Friday Free-Style

I'm about to head to Myrtle Beach for the night to catch The Mars Volta. Tickets for that show are still available so I would recommend quiting your day job and catching it. If you can't do that, the 13 Day Mission, Beatrix Kiddo, Miles From Pangea show 11:11 teahouse is going to be the hottness. If you are completely broke, here's a free show:



Lollapalooza is announcing its line-up on Monday, but the Chicago Sun-Times has leaked a bunch of it. The following bands have been confirmed:

Radiohead
Nine Inch Nails
Rage Against The Machine
Wilco
Grizzly Bear
Battles
The Raconteurs
Kanye West
Gnarls Barkley
The Black Keys
Broken Social Scene
G. Love And The Special Sauce
Blues Traveler
Mates Of State
Bloc Party
Cat Power
Stephen Malkmus
Girl Talk
Kid Sister
Office
The Cool Kids
The Go! Team
Jamie Lidell

That is serious line-up. This is going to be a big event. I think I'm gonna have to hit this one up. You may have noticed Grizzly Bear up there, and word on the street is that they are opening for some of Radiohead's dates. In other Chicago festival news, Pitchfork Fest has added some acts and the line-up is looking much better. As it stands:

Friday, July 18:

Pitchfork Music Festival and All Tomorrow's Parties
present "Don't Look Back" Public Enemy performing
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

* Mission of Burma performing Vs. *
+ one more to be announced

Saturday, July 19:

Animal Collective * Jarvis Cocker * !!! Vampire Weekend Dizzee Rascal Fleet Foxes No Age * Jay Reatard * * King Khan & His Shrines * Atlas Sound * The Ruby Suns * * A Hawk and a Hacksaw * * Occidental Brothers Dance Band International *
+ many more!

Sunday, July 20:

* Dinosaur Jr. * Spiritualized M. Ward * Ghostface and Raekwon * * The Apples in Stereo * Boris * Dirty Projectors * * Cut Copy * Extra Golden El Guincho * Fuck Buttons *
+ many more!

Keep in mind the ticket price is $65 for a weekend pass, which is a great bargain compared to the skyrocketing festival ticket prices from everyone else. Another festival announcement made some noise this week too: Baltimore's Virgin Mobile Fest. They announced their headliners:

Foo Fighters
Jack Johnson
Kanye West
Nine Inch Nails
Stone Temple Pilots

There's two things to note here. 1. The Stone Temple Pilots are indeed back and on the reunion bandwagon. They have announced that they have exactly 65 North American days scheduled right now. Talk about cashing in. Oh yeah, Scott Weiland is in a tiff with his other band, Velvet Revolver. 2. Why the hell is Jack Johnson headlining all these festivals? I mean seriously, this douche must be stopped. Jack Johnson is like a Dave Matthews who can't play more than three chords. The dude sucks.

Atlanta's Nophest 4 & 20 festival going down in a couple weeks has added more to its line-up and schedule and you can check it out at their website. Ohmpark is sponsoring the event, so expect epicness.

I had been rumour-mongering this forever, but Pitchfork has confirmed that Bradford Cox (Deerhunter/Atlas Sound) worked on The Wild Things soundtrack with Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs). They have also reported that Deerhunter is recording their new album, Microcastle, as a 4-piece, and Colin Mee is officially no longer part of the band.

R.E.M., Modest Mouse, The National tickets go on sale tomorrow.

Al Green has a new album coming out that was produced by ?uestlove (The Roots) and will be at Chastain Park Amphitheater on July 16th.

STS9 and Umphrey's McGee are going on tour together and will finish their journey here in Atlanta at The Masquerade Music Park on August 1st and 2nd.

Creative Loafing has a great piece of journalism this week as they document how ATLien Jessica Juggz shoots flames from her vagina. Yep, really. And you can catch her band Mourdella at The Earl tomorrow night.

CL also have a piece on Atlanta's Zoroaster.

