News

After several delays, Stevie Wonder’s new studio album, “A Time 2 Love,” is expected to be out in April via Motown.

“As an artist, you get anxious and excited — you want to show what you can do,” Wonder tells Billboard in an exclusive interview for the Dec. 11 issue, on newsstands today (Dec. 3). “But for me, I had to make a real decision not to rush. I wasn’t feeling that the timing is right. A lot of what I do when I do an album is based on whether the timing is right.”

“A Time 2 Love” will be Wonder’s first studio set since 1995’s “Conversation Peace,” which debuted at No. 16 on The Billboard 200. “I didn’t mean for that to happen,” he says of the amount of time that elapsed between projects. “On the other hand, it wasn’t a panic-mode situation, either, where we’ve got to do this or we’re going to have a problem up in here.”

The set will be a single-disc affair, although Wonder says, “in these nine years I’ve done more than just the songs that will be on the album. And it’s going good. In these nine years I’ve found the songs that feel most comfortable for me.”

Among the tracks earmarked for the set are “If the Creek Don’t Rise” (“something I wrote a while back that I recently revisited,” Wonder says) and “If Your Love Cannot Be Moved,” the latter of which features live instrumentation by Wonder and several guest spots.

“I have myself playing, some symphony musicians from [Los Angeles] and Doug E. Fresh doing a little beat-box thing,” he reveals. “I also have a female talking-drum player from Nigeria. And we’re going to have the West Los Angeles choir sing. I’m going to record the choir at the church.”

After “Time” is released, Wonder says he has “three immediate goals”: a “jazz album with harmonica,” a gospel album and a musical.

Source billboard.com.

Canadian rock act Hot Hot Heat has put the finishing touches on its highly anticipated next album. The 13-track “Elevator” is due in early April via Warner Bros., and will be preceded in March by the single “You Owe Me an IOU.” The band is expected to tour heavily in support of the set, beginning in February.

Produced by Dave Sardy (Dandy Warhols, Helmet), “Elevator” is the follow-up to 2002’s “Make Up the Breakdown,” which peaked at No. 3 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and No. 5 on the Top Independent Albums tally. It has sold nearly 238,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The band’s return to the live stage will feature new guitarist Luke Paquin, a San Francisco native who recently replaced group member Dante DeCaro. According to Hot Hot Heat’s official Web site, “while Dante made his decision a while ago, he still co-wrote and recorded the new album with us and is as proud of it as we are.”

Here is the track list for “Elevator”:

“Running Out of Time”
“Island of the Honest Man”
“Dirty Mouth”
“You Owe Me an IOU”
“No Jokes – Fact”
“Goodnight, Goodnight”
“Middle of Nowhere”
“Pickin’ It Up”
“Ladies and Gentlemen”
“Elevator”
“Shame on You”
“Soldier in a Box”
“Jingle Jangle”

Source billboard.com.

Festival season begins early in South Florida, and the Langerado Music Festival is quickly becoming the destination of choice for traveling music lovers ready to start the journey. The festival, now in its third year, is preparing to host a slew offans from colder climates: music lovers, college spring-breakers and sun seekers who are aching for festival season to begin.

Langerado’s current line-up includes headliners The String Cheese Incident (two nights), Medeski Martin & Wood, Toots and the Maytals, Keller Williams, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Michael Franti & Spearhead, De La Soul, MOFRO, Particle, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Soulive, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Robert Walters 20th
Congress, New Monsoon, Benevento Russo Duo, Donavon Frankenreiter, Kaki King, Spam Allstars, Hackensaw Boys, deSol, DJ Williams Projekt and many others still to be announced. Please visit www.langerado.com/artists.htm for a complete list of performers. In addition, through a partnership with Sonic Bids (www.sonicbids.com) one unsigned band will have the opportunity to perform at the festival. Please visit the Langerado website for information on how to submit your band for consideration.

The third annual Langerado Music Festival will be held at Markham Park in Sunrise, Florida; a gorgeous sprawling facility perched at the eastern edge of the Everglades Conservation Area. The festival’s two days will offer up 20 + popular musical acts, performing on 3 stages from 11 am – 9 pm, and details are being worked out for plenty of late-night shows in clubs scattered throughout Ft. Lauderdale’s thriving night-life community.

