With the Occupy movement still marching on Wall Street, L.A., D.C., Boston, and Chicago, it’s probably time the many protesters had an anthem of their own. With provocative lyrics (“This can’t be living now, if so then show me how/You got it all til the revolution comes”), an upbeat independent vibe, and as a collaborative effort, Bjorn Yttling’s (Peter, Bjorn and John) remix of Portugal. The Man‘s “Got It All (This Can’t Be Living Now)” is more than worthy of blasting through some loud speakers as the protesters march through America’s most influential cities. Better yet, the track is available for free below.

Portugal. The Man – “Got It All (This Can’t Be Living Now)” (Bjorn Yttling Remix)

To witness the original track live, catch Portugal. The Man throughout October as they wrap up their lengthy fall tour. Just before those dates, though, is the band’s recently unveiled video for “So American”, which features everything we love in this great country of ours: booze, chilling at the lake, bonfires, and rock and roll.

Portugal. The Man 2011 Tour Dates:
10/06 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Outdoors
10/07 – San Antonio, TX @ The Korova
10/08 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theatre
10/09 – Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck
10/11 – Columbia, MO @ The Blue Note
10/12 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
10/13 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
10/14 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
10/15 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
10/16 – Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews Hall
10/18 – Toronto, ON @ The Opera House
10/20 – New York, NY @ Terminal 5 (CMJ Music Marathon)
10/21 – Providence, RI @ Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel
10/22 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
10/23 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
10/25 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
10/26 – Charlottesville, VA @ Jefferson Theatre
10/27 – Charlotte, NC @ Neighborhood Theatre
10/28 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
10/29 – Oxford, MS @ The Lyric Oxford
10/30 – New Orleans, LA @ Voodoo Music Experience

During “Young Folks”, Moren climbed offstage and into the audience, briefly standing above them on a low wall. He repeated the performance during “Nothing to Worry About” off of 2009’s Living Thing, ripping blues-y harmonica riffs in the midst of a roiling audience. That’s not including his bunny hops and scissor kicks onstage. PB&J played a good mix of songs, generally sticking to their newest material but also going back to “oldies but goodies.” (I was hoping they would play “Amsterdam” during the encore, but instead they chose “Objects of My Affection”. I suppose it’s an acceptable substitute.) Honestly, it doesn’t matter: I was so blown away by their rendition of The Strokes’ “Is This It?”, off the Is This It? covers compilation Stroked, that I wouldn’t even have needed an encore.

Opening local act BNLX, Ed and wife Ashley Ackerson’s noise-rock project, tried to be a hard act to follow with three screens flashing checkered lights and smoke machines. Their best-known hit “Blue and Gold” softly stood out during a throbbing set I felt more in my chair than actually heard. It’s impressive that the Ackersons create such walls of noise with just a laptop, bass guitar, and electric guitar, but I wished for a real drummer’s improvisation. Fortunately, Peter Bjorn and John’s adorably spontaneous act more than made up for it.

Sure, Peter Bjorn and John can record great music and hire someone to make stellar artwork, but was everyone aware their talents extended into the realm of cinematic features? Cortesy of Pitchfork, check out the near-40-minute clip below of the band playing the entirety of Gimme Some as accompanied by wacky visuals. Ranging from confetti blasts to Flock Of Seagulls-esque homages, it’s like your eyes and ears and jammin’ on the same frequency, and they’re loving every second of it.

Later this month, Peter Bjorn and John will offer up a heaping helping of shows as part of their “All You Can Eat Tour”, a six-week trek across North America that kicks off August 24th in Chicago, IL. And while mommy said to never spoil your dinner with treats, CoS is proud to present an exclusive premiere of said tour’s poster for sampling before you hit your local club/venue. Created by artist Andreas Samuelsson, the delicious piece of art was done in collaboration with art director Jonas Torvestig, who is also behind the cover of the band’s latest LP, Gimme Some. Check out the piece above in all its glory; then, head below to take a gander at the trio’s upcoming itinerary.

Peter Bjorn and John 2011 Tour Dates:
08/05 – Aulnoye-Ameries, FR @ Les Nuits Secrets
08/12 – Budapest, HU @ Sziget Festival
08/24 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
08/25 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
08/26 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre
08/27 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
08/28 – Chicago, IL @ Schuba’s
08/29 – Chicago, IL @ Schuba’s
08/31 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
09/01 – Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
09/02 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
09/03 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
09/05 – Montreal, QC @ La Tulipe
09/07 – Boston, MA @ House of Blues
09/09 – Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
09/10 – Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
09/12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bowl
09/13 – Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell’s
09/14 – New York, NY @ Highline Ballroom
09/15 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
09/16 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
09/17 – New Haven, VT @ Toad’s Place
09/18 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
09/22 – Orlando, FL @ Plaza Theatre
09/23 – Miami, FL @ Bardot
09/24 – Ybor City, FL @ Czar
09/25 – Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder
09/26 – New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
09/27 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
09/30 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up
10/01 – Los Angeles, CA Troubador
10/03 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Smell
10/04 – Los Angeles, CA @ Echo
10/05 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre
10/06 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
10/07 – Oakland, CA @ New Parish
10/08 – San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s
11/05 – Sao Paulo, BR @ Terra Festival

The Strokes’ Is This It — a.k.a. the best album of the 2000s and the 54th best album ever — turns 10 years old on July 30th, 2011. To celebrate, Stereogum.com continued their tradition of worthy tribute albums (i.e. Radiohead’s OK Computer, R.E.M.’s Automatic For The People, and Bjork’s Post) by issuing one for the UK version of Julian Casablancas and Co.’s 2001 debut.

Available as a free download at this link, STROKED: A Tribute To Is This It sees Peter Bjorn and John, Owen Pallett, The Morning Benders, Real Estate, Computer Magic, Chelsea Wolfe, and others taking on the album’s 11 tracks. Right below, you can stream Pallett’s cover of “Hard to Explain” because it’s really good. The tracklist is after that.

Owen Pallett – “Hard to Explain”

STROKED: A Tribute To Is This It Tracklist:
01. Peter Bjorn & John – Is This It
02. Chelsea Wolfe – The Modern Age
03. Frankie Rose – Soma
04. Real Estate – Barely Legal
05. Wise Blood – Someday
06. Austra – Alone, Together
07. The Morning Benders – Last Nite
08. Owen Pallett – Hard to Explain
09. Heems – New York City Cops
10. Deradoorian – Trying Your Luck
11. Computer Magic – Take It or Leave It

That’s right. Peter Bjorn and John – whose latest album is titled Gimme Some – are out to get some and back up the name of their “All You Can Eat Tour” with an autumn tour itinerary that only gives them 11 days of rest over five weeks. The journey even includes three Canadian stops (two Toronto dates and a Montreal show), but the most interesting thing about PB&J’s fall plans are the mini-traveling residencies they’ve scheduled in three of the country’s most storied municipalities.

In addition to the four dates in Chicago, the band has also penciled in six shows at six different venues throughout the New York/New Jersey area and four shows in Los Angeles that also find the boys playing four different spots in as many days. While there aren’t any plans to hit up the plains region of the States on this run, every other part of America is set to get their piece of the pie as the tour also stops in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Orleans, and even Florida. Check out the band’s complete touring schedule below.

Tickets to most of the shows are in the $20-$25 range and some dates are already have on sale. Other venues will put tickets on sale later this week, and more information is available through PB&J’s official website.

Peter Bjorn and John 2011 Tour Dates:
06/01 – Austin, TX @ Antones (SOLD OUT)
06/02 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
06/03 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Santa Barbara Bowl
06/04 – Costa Mesa, CA @ Detroit Bar (SOLD OUT)
06/05 – San Diego, CA @ KBZT Independence Jam
07/07 – Karlskoga, SE @ Putte I Parken Festival
07/09 – Trencín, SK @ Pohoda Festival
07/14 – Hultsfred, SE @ Hulsfredfestivalen
07/22 – Huntingdon, UK @ Secret Green Party
08/05 – Aulnoye-Ameries, FR @ Les Nuits Secrets
08/12 – Budapest, HU @ Sziget Festival
08/24 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
08/25 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
08/26 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre
08/27 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
08/28 – Chicago, IL @ Schuba’s
08/29 – Chicago, IL @ Schuba’s
08/31 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
09/01 – Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
09/02 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
09/03 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
09/05 – Montreal, QC @ La Tulipe
09/07 – Boston, MA @ House of Blues
09/09 – Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
09/10 – Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
09/12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bowl
09/13 – Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell’s
09/14 – New York, NY @ Highline Ballroom
09/15 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
09/16 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
09/17 – New Haven, VT @ Toad’s Place
09/18 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
09/22 – Orlando, FL @ Plaza Theatre
09/23 – Miami, FL @ Bardot
09/24 – Ybor City, FL @ Czar
09/25 – Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder
09/26 – New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
09/27 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
09/30 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up
10/01 – Los Angeles, CA Troubador
10/03 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Smell
10/04 – Los Angeles, CA @ Echo
10/05 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre
10/06 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
10/07 – Oakland, CA @ New Parish
10/08 – San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s

Animation:

I Am a Bear, Etc. - An animated video interpretation of comedian Mike Birbiglia’s “I’m a Bear” skit.

Documentaries:

The Archive - What if you owned the world’s largest record collection, but had to let it go? This revealing documentary depicts a man who devoted his entire life to his love of music, the store that allowed him to share his love with others, and the sacrifices he makes to press onward in life.

Peter, Bjorn and John: Digging Deeper – Directors Jamie Margolin and Dezi Catarino follow the group on the first few shows of their tour, as we learn the secrets and methods they used to construct their most recent “back-to-basics” album.

Music Videos:

Holy Ghost! – “Wait and See” - A day in the life of the band…as portrayed by their fathers.

Titus Andronicus – “No Future Part 3: Escape From No Future” - New Jersey is not just all about your Snookis and JWowws. Titus Andronicus shows us what the real New Jersey is like in this fantastically shot video. A special someone introduces the video, too.

The Donkeys – “Don’t Know Who We Are” - This video goes on to prove piñatas come in far too many shapes and sizes.

News:

Cluster 1 News with Sami Jarroush - Updates on the Lollapalooza festival, Kanrocksas festival, Ottawa Bluesfest and Quebec City summer festival.

Don’t Forget…

– Want a constant stream of musical goodness? Check out our Channel, featuring over 30 music videos, several short films, and other nifty clips, all crammed together in one non-stop barrage of visual and aural stimulation.

