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So, there's been something of a Michael Jackson news meltdown this week. Perhaps understandably, given that the singer was arguably the world's most famous person and one of its most curious too.

Of course, speculation has been rife. Despite autopsy reports saying otherwise, many, including Jackson's father Joe, suggested that there may have been foul play involved in his death. Then came reports that his children, who have been placed in the custody of the singer's mother Katherine, were not the biological offspring of either him or their cut off mother Debbie Rowe. Guesses were made about his financial situation and whether or not he'd actually left a will (he had). Oh, and let's not forget the fact that he isn't even dead, according to michaeljacksonsightings.com. And I haven't even mentioned the butter statue in Iowa.

But, yeah, this is CMU Weekly, which apparently updates you on matters relating to music. So, while Michael Jackson does feature heavily in the news section this week, we've tried to keep it relevant to that subject. Sorry if you were hoping to hear more about the butter statue.

There's other stuff, too. Because other things have actually happened this week. We've got a mighty selection of reviews, a fantastic group of quotes, a cluster of earth-shattering tips, a collection of very fine interviews, and the Where Are They Now? section. And there's a chance to win VIP tickets to the launch party for Bent's upcoming best of compilation.

Please, attempt to contain yourself.

Team CMU

		UNRELEASED JACKO RECORDINGS COULD NOW SURFACE So, can we expect any posthumous new material from Jacko? Could he take over from Tupac as the most prolific dead pop star? Well, perhaps he could, because there are reports that Jacko had amassed a "mountain" of unreleased recordings by the time of his death. The Associated Press report that the singer was sitting on numerous recordings, some unused tracks from studio sessions from previous albums, others more recent creations, including those from his much reported but unreleased collaborations with Akon and Black Eyed Pea Will.i.am. They quote the former boss of Sony Music, Jacko's primary record label, who says there are some real gems among the rejected tracks from past album sessions. Tommy Mottola told the AP: "There are dozens and dozens of songs that did not end up on his albums. People will be hearing a lot of that unreleased material for the first time ever. There's just some genius and brilliance in there".

		AEG BOSS TALKS JACKSON Randy Phillips the boss of AEG Live, the promoters of the planned Jacko comeback at London's O2, has been talking about the singer's health during preparations for the big fifty night residency, and about rumours he is now planning some sort of Jackson tribute show that may also take place at the Dome. Addressing rumours that Jackson was already looking ill prior to his death, Phillips said that filmed footage of the star's rehearsals exists (which has since been released) that proves he was healthy and fit enough to do the shows, while adding that just last week, as rehearsals reached their climax, Jackson had told him "Now I know I can do this". He also said that all the sets and routines that had been developed for the aborted Jacko residency may now be used in a series of tribute concerts, possibly also at the O2 (although presumably not as many as fifty), and that he was in discussions with the Jackson family about that. Though in terms of making money out of the whole ill-fated Jacko project, Phillips seems to be counting more on releasing that aforementioned rehearsal footage. Jackson never released a live album, so there is definite value in both the audio and video content AEG compiled during the rehearsal process. Coming so close, as some of it did, to his sudden death, the content also has an extra appeal, if a slightly sinister one.

		MICHAEL JACKSON DOMINATES UK CHARTS Various people I've spoken to in the last few days have been pondering what the most fitting tribute to Michael Jackson would be. I saw one guy on Saturday morning wearing a homemade t-shirt, and a group of Londoners turned out for an impromptu moonwalk outside Liverpool Street Station last Friday evening, but it seems that most people just rushed out to buy as many Michael Jackson CDs as they could. As a result, Jackson had the number one album this week, with his 2003 compilation 'Number Ones'. Also in this week's top ten, at seven, is 'Thriller', plus you'll find another four Jacko albums in the top 20 and a total of seven in the top 75. In fact, if you stretch it out to the top 200 there are eleven Michael Jackson and Jackson Five albums in the chart. Which is quite a lot. In the singles chart Jackson has 16 solo singles in the top 75, with that number rising to 20 if you include Jackson Five songs too. However, none managed to break the top ten, with the highest entry being 'Man In The Mirror' at 11. But the fact that none have made the top ten doesn't stop this being a mighty achievement - because these chart positions are based almost exclusively on less than two days of sales - from Friday till the chart was counted on Sunday.

