In 2010, three of the top MCs in mainstream rap have had major career turning points thwarted by legal drama. T.I., Lil Wayne and Gucci Mane have dealt with it in very different ways.

After a jail term resulting from 2007 gun charges, T.I. slipped up again last month when he was arrested on drug possession charges, just as his feature film “Takers” was topping the box office. (He will learn Oct. 15 whether his probation will be revoked and whether he has to return to prison.) After releasing the world-beating “Tha Carter III” and his poorly received rock album “Rebirth,” Lil Wayne nursed his active online personality from Rikers Island, where he’s serving a term on other gun-related charges, and released an odd collection of pre-jail tracks, “I Am Not a Human Being.”

Radric Davis, the 30-year-old Atlantan who raps as Gucci Mane, finished a six-month term in May for a parole violation stemming from assault charges. But unlike his peers, after his release, the droll and gruff-voiced rapper promptly cut his most confident and revealing album yet.

Davis’ jail stint forms the psychological backdrop of “The Appeal: Georgia’s Most Wanted,” his third full-length. But instead of a grim narrative of confinement, the subject is instead ground both for triumph and serious self-assessment. On the patio of the W hotel in Hollywood, nursing a glass of his favorite (and recipe-indeterminate) lemonade concoction, Davis admitted that the clink offers plenty of time to reevaluate what matters.

“I changed a lot in there,” Davis said. “I know this is serious now and I have a lot to get off my chest. This record is painful and gothic and epic, but it’s the soundtrack of my past.”

Nearly every decade since Neil Young launched a solo career in 1968, the Canadian rocker has put out a watershed album with which he’s upped the ante for himself.  In 1969, it was his sophomore effort, which first paired him with Crazy Horse, “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.” In 1979, punk rock was powerfully on his mind in “Rust Never Sleeps,” while 1989 brought “Freedom,” in which he fully assumed his latter-day role as  a state-of-the-union messenger about what’s right, and wrong, in America.

“Silver & Gold,” which was recorded in 1999 but didn’t surface until four months into the following year, didn’t quite hit the same level of accomplishment, but with “Le Noise,” which will be released Sept. 28, Young's peaking in yet another decade, and just a few months behind schedule for keeping his streak going for years ending in 9.

The title is a wink to his collaborator, musician-songwriter-producer Daniel Lanois, who premiered the album Tuesday night for a few dozen friends, music journalists, bloggers and L.A. music world denizens at his home overlooking Silver Lake.

The assembled group packed into the living room of the early 20th century mansion on the hillside, a voluntarily captive audience for Young’s subtly subversive method of forcing listeners to hear it for the first time the way he intended: on a first-class sound system, in the dark, no distractions.

What’s striking about “Le Noise” is the way it both summarizes and distills Young’s singular approach to music, predominantly just Neil and a guitar: his big, white hollow-body Gretsch electric slashing and burning for most of the tracks, a couple built around picked and strummed acoustic instruments. Both are recorded and amplified -- literally and metaphorically -- by Lanois’ signature soundscapes that  loop vocals, and enhance the guitars’ bass notes through distortion boxes, synthesizers and other electronics.

The last thing the Sierra Leone musician Janka Nabay did before fleeing his country's civil war more than a decade ago was to lay down a few ebullient and entrancing tracks of his native Bubu music. They're getting an unlikely release next month on the Matador imprint True Panther, and it's a must-hear for anybody interested in Africa, techno, agit-punk or gleeful dancing in summertime. Which should hopefully include all of you.

Aside from being a delightful genre name to say aloud, Nabay has updated Bubu music from the traditional, flute-rooted folk songs of the area to breakneck rhythms played on sun-scarred keyboards and chintzy drum machines. The results are unexpectedly rich and pristine, and its hypnotic qualities are perfectly foiled by the urgency in his sing-speak vocals demanding gender equality and political reform. Little glimmers of harmony and electric guitar brighten the edges, making his "Bubu King" EP -- a collection of decade-old tracks never released outside Sierra Leone -- one of the most singular and enticingly new (well, new to America) sounds of recent months.

Things have changed in the YACHT household: leader-founder Jona Bechtolt has been joined by former Angeleno Claire L. Evans, who used to play in the Smell staple band Weirdo Begeirdo, an almost-unlistenable study in chaos theory. They also released a new album, "See Mystery Lights," on July 28, and they've cooked up a host of side treats for those who think albums are so Whitney Houston circa 1985. Oops, we mean circa right now.

As a companion piece to "See Mystery Lights," YACHT has compiled a mixtape, "Anthem of the Trinity," that  packages their influences in 37 minutes (thanks, guys -- you know how to make a journalist's job easy). Named for the spooky-beautiful Terry Riley song, the mixtape also includes plenty of populist fare, with Nirvana's "Negative Creep," Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House," Harry Nilsson's "Jump Into the Fire," INXS' "New Sensation" and T-Pain's "I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper)."

