Lately, freak-folk’s most endearing freak Devendra Banhart and his band have been renting a home in Topanga Canyon, California, just outside of Los Angeles. There, they built a recording studio and put the final touches on Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, due out September 25. Devendra also reportedly got a rude awakening, when a female fan recently crept through his bedroom window.

Now might be a good time to buy that Powerball lottery ticket. With an estimated 20 million fans already registered for the opportunity to purchase Led Zeppelin tickets, your odds of winning bagfuls of loot are slightly better than those of seeing the mighty Zep at their performance in November.

Whitesnake, who obviously believe in getting the word out early, have just announced that their new album, Good to be Bad, will be released on May 13, 2008 through SPV Records.

On September 12th 2007, James Brown bandmate Bobby Byrd died of cancer, at the age of 73. Heaven just got a little more funky.

While details surrounding the incident were unclear at press time, Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds suffered what has been described as a "severe" head injury in an incident that took place sometime after the VMAs early Monday morning. He remains under physicians' care in a Las Vegas hospital.

While details surrounding the incident were unclear at press time, Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds suffered what has been described as a "severe" head injury in an incident that took place sometime after the VMAs early Monday morning. He remains under physicians' care in a Las Vegas hospital.

The White Stripes have canceled upcoming tour dates "due to health issues."

One of Iceland’s top exports and definitely its coolest, Sigur Rós oozes mood even when they don’t say a word. It’s been nearly 15 years since the quartet first introduced their awe-inspiring, otherworldly sound—crafted in part by guitarist Jónsi Birgisson, who utilizes a cello bow heavy with resin and drenches his Gibson Les Paul in reverb—and on November 6, the band will celebrate their career thus far with the live double disc Hvarf/Heim. The album will also coincide with the release of Heima, a DVD of live concert footage captured last summer.

According to a source at Universal, The Best Of Guns N’ Roses, due November this year, features unreleased tracks from the upcoming (no, really) Chinese Democracy album. A friend close to the source said this is Axl’s version of the Greatest Hits, supposed to calm the fans down and test waters for the new band. He said they were also releasing a music video with this. No word about a release date for that mystery album though.