Backstage Pass

Anathallo was one of my favorite discoveries of this year's South by Southwest Music Conference and its delicate "Floating World" album has filled that pretty, experimental space between Arcade Fire and Sigur Ros.

Backstage Pass pal Steve Knopper talks to the Mount Pleasant, Mich., band, describing "Floating World " as "the world's first rock and roll album based on a Japanese folk tale about a magical dog whose murder leads to an apocalypse of tornadoes, falling trees and cracked earth."

Anathallo rocks their weird world [Newsday]

Listen to "Floating World" here

Anathallo plays at 8:30 p.m. Friday at Mercury Lounge, 217 E. Houston St., Manhattan, 212-260-4700. Tickets are $10 in advance; $12 at the door at ticketweb.com.

Jay-Z's comeback album "Kingdom Come" (Roc-A-Fella) crushes all competitors, selling a massive 680,000 copies last week -- which was still a bit lower than anticipated, meaning country group Rascal Flatts will likely end the year with the one-week sales crown. Area sales for The Beatles' "Love" (Capitol) and U2's greatest hits were higher than the rest of the country, while sales of Daughtry's debut were a bit lower. And Tony Bennett's "Duets" album continues to be a strong seller in the area, rolling in at No. 5 thanks to interest from his NBC special.

Full Billboard report
Newsday's Top Albums and Singles (compiled by Billboard) on the jump

Incubus is one of those rare bands that gets better with age, learning and growing without losing its passion.

On its sixth album "Light Grenades" (Epic), the Calabasas, Calif., quintet continues its transformation from alt-rock lightweights to one of the genre's most dependable hit-makers, mixing numerous styles that hang together because of Brandon Boyd's distinctive vocals and Mike Einzinger's equally distinctive guitars.

Unlike its predecessor, the politically charged, far-more-direct "Crow Left of the Murder" (Epic), "Light Grenades" meanders a bit more.

There are a bunch of moody midtempo pop-rockers, including the soon-to-be-hit "Diamonds and Coal," with its esteem-building chorus, "Even diamonds start as coal," and the dramatic "Love Hurts." There are hard-hitting rockers, including the bash-'em-up "A Kiss to Send Us Off," with its Nirvana grunge riffs and chant-able chorus, and the dizzying "Rogues."

And there is the first single, "Anna-Molly," which opens like The Smiths' "Bigmouth Strikes Again" and gets more ferocious from there. It's a play on words (Boyd pronounces the title "anomaly") and the lyrics show his growth as a songwriter did not end with "Megalomaniac" and "Pistola."

While most bands would either be working toward re-creating their massive hits "Pardon Me" and "Drive" or running away from them, Incubus is content to just let that sound evolve, keeping it in its arsenal but building other weapons as well.

"Light Grenades" comes across as a necessary stepping stone, a temporary stop on the way to something bigger. But it also works just fine on its own.

LIGHT GRENADES. Incubus lobs some strikes to bust down rock's barriers. Grade: B.

PHOTO: Epic Records

Maybe everyone should use the Ying Yang Twins' strategy of explaining what their plans are before the album even starts. On "Intro," the pride of the Dirty South explains how on the first half of "Chemically Imbalanced" (TVT) they plan to appeal to their old fans and on the second half they plan to try something new with the help of Wyclef Jean.

Then - this is probably the more important part - they do exactly what they said. The first half picks up where "Salt Shaker" left off, with more party music including "1st Booty on Duty" and "Jack It Up" and a slow jam, "Take It Slow." The second half is a little edgier, as the first single "Dangerous," with Wyclef Jean, shows. The spare bass line (not to mention the bit from Hall and Oates' "Maneater") leans more toward Gnarls Barkley than Lil' Jon.

The Ying Yang Twins strategy is refreshingly straightforward, giving the fans what they want while giving themselves room to grow. ("Chemically Imbalanced"; grade: B-)

Has the success of My Chemical Romance's "The Black Parade" (which even gets name-checked on Jay-Z's new album) driven Fall Out Boy crazy? "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race," the first single from Fall Out Boy's forthcoming album, is a grandiose clunker, puffed up like a John Mayer song at the beginning and then sped up and thrashy for no reason in the middle. Known for being clever while still writing memorable melodies, the band replaces the catchiness of its previous hits with simple repetition of the title. That won't fool anyone. If this is the best their "Infinity on High" (Island/Fueled by Ramen) album has to offer, sugar, they're going down.

