Albeit 11 months away, All Tomorrow’s Parities has announced The National as the curator of their annual three-day music festival in December. Set for December 7-9th at Bultins Holiday Centre in Minehead, UK, the festival will also feature the Brooklyn outfit’s only UK performance of 2012.

Joining The National on the bill are Sharon Van Etten, My Brightest Diamond, The Antlers, Owen Pallett, Boris, Tim Hecker, Wye Oak, Lower Dens, Megafaun, Suuns, Kronos Quartet, Dark Dark Dark, Buke and Gase, and more. In total the lineup will feature 40 live acts playing across the weekend on three indoor stages with a total festival capacity of just 5500 people. The event will also feature DJs, a cinema chosen by The National, and a book club curated by The National.

Tickets are priced at £170.00pp for room only apartments and £180.00pp for self catered apartments, and go on sale this Friday, January 20th via the festival’s website. A small amount of early bird tickets will be available at a £20 per person discount (£150pp room only and £160pp self catering.) Tickets must be booked in groups of 2-7 people.

Anyone who saw only the first Portishead performance at this weekend’s ATP I’ll Be Your Mirror music festival is going to feel ripped off when they hear about the second. Not only did the oft quiet trip-hop trio play “Chase the Tear” after teasing it the night before, but the band brought on not one, but two guests.

Public Enemy frontman Chuck D, who had just finished filling out the second slot of the night, first joined on during “Machine Gun”, as he did back in 2008 for Barcelona’s Primavera Sound. His bit involved a verse from “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos”, as well as yelling out the name of the song seven or eight times.

During the encore, Portishead announced “new friend” Simeon, the surviving member of Silver Apples, who had performed the day before with experimental supergroup Silver-Qluster, would lend a hand on closing number “We Carry On”. There is some history behind that, too; Simeon covered the Third track shortly after the album came out.

Mouth-watering as this all is, we’re not sure it eclipses Portishead’s first U.S. performance (third overall) of the Amnesty International single “Chase the Tear”, which the band began to play Saturday before giving up amid some confusion.

Enjoy what videos are available below (we will replace the grainy Simeon video once a better one avails itself), and make sure to look out for our full ATP: I’ll Be Your Mirror review soon.

“Machine Gun” feat. Chuck D:

“We Carry On” feat. Simeon:

This year, Hogan brings ATP’s latest installment to the US. A non-holiday camp ATP spinoff festival, aptly titled “I’ll Be Your Mirror”, will take place in Asbury Park, NJ, from September 30th to October 2nd. And, this time, Hogan has really outdone himself. Prayers of seeing one of music’s most deified, and easily most reclusive, songwriters in concert will be answered. Along with live-circuit rarity Portishead curating and playing at the shindig, Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum will perform two separate sets at the festival. Some will call it a miracle, but Hogan is no god, just a guy with great taste bent on creating great events for those who care as much as he does. This year is proof of that.

We caught up with Hogan to discuss his powers, how it all works, his aversion to Blur, what it took to drag Mangum out of his annex, why Liam Gallagher’s Beady Eye would be out of place at ATP, and why his ATP festivals tend to never suck. His gentle tone and delightfully unpretentious answers helped shed light on the true spirit of Hogan’s ATP vision. In a 30-minute phone conversation, it was easy to figure out what ATP is and always has been about: taking great care of the folks who will do anything in the name of their record collections, including the artists.

As always, you guys have a lot of stuff going on this year: Jeff Mangum, Portishead, Animal Collective, Battles. All of the lineups are just amazing this year. How do you decide which artists you get to curate, and what does that process usually entail?

It’s generally just everybody who has ever done anything for us is an extension of my record collection. So, it’s just me picking out records and saying, “Hey, why don’t we get someone like Jeff Mangum to perform something new from Neutral Milk Hotel.” Or, we’ve had film directors as well, like Jim Jarmusch, and we love his films. And Matt Groening from The Simpsons. Sure, like everyone else, we love The Simpsons. Saying that, though, they are all people that I read somewhere that they sort of have good taste in music. I mean, we do have to kind of ask people in advance sometimes if they can get an idea of what they are thinking of. But, so far, along the way, we’ve been fortunate with the people we’ve picked. We haven’t had any terrible lineups. Some better than others, but, you know, on the whole, they all fit within the same aesthetic of what we are trying to do.

Yeah, they are always so amazing whenever I see them listed, and, unfortunately, I never have been able to go. It always seems like somebody behind it, the curator, really put a lot of thought into it, and there are always these left-field artists that I am really interested in figuring out how you got them.

Yeah, well, I guess we are very persuasive. The one thing is, you know, when you get the kind of artist, say Jeff Mangum, or Slint, that kind of thing, or My Bloody Valentine… all these bands kind of reformed specifically to do shows with us, or reformed specifically for ATP. And it needs to be presented to them in a way so that it’s not just performing for money, and it’s not just about who is doing a show. It’s about presenting it to them in a way where they’re kind of selecting lineups of bands that they endorse, that may have influenced them, or things that they are supportive of. It’s good. Some of them get more excited than others, but we’ve kind of reformed everybody we’ve wanted to see, really. I mean, there’s a handful of bands we haven’t got yet, but I think there’s not as many as there were about five years ago, because we’ve kind of done them all [laughs].

Have there ever been any artists that you have just been dying to get, but you couldn’t get them to commit to it?

