Dr. Dre is laying down the tracks for old school hero Rakim's new album.

New and upcoming releases on John Zorn's Tzadik label for this and next month are Pierre-Yves Mace - Faux-Jumeaux, John Zorn: Filmworks XI - Under the Wing, David Shea - Classical Works II, Derek Bailey - Pieces for Guitar and John Zorn: Filmworks XII - Three Documentaries.

Estradasphere will be playing the Coach House in Santa Barbara this Monday, July 22. Guest drummer will be Theo... The band is still looking for a new drummer, check www.estradasphere.com for more info.

CoF

On September 24th, Cradle Of Filth release their first ever live album Live Bait For The Dead. The 2-disc collection will have a strictly limited edition pressing. Disc One is the live album while disc two features two more live tracks recorded at a soundcheck and several re-mixes. "The last one at the recordshop is untr00..."

At Nugs you can listen to live recordings of Colonel Claypool's Bucket Of Bernie Brains, recorded at the Bonnaroo 2002 festival. This project consisted of Les Claypool, P-Funk veteran Bernie Worrell, Buckethead and Brain. The Flying Frog Brigade show is available as well.

Now this is what I call removing news out of it's context Mike Patton Asked To Join INXS. The comments below the article are even funnier. To know what really happened, read the real article at East Bay Express.

Download a video preview and a mp3 taster from the new Dark Tranquillity album Damage Done on their official site. Of course, we already reviewed it a long time ago :) .

Uworld

Underworld will put out their new album A Hundred Days Off in late September. The new CD runs a wide gamut of styles, and currently runs about 60 minutes. More info at www.dirty.org/underworld/

There is a mp3 available from The Calypso, a song from the upcoming Cave In EP Tides of Tomorrow. The EP features 5 brand new songs & A Giants Chair cover and is due out in october on Hydrahead Records.

Bfoot

Ron Thal (Bumblefoot) will be visiting the Netherlands in September for one show (September 1st at De Baroeg, Rotterdam) and five clinics. Ron's live band will consist of members from Dutch prog-metal act Sun Caged. Ron and the guys are also talking about several possible clinics in other European countries. For show and clinic dates, check the site.

Jazzanova is touring Europe and the USA this summer. Check their site for tourdates.

In september Jester Records will arrange a festival at the Rockefeller Music Hall in Oslo, Norway with a grand showcase including some of their bands. The place to be for those interested in witnessing the labels manifold. Not confirmed, but peforming artists could be Bogus Blimp, When, Kare Joao, Rotoscope, Single Unit and Upland. More info will be available soon.

Good news for 3rd and the mortal fans. According to the Autumnblaze website: A European tour, together with the 3rd and the mortal is planned for September/October 2002.

Borknagar finally opened their new website. Check it out, it's pretty cool.

I know it's weird, but he has a point. Michael Jackson, charged Saturday that the recording industry is a racist conspiracy that turns profits at the expense of performers. Outside Sony's Manhattan headquarters, about 150 fans of Michael gathered, holding signs reading "Please Sony, stop killing the music". Jackson arrived at the building on a double-decker city tour bus that twice circled the block. He held up a poster with three boxes marked "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", with an image of himself in the "The Good" box and Tommy Mottola's (Sony Music president) face with devilish horns in "The Bad" and "The Ugly". The whole story...

After playing the festivals in august The Gathering will hit the road in the Benelux with 13 dates, 11 dates are official and on their site.This is the first time the band plays in Russia. If all goes well then they will start the European tour in february 2003, after the release of the coming full length.

Besides his hospitalized wife, being treated for cancer, more trouble for Ozzy Osbourne: former bassplayer Bob Daisley is letting some skeletons out of the closet about the credits of Ozzy's classic albums.

Buckethead and Extrakd teamed up to record Bermuda Triangle, which can be released any day now.

Alamaailman Vasarat is working on a new album, to be released by the end of this year.

Vintersorg's folkmetal band Otyg has been discontinued.

Out now on Fluttering Dragon is the CD "The third power of Alfta" by Al-Wahaar Dhin, which is said to be somehow a trance side project of MZ412.

The new Immanence webzine has opened its site. You can find it at www.immanence.co.uk

Pain will go on tour with In Flames this autumn. The tourdates can be found on the official site. The third Pain single, the new production of "Eleanor Rigby" (the Beatles cover) recently hit the Swedish stores. If you're from outside sweden, go to www.skivhugget.se to order your copy.

Múm are rehearsing in New York for the US/Canada tour, most of the live drumming will be done by Adam Pierce from Mice Parade. During their US stay the band will also record a live session for BBC's Radio 1 show Blue Room. Múm have also recorded a cover version of a Slowdive song called "Machine Gun". The song will be included on the double CD compilation "Blue Skied An' Clear", set to be released by Morr Music this autumn.