- Social networking is a way of life, so follow us at @cluster1tv and on Facebook

Perhaps T.S. Eliot was right. Maybe April really is the cruelest month.

Then again, this is the time of year  when the music world starts to gain serious momentum. Nearly every artist still in existence decides to release new material and tour the world, major festivals finally reveal their line-ups, and just about anything’s possible. It is spring after all. The season for exciting new beginnings.

You know where this is headed. This is the part where I tell you that CoS will be here all throughout the busy spring season and beyond to help you keep track of everything important in the music. Yes, that’s exactly what we’re here for.

So get ready for next week because it’s sure to be stacked — but don’t forget to enjoy this recap post first:

– LCD Soundsystem played their final farewell.

– Read all about it: Radiohead deliver their free newspaper, The Universal Sigh.

– Arcade Fire scored big time at this year’s Juno Awards (i.e. Canada’s answer to the Grammys, only slightly cooler) and played a rousing rendition of “Rococo” that night, which you can view by clicking here. Plus, they found time to perform Funeral stand-out “Haiti,” in, no joke, Haiti this week, along with some really unexpected covers.

– Go ahead. Try to name one artist who doesn’t plan to release something on Record Store Day this year.

– The White Stripes plan to reissue their first two singles. You can buy them on a certain day in April. (Hint: it rhymes with “lecord ore bay”).

– There’s a new Death Cab for Cutie track to hear.

– Kid Cudi has a new song out, too.

– Circuital, My Morning Jacket‘s sixth studio album, drops on May 31st.

– Odd Future unleashed even more material that defies simple explanation.

– And now for the obligatory Foo Fighters update: you can now hear 60-second samples of their forthcoming LP. You can also listen to another new track called “Arlandria” if you want. Or you could just stream the whole thing. Your call.

– Watch the video for the Fleet Foxes’ “Grown Ocean”.

– Jay-Z got slapped with a lawsuit.

– Charlie Sheen gave us something else to Google/Twitter about.

– The Strokes continued to kill it live.

– This year’s installment of Nateva Festival was canceled.

– Have Ezra Furman & The Harpoons recorded their best album to date? Here’s what Adam Kivel had to say.

– Disappointed with Daft Punk‘s original score for Tron: Legacy? Read Megan Ritt’s take on Tron Legacy: R3CONFIGUR3D.

– Peter Bjorn and John are back. Chris Coplan reviewed their latest effort, Gimme Some.

– Derek Staples ventured south for the “three-day electro-extravaganza” that is Ultra Music Festival.

– Sergio Vega (of Deftones fame) was nice enough to chat with Karina Halle.

– No week here at CoS is complete without a giveaway of some sort. How do free tickets to Sweetlife Festival 2011 sound?

– FYI, we’re throwing a huge party in Chicago featuring Ladytron‘s Mira Ayoyo on April 14th. Click here for additional details.

Constantly bringing up the merits of “Young Folks” may be the kind of thing to drive our favorite Swedes crazy, but from listening to this record, you can tell they respect their massive international mega-hit and want to make more music like it. However, they’ve modified the context in which they do, going for a simple, edgier vibe when making pure pop magic. “Tomorrow Has to Wait” feels like the most direct line back to their past successes; droning vocals and a rhythmic drumbeat are the new whistling, with the hook of “I don’t think that you are sorry for what you did” drilled into the listener almost as efficiently. “Dig a Little Deeper”, their existential manifesto on the nature of creativity, features a particularly catchy guitar line and some of their trademark “Ohh ohh” vocal melodies. Here, the band are clearly facing their past and ensuring us of their intent, singing, “You think you’ve got it made/I’m trying to have some fun/You think you know it all/I’ve only just begun,” as if to tell their fans and critics to watch them now.

That motif takes a unique spin on “Second Chance”. This time around, a fairly stock rock guitar line gets dressed up with some cowbell. The lyrical aim, however, gets a bizarro-Freudian spin, where the band almost take a step back from themselves to portray an all-too-common rock and roll scene of self-conformity: “You stick to what you knew before/Don’t know what you like/Just played up your mind/The picture still hangs on the wall/From back in the day/When you had it all.” They end their tale with the chorus/words of wisdom of “You can’t can’t count on a second chance/Cause second chance will never be found.” By raising these points, they’re attempting to explore the whole notion of creative growth and continual self-improvement as an artistic entity and its impact on the creator, which demonstrates their maturity as self-aware writers/performers.  However, they circumvent all this mess with a fairly punk attitude of “go for broke because you only get one shot in life.”

Those tracks as a whole are the core of the album and the clear focus for those trying to dissect where the band are in their career arc. But two other tracks tell the rest of the story in a less pseudo-intellectual way. “(Don’t Let Them) Cool Off” is one of the more immediately pleasing cuts on the record. Dire Straits-esque in its nature, the song is a big rock ode to never giving in and powering through the hype and BS to continually create and produce music. It’s seemingly one of the more complicated tracks on the album, yet completely free and breezy with its sing-song vocals and multiple guitars. If there’s one iota of Living Thing left in the band, though, fans can find it in the album-closing “I Know You Don’t Love Me”. Even still, they’ve taken that moping and amped it up thanks to a rumbling rhythm like a walk down a deserted highway and a spark of life in an explosive chorus, all without taking away from the stoic energy they use to sing about being unloved. The sentiments of these tracks are the most straightforward on the record, thus making them the most pop-rock friendly. However, they’re also less cerebral and more experimental in nature, which only further complicates them. Again, chalk it up to the boys doing what they can to be themselves without totally abandoning a healthy sonic curiosity.

With not one, not two, but three total premieres from The Kickdrums thus far, we were starting to think that the duo of Alex Fitts and Matt Pentilla would never get around to dropping a actual new release. All that, however, changes with the Something’s Gotta Give EP, which drops on iTunes on February 21st via 11 Inch Records. The EP will feature two new songs, “Something’s Gotta Give” and “We Can’t Go Home Anymore My Love”, along with remixes of the title track by Kutcorners, Emynd of Philadelphia-based Crossfaded Bacon crew, Fool’s Gold’s Sammy Bananas, and others. In the meantime, you can check out several tracks and remixes by The Kickdrums in a mix called That’s Them! , which just so happens to have been organized by 11 Inch Records head DJ Eleven. Head here to grab the mix, and check out the full tracklist below.

That’s Them! Tracklist:
01. The Kickdrums – We Can’t Go Home Anymore My Love
02. The Kickdrums – Just A Game feat. Joell Ortiz
03. Kanye West – Good Morning (The Kickdrums remix)
04. Kid Cudi – Sky High
05. The Kickdrums – Things Work Out
06. Peter Bjorn & John – Nothing To Worry About (The Kickdrums remix feat. Wale and Young Chris)
07. The Kickdrums – I’m Gonna Dress in Black
08. The Kickdrums – Optimistic Captive
09. Ben Harper – Lay There And Hate Me (The Kickdrums remix)
10. The Kickdrums – Love Buzz
11. The Kickdrums – Perfect World feat. RZA (remix)
12. The Kickdrums – Love Is A Drug
13. The Kickdrums – Somethings Gotta Give (Kutcorners remix)

Peter Bjorn and John have brought back the fun. The new vid for “Breaker, Breaker” proved the Swedish trio can still handle pop-rock as well as any American counterpart, and at only 98 seconds it left us wondering what PB&J laid down for the rest of Gimme Some. They didn’t leave fans in the dark long, continuing the back-to-basics approach on the newest single “Second Chance”.

Just two days before hitting up London to kick off their tour, the guys stopped by Burbank, CA to perform “Second Chance” on Conan. The track has a charming simplicity (distorted vocals aside), and it’s hard not to enjoy the energy Peter Morén brings to his guitar breaks. Plus, drummer John Eriksson taps out enough cowbell to even make Bruce Dickinson happy.

Gimme Some will be released March 29th on StarTime International.

Video support via The Audio Perv.

As Peter Bjorn and John‘s upcoming LP Gimme Some is slated to be quite the good-time record, there’s only so much a couple of really cool samples can do to show us just how much our favorite Swedish trio plans to get down. So, undoubtedly, you’ll have to check them out on tour in America this spring (via BrooklynVegan). After a set of shows throughout Europe this month and sporadically in March, the boys hit the States on April 28th in Atlanta, GA and play around our beloved country until May 14th, where things wind down in LA. As always, stay tuned for more dates as they’re announced. Gimme Some hits stores March 29th via StarTime International.

Peter Bjorn and John 2011 Tour Dates:
02/03 – London, UK @ The Old Blue Last
02/16 – Berlin, DE @ Comet Club
02/17 – Aarhus, DK @ Train
02/18 – Copenhagen, DK @ Lille Vega
02/19 – Oslo, NO @ Sentrum Scene
02/23 – London, UK @ Lexington
02/28 – Amsterdam, NL @ Bitterzoet
03/02 – Paris, FR @ International
03/30 – London, UK @ Dingwalls
03/31 – Manchester, UK @ Academy 3
04/01 – Glasgow, UK @ Stereo
04/06 – Hamburg, DE @ Molotow
04/07 – Utrecht, NL @ Tivoli 400
04/08 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique Orangerie
04/09 – Paris, FR @ Point FMR
04/28 – Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
04/29 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
04/30 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
05/01 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theater of Living Arts
05/02 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
05/03 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
05/05 – Boston, MA @ Paradise
05/06 – Toronto, Ontario @ Lee’s Palace
05/07 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
05/10 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos
05/11 – Vancouver, British Columbia @ Venue
05/12 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
05/13 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
05/14 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Ray Theatre

The upcoming Gimme Some, the 6th LP from Swedish indie rockers Peter Bjorn and John looms large. The band is said to have gone back to basics, and from their previous sample from the album, there’s a definite stripped down feel to it. Above, via Some Kind of Awesome, you can hear the second taste from their forthcoming album. “Second Chance” is a track that arches between 60′s pop and 00′s indie. Think The Yardbirds partying with Spoon. Consider my appetite whetted.

Gimme Some hits shelves March 29th on StarTime International.

