’ which we put on the Tournado box set, which was just 1,500 copies,” Wendy says. “Then he’d written two or three more songs. They will be released.”

In 2011 the label will release a mammoth 16-album vinyl-or-CD box set, For the Record: The Complete Dio Vinyl Collection, plus The Complete Bootleg Box . (“There are a lot of [performances] from strange places,” Wendy says of the Bootleg Box . “It will span over all the years that we have”). Also forthcoming: Elf vinyl reissues, and a DVD release of the import VHS video, Super Rock Japan 1985.

Tracklist for Dio at Donington UK: Live 1983 and 1987

CD 1: 1983

1. Stand Up and Shout

2. Straight Through the Heart

3. Children of the Sea

4. Rainbow in the Dark

5. Holy Diver

6. Drum Solo

7. Stargazer

8. Guitar Solo

9.  Heaven and Hell

10. Man on the Silver Mountain

11. Starstruck

12. Man on the Silver Mountain (Reprise)

CD 2: 1987

1. Dream Evil

2. Neon Knights

3. Naked in the Rain

4. Rock and Roll Children

5. Long Live Rock n’ Roll

6. The Last in Line

7. Children of the Sea

8. Holy Diver

9. Heaven and Hell

10. Man on the Silver Mountain

11. All the Fools Sailed Away

12. The Last in Line (Reprise)

13. Rainbow in the Dark

 From Rolling Stone 9/8/10

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/17386/200230

Country music legend Loretta Lynn announced on Friday that an all-star cast of singer-songwriters have put hits from her epic oeuvre to tape for Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn, an album celebrating the 50th anniversary of her music career arriving on November 9th. In addition to a few country radio chart-topping names (Alan Jackson, Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, Kid Rock), contributors include Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Paramore, and… the White Stripes.

Hold your horses, though: there’s a strong possibility that the White Stripes hiatus has not been broken for the LP as Jack and Meg White have released their take on Loretta Lynn’s “Rated X” before and may have sent in the same track for this compilation. That said, who knows what Jack is building in there.

Check out Jack and Meg’s previously released take on “Rated X,” as well as Paramore’s live version of “You Ain’t Woman Enough,” below:

http://www.twentyfourbit.com/post/1074068475/loretta-lynn-tribute-album-feat-white-stripes-steve

From TwentyFourBit 9/5/10

It’s been 13 years since Interpol formed in New York City and eight since the band’s debut, ‘Turn on the Bright Lights,’ dragged post-punk from the shadows back into the (in their case, red) spotlight. So what if they haven’t turned out to be the second coming of Joy Division or the next U2 (although they are opening for them) — there’s nothing wrong with being this generation’s Depeche Mode, outlasting the trendy scene they helped spawn, and looking damn good doing it.

Singer Paul Banks, guitarist Daniel Kessler and drummer Sam Fogarino may be down one man since bassist Carlos D. split camp, but with the release of their self-titled fourth album, they’re far from down for the count. Drummer Sam Fogarino spoke to Spinner from a Toronto tour stop to ponder the pleasures and perils of being Interpol.

Since Interpol started, what’s been the biggest change in the band?

Innocence. It’s gone.

All of it? That sounds sad.

Well, with the loss of innocence comes experience and confidence. So, we’re a bunch of well-read whores now. [Laughs] The other big thing is that you lose the chips on your shoulder. You realize that a lot of people that were citing Manchester as this Interpol influence, a lot of that was in a good light — it turned people on to us.

So it wasn’t a curse to be compared to Joy Division?

It felt like a curse at the time, because a new band doesn’t want to sound like anybody else. But as you become a lot more confident in what you do, you realize it’s not necessarily a bad thing. One would like to avoid it, but if it informs somebody and they come to your show and buy your records, there’s nothing wrong with that.

Do you feel the same way about being considered a “New York” band? Much like Manchester, New York now has a sound, and it’s partly your fault. Are you OK with that?

We take some responsibility. It’s kind of funny because it doesn’t feel like it ever really happened. There was a short period when you’d go out to a bar and you’d see Nick [Zinner] or Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Tunde [Adebimpe] from TV on the Radio or one of the guys from the Strokes, but not much longer thereafter. We were all on the road, taking that New York Thing all over the world. A lot of the people that I would see on a daily basis, I haven’t seen in years now. I used to see Nick Zinner on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn like, every other day. We’d stop on the street and talk about whatever. And Tunde used to come into the clothing shop I worked at and we’d have hour-long conversations towards closing time. And that all changed as soon as we all, one by one, signed record deals and started touring. It became kind of silly to us. When we were constantly asked about the New York scene, it was like, “I don’t know. It’s happening behind us.”