Well, we’d always love to have Kraftwerk play. We’ve never had them. We’re massive fans of Kraftwerk. We’ve never asked them to curate. I don’t know if that would be something that they would be into, but maybe that’s the way we should approach it, but yeah. Or Neil Young would be great. We could get him to do something — as long as he plays with Crazy Horse, though. That’s the best band. I saw him once; it was okay. But, it was just like… I just think when he’s with Crazy Horse, that’s the natural shape for him.

And you never approached either of them about it, right?

We have asked him about doing stuff in the past, but it’s always bad timing, or budget, or something. There are always some restrictions. It’s just a bit frustrating, but I’m sure one day we’ll get them. I said to Deborah, my wife, she runs ATP with me, if we ever got Kraftwerk or Neil Young, then we would retire.

So, my big question, being a huge Neutral Milk Hotel Fan, is what did it take to get Jeff Mangnum onboard? What was the process like? I imagine you kind of dragged him out of some attic crawl space or something?

You know, we have been talking to him for years, and it’s no secret that we love Aeroplane. It’s one of our favorite records and stuff, and I like all those previous records as well. But, I always thought that he would be the perfect kind of curator and stuff. From when we started the festival, I just thought he’s the sort of thing I would like to present at it. And I guess, as time went on, we just kept asking every year. Kind of like Pavement, we kept asking them every year. And Jeff came to the one we did, the first one we did in Upstate New York, which is where My Bloody Valentine played, and he had a really great time. And I think, again, he’s someone that wanted to not just come back and do some gigs for money but to do it in an environment he felt comfortable with. And no better way, I think, than doing it around really great bands that he selected and stuff. So, yeah, I guess gentle persuasion and persistence is what really paid off. And I’m so glad that we got to do it, ’cause he’s such a great guy. And also, his curation in England, the stuff that he’s kind of… the ideas, they flow so much and so well. He’s got enough ideas to kind of stage three or four ATP’s. It’s good. We’re really excited about seeing it. And, you know, I’m just pleased for him that he’s able to get out there and do shows again.

Were you aware that he was kind of building up to this? How influential were you in his decision to kind of do this comeback thing, because it seemed like you guys announced this, that he was doing this show for his first public, large-scale appearance in a long time, and it seems after that, he started announcing all these tour dates. Do you think you guys were kind of instrumental in that?

Well, yeah, I mean, we’d been talking to him since last year about doing stuff, and you know it was kind of like we were still going over the final details. I didn’t know if it was still going to go ahead or not, just ’cause of the schedule permitting, of course. And then, I heard he was about to play that show he did at The Bell House. He did that. And shortly after, I mean, we were already kind of negotiating at that point, that he was going to go ahead, and then the show was kind of spur of the moment. And now I’m glad that he got to do that, and it worked out. It will hopefully turn into a good cycle for him, to play some shows, and write some new songs, and perform them as well.

Yeah, I mean, you guys could have reinvigorated his whole career, which would be incredible.

Oh, yeah, I hope so. I just think he’s quite an amazing artist, and it would be great for everyone to experience it. I’m just happy we’re able to present him in both England and, obviously, in Asbury Park. He’s definitely… the thing I’m most looking forward to seeing this year, by far, is Jeff Mangum.

I’m really hoping to get to that. You’ve described ATP as an excellent mixtape made by the event’s curators. Each year, the lineups always read just like you present them. It’s one of the few festivals that I kind of look at the lineup, and I don’t see any glaring business ploys. Like, “Oh, there’s this band, because they are trying to get these people to come.”  So, how true to the concept do you think that arrangement stays, and how much freedom are the curators given? Do you just kind of say, like, “Make a list for us, and we will see who we can get.”  How does it work?

Well, we basically say to the curators, “Give us a wish list.” And then, it’s kind of like, if you treat the wish list just as if you were directors of a film, and the wish list was the script, and the curator was an actor, what we’re doing is directing them, and we’re giving them guidance, on, like, how to make the best mix tape, which I guess would turn into the best film. You always get people, like some curators have unrealistic notions. Like they’ll put down, “Hey, why don’t we get AC/DC, Leonard Cohen, and Radiohead, and Ennio Morricone, and all these other people?” And then we’re like, “I love all of those acts, and I would love to see them play, especially on the same weekend. That would be a sick bill.”  But, because of the size of the festival, it’s very intimate; it’s impossible to do that. So, what we need to do is kind of scale it down, and say, “Well, you need to have, well, this many kind of biggish names to sustain ticket sales. But also, balance it out with mid-range stuff.”

I guess I try to give the curators as much freedom as possible. I always pray that they never pick Blur, because I just have a severe aversion to those guys, and I’d never want to see them play ATP. I think the day that they play is the time to give up. But what I was going to say to you is that we try to give them as much freedom as possible. And a lot of the time, because we’ve picked people we respect and we think they’re great, they do deliver, and they’ve been something that fits the ethos of what ATP is about.

And is it ever… like, you mentioned Blur… is there ever a list where there are a few bands on there where you just cringe, and you kind of… steer them away from those acts? Or do you just go with them?

[Laughs] Well, yeah, there are some times, but then I’ll just be straight with them. I would say, “Do you think this is the right thing for ATP?” Because there is no point in trying to pick… For example, if somebody picked Beady Eye, that new band that  Liam Gallagher is fronting. If somebody picked them for ATP, the audience there wouldn’t be very receptive to them. Their music’s a pile of shit. They’re not going to pick up on it and say, “Oh this is great. It’s great having you!” It wouldn’t be worth it for a band like that to play the festival… and that’s why we are about championing great music… if there is a great band on, then the audience will be receptive to it. But if it’s a band that’s only suitable to big corporate festivals, like ones that Beady Eye or Oasis would play at, then it’s not going to work for us, for our event.