For their sixth album, Gimme Some, Peter Bjorn & John decided to go and make a fun, party-orientated record. An album that, according to a recent interview with Spin, would focus on “going back to basics — guitar, bass, drums”, more akin to their indie-centric 2006 release, Writer’s Block, which featured the band’s enormous hit, “Young Folks”. In our first taste off the LP, the band delves back into their energetic roots with the 98-second video for their single, “Breaker, Breaker” (via TwentyFourBit). Visually, prepare yourself for a case of whiplash as the band frantically rocks out, as if they were sped up 75% or were currently tweaking. Sonically, though, it’s as if The Ramones had moved to Sweden and made pop-rock love songs (though, according to Peter Morén, John Erikkson actually wrote the song about a journalist he hates…ouch.) If you like what you hear, you can grab your very own MP3 copy below. For those itching for more, Gimme Some hits stores March 29th via StarTime International.

You can find the first part by clicking here. Keep an eye out for additional posts next week as well.

And be sure to keep checking out our site. As you can clearly see, December has gotten off to a great start. We intend to end it, and the year in general, on a high note.

– Consequence of Gorillaz, anyone? Damon Albarn and co. pretty much dominated our headlines this week, with everything from retirement rumors to new album details to, um, Olympic-related updates surfacing within a few days of each other. And I almost forgot to mention the new video with Snoop Dogg. And the scavenger hunt.

– Coachella doesn’t arrive until next spring, but we’ve already started our lineup predictions.

– Sir Paul McCartney made Saturday Night Live watchable.

– Robert Plant told us not to get our hopes up for a Led Zeppelin reunion anytime soon.

– Big comebacks: Jeff Mangum appeared in public, Godspeed You! Black Emperor performed for the first time in six years, and Rammstein delivered their first U.S. performance in a decade.

– Michael Jackson‘s new single, “the 2010 version of ‘Thriller’,” dropped.

– Peter Bjorn and John‘s forthcoming LP now has a release date.

– While we’re on the subject of Swedish indie stars, Jens Lekman wrote a song about stalking Kirsten Dunst.

– Heather Mills took credit for putting The Beatles‘ catalog on iTunes.

– Q-Tip clarified a few things about the upcoming A Tribe Called Quest documentary.

– On a sad note, Aretha Franklin was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

– Judas Priest announced their final world tour. Ever.

– Pete Doherty is set to make his acting debut soon.

– Need tips for Bonnaroo? Well, you’re in luck.

– Raekwon‘s s new LP is allegedly due out next year.

– The Cars put out even more new material. These guys haven’t been this productive in a long time. Twenty-three years to be exact.

– Pearl Jam announced plans to host their own music festival.

– Want special-edition Daft Punk headphones? Okay, but it’ll cost you.

– The new Death Cab for Cutie album now has a title.

– R.E.M. jumped on the holiday single bandwagon.

– Watch this clip of Feist and Broken Social Scene performing “I Feel It All” together.

– Don’t watch this Kings of Leon video.

– Chris Coplan reviewed Ryan Adams‘ latest effort. Coplan also took on lists in the latest edition of Nod Your Head.

– Ted Maider shared his thoughts on deadmau5′s 4 x 4 = 12.

– Jónsi has finally made his solo debut. Find out what David Buchanan had to say about it here.

– Ted Leo and The New Pornographers played NYC’s Terminal 5. Alex Young and Kelly Staskel were there.

– We debuted our podcast this week, something we like to call Audiography.

– Derek Staples interviewed Gang Starr‘s DJ Premier.

– Harry Painter sat down with Thomas Ross Turner of Ghostland Observatory to discuss, well, lots of different things.

In case you missed the news last time, Peter Bjorn and John‘s upcoming sixth album is going to be a pop-rock effort, containing songs the band wrote while drunk and celebrating that glorious art of killing brain cells. While there’s no word yet on a title or tracklist, a new press release confirms that the album will drop March 29th via StarTime International. That happens to be perfect timing, because nothing is better than getting hammered and dancing to and fro when it’s actually nice outside.

“We’ve sort of gone back to the beginning,” drummer John Eriksson told Spin in regards to the band’s next venture. After 10 years and five albums, the three men had to ask, “What can we do [now]?” Their answer? Punk. “We originally planned to make a punk rock album,” Eriksson said of the early stages of the recording process, “but listening to it now it’s definitely a pop rock album.”

The trio also added to their creative team, recruiting producer Per Sunding to expand their musicality and infuse some new blood into the album’s 11 tracks. Sunding added another influential ingredient to the process: booze. According to Eriksson, the track “Tomorrow Has to Wait” is about getting drunk because “that’s what we were during recording.”

Aside from a tentative early 2011 release date, few details are known about the LP. Per the band’s Twitter, they were still trying to formulate an official album title and cover as of late September. So go ahead and leave the guys a few suggestions. The trio also makes one impressive promise via tweet: “Our new album is so powerful that u will get an electric shock by looking at it!”

You can grab both tracks as free downloads on Li’s official website. They’re also available for streaming below (via 24B). Those looking for a physical copy of the single can pick up a “very shiny limited” edition 7″ via Rough Trade.

“Get Some”

“Paris Blue”

As for 2009? Well, the Dirty Projectors became a household name, as did Twitter, Girl Talk turned into a gimmick, Kanye continued to be an asshole, online music streaming got big (and bought), and the sales of digital and vinyl releases continued to increase, while the Virgin Megastores and Sam Goody’s of the world went bye bye.

And that’s not even scratching the surface. Before we turn the page on the 2000s, we wanted to take one more look at the year that was the last 365 days. Music, here was your 2009…

Top Albums of 2009

As selected by the CoS Staff…

01. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion

02. Passion Pit – Manners

03. The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You

04. The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love

05. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

06. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!

07. Kittens Ablaze – The Monstrous Vanguard

08. Wale – Attention Deficit

09. The Antlers – Hospice

10. The Dead Weather – Horehound

Click here for #11 – #100

Top Songs of 2009

As selected by the CoS Staff…

01. Phoenix – “1901″

02. Animal Collective – “Summertime Clothes”

03. Passion Pit – “Sleepyhead”

04. Grizzly Bear – “Two Weeks”

05. Phoenix – “Lisztomania”

06. Wale – “Triumph”

07. Jay-Z – “Run This Town” (feat. Kanye West and Rihanna)

08. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Heads Will Roll”

09. Girls – “Lust for Life”

10. Animal Collective – “My Girls”

Click here for #11 – #50

Headline Grabbers

There is always a few particular artists who seem to appear in the headlines more than others. Take these three for example:

Lil Wayne appeared on ESPN, began work on a rock ‘n’ roll album, talked gangsta with Katie Couric, won some Grammys, released the worst song ever, pushed back the release of his rock ‘n’ roll album, pushed back the release of his rock ‘n’ roll album again, told kids to stay in school, teamed up with Madonna, collaborated with Kanye, Eminem, and Drake, promised two albums before the year was out, plead guilty to weapon possession, released a stellar mixtape, watched his mom get a TV show, had his rock ‘n’ roll album mistakenly leaked, and got arrested again, all while actually failing to release any studio albums at all before the year was out. And to cap it all off, he’s going to prison in February!

For a band that didn’t release an album in 2009, Radiohead sure managed to grab quite a few headlines. Capitol Records reissued their discography, Thom Yorke debuted a new song, as well as contributed to the New Moon soundtrack, Ed O’Brien and Phil Selway collaborated with Neil Finn and Wilco, the entire band got together to release a tribute song for Harry Patch, the last surviving World War I combat soldier, Thom Yorke covered Mark Mulcahy’s “All for the Best”, the entire band got together again to release a track titled “These Are My Twisted Words”, Thom Yorke offered a secret 12″, Thom Yorke formed a new band and played some shows, the entire band got together for a third time to begin work on a new studio album, and Thom Yorke became really pissed about climate change.

You either loved or hated the amount of U2 present in 2009. Bono and crew got on their boots, played the Grammys, resided on Letterman, released a new album, teamed up with Brandon Flowers and Chris Martin, started talking another new album, took to Fordham University for a secret show, embarked on the first leg of their claw-featuring global 360 tour, tapped Muse as an opener, wrote a Broadway musical about Spider-Man, pissed off David Byrne, got reviewed in Chicago, reissued The Unforgettable Fire, apparently made no money, played the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall-of-Fame anniversary, titled their next album, wanted to be like The Beatles, plotted more tour dates for 2010, played a free Berlin Wall concert behind the backdrop of a different wall constructed by MTV to prevent those without tickets from watching U2 play a free Berlin Wall concert, teamed up with Jay-Z, got tapped for Glastonbury 2010, and announced a remix album.

Music Festivals

Despite a recession which saw a number of mid-tier summer music festivals call it quits, the big boys were as grand as ever. Coachella rounded up McCartney, Bonnaroo brought The Boss and Phish, and Lollapalooza finally saw Perry using his festival to his advantage. What’s more, Outside Lands proved once again that its a festival to be reckon with, while Sasquatch! demonstrated that Washington state can also rock hard. Hova was able to save All Points West from a mud filled weekend, Pitchfork continued to serve as a hipster’s wet dream, and the Virgin Mobile Festival reminded us that some good things can be free. Finally, Consequence of Sound hit South by Southwest for the first time, celebrating with events featuring the likes of Astronautalis, Gringo Star, Shad, 13ghosts, Kittens Ablaze, Catfish Haven, and Blueblood. Oh, and did we mention we have already begun planning for next year?

Supergroups

By the time December rolled around, there were as many supergroups in existence as there were non-supergroups…

Dave Grohl + John Paul Jones + Josh Homme = Them Crooked Vultures, Conor Oberst + M. Ward + Jim James = Monsters of Folk, Jack White + Alison Mosshart + Jack Lawrence + Dean Fertita = The Dead Weather, Thom Yorke + Flea + Nigel Godrich + Joey Waronker + Mauro Refosco = ???, Phil Lesh + Bob Weir = Furthur, Coldplay + Mew + a-ha = Apparatjik, Supergrass + Radiohead = The Hot Rats, Joe Budden + Joell Ortiz + Royce da 5’9″ + Crooked I = Slaughterhouse, King Khan + Black Lips = The Almighty Defenders, New Order + Blur = Bad Lieutenant, Sammy Hagar + Michael Anthony + Joe Satriani + Chad Smith = Chickenfoot

Reunions, Hiatuses, and Nothing at All!

Two 2009′s biggest themes were bands reuniting and bands calling it quits (or announcing extended hiatuses). And then there were those that couldn’t make up their mind at all.

