Backstreet's back, all right. The four remaining members of the '90s boy band will join also-reunited male vocal group New Kids on the Block in a summer 2011 concert tour, according to Ryan Seacrest's Twitter.

"All nine boys will get together for the first time this Monday, November 8 for an exclusive in studio interview with Ryan to talk about making preparations for the upcoming tour ... ," according to RyanSeacrest.com.

(In case you're worried why former Backstreeter Kevin Richardson, who left the group in 2006, isn't involved: We suspect he's too busy with his new career, which includes playing a substance-abuse and human blood-addicted vampire in the film "The Bloody Indulgent, A Sexy Vampire Musical.")

The tour will officially be announced at the American Music Awards on Nov. 21, when the two groups will perform together. But they're both on Twitter, if you want it that way: @NKOTB and @BackstreetBoys.

-- Whitney Friedlander

Left photo: New Kids on the Block's Danny Wood, left, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, Jordan Knight and Jonathan Knight perform in 2008. Credit: Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times

Right photo: Backstreet Boys Brian Littrell, left, Nick Carter, A.J. McLean and Howie Dorough. Credit: Ray Kay

 

Rolling Stone quotes former Beach Boy Al Jardine saying that the surviving original members of the group will reunite for at least one concert in 2011 to mark the 50th anniversary of the band’s first release, “Surfin’.”

But that’s news both to Mike Love, the founding member who controls rights to the Beach Boys name, and to Brian Wilson, the group’s creative mastermind who has pursued a variety of ambitious solo projects and tours over the last decade.

Wilson’s manager, Jean Sievers, told The Times this week that he has no plans for Beach Boys reunion activities -- and Rolling Stone quotes her to that effect -- and that he is focusing his attention on his forthcoming solo album “Brian Wilson Reimagines George Gershwin,” in which he has recorded his versions of several Gershwin classics and completed two song fragments left behind by the composer at his death in 1937.

Love also issued a statement recently regarding Beach Boys' 50th anniversary reunion rumors, stating:

The Beach Boys continue to tour approximately 150 shows a year in multiple countries. At this time there are no plans for my cousin Brian to rejoin the tour.  He has new solo projects on the horizon and I wish him love and success.  We have had some discussions of writing and possibly recording together, but nothing has been planned.

--Randy Lewis

Photo of the Beach Boys -- Al Jardine, left, Mike Love, Carl Wilson and Brian Wilson, front; drummer Dennis Wilson, rear -- performing in 1964 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for "The T.A.M.I. Show." Credit: Dick Clark Productions

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When Modesto native and former Grandaddy leader Jason Lytle opens new project Admiral Radley with the tongue-in-cheek "I Heart California," one could easily be mistaken for believing that the artist -- who long ago relocated to Montana --   is looking back at his home state with just a hint of scorn. 

Think of the cut, which also serves as the title track of the project, as a sobering summer-song antidote to Katy Perry's garden of playful decadence that is "California Gurls." Its balmy, fuzzy guitars are dotted with sparkling effects, and Lytle's vocals settle into a reassuring sway. But rather than reference the beach, Lytle croons about I-5, and there are no signs of glamor, but there are plenty of disappointed tourists.

Yet the song, said Lytle, is written with nothing but love toward the Golden State, comparing its lighthearted but well-intentioned nature to that of a comedian who mocks his or her family. 

"I don’t think it’s sarcasm," Lytle said of the song, below. "You can’t expect people to know your sense of humor. You can’t expect people to know where you’re from. I was worried this would turn into an inside joke, but there’s a lot of fondness in there. That’s just the way I’m comfortable expressing myself about the things that I am fond of, with a hint of black humor." 

Such a tone and sound will be familiar to those versed with the Grandaddy and Lytle catalog, where an upbeat title such as "Summer Here Kids" gave way to an anthem for a disastrous vacation. Working here with Aaron Espinoza and Ariana Murray of locals Earlimart, as well as Grandaddy drummer Aaron Burtch, Admiral Radley likewise delivers humor with honesty.

