SQE takes an all-encompassing approach to handling musical acts

Seb Webber stood in a stark office space 12 floors above Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, surveying his new domain. The 27-year-old London expatriate and the recently minted managing director of the music-services firm SQE was dressed in his typical plastic Buddy Holly glasses and skinny black jeans. His office's polished concrete floors lacked furniture for the moment ' move-in day was a week or so away ' but he had a gorgeous floor-to-ceiling panorama of the Hollywood Hills to his north and, on this clear day, almost to Catalina Island in the west.

It's a workplace view befitting a lavish new tech startup or a cash-flush film production house. But Webber's company is in a more volatile (pessimists might even say doomed) line of work. SQE is a contrarian bet that the music industry won't be saved by novel technology or a radical new profit stream. Its magic bullet, if there is one, is absolute flexibility and transparency in handling a growing stable of artists like the punky Coachella 2012 headliner At the Drive-In and pop-savvy dubstep auteur Rusko.

"Our idea was, 'Isn't there a good company where you don't feel cheated?'" Webber said. "I see us as a service. We literally just execute on their behalf. No one knows better than them what they want."

The L.A. office of SQE is the American arm and new flagship of the British Columbia-founded firm that President Nathan Beswick and Chief Executive Duncan MacRae ' both in their mid- to late 20s ' started in 2010. Duncan is also the CEO of Seeker Solutions, a Victoria, Canada-based IT firm.

SQE's first big coup was landing Webber. He left his position as the vice president of A&R for theU.K.-based XL Recordings to helm the firm. Billboard had even named Webber one of its "30 Under 30" music-biz stars in 2010 for his regional scouting acumen for XL.

But after working on Adele and M.I.A.'s A&R teams and cosigning Odd Future's Tyler, the Creator to the label, Webber wanted to build something from the ground up instead of being an L.A.-based "Our Man in Havana" for an English hit label.

"It was really difficult being the L.A. point person for a U.K. company," he said. "I'm still close with Richard (Russell, XL's founder), and the one thing he hammered home was that nothing exists without quality music. But if there was any time to stand on my own two feet, it was now."

SQE's business model is simple ' find ambitious artists, ask them what they need to realize their career goals and be able to do anything that can help.

Many traditional record labels and management teams farm out aspects of artist-caretaking to specialists at different companies ' a label fronts advances and distributes physical albums; a licensing firm places songs in commercials, films and TV; a publicity company wrangles media coverage.

SQE can do all these things for an artist ' or take on as few as one of those jobs. SQE handles management, licensing, press, marketing and record label duties in-house, with a staff of around 14 who specialize in each field. When they sign an artist, the musician can choose which aspects they want to use. Don't call it a "360 deal" ' SQE has banished that term for a deal in which a label gives larger advances but takes cuts from all streams of an artist's income from its offices. But the firm does imagine music management as a holistic project.

"Artists are able to control a lot by themselves nowadays, and considering the established awareness of how the business side of their art works, a la carte is a no smoke-and-mirrors, transparent way for them to get what they want when they want it," Beswick said in an email.

For artists, that transparency and selectivity is the key selling point. SQE handles artists at all points in their careers, from a seasoned and recently reunited act like At the Drive-In down to the young Irish electronica artist Mmoths, who was signed off a YouTube demo and has barely an EP to his name. For an artist like Rusko, who is beloved in serious beat-music circles but who has also produced for Britney Spears, Rihanna andT.I., SQE's flexibility is an asset in navigating an unconventional career.

"They do it all for me, or at least figure out how to get it done. Many times, they'll take initiatives and bring cool opportunities that I didn't even think about," he said, highlighting SQE's recent work with Cat Stone of Stone Management, a film-placement and promotions firm. In a music business defined by decimated record sales, that creativity is essential ' even for an artist who headlined the 3,800-capacity Hollywood Palladium to rapturous crowds. "In one week, I'll play to more kids in the U.S. than have bought my first album. I have only received one royalty check in my life, and it equaled the same amount as two months of my T-shirt sales."

After a brief signing spree in which the firm snapped up promising young electronica acts Audrey Napoleon and Data Romance alongside locals L.A. Riots and Daniel Ahearn & the Jones, Webber is ready to dive into the details of making careers. He was about to fly to Texas to join Rusko ' one of the few clients he personally manages ' on the road for the Western leg of his U.S. tour. But he was eager to get back to L.A. For him, SQE has become as much a space for music-management creativity as much as it is for any of his artists.

"When you become a home where artists can explore, eventually you're going to get an Andy Warhol," he said. "But you can't just go out and buy an Andy Warhol."

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august.brown@latimes.com

Lamb of God's Randy Blythe facing possible manslaughter charge in Prague

Virginia-based metal band Lamb of God was forced to cancel a concert in Prague Thursday as lead singer Randy Blythe was detained for questioning in connection with the death of a fan at the band's 2010 performance in the Czech Republic.

The band's representatives maintain that Blythe has not been officially charged, but some reports indicate that the vocalist is facing charges of "bodily harm of 4th degree and resulting in the death of a fan," which could carry a prison term of up to 10 years if convicted.

While Lamb of God's aggressive sound isn't exactly the ideal soundtrack for bunny rabbits frolicking in a spring meadow, the band's publicist Maria Ferraro made a point of clarifying that the 2010 incident did not stem from a fight involving Blythe or the band.

"This incident deals with a fan that three times during the concert jumped the barricade and rushed Randy during the performance," she wrote in an email to the media. "It is alleged that the third time, security was not able to reach him and that Randy pushed him back into the audience where supposedly he fell and hit his head. Again, until the investigation is concluded this weekend, nothing more will be released, but clarity and the facts needed to be addressed on this one reported point which is totally inaccurate." 

The band's management told MTV News that it will not comment on the matter further until the investigation concludes. News of Blythe's predicament shook the metal community on Twitter with voices chiming in with the band-originated hashtag "#FreeRandyBlythe."

Lacuna Coil's Cristina Scabbia, comic Brian Posehn and Skid Row's Sebastian Bach are among those registering their support, including Gwar's Oderus Urungus, who tweeted, "This whole thing reeks."

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Tough(-ish) questions with the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne

The Flaming Lips began June in a feud with R&B singer Erykah Badu and ended it with a Guinness World Record. On Thursday night, the Flaming Lips became the answer to a future trivia question, performing eight shows in eight cities, which is the most ever concerts in multiple cities in a 24-hour period. The previous record holder was Jay-Z with seven. 

"I'm glad it's over," Coyne told Pop & Hiss about one hour after setting the record during a string of shows throughout the Mississippi Delta. The event was to promote VH1, as well as Viacom Music and Logo Group's O Music Awards. The band started in Memphis, Tenn., ended in New Orleans and stopped in smaller cities like Hattiesburg, Miss., along the way, joined by the likes of Jackson Browne, Grimes and Neon Indian.

"I'm glad it went well. I'm glad no one is dead. I'm glad we got the world record. I'm glad we got to play some really great songs for our most dedicated, hard-core fans," Coyne said.

It's been an odd few weeks for the Flaming Lips, a band that has made a career out of celebrating weirdness. In 1997, for instance, the band released a quadruple album, "Zaireeka," with all discs meant to be played simultaneously. More recently, the Flaming Lips covered their 2009 effort "Embryonic" in a fur case, and released songs on a USB drive -- encased in a gummy skull. 

Earlier this month, the Flaming Lips also found themselves in the midst of a pop feud. The band's newest collection, "The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends," features collaborations with the likes of Kesha, Bon Iver and Badu, among many others. A video was released for the band's reinterpretation of the popular song "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" with Badu. It's most definitely not-safe-for-work, featuring Badu and her sister Nayrok sans clothes and covered in various substances. 

Badu requested the Lips take it down and expressed her discontent with the clip. "As a human I am disgusted with your what appears to be desperation and poor execution," she posted online. "And disregard for others. As a director I am unimpressed  As a sociologist I understand your type. As your fellow artist I am uninspired. As a woman I feel violated and underestimated."

Needless to say, Pop & Hiss had questions for Coyne. 

You've released music in a gummy skull and now broken a Guinness World Record. Do you think at some point this kind of stuff just becomes a gimmick?

I think it goes both directions at the same time. On one level, to be involved with VH1 and the O Music Awards is already trendy, gimmicky, semi-mainstream silliness. So you either embrace it or not. But the other part is: What do I get to do with it? I like the ridiculousness of it. Jay-Z thought this was important enough when he put out his last record, and here we are challenging it. There's an element of this that is absurd.

We've also been thinking of different ways to do shows. We draw enough people that we're playing these slightly uncomfortable sheds some of the time. Ticket prices get high because there's a lot to do and a lot of seats to fill. So we want another way to do shows. I don't want it to be like we play to 5,000 people or we don't play to anyone. I looked at this as an opportunity to see if we could go to little places. You would not believe the welcome you get in a place like Hattiesburg at 8 a.m. People were crying. No one ever plays there. We've never played there.

So I will go as far into the gimmicks and the hokeyness and whatever it takes as long as I can get in my agenda for the Flaming Lips fans. So I'll do whatever they want me to do as long as they let me do what I want to do.

I wanted to bring all these cool underground, experimental bands along with us. This was going to be the only time these fans would get to see us play these songs. Some of these songs were just made up on the spot. We wanted to make a great effort to say that if you saw these shows, perhaps you've seen us play a song that we'll never play again and in a place we'll never play again. We'll never play at 4 a.m. in Mississippi again. If I can do that, I'll do whatever hokeyness they want.

