Pop King’s planning his return

MICHAEL JACKSON has kept a low profile of late: He lived in self-imposed exile in Bahrain after his June 2005 acquittal on child molestation charges, then moved to Ireland in May. But now, according to several people who have recently met with him, the King of Pop, 48, has started work on his comeback. Early word is that he’s shifting away from the R&B; lite that characterized his last few albums toward a more urban sound.

Talent manager Charles “Big Chuck” Stanton traveled to Ireland earlier this month with his nephew, hip-hop producer Ron “Neff U” Feemster -- who has worked with Eminem and 50 Cent and is one of the track masters behind R&B; phenom Ne-Yo’s hit album, “In My Own Words” -- after Jackson sought out Feemster’s services.

Not sure what to expect, they say they encountered a musically focused and creatively fired-up Jackson. “He’s ready to take over the world,” Stanton says. “He’s got some hot records. Will.i.am did one, Teddy Reilly. We’re giving Michael a lot of edgy street records. He’s putting melodies to some hard party records.”

Raymone Bain, Jackson’s spokeswoman, said Will.i.am and Reilly had not joined Jackson in the studio, although she said it was possible they submitted musical MP3 files for his approval.

“Michael is moving very much forward with his new music,” she says. “He is readying to release an album.”

In April, Jackson signed an exclusive recording deal with Bahrain-based Two Seas Records with an eye toward releasing an album in late 2007. Last week, however, he dissolved his partnership with Two Seas, putting the fate of his long-gestating Katrina relief single, “From the Bottom of My Heart,” further into limbo.

Since March, Jackson has been meeting with a who’s who of hip-hop big shots -- 50 Cent’s main turntablist DJ Whoo Kid among them.

Whoo Kid recalled eating dinner with Jackson in Bahrain for MTV News. “Mike was like, ‘Whoo Kid, come sit over here,’ ” the DJ says in a high-pitched voice, mimicking Jackson. “I was like poinng! He was supposed to be there for like 45 minutes; he stayed for five hours. We was talking about Eminem. He was like, ‘Is Eminem really retired?’ I forgot that Eminem totally cremated him in one video [‘Lose It’], but [Michael] didn’t even bring it up. Then he started talking about 50.” Later in that conversation, Whoo Kid said Jackson also mentioned a desire to collaborate with Kanye West.

According to Stanton, the singer’s child molestation case is off limits. “He doesn’t want to discuss that,” Stanton says, who plans to return to Ireland next month. “He came through it successfully and he says he’s fine. He’s super-focused and we’re still working.”

Just call him the next big thing

JOSE GONZALEZ isn’t ashamed to admit that Nick Drake’s starkly minimal acoustic sound has had a lasting influence on his own pared-down music; most Gonzalez compositions consist of his soft tenor and classical guitar work, a pervading sense of gorgeous melancholia and little else.

Gonzalez’s debut album, “Veneer,” became the passion of music bloggers and critics earlier this year, landing his music in TV commercials and shows including “The OC” as well as himself a spot in the revolving roster of British down-tempo electronica group Zero 7 (he also appears on several songs on the group’s recent album, “The Garden”).

But the singer-songwriter, 26, sounds aggrieved about the frequent comparisons with Drake, who died of a drug overdose in 1974 at the age of 26.

“Calling me the ‘next Nick Drake’ -- at first I found it annoying,” Gonzalez says. “I understand people want to describe you or make comparisons. But at the same time, saying someone is the next somebody else ... I don’t feel is appropriate.”

After playing as a teen in various Stockholm punk and hard-core bands such as Back Against the Wall and Sweet Little Sinister, Gonzalez, whose parents are from Argentina, took a turn for the mellow around the time he entered college and began learning to play the Spanish guitar.

Gonzalez recorded an EP in his bedroom on a Dictaphone and released it on a friend’s local label in 2000. Departing from the usual rock-star aspirant playbook, he then enrolled in a PhD biochemistry program.

Long story short, the EP launched his career in Europe three years ago.

Gonzalez kicked off a solo tour earlier this month and arrives in L.A. for a show Thursday at the Vista Theater. In the meantime, he’s learning to live with the Drake comparisons.

“He has been an influence on my music,” Gonzalez says. “But it’s not like he’s the only one.”

Going from Lil to Young to Yung

THE prefix “Young” first hit the hip-hop mainstream circa 2003, replacing “Lil” as the identifier of choice for street-savvy rappers. So while Lil Kim, Lil Wayne and Lil Romeo find themselves in the “so five minutes ago” category, such rappers as Young Buck, Young Jeezy, Young Dro and (in an even fresher iteration of youthful empowerment) Yung Joc have become the names on rap cognoscenti’s lips.

Now, Yung is being used in relation to a group. Meet Yung Onyx, a continuation of sorts to the glowering, Glock-wielding early ‘90s New York quartet, Onyx. One of Yung Onyx’s members is the son of someone from Onyx version 1.0. “There’s no more groups in the game now who bring that raw street [sound],” Onyx’s Fredro Starr told allhiphop.com of the reason the group came together.

It’s the tenor

of the times

JUDGING from a couple of opera-influenced singing groups, the mid-’00s are shaping up as tough times to be a baritone or bass. But these are salad days for tenors.

Seizing on the global popularity of the Three Tenors (that is, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras), director/choreographer Marion J. Caffrey put together a trio of African American singers to tackle a more contemporary songbook that encompasses Verdi to Alicia Keys. The group is called Three Mo’ Tenors, despite the fact that six tenors alternate performances. (The group appears at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts on Friday and Saturday.)

Taking one part Three Tenors and another part “popera” sensation Il Divo -- and then kicking it up several notches -- Australia’s multi-platinum operatic power pop troupe, the Ten Tenors, will perform a 10-night run at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater Oct. 24 through Nov. 5.