Lest you think that's all YACHT has in store, the Portland, Ore., band has also released an instrumental-only version of "See Mystery Lights." According to their statement, the songs can be used in "karaoke performances, confessional YouTube soundtracks, student films, personal analysis, atmospheric music, cover versions, chopping and screwing, or just to listen to if you don't enjoy YACHT's vocal performances."

We're digging all of that, but better still is this remix of YACHT's single "Psychic City" from Hot Chip's Joe Goddard. This is a chilly-sweet slice of minimal futurism. If it's not playing in some airport terminal soon -- a la Brian Eno, who occasionally gets played near the neon art at Chicago's O'Hare -- somebody's not doing something right.

-- Margaret Wappler

Photo courtesy Sarah Meadows

Most artists with an inkling that their new album might top the charts probably lie awake the night before its release like a kid expecting an air rifle on Christmas morning. But Third Eye Blind’s Stephan Jenkins practically snoozed right through it.

“We just got back from touring Indonesia, and last week we played the Fox in Oakland, which is kind of our hometown. And we played the new album and had a huge party afterwards,” said Jenkins. “I fell asleep and woke up to someone from our label calling me to say, ‘I can’t believe you’re sleeping through a No. 1 record!’ ”

 “Ursa Major,” the pop-rock band’s newest album of effervescent choruses and vinegary machine-gun lyricism, topped the iTunes album chart last week and should be a strong contender for the same slot on the Billboard album charts this week (it was released last Tuesday).

But Third Eye Blind’s late success begs a certain question -- what’s the band doing there at all? “Ursa” is its first album in six years, out on its own label and with no trendsetting winds in its sails.

The singer-songwriter, 72, is putting the finishing touches on his newest album.

Good spirits reverberate through the control booth of the West Los Angeles recording studio where Kris Kristofferson is at work on a new album with producer Don Was. They're standing just behind engineer Krish Sharma, who is in the pilot's seat at a mixing board about 12 feet long, every square inch of which is crammed with dials, buttons and switches.

There's a seriousness of purpose, a pronounced sense of mission, beneath the convivial conversation, lighthearted quips and abundant stories of life on the road for one of the most revered songwriters of the last half century. The banter bounces around the room but doesn't distract from the power of the song they're crafting, "Closer to the Bone," a celebration of that point in life where every moment becomes precious.

Like others from his forthcoming album, "Starlight and Stone," it features a no-frills arrangement built on the lanky Texan's raspy voice, wheezy harmonica and sparse finger-picking of his acoustic guitar. The only additions are colorful mandolin fills from Kristofferson's longtime pal Steven Bruton, the primal upright bass played by Was and artful percussion from studio ace Jim Keltner that push it forward rhythmically.

They're closing in on the final mix of this track; others await whatever instrumental touches the team decides will best complement Kristofferson's economical lyrics and old-school country melodies.

Bailed-out bankers should be thankful that the Jamaican dancehall singer Mavado doesn’t run U.S. economic policy. On his latest single, “So Special,” one of the rare dancehall records to spend time on recent Billboard Hot 100 R&B/Hip-Hop charts, he paints himself as an avenging angel of the poor and dispossessed. “Fire it 'til wet pon dat / you betta help poor people” he wails over a minimalist stutter-step beat. “Every dirty work, Jah shall show dem a sign,” perhaps one where the “special” is of the .45 variety he mentions in the song.

That sort of lyrical world -- one where violence is an appealing way out of an intractable life -- has made Mavado one of the most riveting and controversial Jamaican artists today. He’s caught the ears of Jay-Z, who made his reggae debut on a remix of Mavado’s “On the Rock,” as well as the U.S., U.K. and various Caribbean governments who denied Mavado visas based on Jamaican gun charges (which were eventually tossed out).

His neighborhood and lyrical visions are dark places, but Mavado doesn’t want you to confuse them for his heart.

“Governments don’t know me as an artist,” he said. “There are people in the media (that spread rumors) but it’s just not reality.”

Forget purple -- Prince’s favorite colors are likely to be red and white this spring.

The musician has selected Target as the sole retail outlet for his three-disc album, which is set to be released March 29 at the big box retailer's nearly 1,700 outlets nationwide, and online at target.com.

The offering will come as a three-disc bundle: two original studio albums -- "LOtUSFLOW3R" and "MPLSoUND" -- and a third disc by Prince’s latest protégé, Bria Valente (Prince also contributed music to Valente's debut).

The entire collection will retail for just $11.98.

Prince first revealed he was in talks with a “major retailer” earlier this year during a chat with The Times’ Ann Powers. Some had speculated that he might go with Best Buy for the exclusive, but the “Purple Rain” purveyor must have seen something he liked in Target’s proposal. Both Target and Best Buy share something in common with the multi-instrumentalist: roots in Minnesota. 

Retail exclusives were major news in 2008. Best Buy gained headlines for its exclusive for Guns & Roses’ anticipated “Chinese Democracy” release, and AC/DC had one of the year's top-selling rock albums in "Black Ice," a Wal-Mart exclusive. Not to be left out, Target handled Christina Aguilera’s greatest hits package in 2008.