Listen to "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" here.

Let's say you like Jay-Z and you're on MySpace.

You're excited about H.O.V.A.'s return and you add his single to your page so that "Show Me What You Got" plays whenever someone visits your profile. You add the video to your page so that you and your friends can watch it easily.

Do these actions make you a fan or a thief?

It depends on who you ask.

The Game took No. 1, as his “Doctor’s Advocate” (Geffen) sold 358,000 copies last week, beating out Akon’s “Konvicted” (SRC/Konvict), even with two singles in the Top 10. Fat Joe held down New York better than the rest of the country, as his “Me, Myself & I” (EMI) album came in at a strong No. 4, beating his national tally by 10 spots.

Full Billboard report
Newsday's Top Albums and Singles (compiled by Billboard) on the jump

It's official: Ryan Star is now a rock star.

"It's really been unbelievable," said Star, calling from a tour stop in Malaysia and laughing about being on "the most expensive call we'll ever have." "I'm being followed by paparazzi. ... When I arrived, I turn on the radio station and the guy's saying 'Ryan Star has landed in Malaysia.'"

Star's success on the CBS reality show "Rock Star: Supernova" this summer has already launched a series of firsts for the Dix Hills native - a chart-topper on MSN Music for his single "Back of My Car," a quickie live album recorded only days after being eliminated from the show and his whirlwind trip to Malaysia (flying first class, natch), where he will play to thousands of fans.

"The show was really a phenomenon here," said Star, whose intense, dramatic brand of lyric-driven rock created many fans through the TV show. "But what's really incredible is they're not talking about the show. They're talking about rstar.net and my myspace page. They're playing 'Back of My Car' on the radio."

Even without the explanatory title of its new CD, it's clear there's a battle brewing within Brand New.

The Merrick-based band's "The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me" (Tiny Evil/Interscope) strips away the clever song titles and the hyper, guitar-driven punk-pop style of its preceding albums and goes for a beefier, more straightforward kind of rock. "Devil and God" is likable and interesting, but there are times where the quartet barely sounds like the guys behind the underground anthem "Jude Law and a Semester Abroad" or the breakthrough hit "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows."

They sound a bit like The Cure in the opening of "You Won't Know" before raising the rage level to thrillingly monstrous proportions in the chorus. They drop elements of System of a Down into "Not the Sun." They take the Coheed and Cambria route on "Archers," which bounces between Jesse Lacey's engrossing vocals and a swirling, intensifying musical growl.

The first single "Sowing Season (Yeah)" is a mix of Death Cab for Cutie-ness on the verses and shrieking catharsis on the chorus, successfully taking the loud-soft-loud formula to a new level. Where Brand New still seems unsure, though, is on how to balance Lacey's intricate, detailed lyrics with the more middle-of-the-road rock of "Millstone" or the seven-minute-plus "Limousine."

Until Brand New chooses to mainstream its lyrical and melodic quirks or develop them, it sounds like the internal battle will rage on. ("The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me," in stores today; Grade: B)

Listen to "The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me" here

They pulled him back in.

After Snoop Dogg got out of the gangsta rap cliche business with 2004's "R&G: Rhythm & Gangsta" (Geffen), it looked like he was taking his career in a different direction, with the unusual, inventive hits "Drop It Like It's Hot" and "Signs."

But Snoop's latest, "The Blue Carpet Treatment" (Doggystyle/Geffen) is a hazy mess - part pro-gang propaganda, part heal-the-world sentiments, part pop star, part anti-hero. It's hard to explain why the pro-prayer "Conversations," featuring a religious, soul-funk appearance by Stevie Wonder, is put on the same album as "10 Lil' Crips," which promotes the gang, or "Don't Stop," which glamorizes lawlessness.

