Days of our nights

Two of the dirtiest birdies in music together at last: According to our friend and fellow columnist Tricia in N.Y.C., bad girls Peaches (she of the DAT beats, curly mullet, and questionable bikini line) and Lil’ Kim (phat beats, more wigs than Cher, and nothing less than the full Brazilian wax) are joining forces on some as-yet-mysterious collaboration. We’re not sure if they even make a Parental Warning sticker strong enough for the two first ladies of dag-nasty—not that it would stop them. . . . Chicago label Touch & Go, already home to Blonde Redhead, Red Stars Theory, Don Caballero, and more, is on a rampage, signing both the snotty-but-delicious N.Y.C. trio the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (actually, the pact is only a distribution deal for the band’s EP, but it’s a start) and avant-garde city-mates !!!, as well as San Diego favorites Pinback. . . . Speaking of acquisitions, EMI seems to have sufficiently recovered from the Mariah debacle to go on quite the shopping spree: After cutting roughly 400 artists (about a quarter of its total roster), the label went ahead and bought up 23-year-old indie Mute, which already holds Moby, Depeche Mode, and Nick Cave in its star coffers. As part of the agreement, EMI also gets access to a rich back catalog of publishing rights to such acts as Sonic Youth and Erasure. . . . And speaking of Moby, much as we are actually looking forward to his bound-to- be-as-overexposed-as-J.Lo’s-booty long-player 18, we were more than a little grossed out to hear of what recently went down (“went down” being the operative words here) between the 36-year-old artist and 20-year-old starlet Natalie Portman recently. Amidala, that’s no way for a queen to behave. . . . Right around the time baby No. 2 is due, Bj�/B> will be giving birth to yet another project: a greatest-hits

comp, most likely featuring at least one new track to tide over rabid Bj�philes. . . . In Grohl/Novoselic vs. Love: Part XXVI, the battle continues with news that one of the most infamous unreleased tracks in the history of music, Nirvana’s “You Know You’re Right,” has bypassed its squabbling co-owners completely. An anonymous figure claiming to have access to the recording—made in Seattle in 1994—posted four separate bits of the song online over the weekend. Last year, a Seattle judge granted Love an injunction against Grohl and Novoselic, who wished to put the track—which Love’s manager/beau Jim Barber claimed was “a potential hit of extraordinary artistic and commercial value” likely to sell as many as 15 million copies worldwide—on the long-in-the-works Nirvana box set. That doesn’t seem to have stopped our girl Courtney from having her way with it, however; she reportedly played the song not once but twice while DJing recently at a small, exclusive London club. . . . Because Cut Kulture Gallery (1018 First) is moving at the end of the month, it’ll be liquidating its music stock, which means bargains for you. If you like two-step, breakbeats, etc., and you like it on vinyl and/or CD, get thee to Belltown. . . . Blackalicious‘ newest album will be chock-full of guest stars, from Angry Young Man Zach de la Rocha (probably still chortling over the post-Zach failure of a Chris Cornell-fronted Rage Against the Machine) to troubled but gifted Gil Scott-Heron to heartthrob folkie Ben Harper and the ever-clever cut ‘n’ paster DJ Shadow, not to mention members of Jurassic 5 and Dilated Peoples. We’ve never been superfans of the group, and we haven’t heard any of the results yet, but we give the boys an A for all-star effort. . . . Should all these fun collaborations be confined to actual musicians? Don’t be silly. According to NME, Primal Scream

have recruited not only Robert Plant but also pregnant supermodel Kate Moss to appear on their upcoming album, currently being produced by Andy Weathearall and Kevin Shields in London. According to prime Screamer Bobby Gillespie, Moss appears on a cover of the Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazelwood duet “Some Velvet Morning,” on which she sounds “very European, like a young Nico.” Plant, apparently a neighborhood pal of Gillespie’s, takes his place on the track “The Lord Is My Shotgun.” . . . You’ve probably heard by now about the punk-rock aerobics classes running in Boston and New York. Back-in-the-day scenesters Hiken Mancini and Maura Jasper are leading the sweatin’-to-the-oldies (Stiff Little Fingers are one step shy of KBSG by now, apparently) sessions with punk-as-fuck exercise accessories—like cinderblock step-ups instead of the usual gumdrop-hued plastic accoutrements—and a Sex Pistols soundtrack. Though a friend who received a copy of the girls’ tape says it’s actually pretty embarrassing—in an earnest, “OK, class, do the mosh pit! Don’t forget your spirit fingers!” Britney-covers-Joan-Jett kind of way—they’ve sure got their famous fan base: Evan Dando and J Mascis are said to be proponents, former Minuteman/Ciccone Youth bassist Mike Watt recently spun at a Saturday class, and Mission of Burma bassist Clint Conley is scheduled to follow soon. The class is looking to expand to Seattle, as well as L.A. and Chicago, so have your black socks and Converse high-tops (you’re way too punk rock for New Balance and Polo anklets, right?) ready, and get your saggy Voidoids-loving backside down to a Jazzercise studio near you.