Myspace says it wants some of that Internet money, buddy.

Neil Young has a new album coming soon.

Of Montreal are releasing a live DVD in the fall.

311 and Snoop Dogg will be at Lakewood Amphitheater on July 26th.

Check out some vids of the Ahleuchatistas, Sorry No Ferrari, 13 Day Mission show last week here.

The oldest recording of a human voice (1860) was just found.

Pitchfork.tv is looking really cool, so check out the schedule.

Southern Shelter posted the Elf Power show at The 40 Watt in Athens from last week.

The Nomen Novum (members of Moorish Idols) debut release, the Mantis Man 7" will be available at their show tomorrow night at The Drunken Unicorn.


Bjork "Wanderlust" 3D video done by the music video badasses that did Grizzly Bear's "Knife" video (REALLY WATCH THIS ONE):



R.E.M. on The Colbert Report:





And there's this:

2008 Festivals Preview

After the end of the year best of lists are done for and the holidays are over, it's the season for rampant speculation about who is playing what festival. The fun rumors this year include Metallica and Led Zeppelin at Bonnaroo and My Bloody Valentine at Coachella. Here at Ohmpark, we heart festivals and will be keeping you informed on all of these developments. Here are the fests I'm looking forward to:

Langerado (March 6-9, 2008) [Big Cypress, FL]

Langerado typically marks the beginning of the festival season. This south Florida fest has followed the Bonnaroo trajectory and broadened its line-up over the last few years beyond the pure jamband roots it started with, but is much smaller, beginning as a one day fest with 3500 attendance in 2003, to it's first year with three full days and 15,000 attendees in 2007. This year, they've upped the ante again expanding to four days and moving to Big Cypress Indian Reservation, the site of Phish's legendary New Years Eve 1999 shows. The 2008 line-up is their best yet:

Thursday March 6th
Les Claypool - Dark Star Orchestra - Perpetual Groove - the New Deal - Busdriver - Phix - Golem - That 1 Guy - Awesome New Republic - the Postmarks

Friday March 7th
Beastie Boys - 311 - The Roots - G. Love & Special Sauce - Umphrey's McGee - Built to Spill - Mickey Hart Band - The Wailers - Ozomatli - !!! - Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars - Indigenous - Sam Bush - The Walkmen - Vampire Weekend - Brett Dennen - The Spam Allstars - matt pond PA - Bassnectar - American Babies - Earl Greyhound - the Dynamites - The Heavy Pets - Backyard Tire Fire - School of Rock All-Stars

Saturday March 8th
R.E.M. - Matisyahu - Thievery Corporation - Ben Folds - Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood - The Disco Biscuits - Robert Randolph & the Family Band - Citizen Cope - Antibalas - Ghostland Observatory - Arrested Development - Benevento Russo Duo - State Radio - Dr. Dog - the New Mastersounds - the Bad Plus - the Avett Brothers - Railroad Earth - Yard Dogs Road Show - Blitzen Trapper - Pelican - Dan Deacon - RAQ - Pnuma Trio - the Wood Brothers - Trevor Hall - American Bang

Sunday March 9th
Phil Lesh & Friends - Ani DiFranco - Gov't Mule - Keller Williams - funky Meters - The National - of Montreal - Minus the Bear - Martin Sexton - Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - Blind Melon - Ryan Shaw - Felice Brothers - Shout Out Louds - Josh Ritter - the Lee Boys - Will Hoge - Steel Train - Pete Francis - Balkan Beat Box - Jonah Smith

Also, they have just recently added Dead Confederate and a late night Sound Tribe Sector Nine set.

The Low-down: A small camping fest with a top tier hippy-friendly line-up in the middle of a swamp. They seem to have distributed the best acts evenly across each day and I've heard lots of good things about this one. What's not to like?

Chance I go: 90% I've never been to Langerado before so with a line-up this good, I have to go.