Blur began its reunion, The Stooges revived Raw Power, Pixies gave it another go, Creed came back!, No Doubt did too, Faith No More hit Europe, Phish returned, The Murder City Devils reunited for Coachella, Sunny Day Real Estate returned for some grunge, Deadheads got the best Christmas present ever, Blink-182 got back together for the kids, Spinal Tap released a new album for the first time in 17 years, Sublime played a show and then got sued, Eminem reunited with D12, Simon and Garfunkel became friends, Limp Bizkit dusted off the red cap, Three members of the Velvet Underground got together for a discussion, Orbital celebrated its 20th anniversary with a reunion, Jawbox made its first live performance since 1997 on J-Fal, Faces reunited without Rod Stewart, while Take That did reunite with Robbie Williams, John Lydon moved on to Public Image Ltd., Cee-Lo got back together with Goodie Mob, The Jayhawks reunited, as did The Gories, and Ben Lee resurrected Noise Addict. Oh yeah, and some band named Pavement announced plans for a busy 2010.

On the other hand, Blur also ended its reunion, The Verve broke up again, Oasis had a fight, Flight of the Conchords called it quits, Music journalism died, Nine Inch Nails said goodbye, as did Harlem Shakes, The Broken West, and Pela, and Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Fall Out Boy, Foo Fighters, Blitzen Trapper, Bon Iver, Lily Allen, Deerhunter, and TV on the Radio all announced lengthy hiatuses.

Plus, we learned an At The Drive-In reunion apparently wasn’t a possibility, nor was the rumored Stone Roses comeback, Spacemen 3 got an offer, but declined, The Kinks kept thinking about it but still didn’t do anything, contrary to Courtney Love’s comments, Hole didn’t reunite, Pulp teased and then unteased, and Swans thought about it and didn’t. And not surprisingly, The Libertines, The Smiths, and Neutral Milk Hotel all continued to tease to no fruition, while Led Zeppelin continued the suspense.

Soundtracks with benefits

There’s nothing like a nice movie soundtrack or benefit album featuring some of our favorite musicians. 2009 exemplified this fact to the max…

Grizzly Bear, LCD Soundsystem, Badly Drawn Boy, Arcade Fire, Karen O and friends, Daft Punk, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, Beck, Jay Farrar & Ben Gibbard, British Sea Power, Dengue Fever all provided sounds for the silver screen, as did the inane number of musicians appearing on the New Moon soundtrack.

Ben Gibbard, Fleet Foxes, and The Cave singers contributed to the Give Seattle charity album, while Tom Waits, Pete Seeger, and Jim James lent their talents to Preservation, an Album Benefiting Preservation Hall and Its Music Outreach Program. Our friends at Ear Farm rounded up Tom Tom Club, Sean Bones, tUnE-yArDs for their pro-Xmas Do you EAR what I EAR?. Peter Bjorn & John, Juliette Lewis, and White Rabbits helped fight malaria. The Climate change benefiting Rhythms Del Mundo Classics saw contributions from The Killers, The Rolling Stones, and Amy Winehouse. Stars (like Yorke and The National) collided for Mark Mulcahy. Hot Chip, The Hold Steady, and Lily Allen shared reinterpretations on War Child Heroes. And let’s not forget about Dark Was The Night, the tantalizing 31-track effort featuring the Dirty Projectors with David Byrne, Feist with Ben Gibbard, Sufjan Stevens, My Morning Jacket, and more, all in benefit of The Red Hot Organization and AIDS awareness.

Our Most Memorable Features

In addition to everything else that went down, 2009 also saw Consequence of Sound further expanded our feature stories. The following are some of our favorites/most memorable:

We brought you interviews with Pavement, Ms. Consequence of Sound herself, Regina Spektor, Tom Jones, Passion Pit, Slayer, Ben Kweller, The Gaslight Anthem, Flogging Molly, Anti-Flag, Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s, Hot Water Music, The Von Bondies, The Screaming Blue Messiahs, The Antlers, Boots Riley, Cymbals Eat Guitars, and Fleet Foxes’ J. Tillman. Oh and we talked with Los Campesinos! not once, but twice.

Our Editor-in-Chief Michael Roffman gave us the entire story of The Thermals, contributing writer Alyssa Spiel spoke with 311 about its 20th anniversary, and the one and only Cap Blackard spent the day with Astronautalis.

We listed everything from the Top 11 Influential Minds of Industrial Metal and Top 10 Grunge Albums to the  Top 10 Fake Bands and Top 10 Sleepiest Albums. We did some Audio Archaeology, dusted off some ol’ classics, shared our guilty pleasures, introduced you to some great new bands, and continued teaching Rock History 101.

As for the most commented posts of the year? That honor goes to Laina Dawes’ review of 311′s Uplifter.

The Year’s Most “Unique” Moments

We thought we’d close on a light note, as in this year’s stories and moments that, well, left us scratching our heads the most…

Bill Corgan wrote a song for the Super Bowl, Bruce Springsteen apologized for selling music through Walmart, Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged, Mandy Moore married Ryan Adams, Lil Wayne released “Prom Queen”, we wrote a post about the Jonas Brothers, Crystal Castles had a meltdown, Santogold had to change her name to Santigold, Manu Chao pissed off Mexico, Chickenfoot was actually real, Prince released a $2,100 iPod, Billy Corgan made a wrestling promo, Tupac revealed he might still be alive, Creed released a new album, Billy Corgan hired a 19-year-old drummer, Kanye West helped kids stay in school, Ron Artest paid homage to Michael Jackson, Reading Music Festival banned flags, Kidz Bop covered Kanye West, Ryan Adams became a video game reviewer, R. Kelly forgot to title his new album, Oasis broke up, Liam Gallagher formed Oasis 2.0, 30 Seconds to Mars and Kanye West released a song together, 7-Eleven reissued The Beatles, Snoop Dogg got himself a new name, Rivers Cuomo was interviewed by a dog, Diddy appeared on the Home Shopping Network, Morrissey and Johnny Marr emailed, Marilyn Manson got swine flu, Radiohead didn’t break up, Elvis Presley’s grandson scored a record deal, Starfucker changed its name, Fall Out Boy formed a metal band, and Pete Doherty sang a Nazi song.

Thank you!

Before we end our 2009 recap, we would just like to take one last moment to thank the individuals who have helped Consequence of Sound become what it is today. Thank you to the publicists who work hand-in-hand with us each and everyday, thank you to the festival promoters who continue to work with us despite the fact we ruin your lineup announcements, thank you to the message boards which provide such a bevy of information, thank you to those who email us news tips and music submissions, thank you to our fellow bloggers, thank you to our amazing and tireless staff, and thank you to our readers who have put trust in us and our the reason we keep at this 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

2009 was an amazing year for Consequence of Sound, but 2010 will be even better. Stay tuned for a number of brand new features, including that much needed change we’ve all been eagerly awaiting.

As of last week, the band, which its first rehearsal together on November 21st, 1999, was already on a U.S. tour in support of this year’s Living Thing. But nostalgia and opportunity presented themselves and now the upcoming dates will feature everything from guest performers (maybe a dancer, maybe some jazz musicians; mystery is fun) to crazy light shows to free giveaways to whistle-alongs to their big hit and even new and rarely played songs. According to the trio’s Twitter, the November 8th show in Philadelphia featured “spank rock, amanda blank, rose and the alien with the beer baby bong!” Oh, Swedish people.

The tour runs till November 21st in Los Angles, California. Opening up for the band is Lights On and their “favorite singer” El Perro Del Mar. Stay tuned to their Twitter and official site for details and hilarious insight into what is sure to be the best birthday celebration since Christmas.

Peter, Bjorn and John 2009 Tour Dates:
11/11 – Toronto @ Phoenix Theatre #
11/12 – Chicago, Illinois @ Metro #
11/13 – St. Louis, Missouri @ Gargoyle Club #
11/14 – Dallas, Texas @ House of Blues #
11/15 – Austin, Texas @ La Zona Rosa #
11/17 – Tucson, Arizona @ Rialto Theater #
11/18 – San Diego, California @ House of Blues $
11/19 – San Francisco, California @ Great American Music Hall #
11/20 – San Francisco, California @ Great American Music Hall #
11/21 – Los Angeles, California @ Club Nokia $

# = w/ El Perro Del Mar
$ = w/ El Perro Del Mar, Lights On

Getting back to the music for a moment, the release includes two exclusive tracks — a Peter Bjorn & John cover of Seals & Crofts’ “Summer Breeze” and a previously unreleased live version of Third Eye Blind’s “Bonfire”. So, as if there weren’t enough reasons to pick this up, you’ll be getting something new as well.

As mentioned, Indie Rocks! A Benefit Album For Malaria No More will be released on November 17th via RED. It will be available exclusively through Amie Street first (for a four week period) and then all participating digital service providers thereafter. Amie Street will also make the compilation available at multiple price points, effectively giving consumers the option to make a donation in the amount of $10, $20, $50 or $100.

Preview PB&J’s “Summer Breeze” below. Tracklist after that.

Check Out:
Peter Bjorn & John – “Summer Breeze” (Seals & Crofts)

Indie Rocks! A Benefit Album For Malaria No More Tracklist:
01. Peter Bjorn & John – Summer Breeze (Exclusive)
02. Juliette Lewis – Fantasy Bar, from Terra Incognita
03. Jeff The Brotherhood – Bone Jam, from Heavy Days
04. The Grates – Two Kinds Of Right  from Teeth Lost, Hearts Won
05. Third Eye Blind – Bonfire (Exclusive, Live in NYC)
06. Dirty Little Rabbits- Hello, from Simon
07. Wild Light – Adult Nights, from Adult Nights
08. The Walkmen – Four Provinces, from You & Me
09. State Radio – Let It Go, from Calling All Crows
10. Those Darlins – Wild One, from Those Darlins
11. Great Lake Swimmers – Pulling On A Line, from Lost Channels
12. Kate Miller Heidke – Politics in Space, from EP Kate Miller-Heidke
13. Yonder Mountain String Band – Fingerprint, from The Show
14. Youssou N’Dour – Fight Malaria

Remixes are nothing new for the Swedish trio known as Peter Bjorn & John. If you need any evidence of this, look no further than the selection we debuted a little while back.

But PB&J have never seen their name attached to an entire album worth of remixes. That will change come Thursday, August 27th, when Re-Living Thing hits a blog near you.

As you may expect from the title, the 12-track effort features reworkings of the trio’s most recent studio effort. Created by producer Mick Boogie, the man behind last year’s Jay-Z/Coldplay mash-up mixtape, Viva la Hova, the result sees all 12 of Living Thing‘s tracks reworked and remixed by an impressive roster that includes Wu-Tang Clan’s GZA, Kardinal Offishall, Wale, Talib Kweli, Bun B, Three 6 Mafia, Trouble Andrew, Amanda Blank, 88-Keys, Young Chris & Rhymefest, and Big Sean, as well as DJs like Jazzy Jeff, nVMe, and The Kickdrums.

