Free Soulja Boy Mixtape

Platinum rapper and viral marketing maven Soulja Boy has released a new mixtape called 1UP, and you can have a copy for free. Soulja Boy put the 20 unreleased tracks of 1UP together just for his fans and comments on its video game-inspired title thusly, “If I was in a video game, this mixtape would advance me to the next level with an extra life!” Grab your no-charge download at datpiff.com.

Epigene’s Epic Rock Opera: A Wall Street Odyssey

Sean Bigler and Bonnie Lykes, the husband and wife duo also known as Epigene, have created a rock opera for our times inspired by the main character in Joseph Heller’s book Catch 22.

A Wall Street Odyssey: The City, The Country and Back Again follows the rise and fall and rise of its hero Yossarian, who has a high-stress Wall Street job that destroys him physically, emotionally and spiritually. Drug addiction and homelessness play into the story, as does salvation in the form of being rescued by a family member and taken to the country to experience a different way of life – communal living. After being completely transformed, Yossarian seeks to tell his story.

A Wall Street Odyssey unfolds to a prog-rock soundtrack, and the two-CD set is packaged with a hardcover minibook holding all the lyrics and lots of cartoon-style illustration. The effort drops April 5 through Amammi Music (epigenemusic.com).

k.d. lang Hops on the Stagecoach

Already stacked with big name acts like Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood and Loretta Lynn, the Stagecoach Festival has announced the addition of k.d. lang and her band the Siss Boom Bang to the lineup. The country music festival takes place April 30 and May 1 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, the same venue that hosts Coachella.

Others scheduled to appear include Darius Rucker, Steel Magnolia, Jerry Douglas Trio, the Punch Brothers, Phosphorescent, the Cleverlys, Leon Russell, the Gourds, Rosie Flores and many others. This year also marks the debut of Lake Eldorado, a “ready to go” camping site positioned against the serene setting of a redeveloped lake. Find all the details at stagecoachfestival.com.

MusiCares Benefit Concert to Honor Lyman, Gahan

The seventh annual MusiCares MAP Fund benefit dinner and concert is to be held at Club Nokia May 6 and will honor Vans Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman and Depeche Mode lead singer Dave Gahan. The event will be hosted by comedian Greg Behrendt and will feature a special performance by Gahan along with sets from Jane’s Addiction, Ozomatli, an acoustic show from Paramore and a DJ set from Adam Bravin and Justin Warfield of She Wants Revenge. Lyman and Gahan will be recognized for their unconditional support of the MAP Fund and receive MusiCare’s From the Heart Award and Stevie Ray Vaughan Award, respectively.

Balcony seating for the alcohol-free event is available through Ticketmaster; proceeds will aid MusiCares’ efforts to provide addiction recovery treatment within the music community.

Tindersticks Soundtracks Box Set

Constellation Records will release a special five-CD/five-LP box set compiling all six soundtracks that members of Tindersticks have created for the films of French director Claire Denis over the past 15 years. Four of the six soundtracks are previously unreleased, including the score for Denis’ most recent and widely acclaimed White Material, and all of the film scores recorded since 2002 are issued in this set for the first time.

Claire Denis Film Scores 1996-2009 Box Set drops on April 26 and to accompany the release Tindersticks will be performing a live score retrospective to a 70-minute montage of scenes from the films at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex on the campus of Cal State L.A. on April 30.

Johnny Rawls: Memphis Still Got Soul

If you saw Johnny Rawls’ recent Hermosa Beach show, you know that the bluesman is the real deal, a fact also confirmed by the Blues Music Award Rawls took home for his 2010 Ace of Spades album. Rawls may be in line for another award when his new one, Memphis Still Got Soul, drops April 5 on the Catfood Records label. Johnny is headed out on a tour of Australia now, but more California dates should be announced soon at johnnyrawlsblues.com.