Langerado Website

Live Music Blog did great coverage of it last year.


South By Southwest (March 7-16, 2008) [Ausitn, TX]

Dating as far back as 1987, this is the US's most important showcase for small acts to get hot. Every hipster on Earth heads to the biggest hipster town for a convention-style festival. They have yet to reveal a full line-up for the music portion, but notable names they have confirmed are The Breeders and Thurston Moore and minimalist composer Steve Reich. But who's on the line-up is entirely irrelevant for an event like this that is centered around discovering new acts you've never heard of before.

The Low-down: The blogoshpere is dominated by SXSW in March and everyone is looking to see what's hot. It's like the X-Games of "battle of the bands" rolled into a city-wide party.

Chance I Go: 90% Another fest I've always wanted to go to, but never got the chance. I'm hoping to hook up with some ATL band and go into total coverage mode (if you're a band going to SXSW from ATL, give us a holla).

South By Southwest Website

Keep up to date on all things SXSW here.


Wanee (April 2007) [Live Oak, FL]

A small, spring hippy-fest not too far from the ATL. They have yet to release official dates for next year or a line-up, but last year's two-day installment was entirely jamband anchored featuring most notably Gov't Mule, Derek Trucks Band, and Keller Williams. Details should be coming soon for next year's event.

The Low-down: Small scale hippy-fests are always a fun time, but if you're reading Ohmpark regularly, I doubt you're gonna find too much music there for progressive tastes.

Chance I Go: 25% With all the other awesome fests going on in the spring, i may not have the cash to do this, but I would like to.

Wanee Website


Coachella (April 25-27, 2008) [Indio, CA]

Back When Pearl Jam was fighting Ticketmaster, they did a show with Tool in 1993 at the Empire Polo Club, east of Los Angeles in the desert in need of a large-scale venue that Ticketmaster didn't have exclusive rights to. Six years later, the first ever Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival took place in the same spot. The first event occurred just three months after the disastrous Woodstock '99 fest, and the promoters were not allowed to offer camping because of that. The inaugural 2-day event saw approximately 25,000 attendees and was a financial failure. The fest struggled to return for a one-day event in April of 2001 and almost fell apart completely before Jane's Addiction reunited to be the headliner and made the second installment a resounding success. The festival has grown since, to its pinnacle last year with Rage Against The Machine's reunion to 100,000 people. Legendary band reunions have been a large part of Coachella's history and helped propel it to one of the two most important festivals of this decade. I was lucky enough to attend in 2004 and in 2005 and both years were amazing experiences. One yearly tradition leading up to the line-up announcement extends beyond just rumored line-ups, as fake Coachella posters are circulated across the Internet. Here's my favourite one so far this year:



I Don't Say Evasion, I Say Avoision! is keeping you up-to-date on all the confirmations and rumors here:

Current list of Coachella 2008 confirmations

Confirmed (allegedly):
The Breeders pitchfork
Dwight Yoakam official myspace
Heidi Vogel & The Cinematic Orchestra: official myspace
Autolux (email from Autolux)
The Verve Cat Dirt Sez (they broke the news on Scar Jo and Friday set times this year so they are trustworthy)
Death Cab for Cutie UCLA Campus Events person found out when trying to book them for a free show on campus
Austin TV Cuchara Sonica
VHS or Beta The Scenestar
Rabbit in the Moon (allegedly confirmed Coachella at Street Scene)

Significantly probable:
Caribou (playing Costa Mesa on April 24th)
A Tribe Called Quest A&M Entertainment states they are available for a 2008 world tour, and unspecified festival headliners are available for 150-800k and you know ATCQ is one of them
My Bloody Valentine (previously confirmed by The Daily Swarm, Entertainment Weekly but debunked by pitchfork and billboard so who knows)
Portishead (iffy "confirmations" from The Daily Swarm and Spin)
Animal Collective Pitchfork quotes that they will "perhaps [play] at least one show in April in the USA."
The Magnetic Fields (touring again for the first time in a hundred years)
Battles (touring next spring, playing Langerado, major buzz band of 2007, etc)
Weezer (new terrible album to be released April 22)
Swervedriver Billboard (doing reunion tour in the spring, Coachella specifically mentioned as possible)
Mogwai touring US in the spring (with stated festival preference, and Coachella is the only major US festival in the spring, besides Langerado, but that lineup has already been announced)
The Chemical Brothers messageboard post