The musical choices are just as strange, especially picking the incredibly lame "That's That," which features a nonsensical R. Kelly, as a single, when the super-catchy "Pssst," featuring Jamie Foxx, is sitting around. Snoop squanders a hot beat from Timbaland on the throwaway "Get a Light," and "Beat Up on Yo Pads," an ode to youth football, sounds like a "Saturday Night Live" parody. Yet he sounds great on his pair of songs with Akon - the hit "I Wanna Love You" and "Boss' Life."

Forget the blue carpet. The "Treatment" Snoop really needs is one that gets his head straight.

("The Blue Carpet Treatment," in stores today; grade: C)

Listen to "Blue Carpet Treatment" here

It's getting to be holiday time, so, of course, there's another posthumous 2Pac album ready for release. To drum up interest in "Pac's Life," which arrives in stores today, Amaru/Interscope is releasing two singles simultaneously. There's the pop-leaning title track, which features Glen Cove's Ashanti sweetly singing the lighter-than-air hook, while T.I. fills in the holes between 2Pac's rhymes. The darker, Swizz Beatz-produced "Untouchable," featuring Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, is hard-hitting and one of the best posthumous 2Pac singles yet.

Listen to "Pac's Life" and "Untouchable" here

There are two new songs on U2's latest greatest-hits compilation, "18 Singles" (Interscope), which hits stores today. The first is the fiery cover, with help from Green Day, of the punk single "The Saints Are Coming," which has already, more or less, made its mark. The second new song is "Window in the Skies," a pretty, midtempo rocker that slips some Beatle-esque phrasing into the standard U2 soundscape. It's nice, but it doesn't really turn this OK collection into a must-have - the bonus DVD in the deluxe edition, however, is a different story.

Listen to "Window in the Skies" here

Jay-Z got it right the first time.

When he "retired" in 2003, he strutted off the stage in near-perfection, with the stunning, powerful legacy-builder "The Black Album" (Roc-a-Fella) and his equally on-point farewell concert at Madison Square Garden memorialized in the movie "Fade to Black."

How could you top all that? Why would you even want to try?

In his years of "retirement," Jay became President Carter, head of Def Jam Records. He made some high-profile appearances on singles from Beyoncé, Rick Ross and Young Jeezy, as well as that hot "Dear Summer" freestyle he did on Hot 97 last year. But it was this summer's spectacular concert marking the 10th anniversary of the release of the "Reasonable Doubt" album that suggested Jay may be able to pull off the near-impossible, that he could somehow top his pre-retirement self with his comeback album "Kingdom Come" (Roc-a-Fella).

Well, he doesn't. But he comes close. [More...]

Listen to "Kingdom Come" here.

Johnny Cash, "God's Gonna Cut You Down"

It's an odd collection: Bono, Iggy Pop, Jay-Z, Kris Kristofferson, Justin Timberlake, Dixie Chicks, Keith Richards, Lisa Marie Presley, Kanye West, Red Hot Chili Peppers and two dozen other stars. They all gathered to pay tribute to Johnny Cash in a new video for The Man in Black's "God's Gonna Cut You Down," from his No. 1 album "American V: A Hundred Highways" (American/Lost Highway).

The clip, directed by Tony Kaye, is dramatically shot in black and white, with each of the stars dressed in black and offering a salute to Cash, who died in 2003 of respiratory failure. And it is one of only a handful of videos ever to debut on MTV, VH1 and CMT on the same day.

The idea for the video came from Kaye; Rick Rubin, who produced Cash's recent work; Timberlake, who worked with Rubin on his recent album, and Mark Romanek, who directed Cash's award-winning "Hurt" video. Like "Hurt," the buzz generated by the "God's Gonna Cut You Down" video has introduced Cash to new audiences through its striking visuals and emotional appearances from numerous stars. However, unlike the almost universally hailed "Hurt," the new clip has generated a bit of backlash against those who appear in the video but had no previous connection to Cash or his music.

In either case, "God's Gonna Cut You Down" should give Cash's album some much-deserved attention, which will likely grow when the video goes on sale through iTunes on Tuesday.

