Amy Millan, best known perhaps from her band Stars, releases her second solo album, Masters of the Burial this September through Arts & Crafts. Recorded in the Ontario countryside with Stars, Broken Social Scene and Sarah Harmer producer Martin Davis Kinack, the album is the result of work with Millan’s extensive list of musical friends. There is virtually nothing online or in the ether from this forthcoming collection, but if you’re in Toronto, you can check out a free show with Millan and Gentleman Reg at the Harbourfront Centre on July 25.
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The full line-up and schedule for Denver’s Mile High Music Festival on July 18th and 19th has been released, and let’s just say the emphasis should be on the event title’s second word. Tool (performing for the first time in two years) and Denver’s own The Fray headline one day each while Widespread Panic will share top billing on both days of the. Other summer festival mainstays Ben Harper, DeVotchKa, and Guster pepper the line-up along with Incubus, India.Arie, Matisyahu, Jet, and hometown heroes 3Oh!3. Single and two day passes are still available. Full line-up below. Set times, directions and tickets are on at 
As KCRW’s oddly named World Festival continued on Sunday night at the Bowl, Adele and Janelle Monae got schooled in the art of being a legend by the incomparable Chaka Khan. A last minute replacement for the apparently ailing Etta James, Khan easily flexed her still radiant vocal muscle, putting her multi-octave range on display throughout a set that included many of her hits. Opening with “I Feel For You” there was something for everyone as the crowd alternately sang along and even jumped to their feet for closer “I’m Every Woman.” While Khan’s performance not only reminded everyone of how many familiar songs she has recorded over her nearly four decades-long career, it also showed her junior divas how to come prepared and command a crowd. 
It took no time for Diddy to churn out the craptastic collabothon that is “Better On The Other Side,” the MJ-tribute track that features Game, Chris Brown, Boyz II Men, and (probably for gospel gravitas) Marion Winans. Diddy’s spoken word “you were the one who made us realize we could moonwalk,” implies metaphor, but doesn’t really get into it. With other insightful lyrics like “I’m Michael Jackson, you’re Michael Jackson, we all Michael Jackson,” there’s nothing to be gained from this other than perhaps the redemption of Chris Brown, whose chorus, which contains the song’s title, is the best thing about the track. It’s certainly not the name dropping of DJ Skee. Not very tasteful. According to 
Teasing the world with just a snippet of his new track on his 
It’s Saturday night and Kaskade is standing in front of a crowd of thousands all singing his song as he DJs yet another set at one of the world’s top clubs. It’s a regular occurrence that is still a new phenomenon even to those who have followed his career closely.
