Day in Pop for 09/11: Madonna Blamed For 15 Deaths- Norah Jones Headed For The Fall- Taylor Swift To Release Six New Songs- Lil Jon Talks Up Crunk Rock and more top pop music news stories of the day

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Jam! reports: Religious leaders in Bulgaria have blamed Madonna for a boating accident which killed 15 people on Saturday insisting her decision to perform in the country on a holy day brought bad luck.

Church officials were outraged by the singer's plans to stage her Sticky & Sweet gig in the capital Sofia on 29 August - the day Orthodox Christians mark the beheading of Saint John the Baptist with a fast.

Following the protests, Madonna refused to reschedule the date and religious leaders are convinced her defiance of their sacred customs led to the disaster on Macedonia's Lake Ohrid, which killed 15 Bulgarian citizens. - more on this story

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Norah Jones Headed For The Fall

PR reports: Norah Jones has announced the title and release date of her upcoming album, The Fall, her fourth studio album which will be released by EMI's Blue Note Records on November 17. Jones has also revealed the cover artwork for the album, which features a portrait by photographer Autumn de Wilde.

Jones was the surprise guest performer at Apple's "It's Only Rock n' Roll" press conference yesterday in San Francisco. Her breakout album Come Away With Me is one of the first albums to be released in the iTunes LP format, a new feature of iTunes 9 that reinvents the visual experience of the record album through live performance videos, lyrics, artwork, liner notes, interviews, photos, album credits and more. After being introduced by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Jones performed "Come Away With Me" and also debuted "Young Blood," a new song from The Fall.

Jones has taken a new direction on the The Fall, experimenting with different sounds and a new set of collaborators, including Jacquire King, a noted producer and engineer who has worked with Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, and Modest Mouse among others. Jones enlisted several songwriting collaborators, including Ryan Adams and Okkervil River's Will Sheff, as well as her frequent partner Jesse Harris. King also helped Jones put together a new group of musicians to perform on the album, including drummers Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.) and James Gadson (Bill Withers), keyboardist James Poyser (Erykah Badu, Al Green), and guitarists Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello) and Smokey Hormel (Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer). - more on this story

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Taylor Swift To Release Six New Songs

AP reports: Taylor Swift is giving fans some new music, even though she's not yet releasing a new album.

The 19-year-old country and pop sensation is re-releasing her top-selling CD "Fearless" Oct. 27 with six new songs.

She will also include a DVD of photos, tour footage and her videos, including her comedic clip with T-Pain from the CMT Awards earlier this year. - more on this story

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Lil Jon Talks Up Crunk Rock

Billboard reports: Lil Jon is acutely aware that he has kept fans waiting five years for "Crunk Rock," the follow up to his 2004 album, "Crunk Juice." But now that the release is finally close to seeing the light of day, he is promising to pull out all the stops.

"This album has all the Lil Jons you've ever heard," the rapper/producer tells Billboard.com. "From the crunk Lil Jon, to the Usher-like Lil Jon, to the electro Lil Jon who's hanging with LMFAO. I've got to touch all my fans."

"Crunk Rock" is slated for a Nov. 24 release on Universal Republic, and the first single, "Give It All U Got," leaked online last week. [Check out the full Billboard article for a lot more from Jon about the album and what you can expect - right here]

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Alicia Keys, Eminem, Michael Jackson Film Trailer Added to VMAs

MTV reports: Viewers will be treated to an exclusive first looks at Michael Jackson's THIS IS IT and The Twilight Saga: New Moon trailers during this year's MTV Video Music Awards.

MTV has announced that Alicia Keys will join Jay-Z onstage to perform "Empire State of Mind" from his latest album The Blueprint 3.

Eminem will also be making a special appearance during the "2009 MTV Video Music Awards" on Sunday, September 13, 2009 at 9PM (Live ET/Tape delayed PT). - more on this story

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Tim McGraw To Debut New Song on TV

PR reports: Tim McGraw will give his new single, "Southern Voice," its national television debut when he performs on "NFL Opening Kickoff 2009" which will be simulcast on NBC and NFL Network tonight from 8:00 - 8:30 p.m. ET. The show celebrates the kickoff of the 2009 season.

The live pregame broadcast, which leads into the season opener between the Steelers and the Tennessee Titans at Heinz Field, will also be available via NFL Mobile Live only from Sprint. McGraw - who is featured on the latest issue of Billboard, due out tomorrow - and The Black Eyed Peas will kick off the celebration, hosted by Seth Meyersof "Saturday Night Live,"with a free concert open to the public at Point State Park in Pittsburgh.