It might sound snotty or snobby, but it’s not. It’s just the audience that comes each year are discerning music fans, and they won’t accept weak lineups. The lineup has to be great to them, otherwise they won’t buy tickets or come. And that’s the way our audience works. None of our events ever sell out in a heartbeat, and it never sells out just because it’s ATP. It sells out on the strength of who’s playing. So, we have to kind of… every time we do this, it’s a challenge where we have to make sure we have, you know, a strong lineup that attracts people. Some sell better than others, you know. On the whole, it’s been successful, and it does do well, and it’s kept going for 11 years. But, you kind of have to have the right bands to make it work.

So, it’s kind of like a negotiation between this wish list and what you think will work?

Yeah, exactly.

I’ve been to festivals like Primavera, where you notice that the lineup is just far superior to anything else. Like, I’ve been to Bonnaroo a lot, and it just doesn’t feel the same. With ATP, there’s just this lineup where every band on there is worth your time, and I can’t really explain it.

That’s because the people at Primavera… We are very close to them. We do an ATP stage, and I also help book some of the main acts on there. But everyone that’s involved at the booking, Fra [Soler], who’s the main booking there, and Gabi [Ruiz], she runs the festival, they are real passionate music fans, and I would say that everything they book on there is a band that means something to them. There’s no, “Hey, what’s happening, and what’s not?” Not, like, “What’s hip on this Magazine?” or “MTV thinks this band is great.” None of that comes into the equation. And I think that’s the future of music. That’s the way it should be. It should be booking stuff because it’s good stuff, not because some, I don’t know, form of media dictates it’s trendy and it’s on again.

So, we’ve kind of gone over this a bit already, but what would you say was the overall mission when you started ATP, back in ’99, and do you think it has changed at all?  Do you feel you have achieved any sort of goal that you started out with?

The original thing was just to try. There was no festivals at that time apart from — in England, that is — we had the Reading Festival, Glastonbury, and Phoenix. There was a festival called The Phoenix that doesn’t exist anymore, which was owned by the people who ran Reading, and Phoenix festival started out that year. There weren’t any small, boutique things, and if you really wanted to see cool bands like Low or Royal Trux, you had to go to Reading, and you had to sit through 100 shit bands to see two good ones. The goal was to try and design something to make you go, “I want to go to this.”

So, if there were 20 bands that you wanted to see, but with like-minded people in a kind of vintage environment… I wondered if it would ever work. We’ve been fortunate that we were in the right place at the right time. I think we got to work with some of the greatest artists ever, from The Stooges to Ennio Morricone. So, we are really proud of all those types of things. I guess, maybe, we have reached our goal, but I only want to continue ATP if it’s always gonna be fresh. If it starts becoming too stale and repetitive, then I think that’s the time to probably call it a day. But when that is is anybody’s guess. But, at the moment, we are still firing on all cylinders.

I think you’ll keep going for a while, hopefully.

It’s hard to say. I mean, there are days where I want to jack it in and just say, “forget it.” But, I guess that’s like the nature of any job. It’s good. For example, this year [I have]the fact that we were able to work with Jeff Mangum, and we’re doing the event with Portishead, and we’ve done stuff in Japan. That’s the sort of thing that kind of inspires me to keep going. And I would kind of like to explore different countries as well. I think that’s the kind of thing that excites me the most at the moment.

It seems pretty obvious, but I’m going to ask anyways: Where did the idea for the first ATP at Butlins, like having it at that resort, come from, and was it difficult to settle on Kutsher’s when you tried to bring that to the US? Are the cultures different enough to affect that decision?

Well, the concept of doing it at a holiday camp, because… I don’t know if you know, but ATP started out in’99, but it was originally an event called Bowlie Weekender, and it was basically curated by Belle and Sebastian. We promoted Belle and Sebastian’s shows, and they approached us to host this event in a holiday camp, because Stuart, the singer, he used to work in a holiday camp, and he basically said he wanted to do an event where he got all of his friends and these bands that he liked and put it together. I helped him develop it and put it together, and it was supposed to be like every year, and then they, after that one event, they decided to keep it as a unique thing. So, with their blessing, I said, “Look, even though you helped me develop it and put it together, I would like to continue it, but I’m going to rename it.” And I’ve obviously called it All Tomorrow’s Parties. The thing about Belle and Sebastian is that they never really focused on the fact that there was a curator. They were just saying, “Belle and Sebastian are playing,” and they kind of picked the bands. But, I saw that that was one of the most important aspects of the event. So, I focused on the fact that every time we did it, we had a new curator. That’s kind of where doing it in the holiday camp came from.

And what was that called? That festival?

It was called Bowlie Weekender. It was spelled like b-o-w-l-i-e, as in eating a bowl of soup, a bowlie. It’s named after a haircut in Scotland, a stupid name. I then was approached by Brian Schwartz, who manages Dinosaur Jr, and he came to ATP with J. Mascis and Dinosaur, and he said to me, “Look, there’s this place in upstate New York called Kutsher’s, an old Jewish family resort, and I used to go as a kid. I think you should come check it out, because you would probably be into using the space for ATP New York.” So, we went to look at it, and I think there are great differences between Butlins and Pontins, that we use in the UK,  but it still had the beaten up charm, and that was one of the appealing things in it. And we did three events there, and they were really great, and I think everyone looks back on those events and has fond memories.

