Big Boi (of Outkast fame) will release at least two albums this year on his Purple Ribbon label. One of the releases will be an album by Bubba Sparxxx and the other will be a compilation by the Purple Ribbon All-Stars entitled Big Boi Presents...Got Purp? Vol. 2." The first single off the compilation album is "Kryptonite" and features Big Boi, Killer Mike, C-Bone and Rock D. You can learn much more about the label and the releases via this Fader audio interview.

More details on that The Queens Of The Stone Age live DVD we mentioned: The disc will be titled Over The Years And Through The Woods and features songs from two consecutive performances at the Brixton Academy in London last month. The DVD has a street date of November 22nd.

Despite releasing a new album, You Could Have It So Much Better..., and going on tour, Franz Ferdinand think you need more. So the band will be releasing a double-disc live DVD in January with disc one featuring a collage of different songs from different shows, and disc two featuring two seperate concerts in their entirety. Live Franz overload!

Remember when Sons & Daughters went on tour in support of The Repulsion Box? Yea well, they're returning for more in case you missed them before.

If you're still on the fence about donating money to Hurricane victims you may want to scrounge up and donate over $100 to Jerry Boyd via PayPal. If you do so, Brian Wilson will personally give you a call as thanks. Strange but true.

Deerhoof will release The Runners Four on October 11th via 5RC. The disc reportedly features the band playing more like a live ensemble and less like a studio layered onslaught of sounds.

Well, it was leaked, and there was a not-so-silent uproar begging for the release of Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine, and now it comes out a week from today (Oct. 4), in the midst of media frenzy. Even if you previewed all the leaked tracks online, do check out the redone album, in its entirety, on Fiona's MySpace page. Oh, and the new issue of Entertainment Weekly is out, and Fiona (partially obscured by Sheryl Crow) is on the cover and inside with a decent article. It appears that Fiona shelved the album due to label frustrations, not the label itself. Well, at least you can buy it now.

Death Cab for Cutie will be the musical guests tonight on the Late Night with Conan O'Brien show. Check your local listings for exact showtimes.

Far-Less has confirmed a November tour with Paulson and The Firebird Band, and they are also working on a December tour with Chasing Victory, Transition, and one more band tba. The known dates are below:

You can now hear The (International) Noise Conspiracy's Armed Love in its entirety here. Be sure to check the tour section of the player for the band's upcoming US tour dates. Armed Love hits US shores on October 4th on American Recordings.

On October 3rd, Killing Joke will perform at Melkweg Amsterdam and the concert will be webcasted live at Fabchannel.com. Afterwards the concert will be included in their online archive for your streaming pleasure. The webcast starts at 21.00 CET and is available here.

Billboard gave us some more details about the upcoming Nirvana release we mentioned earlier. Sliver: The Best of the Box will arrive Nov. 1st and features three previously unreleased tracks along with 19 tracks that are drawn from the 2004 boxed set With the Lights Out.

Guitar master Steve Vai just released his latest album, Archives 4 on September 6th. The disc is a collection of songs Steve Vai has contributed to other projects and records including Public Image Ltd., tracks from the Hendrix tribute “In From The Storm” with the London Symphony Orchestra, Whitesnake, and collaboration with Chick Corea from “The Songs Of West Side Story,” among others. The CD Booklet features Steve’s commentary on each track.

Jade Tree will be releasing a DVD focusing on Pedro The Lion and his many musical co-horts in early 2006. There are also plans for a new full-length album around the time. We'll keep you posted.

In support of their recently released, jamtastic, full-length Odditorium or Warlords of Mars, The Dandy Warhols are hitting the road. The band is notorious for playing rather long sets and not even having an opening band - so get there early.

With the arrival of their album in the mail, it has now become clear that The Go! Team has signed to Columbia records for the US release of their latets album, Thunder, Lightning, Strike. It was only a matter of time before someone picked them up.

The Right Spectacle: The Very Best of Elvis Costello- The Videos will be released on September 27th by Rhino Entertainment. This collection of the visual works of Elvis Costello features 27 videos, including material rarely seen since the original release of the associated singles along with audio commentary by Costello. Bonus features include 68 minutes' worth of television archive footage culled from an array of channels in the Netherlands, Sweden, and the U.K. Check out an e-card here.

Staind has weighed in with the announcement of a major headlining U.S. tour, dubbed the "Fall Brawl." The cross-country trek will find the band joining forces with Atlantic labelmates P.O.D. and Taproot, plus Texas rockers Flyleaf. The itinerary is slated to kick off November 11th in San Jose, California and run through mid-December.

A long time ago we told you about the soundtrack to Stubbs The Zombie - a video game set in the 50's about invading zombies. The tracklisting looked crazy then (Death Cab for Cutie, Flaming Lips, Rogue Wave, Phantom Planet, Dandy Warhols, etc) and it looks really intriguing now. So check out this page for samples from the disc and mark your calendar for October 18th to pick it up.

While it's not a release date, we do now know that the next Flaming Lips album, At War With The Mystics is going to be a bit more of a "weird guitar" album, and lyrically touch on current events (albeit in that oblique Wayne Coyne way). Read more about the bands projects, including their Christmas on Mars movie, right here.