The follow-up to 2002’s “Sea Change” reunites Beck with production team the Dust Brothers, with whom he had not worked since 1999’s “Midnite Vultures.” The Dust Brothers were also behind the boards for 1996’s “Odelay,” which won a Grammy for best alternative music performance.

“Sea Change” debuted at No. 8 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 574,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Before the new album’s release, Beck can be heard covering Daniel Johnston’s “Things Last a Long Time” on the tribute album “The Late, Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered,” due Sept. 21 via Gammon.

Source billboard.com.

RealNetworks has developed a technology solution that makes tracks from its RealPlayer Music Store compatible with Apple Computer’s iPod, as well as with a number of portable music players that use Microsoft technology.

Real’s new technology, called “Harmony,” will be demonstrated for the first time tomorrow (July 27) at the Jupiter Plug.In conference in New York. The same day, a beta of the Harmony technology — which will be integrated into the RealPlayer Music Store and RealPlayer 10 — will be available to consumers on a limited basis at Real.com/harmony.

Real sells tracks in an AAC-based version of its RealAudio format; it secures the files with its own proprietary Helix digital rights management (DRM) solution.

Until now, music from the Real download store has not been compatible with either the iPod or Windows Media-compatible devices due to competing DRM standards from Apple and Microsoft.

With the introduction of Harmony, Real claims that its files now work with devices from Apple, Creative, iRiver, RCA, Rio, Samsung and PalmOne, among others.

Real’s solution to the compatibility problem is to give consumers two files of the same song when they purchase a track from the RealPlayer Music Store. The first is the normal file, designed for playback via Real’s RealPlayer music management software. The second is a transparent, “optimized” file that is not seen in the music collection but resides on the user’s hard drive. This second file is used specifically for transfer to a portable device.

The RealPlayer determines whether a device uses Apple or Windows Media DRM, and then converts the optimized file into the proper format to enable portability. “Users don’t have to think about the format,” says Sean Ryan, senior VP of music services at Real. “The proposition is: Buy it here; move it anywhere.”

The Harmony technology still doesn’t allow for tracks secured with Windows Media DRM to be directly transferred to the iPod, or for iTunes tracks to be transferred to Windows-based devices from the likes of Creative and Rio.

Previously, there has been no meaningful compatibility between legitimate digital-music offerings from rival technology companies.

Market leader Apple has yet to license its FairPlay DRM technology to any competitors — a fact that has kept secure tracks from music services other than iTunes off the iPod. In April, Apple rebuffed overtures from Real to make the iPod compatible with the RealPlayer Music Store.

Real still does not have a license for FairPlay. Instead, the company has engineered its own technology solution that allows RealPlayer Music Store tracks to work with FairPlay. Real says it is converting tracks into the Windows Media format under an existing licensing agreement with Microsoft.

Source billboard.com.

Quannum will on Sept. 7 release “The Underground Spiritual Game,” a mix CD of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti’s music spearheaded by Blackalicious’ Chief Xcel. The project was previously released internationally on French label Barclay.

According to Xcel, organizers originally wanted him to remix Kuti’s entire catalog, which spans 30+ albums. “So rather than do it all at one time, I decided to chop it off little by little,” he says. “Hopefully this will be the first in a long list of remixes I do of Fela’s music.”

In addition to working on the next Blackalicious record, Xcel is eyeing an Oct. 5 release for “Ambush,” the debut album from his Maroons project with Lateef.

Source billboard.com.

The Polyphonic Spree have confirmed a two-week run of headline club dates in August that will include two-night engagements in Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and New York, as well as a single show in Washington DC. The Dallas-based orchestral pop ensemble is touring in support of its sophomore album “Together We’re Heavy.”

A booking on CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman” has been confirmed for an August 27 air date; and in early August the Spree will tape an episode of PBS’ “Austin City Limits,” which will air in November. A recently-taped performance on CBS’ “The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn” will air this Tuesday, July 27.

“Together We’re Heavy” was released in the U.S. by Hollywood Records on July 13, and is currently #1 on Soundscan’s Top New Artist Albums chart. The album was #1 most-added at college radio in its first week, and is #5 on CMJ’s Radio 200 chart.

Meanwhile, critics nationwide have responded enthusiastically to “Together We’re Heavy.” Rolling Stone said “substance exceeds style on ‘Together We’re Heavy…’ The gorgeous shape-shifting songs allow the diversity of the Spree’s instrumentation, from strings to brass to theremin, to shine.” Interview praised the group as “fantastically original” and Heavy as “a fascinating, ambitious, and majestic masterpiece,” a sentiment Nylon echoed, saying “anthemic, dynamic and enlivening… Polyphonic Spree have made a masterpiece.” And the Spree’s hometown weekly Dallas Observer called the album “stirring and singular and worthy of the swimming pools of critical ink in which the band has frolicked.”

THE POLYPHONIC SPREE SUMMER 2004 TOUR DATES

Aug 13 – Chicago, IL – Park West

Aug 14 – Chicago, IL – Park West

Aug 16 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club

Aug 18 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club

Aug 19 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club

Aug 21 – Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church

Aug 22 – Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church

Aug 24 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza

Aug 25 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza

Aug 26 – New York, NY – Late Show with David Letterman

Saturday, July 24th was a very special day for HeadCount. The not-for profit, nonpartisan organization devoted to voter registration set a single-show record of 466 registrations at the Dead show at Alpine Valley. They also generated about $370 in donations. That too would have been a HeadCount record, only at a moe./Chris Robinson/Particle concert on the same day, a Glide sponsored raffle generated $421.