		SWEDISH SOFTWARE FIRM BUYS THE PIRATE BAY A Swedish software firm have bought rogue BitTorrent tracker The Pirate Bay for $7.7 million. Global Gaming Factory X, which is also reportedly buying another software company that specialises in P2P technology, Perrialism, have reportedly said they want to reinvent the controversial multimedia content search service so that it no longer falls foul of copyright laws. A spokesman said they will develop a new Pirate Bay business model that "satisfies the requirements and needs of all parties, content providers, broadband operators, end users, and the judiciary". Although the company's boss admitted he hasn't yet met with any record companies or music publishers to discuss how that might work. He might have a shock when he does. Meanwhile, The Pirate Bay's founders tried to assure current users that the new owners wouldn't destroy the service they love by making it legit. They said in a blog: "If the new owners screw around with the site, nobody will keep using it. That's the biggest insurance one can have that the site will be run in the way that we all want to". They added that any profits from the sale would be put into a foundation to lobby for more freedom of speech and information on the net.

		CHRIS BROWN DENIES BET AWARD RUMOURS Chris Brown has denied that he was ever planning to perform at last weekend's BET awards in the US, in response to rumours that he was dropped from the bill at the last minute. The gossips have this week been saying that the R&B star was due to play at the ceremony, but was ultimately denied the chance to perform because organisers had come under pressure - in particular from the Jay-Z camp - over Brown's recent altercation with former girlfriend Rihanna. The singer appeared in court on 22 Jun, of course, and was given community service and five years probation for beating up his ex. A representative for Brown has said that the claims are false, saying: "That's not true - he was never confirmed to perform".

		THIS WEEK'S REVIEWS Next week will be another top class week for new releases. Just check out what the CMU review team have been listening to with their ears: Franz Ferdinand, Florence And The Machine, Kid British, The Maccabees, Marmaduke Duke, Paper Route, The Phenomenal Handclap band, Slow Club, Three Trapped Tigers, and Tobacco. Find out what they thought with their brains here.

Want more? Want daily in-depth music news? Want all this for free? Well, ha, you're in luck. Click here to subscribe to the CMU Daily. back to top

WIN VIP TICKETS TO SEE BENT
After two years away, Nail Tolliday and Simon Mills, aka Bent, return with a new best of compilation and a special album launch show next month.

As well as covering all the best tracks from their four critically acclaimed albums, the compilation will come with a second disc of previously unreleased new material that will give a taste of what's to come on their fifth album, which is due out next year

'The Best Of Bent' will be released on 20 Jul, and on 22 Jul they will take to the stage at newly re-opened Garage in London to celebrate with a very special, one-off live show. Support will come from Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and there will be DJ sets from Faithless member Sister Bliss and Mighty Mouse.

We have two pairs of VIP tickets, which get you access to a VIP lounge and a £10 drinks voucher, to give away. All you need to do is email competitions@unlimitedmedia.co.uk by 10 Jul to be in with a chance of getting your hands on them.

Early bird tickets are available now for just £8. Click here to buy them.

Look what they won...
Well done to Sarah Steel who has only gone and won herself a pair of tickets to the Field Day festival. And hurrah for that.

Michael Eavis says he will pay a fine for Bruce Springsteen's Glastonbury headline set running over its curfew himself: "I gave him 10 minutes and he took nine. I'll pay the fine - £3000. Paul McCartney [2004 headliner] paid me back, [but] I'm going to pay the Bruce Springsteen one myself. It's not a lot because it was fantastic. The last nine minutes were spectacular"

Pete Doherty says that he could handle a Libertines reunion on top of his other commitments: "Even though people presume that Babyshambles was a substitute band, it existed back in the day alongside The Libertines. It's not weird having all three going, it's ideal. It's what I want, just to make music and then perform it or release it in a way that's the most natural"

Trent Reznor reveals that, unlike Chris Cornell, he resisted his former label Interscope's attempts to get him to work with Timbaland: "I turned in [2005 Nine Inch Nails album 'With Teeth'] and I would get back, 'Hey you know, maybe we need to put some beats on this record'. 'What do you mean, beats?'. 'Well, this urban thing is really taking off. You'll get it in the club. You know, what if we had Dre or somebody...'"

Swedish indie popster Jens Lekman reveals that he came down with the H1N1 virus, aka swine flu, on a flight to France: "I was crossing the Atlantic when things started getting really bad. A ring of empty seats formed around me. People's eyes were kind but determined, they read 'Poor you, I really wish you all the best but if you come near me or my kid I will have to stab you with this plastic fork'. Now I'm in quarantine for ten days"

La Roux's Elly Jackson admits, having previously got annoyed about the suggestion in some interviews, that there are some 80s influences on the duo's debut album. No, really. I know, I didn't believe it either. Crazy, isn't it?: "I think it'd be quite weird if I said, 'Really, do you think it sounds 80s, that's a bit mad isn't it? I thought it was jazz-funk'. Yeah, of course it is. But hopefully with a modern tinge"

Lady GaGa brands her music "soulless". But she thinks that by doing that she's being clever: "Warhol said art should be meaningful in the most shallow way. When you listen to a song like 'LoveGame', is it communicating my soul to you? No... I make soulless electronic pop. But when you're on ecstasy in a nightclub grinding up against someone and my music comes on, you'll feel soul"