I have actually been to Kutsher’s, for like a decade with my family, and I have been dying to go to those ATP shows—cause it was like a childhood memory to me. Like the concerts were in the synagogue where we would go for high holidays, and just to see my favorite bands playing where I just sat, that would be incredible. But, I could just never go, and it was so sad. Do you think you will ever do those again at Kutsher’s?

Uh, the thing is that it never made economical sense for us to do it there, because the capacity against the expenses… it just didn’t work. To be honest, the ticket prices needed to be like about $500 to make it work, and then you had to buy accommodations as well. And that was just too expensive. So, we decided to develop this new series called I’ll Be Your Mirror. To one of our underground All Tomorrow’s Parties, the flip side was I’ll Be Your Mirror. So, we thought this is kind of the reverse. It’s basically ATP but without the holiday resort. And it’s the focus on the curator, and the bill, and that type of thing. We’re doing a new one in Asbury Park. And Asbury Park, the convention center at Paramount Hall, that was where I originally wanted to do ATP New York, on the East Coast. But Kutsher’s was great, you know. And I think it definitely set up what we wanted to do. Would we go back to Kutsher’s? Yeah, maybe. They need to kind of renovate it, because every year it seems to be just falling apart, worse. The people who run it have been in good nature, and Bella, the manager out there, she is fantastic, we love her. But, for ATP to continue doing an event in America, we have to move on, sadly, because it financially wasn’t making sense for us. We lost money every year.

We’ve kind of touched on this, but, from what I’ve heard, the festival is very communal, and attendees are all hanging out with the musicians. It’s just this kind of collective feel, like Bradford Cox and Jim Jarmusch playing piano in the Kutsher’s lobby. Is this something that you envisioned, or did it just kind of happen that way? Did you want it to be this communal thing, or did it kind of just morph into that by way of it being at these holiday resorts? Also, are there any good stories you can think of?

Let me think… To answer your first question, yeah, we did subconsciously want that to happen. Because, at ATP, we don’t have a VIP area, so it’s not like all these dickheads from cell phone companies and drink sponsors all saying, “Hey, come into my private area, and hang out, and be special, and be more special than the people out there, even though they paid money and you didn’t.” Like, L.A. celebrity bullshit. We kind of kiboshed all that and said, “All of the bands are equal like the fans, and everyone gets to hang out.” And you get artists, like, of really high caliber, like Nick Cave, and he is able to watch bands like Suicide and stuff and not be harassed by people in his face. People might stop and say, “Hey, Nick, it’s good to see you. Thanks for coming to play. Can I have your autograph?” That sort of thing. But no one really getting in his face, and he was able to maneuver around the site.

But, you can go bowling with Sonic Youth, or with Raekwon, or show up eating burgers with the Deal sisters. And, I think it’s great that if you’re into that type of music, and you’re able to talk with bands, not necessarily idolize, but someone that blows your mind that you love, and be in that environment where you’re made to feel equal. I think the whole thing about ATP is that it’s all about democracy, and it’s not about egos. We try to tell people, you know, that if you have an ego, why don’t you leave it at the door, because we’re not about that.

So, the stories, I’m trying to think.  I’ll have to get back to you on that.

That’s alright. So, we have been over that it’s not happening at Kutsher’s this year, but we will be getting a world-class I’ll Be Your Mirror, which is going to be incredible, curated by Portishead with Jeff Mangum. Do you have any updates on anybody else who might be joining on that lineup? Or any hints at what to get excited for? New features that you will be introducing to the festival?

Well, there’s going to be other things. We are going to make use of Asbury Lanes, which is a bowling alley. It has a venue there, and it holds like 250, and that’s going to be, like, a space we are going to use every day. We are also looking into doing an art exhibition with a pretty well-known artist. I can’t say this now, but next week, we will be revealing the artist and also some more artists and DJs, all of that sort of thing that’s going on. Yeah, it’s going really well, the I’ll Be Your Mirror thing. And I think it will be like a festival. Some people might say, “Oh, it’s not like Kutsher’s.” But, it’s kind of developing on from Kutsher’s. Kutsher’s is great, but the problem is that its charm of, like, how beaten up it was, wears thin after a while, you know what I mean? But I think we just wanted to find a location that made it more viable for us, and it’s really close to, like, Brooklyn and Manhattan, and it’s easy to get to Jersey, and people could come for the day or could come for the whole weekend. It’s easy to get accommodations. I think it’s good, a lot of history in that town, and the people there are so supportive, and I think it’s kind of a getaway from other places. So, it will be an event people will be into. We’re giving it a shot.

I mean, it sold out almost immediately, didn’t it? The three-day passes?

The three-day passes sold out, but there are still single-day tickets. No, that’s the one thing that everyone says: This happened before. The three-day passes sold out, and then everybody thinks the whole thing is sold-out. I don’t understand how anyone thinks that. I mean, there are still single-day tickets, but they are going fast. But, it’s not quite sold-out.

Okay. That’s good to clarify. I think it was the confusion with the Jeff Mangum performance that got everybody kind of—confused.

Yeah, I mean, what it was was that there were the three-day passes that guaranteed you getting into the Jeff Mangum show, and that sold out, but then there were single-day tickets if you wanted to see Portishead still available.