"Southern Voice," the title track from McGraw's upcoming record, goes to radio in conjunction with this national television performance and will be available beginning tomorrow at all digital retailers. With the new album - which will be released on October 20th by Curb Records - McGraw once again pushes the bounds of his artistry with characteristic honesty, grit and soul, qualities that have throughout history exemplified the Southern voice. - more on this story

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Kayne West, Prodigy, MSTRKRFT, Nasa featuring MIA Playing Games

PR reports: Electronic Arts Inc. today announced the track list that will propel players to the finish line in Need for Speed SHIFT when it hits retail stores in North America on September 15 (in stores across Europe on September 17, 2009).

The SHIFT soundtrack features some of today's most influential hip hop and rock artists including Kanye West, The Prodigy, Kasabian, and MSTRKRFT. Each song was hand selected to provide a pounding score that matches the intensity and bone-crushing power of this year's Need for Speed.

"Intense music has always fueled the sound of Need For Speed," said Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive of Music and Music Marketing at EA. "For SHIFT, we truly went underground to bring together some of the edgiest new tracks in electronic music, hip-hop and rock from around the world. These artists are the radical equivalents of real outlaw racing. The result is a white-knuckle soundtrack of pure global adrenaline." - more on this story

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Car Stereo Wars: The Tic Tac Song Band Release Album

PR reports: Here in the U.S., we like to think that the indie music elite discover the quality, innovative bands before they're corrupted by the Madison Avenue mass marketing machine. In the case of Car Stereo Wars, hipsters have to admit that the suits got there first.

This serene but catchy Australian band with roots in trip-hop and electronica has songs featured in ads for products like Dell Computers and Tic Tac Chill. The good news: the band with the "Tic Tac song" has put together an incredible debut album, For Your Comfort and Safety, that is getting great reviews in their native Australia.

Formed as a trio in Melbourne back in 2000, Bassist Jason 'Blackie' White , guitarist Matt Gilman recruited singer Alyssa Doe and put together their first EP called Project A. This recording featured the dreamy single "Broken," which attracted critical attention and wound up on a Ministry of Sound Chillout Compilation. 2001 brought drummer Graeme "Gra" Luther and performances stateside at festivals SXSW in Austin and the CMJ Music Marathon in New York. - more on this story

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High School Record Coming To DVD

PR reports: Available on DVD October 27th via Factory 25, High School Record follows four awkward 17-year-olds as they struggle through their senior year.

Like most high school students, they ride a continual wave of embarrassment: crappy after-school jobs, attempted sex in the science room, tinfoil shorts, guitar-strumming hippie teachers, and brushes with the law. The only difference is that their moments of humiliation are all caught on tape � our gang of four are the subjects of a documentary shot by fellow classmates.

The film stars band members of No Age, Mika Miko, Lavender Diamond and Minutemen and was an official selection of Sundance, SXSW and New York Underground Film Festivals. DVD extras include 13 minutes of deleted scenes and a short film that influenced High School Record. - more on this story

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Tim Williams Hits Another Wall

PR reports: Paste Magazine is premiering the video for "I Hit Another Wall," the first single from Tim Williams' new album Careful Love, out October 20th on Dovecote Records. The Hott Garbage directed clip is a mix of HBOs "The Wire" with a hefty serving of Larry Clark's "Kids." Luckily, no children were harmed during the shooting of the video.

Gritty guitars, saw tooth waves and sumptuous harmonies lay down the perfect foundation for Williams' Careful Love. "Oceans," with its lush and dreamy swirls of descending delayed guitars, surprises fans and illustrates how far Williams has come from his quieter beginnings. The dark, beat-driven "Ozone Street" and the twangy "All In" intertwine and flow effortlessly with the three-part harmonies of "Murderous Air." Careful Love is Williams' third full-length release for Dovecote.

Tim Williams will be previewing tracks from Careful Love at a show with Tom Brosseau at the Cake Shop in Manhattan, NYC on Thursday, September 24th. - Check out the video here

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Fever Ray Dropping Digital Single

Mute reports: Fever Ray, aka Karin Dreijer Andersson of The Knife, will release her new single "Seven" September 29, 2009. This digital-only single is the fourth single from Fever Ray's critically acclaimed self-titled album. The single features remixes CSS, Martyn, Nic Chacona, Marcel Dettmann and Seth Troxler. The video is directed by Johan Renck

Fever Ray will bring her live show to North America this Fall. The tour begins with two performances at NYC's Webster Hall, a fitting venue for the launch of Andersson's return to the North American stage.