After taking himself out of the music business “to regenerate, get free of myself and make an album for the right reasons,” Billy Idol has completed his first album featuring new songs in over 10 years, aptly titled DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND. The CD, which may or may not be named after a location deep inside the Idol mind, is scheduled for release on March 22, 2005, and is the English rocker’s first for Sanctuary Records.

The single, “Scream,” is a down and dirty love romp featuring the
sinister signature guitar of Steve Stevens and Idol’s rock and roll
holla in the familiar vain of “Rebel Yell.” It will go to radio on
January 3, with an impact date set for January 24. Widely credited as
one of the critical artists responsible for the golden age of Music
Television and an early disciple of the art of controversy on the small screen, Idol will attempt to reinvent the video art form by making one for “Scream,” which will be completed early next year.

DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND is a journey through the musical mind, influences and taste of Billy Idol. The trip begins with the visceral thrust of the album’s opener “Super Overdrive, followed by the punk anthem “World Coming Down,” which borrows from his own history in the Bromley Contingent-the crew that included Siouxie Sioux, Steve Severin, The Clash’s Mick Jones and others who followed the Sex Pistols-as well as his own early group, Generation X. In total, there are 13 tracks to be experienced on DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND.

Produced by Dan Myers and recorded with his touring band, Adam Green follows up his critically acclaimed album FRIENDS OF MINE, which featured the Rolling Stone Song Of The Year Jessica, with an album that takes a step closer to the likes of Bacharach and Jacques Brel.

Combining his singular songwriting vision and plaintive, almost-angelic tenor with elegant melodies and playful art-pop arrangements, GEMSTONES showcases Adam’s unmistakable romantic sensibility as well as his barbed sense of humor.

GEMSTONES will be released March 1st on Rough Trade Records.

A totally unofficial, yet highly probable, partial line-up for Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2005 is running rampant on the Internet.

Festival organizer Goldenvoice says “nothing has been confirmed” but that’s not going to keep fans from getting excited about who might be coming to Empire Polo Field in Indio, Calif., this spring.

There are plenty of hot acts on the list and a number of surprises, including David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, and Coldplay.

And it wouldn’t be Coachella without a bevy of buzz bands. The 2005 edition that’s being circulated includes recent Shortlist Prize winner TV On The Radio, as well as Dogs Die In Hot Cars, Death From Above 1979, and Iron and Wine.

Goldenvoice isn’t saying when the official roster will be announced, but here’s the not-so-secret preview to whet your appetite:

April 30
David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Coldplay, PJ Harvey, Interpol, The Faint, Franz Ferdinand, Polyphonic Spree, Boards of Canada, TV On the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Squarepusher, Clinic, French Kicks, Secret Machines, Phoenix, Beep Beep, Dogs Die In Hot Cars, Death From Above 1979, and The Helio Sequence

May 1
R.E.M., Tears For Fears, Wilco, Bright Eyes, Jimmy Eat World, Mos Def, Badly Drawn Boy, The Streets, Cake, The Shins, Sleater-Kinney, Rilo Kiley, Radio 4, Doves, Iron and Wine, The Arcade Fire, and Moving Units

Source pollstar.com.

Iron & Wine will continue its prolific run of releases early next year with the six-song EP “Woman King.” Due Feb. 22 via Sub Pop, the set was recorded in August in Chicago with producer Brian Deck. The EP finds Iron & Wine mastermind Sam Beam broadening his acoustic-based repertoire with banjo, electric guitar, piano and violin on such tracks as “Jezebel,” “My Lady’s House” and “Gray Stables.”

“Woman King” arrives on the heels of this year’s studio album “Our Endless Numbered Days,” which debuted at No. 6 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and No. 7 on the Top Independent Albums tally. It has sold 65,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Beam is primed for further mainstream exposure next month, as three of his songs are set for inclusion on the soundtrack to the film “In Good Company.” Due Jan. 11 via Hollywood, the set features the previously unreleased cut “The Trapeze Swinger” as well as the “Numbered Days” tracks “Sunset Soon Forgotten” and “Naked as We Came.”

Sub Pop labelmates the Shins contribute two previously released tracks to the album, which also boasts songs from Peter Gabriel, Steely Dan, Aretha Franklin and Damien Rice, among others. The film, starring Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace and Scarlett Johansson, opens Jan. 14 in U.S. theaters.

Beam has eight upcoming shows on his schedule with Love As Laughter principal Sam Jayne, beginning Monday (Dec. 6) in Solana Beach, Calif.