More rumors:
R.E.M. Product Shop NYC
Screaming Trees (ditto)
The White Stripes (ditto)
Pulp (seen them on a couple blogs, heard something is planned for the 30th anniversary next year, and this would be the best surprise in Coachella history, but I unfortunately doubt this will happen)
Blur
Sasha & Digweed
Feist
Joanna Newsom
Deltron 3030
No Doubt

Definitely will NOT be there:
Radiohead Coachella board mod and Goldenvoice employee said so on the board
The Smiths
The Cure (playing the Hollywood Bowl a month later)
Led Zeppelin (wayyyy too big, but rumor has it that Bonnaroo is trying/tried to book them)
The Prodigy (previously listed on label's (Cooking Vinyl USA) myspace but removed with an official debunking statement)
Turbonegro (removed from Cooking VInyl USA's myspace as well, but quietly, so maybe there's still a chance?)
Foo Fighters (will be touring Australia at the time)

The Low-down: Coachella is such a unique experience and the line-ups are consistently one of the year's best. The desert weather can be daunting, especially if you decide to camp, but Coachella is something i think everyone who likes fests should do at least once.

Chance I Go: 70% Last year i had paid for a hotel room in the desert before the thing sold out too fast for me to get a ticket, so with the money involved to do Coachella there's certainly possibilities it could fall through for me, but I really want to go.

Coachella Website


Bonnaroo (June 12-15, 2008) [Manchester, TN]

Bonnaroo is my biggest holiday of the year. It is the one event that I look forward to most each year. You can read my 'roo stories here or read my review of last year here. Bonnaroo's success has helped usher in a golden day of music festivals in the US and has been ATL's only somewhat local constant pinnacle music event since it started in 2002. The fest, which began primarily as a super jamband fest, has diversified its line-ups and embraced the indie/alt rock world more and more each year. I'm very interested to see what the line-up looks like this year. The rumors currently:

-Pearl Jam
-My Morning Jacket (Pollstar had listed them for the Friday the 13th, but took it down the next day)
-Pat Green (This is the first artist Pollstar has posted under "Bonnaroo")
-Led Zeppelin and Metallica- Superfly has denied that either one of these bands are headlining the festival in 08.
-Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - The Tennessean reports that the duo will play Bonnaroo in 08.
-B.B. King - According to his offical tour dates he is playing Bonnaroo in 08.

Pearl Jam has been a band that Bonnaroo's promoters have had on their wishlist for a long time. So, I would anticipate this would be the year that happens. Last year, though, the popular rumors which seemed most probable, including Pearl Jam, turned out to be completely wrong, so there's really no telling until the end of January/beginning of February. Personally I'm pulling for returns from Radiohead and The Mars Volta, but that's only wishful thinking at this point.

The Low-down: The 'roo is no longer the extreme "no rules, greatest party on Earth" it started out to be, but it still remains an extremely important barometer of where music is and at 80,000 or so other folks, it is still one hell of a fest.

Chances I Go: 99.9% I've been every year and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.

