I’m not exactly sure how historians mark the end of an era, but as far as music goes nothing marks an era like the second (or third…or fourth) Greatest Hits package from an artist or artists who defined and introduced a radial style of music into mainstream culture. Ice Cube’s The Essentials will be released on September 16th; N.W.A.’s N.W.A And Their Family Tree will street on September 30th. Pour some of that 40 out.

From Capitol / Priority Records:

World-famous rap artist and film star Ice Cube has personally compiled and sequenced 18 of his top solo hits and standout tracks for a new Capitol/Priority collection titled Ice Cube: The Essentials.  Available September 16 on CD and digitally, Ice Cube: The Essentials offers, in one hard-hitting collection, the best recordings of Ice Cube’s 18-year solo music career, including a track from his new album, Raw Footage.

In the late 1980s, Ice Cube began his career as a member of Compton, California’s pioneering, critically acclaimed and notorious gangsta rap group, N.W.A. On his first solo album, 1990’s platinum-certified AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, Ice Cube’s razor-sharp sociopolitical and cultural missives from the streets went beyond N.W.A’s gangbanging braggadocio, and he dismissed bicoastal rap rivalries to collaborate with New York’s hip-hop heavyweights Public Enemy. Rolling Stone awarded the album its highest 5-star rating, the album’s title track topped Billboard’s Hot Rap Singles chart, and the album peaked at #6 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart.

Firmly established as a solo artist, Ice Cube became a musical and cultural lightning rod, his music attracting alternating praise and disdain from the media and moralists. Despite being singled out in an unprecedented public statement of condemnation from Billboard upon its release, Cube’s 1991 album, Death Certificate, debuted at #1 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop chart and at #2 on the Billboard Top 200, and was soon certified platinum.

To commemorate the historic and ongoing musical and cultural influence of N.W.A, Capitol/Priority will release N.W.A And Their Family Tree on September 30.  The new CD and digital collection features a cross-section of 18 genre-defining tracks by the pioneering gangsta rap group and its founders, plus Mack 10, Westside Connection, Snoop Dogg, and other N.W.A-inspired artists.  On October 3 at 11pm ET/PT, VH1 will premiere a new 90-minute Rock Doc, “N.W.A: The World’s Most Dangerous Group.”

Two decades have passed since N.W.A rocketed Straight Outta Compton to multi-platinum success, worldwide acclaim and notoriety as rap music’s most powerful force, redefining forever the boundaries of popular music. In the course of little more than three years, N.W.A’s Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, MC Ren and Yella reached unprecedented gangsta superstardom with their no-holds-barred missives from Los Angeles’ toughest streets.

N.W.A And Their Family Tree charts the group’s lineage through 18 key tracks, including what could be considered the House of N.W.A’s most valuable heirloom, the explosive title track from Straight Outta Compton, the group’s history-making, double platinum 1988 release. Also included are N.W.A’s “Fuck Tha Police,” “Dopeman,” “Express Yourself,” and “Boyz-N-The Hood” (N.W.A featuring Eazy-E), Ice Cube’s “It Was A Good Day,” “Eazy-E’s “We Want Eazy,” M.C. Ren’s “Final Frontier,” The D.O.C.’s “It’s Funky Enough,” Westside Connection’s “Bow Down” and “Gangstas Make The World Go ‘Round,” Mack 10’s “Foe Life,” Snoop Dogg featuring Xzibit’s “Bitch Please,” and other top tracks from the scions of N.W.A.

The other day, a post on Chiodos frontman and solo artist Craig Owen’s website said that he had almost O.D.ed on drugs and was taken to a hospital, then a nuthouse for observation. The post was quickly taken down, but Owens has now updated his blog with the details of the event, the situation surrounding it and his plans for the future. It’s kind of tl;dr but if you’re bored here it is:

So, it’s no secret that I have recently went through one of the hardest times in my life. On Sunday, July 20th, I attempted to overdose on prescribed Xanax at my home here in Michigan. Flash ahead 12 hours later, I woke up in the emergency room surrounded by my family and best friends, with an IV in my left arm, and hooked up to machines. I felt confused, angry, selfish, and completely embarrassed. After being admitted to the hospital for a couple of days, I made my way to recovery and built up enough strength and courage with the support of my loved ones enough to make it back home.

I am okay, though. Thankfully, I had no permanent physical damage to myself from this.
This isn’t something that I went through by myself. I am, by no means, alone in this. My family and close friends have been by my side each minute since the incident and, you, my fans, have been right there with me too.

I have received an incredible amount of MySpace messages, comments, emails, instant messages, text messages and voice mails supporting me through this time in my life. So many people loved me more than I ever thought and the amount of happiness that this brings to me is more than I ever could describe.

You have all shown me a new, blinding light within myself and from that ray you seem to shine on me with every one of your beautiful comments (and I read every single one of them), not to mention your undeniable support. Thanks to you, I’ve already began to return to my “normal” self- a person that I had forgotten all about.

Why did this happen?