A lot’s been said about the departure of Carlos already but I want to know how it affects the rhythm section.

Yeah. Well, having David Pajo it’s gone without missing a step. He’s a massively talented musician. I mean, my God, that first Slint record, I think he was 20-years-old, and the level of musicianship and emotional statement on that record is timeless. It’s kind of no surprise that he can handle what are probably the most intricate parts of Interpol songs, which are the bass lines. The funny thing is, between Carlos and I, in the 10 or so years we spent together, in terms of bass and drums there was very little verbal transaction between us. There was always an unspoken balance about what would inform the general rhythm of the song.

Well, you have that other language of music. You don’t need to talk in English.

Thank God. Because there is a lot of pontificating in this band. There is a degree of higher intelligence in this f—ing band that does, at times, get in the way of writing music. The ability to articulate sometimes becomes detrimental.

Is it hard to be an “art band”? Do you ever wish you could just rock out like Motley Crue?

Yeah. And then I’d get really bored. My first band in New York was a garage band. I was playing songs with one hand and drinking beer with the other, y’know? That was fun for a few months. But then I was, like, there is no challenge here. At all.

So you’re never going to get the flying Tommy Lee kit. You ever dream of that?

No! When I was coming up as a drummer, I fancied [Rolling Stones'] Charlie Watts. This cool, effortless, seemingly removed guy who didn’t look like any of the rest of the band. I thought that was really cool. It gave them the freedom, the guys in the front, to do what they do. If what I do is solid, and doesn’t vary, then the band can do what they want.

Why is there this sense of disappointment with your last record, ‘Our Love To Admire?’ It’s not like you went and made [Metallica's] ‘Load.‘

There is a black cloud over it. I think people were ready to give a bit of a backlash to the band. In terms of how the band felt, it was just a weird time: new label, new management, being really road beaten. The whole thing. I’m still pleased with a lot of the music on the record, but in comparison to ‘Antics’ there was a great sense of disappointment. We’d also moved on to Capitol Records, who brought you Radiohead, and Sparklehorse and this other great legacy stuff. And then as soon as we rolled tape for ‘OLTA,’ [those people] were gone. And then it just kept tumbling from there. I don’t know if that caused internal strife, but simultaneously, the band wasn’t happy. For no one reason, there was just this blanket unhappiness.

Was there ever a sense you would break up?

No, we were always going to make another record.

Are you at all sad that with Carlos gone you won’t have the same line-up forever?

No. With all due respect to Mr. Carlos D., I’m glad that he left, and that he’s happy. Because I’m happy here, and I don’t want to be around people that are unhappy. I never want to go through that again. Nobody should. The idea of grovelling to someone who doesn’t want to be with you anymore, and you come out thinking,”What was I thinking? Why did I put every last essence of my person into this person, so they wouldn’t leave me?” Why the f— would I want them around, if they want me to change, or just aren’t happy with my mere existence. So I’m sorry, but we’re better off. I don’t care how sexy he is. [Laughs] Sorry girls!

What’s great about being in Interpol in 2010?

The fact that we may have crossed the threshold of the establishment. Not in a negative way. But we’re here. We’ve carved our niche. There is a certain level of freedom that comes with that.

From Spinner 9/7/10

http://www.spinner.com/2010/09/07/interpol-new-album-interview/

The Rolling Stones have hit their peak again in 2010, this time in the form of a rarely seen rereleased movie of a 1972 concert.

“Ladies and Gentlemen… The Rolling Stones” was originally released in late 1973 in Britain, but the film was not widely shown. The digitally remastered version, which made its global premiere on Tuesday (Sept. 7) in London, shows the Stones at their best, belting out classics like “Brown Sugar,” “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” along with “new” songs like “Tumbling Dice,” Sweet Virginia” and “Rip This Joint.”

The latter songs were all on the 1972 album “Exile on Main St.,” which was also remastered and rereleased this year to great acclaim.

None of the current Rolling Stones members that are in the movie – Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts – made it for the premiere, but former bassist Bill Wyman was in attendance. Wyman was with the band for 30 years but quit in 1992 to explore other musical opportunities.

Although Jagger wasn’t there, a short interview with the lead singer was played on screen before the movie began.