Note since this interview took place, another set of three-day Passes which include an additional show from Jeff Mangum have gone on sale.

I guess the final question would be, you have this record label, you’ve got festivals in Japan, Australia, UK, US… What do you hope to do next? Do you have any ideas for upcoming curators or where you would like to take ATP in the future?

Well, we have some stuff in Japan, and we did an amazing event there, and we would like to kind of expand on that. Other countries? I mean, I have always wanted to do something in, like, Paris. We love Paris. That would be good. Maybe more stuff in Australia or even maybe the West Coast of America. There’s only so many places to go. One person I think we would love to ask to curate is someone like Wes Anderson. We are huge fans of his movies, and all the music in his films are fantastic. So, I think that is someone that I think would make for a great curator. Whether he’s available or interested is anyone’s guess. But, I’d think he would be cool.

Any ideas for expanding the idea of ATP?

Yeah, we have always talked about maybe trying to get an ATP venue, not necessarily to host a whole festival but to do shows and stuff, because too many venues are run by corporate fools and their sponsorship deals and stuff like that. And I think it would be good to sort of, like, do something that bears the ethos of ATP, which is about the music, and treating fans with respect. I think that would be good. Maybe have a café attached to it to get some good healthy food in them and to see some cool music. I think that’s something to work towards. It’s getting harder and harder in the music business now, because everybody is losing money from selling records, so they’re now trying to play live to boost their income. And the market is kind of flooded, so I think maybe that will affect us in the long term. But I think there is always room for music venues. I think that would be good. I would like to do that, but it’s just finding the time to do it, because we are so busy with what we have going on.

Feature photo courtesy of Shorefire.com.

Following the release of 2009′s Super Animal Brothers III, the duo relocated to North Carolina’s mountainous west to hone in on what truly makes them tick: love for nature, baroque and modern composition, southern living, synthesizers and strong pop melodies. The resulting 10-track, self titled full-length reflects the re-discovery, with tracks titled “Mountain Home”, “National Parks”, “Lake”, and “North Carolina”.

Before the album drops May 24th via Carpark Records, EAR PWR will be hitting the road, with stops Austin, TX for South by Southwest showcase, Greensboro, NC, Manchester, UK, and at the Animal Collective-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in Minehead, UK. Check the dates, and the complete tracklist below.

EAR PWR Tracklisting:
01. Mountain Home
02. Baby Houses
03. Melt
04. Gypsy Blood
05. National Parks
06. Lake
07. North Carolina
08. Feel It
09. Geodes
10. Your Life Is Important

EAR PWR Tour Dates:
03/17 - Austin, TX @ South by Southwest (512 Upstairs)
04/21 - Greensboro, NC @ CFBG ^
05/12 - Manchester, UK @ Night and Day
05/13-15 - Minehead, UK @ All Tomorrow’s Parties

^ = w/ Captain Ahab

Well, if begging like me doesn’t work, maybe just try being New York City. BrooklynVegan reports that Spiritualized is set to reenact last year’s London, Gateshead, and Manchester performances of the stunning classic Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space at the obscure concert locale called Radio City Music Hall in New York, NY. The concert will take place pretty quickly here on July 30th, and their publicist has confirmed that New York is the only date they currently have planned.

You can grab tickets for the concert here.

“Holy shit! I’m a Simpson! I made it… I don’t need a damn Grammy or anything. That’s the sort of magic all this madness is for.”

– A few weekends back, Joanna Newsom took part in the Matt Groening-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in Minehead, England. In turn, The Simpsons creator rewarded Newsom for her appearance with the ultimate prize — a Simpsons cartoon (via). Needless to say, per her recent interview with the Guardian, she was quite thrilled by it.

Set to take place from December 3-5 at Butlins Holiday Centre in Minehead, England, the three-day festival will be part one of a two weekend celebration capping of ATP’s 10th anniversary. December 10-12 will see the Belle and Sebastian-curated Bowlie Weekender 2.

In addition to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, which will perform on all three nights!, the weekend bill also features Bardo Pond, The Ex, Deerhoof, Tim Hecker, Mike Watt (Minutemen, The Stooges), and Scout Niblett. In all, some 40 bands will perform, with additional acts set to be unveiled in the weeks ahead.

Tickets, priced at £165.00 (for room only) and £175.00 (for self catering), will go on sale starting Friday, April 9th via atpfestival.com.

However, if you cannot make it to London, don’t fret. In a posting on its website, Godspeed You! Black Emperor notes that it will also play nine “American towns,” as well a handful of British and European shows. We’ll let you know when those are announced. In the meantime, head on over to the band’s website to read the entire return announcement and why the band will not be fielding any other offers or accepting interviews. Ugh.

A decade later, in the year in which ATP celebrates its 10th anniversary, Belle & Sebastian will return to curate The Bowlie Weekender 2. This edition will take place from December 10-12 at Butlins Holiday Centre in Minehead, England and will feature some 40 bands handpicked by the acclaimed Glasgow outfit. A lineup has yet to be announced, however, tickets, priced between £165 – £175, will go on sale starting Monday, March 29th.

And if you’re looking to spend more than just a weekend in Minehead, you’re in luck. Once again, ATP will look to cap off the year with two weekends of music, as the Bowlie Weekender 2 will be the second of two festival weekends from ATP. The curators for the first weekend (Dec. 3-5) will be announced on the April 9th. A Between Days event, which runs at Butlins between the two weekend festivals and features intimate performances from a range of bands, is also planned. More details on those two events when details become available.