“Because of the success of that Jay-Z thing, great things have been happening,” explained Boogie in a recent interview with MTV.com. “This time the idea was not just remixing, but adding some vocals and getting two to three incredible, known blog-worthy MCs and putting them on every song.”

Boogie went on to note that all the artists appearing on the effort were chosen by Peter Bjorn & John. “We talked music and production and artists and it showed me what a global phenomenon hip-hop is, because these guys who grew up in Sweden were quoting Wu-Tang lyrics — and they knew all the underground stuff, too, like Amanda Blank and Kidz in the Hall,” he said.

Re-Living Thing will be released on the 27th as a free online mixtape on “on all your favorite blogs.”  Get the tentative tracklist (via MTV) below…

Re-Living Thing Tracklist:
01. J. Cole & GZA – “The Feeling” (remixed by Marco Polo)
02. Kardinal Offishall, Donnis & Heno – “It Just Don’t Move Me” (remixed by Jet Audio)
03. Big Sean & Black Milk – “Just The Past” (remixed by nVMe)
04. Wale, Young Chris & Rhymefest – “Nothing To Worry About” (remixed by The Kickdrums)
05. Bun B – “Losing My Mind” (remixed by 6th Sense)
06. Freebass 808 & Amanda Blank – “Living Thing” (remixed by Apple Juice Kid)
07. Talib Kweli – “I Want You” (remixed by William Russell / Good Life Mike)
08. Three Six Mafia and Trouble Andrew – “Lay It Down” (remixed by The Kickdrums)
09. Big Pooh, Chaundon and Phil Nash – “Stay This Way” (remixed by Jazzy Jeff)
10. Naledge & Mickey Factz – “Blue Period Picasso” (remixed by nVMe)
11. 88 Keys, Outasight & 6th Sense – “4 Out Of 5″ (remixed by 6th Sense)
12. U-N-I – “Last Night” (remixed by Remot)

Regardless, the bustling Windy City festival hosted thousands upon thousands of fans, all with the intention of drinking, meddling in mud, or getting in a fight. Yes, despite the array of laid back indie-talent, hundreds of male 20-somethings managed to throw arms and collapse on one another. It might have been cold, what with the frisky wind and pummeling rain, but fellow Chicagoans kept it nice and toasty with good ol’ fashioned bar brawls.

But that didn’t stop everyone else from having fun. After all, this is the festival that keeps Midwesterners sane throughout the winter: The idea that beer will be had, that outside life will be enjoyed once again, and music will never skip a beat. We’re only day one into the festival, but Mr. Perry… we salute you.

Manchester Orchestra
Budweiser: 12:15-1:00 p.m.

“Screw the rain! Let’s rock!” And with that, Q101′s Ryan Manno kicked things off at the oh-so-subtly titled Budweiser Stage.

Well, not really. Seconds later, Manno admitted that the ambivalent, hanging rain that would annoy the rest of the day was pushing things off schedule slightly. A few minutes later, though, one of the first sets of the day began, performed by Atlanta, GA’s Manchester Orchestra. Lead singer/guitarist Andy Hull led the quintet on stage, complete with red wool cap and Doug Martsch-esque beard. And the Built to Spill connection doesn’t really end there. Often times, throughout the set, Manchester Orchestra felt a lot like BTS-Lite. Well, maybe Lite too strongly implies easy listening. Maybe Built to Spill with more shouting and more melodramatic hooks.

They certainly do have the hooks though, and they were plenty big enough to draw a large crowd, especially for a 12:15 spot. The echoed howls of “Shake it Out” got the people pogo’ing pretty early into the set. Big, chunky guitars, plentiful of backing vocals and unbridled enthusiasm were the trademarks of “In My Teeth”, and, really, their entire set.

“This band has never had so many people like us…In the same place,” Hull smirked, before kicking into “I’ve Got Friends”, which proved to be the real crowd favorite. The muscle-y anthem about the success of others (off of the strong if unassuming Mean Everything To Nothing released in April) sounded just as thundering and sharp as the record, an impressive feat for such an early afternoon start time.-A.K.

Hey Champ
Chicago 2016: 12:15-1:00 p.m.

Chicago loves Hey Champ, and rightfully so. The group’s catchy electro rock gets the body moving in all the right ways, but oh how it feels so wrong. The sexy bass lines, the space-y guitar parts, and the velvet vocals all give both The Killers and U2 a run for their talent (not money, let’s be real here). Earlier this year, the band headlined the fourth night of Schubas’ Tomorrow Never Knows Festival, and though they nailed the set and pleased the sold-out crowd, they weren’t nearly as tight and realized as they were here in Grant Park. Vocalist and guitarist Saam Hagshenas dominated the Chicago 2016 stage and led his band into an empowering set, treating their early-bird slot as if it were a celebrated evening set. Songs “Face Control” and “In The White City” brought keyboardist Pete Dougherty to the forefront, but it was hot single “Cold Dust Girl” that roped in the trio as one. Hagshenas danced about, prowling around percussionist Jon Marks, who retained a consistent energy throughout. It may have been even too early for a beer, but these three snagged one hell of a crowd. Even some nearby stragglers over at the Citi Stage — all the way across the park — were swaying those hips. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they’re locals, either. -M.R.

Gringo Star
BMI: 12:30-1:15 p.m.

After the sardine can train ride that was the CTA Red Line, the drizzly adventure of Lollapalooza started with Atlanta, Georgia’s very own Gringo Star. Mixing one part punk rock ethic, one part manic performance and a heavy dose of 1950′s Americana, these guys got the party started early. Lead singer Nicholas Firgiuele wailed like a banshee hopped up on caffeine and the rest of the band followed his fanatic trailblazing. On songs such as “No One” and “The March Of Gringos”, the quirky Southern quartet packed punch after punch just below the three minute mark. Lead guitarist Peter Firguile’s guitar solos brought to mind the late and great Bob Stinson of The Replacements, complete with overzealous sloppiness and raw intensity. Images of old Western shootouts, drunken nights in saloons and frantic pianos were all over the place while they played. Switching instruments between songs, these guys kept the downtime between numbers next to nil. For 45 minutes, Gringo Star blazed their own path of musical glory in the great city of Chicago and in the process took a few souvenirs with them, concluding with a cover of The Exciters’ “He’s Got The Power.” -J.Z.

The Knux
Citi: 1:00-1:45 p.m.

L.A. via New Orleans’ The Knux were a breath of fresh air after wandering through a bunch of same-sounding, anthemic rock. Plus, instead of talking about how the rain sucked and how they were glad you stayed through the rain (LIKE EVERY OTHER BAND), Kintrell “Krispy Kream” Lindsey offered this feeling: “We know it’s raining, but do we give a fuck?” To which, the enthusiastic crowd shouted, that no, they did not. Krispy and his brother Alvin (aka “Rah Almillio”) were joined onstage by a DJ, a synth player and a guitarist, filling out their genre-crushing hip-hop quite masterfully.

By the end of the excellent “Cappuccino”, most of the huge crowd was bouncing along to the beat. But it did take a little bit of convincing for the ladies to go “Ooh” and the fellas to go “Aah” at the proper times. Once it caught on, though, Krispy was excited. “No homo, but I liked the guys’ one better,” he chuckled. “Don’t twit[tweet?] that. ‘Krispy is gay’.” Their set heavily focused on last year’s excellent Remind Me In Three Days, including “Bang! Bang!”, “Roxxanne” (which included some impressive guitar-work), and the true-love story “Powder Room”(“I don’t know what’s wrong with you, meet me in the powder room”). In the end, there was a lot of superfluous talk about “the smoke,” meeting up after the show and giving shout-outs to the city, which took up a lot of time that could have been used instead for another of their interesting, fun jams. -A.K.

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Vitaminwater: 1:00-2:00 p.m.

After the impressive start to the day from Gringo Star, Austin, Texas soul patch descendants Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears stirred the musical Kool-Aid at the Vitaminwater stage. Having previously performed at the Chicago Folk & Roots Festival a month prior, Lewis & The Honeybears nonetheless felt right at home again. Blazing through soul-drenched numbers such as the sexual “Big Black Snake” and the blunt but awesome “Bitch, I Love You”, these modern day soul warriors brought visions of Otis Redding’s legendary 1967 appearance at the Monterey Pop festival. While these guys are hot off the wire no doubt, they’re on their way to serious awesomeness. They sounded much tighter than their Chicago Folk & Roots appearance weeks before, however their energy suffered greatly due to the surrounding hip hop show’s overexuberant bleeding of the music into their downtime. This was a shame however as it felt somewhat stale in an otherwise great performance. Nothing can be said about how great the guitars and saxes sounded, those were on fire. It’s just too bad the ambience couldn’t match the band’s intense soul jams, but good show nonetheless. -J.Z.

The Builders and The Butchers
BMI: 1:45-2:30 p.m.

Portland, OR’s The Builders and the Butchers set up shop at the small-ish BMI stage, where, unfortunately, their sound had to compete with the near-by Perry’s dance party. Once fighting through the techno grooves and the tree groves, the Builders and Butchers’ sort-of-gothic folk (think O’Death on Xanax) had a bit of trouble filling out the small area they’d been assigned. Maybe it was due to the fact that they were largely an acoustic act (a risky proposition in a non-main-stage setting), but the guitars, banjo, and ukulele all sounded rather flat and small.

But their music was still about as interesting as it ever was. “Vampire Lake” (off of last month’s Salvation is a Deep Dark Well) elicited a good crowd reaction, bringing a bit of stomp to the soggy conditions. The excellent “Down in this Hole” was no less stompy, complete with thumping tom drumming and a melody perfect for shouting along to.-A.K.

The Gaslight Anthem
Chicago 2016: 2:00-3:00 p.m.

If there’s one band that’s been the talk of the town all summer, it’s The Gaslight Anthem. Some may argue they broke through last year, especially with their critically acclaimed sophomore record The ’59 Sound, but this summer, they’re everywhere. After a rousing performance overseas at Glastonbury, complete with a cameo by the one and only Springsteen, these New Jersey rockers haven’t slowed down since. In addition to their own touring, they’ve hit the festival circuit pretty hard, and a week after the disaster that was All Points West (which ended up cancelling their Sunday spot), the Jersey boys took it all out on Chicago. Drummer Benny Horowitz machine-gunned into “High Lonesome” and amidst some smoke and rain, the rest of the band followed his lead. His leadership immediately fell to vocalist Brian Fallon, however, who spit out story after story, all about a town and state few had visited, but most related to — sort of the band’s shining hallmark. Song after song entertained the wet and frozen crowd, some of whom kept warm through unnecessary moshing.

