Magna Carta Records has just released a snarling six-string shredfest specially designed for metalheads in need of a blazing beat-down. Guitars That Ate My Brain is a dozen ax-grinding instrumentals that signify the state of the metal arts with a devil-horns salute. The who's who of squeal merchants include Guns N' Roses' Bumblefoot, Testament's James Murphy, Daath's Eyal Levi and Emil Werstler, Korn's Shane Gibson, and Strapping Young Lad's Devin Townsend.

The Flight of the Conchords should look over their shoulders, as the comedy-music department gets some stiff competition next week from Saturday Night Live's Andy Samberg and staff writers Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, calling themselves The Lonely Island. Their new CD, Incredibad on the Universal Republic imprint, features the smash Saturday Night Live hits "Lazy Sunday" and "Jizz in My Pants," plus new songs with guests Jack Black, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, T-Pain, E-40, and Norah Jones. The cover spoofs the film E.T., and the CD adds a bonus DVD with eight of the group's videos, including the new singles "Just 2 Guys" and "We Like Sportz," and the YouTube sensation "Dick in a Box" with Justin Timberlake.

Willie Nelson is "on the road again," spending next month touring the East Coast with Asleep at the Wheel and their new album of western swing. Austin's own Bismeaux Records releases Willie & the Wheel this coming Tuesday, an album that the late producer Jerry Wexler had been imagining for 30 years, now fully realized with his hand-picked song list. One selection, the 1927 instrumental favorite "South," features guests Vince Gill and Paul Shaffer. A deluxe edition is also available, with bonus postcards and stamps tucked in the digipack CD and vinyl LP.

A new collection in the "Red Hot" series benefiting AIDS research is due next month. Dark Was the Night promises two CDs curated and compiled by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National, who contribute their own "So Far Around the Bend" and a cover of Bob Dylan's "I Was Young When I Left Home." Like previous Red Hot releases, the lineup is topnotch with notables Sufjan Stevens, Yo La Tengo, Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket, Cat Power, Iron & Wine, the Kronos Quartet, and Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. A number of intriguing collaborations highlight the set, including Conor Oberst and Gillian Welch, Dirty Projectors and David Byrne, the Books and Jose Gonzalez, Blonde Redhead and Devestations, and Feist with Ben Gibbard.

Fans of Galaxie 500 and Luna can find new music from Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips in a transfixing environment worthy of their haunting, ethereal sounds. The pair, as Dean & Britta, has composed a soundtrack of sorts to a series of mute screen tests filmed by Andy Warhol at his factory, holding time as the subjects stare deeply into the camera's eye. Plexifilm releases the DVD experience next week, as 13 Most Beautiful ... Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests, with the duo jumping out of its current Mercury Rev tour to perform the songs live on select dates, with projections of these vintage films as accompaniment. Two different editions of the DVD are available, with a deluxe edition featuring a hand-printed photo, selected from a single frame from one of the original films. Among the anointed by Warhol's eye include Lou Reed, Edie Sedgwick, and Nico.