The xx are to continue these efforts with their take of Gil Scott-Heron’s latest album I’m New Here. In an interview with BBC 6 Music, beat-maker/producer Jamie Smith stated “Richard, the head of XL [Recordings], who produced the album, asked me to do it because I had just finished the Florence remix and that went down pretty well.” Since then Jamie Smith has been re-mixing his boyhood heroes newest release. According to Smith, he has been his laptop to re-mix Heron’s vocals over his own music while touring. As Scott-Heron’s vocals consist primarily of spoken work, and half-sung blues verses, Smith states “it’s easy to fit other music around it.” Smith admits re-mixing an entire album has been challenging, but after taking on primary producing responsibilities for the xx he isn’t feeling too much pressure.

While no release date has been released, hopefully some of the new material can be heard during the continuation of their tour. So pretty much, if you live in the states of attend any major music festival you have a good chance of seeing them play live. And with Scott-Heron and the xx each appearing at Coachella and Bestival, hopefully they can unite for a much anticipated live collaboration. We can dream, right? An updated list of tour dates follows so you can map out your xx going experience.

The xx 2010 Tour Dates:
03/08 – Leeds, UK @ Stylus
03/09 – Edinburgh, UK @ Studio 24
03/10 – Liverpool, UK @ Kazimer
03/17-21 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
03/22 – Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon #
03/23 – Birmingham, AL @ Bottlefree #
03/24 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse #
03/25 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle #
03/26 – Knoxville, TN @ Big Ears Festival
03/28 – Washington, DC @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue #
03/29 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church #
04/05 – Columbus, OH @ Wexner Center #
04/02 – Boston, MA @ Paradise
04/03 – Montreal, QC @ Le National
04/04 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Theatre
04/05 – Columbus, OH @ Wexner Center #
04/06 – Bloomington, IN @ Buskirk-Chumley Theater #
04/08 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
04/09 – Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater
04/12 – Bellingham, WA @ The Nightlight Lounge
04/13 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Theater
04/16 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater ^
04/17 – India, CA @ Coachella
04/19 – Chicago, IL @ Riveria Theatre ^
04/20 – Toronto, ON @ Koolhaus ^
04/24 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club ^
05/07 – Minehead, UK @ AT
05/08 – Minehead, UK @ ATP
05/09 – Minehead, UK @ ATP
05/12-05/21 – Japan @ TBD
05/25 – Lisbon, Spain @ Aula Magna
05/26 – Porto, Spain @ Casa De Musica
05/27 – Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Sound 2010
05/29-31 – George, WA @ Sasquatch!
06/10-13 – Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music Festival
06/18-20 – Scheessel, Germany @ Hurricane Fesitval
06/18-20 – Neuhausen ob eck, Germany @ Southside Festival
07/01-04 – Werchter, Belgium @ Rock Werchter
07/16-18 – Ferropolis, Germany @ Melt! Festival
08/10-14 – Oslo, Norway @ Oya Festival
09/09-11 – Isle of Wight, UK @ Bestival

# = w/ jj
^ = w/ Hot Chip

For one, ATP New York has handed over the reigns to Jim Jarmusch, the legendary indie filmmaker whose resume results in a rather lengthy Wikipedia entry. The 57-year-old Akron, OH native, who has the task of following up 2009 curators, The Flaming Lips, will hand pick the Sunday portion of ATP. So far, that lineup includes Raekwon, Girls, Fucked Up, Vivian Girls, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Wooden Shjips, and The Black Angels.

In the 48 hours prior Sunday, many others will perform at Kutsher’s Country Club in Monticello, NY. The previously announced Stooges (performing Raw Power), Sleep (performing Holy Mountain), Mudhoney (performing Superfuzz Bigmuff + Early Singles), and The Scientists (performing Blood Red River) will kick things off on Friday. Then, on Saturday, the likes of Sonic Youth, Explosions in the Sky, Fuck Buttons, The Breeders, The Books, Papa M, and Apse will entertain the lucky masses.

Many more artists are still to be announced. Plus, all three days will also feature DJs and movies!

Festival tickets are priced at $250 + booking fee for the weekend. Friday day tickets are priced at $110 + booking fee. Saturday day tickets are priced at $120 + booking fee. Sunday day tickets will be available in March. May we direct your attention to atpfestival.com for more ticket purchasing and more information. You better hurry, however. Total capacity is limited to 3,000 after all!

Check out the rather sick comic book style flier below. Now that’s how you promote a fest!

First and foremost, Courtney Love and the current incarnation of Hole will appear at next month’s South by Southwest in Austin, TX. The appearance, which will feature a lineup of Love along with new members Micko Larkin (guitar), Shawn Dailey (bass), and Stu Fisher (drums), will use the opportunity to showcase its forthcoming studio album, Nobody’s Daughter. Exact specifics have not yet been released.

Now on to the good news. Among one of the three acts recently added to the Matt Groening-curated Weekend #1 of the All Tomorrow’s Parties music festival is none other than the lovely duo of M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel, aka She & Him. According to ATP’s Twitter, the appearance will mark one of the duo’s first ever appearances outside the U.S. (the festival’s publicist confirms additional dates are likely coming soon). So if you add the She & Him U.K. debut with the other new additions of the Liars and  Trash Kit, as well as the previously announced likes of The Stooges, Spiritualized, Panda Bear, The xx, and Hope Sandoval among others, you basically get one hell of a festival. Maybe even better than what Pavement put together! Incredibly, limited tickets are still available.