Jay-Z played seven concerts in seven cities on Saturday -- Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas -- to promote his comeback album "Kingdom Come" in stores Tuesday.

The Associated Press went along.
So did MTV and they have video.

'Love" is a gamble.

The mere idea of it - Remixes? Mash-ups? Cirque du Soleil? Vegas? - raises so many red flags for Beatles' purists, it's a wonder that bulls didn't come charging into the Mirage's ballroom, "Love" headquarters since June.

"We thought there were going to be a lot of people pissed off at this," says Giles Martin, who produced the music for "Love" with his father, George, The Beatles' producer and longtime collaborator. "I wanted to add a note that said, 'No Beatles were harmed in the making of this album.'"

With all the acrobatics and dizzying dance numbers in "Love," Beatles fans may go along with Cirque du Soleil as it puts hip-hop headspins into "I Want to Hold Your Hand" or popping-and-locking in the "Help!" roller-skating extravaganza. They may even accept the way "Blackbird," an anthem inspired by the civil rights movement, has become a bit of comic relief about, well, blackbirds, you know, learning to fly. But tampering with memories is a tricky business, and both Martins took the process of creating "Love" seriously.

"You still have everything you love," Martin says. "This hasn't been some crass marketing experiment. ... It sounds really corny, but the album is born out of love."

PHOTO: © 2006 Cirque Apple Creation Partnership

Full story here

Damien Rice says he has some apprehension about his upcoming tour.

“I realized I write a lot of depressing songs… it’s hard to sing a depressing song if you’re not depressed,” he told the capacity crowd at Hiro Ballroom. “I don’t want to be depressed for the next year. I’ll have to record a happy album and get it out in January.”

Considering how well Rice rolled out songs from his new album “9” (Heffa/Warner Bros.) on this acoustic sneak preview of his upcoming tour, though, he must be a little depressed these days. His delivery was gorgeously poignant as usual, enhanced by Lisa Hannigan’s hauntingly beautiful harmonies, and the spare acoustic backing on songs like “9 Crimes” and “Delicate.” On “Me, My Yoke and I,” Rice’s vocals grew increasingly unhinged, as they do on the album version, showing how he taps into the emotions that led to writing the song initially.

As strong as his performance was, cellist Vyvienne Long nearly stole the show, as she did her hilarious impersonation of Rice telling the story of how “Cheers Darlin’” was written, complete with his idiosyncratic pauses and timing, all while downing glasses of wine as is the band’s custom.

SETLIST: Grey Room / Cannonball / Me, My Yoke and I / Woman like a Man / Sand / Untitled / Delicate / 9 Crimes / Dogs / Rootless Tree / The Animals Were Gone / Cheers Darlin’ // ENCORES: Random Man on the Motorway (by Vyv & Lisa) / Untitled (by Lisa) / Elephant / Volcano / The Blower’s Daughter

Rice returns to New York on Dec. 12 and 13 at the Beacon Theater.

Josh Groban tops the Newsday charts with his new album “Awake” (143/Reprise), beating out Jim Jones’ “Hustler’s P.O.M.E.” (Diplomats) and the “Now 23” compilation, which was the top-seller across the country with sales of 337,000.

Full Billboard report
Newsday's Top Albums and Singles (compiled by Billboard) on the jump

Video: "Well Thought Out Twinkles"

Silversun Pickups singer-guitarist Brian Aubert likes surprises.

So when the Los Angeles indie-rockers set out to record its first full album "Carnavas" (Dangerbird), they wanted to startle their fans a bit.

"When we did the EP [2005's "Pikul" (Dangerbird)], we knew we wanted it to be warm and a little loose - a lot of it was acoustic, there was a lot of cello," Aubert said. "The EP grew legs and it was adopted by many people as our first record. Then people would see us live and they would be stunned - happily surprised, I hope, but still surprised. We're loud."

After weeks of trying to keep it off the Internet, Roc-a-Fella put Jay-Z's "Kingdome Come" online in its entirety through Clear Channel radio station this morning. Yeah, it's got that annoying audio watermark all the way through it, but at least you can get a sense of the songs before slogging through Limewire or venturing to Chinatown to pick up your, um, early copy. And yes, the weird collabo with Coldplay's Chris Martin made it onto the album.