When you show up in smaller markets like Hattiesburg and see the response, does it make you start to think about approaching your next tour different? Something that avoids the standard theater/shed venues?

I think we'll try to do both. I'm in favor of doing more rather than trading off. I don't want to say that we don't like playing the sheds. It's a big audience and a way to make lots of money. But seeing this way of doing things does make me think, "Couldn't we do this, too?"

Maybe one night we'll be in a big city playing a shed, and the next day we're in a little place and it's a unique show. I don't know how we make money and make that successful, but success has a lot of different dimensions to it. To see those people this morning was a powerful experience.

One of the more unique concert experiences in recent history was the 1999 headphone experiment, in which fans could listen to the Flaming Lips live or via little radios. As fun as the current celebratory concerts are, and as odd as it is to break a Guinness World Record, they seem less about challenging the listener to experience music in new ways.

I know exactly what you mean. It's up to us to pursue different ways we can do things. It's not up to anyone else. That's why when this was presented, I looked at this as a way to see if there was a new way we could do things as well.

There are a lot of reasons to do things, for sure. I love absurdness. The absurdness of this crossed over into so many worlds. Everyone knows what the the Guinness Book of World Records is. It's like winning a Grammy. You don't think you care until you're standing in line at the bank and someone goes, "You got the world record!"

So when you have an opportunity to do something like this, to pass it up would have been different than us doing this ourselves. This was presented to us. We were able to say that this sounded like something that could be fun. I don't think we ever would have considered pursuing this on our own. We're taking the momentum of what's happening to us as opposed to what we need to happen.

Was there any moment during the 24 hours where you thought breaking the record was in jeapordy?

Music review: Killer Mike and El-P bring rebellious spirit back

When Killer Mike arrived to play his set at Echoplex on Thursday, the rapper had reportedly already sold out of T-shirts that read "I'm Glad Reagan's Dead." The merchandise was spun off of a brutal lyric about the late president from the Atlanta rapper's new album, "R.A.P. Music."

Are hip-hop fans that furious at a long-deceased icon of conservatism? Were they enticed by the shirt's shock value? Perhaps the fashion statement signals something more fundamental happening in rap music ' a genre born in rebellion is rediscovering its anger and outsider status.

At Echoplex, Killer Mike joined the Brooklyn, N.Y. headliner El-P on the bill, two well-seasoned veterans from the margins of the genre unexpectedly moving into the limelight with furious, sonically restless new albums. There isn't quite a term for what they're up to yet, but if Kanye and Jay-Z are plying "luxury rap" on "Watch the Throne," El-P and Killer Mike's sets were the exact opposite ' lean, hungry and frothing with raw humanity.

Killer Mike (Mike Render) is a rare success story of an MC getting a late-career second wind in a young man's game. Mike, 37, is a onetime label-casualty given new life in the Internet underground (he's signed to the label imprint of the cable comedy bloc Adult Swim), and his new album is produced entirely by El-P. He's built like a cement mixer, and his flow is just as hefty and churning.

Cuts from "R.A.P." such as "Big Beast," in which he promised, "We down to eat the rich" and the aforementioned "Reagan," could have come off as provocative yet ultimately empty jabs. But in Mike's hands, they had a mix of menace and rallying urgency that hearkened back to gangsta rap pioneers N.W.A. Mike's music is rooted in Southern rap, but the connection to L.A.'s most dangerous band is intentional ' onstage, he shouted out Ice Cube as a major influence.

It wasn't all so serious ' when he introduced the lascivious bounce of "Southern Fried," he implored the Echoplex's ladies to "take your man to the strip club and let him loosen his collar." But mostly his set took a sledgehammer to a rap world (and an American political climate) that sees wealth as its own virtue. After performing "Reagan," he said, "Aw, Fox News is gonna be [angry] at that." Incurring the wrath of Bill O'Reilly is a sure sign an MC is doing something right.

El-P, the alias of the 37-year-old MC and producer Jaime Meline, is an even less likely figure for a new critical breakthrough. El-P's respected career has been pegged as too flinty and self-aware for the mainstream. Yet he's also uncomfortable as a figurehead of indie-rap ' he shut down his respected Definitive Jux label two years ago.

His Echoplex set suggested his new priorities are paying off. Joined onstage by a motley assortment of live musicians (including an occasional trombonist) and obscured in dry-ice fog, he performed from his new album "Cancer 4 Cure" with the ravenous energy of a teenager and the steely resolve of a grown man. Cuts like "The Full Retard" have a disorienting insouciance on record ' organs bend and creak out of nowhere, the drums are propulsive and ominous.

Live, Meline made them feel even more singular ' he's less monolithic than Killer Mike, and prowled the stage like a prosecutor going in for a courtroom kill. He's had decades to hone his verbal dexterity, and with this new rash of sonic inspiration, he did to musical structure what Killer Mike did to Reagan's reputation ' blew it to pieces and found some new truth underneath.

august.brown@latimes.com

In Rotation: 'Harvest Moon' by Poolside

This post has been corrected. Please see note at  bottom for details.

True to its breezy, summery name, Poolside has created a sound it calls Daytime Disco that sounds like '80s dance and funk grooves combined with the lyrics of 1970s soft-rockers Toto.

The hybrid vibe of the L.A.-based duo of Filip Nikolic and Jeffrey Paradise, a mix of easy listening with funky bass lines sometimes rolling out as 6-minute jams, has a pretty decent pedigree. Danish-born Nikolic was formerly the touring bass player in the Danish pop band Junior Senior, and then the bass player in Ima Robot. He connected with Paradise, a DJ formerly in the San Francisco group the Calculators and connected to dance parties Blow Up and Club 1994, to form a disco side project. They released an EP in 2010 called 'Do You Believe.'

On Poolside's debut album, 'Pacific Standard Time,' the lush synths, dance-heavy drums and bass and falsetto-adorned music of the track "Harvest Moon" pull the listener into a world where pools, sun and piña coladas are only minutes away, like a party where the Free Design meets G-Funk. On their Facebook page, the pair describe their sound as 'Great friends, good music, California, and mezcal." 

Fans of Dam-Funk, James Pants and other throwback 1980s funk revival artists will feel right at home with Poolside -- its sound is all wet drum claps, saturated basslines and an airy falsetto. And no track displays this better than "Havest Moon," a Neil Young cover that transform the song from folk ballad to summertime disco.

[For the Record: 3:40 p.m. June 28: An earlier version of this post implied that this is a review of the full album, "Pacific Standard Time," instead of a review of the track "Harvest Moon."]

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Alicia Keys teases new album with 'New Day'

Alicia Keys has been relatively mum on the details of her upcoming album, but on Thursday, the multi-platinum Grammy winner wanted to tease fans with what she's been up to.

'I got something fresh for you, something fresh for the summer. I'm feeling good, and I'm thinking, 'Let me be the one to kinda just play you a little bit,' ' she said in a YouTube message to her fans before playing just a quick snippet of a track.

Keys couldn't hold onto the track much longer and shortly after the teaser, the singer tweeted the full track, 'New Day.'

She didn't say whether the drum-heavy single was the lead of her as-yet-untitled album, but with husband Swizz Beatz's trademark club beats pushing Keys' simple and catchy hooks, 'New Day' sounds crafted for summer dance-offs.

Keys' follow-up to her last album, 2009's 'The Element of Freedom,' is due later this year.

Check out 'New Day' below:

Review: Ultimately, 'Journeys' worth taking with Neil Young

There are moments in Jonathan Demme's new documentary,"Neil Young Journeys," when the saying "too close for comfort" comes to mind. The camera drops to focus on the lower half of Young's face mid-song, staying close enough and long enough that it's possible to identify color patterns of browns and grays in the stubble on his chin, to notice what looks to be bridgework on his teeth, to see the spit fly.

In those scenes, what he is singing recedes, upstaged by the stubble, spit and the rest. Given the influential singer-songwriter's always potent and poetic lyrics and that haunting minor key he long ago settled into, it is a surprising turn. It feels like an invasion, and an uncomfortable one at that. That closeness ' between the veteran director, a seminal artist in his own right, and one of the great songwriters of recent generations ' is what defines and at times undermines "Journeys." Young's almost mystical musicianship is what saves it.

The documentary is built around the singer's final performances in a solo tour that wrapped atToronto'shistoric Massey Hall in May of last year. It is a nearly silent night except for the music. Everything is stripped down to the bone, little conversation with the crowd, and Young quiet as he moves between instruments and song.

The set list, a mix of old and new, is a rarefied collection reflecting the rocker's eclectic stylistic range. Young is always a singular force onstage, where he is a master of so much ' a harmonica that weeps, an electric guitar that wails, an acoustic that whispers, an organ that grinds and soars ' and that strength provides the spine of the film.

But Demme is interested in a few other things. "Journeys" slips out for a bit of fresh air to chronicle the drive the director took with Young from the singer's hometown of Omemee, Ontario, to Massey Hall. The wheels are classic, a 1956 Crown Victoria, and the 66-year-old looks as if he's showing an old friend the sights.

This is the third concert film Demme has done with the multiple Grammy winner, who wrote the Oscar-nominated title song for the director's 1993 AIDS drama "Philadelphia." Documentaries in general have always seemed passion projects for a director best known for his narrative work on films such as his Oscar-winning "The Silence of the Lambs" and more recently the critically acclaimed "Rachel Getting Married."