"Sunburn Kids," for instance, is call-and-response silliness, boasting keyboard notes that sound as if they have been lifted from an old-school video game. "Ghost of Syllables," meanwhile, is all grown-up heartache, striking what Espinoza described as Fleetwood Mac-inspired harmonies, and later, the Murray-fronted "The Thread," with its playful static, is nostalgic for days that may never come. Then, ensuring no one gets too comfortable, there's a spastic, electronic-laced rager about having a few too many beers on a sun-drenched day, complete with a title unfit for a family blog.

When well-known indies Sub Pop, Merge and Touch & Go threw anniversary parties, the labels did so in their hometowns. New York's famed Matador Records, however, is going the twentysomething bachelor party route, celebrating is 21st anniversary with a three-day weekend in October in Las Vegas. The already-reunited Pavement will be joined by the soon-to-be-reunited Guided by Voices, leading a lineup of more than 20 artists on Oct. 1-3.

Masters of the low-fi guitar rock, Guided by Voices split, more or less, in 2004, and Matador promises that the Vegas anniversary gigs will feature the band's "classic" 1993-96 lineup, which likely means the band that included guitarists Tobin Sprout and Mitch Mitchell. The event is set for the Palms Casino & Resort, and ticket prices and a full lineup will be revealed on July 5.

After missing in action since 1999, alt-rock slacker heroes Pavement have become regulars around the Southwest, having already appeared at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival and a festival warm-up date, and are currently booked for a Sept. 30 gig at the Hollywood Bowl. 

Other artists on the Matador bill include Spoon, who signed with the label outside the U.S., Belle & Sebastian, Yo La Tengo, Cat Power, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the New Pornographers, Superchunk, Girls, Cold Cave and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, among others. 

The label promises more acts to be announced. Matador's anniversary party is being thrown in conjunction with Los Angeles promoters' FYF Fest.

-- Todd Martens

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According to the Portland Mercury, one of indie’s enduring powerhouse singers, Corin Tucker, is coming out with a solo album on Kill Rock Stars due in October. For those who didn’t educate themselves back in the day with that rare issue of Magnet featuring real live women on the cover (OK, so we’re still a little bitter), Tucker’s maelstrom of a voice led the fiercely femme band Sleater-Kinney, which has been on hiatus since 2006.

Teaming up with Hungry Ghost’s Sara Lund on drums and Seth Lorinczi of Golden Bears producing and playing various instruments, Tucker states that the 11-song collection will be more of a “middle-aged mom record… it’s not a record a young person would write.” Tucker claims to have taken some of her cues from another sometimes-vitriolic middle-aged mom: Sinead O’Connor and her fiery, beautiful debut, “The Lion and the Cobra.” Tucker also says she’s been inspired by the Slits, Raincoats and the English Beat, as well as the new record from Quasi, helmed in part by Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss.

Tucker, who has two children, plans on touring in support of the record but not at the breakneck pace of Sleater-Kinney. She said some of the songs do exist “in the same ballpark” as her old threesome and their keyed-up tangle of words and guitar, but the different players and changed focus will yield a unique vision.

“I take certain feelings or certain experiences and put them into a little story,” she said. “And there are definitely some ghosts on the record, too—ghost songs. There's some sadness, some reinvention, some rebirth.”

Playing off of SK guitarist Carrie Brownstein’s recent hints to IFC about getting Sleater-Kinney back together, Tucker said “the door is open. We ended things on a hiatus so that it was always something that could happen in the future. You know, I'd love to live a long productive life and do a lot of different things.”

--Margaret Wappler

Photo: Corin Tucker playing All Tomorrow's Parties in 2002. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Twenty-five years after the all-star recording of "We Are the World" became a signature moment in celebrity altruism and pop-music history, a new collective of stars came together Monday at the same Hollywood recording studio to record a new version for Haiti earthquake relief.