“Everyone’s very together and on,” Jagger said in the interview, which was recorded about six weeks ago in London. “I can remember the Rolling Stones being very, kind of, lackadaisical, very sloppy band on stage. But this was obviously not the case on this day.”

The 1972 tour was the Stones at their peak, or at least at the tail end of it. The five-year period leading up to that year is generally regarded as the band’s prime. From “Beggars Banquet” in 1968 through “Let It Bleed” in ’69 and “Sticky Fingers” in ’71, the Stones were the ultimate rock n’ roll band, playing hard and partying harder.

The movie, pieced together from several different concerts played in Texas, was digitally remastered and will be shown in theaters around the world in the coming weeks. The DVD and Blu-ray versions are set to be released in October, according to Eagle Rock Entertainment chief operating officer Geoff Kempin. The Stones also released “Stones in Exile” this year, a documentary about the making of “Exile on Main St.”

“[Jagger is] very strategic about where and when he wants stuff released,” Kempin said.

The movie opens with a black screen and some background noise. Soon, though, the lights come on and Watts starts banging on his drums as the band breaks into “Brown Sugar.”

Throughout the movie, the clothes change as the concert footage switches from show to show, but the music remains crisp and tight. Before they start playing “Midnight Rambler,” Jagger personifies the attitude of the band at the time by taking a couple of swigs from a big bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey.

The footage also harkens back to the days when playing concerts was more intimate for the band because the stage was so small, especially compared to later tours when Jagger would constantly be on the move, sometimes even running through the crowd with security guards all around him.

“We were really close together, super close together,” Jagger said.

And with no additional vocals and only some keyboards and percussion in support, the sound was more raw.

“I haven’t heard the Stones signing without backing vocals for years,” said Mike Griffiths, a 59-year-old television director and longtime fan. “It took me back.”

The movie features 15 songs without interruption, finishing off with “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Street Fighting Man.”

“It was,” Jagger said, “a good choice of songs.”

From Billboard 9/8/10

http://www.billboard.com/news#/news/rolling-stones-again-at-their-peak-in-rerelease-1004113200.story

If anyone was going to invent a Theremin that you could control with your mind, it’d have to be someone from the Elephant 6 collective, right? According to a possibly-not-joking press release, Apples in Stereo frontman Robert Schneider has done just that. Scheider has invented a device he calls the Teletron, which allows the user to play an analog synth completely through brain activity.

If you’re looking for new albums to hear online for free, then you are a very lucky person today. There’s a whole ton of new stuff out there, and we’ve got plenty of new records listed below, with links.

Neil Young  has announced the release of new solo album “Le Noise,” due out Sept. 28 on Reprise Records. The eight-song follow-up to 2009′s “Fork in the Road” is a stripped-down collaboration with Grammy-winning producer Daniel Lanois (U2, Bob Dylan).

Recorded in Lanois’ Los Angeles home, “Le Noise” features Young on acoustic and electric guitar with no backing band or overdubs. “Neil was so appreciative of the sonics that we presented to him,” says Lanois, adding that the pair had “taken the acoustic guitar to a new level.”

“Le Noise” will be issued as a standard CD, vinyl, digital download, and as a deluxe CD/DVD set. The DVD portion, which showcases Young performing each of the album’s eight songs, will also be released as a Blu-Ray in November.

Here is the tracklist for “Le Noise”:

Walk With Me
Sign of Love
Rescue Me
Love And War
Angry World
Hitchhiker
Peaceful Valley Blvd.
Rumblin’

From Billboard 9/1/10

http://www.billboard.com/news#/news/neil-young-announces-new-album-le-noise-1004112260.story

Elton John 

and Leon Russell have issued the first single from their forthcoming collaborative album, “The Union,” due Oct. 19 on Decca Records. Titled “If It Wasn’t For Bad,” the song features vocals from both musical legends as well as John on piano.

Produced by T-Bone Burnett, “The Union” is John and Russell’s first collaboration since 1970. In July, John said the album was an attempt to move away from pop music and “be mature” with his work, and that he hopes the disc brings more exposure to Russell’s solo recording career.

Elton John Teams With Leon Russell For ‘Mature’ New Album

The pair also worked with songwriter Bernie Taupin and brought in Neil Young and Brian Wilson to guest on the album. John said he plans to tour with Russell next year as well.

From Billboard 9/1/10

http://www.billboard.com/news#/news/elton-john-and-leon-russell-release-first-1004112450.story