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Big business

Now that the music biz has licked its wounds from a nasty 2005, things are finally starting to heat up, and an indie-heavy winter is giving way to a more major spring. What’s more, those majors seem finally to have grasped the importance of downloads as promotional tools. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Show Your Bones (Interscope) is not out until March 28, but they’ve already released an iTunes exclusive single — “Gold Lion”/“Let Me Know” — that suggests we’ll have some big, serrated guitars and muscular drums to buoy a whole lot of attitude from a less-screaming/more-singing Karen O. And it’s good news for Capitol that the Vines were able to get it together for an album. Back when it was learned the erratic behavior of frontman Craig Nicholls was indeed due to Asperger’s Syndrome, a neurobiological disorder similar to autism, the future didn’t look too bright for these Aussie Nirvanaphiles. Don’t expect a tour, but Vision Valley is set for release April 4.

I’m predicting a Morrissey renaissance now that indie folk have realized that Belle and Sebastian hero Stuart Murdoch has been trying to sing like the former Smiths frontman all along. Moz’s iTunes exclusive “You Have Killed Me” sets things up nicely for the release of the equally hilariously titled Ringleader of the Tormentors (Attack/Sanctuary) April 4. Meanwhile, if Modest Mouse can score a hit with a song that sounds like Built To Spill, shouldn’t Built To Spill also have a shot? You in Reverse hits stores April 11 on Warner Bros. And maybe it’s time for the Flaming Lips to have another hit. At War with the Mystics (Warner Bros.) reaches stores April 4 in two editions. Spring for the deluxe pressing, which includes some kind of enhanced DVD. If ever there was an outfit meant for the multimedia age, the Lips are it.

Reprise can count on moving plenty of units of My Chemical Romance’s album/DVD Live on the Murder Scene (March 21). And after a little more label hopping, Prince is gearing up for his most promising album in years, 3121 (Universal; March 21). In fact, he’s already shot a big-budget Salma Hayek–directed video for the first single, “Te Amo Corazón.”

It was former Marilyn Manson guitarist John 5 who coaxed Rob Zombie back into the studio: his first new album since 2001, Educated Horses (Geffen), hits stores March 28. Then there’s the Goo Goo Dolls, who hooked up with Glen Ballard, the last refuge of irrelevant modern-rock artists, for Let Love In (Warner Bros.). And we thought the Goos had gone away for good. Same with Live: we didn’t ask for it, we’re not condoning it, but Ed with the unpronounceable last name reconvened the band for Songs from Black Mountain (Epic). Originally due last November, it’s been fixed and prepped for an April 11 release.