With Young, it is becoming a long conversation as well as an extraordinary archive of the singer's performances. It was better in the beginning ' 2006's "Neil Young: Heart of Gold," anchored by an emotional Nashville concert a few months after the artist survived a brain aneurysm. In 2010, "Neil Young Trunk Show" featured performances and a lot of packing and unpacking of the objects that accompany him on tour. This film is all about the instruments, from Young's voice to the ones he plays. When the camera is not in the singer's face, cinematographer Declan Quinn makes the scenes look like portraiture, dark silhouettes of Young lost in the music, close-ups of the harmonica resting in a glass of water.

On the road to Massey Hall, the mood is light. It is a brilliantly sunny day as Young and the filmmaker make their way through the Canadian countryside. The artist fills in childhood memories: his favorite fishing spot; the school named after his late father, journalist-novelist Scott Young; the land where the family home once stood. The conversation stays very much on the surface, no deep reflections, just the sense that he is content.

Back onstage, he is afire. In a worn white straw fedora, loose linen jacket and jeans, he powers through classics such as "My, My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)," "Ohio," "Love and War." Then he goes impossibly soft for the ode to a child, "Leia." And "Helpless" is made more intimate having just driven with him through the "north Ontario... all my changes were there." The show and the film end with an electrifying version of "Walk With Me," Young pacing the stage, guitar screaming before it cuts to silence, broken seconds later by wild applause. This alone makes "Journeys" worth taking.

betsy.sharkey@latimes.com

---------------------------------

'Neil Young Journeys'

MPAA rating: PG for language including some drug references, and brief thematic material

Running time: 1 hour, 27 minutes

Playing: At the Nuart, West Los Angeles

R. Kelly sidelined by potential vocal issues

R. Kelly  has been vocal about his voice issues. After the R&B superstar underwent surgery last summer to drain an abscess on one of his tonsils, Kelly wrote about the operation and any speculation that he might  have permanent voice problems in last year's song, "Shut Up." In the angry little slow jam, Kelly thanked the heavens for keeping the doctors focused and made it clear that his voice was in fine form. 

However, Kelly doesn't appear to be completely out of the woods yet. Like Adele, John Mayer and Maxwell before him, Kelly has had to put a temporary halt to performing due to what is believed to be a vocal cord issue. 

Kelly, who just released his 11th studio album, "Write Me Back," has canceled a planned trip to New York and "returned to Chicago for medical treatment," according to a statement distributed by his publicity firm, 42West. Kelly was to appear on NBC's "Today" on Thursday and the network's "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" on Friday. 

The statement left some room for error. "Initial indications are that he is suffering from complications from surgery he had last year to treat an abscess on his vocal cords." Last year's surgery was on his tonsils. Kelly currently doesn't have any concerts on the docket, but his Love Letter Cruise is set to sail from Miami in October. 

"It is unclear how long Kelly may be sidelined," read the statement from 42West. A spokesperson for his label, RCA Records, did not respond to requests for comment. Kelly was also heading to New York to celebrate the launch of his book, "Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me." 

Kelly has a history of rebounding from setbacks and controversy, most notably allegations of child pornography. He was acquitted in 2008.

Spotify unveils apps curated by Quincy Jones, Tiesto and others

It's not that the creative team at Spotify doesn't trust its listeners -- more than 3 million are paid subscribers -- they just want to make it easier for users to discover the more than 16 million tracks on the popular online music streaming site.

So, Spotify is slowly unveiling a series of artist-curated apps to ramp up the service's ability for music discovery. 

'People said although they loved having the data, they wished we'd given them some ways to get started with it,' said Chester French frontman D.A. Wallach, who serves as Spotify's artist-in-residence. 'Rather than becoming an editorial platform and telling you what you should or shouldn't listen to, we decided to turn Spotify into a platform itself and allow creative people to build interesting music-based experiences.'

Spotify debuted the first of these Wednesday, with curated apps from Quincy Jones, Tiësto, Rancid and Disturbed, in the the hopes that music fans will dig deeper and discover new music, while having their favorite artist serve as a tour guide.  

To celebrate the launch of the apps, Spotify held an intimate reception at West Hollywood's swanky Andaz Hotel, where Jones brought the app to life with Bruno Mars leading the discussion. Mars spoke with the iconic producer about his decades-in-the-making catalog,  though most of the conversation lingered on the subject of piracy, the way record sales used to be ('people bought music before they bought clothes and shoes') and the importance of musicianship ('P. Diddy wouldn't know a B-flat if it hit him').

Jones' app focuses on the stories behind his music. It includes audio commentary by the producer along with playlists of his personal heroes and mentors, the art of hit-making and how music is used in movies.

'With such a deep catalog at our fingertips, we've looked to partner with artists who have specific competencies in genres that might be neglected by most of our users,' Wallach said before introducing Jones and Mars. 'You have to realize with 16 million songs, most people are just scratching the surface of what we have.'

Other apps include Tiësto's Club Life, where the DJ picks a single of the week, album of the month, festival of the month, and a chart of the hottest dance music;  Rancid handpicking selections from the world of punk; and Disturbed issuing playlists from each of its band members.

'It enables the artists to really have an ability to have an effect on their consumer base -- their fans,' said Disturbed frontman David Draiman. 'They are able to market their own products and the products they really believe in.

 'I have all the respect in the world for terrestrial radio, for satellite radio, for radio in general. However, the wonderful opportunity that this affords us as artists is to be able to market not only our own material but to champion the bands we love. The baby bands, and the real bands looking to make a real start that they couldn't achieve before the digital age.'

Spotify said a number of other artists and music experts will launch apps in the coming weeks and months, including Steve Aoki.

Live Nation adds Los Angeles' Hard Events to its playlist

On Wednesday, Los Angeles-based electronic dance music promoter Hard Events, which presents some of Los Angeles' biggest and most successful events of its kind, announced its sale to Live Nation Entertainment, one of the world's largest concert and ticketing conglomerates.

The deal, the terms of which were not disclosed, offers further confirmation that electronic dance music and its many subgenres, including house, techno, dubstep and electro, have crossed over into the mainstream and now earn enough to warrant corporate interest. In an otherwise declining music industry, dance music shows are a highly profitable bright spot, attracting an audience from the coveted teen and twentysomething demographic.

The purchase will result in Hard Events becoming part of the company's Live Nation Electronic Music division. Hard's founder and owner Gary Richards will retain the title of CEO of Hard Entertainment, and will continue his role in booking and overseeing Hard's events, the most prominent of which are its annual Hard Haunted Mansion during Halloween, and the Hard Summer party at downtown's Los Angeles State Historic Park.

Last year's Hard Summer drew upward of 30,000 people. This year the party, also downtown, will take place on Aug. 3-4, and feature Skrillex, Chromeo, Nero and dozens of other DJs and EDM producers. Richards says that the company's plans include expanding to Europe and beyond. Hard already has a presence in Australia and Canada, where it holds annual festivals, not to mention parties in New York, Toronto, Chicago and elsewhere throughout the United States. This year the company added the successful Hard Holy Ship! cruise to its roster, which sold out in its inaugural voyage last January and has already reached capacity for its 2013 event.

Richards, who was reached by phone on Wednesday morning after a late-night DJ gig under the moniker Destructo, said that he'd been searching for potential partners since he started his company in 2007.

"I never really went into this whole thing thinking I could finance all this stuff and do everything I want to do," said Richards, 41, who learned his trade by throwing raves at Knott's Berry Farm in the early 1990s. "I've just thrown myself into it, and in the past five years it's grown and grown and grown."

Live Nation's purchase of Hard Events comes a few months after it acquired the successful British promoter Cream Holdings, whose Creamfields dance music events in theU.K.grew to be one of the most successful touring festivals in the world, with stops in cities such as Moscow, Buenos Aires, Abu Dhabi, Santiago and Istanbul.

In Europe, the music eased its way into the mainstream after young British "ravers" discovered Chicago house music and Detroit techno in the late 1980s and used it as the building blocks of a worldwide phenomenon. In the U.S. the music has had its peaks and valleys of popularity, but seldom has it been such a central focus of the music business' most powerful players.

When Live Nation purchased Cream in May, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino also brought into its ranks Cream Holdings' founder, James Barton, and named him the president of Live Nation Electronic Music.

Barton said that after he took the job, Hard Events became the focus of conversations with Rapino almost immediately. "There were discussions about what other aspects and what other people we would like to involve in this plan moving forward, and obviously Gary Richards and Hard was at the top of both our lists." He called the decision "a no-brainer."

Live Nation's acquisitions come a month after Robert F.X. Sillerman, who masterminded SFX Entertainment's profitable acquisitions of many of the nation's regional rock promoters in the 1990s before selling it to Clear Channel Communications for $4.4 billion, announced his intention to employ a similar strategy with electronic dance music, and acquired New Orleans-based Disco Donnie Presents.

In a statement, Live Nation's Rapino said: "Live Nation is committed to empowering the electronic dance space with resources and a network of some of the best talent in the industry. Hard Events joins a portfolio of electronic dance music and festival promoters and creators including Cream Holdings. We welcome Gary Richards and his team, and look forward to helping him continue to expand the reach of this dynamic genre for fans and artists alike."