Noise Pop Festival:

The San Francisco based Noise Pop Festival has added several new names to its 2010 bill. Now set to join the previously announced likes of The Magnetic Fields, Atlas Sound, Rogue Wave, and Memory Tapes are Deerhoof, Fences, Princeton, something called The Dodos & Magik Magik Orchestra Collaborative Performance, and none other than the Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band. Festival passes and individual tickets are currently available via ticketfly.com.

South by Southwest:

Wasting no time to kick off New Year off with a bang, Austin’s always overwhelming South by Southwest has added a series of heavy weights. Cheap Trick, She & Him, Broken Social Scene, Metric, and Cornelius are now all set to showcase at the festival, which is set to take place from March 17-21. Plus, many other acts have already been independently confirmed by CoS, meaning we still have a long ways to go before the complete bill is unveiled. Badges, wristbands, and all that fun stuff can be had at sxsw.com.

All Tomorrow’s Parties:

When it comes to All Tomorrow’s Parties’ lineups, any news is usually huge news. This is particularly exemplified in the latest lineup additions announced for the Matt Groening-curated portion of All Tomorrow’s Parties 2010. The recently reunited Iggy & The Stooges, Built to Spill, CocoRosie, and Lightning Dust are among the names confirmed to join Panda Bear, Deerhunter, Broadcast, and The Raincoats from May 7-9 in Minehead, UK. And then the weekend after that Pavement takes over. Yeah, totally jealous. Tickets, if there are any, can be had via Seetickets.com.

Coachella Music Festival:

Now for the obligatory Coachella update: Vampire Weekend and Hockey are the newest names to be confirmed for festival, which will be held from April 16-18 in Indio, California. Hot new rumors include Wilco, Soundgarden, Citizen Cope, RX Bandits, jj, and Elvis Costello. All should be revealed by the end of January, and then we can sleep.

All Tomorrow’s Parties:

Looking to keep up with his co-curators, The Simpsons’ Matt Groening has added another round of names to All Tomorrow’s Parties Weekend One. Panda Bear, The Residents, Deerhunter, Broadcast, Daniel Johnston, Shonen Knife, and Amadou & Mariam are among those now scheduled to appear perform at Butlins Holiday Centre from May 7-9. Press your luck with tickets here.

Primavera Sound:

Europe’s version of Pitchfork, the Primavera Sound Festival, has added the likes of Mission of Burma, Orbital, Wire, Low, Superchunk Dr. Dog, Japandroids, The King Khan & BBQ Show, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Circulatory System, and Sic Alps to its already ridiculously indie friendly lineup. This inane list will join previous confirmed acts such as Pavement, Pixies, Wilco, The Fall, Panda Bear, and The New Pornographers in Barcelona, Spain from May 27-29. Tickets (you know you want ‘em) are here.

Hillside Inside:

Getting back to North America, Hillside Festival’s winter extravaganza, Hillside Inside, will return to the Sleeman Centre in Guelph, Ontaio this February 6th. Confirmed to participate in this year’s festivities are Ani DiFranco, Martin Sexton, Hawksley Workman, Final Fantasy, The Rural Alberta Advantage, and Woodhands among others. Ticket information here.

They join the some other bands that Pavement likes: Enablers, Endless Boogie, The Fall, Faust, and Quasi.

Find all Pavement’s favorites here. Then, head here to buy tickets where you’ll be greeted by lots of “sold out”‘s.

All Tomorrow’s Weekend #2 goes down May 14-16 at Butlins Holiday Centre in Minehead, U.K. Weekend #1, curated by Matt Groening, takes place one weekend prior (May 7-9) at the same place.

A few months and a plane ride across the Atlantic later, ATP’s New York incarnation, ATP New York, will return to Monticello, NY for its third edition. This year’s festivities will go down from September 3-5 (Labor Day Weekend!) and, as we learned today, will include the four following acts performing the four following albums:

The recently reunited Iggy & the Stooges performing Raw Power, Mudhoney performing Superfuzz Bigmuff, Scientists performing Blood Red River, and the also recently reunited Sleep performing Holy Mountain.

Of course, plenty acts for both events are still forthcoming. Tickets for All Tomorrow’s Parties are on sale here. Tickets for ATP New York, priced at $250 + booking fee, are on pre-sale now via Paypal direct to ATP. To buy tickets email feedback@atpfestival.com with NEW YORK TICKET BUY in the subject line and specifying how many tickets you would like to purchase. Got it? Good.

For the legendary outfit, which will be reuniting some 10 years after that final 1999 performance at London’s Brixton Academy, 2010 will include dates across the globe, a few high-profile festival appearances, and the reissuing of one classic album. In other words, 2010 will likely go down as the year of Pavement. But, why? Why now?

“It was just the right timing basically,” explains guitarist Scott Kannberg, the man known in Pavement circles as Spiral Stairs. “We’ve had offers coming to us for the last few years, but everyone in the band was not ready to do it. The anniversary definitely played into it. 10 years went by pretty quick… didn’t feel long at all. Everyone was busy doing their own projects and time just went by I guess.”

But ultimately, as Spiral notes, it was something else that proved to be the deciding factor.

“I think Pavement has become bigger in the last 10 years than ever before and I think we owe it to our fans to give them one last chance to see us. A lot of fans never got to see us.”