Just as Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan descended on the A&M Studios on La Brea to sing for famine relief in Africa, Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Kanye West and Keith Urban turned up at the same soundstage (now called Henson Recording Studios) to join an all-star chorus that was 100 voices strong.

The 1985 effort, called USA for Africa, raised  $63 million and became a template for famous-face fundraising. The new single will premiere Feb. 12 on NBC during the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics with the hope that the download single can help funnel aid into the ravaged island nation.

The anniversary project had been quietly planned for months and was scheduled for the day after the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards to maximize celebrity availability. The plan veered sharply, though, after the Jan. 12 temblor in Haiti: Instead of more relief for Africa, the organizers switched gears and turned their cause to the Caribbean.

The scene on Monday, like the original session, was a fascinating mix of star confluence.

Let the Coachella speculation begin. After the universe rejected Chris Cornell's attempts at joining forces with Timbaland, the alt-rock survivor announced over the holiday weekend that Soundgarden would be getting back together. No major details, but there was a Twitter message.

Wrote Cornell, "The 12 year break is over & school is back in session. Sign up now. Knights of the Soundtable ride again!" Billboard reports that the band has been fielding offers from "major U.S. and international" festivals, and Coachella would seem to be a prime landing spot. One complicating factor: Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron also works behind the kit with Pearl Jam, and the latter band has some touring commitments for 2010, including some summer dates at major European festivals.

Kanye is back. One of the biggest disappointments of 2009 -- at least for those who had designs on witnessing a pop spectacle -- was the collapse of Kanye West's attempted tour with Lady Gaga. Now the controversial hip-hop star says he's  back in the studio.

Writing an ALL-CAPS mission statement on his blog today, West promised to "bring you the best I have to offer with the same dedication that Kobe has on the court." But if you prefer your art with non-Lakers references, the Chicago-bred star also name-checks poets and artists Maya Angelou, Gil Scott-Heron and Nina Simone, noting, even if he can't spell all their names correctly, that "their work improved with time. They documented what was happening in culture. That is our responsibility."

West goes on, writing that "you can always look at our works and find truth and sincerity in a world of processed information." As far as Pop & Hiss is concerned, this is all good news, and evidence that Kanye won't be toning down the ambition, the grandiosity and the outspokenness that made him one of the decade's most defining artists.

It's the most potent reunion rumor to tease the Scotch-taped hearts of indie rock lovers in the last few years. Oops, we mean "college rock."

Finally, the specter is upon us.

Break out the oysters and dry lancers: Pavement is reuniting. But not until 2010. What could possibly go wrong in the meantime?

The pride of Stockton, California, has confirmed to Billboard that the band will play a show on Sept. 21, 2010, at Rumsey Playfield in New York's Central Park -- and more dates are to follow. In fact, the term "world tour" is being tossed about -- which gives us pause. Gentlemen, are you rushing into things?

Information about how to get a magic ticket for the New York show is listed at the band's website. A pre-sale begins Friday, with a general sale on Sept. 25. Until Friday when we type in the password "ZOWEE," Pop & Hiss will stop breathing -- stop breathing! And darling, we won't be cutting our hair either. Wait a minute, this is sounding highly impractical, isn't it? We can't go around with our bangs in our eyes, for heaven's sake.

A news release from Pavement's representatives at Matador Records went out this morning, stating, "This tour is not a prelude to additional jaunts and/or a permanent reunion." OK, fine, you fuddy-duddies. But certain bright corners of the Internet -- like the post on Brooklyn Vegan that started all this hyperventilating -- are speculating that Pavement might appear at Coachella, which is where the band infamously unraveled in 1999.

So far, the Coachella camp is mum. If we get any updates, we'll let you know. 

We're not sure why, but Pop & Hiss feels a touch cynical about this whole thing. OK, certain members of Pop & Hiss do, like the person specifically referenced in the byline. Perhaps it's because the one time we saw Pavement for the Terror Twilight tour, they were absolutely awful. And this is coming from a rabid fan. What do you think? Terror in Central Park or Rattled by the Rush ... of Awesome?

-- Margaret Wappler