Richards says that Hard's new position shouldn't affect this year's Hard Summer, and is committed to keeping the event alive. "My plan is to try and [make] that park into a proper venue," he said. "It's one of the best spots, I think, in downtown L.A., that works for what we do. "

randall.roberts@latimes.com

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Justin Bieber's 'Believe' to top the U.S. pop charts

Justin Bieber's "Believe" to top the U.S. pop charts

The protege has become the influencer. Justin Bieber will be No. 1 on the U.S pop charts when they're released tomorrow, bowing in the pole position one week after his mentor Usher topped the charts. Bieber, however, will be the one with bragging rights. His new album "Believe" has registered the bestselling debut week for an album this year. 

"Believe," his first effort since November's holiday album "Under the Mistletoe," sold 374,000 copies in its debut week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That's more than double the 128,000 copies sold earlier this month by Usher's "Looking 4 Myself," which should stay near the upper echelon of the chart this week. 

"Believe" is Bieber's fourth album to top the Billboard charts, according to the music industry publication, and also notches the young'un his best-ever sales week. "Mistletoe" unwrapped at No. 1 with 210,000 copies sold, and his 2010 effort "My World 2.0" landed with 282,000. 

Bieber was on a media tear in support of the album last week -- talking live on YouTube with NBC's Jimmy Fallon and squealing in horror when CBS' David Letterman tried to rub off his "Believe" tattoo. His "Believe" tour comes to the Staples Center in October.

"Believe" notches the best sales week for a debut since Drake's "Take Care" topped 600,000 late last year. Madonna's "MDNA" sold 359,000 copies when it arrived in April. "MDNA" has since fallen off the chart. 

Deadmau5 controversy: All DJs do is press 'play'

Deadmau5, who does a decent job of amping up the crowd at his concerts, is now stirring up the blogosphere by saying that all DJs do at live concerts is show up and click a 'play' button.

"I just roll up with a laptop and a midi  controller and 'select' tracks [and] hit a spacebar," the Toronto DJ wrote Saturday in a blog post on his site titled "We All Hit Play."

This can be interpreted as blasphemy for several reasons. If all DJs do is press play, how do they justify the million-dollar fees that some top electronic dance music names command? More esoterically, can live EDM events be called performances when the DJ is doing very little beyond putting on a costume and  rhythmically nodding his or her head?

"People assume there's a guy on a laptop up there producing new original tracks on the fly," he wrote. "None of the 'top DJ's in the world' to my knowledge have. Myself included."

Deadmau5 himself followed up with a status update on his Facebook page Sunday, saying, "As I was sayin...It's over" and linking to a YouTube video showing Paris Hilton in her "DJ debut" bouncing in front of a MIDI panel onstage last week in São Paulo, Brazil. His link drew 1,807 comments, most of them skewering Hilton.

His point wasn't to make fun of the blond hotel heiress. Rather, it seemed designed to support his view that "EDM has turned into a massively marketed cruise ship, and it's sinking fast. Not because of all the passengers, but perhaps there are too many cooks in the kitchen."

Not everyone agrees with Deadmau5. Peter Kirn, editor of CreateDigitalMusic.com, argued in a counterpoint post that some DJs do more than just "twiddling knobs."  

"There are people who sing or add vocals or instruments, live, over their sets, while still maintaining enough underneath that people can dance," Kirn wrote. "There are people who can play entire techno dance sets, live coding or live patching entire compositions improvisationally. There are artists on instruments like the monome, cutting up patterns as they go. There are controllerists and scratch turntablists, finger-drumming percussionists who toss all the loops and play beats from one-shots, multi-instrumentalists and beatjazz maniacs. And the list goes on."

On Tuesday morning, Deadmau5 responded with a "No Swear Words!" post that EDM has become "as commercially viable as Coca-Cola" in attracting celebrity DJs as it veers into the mainstream. 

"All I'm trying to do is put on my life jacket and swim as far away from this shipwreck as fast as I can," he wrote. "Because in all honesty, I just wanna be in the studio, making electronic music, and expressing myself by means of sitting in a comfy chair with my cat and my equipment. And, of course, occasionally strap on a foamy mau5head, get on the road and press a few buttons for you guys."

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This time, it's the thirtysomethings pushing hip-hop forward

Few would have imagined that one of the most powerful and acclaimed protest songs of the year, "Reagan," would be about the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s, name-check Oliver North and feature the final words, "I'm glad Reagan's dead."

Decades old geopolitical scandals aren't exactly hot topics among the Facebook generation. Even fewer would have predicted that the song would arrive via a 37-year-old Atlanta rapper called Killer Mike who'd been through the major label system a decade earlier but had since virtually vanished from the national hip-hop conversation while the next generation staked its claim. But now his mature, inventive new album, "R.A.P. Music," released by the Adult Swim network's Williams Street imprint, has propelled him from the dungeon to the mainstream.

That sort of thing seldom happens in hip-hop, which in its 30-plus-year history has placed a higher value on youthful energy than aged wisdom. In a genre that Public Enemy's Chuck D accurately described as "the black CNN," most of the innovation has come from cub reporters in their teens and 20s; few have been the MCs who have jumped into consciousness after hitting 35. There's a reason why more rappers have monikers beginning with the slang "Lil" (Wayne, Kim, Boosie, Bow Wow, B and Debbie) than there are Ol' Dirty Bastards.

But this year, a number of the best albums, tracks and verses have come from seasoned yet lesser-known rappers such as Mike "Killer Mike" Render, whose "R.A.P. Music" shows an artist hitting his stride. That it was produced by longtime rapper-producer-former label head El-P, also 37, is notable. El-P's new album, "Cancer 4 Cure," reveals a talented musician also hitting an artistic milestone 10 years after his classic solo debut "Fantastic Damage" created buzz in the indie-rap underground and 15 years after he co-created the rap group Company Flow. (The two perform together at the Echoplex on Thursday night.)

The now ubiquitous rapper 2 Chainz, 35, burst onto the same hip-hop charts that eluded him when he was 28 and his name was Tity Boi (then again, maybe it was the name . . .). The 35-year-old Pusha T's recent work with Kanye West (35) has matured in ways that few would have expected when his career stalled after releasing "Hell Hath No Fury" as a 29-year-old co-founder of the Clipse. Add in the highly anticipated new album by respected veteran Nas, 38, whose recent tracks sound more energetic and vital than anything he's done in a decade, and hip-hop's relationship with age seems to be evolving along with the music.

If history is any guide, this shouldn't come as a surprise. Jazz turned 30 around the time that Miles Davis and John Coltrane started pushing it in new, post-bop directions. Each was then in his 20s, but both kept expanding the definition of the music as they grew older. Davis, in fact, released some of his most controversial and innovative music after he hit 40 in 1966. In a January 1968 interview with writer Arthur Taylor, Davis, then 41, expressed frustration with the state of jazz as it and he were hitting middle age.

"[All] those records they make nowadays ' the guys copy off the records, so they don't have anything original," said Davis. "You can't find a musician who plays anything different. They all copy off each other. If I were starting out again, I wouldn't listen to records. I very seldom listen to jazz records, because they all do the same thing."

This was around the time he began fusing funk, rock and jazz to create some of his most polarizing and adventurous music. Coltrane died at age 40, a year after releasing the cosmic free-jazz masterpiece "Ascension," prompting one to wonder where his music would have traveled had he lived another few decades.

Yes, there are outliers, the most obvious beingJay-Z, who at 43 is the most popular and successful rapper in the world. That he's at his pinnacle of fame is commendable, but the same can't be said for his sense of artistic adventure ' especially considering that at the same age, Davis released "Bitches Brew" and blew a lot of fans' minds. It's hard to imagine Jay-Z doing the same this year.

Snoop Dogg has also somehow remained relevant at age 40, but he's accomplished that not by pushing at hip-hop's boundaries but by adapting to the music's evolutionary advances. Raucous party rapper E-40 is as popular as ever at age 44, but mostly because he remains on message ' girls, weed, drink, riding ' and has built a virtually indestructible sound. The murders of superstars Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls in the '90s are doubly tragic when you contemplate the musical advances never made.

In this context, the recent (completely unsubstantiated) rumor involving Kanye West making a record consisting entirely of sounds drawn from animals can only be encouraging for those advocates of the genre's evolution (even if it's an aesthetically dubious proposition).

Not that Killer Mike is a proponent of unchecked hip-hop expansion. On "R.A.P. Music," he strongly ' and wrongly ' rails against the current trend of dance rap, ignoring the fact that the moment the genre stops growing is also the moment that the music becomes a modern day version of ragtime. Even if he did declare that "rap is dead" on a song by the same name in 2003 (five years before Nas did the same), as a rapper, Mike has never sounded more relevant, dipping back into his decades of experience and name checking not only Ollie North, but on "Go!" also sampling a snippet of the early hip-hop group the World's Famous Supreme Team and name-checking '80s female rappers JJ Fad, '90s Pomona crew Above the Law and early '90s R&B singer Michel'le.

As impressive as Killer Mike's rhyme skills are on "R.A.P. Music," the record is also his most musically innovative since his first, which was executive-produced by fellow Dungeon Family members Outkast. That record garnered one catchy but forgettable hit, "A.D.I.D.A.S."; in the intervening years, his releases showcased an able rapper less interested in the genre's indie fringes.

But by hooking up with producer Jaime "El-P" Meline ' Mike sounds like an enthusiastic teen when he proudly declares between tracks, "This album was created entirely by Jaime and Mike" ' Killer Mike has hitched his verbal skills to a musician who's unafraid to push the sound of hip-hop forward. Beats and rhythms stutter and jump; mysterious analog synth lines float nebulously in the background, adding a level of doom that locks in with Mike's lyrical attitude. At its best, the pair ride on heavy grooves that not only sound shockingly new but also ultra catchy.