Bonnaroo Website


Pitchfork (Summer 2008) [Chicago, IL]

After sponsoring the now defunct Intonation Fest in Chicago in 2005, Pitchfork Media created its own fest in 2006 bringing 35,000 to a small city park in Chicago. Last year it sold out to a crowd of approximately 47,000 highlighted by ATP's "Don't Look Back" series bringing Sonic Youth, Slint, and GZA to play their seminal albums live. The urban, non-camping 3 day fest I attended last year was a very chill atmosphere, with maybe the best vendor setup of any festival I have been to, including a vinyl mall and a hand bill mall. With what was arguably the best line-up of last year, the only weakness this fest had was terrible sound problems all weekend. Check our coverage from last year:

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3/Wrap-Up
  

The Low-down: My expectations for Pitchfork this year is that they will again have one of the best line-ups and they will fix the sound problems they had last year. If they can accomplish both of those, this is a mandatory fest.

Chances I Go: 80% I loved it last year, so I will probably go again.

Pitchfork Website


Lollapalooza (August 1-3, 2008) [Chicago, IL]

In the 1990's Lollapalooza was king of the touring fest model that flourished at that time. Run by Jane's Addiction's Perry Farrell, the event became as an important icon to its time in music as Woodstock did to its own time. As the grunge movement waned, and violent precursors to what happened at the Woodstock '94 and '99 began to happen at Lollapalooza shows, Perry Farrell handed over the reigns to do other things, and the fest didn't last very long after that. In 2003, the newly reunited Jane's Addiction headlined a revived Lollapalooza tour which I caught when it came to Lakewood. In 2004, Lollapalooza headlined by Morrissey and Sonic Youth failed to sell enough tickets fast enough and was cancelled very soon after being announced. Perry vowed to bring Lollapalooza back again, and decided to adopt the Bonnaroo/Coachella model that had come to be such large successes at the time and settled down Lollapalooza to Grant Park in Chicago for a one-off event in 2005. The model proved a success for Lolla drawing 65,000 people. I went in 2006 up and really loved it.

The Low-down: With Perry Farrell involved you know its gonna be cool, this particular urban setting is ideal for a large, non-camping fest, and the line-ups have been steadily top tier.

Chances I Go: 40% Chicago is an expensive city to visit, so i may have to choose between this and Pitchfork, and my inital inclination is to choose Pitchfork, but if the line-up is hot enough, I'll make the trek twice.

Lollapalooza Website


ACLFest (September 26-28, 2008) [Austin, TX]

Austin City Limits Music Festival began in 2002, the same year as Bonnaroo, and has emerged as a top-tier American fest, maybe the premier urban, non-camping fest in the US. Last year's line-up included Bjork, Wilco, Arade Fire, Muse My Morning Jacket, Queens Of The Stone Age, Bloc Party, The Decmeberists, and Yo La Tengo. I've heard good things about it but have yet to go to one.

The Low-down: It should be a great line-up and a fun big fest with 65,000 people.

Chances I Go: 60% Another fest I haven't been to means I need to go.

ACLFest Website


The Echo Project (Fall 2008) [Atlanta, GA]

Seemingly out of nowhere The Echo Project emerged for the first time ever a few months ago just Outside The Perimeter. The Jamband heavy, but diverse line-up brought out a great, small crowd under 10,000. By the accounts I've heard, it was not very successful financially, but the promoters have maintained that it will return next year. I had a blast, and you can read about my experience here. Also, much better pictures here.

The low-down: I would expect it to be really fun again next year, but I hope they get someone who knows indie music a little better to choose that part of the line-up (give me a holla ;) ), because i think diehard hippies have a hard time discerning what's good (not The Killers). Also, they need to promote it properly this year if they want it to be financially successful.

Chances I Go: 98% So much fun and it's right here in the ATL, why wouldn't I go?

The Echo Project Website


Voodoo (October 24-26, 2008) [New Orleans, LA]

Dating back to 1999, this mega-big urban, noncamping fest is the New Orleans version of Atlanta's old Music Midtown, held every year on Halloween weekend. In 2005 it had to be held simultaneously in two different states because of Hurricane Katrina, but when it returned to its regular spot of City Park in 2006 it bounced back with 93,000 attendance. This year with Rage Against The Machine, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Wilco headlining, it blew up even larger to a ridiculous 150,000+. Check our coverage:

• Day 1 Photos
• Day 2 Photos
• Live Review
• Day 3 Photos
  

The Low-down: A solid fest who's line-ups tend to be a little less than top tier because of the mainstream crowd it aims at, but the bonus is you are in a city like New Orleans to party.