Here are Iron & Wine’s tour dates:

Dec. 6: Solana Beach, Calif. (Belly Up Tavern)
Dec. 7: Los Angeles (Avalon)
Dec. 8: San Francisco (Great American Music Hall)
Dec. 9: San Francisco (Slim’s)
Dec. 10: Eugene, Ore. (W.O.W. Hall)
Dec. 11: Portland, Ore. (Meow Meow)
Dec. 12-13: Seattle (Neumo’s)

Source billboard.com.

Bob Dylan will appear on 60 Minutes, in his first television interview in 19 years. The music icon sat down with Correspondent Ed Bradley while on tour in Northampton, Mass. His interview will be broadcast on Dec. 5, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Dylan delves into several subjects in the intense interview, discussing his career, the burden of his fame, his difficult relationship with the press, and the relationship he had with his father.

He has recently written a memoir titled “Chronicles Volume One.” The book’s publisher, Simon & Schuster and CBS News are subsidiaries of Viacom.

Source CBSnews.com.

Kazaa has been branded the world’s biggest “copyright piracy engine” by five record labels which launched a legal case against Sharman Networks, the company behind the internet file-swapping website.

At a hearing before Australia’s Federal Court in Sydney into alleged copyright violations, lawyers for record labels including EMI, Sony BMG and Warner told the court that Kazaa was responsible for three billion music downloads a month and the cornerstone of its popularity was unlicensed sharing of music files.

“The Kazaa system is an engine of copyright piracy to a degree of magnitude never before seen,” Tony Bannon, the labels’ lawyer, said.

The conventional music industry has led a worldwide drive against illegal downloading, aligning its own fate with the defeat of unlicensed sites where music is available for free. Last week, the world

With the final, rain-soaked Phish fest in Coventry, Vt., now in the books after a lengthy refund reconciliation, longtime band manager John Paluska will dismantle the band’s Burlington, Vt.-based management company, Dionysian Productions.

“Dionysian Productions will be a non-entity as of the end of the year,” Paluska, Phish’s manager for 16 years, tells Billboard. “I’m taking a sabbatical and I don’t know where I’ll re-emerge. It may be in the music business, or it may not be.”

Paluska started managing Phish while he was still in college. “My entire adult life has been consumed with this band,” he says. “It has been an amazing 16 years.”

Phish will maintain a small headquarters in Vermont, headed by longtime Phish archivist Kevin Shapiro. “The rest of us are all splitting off and doing different things,” says Paluska. Dionysian’s staff, including Phish Dry Goods, the band’s merchandising company, numbered more than 25 when the band was on the road.

Jason Colton, a key executive at Dionysian, will continue to work with Phish bassist Mike Gordon as manager; Gordon is recording a second album with Leo Kottke in December and the pair will tour together again.

As previously reported, keyboardist Page McConnell just released a DVD, “Live at the Fillmore,” with his band Vida Blue and the Spam Allstars on Image Entertainment. Drummer Jon Fishman’s side project, Pork Tornado, currently has no tour dates booked.

Sources say band guitarist Trey Anastasio is close to announcing a new management deal with Dave Matthews Band manager Coran Capshaw, but the move could not be immediately confirmed. Anastasio, who owns the most box office clout of any Phish member, will likely tour in 2005. The artist was recently visited in the studio by Gordon and Fishman while he at work on his next project.

The last major effort of Dionysian Productions was orchestrating the mass refunding effort for fans turned away from Coventry. The Aug. 14-15 event sold out and grossed more than $8.8 million, but at least 10,000 people never made it into the grounds due to torrential rains that closed roads in the area.

Each of those ticket holders were fully refunded and also received a limited edition Danny Clinch photo-documentary about Phish. Band members hand-signed every copy.

“That in itself was quite an effort,” says Paluska. “We rented space, and seeing all those books was quite a sight. It took the band a couple of solid days of signing to get it done. I hope people appreciate the gesture, because it was heartfelt. The band put a lot into it, and I think it was somewhat therapeutic.”

On its final tour, Phish stayed true to its history, keeping ticket prices at the normal rate when it likely could have charged devoted fans three times as much.

“It would have been a little late to change our whole strategy,” observes Paluska. “These guys will continue to have careers as musicians, and hopefully Phish fans will follow them in their new careers. So there wasn’t any thinking of ‘this is our last chance to squeeze every penny out before it ends.'”

Source billboard.com.