Blame the crummy weather, but Fallon appeared rather stoic throughout much of the performance. He nailed each song, especially “Old White Lincoln” and “Film Noir”, but he came off a bit weathered. His knack for storytelling bled through, before he introduced “Miles Davis and the Cool”, as he pointed to the Congress Hotel and talked about Al Capone doing “stuff behind closed doors” and likening Capone to the cool cat that was Davis.

Fallon found his stride when he injected some humor. Before jumping into the three-fist punch that was “Where For Art Thou, Elvis?” into “Meet Me By the River’s Edge” and closing with “The Backseat”, Fallon confessed that his first concert ever was actually Depeche Mode, saying, “I don’t like mayo, but I like Depeche Mode.” People laughed, people applauded, and the rain continued. As if to acknowledge his influences even more, the boys threw in a gentle nod to The Clash (and Fallon’s idol Joe Strummer) by playing a refrain of “Lost in the Supermarket” towards the end of “The Backseat”. On the train back, hours and hours later, someone stated they had checked out the band on a whim, but that they were “definitely buying their fucking album.” That says it all. -M.R.

Bon Iver
Playstation: 3:00-4:00p.m.

Bon Iver kicked off the Playstation Stage’s “Night of Sort-of Pretentious Indie Folk!” (okay, that’s my label for it, not theirs). Well, actually, the definitively-not-dead Thax Douglas kicked it off with an entrancing poem about angels and dead skin cells. And, unfortunately, things went sort of downhill from then.

Justin Vernon and co. kept things light and mellow, for the most part; however, light and mellow, combined with a light and clinging rain and a heavily intoxicated crowd who often talked over the music wasn’t the greatest situation for Vernon’s lilt and croon. “Blood Bank” didn’t have its usual driving, shuddering drums. “Skinny Love” suffered from a glut of completely off-key backup singers in the crowd. New song “Brackett, Wisconsin” sounded like perfect background music for a tender moment on “Gilmore Girls”.

“Creature Fear” ended with a surreal feedback freakout, which felt completely out of place.

Before closing out the set, Vernon made sure to give a shout out to his friends: “Enjoy the Fleet Foxes boys, and Andrew Bird. It’s just going to be a pleasant afternoon.” If this was pleasant, I’m sure I’d like something a little different. -A.K.

Heartless Bastards
Vitaminwater: 3:00-4:00 p.m.

Following the heartening and rain soaked set from New Jersey powerhouse act The Gaslight Anthem, Cincinnati, Ohio garage rock quartet Heartless Bastards took the stage. By this time, the rain picked up and drenched the field with caked up layers of mud, slush and dirt for what seemed like miles. Gathering together in the center of the stage, rhythm guitarist/vocalist Erika Wennerstrom put on a decent display of vocal talent and good musicianship. The Bastards’ served as a good toss up between the late ’60′s Allman Brothers and the perennial favorites from England, The Pretenders. At times, Wennerstrom’s vocals hearkened back to iconic frontwoman Chrissy Hynde (oddly enough from Akron, Ohio), and in an odd way she resembled her appearance, as well. For the most part, save for Wennerstrom, the rest of the band musically weren’t much to write home about until roughly halfway through the set when they woke up a bit and started rocking out. Some random guy in the crowd pulled the “I’m-fucked-up-time-to-get-naked” card from the Lollapalooza UNO deck. Sure enough, while the band performed “Valley Of Dupree”, the Naked Guy showed no shame whatsoever in unsheathing down to nothing in the cold, damp rain, moshing with the crowd and dancing with whomever he could stand near. As aforementioned, the Heartless Bastards were decent at best, even amidst sound problems, but the fact that this guy (literally) had balls to spice it up a bit, it’s what makes this show memorable. You have to respect that…I think you have to respect that. -J.Z.

Ben Folds
Budweiser: 4:00-5:00 p.m.

Up north at the Budweiser stage, thousands relaxed in the depressed mud and gunk before pulling themselves out to the piano-laden soul-rock of Ben Folds. Umbrellas littered the crowd, everything from neon green to polka dots to even the Disney-endorsed affair. They stayed up, too, as Folds and his hired guns dove head first into the tongue-in-cheek “Bitch Went Nutz” off of last year’s lackluster Way to Normal. Whether they knew the song or were just happy to see the four-eyed piano-fiend, that’s up for discussion, but fists were up in the air and poncho-covered heads bobbled up and down.

The problem with Folds nowadays is that he’s kind of, well, dated. Aside from the “bros”, who can really get behind the seemingly-now-forced cover of “Bitches Ain’t Shit”? Even the band seemed lacked the enthusiasm, punch, and wit necessary to make it “work.” Again, blame the dismal climate conditions, but Folds came off rather remiss. Even anthemic tracks like “Landed” and “Rockin’ the Suburbs” lacked the heart ‘n’ soul that always seem to be there on repeated listens — though the latter could be blamed on the lack of synthesizers or effects, which really do sell the song.

Still, it’s Ben Folds, and while this may not have been a keystone performance (even for the day), he did come through on a few tracks. “Kate” brought soggy festivalgoers to drier days, and surprisingly enough, “Hiroshima” tore down the walls, even if there weren’t any there at the time. Though just when the band found its stride — drummer Sam Smith can become a beast — they came to a close. Quite a shame as during the set’s closer, “Army”, the entire crowd filled in on harmonies to near perfection. Forget the rain, blame the weak set list. Where was “Annie Waits”, “Zak & Sara”, or even the bittersweet “Still Fighting It”? Folds, your discography awaits you…use it. -M.R.

Fleet Foxes
Playstation: 5:00-6:00 p.m.

Where Bon Iver had just fallen flat of their recordings, Fleet Foxes took the Playstation Stage next and pushed a sound far larger and superior to their studio recordings. This didn’t seem like a possibility, though, as vocalist/guitarist Robin Pecknold quietly trod into the center of the stage, looking completely overwhelmed and discussing the fever he apparently woke up with that morning. But the soaring harmonies of “Sun Giant” showed no sign of being overwhelmed or sick. It was kind of sad to hear such a bright, breezy song about the sun that just wouldn’t show up at all.

A few songs into the set, I nearly get kicked in the head by a teenage female crowd-surfer. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Fleet Foxes are probably one of the least crowd-surf-able bands this weekend, but it was attempted nevertheless.

The rollicking, beautiful harmonies and rich musicality made “White Winter Hymnal” the absolute standout of the set, which, I guess, was to be expected from the outset. But, “Mykonos”, off of last year’s serene Sun Giant EP, gave it a run for its money. The dreamy, swirling rock paired with Pecknold’s ethereal vocals and lyrics about a pleasant (there’s that word again!) getaway made for a brief escape from the rain. -A.K.

Peter Bjorn and John
Citi: 6:30-7:30 p.m.

The last time we heard from Peter Bjorn & John at a major United States music festival it was back in March at South by Southwest. If you remember, things didn’t go to smoothly and led many to begin asking if the success of 2006′s Writer’s Block had begun to get to this Swedish outfit’s head. If Friday’s performance at the Citi Stage said anything, the weekend in Austin was nothing more than a small blip in what has otherwise been a pretty flawless career.

Within minutes of its Friday set at the Citi Stage, it became quite evident that the trio was on a mission, having returned to Lollapalooza to followup on a 2007 debut performance that was best described as disastrous — the sound cut out 15 minutes into the set. And while the weather may not have cooperated, the sound sure as hell did. The result was a 45 minute set consisting of both selections from their most recent full-length, Living Thing, and old favorites, including “Young Folks”, “Amsterdam”, and “Up Against The Wall”. It was fun, powerful, downright kick ass, and ultimately, left little doubt that these Swedes are still a force to be reckon with. – A.Y.

Andrew Bird
Playstation: 7:00-8:15 p.m.

A large portion of the Playstation crowd jumped ship after the impressive set by Fleet Foxes, but a hardcore constituency stuck it out for hometown hero Andrew Bird. After enduring a good bit of “I love you”s and the like (including [no joke] a group of females throwing underpants on stage), Bird and his bandmates were ready to get down to business (and play music, you weirdos). The sublime “Fiery Crash” opened the set on a positive note, complete with plenty of his trademark whistling. “Masterswarm” featured the first use of the iconic functional and esthetically pleasing double-leslie speaker, filling the area with a whirlwind of multi-looped violin. Bird’s excellent touring bassist Mike Lewis also filled in on clarinet and saxophone. The typically impressive violin intro for “Anonanimal” only grew more impressive with tenor sax backing Bird note for note. “Not a Robot, But A Ghost” got an extended ambient outro, including the guitarist (who Bird introduced twice as “Lonesome Jim”) holding a portable radio up to his pickups, producing a distant, echoed noise wash.

“There might be some snacks, later,” Bird hinted before jumping into “Oh No!”, the opening track off this year’s excellent Noble Beast. The latin-tinged pop of “Imitosis” was a huge hit with the laid-back crowd, even producing some dancing. The typically distant(or perhaps embarrassed) Bird even gave back some of the love he was receiving: “You’re important to me” he drawled in that bass-y way that only he could.

The typically middling “Scythian Empires” was quicker, sharper than usual. It really shows that the group has been working together for a while, establishing connections and an understanding of the way the songs worked.

And, what do you know, there were snacks. Well, there was “Tables and Chairs”, off of the sublime Mysterious Production of Eggs, with its endearingly understated chorus of “There will be snacks, there will.” The band powered right through the subtle, complex tune, adding a layer of clarinet to match Bird’s looped violin hook. But this impressive work was quickly eclipsed by a rousing, masterful rendition of “Fake Palindromes”. Bird stood on one leg, kicking the other at the knee like a child telling a long story, violin held aloft as he coyly sang the song’s second chorus. As always, Bird was nothing short of amazing in his musicianship, his engaging lyrics and his impressive, multilayered(in so many senses) performance. This set proved, for those that didn’t already know, that he is a can-not-miss type of performer, something that needs to be seen and never gets stale, instead growing and changing organically with each new day. -A.K.

Kings of Leon
Budweiser: 8:15-10:00 p.m.