That's something El-P has always done, though, even if his incursions have in the past made more of an impression in indie rap circles than with the mainstream. On "Cancer 4 Cure," though, the Brooklyn-born artist has found his voice again. Having shuttered his acclaimed label Def Jux in 2010, El-P seems to have since devoted more time to has craft.

The album's opener, "Request Denied," immediately signals a change. Unlike the syrupy, gloomy sounds that typified his early work, the track's music sounds like futuristic drum n' bass, coupled with frantic percussion, thick organs and the kind of adventure worthy of a living, breathing genre whose recent forays into rapid beats-per-minute thumpers may be redirecting the music, but only in the most superficial of ways.

But Killer Mike best captures the reason for his artistic vision in his album's title track. Backed with an urgent, futuristic El-P beat that feels downloaded from 2018, the rapper in the song's verse describes all the music that hip-hop contains, from funk to soul to rap and jazz, and then offers a long list of musicians worthy of admiration.

Few among those he cites are artists interested in stasis. He name-checks, among others, Robert Johnson, Nina Simone, Sade, James Brown, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and Outkast. He also cites, notably, two primo jazz works: Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew" and John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme." Exactly.

randall.roberts@latimes.com

Review: Glen Campbell's farewell at the Hollywood Bowl

The post has been corrected. Please see note at bottom for details.

By the time Glen Campbell waved his farewell to the crowd at the Hollywood Bowl in his final L.A. performance Sunday night, he'd traveled a lot of ground. He'd cleaned his gun in Galveston, pondered Phoenix and what would be awaiting him there. He'd imagined greeting a crowd 'riding out on a horse in a star-spangled rodeo,' and climbed to the top of electric poles on 'Wichita Lineman.'

But Wichita is a long way from Hollywood, and the closest thing to rodeo riders in Los Angeles are celebrity wranglers. That didn't stop Campbell, 76, from offering glistening solos that spotlighted why he was one of the premier session guitarists in 1960s Los Angeles, or how he became a superstar in the early 1970s. Even as the age spots dotting the back of his hands reveal the decades, his fingers are still able to float over his guitar neck with a fluid ease and his voice can hit notes that lesser vocalists, as evidenced earlier in the evening, can barely brush against.

Campbell is in the home stretch on his worldwide farewell tour, which has taken him across America to deliver one more sparkling smile, one more genuine Arkansas thank you. It's one final chance to play his string of country pop hits of the '60s and '70s, among them the singalong classics 'Southern Nights,' 'Rhinestone Cowboy' and 'Wichita Lineman,' and tip his hat to those whose music influenced him.

PHOTOS: Glenn Campbell at the Hollywood Bowl

He did it at the Bowl with an effortless grace, and had he not announced in 2011 that he was living with Alzheimer's disease, few in the crowd would have been the wiser. In fact, he was sharper and more precise during this gig than he was last year at Club Nokia, where he kicked off the Farewell Tour.

The night began long before Campbell and his six-piece band walked onto the stage, though. As the sun faded behind the Hollywood Hills, a cast of singing admirers lined up to pay homage, all supported by the expert L.A. country rock band Dawes.

The group, whose languid country twang fit right in with Campbell's style, performed a few of its own songs before launching into the first tribute to the man of the hour, their version of Campbell's first single from 1968, the Chris Gantry-penned song 'Dreams of the Everyday Housewife.'

The early-evening tributes, like the trajectory of Campbell's life, had their peaks and valleys. Vocalist Courtney Taylor-Taylor of the Portland, Ore.,  rock band the Dandy Warhols did renditions of three classics on which Campbell played guitar, the Monkees' hits 'Daydream Believer' and 'Last Train to Clarksville' and the Beach Boys' 'I Get Around.' He was startlingly unprepared for the challenge, and picked songs so far outside of his range that he could have been a randomly selected dude from the audience.

Country rock singer and songwriter Lucinda Williams followed, and even if her voice was nearly as flat as Taylor's for her three songs, she'd earned her place onstage by the sheer force of her songs. Ditto Kris Kristofferson, whose commanding presence helped conceal his vocal failings and the casual demeanor with which he delivered 'Highwayman,' 'Less of Me' and 'Just to Satisfy You.' ('You're a very forgiving crowd,' he said between numbers, acknowledging his occasional lyrical stumbles and off-key moments.)

Jenny Lewis, the former singer of L.A. rock band Rilo Kiley whose work as a solo artist is even better, was the first vocalist of the night, in fact, able to hit all her notes. And, as always, her presence onstage injected a dose of joy into the night's festivities, performing, among others, a Lefty Frizzell song, 'She's Gone, Gone, Gone.' Jackson Browne joined her onstage for a stellar version of 'Let It Be Me,' a duet that Campbell made popular when he recorded it with the great Bobbie Gentry in 1968.

For his part, Browne shined onstage as he and Dawes (who has served as his touring band) offered an exquisite interpretation of the Beach Boys' 'I Know There's an Answer.' And Browne's 'These Days,' written when he was 16 years old and made famous by the late Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico, has over the intervening years quietly become a classic -- and Browne illustrated why.

As is the case with these kinds of tributes, the lot of the openers came out onstage for one final number -- 'Viva Las Vegas.' Few realize that it's Campbell's guitar lick as a session player that powers Elvis Presley's hit single -- without that riff, the song's nothing. With Browne singing lead and Lewis and L.A. vocal duo the Watson Twins offering harmonies and synchronized dance moves, the song offered a glimpse of Campell's influence in a single three-minute burst.

Wearing a blue suit and his best Sunday cowboy boots, Campell walked onstage after an intermission to a standing ovation. He's a man who learned harmony as a kid by singing with his brothers in rural Arkansas, who taught himself guitar and fathered his first child while still a teenager, who spent his 50-plus year career in L.A. His is a classic American tale worthy of a country song: Young man moves to the big city, makes his mark, achieves worldwide fame and fortune, struggles with demons and drugs, finds God and, finally, peace.

These universal stories are what made Campbell famous, and what he and his band, which features three of his children -- Ashley, Shannon and Cal -- delivered. That and his dimpled-smile, down-home charm, both of which remain intact even if his mind reveals an occasional stutter or stumble. Over an hour-and-a-half of hits, he repeatedly displayed his personable self.

Truth be told, though, the most amazing thing about Campbell's set, which kicked off with 'Gentle on My Mind,' continued with 'Galveston' and featured all of his hits, was how curiously inspiring his deficiencies were. A kind of grace resided within the disconnect between Campbell the man and Campbell the singer. His Alzeimer's revealed itself most obviously between each song, when after a little banter he would be told what he was to play next. When that happened, this look of pure joy appeared on his face, as though he were playing the song for the first time.

That reality of a mind gradually abandoning its body is tough to watch, but as the first notes of, for example, 'I Can't Stop Loving You,' began, Campbell's face grew soft and you could almost see the biology of his brain matter accede to the power of his muse. There was no question which was winning. His muse reigned supreme with each glorious solo. Were they more ragged and stumbly than in his prime? Yes. But that didn't matter.

All that mattered was the spirit at those moments, and the truth of the adoration that filled the Bowl, both of which Campbell seemed to allude to in his final song of his final set of his final Los Angeles concert, 'A Better Place.' 'Some days I'm so confused, Lord/My past gets in my way/I need the ones I love, Lord/more and more each day.' Those words never felt more accurate than as he left the stage. The ovation at the Bowl confirmed he's got a lot of support.

For the Record, 1:35 p.m. June 25: An earlier version of this post said Glen Campbell kicked off his Farewell Tour last year at the Nokia Theatre instead of Club Nokia.

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Twitter: @liledit

Photo: Glen Campbell performing at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday, backed by his daughter Ashley on banjo, as part of his Goodbye Tour. The show was a celebration of his extraordinary five-decade-plus career and release of his acclaimed final studio album, "Ghost on the Canvas." He was joined by guests Dawes, Jackson Browne, Kris Kristofferson, Jenny Lewis, Courtney Taylor-Taylor and Lucinda Williams. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times.

Jennifer Lopez to issue greatest-hits package

At some point along the trajectory of Jennifer Lopez's formidable career, you've probably found yourself dancing and humming along to one of her many ubiquitous pop hits. Now, more than a dozen years after her musical debut, the multi-hyphenate diva is ready to take a look back with her first retrospective package.

'Dance Again'the Hits' is set for release July 24 through Epic Records, her former longtime label announced Monday. Lopez has not left her current label, Island Def Jam, but admitted that she contractually owed Epic a package.

The greatest-hits package includes two new dance jams, 'Goin' In' (featuring Flo Rida) and 'Dance Again' (featuring Pitbull), which recently hit No. 1 on the Billboard Dance/Club chart, along with signature hits 'Love Don't Cost a Thing,' 'If You Had My Love' and 'Waiting for Tonight.' The deluxe edition includes bonus tracks and a DVD of music videos.

Marking Supreme Court's Arizona ruling with songs about immigrants

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down most of  Arizona's strict law targeting illegal immigrants. When Arizona's SB 1070 passed in 2010, many Latino songwriters in particular used their music to rail against it. But musicians have been singing about the struggles of immigrants ever since the first troubadour packed up his lyre and wandered to the next town over. In light of this latest ruling, here are five great songs about immigration that are worth revisiting. 