Those fans will have their opportunity beginning March 1st, following a month worth of rehearsals in Portland, Oregon, when the band launches a seven-date tour of New Zealand and Australia.

“I’m getting married in Australia right after the oz shows,” Sprial explains. “Japan will follow. Some U.K. and Europe shows after.”

As we now know, those U.K. and European shows will include appearances at All Tomorrow’s Parties (May 14-16) and Primavera Sound (May 27-29), as well as a return to the Brixton Academy in London beginning May 11th. More dates have yet to be announced, but according to a source with knowledge of the band’s plans, these will take place at “larger size” venues and feature sets heavy with “hits,” or at least as close to a hit that a Pavement song can be (think “Cut Your Hair”). That being said, the band will likely incorporate a few “new songs,” described as previously unreleased from the Twilight Era… but more on that later.

After Europe, it’s on to the U.S. for more tour dates, again at “larger size” venues. The band is also plotting appearances at two major music festivals (because of ongoing negotiations, we were asked not to name name), though a similar curating spot at All Tomorrow’s Parties’ New York festival is not in the plans. And yes, ladies and gentlemen, these dates will in fact mark Pavement’s final performances ever.

Now, on to that part about “new songs.” As Spiral went on to note, a few previously unreleased songs from a certain forthcoming release could find their way on to the setlist.

“We’ll be doing a Terror Twilight [re-release] at some point,” explains Spiral. “There’s not many extras from around this, but I’m sure it’ll be a great package as all the others were.”

“We’re also doing a best of compilation,” he adds.

But, as the legendary guitarist concluded, whatever the future may hold, Pavement plans to remain, well, Pavement — the same secluded rockers who have no problem mooning a crowd.

When asked if he views Pavement as the current “face of indie,” Spiral responded saying, “Nope… and it’s sort of unfair that we’ve been labeled that. We don’t believe it.”

Instead, he’s much more content discussing the prospects of a Gary Young handstand at some point on the tour. “I hope so,” he answered.

We hope so too. But then again, based on what he’s promising, there’s hardly any room for guff.

On October 20th, Spiral released his solo debut, The Real Feel, via Matador Records. Ahead of Pavement’s reunion, he plans to support the album with tour dates early next year.

Edit: Because of the band’s ongoing negotiations with the two aforementioned U.S. festivals, we were asked to amend the article to eliminate any names and references. We will update you as more info becomes available.

Yes, The Fall has been confirmed to take part in next year’s festivities. The English post-punk outfit has long been cited as one of Pavement’s biggest influences, though frontman Mark E. Smith has previously claimed that Malkmus and Co. were a “rip-off” of his band. Interesting to say the least.

Also scheduled to take part are the San Francisco spoken-word based band known as Enablers, the Brooklyn underground rock outfit Endless Boogies, German krautrock band Faust, and Portland indie rockers Quasi.

Unfortunately unless you already have tickets (the festival is already soldout), the above should mean little you, other than it does result in some serious jealousy.

Groening will choose the lineup for weekend #1 of the festival, which takes place from May 7-9, 2010 at Butlins in Minehead, England (Pavement will handle weekend #2). And, as Prefix points out, if you put much stock in past history — Groening previously curated an ATP event in Los Angeles in 2003, where he chose Cat Power, Sonic Youth, The Shins, Daniel Johnston, and others to appear — the bill will probably turn out alright.

None of Groening’s selections have been unveiled yet (keep an eye here), but tickets will go on sale beginning this Friday, October 16th via atpfestival.com.

All Tomorrow’s Parties:

What: Three day festival in Minehead, UK curated by Pavement

When: May 14-16, 2010

Tixs: £160pp (for room only) and £170pp (for self catering)

Buy: Seetickets.com at 9:00 AM BST

Anvil:

What: Tour dates for North American tour

When: December – February

Tixs: Price varies depending on location

Buy: Ticketmaster.com at 10:00 AM EST

Bob Dylan:

What: Three-night stint in New York, NY

When: November 17-19

Tixs: $59.00 – $129.00

Buy: Ticketmaster.com at 10:00 AM EST

Devendra Banhart:

What: Tour dates for North American tour

When: November

Tixs: Price varies depending on location

Buy: Ticketmaster.com at 10:00 AM EST

Raphael Saadiq:

What: Tour dates for North American tour

When: November – December

Tixs: Price varies depending on location

Buy: Ticketmaster.com at 10:00 AM EST

Stephen Lynch:

What: Tour dates for North American tour

When: October – November

Tixs: Price varies depending on location

Buy: Ticketmaster.com at 10:00 AM EST

A second ATP festival weekend featuring a different curator on May 7-9th, 2010 will be announced next week.

Now, let’s get these boys to ATP’s New York event, shall we?

On September 23rd, Warp X will release the aptly titled All Tomorrow’s Parties. Billed as a DIY concert film, the DVD promises to include footage from past ATP performers like Battles, Sonic Youth, BelleaAnd Sebastian, Patti Smith, Animal Collective, Grinderman,  Iggy and the Stooges, Portishead, Mogwai, Slint, Grizzly Bear, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Gossip, Daniel Johnston and The Boredoms. Some 200 filmmakers, fans and musicians were involved in the project, with Jonathan Caouette serving as director and Vincent Moon as cinematographer.

Ahead of the DVD release, the film will be shown at select theaters on select dates across the U.K. Check out the film’s MySpace for the complete listing. Check out below for a trailer of the film.