Listen here.

Bob Dylan took his protest songs like "Maggie's Farm" and "All Along the Watchtower" and turned them into pretty, stylish affairs, while showing off the more polite songs from his new album "Modern Times." The Raconteurs opening set was great in parts and bloated in others, but singer/guitarist Jack White did make a startling revelation: "I was circumsized at Great Neck."

SETLIST: Maggie's Farm / She Belongs To Me / Honest With Me / Spirit On The Water / It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) / When The Deal Goes Down / High Water (For Charley Patton) / Visions Of Johanna / Rollin' And Tumblin' / Ballad Of A Thin Man / Tangled Up In Blue / Nettie Moore / Highway 61 Revisited / ENCORES: Thunder On The Mountain / Like A Rolling Stone / All Along The Watchtower

Full review

For fans of Damien Rice's stunning debut "O" (Vector), the follow-up album brings good news and bad news.

The good news: Rice seems far more emotionally stable than he did on "O," where he alternately sounded fragile, manic and depressed, like he could crack at any moment. The bad news: That edginess helped make "O" an unexpected delight.

There is nothing on "9" (Heffa/Vector/Warner Bros.) that matches the gorgeous desperation of "The Blower's Daughter" or the wounded venom of "Cheers Darlin'" or the triumphant ache of "Cannonball."

Instead, "9" is filled with more traditional-sounding songs -- the alterna-folk midpoint between Jeff Buckley and James Blunt -- that Rice gives his own unique lyrical spin. On "Accidental Babies," he uses a piano ballad to ask a sequence of jealous lover questions ("Is he dark enough, enough to see your light? Do you brush your teeth before you kiss?" before ending with "What about me?"). The first single, "9 Crimes," comes closest to the "O" songs, a haunting tale of mystery that unfolds with the help of Lisa Hannigan's lovely vocals ("Is that all right? Give my gun away when it's loaded," Hannigan and Rice sing, their voices intertwined), as the strings swell and retreat.

Much of "9" is built on pushing forward and pulling back. "Rootless Tree" starts as a folk charmer before flying off into an expletive-fueled rage and then mellowing out again. "Me, My Yoke & I" builds toward a grunge-rock explosion, with Rice's vocals climbing keys and jumping in intensity before guitars roar and he starts to scream over them.

It's these dynamics that keep Rice interesting, even as his music becomes less emotionally shocking and more conventionally poignant. The flurry of hit-and-miss EPs that came between "O" and "9" served as a good way to experiment, giving Rice a guide to what worked and what didn't. There are plenty of good songs on "9," but given the lightning storms of brilliance Rice previously unleashed, a few flashes just make you want more. ("9," in stores today; Grade: B+)

Listen to "9" here
PHOTO: Damien Rice by Robbie Fry/Warner Bros.

Fat Joe worked hard to put his softer side behind him on his new album "Me, Myself & I" (Terror Squad Entertainment/EMI) -- no hook girls, no future "Lean Back" dance crazes, just street life and the soon-to-be Scott Storch club hit "Make It Rain" with Lil Wayne. Since leaving Atlantic Records, Joe sounds all business. ("I barely smoke blunts now," he raps in "Jealousy." "We into real estate, we -- -- with Donald Trump now.") Then comes "Bendición Mami" -- a moving tribute to his mother and sister, built on a sample of one of Michael Jackson's sappiest songs, "Maria" -- to remind us that thugs need love, too.
("Me, Myself & I," in stores today; grade: B-)

Listen to "Me, Myself & I" here

Only Gwen Stefani would hear a hip-hop beat in Julie Andrews' yodeling on "The Lonely Goatherd" from "The Sound of Music." And only Stefani would be able to pull off mixing that sample with a more standard hip-hop thump. On "Wind It Up" (Interscope), she re-enters the dance-pop diva sweepstakes on top again, with a catchy song that immediately sounds unique, showing Fergie, Nelly and the rest how to make being your own quirky self look easy.