Ry Cooder, "Quicksand"

For decades, Cooder has written blues-rock at the junction of L.A.'s Anglo and Latino cultures. "Quicksand" is one of his most vivid character sketches about a harrowing border crossing.

Rage Against the Machine: " Without a Face"

The Angeleno icons have long worked radical politics into their searing noise-funk. This song is one of the band's most affecting, with a spare breakbeat giving way to pure fury that evokes the loneliness and de-humanization depicted in Zack de la Rocha's rhymes. 

Review: Power 106 FM's Powerhouse at Honda Center

Only one person got booed offstage at Power 106 FM's sold-out Powerhouse concert at Anaheim's Honda Center on Saturday night. Luckily for the show and its producers, it wasn't one of the acts.

Halfway through the night's nonstop lineup of hip-hop acts, the presiding DJs brought out a few local sports heroes, as they often do at Powerhouse. The Dodgers had won at Angels Stadium earlier that day, and before the host could even finish the phrase, '' From your Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim,' the hissing started. The poor Angels player, Torii Hunter, was only a few hundred yards from his home field and he suffered the wrath of unforgiving fans. Only the arrival of the Dodgers' Matt Kemp saved the darkening mood and brought out a few cheers.

Perhaps L.A. Dodgers fans were in a mood for gloating. But the catcalls might have said something about this year's Powerhouse and the state of local hip-hop as well. Unlike previous years, which leaned heavily on the insurgent dance-infused pop-rap that dominates today's airwaves, this year's Powerhouse was relatively orthodox and old school. With a bill heavy on traditional MCs such as T.I., Young Jeezy, Compton's Kendrick Lamar and (in regal post-Coachella form) Snoop Dogg, the set suggested that L.A. rap fans, like L.A. sports fans, are interested in some tried-and-true success.

The undercard at Powerhouse is rarely worth an early arrival, filled with mini-sets by relative newbies, but this year's was an entertaining hot mess. Local upstart Kid Ink mined a Drake-ish singing-rapping hybrid style on his hit 'Time of Your Life.' The DC rapper Wale, on a second round of fame after joining Rick Ross' Maybach Music squad, has a refined snarl of a delivery ' but he unfortunately spent most of his set turning his ire on his own DJ (even, at one point encouraging the audience to boo him ' maybe that makes two jeering victims for the night). The cackling rapper YG reaffirmed his claim to the least classy morning-after anthem ever penned as he performed his hit 'Toot it and Boot It.'

The important part of the night truly started at Lamar's set, and the 25-year-old proved he's at an interesting juncture in rap stardom today. In the '90s and early 2000s, to be Dr. Dre's protege was to get the keys to a mansion with a Champagne moat. But despite a full-court press from nearly every serious figure in hip-hop, Lamar is working to break through to pop stardom. But he lived up to expectations here, roughing up his vocals and taking victory-lap trots through the songs 'A.D.H.D.' and 'The Recipe.'

Young Jeezy and T.I., each unimpeachable stalwarts of rap radio for the last decade, elaborated their tales of Atlanta drug culture in different ways. Jeezy, who relies more on rapping than his blustery ad-libs on his latest, 'TM:103 Hustlerz Ambition,' softened his imposing presence a bit on 'SupaFreak' and 'Leave You Alone,' on which he was joined by Ne-Yo. T.I. has always leaned poppier, and though he alluded to his recent gun-running woes ('I had to take care of some things first'), his set was elastic and snappy -- and his guest MC, the Australian expat Iggy Azalea, made a worthy novice arena appearance.

The show's final third seemed to misplace its priorities a bit. Snoop Dogg, fresh off playing to 140,000 people over two Coachella weekends, has become the éminence grise of the Power 106 universe. He could quit releasing new music entirely for the rest of his Doggfather reign and still headline shows like this on the strength of his catalog and slithery cool alone. So it felt weird that Roc Nation's J. Cole and the local newbie Tyga, each young MCs figuring out their aesthetic, could headline over him.

The latter's Lil Wayne cameo helped his bona fides, and Tyga's clattering tune 'Rack City' is a hit in any decade. But these days, Snoop seems to be aiming past mere rapping into the rare air of cultural transcendence. That'll play in any arena.

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Photo: Kendrick Lamar performs during Powerhouse, the annual summer show from the rap station Power 106 FM, at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Credit: Katie Falkenberg / For The Times.

Another bite of Fiona Apple's 'Idler Wheel'

Fiona Apple takes her time between albums, which explains the seven-year wait for this week's release of 'The Idler Wheel.' It's only the fourth collection from the Venice-based singer-songwriter, whose current tour brings her to the Hollywood Palladium on July 29 and the Greek Theatre on Sept. 14. But she keeps busy during the years in between, obsessing over non-musical projects and endless self-examination, which ultimately fuels these alluring, eccentric songs.

Apple, interviewed in this Sunday's Calendar, had more to talk about than could be squeezed into a single article. Here is some of what got left out from our recent afternoon talk about the new album and where she's been:

On her reaction to completing 'The Idler Wheel':"When we finished the record, I remember telling a friend of mine, 'Oh, it's the best thing I've ever done,' being so confident, being so happy, being so excited. I feel like I can die now. I've done the record I feel like is me.'

On her occasional performances with friend Jon Brion and other personal connections at Largo at the Coronet: 'I really am part of the family there. It's this really huge theater, and it's fun -- I can go anywhere I want. Let's go upstairs! Let's go back there! Just to be able to romp around and Jon being so close and having parties afterwards and everybody's your friend and it's fun. I love playing there. That place has been such a blessing in my life, just in terms of socializing myself because I isolate so much."

On making art: 'I love to do actual art '- drawings or paintings or making things out of wood, attaching things together. I love just making things, but I don't ever do it unless I'm withdrawing. The only time I really do that is when I'm supposed to be writing. It's what I have to do while I'm writing music, because I don't want to sit at the piano the whole time -' so I'll draw and I'll still have the creative thing going.'

On coming up with her 23-word album title, 'The idler wheel is wiser than the driver of the screw and whipping cords will serve you more than ropes will ever do": 'I was up against the wall. All of a sudden it was a big rush. And I stayed up all night and I watched the sunrise, and I was just sitting outside and I was thinking a lot about the idler wheel and it just came out of my head. I texted it to [manager] Andy [Slater], like, 'How's this?' And he was like, 'Great!' and he released it. And I didn't really think about it that much.'

On releasing 'Jonathan," a song about her ex-boyfriend, author Jonathan Ames: 'I would never put somebody's name in a song unless they wanted it. To me, it's not a negative song. I'm not mad at him in the song. But I apologized to Jonathan's girlfriend. I feel like I'm being rude to her. It would be weird if you had a boyfriend, and she were to see people asking me about her boyfriend, and there's a song. I didn't consider that part of it. It was relevant at the time.'

One more reason it takes so long between album releases: 'I've got so much stuff to do at my house. I feel like I'm constantly cleaning. I'm constantly folding laundry and vacuuming. That's why it takes so long! Because of ...  housework.'

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Slices of life from Fiona Apple's new album "The Idler Wheel ..."

--Steve Appleford

Photo: Fiona Apple gets down to business at the South by Southwest festival, offering her first full live performance in advance of a new album. Credit: Jack Plunkett / Associated Press

Songwriters: Pen an ode to West Hollywood, win $5,000 in prizes

One of the hardest parts of writing a lyric is finding a good topic, one that resonates through its universal appeal while descibing something -- or somewhere -- specific. It's what connects Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind," Bruce Springsteen's "Greetings from Asbury Park," the Beach Boys' "Surfin' USA": each captures a setting and fills it with emotion. The West Hollywood Marketing and Visitors Bureau seems to understand this, and is offering $5,000 in cash and prizes to the songwriter who pens the best ode to West Hollywood.

Many Angelenos have a good sense of West Hollywood, and therefore have an advantage when writing a lyric about the city, which is located between Hollywood proper and Beverly Hills, has a population of about 35,000 people and is home to the Sunset Strip.

Those lyricists outside of Southern California, however, might need a little coaching. Yes, they could write about the city's large gay population, which makes it one of the most out-and-open cities in the country. They could write about the allure and danger of the Sunset Strip -- except that Axl Rose and company already took care of that on "Welcome to the Jungle." Or another standby, the ritzy restaurants and hotels that line Sunset Boulevard between Fairfax and Doheny (pronounced "do-HAY-nee").

Dan the Automator, Dogfish concoct a beer/music mash-up

An electronic whiz who is comfortable incorporating jazz, funk, pop and soul into complex hip-hop textures, Dan "The Automator" Nakamura's latest project uses more old-world ingredients. Apples, for instance. And cilantro. 

Like lots of Nakamura's other concoctions, "Positive Contact" is a mix-and-mash of seemingly random components. Unlike any of them, however, it is a beer.

This week, Delaware's adventurous Dogfish Head Brewery began shipping a beer-and-vinyl box set dubbed "Positive Contact," a limited-run collaboration that pairs a 10-inch white vinyl of Nakamura's Deltron 3030 music project with six 750-ml bottles of an ale brewed with Fuji apples, cayenne peppers and cilantro. It should be hitting California retailers in the coming days, if it isn't on shelves already.

Embarking on the project, Dogfish founder Sam Calagione assigned Nakamura perhaps the dream homework assignment of beer nerds everywhere: "I sent Dan every single beer that we make in bottles," Calagione says. "Every day or two for a month-and-a-half he would send me elaborate tasting notes on each beer. The goal was for me to figure out his palate."