It’s not yet known if Target will get behind Prince’s triple threat the same way it did with Aguilera last year, when it ran an aggressive television campaign for “Keeps Gettin’ Better: A Decade of Hits."

Regardless, Prince may not need commercials to sell his new material: He appears to be in the mood to gig lately (the artist has played two shows in the last week or so in the Los Angeles area).  Could a tour be in the works?

Expect hints of music from all three discs to possibly leak in the coming weeks at Prince's developing website, Lotusflow3r.com.

-- Charlie Amter

Photo of Prince at Coachella last year by Spencer Weiner/Los Angeles Times

The singer-songwriter funnels personal experience through a melange of musical eras, creating lively story sketches

On a crisp Sunday morning, singer-songwriter and Los Feliz denizen Eleni Mandell wandered the flea market at Pasadena Community College in a slouchy cardigan and vintage sunglasses. She picked through tables cluttered with copper bracelets, picture frames and dusty velvet hats, any of which could serve as a mysterious prop in one of Mandell's retro-tuned torch songs.

Vendors manned the booths, watching for shoplifters who, some said, have gotten worse since the recession hit. Scanning with her martini- olive-colored eyes -- to borrow a description from "Personal," one of her latest burners -- Mandell spied a gold-and-white '50s bathing suit, saying it'd be great for the stage. It didn't fit, but it was easy to see what attracted her: a touch of glam but with character, a  storied emblem from another era.

"It's better to come here looking for nothing," she said. "You'll have better luck that way."

Fortune has worked in complex ways for the L.A. native gifted with a voice that's as smoky and coolly moderate as a chanteuse secreting a pearl-handled revolver beneath her dress in a noir novel.

There comes a time in everyone's life where they must take their personal mantra and throw it out the window. In the case of Eleni Mandell, her mantra had something to do with a scruff-voiced man fond of porkpie hats.

For her last six albums, Mandell has operated with the WWTWD? policy, as in What Would Tom Waits Do? But for her album out this week, "Artificial Fire," she had to take Waits and banish him from the studio -- metaphorically, of course.

"Tom Waits is the biggest influence on me," Mandell said in a recent stroll-interview we had at the Pasadena Community College flea market. "But I finally had to stop trying to emulate my heroes." It was an attempt to turn away from what Mandell called the "weepy, dark songs" to something that's "still dark, but danceable and fun."

Enter the title track, caught in shadowy play in the video above. Mandell, with the gently cutthroat players in her band, has concocted a sneaky brew based on the moment when a lover realizes she's been led to a treasure that's not true love but only artificial fire. Lovers and their endless follies isn't new territory for Mandell, who's mined the topic with varied combinations of quietly bleeding country reminiscent of Patsy Cline, cool jazz and singer-songwriter sketches, but she explores it on her latest album with more unflinching courage than ever before.

-- Margaret Wappler

Mandell celebrates the release of "Artificial Fire" at the Echo, 1822 W. Sunset Blvd. 8 p.m. Thursday.

Also, check for a feature on Mandell in Sunday's Calendar.

A certain Peaches, only tangentially related to the music world, has been in the news lately (and for all the wrong reasons, some would say) but this Peaches hopes to reclaim her name with her anticipated follow-up to 2006’s “Impeach My Bush.”

Toronto-born Merrill Nisker, the original Peaches in our book, has announced the album title and date for her fourth XL record via her website. “I Feel Cream” drops May 5 in the U.S., and from early teasers it sounds as if the Berlin-based artist has returned to her electro roots after dalliances with a harder, guitar-based rock sound (she toured with a full live band for much of 2006 and 2007). Her new set features collaborations with Simian Mobile Disco and Scotland's Drums of Death. Other big name electronic music artists are also in the proverbial “Cream” mix (expect full details on the record soon from XL), but Peaches remains, as always, the principal songwriter on the new offering.

Big Stereo has posted an all Peaches mixtape made by Drums of Death on its website, which features snippets/remixed versions of two new Peaches tracks from the forthcoming disc (“Lose You” and “Buck You Like a Billionaire”) and the full album version of the title track. To hear “I Feel Cream,” the song, check around the 30-minute mark here. 

Is the album title a nod to Donna Summer?  I'm not sure, but I get the feeling that Giorgio Moroder would applaud both “Lose You” and “I Feel Cream” regardless.

-- Charlie Amter

Photo of Peaches at a gig in L.A. on New Year's Eve 2007 by Don Barletti/Los Angeles Times

Hey, so we heard that there was some hullabaloo going on at the White House the other day! Well, it seems like as good a time as any to check in with a singer who allegedly brought his own breed of hope and change to the presidential manor a few decades ago. Willie Nelson's got a new collaborative album coming out, alongside a tribute record of covers from one of the better beardy-folk dudes going today, Phosporescent.