Listen to "Wind It Up" here

Bloc Party will not open for Panic! At the Disco tonight or tomorrow at the Theater at Madison Square Garden after drummer Matt Tong suffered a collapsed lung last week and was admitted to an Atlanta hospital. The band's representatives say it's not yet clear when Tong will be fit to perform. The openers for the Garden shows will be Saves the Day and Jack's Mannequin.

UPDATE: Though the Panic! shows have been marked "sold out" for weeks, extra tickets have just been made available this morning.

With the flurry of high-profile hip-hop albums arriving in the next few weeks - from Eminem, The Game, Snoop Dogg, 2Pac, Fat Joe, Young Jeezy, The Clipse and Nas - the questions about how well Jay-Z's return-from-retirement album, "Kingdom Come" (Roc-a-Fella), will do have been flying for months.

Show us what you got, young H.O.V.A.

Well, if the marketing campaign is any indication, Jay has them all beat. His record is so hot, he has other people paying for its advertising.

The ad for Budweiser Select - which, by the way, recently named him co-brand director - is essentially a video for "Show Me What You Got" with a few beers thrown in. And the tagline isn't about the beer, it's the release date for "Kingdom Come," which is Nov. 21, in case, you've been skipping commercials again.

In TNT's new campaign for the NBA, Jay talks about competition. The final image, however, isn't related to games on the cable channel, but to "Kingdom Come" and its release date.

Other musicians have done this kind of trade-off before. Heck, Radio Shack is still running commercials that let people know The Rolling Stones are on tour.

But Jay-Z has taken this sort of marketing campaign to a new level, seemingly without even breaking a sweat. Hands up and wave. And wave. And wave.

R.I.P. Gerald Levert, 1966-2006

R&B crooner Gerald Levert Dies at 40 [Newsday]
"Soulful R&B superstar" [Plain Dealer]

"Casanova' on the jump

Barry Manilow's collection "The Greatest Songs of the '60s" (Arista) tops the Newsday charts, while the "Hanna Montana" soundtrack continues to dominate the national charts, selling 203,000 copies. Other veteran acts -- The Who, Meat Loaf and the surprisingly steady Tony Bennett -- did far better in the area last week than in the rest of the country.

Full Billboard report
Newsday's Top Albums and Singles (compiled by Billboard) on the jump

The Recording Academy set the date for the Grammy nominations as Dec. 7 in a press release today. But the real fun comes with the announcement of who the presenters will be -- Mary J. Blige, James Blunt, Chris Brown, Josh Groban, Evanescence's Amy Lee, Ludacris, Corinne Bailey Rae, Rascal Flatts, Justin Timberlake and KT Tunstall -- since those folks will likely be the big nominees of the day.

Look for Brown, Blunt, Rae and Tunstall to all score nominations for Best New Artist. Blige will do well in the R&B categories with her album "The Breakthrough." Rascal Flatts seem set as big nominees in country for their hit album "What Hurts the Most," while Ludacris' impressive "Release Therapy" should hold down the big hip-hop categories. Lee will get some rock nominations. Timberlake will dominate the pop categories for bringing sexy back.

The big surprises? Watch for Rae to become this year's Norah Jones and rack up pop nominations and a place in one or more of the big categories -- song/record of the year for "Put Your Records On"? -- to make her one of the year's leaders. Blunt is another good possibility with possible song and record of the year honors for "You're Beautiful." My money, though, is on big showings for Bob Dylan's "Modern Times" and Tony Bennett's "Duets" albums. And don't count out Johnny Cash and Dixie Chicks in what will be quite the competitive album of the year catefory.

PHOTO: Oh sure, he's beautiful and all... but will James Blunt be the year's Grammy leader?

So here's a really good scenario for a band: It's playing songs at its CD release party that are so new, they aren't even on the CD.

Even better: The songs are just as catchy, if not more so, than the ones on its already-impressive CD.

This was the case at Bandcamp's CD release party Sunday night at the sold-out Boulton Center in Bay Shore.

The Seaford-based quartet played most of its forthcoming CD "Wanna Dance" (E.V.L.A.), including the once-and-future hits "Someone" and "Celebrity" ("You better know the words to this one," singer/guitarist Matthew Bair told the crowd, once they hit the sing-along part) as well as the strong songs "One Day" and "Brightest Dark."

