Tracey Thorn's artistic rebirth is eminent. Following her filial hiatus, she's finally releasing an album of her own called Out Of The Woods (released in the US March 20th through Astralwerks and the UK in February via Virgin ). And instead of repeating Everything But the Girl records with her husband Ben Watt , she's branching out and working with other artists including Metro Area, The Rapture and electro-house power-producer Ewan...

Lily Allen's recently voiced an array of smileys (talking smiley icons) that can be cleverly inserted into emails and IMs. Available exclusively at Smiley Central , the application's already being heavily downloaded and if you’re friends are in-the-know, you might have already received one. Allen's Smile digital EP through iTunes accompanies the phenomenon and can be found here:

The South by Southwest Music and Media Conference (SXSW) , which takes place March 9-18 this year in Austin, Texas, announced a series of distinguished speakers to present on crucial issues concerning the music industry. The event will commence with an interview and performance by keynote speaker, The Who’s Pete Townshend . Other confirmed interviews include vocalist Emmylou Harris , Tropicalia revolutionary Gilberto Gil , CEO/Co-founder of Nettwerk Terry...

Last week, Gilles Peterson counted down the Top 30 tracks of 2006 as voted by Worldwide listeners around the globe. As can be surmised from a glance at the tracklist, it was an overwhelming show chocked full of the best tunes aired in 2006. There was a general sigh of relief amongst the show's core followers that Nicole Willis , a not-quite mainstream artist filled the number one spot this year. Surprisingly, the body of the list struck a palatable balance...

Since 2006 ended, you might be wondering what to celebrate in 2007. Well, perhaps a full free album from Talib Kweli and Madlib entitled Liberation will suffice. A Blacksmith & Madlib Invazion production, the project bridges the final gap between CD and digital download, providing full artwork and additional media links. Progressive to say the least, the indie hip hop scene just got larger. Click

This coming Thursday, January 11th 2007, Chico Hamilton will continue to celebrate his 85th year down at Makor for a special International Association For Jazz Education (IAJE) event. More info here .

The one and only Mr. Dynamite a.k.a The Hardest Working Man In the Show Business a.k.a. James Brown died early today (Monday, December 25) at Atlanta's Emory Crawford Long Hospital of congestive heart failure at age 73. "It appears what happened is that he did die of a heart attack as a result of his pneumonia," the singer's agent Frank Copsidas told CNN Radio. JB laid the foundation for funk with truly classic songs such as "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and...

UK pop darling Lily Allen has recorded a very special holidays message for her fans that you can now view here . It's short, but as always Allen is in a jolly mood! In other news, Lily Allen is gearing up to release her debut album 'Alright, Still' in the US next month. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve seen one of her playful videos on YouTube, Yahoo or on her MySpace page, which has catapulted her...

Tru3 Magic (not a typo), Mos Def's third solo album comes out just in time for post-holiday music exchanges on December 29. Geffen’s peculiar release date will hopefully be overcome by Mos Def’s lyrical gymnastics and production by Pharrell , Minnesota , and Preservation . You can stream the first single, " Napoleon Dynamite ,"

Co-founder of Atlantic Records , Ahmet Ertegun died yesterday (12/14) at the Weill Cornell Medical Centre , New York City. 83 years old, the music executive fell into a coma on October 29th at a Rolling Stones Concert and never recovered. Son of a US Ambassador to Turkey, Ertegun took the entrepreneurial leap in 1947 at age 24 with a meager $10,000 borrowed from his dentist, eventually creating a legacy in music history. Atlantic pioneered a variety of groundbreaking...