		Blur's Hyde Park shows to be recorded. Blur's shows in London's Hyde Park this week will be made available as live albums later this year, so all you people who missed out will be able to pretend you were there. Both shows will be made available for sale separately and as a boxset. No release date has yet been set but pre-orders can be placed on the band's official website - blur.sandbag.uk.com/Store/DisplayItems-1-0-0.html

		Darker My Love. This noisy shoegazing five piece from LA have a new album out called '2'. After listening to it, I immediately felt the urge to listen to A Place To Bury Strangers' album from last year, only to later find out that these new guys are supporting the Mute-signed trio on a couple of European dates. Perfect. There's plenty of feedback, horns, violin, cello and moments that can only be described as 'epic' - www.myspace.com/darkermylove

		Fukkk Offf returns. German producer Bastian Heerhorst, aka Fukkk Offf, whose single 'Rave Is King' was one of our favourites of last year, is back with another slice of heavy-bassed party music. 'Love Me Hate Me Kiss Me Kill Me' is released via Coco Machete/Module on 27 Jul. Remixes of the single come from SCNDL, Disco Of Doom (aka Rogue Element and Tom Real) and Polymorphic - www.myspace.com/fukkkofff

		James Pants. Friends at the recent Sonar festival in Barcelona were raving about James Pants' live set, highlighting it over the likes of Orbital and Grace Jones as THE set of the event. The recorded version of this guy's work is not quite the same, but there's still great things to be found in his lo-fi approach to electronica, which is firstly redolent of New Yorkers Suicide, but with the spirit of Zapp's synth funk thrown in - www.myspace.com/jamespants

		Oldham family take calls for Soulja Boy. A family in Oldham are receiving up to 60 phonecalls a day from Soulja Boy fans trying to speak to the R&B star. The lyrics to his latest single, 'Kiss Me Thru The Phone', contain a twelve digit number which, if dialled without the US dialling code within the UK, puts callers straight through to Gerry Matley and his wife Catriona Howard Smith - news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8127643.stm

		Queens English. Instead of dealing with 'guns' and 'bitches', Queens English's lyrics focus on the far more middle class problems of lazy friends, smoking weed and girls. So drugs and 'bitches' then. Their music flits from rolling, rapid fire Foreign Beggars-inspired tracks through to mellower and almost absurdly summery numbers, which makes you wish you were their mates and could go round for tea - www.myspace.com/queensenglish

		Q1 How did you start out making music? KING CHARLES: "I borrowed my friend's mum's guitar that had only ever been strummed to the tune of 'Blowing In The Wind' and learnt to play it. I played the cello before that, but it didn't cross my mind to write music until I heard Bob Dylan for the first time and realised you don't have to be like any one else" Read more of King Charles' answers

		Q2 What inspired your latest album? THE PHENOMENAL HANDCLAP BAND: "We were listening to a lot of late 70s/early 80s disco tracks that had been co-opted by hip hop DJs like Afrika Bambaata or Kool Herc. Those records often moved away from overproduced studio perfection and instead had an almost accidental brilliance to them. We were also listening to some regional radio hits that had some oddball arrangement choices that we found really inspiring" Read more of The Phenomenal Handclap Band's answers

		Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track? PAPER ROUTE: "Usually someone writes an idea, whether it's complete or not, and submits it to everyone else. If the others agree that the idea has potential, it usually ends up with someone else to sort of edit it. It may get passed around like so and everyone takes a turn making it better. Then we will all spend hours in a room together pacing and staring at each other until someone has an idea that we try. This can create unity and division, but we seem to bring the best out of each other... mostly! Sometimes a song will start and finish with little drama, but it's pretty rare" Read more of Paper Route's answers

		Q4 Which artists influence your work? TERRY LYNN: "In my opinion, to write with a bit of depth one should have a sense of spirituality. This has nothing to do with religion, for me it's about soul searching, finding your position in the puzzle of life. There are a lot of artists I look up to for an inspirational vibe. Nat King Cole is one of the best, I think. His words are just magical. I also love The I-threes, Anita Baker, Lauryn Hill, Junior Gong and, of course, his dad Bob Marley. My favourite track ever is Dawn Penn's 'No No No'" Read more of Terry Lynn's answers

		Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time? ENGINEERS: "Wait til the early hours to listen to our album in full. Wait til the world shuts down so you can hear what we're really trying to express" Read more of Engineers' answers

		Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future? GRUM: "Well this is my first album, so really I just want people to enjoy it and for it to be a success. Having people enjoy my music is just the best feeling. In the future I obviously want to carry on producing original material, and would love to dabble in producing for other acts" Read more of Grum's answers

This week, Bruce Springsteen.

Still American.

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