Just as impressive, though, were new songs "Natalie Crush" and "Never Seen a Movie at All," which showed the band is continuing to move forward.

On a related note, Harlan Friedman, WLIR's music director, said he will be adding Bandcamp's new single "Fonzie Movement," a retro-rocker filtered through a Weezer-like sensibility, to the station's playlist on Tuesday.

SETLIST: Get to You / Thinking about You / Situation Lose Lose / Crash and Burn / One Day / Brightest Dark / Valentine / Someone / Natalie Crush / Face of the Planet / Never Watched a Movie at All / Fonzie Movement / Celebrity

Bandcamp plays Best Buy, 1050 Old Country Road, Westbury, at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

The five-day CMJ Music Marathon ended -- finally! -- in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Check out the night-by-night reports in the blog below, or read a wrap-up of the entire ear-splitting, head-banging, sleep-depriving experience here.

From Long Island to Scotland, from piano ballads to heavy metal, Saturday marked the last and most diverse night of the marathon.

Matthew Bair isn't in any hurry.

Sure, the 19-year-old from Seaford has already been writing songs for half of his life and playing guitar for as far back as he can remember. His song "Celebrity," which recently became a staple at Shea Stadium during the Mets playoff run, won the international "Song of the Year" contest in 2004. And his group Bandcamp signed a deal with Atlantic Records and recorded its debut album before he graduated from Seaford High School last year.

But after that initial rush, Bair and Bandcamp did what so many bands do when dealing with the music industry - they waited. They waited for company politics to shake out. They waited for industry reshuffling to settle down. They waited until they felt they couldn't wait any more. On Tuesday, the waiting will finally end, when the band's debut album, "Wanna Dance?" (E.V.L.A.), finally arrives in stores - more than a year after it was completed.

"We're all just really excited to get these songs out there," says Bair, calling from a tour stop in Detroit. "It's been great to see people's reactions. We've lived with these songs for a while, but to most people, they're brand new. That excitement gives them a new life, a new energy that comes back to us."

For Bair, "Wanna Dance?," which was produced by Dave McNair and Good Charlotte's Benji Madden, marks another important transition - from solo singer-songwriter to part of a band, with his brother, drummer Kris Mazzarisi, guitarist Sean Gould and bassist Steve Shebby. "I still write songs, but everybody puts their two cents in; we all work on the arrangements," Bair says. "It grows from a 'Matt song' to a 'Bandcamp song.'" [More...]

PHOTO: Bandcamp is (l. to r.) Sean Gould, Matthew Bair, Kris Mazzarisi, Steve Shebby.

Listen to "Get to You" here

Watch "Celebrity" video on the jump

In order for hip-hop culture to continue to flourish, it needs to revert to its independent roots and bust out of the stereotypes that corporate culture pushes it into, speakers at the CMJ Music Marathon's "Hip-Hop Under Fire" panel said Saturday.

"The industry is messed up right now," said rapper Rampage. "They're going into a depression."

Rapper Chuck D likens the current state of hip-hop to a lavish Thanksgiving dinner. There would be plenty of food for everyone if they all acted orderly, but with so many people just looking out for themselves, so much gets wasted.

"We've got to break out of that," the Public Enemy rapper said. "It's this scavenger effect of guys just going for broke. There's chaos at the table."

Part of that chaos is an ongoing mistreatment of women, a movement of rappers pretending to be dumber than they are, and a rise in rap beefs, a war of increasingly violent words.

Angela Yee, who manages GZA and is a DJ on Sirius Satellite Radio, said beefs are becoming more popular, even among artists who don't really have anything to fight about. "Obviously, a lot of it is for show," she said. "Some have agreements behind the scenes. They know it helps sell records."

However, Derrick Parker, the former NYPD officer who spearheaded the department's effort to gather information about hip-hop artists, said that police officials continue to take beefs seriously. Parker, who recently worked with police on the Oct. 17 shooting of Fabolous, said the department continues to gather information because "there are still some criminal acts associated to hip-hop and they ne