Photo: Strauss/WireImage

Iggy Pop is the coolest motherfucker ever. Yesterday, he released a killer album called Preliminaires, and we rang him up at his pad down in the Cayman Islands.  

"Did you ever spend time in the real life smoking section in the airplane?" was the first thing he said to us. "It was cool, right? Whenever I see your little logo, I always remember how the ashtrays used to look."

We're flattered!

After melting faces on 2007's Stooges reunion album and tour, Iggy is heading in a completely different direction with Preliminaires, a collection of moody ballads. The disc is inspired by French writer Michel Houellebecq's The Possibility of Island. "I would describe it as a 'fucking good read,'" Iggy told us of the post-apocalyptic story of a man and his dog. "It was thought-provoking, it had soul, and it spoke to me."

In 2007, Pop was commissioned to write a few mellower songs for a documentary about Houellebecq. Working in solitude -- "I have a basic hatred of producers, products and being produced," he says -- Pop ended up with enough material for an entire record.

Iggy's a national hero in France, and he croons en francais on the standard "Les Feuilles Mortes" ("Autumn Leaves"). Says Iggy, "Finally, I can say, 'Thank God for that junior-high French class.'"

In other Pop news, Iggy has said the Stooges are talking about playing shows to celebrate the 1973 masterpiece, Raw Power. Founding guitarist Ron Asheton died in January, so the idea is contingent on the return of ex-strummer James Williamson. "We've been talking," Iggy says. "It would have to involve James."

Check out "King of the Dogs," off Preliminaires, below, and click the jump for our full interview with Pop.

Iggy Pop - "King of the Dogs"

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Photo: Loud/FilmMagic

So we're a little late to the party -- the record came out in April -- but we've seriously been digging Yonder is the Clock, the newest effort from mountain boys the Felice Brothers.

The Felice Brothers are made up of brothers Ian (vocals and guitar), James (accordion, piano, vocals) and Simone Felice (percussion, vocals) and family friends Christmas (bass) and Farley (fiddle). They've been playing music together for years, starting at backyard BBQs in upstate New York before moving to Brooklyn to try their hand at busking in the streets and subway stations.

The Bros have been a staple at folk and jam festivals over the past few years and are about to embark on an extensive tour across the country. "We're looking forward to heading out west, it's always fun," James Felice tells us. "Touring with my brothers and close friends, it's pretty laid back. Every now and then there's a moment of violence, but it's very few and far between. And now we have XM radio so we can listen to Yankee games while we're on the road."

Onstage, the Felice Brothers ar super-high energy. There's a story about the brothers playing at the 2008 Newport Folk Festival during a wicked thunderstorm. The power was cut, so the guys jumped off stage and played an impromptu acoustic gig in the mud with their fans. "That energy came about when we started playing in the streets and in the subways," James says. "We just had to be as loud and obnoxious as possible to get people's attention. To play in a dour sort of way, especially our music, would be ridiculous."

Check out two tracks below, "Penn Station," which James tells us he wrote about architect Louis Kahn, and "Run Chicken Run," which is "just a wacky, fucked up tune."

The Felice Brothers - "Penn Station"

The Felice Brothers - "Run Chicken Run"

Photo: Mazur/WireImage

Green Day's eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown, has topped charts across the globe.

A few days ago we chatted with drummer Tre Cool about their crazy week in New York City, which included SNL with Will Ferrell, club gigs at Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge, and their massive summer tour featuring opening acts Franz Ferdinand, the Rapture and Kaiser Chiefs. Check out the tour dates here. And there's even more Green Day Q&As here: Tre Cool, Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt.

On SNL:

"It was the last show of the season, so everybody came out. Will Ferrell was the host, Tom Hanks did one skit, Amy Poehler, Norm MacDonald and Anne Hathaway of all people! After we did the show, we waved bye and hugged each other, the credits rolled and it it cut to commercial. Then the producer said to us, 'Hey, if you guys want to jump on your equipment and play some more songs, we can make this a little show.' So we jumped on and played a couple more songs, and of course, here comes Will Ferrell with a freakin' cowbell, and we're doing "East Jesus Nowhere," which has some pretty complicated starts and stops, and he'd never heard it, so he was kind of a deer in headlights up there. It was great.

"At the afterparty, we were standing on the ice rink in Rockefeller Center where the ice usually is, and there was about an inch or so of water, and it was cool to see all these dudes in their new sneakers and chicks in their rad  $400 Manolo shoes just cruising around in two inches of water and not giving a fuck. There were people dancing and Will Ferrell showed up in a Gucci jumpsuit with gold chains and money rings and shit, and it was pretty wild."

On Club Shows:

"We rocked Bowery Ballroom really fucking hard. That place, that's holy ground, man. That's a holy place. All of the cool bands that have gone through there, all the kickass shows, all the carrying on that has come as a result of that place's existence.

"Webster Hall is pretty awesome, too. Both places felt like they were going to cave in. We actually have footage of Webster Hall -- the ceiling is buckling and nearly collapsing. It was moving like a foot up and down. It was basically a giant wooden trampoline with a thousand people jumping up and down.

"Oh man, and we feed off of that fun and energy, especially now that the album's out. It seems like most of the kids know the words. Billie can stick his arm out into the audience with a microphone and they'll sing the lyrics for him."