This new donation record was reached through a special raffle made possible by the music and lifestyle Web site Glide Magazine, which donated two Great Woods Phish tickets as the prize. All of the funds generated by donations and raffles at concerts go directly toward HeadCount’s nationwide voter registration campaign, and are crucial to their efforts. HeadCount offered sincere thanks to all the good folks at www.glidemagazine.com for their generosity and support for the cause of voter registration, and to the Dead fans and volunteers in Wisconsin.

Saturday was also very special for another reason. HeadCount co-Chair, Disco Biscuits bassist Marc Brownstein, and his wife Deborah had their first child. A healthy 6 lbs 8 oz. baby boy. The mother-to-be went into labor the night before at a Sound Tribe Sector Nine show in their hometown of Santa Cruz, Calif., with HeadCount volunteers registering voters nearby.

HeadCount is a not-for profit, nonpartisan organization devoted to voter regustration and participation. We are run entirely by volunteers and rely on the generosity of others. Volunteer or make a tax deductible donation today.

Vermont jam-band titans Phish will give fans who can’t attend its upcoming retirement bash a chance to peek in via satellite radio and local movie theaters. As previously reported, the group plans to call it quits after its Aug. 14-15 Coventry festival in its home state.

The band has struck a deal with XM Satellite Radio for live broadcasts of all six planned Coventry sets, as well as feeds throughout the weekend from the band’s on-site radio station “The Bunny.” The XM broadcast stretches from 6 a.m. on Aug. 14 through 6 a.m. on Aug. 16 on the XM Live and XM Music Lab channels. The band says it will post information on its Web site next week with details on a special discounted rate for Phish fans who’d like to subscribe.

For those desiring the full visual experience of Coventry, the band is planning to simulcast the event on both days at select Regal, Edwards and United Artists movie theaters. Specifics on theater locations and ticket information are not yet available, but the group says it will sell separate tickets to simulcasts on Aug. 14 and Aug. 15. This follows a theater simulcast of a June 17 concert at New York’s Coney Island.

Phish’s final studio album, “Undermind,” was released last month via Elektra and debuted at No. 13 on The Billboard 200.

Source billboard.com.

Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready will preview tracks from the group’s upcoming double-disc concert set “Live at Benaroya Hall” via a live, one-hour radio broadcast beginning 8 p.m. ET Sunday (July 25). A band spokesperson confirms such outlets as WBCN Boston, KNDD Seattle, WWDC Washington, D.C., KOMP Las Vegas, XTRA San Diego, WRIF Detroit and WMMR Philadelphia will carry the program.

In addition, McCready was interviewed by XM Satellite Radio for broadcast on the Ethel XM47 show, which will air Sunday at 7 p.m. ET and Monday at 10 p.m. ET.

Due Tuesday, “Live at Benaroya Hall” is Pearl Jam’s first release since splitting with longtime label Epic, and will be issued via the band’s own Ten Club fan organization with distribution by BMG. The largely acoustic set was taped Oct. 22, 2003, as part of a benefit for the Seattle-based aid organization YouthCare.

In related news, Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard is scheduled to appear Tuesday morning on KNDD’s Morning Alternative show.

Source billboard.com.

The Beastie Boys, Green Day, Kid Rock and Velvet Revolver are among the more than 60 acts that will play the sixth annual Voodoo Music Experience. Following last year’s expansion to a three-day format, promoter Stephen Rehage has scaled this year’s event back to a two-day event in New Orleans’ City Park on Oct. 16-17.

As previously reported, the Pixies and Black Rebel Motorcycle are on a three stage bill that now also features the reunited A Tribe Called Quest, Paul Van Dyk, the Polyphonic Spree, the Killers, Cypress Hill, Shinedown, New Found Glory, Sonic Youth, Phantom Planet, Cowboy Mouth, Snow Patrol, Particle and De La Soul.

Also on the initial confirmed artist list is Gomez, the Thrills, Supagroup, Wylde Bunch, Kill Radio, Gooding, Ghost, Gogol Bordello and Metric, as well as Alter Bridge, the band formed by Creed songwriter/guitarist Mark Tremonti and drummer Scott Phillips with original Creed bassist Brian Marshall and former Mayfield Four singer/songwriter Myles Kennedy. More artists will be confirmed as the festival approaches.

Voodoo Music Experience tickets go on sale Aug. 2 via Ticketmaster and the event’s Web site. Tickets are priced at $40 per day or $70 for a two-day pass through Sept. 30.

Source billboard.com.

Due to an overwhelming demand from their audiences, the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd will tour together for the first time this fall at seven performances.

Famed producer Eddie Kramer put more than 2,000 items from his collection up for sale at the online site Backstage Auctions, including a host of rare Led Zeppelin recordings, Kiss’ 1973 demo tape, rough mixes for Peter Frampton’s iconic live set “Frampton Comes Alive” and a wealth of test pressings and acetates from Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie.

“I’ve had this stuff in my basement for 30-odd years,” Kramer tells Billboard.com. “I’m actually making a move to California, so I decided to clean house. I don’t need to schlep this stuff around with me anymore.”

Among the tantalizing items available for bidding is a nine-song Led Zeppelin studio session from 1974, featuring different versions of five songs eventually released on the following year’s “Physical Graffiti” (“Custard Pie,” “In My Time of Dying,” “The Wanton Song” and “Boogie With Stu”), plus four tracks that have not been identified.

Other Zeppelin sessions include a rough mix from 1972 or 1973 of the “Graffiti” track “The Rover” on a tape that “ends with a total burst of sound,” according to the lot description; a four-song session for the album “Led Zeppelin II”; an undated early recording of tracks intended for “Houses of the Holy” that excludes opener “The Song Remains the Same”; and mixes for the 1976 live album of the same.

The auction, which also features photographs and memorabilia, concludes Aug. 1.