Kings of Leon played to a very different Lollapalooza than they’ve played in the past. Instead of the 10 or so fans that Caleb Followill mentioned during the festivals’ traveling days and the mediocre afternoon crowd back in 2007, they played to roughly 40,000 screaming fans as one of this years six headliners opposite the park from Depeche Mode. With a headlining spot, the brothers (plus a cousin) really had a chance dig into their catalog this time around. That’s exactly what they did, as they pulled plenty of songs from all four of their albums, pleasing both avid and casual fans. Caleb mentioned that Chicago is one of his most favorite cities in the world, and he added between some sips, “I’m gonna get drunk tonight.” Something tells me that wasn’t wine up there…

After getting through the sing-a-long “Sex On Fire”, Caleb thanked the crowd again for “making us a bigger band than we really are.” Somewhat of a double edged sword, Caleb isn’t exactly happy with the huge crowds that are showing up to see the Southern rockers as he’s mentioned in multiple interviews with Rolling Stone and Mojo to name a few. After dedicating the show to a girl named Louise (sp?), who the band met during the day, they launched into current single “Use Somebody” only to follow up with a crowd pleasing “Black Thumbnail”, to which Caleb kicked the microphone off the stage. Awesome. – A. Keil

Depeche Mode
Chicago 2016: 8:00-10:00 p.m.

It’s been a long time since Depeche Mode hit the Second City, and boy does it show. An hour before the English sensation graced the stage — and just as the rain cleared and the skyline lit up — fans arrived by the truck load, camping out and claiming ground with the utmost sincerity. Mountains of sweaty, rain-weathered flesh came together at the front of the Chicago 2016 stage and went back as far as behind the sound tent, and this was at 7:45 p.m. By the time frontman Dave Gahan rattled off the lyrical madness of “In Chains” (off of this year’s Sounds of the Universe), the dedicated fanbase had formed walls and started shoving those attempting to push forward — more often than not, just stragglers who decided too late to catch Depeche.

This brought about some remarkable scenes, that played out even better with Gahan and co.’s accommodating scores. During “Wrong”, another new cut from this year, intimidating and pulsing red lights flashed on and off as zombie-looking drunks stumbled atop the fan club fans. It was chaos, but beautiful, too. As Gahan traipsed around the stage, twirling the microphone stand as if it were as light as a scarf, more and more attemped to push through, only to be butted back out. These weren’t the only spectacles, however. No, as if to top last year’s magnificent light displays (thanks to Radiohead, NIN, and Kanye West), Depeche Mode came prepared.

Throughout each song, surrounding video engulfed the band in one giant digital display. At one point, during Violator‘s classic “Policy of Truth”, gumdrops fell from a bubble, bouncing up and down, left and right, creating this jaw dropping display of candy-coated colors. Oddly enough, they all bounced along perfectly to Andrew Fletcher’s rhythmic basslines. What’s more, during “A Question of Time”, neon pinks and blues accented the stage, while each member had their share of time on-screen. It looked straight out of a music video from 1986, and added to the decadence the band sports with no shame.

What’s remarkable is how tight, crisp, and clean this band sounds. Drummer Christian Eigner is flawless, rivaling the likes of Stewart Copeland, as he throws in fill after fill. And then there’s Martin Gore, the band’s brainchild, who literally adds the glitter to the already overflowing glam this band trademarks. While nowadays Gore shares more looks with Keith Richards than that of the trendy ’80s poster-boy from yesteryear, he still dances and sings like he’s 25. During “Home”, the sparkly guitarist smiled and giggled about when the crowd gave him props. It was nice.

Some other highlights included the hair-raising, head-popping, and hip-breaking performance of “Enjoy the Silence” (no doubt a religious experience for some), the driving tour-de-force behind “Precious”, and naturally, the perfect chart topping closer, “Personal Jesus”, complete with the lifting bassline that could make any geriatric boogie. While there were some tunes amiss (“Waiting for the Night”, anyone?), the set list pleased even the most casual spectator, enough to have them argue and throw water at the more dedicated fans who refused to let them in. That’s the formula for a perfect headliner, and really, that’s exactly what Depeche Mode offered. How nice of them. -M.R.

Photo courtesy Brad Bretz

The Damned:

What: Tour dates for Cleveland, OH

When: October 21st

Tixs: $20

Buy: Ticketmaster.com at 10:00 AM EDT

The Decemberists:

What: Tour dates for Asheville, NC & Columbia, MO

When: September 25th & October 7th

Tixs: Price varies depending on location

Buy: Ticketmaster.com at 12:00 PM CDT

Manic Street Preachers:

What: Tour dates for Denver, CO & Detroit, MI

Tixs: Price varies depending on location

Buy: Ticketmaster.com at 10:00 AM EDT

Marilyn Manson:

What: Tour date For Milwaukee, WI

When: September 15th

Tixs: $39.50 – $44.50

Buy: Ticketmaster.com at 10:00 AM CDT

The Mars Volta:

What: Tour date for San Antonio, TX

When: September 19th

Tixs: $27.50 – $35.00

Buy: Ticketmaster.com at 10:00 AM CDT

Metric with special guests The Stills:

What: Tour date for Toronto, ON

When: October 21st

Tixs: CA $29.50 – CA $34.50

Buy: Ticketmaster.com at 12:00 PM EDT

Monsters Of Folk:

What: Tour Dates for North American tour

When: October – November

Tixs: Price varies depending on location

Buy: Ticketmaster.com at 12:00 PM EDT

What: Tour Dates for North American tour

When: September

Tixs: Price varies depending on location

Buy: Ticketmaster.com at 10:00 AM PDT

Peter Bjorn & John with El Potro Del Mar:

What: Tour Date for Philadelphia, PA

When: November 8th

Tixs: Price unavailable

Buy: Livenation.com at 12:00 PM PDT

Pitbull:

What: Tour date for Charlotte, NC

When: October 22nd

Tixs: Price unavailable

Buy: Livenation.com at 10:00 AM EDT

Silversun Pickups:

What: Tour date for Grand Rapids, MI

When: September 15th

Tixs: $25

Buy: Ticketmaster.com at 10:00 AM EDT

The Walkmen:

What: Tour dates for Atlanta, GA and Nashville, TN

When: September 25th and 27th

Tixs: Price varies depending on location

Buy: Ticketmaster.com at 10:00 AM EDT

Wilco:

What: Tour Dates for North American tour

When: September – October

Tixs: Price varies depending on location

Buy: Ticketmaster.com at 10:00 AM CDT

If you need a refresher, the second single off of 2009’s Living Thing, “It Don’t Move Me”, will be the basis for the four-track EP, which will also include remixes by Miike Snow, Weird Tapes, and Teddybears’ Jacko.

Anyhow, to celebrate the occasion, the band is currently streaming track #3 of this EP, Weird Tapes’ remix of “It Don’t Move Me”, free of charge. And we have the honor to premiere it. So, without further adieu…

03-it-dont-move-me-weird-tapes-rem.mp3

It Don’t Move Me EP Tracklist:
01. It Don’t Move Me (Album Version)
02. It Don’t Move Me (PBJ vs Miike Snow Remix)
03. It Don’t Move Me (Weird Tapes Remix)
04. Nothing to Worry About (Jock Teddybears Remix

The trio has announced plans for a new EP set to hit stores on July 14th, a mere four days from now. The second single off of 2009’s Living Thing, “It Don’t Move Me” will be the basis for the EP, which will also include remixes by Miike Snow, Weird Tapes, and Teddybears’ Jacko.

In addition to all those remixes that are yet to be available for your listening pleasure, hopefully a Mark Hopus from Blink 182 remix will satiate your needs. Hopus remixed first single “Nothing to Worry About” and you can check out the results over at AbsolutePunk.net. If you think a veteran pop-punk artist reworking a PB&J track is out there, you should see what rapper Wale did with the instrumental.

With all this creativity in the air, I’m sure you, loyal reader, are chomping at the bit to get in on the action. Well, have no fear as you can enter your own remix for “It Don’t Move Me”, and if they pick your remix as the best it’ll be featured on their Myspace player. Head over here and get crazy.

Peter Bjorn & John 2009 Tour Dates:
07/24 – Toronto, ON @ The Molson Amphitheatre *
07/25 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre *
07/26 – Camden, NJ @ XPoNential Music Fesitval
07/28 – Bristow, VA @ Nissan Pavilion *
07/31 – Mansfield, MA @ Comcast Center *
08/01 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Borgata *
08/03 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden *
08/04 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden *
08/07 – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
08/09 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
08/10 – Seattle, WA @ Key Arena at Seattle Center *
08/11 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
08/12 – Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre *
08/14 – Chula Vista, CA @ Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre *
08/16 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl *
08/17 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl *
08/20 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Santa Barbara County Bowl *
08/22 – Las Vegas, NV @ Pearl *
08/23 – Phoenix, AZ @ US Airways Center *
08/25 – Salt Lake City, UT @ E Center *
08/27 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Pavilion *
08/28 – Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theatre
08/29- Dallas, TX @ Superpages Center *
08/30 – Woodlands, TX @ Woodlands Pavilion *
09/01 – Atlanta, GA @ Lakewood Amphitheatre *
09/03 – Orlando, FL @ The Social
09/04 – Tampa, FL @ Ford Amphitheatre *
09/05 – Sunrise, FL @ Bank Atlantic Center *

* = w/ Depeche Mode

One recently established festival legend, Greg Gillis, aka Girl Talk, has been a festival regular for the past year and a half, culling together an irregular mass of innocent human flesh — all sweating and swaying, of course. The lanky audio doctor, who dropped out of medical school for this kind of mayhem, describes the festival nicely: “People in general [at Bonnaroo] seemed ready to get down with stuff as opposed to being there to critique things. [It's] a very open-minded crowd of people kind of ready to celebrate. I think some of the festivals, there’s just a different attitude, a different style. I think the Bonnaroo thing is very loose and very crazy.”

There’s plenty of room for both. People can relax or people can get down and wild in the mud. That’s the beauty of Bonnaroo. Though, it’s all about location, and Chicagoan Andrew Bird, whose recent Noble Beast has drawn the timid artist even more acclaim, recognizes this facet of the festival, saying: “We have seen kind of the proliferation of festivals kind of explode, at least last summer. It’s shrinking again a bit. But I mean Bonnaroo, they got it right and they have been the model for other festivals. I think it’s partially the destination. It’s in the middle of nowhere, and therefore is a commitment for everybody. And yes, I think it’s got that southern hospitality and I think they have it figured out. It doesn’t feel like a big corporate business enterprise when you’re there.” There’s no denying the strength in Bonnaroo’s planning. It works out in a way that feels very free and communal, keeping spirits high and positive.