On the Tour:

"We'll be going at it full force starting in Seattle in July.  We wanted to get supporting bands that we actually like. The first leg of the tour is the Bravery. I've bought two Bravery records, and I'm a fan of that band so we suggested them and they were available. They'll be with us for two weeks. Then we've got Franz Ferdinand, who's going to come for another two weeks another band that we really like. If I was a concertgoer and I got to see Franz and then Green Day, I'd need a new pair of panties. And then we have the Kaiser Chiefs. It's debatable who's better of those two bands. They both kick ass in their own special way. It's a real treat!

"It's tough competition, but we always step it up. We're not worried, we'll play after anybody. We're Green Day, dude."

In the summer of 2008, Jack Johnson led his crew into Europe for the Sleep Through the Static summer tour. It was the biggest tour of his career -- hundreds of thousands of people came out to sing along. Cameras were rolling, and in August, Brushfire Records will release Jack Johnson: En Concert, a collection of highlights from the run of dates in Paris, Newquay Watergate Bay, Berlin, Munich, the Netherlands and London. 

Produced and directed by Johnson's manager, Emmett Mallow, En Concert features performances from Johnson and his band (Adam Topol, Merlo Podlewski and Zach Gill) as well as Ben Harper, G-Love, Mason Jennings, Neil Halsted and Matt Costa.

There will also be a live CD in August for Jack's faithful fandom!!!

Check out the trailer for En Concert above. The footage Johnson surfing the Eisbach River in Munich is fuckin' crazy!

Photo: Strauss/WireImage

Yesterday we rang up our drinking buddy Kid Rock at the adult amusement park he calls home, near Detroit. We called to congratulate Rock for selling out all 35,000 seats of Comerica Park -- home of the Detroit Tigers -- in less than thirty minutes! Tickets went so fast for the July 17th hometown show that they added another night. “We try to do a lot of stuff to make it so everybody can come out,” he says. “The most important thing is keeping tickets right. Not to get greedy.” Those gigs are part of a huge Summer tour of the U.S.    

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One of Bob Dylan's greatest lines on his new album, Together Through Life, is from "I Feel a Change Comin' On." Over a gentle groove, he sings, "I'm listening to Billy Joe Shaver, and I'm reading James Joyce/Some people they tell me I've got the blood of the land in my voice."

Well, the S.S. called Shaver, the 69-year-old country-outlaw legend, at home in Waco, Texas, to see what he thought. "It was really nice of him," says Shaver. "It's nice to be mentioned in the same sentence with James Joyce too."

Dylan has long been a Shaver fan. For the soundtrack to the 1987 flick Hearts of Fire, Dylan recorded Shaver's "Old Five and Dimers Like Me." (It didn't make the film, but you can find it on bootlegs.) And the respect is mutual. Shaver got into Bob back when he was busking on street corners. "After I first heard him, I got upset because I couldn't figure out what else there was left to say," Shaver recalls. "I decided not to listen to him again or I'd go home with my hat in my hand. So I threw all my Dylan tapes in the Brazos River."

The Dylan fan site ISIS reports that all lyrics on Together Through Life were written by Dylan and Robert Hunter (who, along with Jerry Garcia, co-wrote a majority of the Grateful Dead lyrics), with the exception being "This Dream of You," which was written completely by Dylan.

What do you think about the Dylan/Hunter connection?

Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band will be releasing their second album, Outer South, on May 5th, as well as a documentary DVD offering a behind-the-scenes look at the band.

Titled One of My Kind and created by the Mystic Valley Band's guitar tech, Phil Shaffart, the DVD will feature footage from last year's world tour, as well as from the recording sessions for Conor Oberst and Outer South. One of My Kind will be available on April 15th as a FREE stream or HD download at a number of hosts, including Causecast, IFC, the Conor Oberst website and Merge Records. For now, there's a trailer for the video on Conor's website.

In addition to the DVD, the Mystic Valley Band have also announced a bunch of upcoming tour dates in support of Outer South. Click the jump to see if they're coming to a town near you.

Also, here's a new tune from Outer South, "Nikorette," which you can download for free here. 

Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band - "Nikorette"

UPDATE 4/15/09: You can now stream and download One of My Kind here or at any of the websites listed above!

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Photo: Shearer/WireImage

We're stoked that Jane's Addiction are back together, especially since their original bass player Eric Avery is back in the fold. It's easy to tell when you listen to those old albums that Avery's riffs were responsible for some of their greatest songs. That dude doesn't get enough credit. Right? Exactly.

To coincide with their upcoming tour and album, Jane's will release a 3 CD+DVD box set, Cabinet of Curiosities, on April 21st. The box set comes loaded with over 40 rare cuts, including demos, live recordings and other rarities.  

Here's a rundown of what to expect when you open up the Cabinet of Curiosities:

• The first disc contains 13 unreleased recordings, including "Jane Says," "Three Days," "Ocean Size," "Classic Girl," "Summertime Rolls" and "Stop!" There are also five songs pulled from a 1986 recording session in Venice Beach.
• The second disc has more unreleased demos ("Ted, Just Admit It..."), including a remix of "Been Caught Stealing," and covers like Grateful Dead's "Ripple", Sly's "Dont Call Me Nigger, Whitey" (with Ice T), Zep's "Whole Lotta Love," the Stooges' "1970," and "Bobhaus," an old live staple that puts Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone" lyrics over the music of Bauhaus' "Burning from the Inside."
• Disc number three contains the entire recording of the December 19, 1990 performance at the Hollywood Palladium, with a killer version of "Whores."
• The DVD included in the box set features eight music videos, three performances from shows played in 1990 and home videos of the band members.
• Concert fliers, ticket stubs and set lists.