’90s hip-hop icons A Tribe Called Quest and The Pharcyde are reforming for this year’s Rock the Bells festival. [Los Angeles Times]

In other ’90s-related news, recently reunited shoegaze legend My Bloody Valentine are going to curate the New York branch of the All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival this fall. [NME]

Indie singer-songwriter Conor Oberst is going to release his first solo album in 12 years. [Billboard]

Former Libertines bandmates Pete Doherty and Carl Barat to write a musical together. [Guardian]

American Idol contestant David Cook had a digital album for sale on Amazon? [Idolator]

R.I.P., singer-songwriter Paul Davis. [MSN.com]

Photo Credit: Ginny Suss

It took two long years, but Al Green’s Lay It Down is just about ready for the street: the new album drops on May 27 from Blue Note. It was produced by drummer Ahmir Thompson (a.k.a. ?uestlove) from Roots, and keyboard giant James Poyser, whose work with Erykah Badu and Common are well known. Some of the other players are heavyweights as well: the Dap King Horns are part of the mix as are the voices of Corrine Bailey Rae, Anthony Hamilton, and John Legend. Rounding out the band with Thompson and Poyser are guitarist Spanky Alford from the Mighty Clouds of Joy, and Joss Stone’s band, and Jill Scott and bassist Adam Blackstone (Jill Scott, DJ Jazzy Jeff), to name a few more. While it’s true that some superstar collaborations have been underwhelming, there is something kinetic about the vibe on this set.

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That last time most of us probably remember seeing Jewel, it was back in 2003 when she was getting hosed down in front of a fire truck in her video for “Intuition.” A catchy, irony-soaked ditty about commercialism that — ultimate irony — ended up helping sell a bunch of Schick Intuition razors, “Intuition” was a hit (although the album 0304 sold poorly) and helped re-invent the often dire, if still cute, singer/songwriter into a campy pop pin-up.

“Intuition” also threatened to alienate most of her fanbase who misunderstood Jewel’s intentions and brought on accusations that the singer had sold out. Not surprisingly, Jewel’s 2006 follow-up Goodbye Alice in Wonderland was a return to her introspective folk roots. The album wasn’t bad, but it also didn’t have any strong radio hits and largely went unnoticed.

In 2008, Jewel has reinvented herself yet again as a contemporary country artist, and though it’s unclear what her fanbase will make of the switch, based on the lead-off single “Stronger Woman,” she may have finally found her true self. Hooky with a message of self-empowerment to woman that is both personal and universal, the track makes the most of Jewel’s knack for twangy, intimate melodic pop. Plus, as evidenced by her gold open-toe high-heels and shiny, metal girdle-belt, she hasn’t sacrificed any of the stylish glamour she’s earned over the past five years.

Furthermore, given the move toward stylish divas like Faith Hill, Shania Twain and now Carrie Underwood in country music, Jewel’s mix of high glam and down-home twang is even more justified. And heck, the woman grew up using an outhouse and yodeling in Alaska. If that ain’t country I don’t know what is.

Check out the video for “Stronger Woman” here.

When Merge announced they were doing a Big Dipper retrospective, the three-disc set Supercluster: The Big Dipper Anthology, the initial reaction here was “really?” And then, “why?” They aren’t that influential or even that well remembered of a band, so it seemed like an odd choice. When Matador gave Chavez the royal treatment a few years ago with Better Days Will Haunt You, at least they were dealing with a band who could claim a high degree of influence and cred. Big Dipper just seemed like an arbitrary choice. Here’s the thing, though. Big Dipper were surprisingly good. The albums (and EP) gathered here (1987’s Boo Boo EP, that same year’s Heavens and 1988’s Craps) are strong collections of impressively melodic and powerful guitar pop. Listening to the disc the first time brought a lot of “hey, I remember that song” moments and a slow realization that Big Dipper were one of the better bands of the college-rock era. It’s also quite clear that Big Dipper’s sound is pretty timeless. Even though it’s doubtful bands like Clap Your Hands or Wolf Parade ever heard the Dipper, they all share jittery guitar work, charmingly odd lyrics and a goofball braininess that has been appealing to indie-rock types ever since the heyday of the Talking Heads.

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Despite what you might think from the title of this post, we are not poking fun at Randy “The Emperor” Jackson’s look 20 years ago, back when the American Idol judge played with Journey and was Narada Michael Walden’s right-hand man. The post is not a salute to his weight loss, either, as commendable as it is. This being the week Randy Jackson’s Music Club, Vol. 1 hits the shelves of record stores and other retailers, we instead acknowledge Jackson’s 30 years in the business with a semi-arbitrary timeline of his activities as a bass player, songwriter, producer, and A&R man. (The dawg of all dawgs has sometimes been credited with “inspiration,” too.) Jackson’s success is as much about range as it is longevity, from being a top-flight fusion and R&B session bassist — you thought it was Louis Johnson or Bernard Edwards on those Billy Cobham and Stacy Lattisaw records? — to accumulating enough clout to get — or maybe even convince — Anthony Hamilton and John Rich to do a Michael Bublé song.

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Synth-pop fans should brace yourselves, because what you’re about to read is going to make you fall backwards, knocking over all your Book of Love and Propaganda CDs. After 23 years apart, vocalist Alison Moyet and synth-wizard Vince Clarke are reuniting as Yaz — or Yazoo if you’re outside the States — and are touring not only in Europe, but also in America for six shows come this July. All of this is happening in celebration of their new 4-disc box set In Your Room, which will arrive in May of this year. The box will include remasters and 5.1 mixes of both Yaz albums along with a CD of rarities, plus a DVD featuring all their videos and a new documentary. Check out these five prime Yaz moments below, then go to their official website for tour dates.

Yaz - Situation
Yaz - Bad Connection
Yaz - Nobody’s Diary
Yaz - Only You

Yaz - Don’t Go:

Assuming there are some who still haven’t heard the good news, Hamilton, Ontario’s best-ever proto-punk band, Simply Saucer, have returned to the studio and are releasing their first new work in 30 years, Half Human, Half Live, later this month on Sonic Unyon.

It’s unclear what the new album will hold, but the band promises a mixture of old songs never recorded and some new songs. Whether the new material equals the original or not, Simply Saucer may finally get the publicity it never got while active originally. (A collection called Cyborgs Revisited appeared to some minor acclaim in the early ’90s.)

It’s better to listen to the music than try to describe the sound, but imagine the Stooges at their snarliest with electronics courtesy of Silver Apples or Suicide. (And anyone thinking that a certain sub-set of metro Cleveland was rocking to the same kind of sound at the time — thanks to Pere Ubu and Dead Boys — would be right on target.)

And as if that wasn’t enough, additional cred comes courtesy of the band’s studio team of the ’70s, a pair of garage-recorder brothers named Bob and Daniel Lanois (both of whom were just getting started on their production careers).

“Instant Pleasure”

“Mole Machine”

“Bullet Proof Nothing”

Glasgow’s The Royal We were another in the long line of brilliant Scottish pop groups (Hmm … top 5: Orange Juice, the Pastels, Belle & Sebastian, the Vaselines, Wet Wet Wet.). In their short existence, they didn’t do much really. Played some shows, made a couple videos, released a short album. Oh, wait … that should read one hilarious video (for All the Rage) and an amazingly good record. Their self-titled eight-song album doesn’t do anything innovative or groundbreaking, but it does feature some thrillingly energetic performances, instantly memorable songs and the perfect indie pop vocals of transplanted American Jihae Simmons. Check these two songs and see if they get your blood pumping:

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