Chances I Go: 25% I've been to this twice, so it's about time for me to go to Vegoose for the first time.

Voodoo Website


Vegoose (October 2008) [Las Vegas, NV]

This non-camping spinoff of Bonnaroo began its annual Halloween weekend event in 2005. Last year notable acts fromm the line-up included Rage Against The Machine, Blonde Redhead, Battles, Mastodon, Muse, Queens Of The Stone Age, and Ghostface Killah. The line-ups tend to be even a little less jambandy than Bonnaroo's, and with late night sets in a city like Las Vegas, you know its gonna be a crazy time.

The Low-down: With the folks running Bonnaroo doing this, you're in good hands. The line-ups are small, but high quality. Last year attendance was around 40,000.

Chances I Go: 55% A fest and a city i've never experienced means most likely it is the time to go.

Vegoose Website

Pitchfork Music Festival: Day 3/Wrap-Up

The final day started with Deerhunter and I was interested to see what they would do on what was probably one of the biggest crowds they've played to. They brought their A game and Bradford Cox shined on stage. They even got some of Grizzly Bear to jam with them at the end. There's something special about seeing two of the best young bands today teaming up like this and gives me even more optimism about the state of music today. We watched The Ponys from far away and they sounded good with the exception of the entire PA system going down for half of it. Seriously, Pitchfork Fest's sound system seemed to get even worse as the days went on and I've never seen anything like that at a music festival. Next up we watched Menomena put on a really good show. They seemed especially loose and maybe over excited or something but that seemed to work favourably for their sound. This is another band that if you haven't got into yet, i strongly urge you to check them out. The next band I went to see was The Sea And Cake. It was hard for me to believe how bad it was considering how much I like this band. In their defense, the sound system did seem to be especially terrible for their set, but I do not like the direction this band has gone in. The show and the new album both seem like their missing the magic this band used to conjure up. I caught a little bit of Stephen Malkmus playing a solo set. It was good but it's just not exactly my thing. The best show of the day for me was Of Montreal. This band combines art with fun like no other. They did a few new songs, Kevin Barnes wore a few outfits, they even played a little football on stage. I waited a really long time to see Klaxons next. They were good but the weak sound system on the third stage made it seem more underwhelming than it should have. We ended the night watching De La Soul do a solid performance.

Overall, the fest was fairly interesting and a good experience. They must do something about the sound system because it was way too amateur for a festival of this size. I know the ticket prices were low, but if I have to pay another ten or twenty bucks to get to listen to more than the band's monitors for half the shows, it might be a good idea. The actual line-up mostly delivered on the hype, but I think Pitchfork could do a little better job scheduling. The venue was nice but if they want this event to get any bigger they're going to need to relocate. I will say that the security was extremely light and well behaved, and I am always a big fan of that. Overall, Pitchfork Fest gets a thumbs up from me but need to improve some things for next year.

Pitchfork Music Festival: Day 2

We arrived just in time for Califone, who was running a little late. They played 4 or 5 songs and they were pretty good. They had a horn section with them which was cool, but it seemed a little underwhelming. We went in close for Grizzly Bear and listened to Voxtrot from afar. I have to say that I don't really like Voxtrot that much, I think they are over-hyped by the internets. Grizzly Bear, on the other hand, lives up to all the hype. Despite Chris Taylor having some issues with his ridiculously complex equipment setup, they put on the day's best show. If you have not listened to Yellow House yet, do it now fool! I tried to catch the end of Beach House but only caught the last 30 seconds of "Master Of None". By far this was the worst schedule conflict of the fest, especially for the bands themselves as Grizzly Bear and Beach House are both fans of each other. Next up we went to see Battles. They were very impressive. The former Helmet drummer John Stanier was rock solid and had a cymbal up really high so he had to reach up to hit it. It was gimmicky but really cool. The rest of the band used lots of looping computer programs to put together their songs piece by piece.