Dogfish has a reputation as one of the more experimental -- or simply weird -- craft breweries. The beer designer was the focus of a Discovery Channel series "Brew Masters," which tracked Calagione's quests around the world for ancient, unexpected ingredients. Among its 34 beers are ales concocted with pinot noir juice and the "chemical analysis of 3,000-year-old pottery fragments found in Honduras." The company's former assistant brewmaster, Jon Carpenter, is the lead brewer at L.A.'s burgeoning Golden Road Brewing.

Dogfish's music connections run deep. Chicago resident Jon Langford, leader of long-running punk outfit the Mekons, has designed artwork for the brewery (Langford also paints, and Calagione owns one of his portraits of Johnny Cash). Dogfish has also released a Miles Davis-inspired beer (Bitches Brew) as well as one named after Robert Johnson (Hellhound on My Ale). Last year, Dogfish unleashed Faithfull Ale, a beer that celebrated the 20th anniversary of Pearl Jam's "Ten."

The Pearl Jam ale has been retired, and Calagione doesn't expect to ever bottle it again. It is, as Calagione says, "a collector's item," and bids for bottles on eBay start at about $40. "Positive Contact" sets will be limited to a run of 8,000, and Dogfish is suggesting retailers sell the box set for between $60 and $70. 

Nakamura says expanding into beer is a natural evolution. "It's all sensual," Nakamura says. "Music is sensual. Food is sensual. Beer, wine and alcohol are sensual. So this all makes sense. Whether you make food, wine, music or beer, you're dealing with emotions. That's why there's a certain kind of camaraderie among the elements."

Part Time Punks' shoegaze fest is a noisy way to end the week

For L.A. devotees of the mid-'90s, noisy-pretty British rock known as shoegaze, Sunday is the equivalent of Christmas, a birthday and an unexpected inheritance check arriving all at once.

Park Time Punks, the Echo's Sunday night institution that would be called a dance party if the music wasn't so deliciously morose, has corralled some shoegaze staples and some inspired young distortion-slingers for an all-night mini-festival on Sunday. Topping the bill is a curious but welcome live incarnation of Mark Gardener's pioneering Oxford, UK, band Ride, where the local acolytes Sky Parade will back him up for a set celebrating the 20-year anniversary of Ride's "Going Blank Again" album.

The undercard is strong as well -- Sky Parade gets their own set alongside rougher San Francisco peers Weekend, the goth-tinged and very promising locals Tropic of Cancer and a slate of others who draw connections between the guitar-heavy '90s style and an electronics-doused contemporary take. Tickets are $18, and though everything gets underway at the very un-shoegazery hour of 4:30 p.m., you can just close your eyes and pretend you're in some abandoned East End warehouse in the very early days of John Major as prime minister.

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Photo: Mark Gardener, singer-songwriter for the seminal shoegazer group Ride. Credit: Karen Macmillan

-- August Brown

In Rotation: Francis Bebey's 'African Electronic Music, 1975-1982'

In Rotation: Francis Bebey's "African Electronic Music, 1975-1982." A series in Sunday Calendar about what Times writers and contributors are listening to right now...

French label Born Bad has reissued an important collection of work by Cameroonian-born songwriter-protest singer Francis Bebey, who in his prime was one of the most visible purveyors of the rhythmic makossa music. The release offers a look at an underexamined corner of early electronic music. Bebey, a writer, poet and musician, traveled throughout his life, at various points living in both the United States and Ghana before ending up in Paris. He released 20 albums, many of them using acoustic instruments.

In the 1970s, however, Bebey secured an early synthesizer that he installed in his living room and on which he began composing. Over the next decade, he continued accumulating drum machines and other devices and created curious, magnetic sounds that used as their base the complicated rhythms of the makossa beat -- as crafted on electronic gear that changed the shapes and textures of the tones without affecting the propulsion.

Meek Mill sets tour dates after Drake-Chris Brown club incident

Meek Mill, the new star of Rick Ross' Maybach Music Group, earned some unwanted attention this week after he was sucked into a melee between Chris Brown and Drake at a New York nightclub. Now he's got some tour dates to take his mind off the well-documented incident and try to turn the focus back to his actual rapping.

The new tour includes an Aug. 8 stop at West Hollywood's House of Blues. The tour should be a welcome distraction from the bizarre love triangle that allegedly resulted in the scuffle at W.i.P. nightclub (Mill, like Brown and Drake, has reportedly been romantically linked to Rihanna).Tickets go on sale June 30.

He hasn't entirely left Drake's orbit, however -- his latest single "Amen," off his well-received mixtape "Dreamchasers 2," features Drizzy and the singer Jeremih.

Mill has since said that the fight is all water under the bridge as far as he's concerned, even though at least one partygoer is threatening to sue Drake and three other women are claiming injuries from flying champagne bottles, among other threats, during the brawl. Other folks who happened to be in the club, including NBA star Tony Parker and several models, were collateral damage in the fracas and gave statements to New York City police. The club was closed for code violations.

Mill's debut for Jay-Z's Roc Nation, "Dreams & Nightmares," is slated for an Aug. 28 release. 

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--August Brown

Photo: Meek Mill, via his official Facebook page

Radiohead postpones seven dates in wake of Toronto stage collapse

The band Radiohead is continuing to feel the repercussions of a stage collapse that killed a crew member and injured three others before its show in Toronto on Saturday. On Thursday, the band announced the cancellation of seven upcoming European tour dates. In a statement, the band said it intends to return to its tour schedule July 10 in the south of France. 

The statement briefly addressed the tragedy that occurred at Toronto's Downsview Park, in which a stage collapsed at a Live Nation-promoted show that was to feature Radiohead. Ontario's Labour Ministry has launched an investigation into four of the companies involved in setting up the concert,  Live Nation, Optex Staging & Services, Nasco Staffing Solutions and Ticker Tape Touring, according to the CBC. 

The collapse occurred after the stage had been rigged with Radiohead's equipment, and just an hour before gates were to open.

D'Angelo returning to Los Angeles with House of Blues concert

R&B recluse D'Angelo is in hiding no more. After appearing with the Roots at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Tennessee in June, the sonic manipulator of funk and soul has booked a surprise July 4 date at West Hollywood's House of Blues, according to promoter Live Nation.

The Bonnaroo appearance marked the artist's first U.S. gig in 12 years, and catching D'Angelo at the House of Blues won't be cheap. Tickets are going for $129, once all the requisite fees have been added in. Tickets are on sale now (yes, now) via the Live Nation mobile app. The general on-sale date is Friday at 10 a.m.

D'Angelo has more than 30 songs ready to be released, according to friend, collaborator and Roots drummer Questlove. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Questlove said D'Angelo had recently "discovered Bowie and Zeppelin, the Beatles, 'Pet Sounds,' Captain Beefheart and Zappa," adding that the new works see D'Angelo experimenting more with guitars. It may or may not be coming out in late summer/early fall, according to Questlove. 

D'Angelo has released just two studio albums, works that in 1995 and 2000 helped usher in the neo-soul movement and then toyed with the genre. His last, 2000's "Voodoo," is considered a masterpiece that some say is on par with the best of Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. It's a dark, daring collection, with songs seemingly materializing out of foggy, middle-of-the-night jam sessions. Since then, D'Angelo has retreated to Europe and had some run-ins with the law, but all reports out of Bonnaroo are that the artist hasn't lost a step.

After the July 4 gig in West Hollywood, D'Angelo is set to appear at the Essence Festival in New Orleans. 

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-- Todd Martens

Image: D'Angelo at the House of Blues in 2000. Credit: Ann Johansson / For The Times.

In rotation: Kelly Hogan's 'I Like to Keep Myself in Pain'

In rotation: Kelly Hogan's "I Like To Keep Myself In Pain." A series in Sunday Calendar about what Times writers and contributors are listening to right now...

'My name is Frank Sinatra,' sings Kelly Hogan on the M. Ward-penned 'Daddy's Little Girl.' She's not, of course, but she pulls it off and that is no easy feat. Hogan turns the character study into gripping drama, delivering the lyrics with middle-of-the-night thoughtfulness and careful, woozy phrasing. 

There's 12 more where that came from, each one expertly crafted with an all-star cast of songwriters (Robyn Hitchcock, the late Vic Chesnut) and a knock-out band that includes Booker T. Jones and the Dap-Kings' Gabe Roth.

They lead Hogan on excursions into country, soul and pop, and never steal attention away from this long unheralded artist. Whether it's the bar-band grandeur of 'Haunted,' the rootsy nostalgia-turned-stubbornness of 'Golden' or the symphonic vocals of the recession blues 'We Can't Have Nice Things,' Hogan sings with graceful warmth. It's an album that begs for repeated listens, as Hogan is an artist who approaches each song as if it's a story to unfold.

Kelly Hogan
'I Like To Keep Myself In Pain'
Anti-

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-- Todd Martens

Photo: Kelly Hogan. Credit: Neko Case

Green Day cancels Burbank show it never officially announced

Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong has been hyping a free rock 'n' roll "sex party" since June 13, but not everyone, apparently, agreed with the singer's declaration on Twitter that "chaos=love." And now, the planned, not-so-secret show, one for which the band never revealed a date or location, has been preemptively canceled by the group. 