I have been battling with manic depression, bipolar disorder, and constant anxiety attacks for years. This disease has caused me to hide in my bedroom for weeks at a time, push away the most important people in my life, and learn to hate myself even. I have tried to remain strong through the years, fighting off urges and using the undying support of my fans, friends, family, and loved ones to turn my depression into an art- a music to share with the world.

I also have been speaking with a therapist for around a year now, maybe more. This has helped me to come in touch with who I am as a human being and why I do the things that I do. Rationalizing my imperfections and trying to wear them as if they were badges of honor is something that I had learned to pride myself off of- until this incredibly selfish and stupid act I pulled.

What’s next?

I’m looking towards the future and have been blinded by the brightness of it. After taking care of myself over the past few days, and talking through this situation with my family, friends, and managers, I am committed to creating only positive actions out of the deepest and darkest low I have found myself in with this. I will not be canceling any upcoming shows, with the exception of this Sunday’s show (7/27) in Albany, NY with P.O.D and Everclear. My solo show this Saturday (7/26), WILL STILL BE HAPPENING, and will be an emotional and therapeutic experience, to say the least. With it being in Detroit, and being able to perform softly, with spoken-words, and seeing all of the people that have been by my side though this entire thing, I hope to find a new bliss within this rut I have found myself in.

I cannot wait enough to get back out onto the road with Chiodos for our just-announced headlining tour this August to October. Being in front of all of you gives me such strength and if I hadn’t been home so much for the past few months, thinking too much and allowing darkness to overcome me, who knows if this would have even had happened.

I have a long road ahead of me, no doubt, but I feel that this experience has, oddly enough, given me new strength to take control of my situation and it has shown my loved ones (and myself) the seriousness of what I’ve been struggling with too.

I will not stop playing music, writing, or opening myself up to the people that matter most to me. All we have is one another and this entire situation is nothing but a GIANT reminder that we ALL need to stay strong and hold one another up during even the hardest of times.
I love you- Craig.

Okay, show of hands: Who here enjoyed Ben Folds somber, introspective pop songwriting following his stint with the Ben Folds Five? Okay, now who liked Ben Folds’ music with a dorky sense of humor?

According to this press release, Ben Folds may be splittign the middle with his upcoming album, Way To Normal.

From Big Hassle:

Epic Records is proud to announce the release of the much-anticipated new album from Ben Folds, WAY TO NORMAL, on September 30, 2008. The album, Folds’ third as a solo artist since the break up of the Ben Folds Five in 2000, was mostly recorded at his studio in Nashville and produced by Dennis Herring (Elvis Costello, Modest Mouse, The Hives). Featuring Folds on vocals and piano, Way to Normal also features long-time bassist Jared Reynolds and drummer Sam Smith as well as a guest vocal from indie pop heroine Regina Spektor on the album’s first single, “You Don’t Know Me.”

Way to Normal is an exuberant, raucous, and sometimes profane mix of sure-fire crowd-pleasers (”Hiroshima,” “Bitch Went Nuts,” and the frenetically fuzzed-out “Dr. Yang”), cheerful snark-fests (”The Frown Song,” “Brainwascht”), and thoughtful, moving ballads (”Cologne,” “Kylie From Connecticut”) that Folds wrote at the end of 2007 following the finalization of a two-year divorce.

But it should not be assumed that Way to Normal is Folds’ version of Marvin Gaye’s Here My Dear or Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks (though Folds says that in the early stages of recording he came close to calling the album “Blood on the Keyboard”).

“The songs are not topical,” Folds says. “I was not interested in making a record about the D-word. I got all that stuff out of my system on the last record [2005's pensive Songs for Silverman], which was deliberately stoic. This new album is really about me being free, which is why it feels cathartic and expressive. It’s about me coming back to being myself.” (Hence the title.) “I came out of the courthouse, kissed the ground, and walked straight into the studio. I felt like a bottle of champagne that had been shaken for 18 months and popped open in the studio. That’s why this record has so much energy.”
(more…)

So this weekend when I was hungover as fuck I was flipping through the music section of Comcast On-Demand passing on the typical pop shite when I came across something that struck me as highly improbable, a clip of Buckethead playing at some place called “The Cactus Club.” Buckethead is, of course, the former guitarist for post-Slash Guns N’ Roses, as well as a storied solo artist and co-conspirator of everyone from Bill Laswell to Les Claypool. He is probably best known for the fact that he wears a chicken bucket and a Kabuki looking mask at ALL TIMES (in fact, he lost a potential gig playing for Ozzy Osbourne because he wouldn’t take his bucket off). I of course, hit play and expected to see Buckethead doing his thing at some random 500-seat club in somewhere or another USA, but the clip turned out to be of a young Buckethead playing in someone’s backyard, from the recetly released and aptly-named Young Buckethead DVD. If you play guitar you will probably want to quit after watching if, and if you don’t play guitar you’ll probably never want to start. But if you still think you have what it takes after watching the clip, your next stop should be the legendary “Lesson” with an older but equally as weird Buckethead here.