Billboard Bits: MTV VMAs, Jimmy Eat World, Cave In

R. Kelly has signed on to perform at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, which will be held Sunday (Aug. 28) at American Airlines Arena in Miami. Kelly’s maiden VMA performance will augment previously announced appearances by 50 Cent, Coldplay, Shakira, Ludacris, Mariah Carey, the Killers, Kanye West, Kelly Clarkson and Green Day.

Meanwhile, Latin star Ricky Martin will unveil his forthcoming album, “Life,” Thursday during a listening party at the Hotel MTV club in South Beach. The set is due Oct. 11 via Columbia and is led by the single “I Don’t Care.”

— Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

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Jimmy Eat World will release the five-song “The Stay on My Side Tonight EP” Sept. 6 via digital download retailers and Oct. 4 via Interscope. The set includes the previously unreleased tracks “Disintegration,” “Over” and “Closer,” which were written during sessions for the 2004 album “Futures.” The EP will also boast a cover of Heatmiser’s “Half Right” and Styrofoam’s remix of “Drugs or Me.”

While continuing to open for Green Day at arenas nationwide, the band has also scheduled a handful of headlining dates in the coming weeks, beginning Saturday (Aug. 27) in Tallahassee, Fla.

— Jordan Heller Weissmann, N.Y.

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After a one-album dalliance with RCA, rock act Cave In returns to the friendly confines of indie label Hydra Head for its upcoming album, “Perfect Pitch Black.” Due Sept. 13, the 10-track set ratchets up the quantity of punishing, metal-inspired riffs on songs like “Trepanning,” “Ataraxia” and “Drowned,” coming off significantly more heavier than its 2003 predecessor, “Antenna.”

Although signing with RCA failed to take Cave In to the proverbial next level, lead singer Stephen Brodsky said the experience was been beneficial for the band in the long run. “We’re so psyched about these new songs,” he told Billboard.com last fall. “They wouldn’t be what they are if [‘Antenna’] had done better. That made us push ourselves a bit more.”

With new drummer Ben Koller of Converge in tow, Cave In will begin a North American tour in late October or early November, with dates to be announced.

Here is the track list for “Perfect Pitch Black”:

“Perfect Pitch Black”
“The World Is in Your Way”
“Off to Ruin”
“Trepanning”
“Paranormal”
“Down the Drain”
“Drowned”
“Ataraxia”
“Tension in the Ranks”
“Screaming in Your Sleep”

— Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.