Much of that can be attributed to the onslaught of comedy acts the festival carries. Over the past few years, Bonnaroo’s been snagging some of the industry’s hottest comedians, everyone from Lewis Black to Chris Rock. This year’s no different, though much like the variety of indie acts, there are a few up and coming comedians, too. New to the ‘roo, though certainly a comedy veteran, Michael Showalter (of Stella fame) travels down to Tennessee from the Yankee state of New York. Performing in the Butterfinger Comedy Sweet alongside Michael Ian Black, Showalter promises that he will be “smothered in Butterfingers” for most of the weekend.

When asked about the festival, he states, “Both Mike [Ian Black] and I are arch conservatives. I just plan to spend as much time in the hotel as possible…I’m gonna try to avoid the crowds. No fun at all. Music, fun, dancing, good times, that’s not what I’m about. We’re pretty much just there to mope.” This time around, however, instead of pumping out Stella material, both he and Black will be promoting and performing material from their new, upcoming show on Comedy Central, Michael and Michael Have Issues, which makes its debut on July 15th at 10:30 p.m. EST. Be sure to look for Showalter’s rather ostentatious festival garb, as he’ll be “the guy with the little hat that has that electric fan attached to it,” though that’s only when he’s not “hiding in his hotel room watching Fox.” Consider he “loves bands,” he should have a great time at Bonnaroo.

For those not into the whole “band” thing, like Showalter apparently is, then fellow comedian Aziz Ansari has you covered. The LA-based comic, whose work includes both MTV’s Human Giant and NBC’s recent Parks and Recreation, says, “The tent’s air-conditioned. It’s a good way for people to cool off.” He acknowledges it’s tough for festivalgoers, but insists it’s not all a walk in the park (no pun intended) for artists, either. He digresses on his recent battles with artist’s catering: “I am sitting there getting some mashed potatoes, and you know, the guys from Peter Bjorn and John are like, ‘Those mashed potatoes are for us, they are not for anybody else.’ And I was like, ‘No, they are for everybody.’ And then they just started beating me up. And you know, if they could just do something about increasing the security, because I think Peter Bjorn and John are coming back again, and they are just really violent — and they beat up a lot of people. So, [it'd be nice] if they could kind of police those guys this year because I don’t want to get hurt again.”

Lucky for Ansari, Peter, Bjorn, and John aren’t coming to the festival this year. But all of the awesome fans, great food, and most importantly, phenomenal music is on board. So, there you have it, straight from the artists’ mouths. Now, we all know it’s going to be especially hard to fall asleep tonight (think of the excitement before Christmas Eve, then double it), but trust us, you’re going to need it. Make sure those bags are packed and by the door, you’re fuly hydrated, and you’re ready for four days of music heaven.

Oh, just don’t forget your hippie mace.

Mark It Down:

Girl Talk: Friday, 2:15 a.m. @ That Stage
Andrew Bird: Sunday, 4:15 p.m. @ Which Stage
Michael Showalter & Michael Ian Black: Sunday, 5:30 p.m./7:00 p.m. @ Comedy Sweet
Aziz Ansari: Sunday, 5:30 p.m./7:00 p.m @ Comedy Sweet

Now this generally means pranks, or hoaxes. Basically, something like what Peter Bjorn & John recently unveiled:

The video is just genius for the mere fact that if you weren’t paying super close attention, you’d actually believe this Swedish trio had somehow picked up a new sound in the last 24 hours. At least, that’s what happened to yours truly when I first checked out the video this morning. (Oh, and in case you were wondering, the sounds at hand come from St Sanders, a Youtube genius who has crafted the technique of making indie pop outfits actually look like they are shredding – heavy metal style.)

Then there’s the little gem Amanda Palmer has offered up. To be fair, Ms. Palmer’s aptly titled “Please Drop Me” was first debuted days before April Fools, and is anything but a prank/hoax. But because only now the internet, and executives which song is aimed at are getting wind of the number, it might come off as a bit confusing…

Moral of the story: if you want to get dropped by your record label, don’t do it around April Fools’ Day. But that’s coming from someone who has already been pranked like 134 times today.

Edit: Then again, probably not…

We already knew that NIN/JA’s recently announced two-month North American tour would be one for the ages – after all, the 24 stops will both celebrate the end of Trent Reznor and return of Perry Farrell. But it now appears the tour will be much more than a co-headlining affair; as Reznor recently revealed on the NIN’s website, he is aiming to add a few more act’s to the bill. The first such addition? Street Sweeper. If the name doesn’t ring the bell, surely its members do. Street Sweeper is in fact the name of the new funk meets rap meets metal project from Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello and The Coup’s Boots Riley. Sound interesting? You can get an early taste via a stream of a song entitled “Fight! Smash! Win!” on the band’s website.

On the electro side of things, Depeche Mode will soon be launching its tour of the universe, one of which will take the electo legends virtually everywhere, including the U.S. where the group will join the aforementioned Jane’s Addiction, Beastie Boys, and Kings of Leon as headliners for this year’s Lollapalooza. Well, it now turns out that you won’t have to head just to Grant Park to get a bit of cleverly crafted indie-approved pop before the mind-numbing sounds of Depeche take over; the English outfit will be joined by a trio of Swedes named Peter Bjorn and John on the U.S. portion of “Tour of the Universe 2009.” Of course, neither group has much in common, aside from the fact both will be touring in support of new albums – PB&J’s Living Things hits music shelves on March 30th, while Depeche Mode’s Sounds of the Universe is out a month later on April 21st – but hey, if it means both groups will be at Lolla, we’re game!

It might be a good idea to break open the piggy bank. It ain’t going to get much better than this.

NIN/Jane’s Addiction 2009 Tour Dates:
05/08 – W. Palm Beach, FL @ Cruzan Amphitheatre *
05/09 – Tampa, FL @ Ford Amphitheatre *
05/10 – Atlanta, GA @ Lakewood Amphitheatre *
05/14 – Albuquerque, NM @ Journal Pavilion *
05/15 – Phoenix, AZ @ Cricket Wireless Pavilion *
05/16 – Chula Vista, CA @ Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre *
05/18 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Pearl *
05/20 – Irvine, CA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater *
05/22 – Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre *
05/24 – George, WA @ Sasquatch! Music Festival
05/26 – Englewood, CO @ Fiddler’s Green Ampitheathre *
05/27 – Kansas City, MO @ Starlight Theathre *
05/29 – Chicago, IL @ Charter One Pavilion (NIN Only)
05/30 – Noblesville, IN @ Verizon Wireless Music Center *
05/31 – Clarkston, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre *
06/02 – Toronto, ON @ Molson Amphitheater *
06/03 – Darien Lake, NY @ Darien Lake Amphitheatre *
06/05 – Camden, NJ @ Tweeter Center *
06/06 – Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Park Center *
06/07 – Wantaugh, NY @ Jones Beach Theater *
06/09 – Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion *
06/10 – Burgettstown, PA @ Post-Gazette Pavilon *
06/12 – Charlotte, NC @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre *
06/13 – Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music Festival (NIN Only)

* = w/ Street Sweeper

Depeche Mode 2009 Tour Dates
05/10 – Ramat, Tel Aviv @ Gan Stadium
05/12 – Athens, GR @ Terra Vibe Park
05/14 – Istanbul, TR @ Santral Instanbul
05/16 – Bucharest, RO @ Parc Izvor
05/18 – Sofia, BG @ Tuborg Greenfest
05/20 – Belgrade, RS @ Tuborg Greenfest
05/21 – Zagred, HR Tuborg Greenfest
05/23 – Warsaw, PL @ Gwardia Stadium
05/25 – Riga, LV @ Skonto Stadium
05/27 – Vinius, LT @ Zalgirio Stadinoas
05/30 – London, UK @ O2 Arena
05/31 – Landgraaf, NL @ Pinkpop Festival
06/02 – Hamburg, DE @ HSH Nordbank Arena
06/04 – Dusseldorf, DE @ LTU Arena
06/05 – Dusseldorf, DE @ LTU Arena
06/07 – Leipzig, DE @ Zentralstadion
06/08 – Leipzig, DE @ Zentralstadion
06/10 – Berlin, DE @ Olympiastadion
06/12 – Frankfurt, DE @ Commerzbank Arena
06/13 – Munich, DE @ Olympiastadion
06/16 – Rome, IT @ Stadio Olimpico
06/18 – Milan, IT @ Stadio San Siro
06/20 – Werchester, BE @ TW Classic Festival
06/22 – Bratislava, SK @ Inter Stadium
06/23 – Budapest, HU @ Puskas Ferenc Stadium
06/25 – Prague, CZ @ Slavia Stadium
06/27 – Paris, FR @ Stade de France
06/28 – Nancy, FR @ Zenith Amphitheatre
06/30 – Copenhagen, DK @ Parken Stadium
07/02 – Bergen, NO @ Koengen
07/03 – Arvika, SE @ Arvika Festival
07/06 – Carcassonne, FR @ Esplanade Gambetta
07/08 – Valladolid, ES @ Jose Zorilla Stadium
07/09 – Bilbao, ES @ Bilbao BBK Live
07/11 – Libson, PR @ Super Bock Super Rock Festival
07/12 – Sevilla, ES @ Olimpic Stadium
07/24 – Toronto, ON @ Molson Amphitheatre
07/25 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
07/28 – Bristow, VA @ Nissan Pavilion
07/31 – Masnfield, MA @ Comcast Center ^
08/01 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa Event Center ^
08/03 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden ^
08/10 – Seattle, WA @ KeyArena ^
08/12 – Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre ^
08/14 – Chula Vista, CA @ Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre ^
08/16 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl ^
08/17 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl ^
08/20 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Santa Barbara Bowl ^
08/22 – Las Vegas, NV @ Pearl Concert Theater ^
08/23 – Phoenix, AZ @ US Airways Center ^
08/25 – West Valley City, UT @ E Center ^
08/27 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre ^
08/29 – Dallas, TX @ Superpages.com Center ^
08/30 – The Woodlands, TX Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion ^
09/01 – Atlanta, GA @ Lakewood Amphitheatre ^
09/04 – Tampa, FL @ Ford Amphitheatre ^
09/05 – Sunrise, FL @ BankAtlantic Center ^

^ = w/ Peter Bjorn & John