While minimal details were unveiled, the show was, according to a cancellation notice, going to be "massive." A representative from the city of Burbank tells Pop & Hiss that Green Day was looking to stage a concert on the streets near its record label, Warner Bros. Records.

"Initially," said Joy Forbes, Burbank's deputy city manager, "they said it was for Warner Bros. employees and some friends and family. The original request was for a private event." 

The band applied for a street use permit, but Armstrong's very-public tweets raised some eyebrows, as suddenly the concert was looking to be not-so-private. With Warner Bros. Records adjacent to a residential community, the city expressed its concerns.

Forbes said the city was ready to welcome Green Day with open arms, and suggested other locations as a compromise. The outdoor amphitheater the Starlight Bowl was suggested, as was Johnny Carson Park.

Either location would have eased fire and police concerns, and could have each accommodated around 5,000 or so guests. Forbes said the city was told that the more traditional venues were not what the band was looking for. 

As late as June 17, Armstrong tweeted, "The not so secret show in LA area will be some time this week." Earlier, the artist teased the show as one in which fans could bring their own booze, and he joked that clothing was optional.

The band's official statement read that "permits needed for the show were denied by the city due to crowd control issues.The anticipated turnout was well into the thousands, and after monitoring the situation, fears were the number would dramatically swell and pose serious concern for safety of concert-goers once the location was made public."

Forbes said the band's statement was "fair," and expressed regret that all parties couldn't agree on an alternate location. The first of Green Day's three new albums, ¡Uno!," is due Sept. 25. 

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 Image: Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

Liz Phair on new record: 'I'm going to get this one right'

Liz Phair is working on a new album, and last week in Los Angeles she shared her dreams for it. "My fantasy is that this comes out on Matador," she says, referring to the famed independent label that released her first three albums, including the career-defining 1993 debut "Exile in Guyville."

She's going to have to record it before she worries about finding a label, but Phair hopes to be on the road this fall, either previewing or supporting what she says will be a rock-focused album. 

Phair was last heard on 2010's "Funstyle," an Internet release that placed sarcasm and experimentation ahead of songcraft. It was a wild left turn from her last major-label effort, 2005's "Somebody's Miracle," an album that was drenched in studio gloss and attempted to force Top-40 hooks into Phair's loose, conversational approach. Phair resurfaces next week with an end-credits song to the DreamWorks/Touchstone film "People Like Us," a song that is a collaboration with Bollywood composer A.R. Rahman.

Pop & Hiss will have more on the partnership in coming days, but speaking on the afternoon of the film's premiere Phair promised that fans wouldn't have to wait too long for a new album. Unlike the off-the-cuff "Funstyle," songs that Phair said cost her management and label deals, the new record will be a more cohesive affair.

"I'm working on a proper rock record, a good, old-school rock record. Finally. I had a lot of issues to work out," Phair says, laughing and slinking into her chair.

"But this record has been a very beautiful experience. I'm not going to screw up the production, either. I'm going to get this one right. I have my head screwed on right. I haven't been this way in a long time."

She credits her performance in 2010 at the Matador's 21st anniversary concerts in Las Vegas as reinvigorating her approach to music. Phair shared a stage with the likes of Guided by Voices and Yo La Tengo, and even dueted with Ted Leo.

"Oh, my God, what a godsend that was," she says of the experience. "What an amazing homecoming. That ended a whole cycle of pain. It was a rebirth. I remembered who I once was, and they remembered not to hate me so much. They remembered that it's not all that ferociously awful, what I have done."

Meek Mill: Chris Brown, Drake not to blame for brawl

Now that the broken glass has settled following last week's messy nightclub brawl that reportedly involved Chris Brown and Drake and left four people injured, more details have emerged, only adding to the night's confusion.

Meek Mill, the Maybach Music Group MC reportedly involved in the scuffle, has blasted claims that Drake instigated the fight by hurling a bottle at Brown at New York nightclub W.i.P.

"I never seen Chris Brown or Drake throw a bottle, and I was there," Meek, who is currently touring with Drake, told XXL magazine Monday. "Chris and Drake, them two was there, but it's other people that be around that take ' it to the next level.

"Things just happen in the club. I seen girls in there throwing bottles... All types of people."

News of Thursday's brawl hit the net with fury and bookended months of a rumored feud between Drake and Brown, allegedly over Rihanna. Coincidentally, she was linked to Meek recently, and it was just recently that all three men had  engaged in a series of subtweets on the subject.

Following the incident, Drake's camp stressed that the rapper 'did not participate in any wrongdoing of any kind,' while Brown unleashed a series of profane tweets about the night. He quickly deleted a number of tweets, but he didn't take down a picture of his chin split open. Meek also denied any involvement.

As New York City police continue their investigation, a victim has stepped forward and announced that she is pursing legal options.

The victim's lawyer is claiming that his client suffered a spinal injury when she was trampled during the chaos and told TMZ that Drake was to blame: "Your client instigated a brawl with Mr. Chris Brown ... [Drake's] actions were reckless and negligent in inflaming a violent mob ... My client personally observed several members of [Drake's] entourage throwing bottles of champagne with reckless and criminal disregard of the well-being of the innocent bystanders,' read the letter.

NBA star Tony Parker also claimed injuries related to the fight; a model claims to have suffered a blow to the head from a bottle and may require plastic surgery; and another woman said that she suffered a gash to the arm that required 12 stitches and that she is considering legal action.

Meek also revealed that he and Brown spoke after the incident and that there was no beef between the two. Drake, meanwhile, made a quick reference to the evening during a recent tour stop.

'What [Brown] tweeted was just that me and Meek Mill ain't got no problem,' Meek said. 'I talked to him immediately after that, on the phone afterwards, like immediately, like, 'There's nothing there, this-that-and-the-third.' Chris Brown be in clubs. He be around situations like this. Things get out of hand that don't mean it's out of hand with me and him or whoever, not even him and Drake.'

Last weekend, W.i.P. was shuttered for code violations unrelated to the fight. No arrests have been made in relation to the incident, but authorities have subpoenaed security tapes from the club.

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-- Gerrick D. Kennedy

twitter.com/gerrickkennedy

Photos: Chris Brown, left, and Drake. Credit: Matt Sayles and Chris Pizzello / Associated Press.

Spotify updates its radio function, takes on Pandora

The popular music service Spotify announced today an update and improvement to its radio function, one that aims to go head to head with Pandora, the online streaming service that handpicks playlists based on listeners' favorite artists and musical styles. To wit: The Spotify app, once available only to premium subscribers, is now also available to users of the free service.

The major update is aimed at mobile devices, an outlet on which Pandora has a virtual lock when it comes to listening to streamed music on the go. That company's popular app is ubiquitous on smart phones; by updating its application and concentrating on radio, Spotify hopes to parlay its increased visibility into taking a chunk of Pandora's market share.

So that's the business aspect. But how does Spotify measure up from a listener's perspective? I've always been of the mind that there are two types of listeners: those who prefer to pick their own soundtrack, and those who rely on tastemakers to help them match their mood with their music. That's one reason why I have been a vocal fan of Spotify and have devoted less attention to Pandora. I choose my music, and opt for other means of discovery. But I have the luxury of access to a lot of music.

With 'Believe,' Justin Bieber's at top of his vocal game

Justin Bieber's new album 'Believe' is beautifully sung and deftly adds a Euro-house beat to the teen idol's usual R&B mix.

At this point in his whirlwind career, Justin Bieber's singing ranks among the least important drivers of his fame. More significant in a minute-to-minute sense are his freshly upswept hair (a kind of post-emo pompadour), his exclamatory Twitter feed ('FRANCE!! i see u. thank u!!') and the many, many photographs depicting his and girlfriend Selena Gomez's support of the Southern California fast-food industry (these kids love their Chick-fil-A). We're talking the nuts and bolts, in other words, of 21st century teen idoldom ' the everyday texture of a life lived under the social-media microscope.

Yet if Bieber's voice has gotten relatively short shrift over the two years since he released 'My World 2.0,' the Canadian-born pop star's new sophomore full-length serves as a gentle correction: For all its cutting-edge production and grown-up talk of 'swag, swag, swag,' 'Believe' feels designed primarily to showcase his increasing vocal ability; it might be the year's most beautifully sung recording.

As befits a young man who turned 18 in March, Bieber's voice has deepened from the mall-rat squeak captured in early tunes like 'One Less Lonely Girl' and the adorably aspirational 'Bigger,' which urged a girlfriend to believe in him 'like a fairy tale / Put a tooth under your pillowcase.' (The innocent bedtime fantasy was a recurring trope on Bieber's 2009 debut EP, 'My World': 'I know they said belief in love is a dream that can't be real,' he acknowledged in 'Favorite Girl,' 'So, girl, let's write a fairy tale and show 'em how we feel.')

That inevitable downward tendency, though, hasn't thickened Bieber's appealingly lightweight tone in new songs such as 'Boyfriend' and 'Catching Feelings'; the latter, especially, demonstrates how nimbly he can navigate a melody that sounds borrowed from teen-years Michael Jackson.

Jackson's early work is an obvious lodestar on 'Believe,' as is 'Justified,' the solo debut that Justin Timberlake released in 2002 following his stint with the hugely successful boy band 'N Sync. In 'Die In Your Arms,' Rodney Jerkins ' one of Bieber's key producers here, along with Adam Messinger and Nasri ' samples Jackson's 'We've Got a Good Thing Going,' from 1972's 'Ben' album; 'Take You' evokes the clipped funk of Timberlake's 'Like I Love You.'