In 2007 Andersson and brother Olof Dreijer � performing together as The Knife � debuted live to US audiences with two sold-out shows at the acclaimed venue. This time, now supported by a four-piece band, Andersson's Fever Ray persona will be the main attraction. - watch the video here

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Trey Songz Happy About Being Third

Record Co Hype reports: "READY," the new album from Songbook Entertainment/Atlantic recording artist Trey Songz, has made a phenomenal chart debut, entering Billboard's "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums" tally at #2. The album � which includes the hits "I Need A Girl," "LOL :-) (Feat. Gucci Mane and Soulja Boy Tell 'Em)," and "Successful (Drake & Trey Songz)" � also exploded into the #3 spot on the overall SoundScan/Billboard 200.

What's more, "READY" is proving a digital blockbuster, debuting at #2 on this week's SoundScan "Digital Albums" chart. The "Deluxe Version" and the standard edition of "READY" are currently standing tall at #1 and #2 respectively on iTunes' "Top R&B/Soul Albums" chart. In addition, the album's "Deluxe Version" is ranked at #11 on iTunes' comprehensive "Top Albums" tally.

The superstar singer is now poised to hit the road as headliner on the upcoming "BET Live! 106 & Park Tour." The coast-to-coast trek � which also features Mario, Day26, and Sean Garrett � will launch on September 29th at Los Angeles' House of Blues and then travel the country through mid-November (see attached itinerary).
As if all that weren't enough, Trey will be among the luminaries performing at the upcoming VH1 Hip-Hop Honors 2009, slated to tape later this month at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Howard Gilman Opera House in Brooklyn, New York. The star-studded event � which this year commemorates the 25th anniversary of Def Jam Records � will then premiere on VH1 on Tuesday, October 13 at 9PM ET/PT (check local listings). - more on this story

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Quincy Jones Announces His Music Festival Friends

PR reports: Legendary producer & composer Quincy Jones (or "Q" as he has come to be known amongst fans and friends alike) and boxing�turned�entertainment promoter Rock Newman today unveiled the growing group of award-winning musicians that will assemble to perform with Quincy for one weekend only at the 14th Annual Bermuda Music Festival.

"Quincy Jones and Friends" will be staged over three days from October 29-31, 2009, in a spectacular setting on the tip of the island of Bermuda, surrounded by crystal blue waters and performed under the stars. On the final night, October 31st (Halloween) there will be a special performance of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" � 25 years after the best-selling album of all-time was first produced by Quincy Jones.

During this historic weekend of performances, Bermuda's Premier Dr. the Hon. Ewart F. Brown will honor Quincy Jones' lifetime contributions to culture and humanity with the African Diaspora Heritage Trail Award. Jones changed the way music and philanthropy interact through his star-studded collaboration "We Are the World", the best-selling single of all time. - more on this story

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Soren Well Need Fans To Shoot Video on East River

PR reports: Local shoegaze indie-popsters, Soren Well, will be boarding a boat and playing down the East River on Sunday September 27, 2009 at 4pm EST.

While there will be a film crew present, we're asking the public to come, in droves, armed with real film cameras, video cameras, handicams, flipcams, iPhones, Blackberries, still cameras, cell phones, and just anything that can capture the event.

ALL of that footage, captured by professionals, semi-pros, amateurs, and average bystanders, can be uploaded - more on this story

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Gatlin Brothers Return

PR reports: These days, Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers are fired up and enjoying the great media buzz about their first new record in 17 years, Pilgrimage. This past week alone, Larry spent hours in Nashville sweeping through various media outlets including Billboard, Country Weekly, ABC Radio, The Tennessean, WSIX-FM radio's Gerry House and the House Foundation and the Christian Broadcasting Network's 700 Club.

For the first time in nearly two decades, Larry along with his brothers Steve and Rudy are back together as the Gatlin Brothers and are scheduled to release Pilgrimage, next Tuesday, September 15.

In advance of the release the Gatlin Brothers take a bite out of The Big Apple this weekend, lighting up America's television screens and radio waves featuring appearances on The Early Show (CBS), FoxNews.com's Strategy Room, the Fox Business Channel's America's Nightly Scoreboard, and several National Public Radio (NPR) programs. Larry will also have a very special visit with Reader's Digest. - more on this story

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