We skipped Iron And Wine to check out the festival grounds, which were expanded from Friday's setup. They had a huge poster shopping area with almost 50 tents each selling handbills. After that we checked out Atlanta's Mastodon. Their typical badass performance had a mixed reception from the pitchfork kids. Most of the people farther away were complaining and those that stayed up close were rocking out. There was even a mosh pit. Because it was so crazy up front for Mastodon, I was able to get front row and center for Cat Power afterwards on the stage as most of the other Chan Marshall fans weren't so much into the Mastodon scene. It pays to like all kinds of music. I listened to Clipse from the front of the other stage and they were what I expected, decent for a live hip-hop show but nothing to get excited about. Cat Power came on with the Dirty Delta Blues Band. In this performance, Cat Power would not touch a guitar or piano. Instead, she would be leaning over the crowd singing songs from The Greatest, covers, and songs I didn't recognize. I am not a big fan of the nu-Cat Power that is sober, doesn't freakout, and does country/blues music and this was farther in that direction than the three times I saw her last year. It was still great to see her, especially as close as we were, but i don't think I'm going to see her again live until she either starts playing old stuff again or does some new stuff that is not so conservative and, well, ordinary. We wanted to check out Girl Talk but the tiny staging area was packed out beyond belief and the sound system over there was not powerful enough to hear farther back. If I had one complaint about Pitchfork Fest so far it was the sound system problems, of which there were many, and the sound checks drowning out quiet parts of bands performing on the adjacent stages. We skipped Yoko Ono and went into the city to drink into oblivion. Here's some pics from the day:

Pitchfork Music Festival: Day 1

We got to the park about a half an hour before the gates opened and found a pretty long line. The gates didn't end up opening until about 5:30pm, but as soon as they did, you could see kids going through the gate and then running as fast as they could to go get a close spot. The security checkpoint at the entrance was very slack and the entire line probably got through the gate in 1o minutes. We decided to setup close at the stage for GZA and Sonic Youth, and got a really good spot. I did a little exploring and was very impressed with the music shop area and the $1 beverages. We listened to Slint do Spiderland from far away and it was hard to hear most of it, but what I could hear sounded good (We also listened to them sound check a lot of it while waiting outside in line). Shortly afterwards, The GZA and his entourage took the stage we were at and did what i believe was most of Liquid Swords. Unfortunately, none of the real Wu-Tang members showed up as The Genius explained he was skipping a Wu-Tang Clan show in Amsterdam to be here, but Cappadonna and the other guys with him i didn't recognize did a good job backing him up.

After that it was time for Sonic Youth to do Daydream Nation. As soon as the show began, the crowd went nuts, and not necessarily in a good way. There were so many people pushing and trying to get up front and it was so tightly packed that the entire show would be a battle of endurance and will to survive. I don't know if it had to do with the amount of young kids, or the low priced tickets allowed too many scrubs in, or maybe just the ultra-hipster pitchfork crowd, but it was pretty annoying to me (I've decided to coin a new term for these douche bags with no concert etiquette; Hipsters going through puberty I will now refer to as "Pubesters"). On the flip side though, that was the best Sonic Youth show I have ever seen. They did Daydream Nation so well, and added to and improved almost every song, all I could keep thinking was, there is no other band in the world that could play an album they wrote almost 20 years before and make it so amazing to listen to and seem so relevant. They jammed out parts of each song and every single one blew my mind. After doing the album, they came out with Mark Ibold of Pavement and played three songs from Rather Ripped as the encore. Listening to "Incinerate", "Reena", and "Jams Run Free" in the context of just listening to Daydream Nation pretty much solidified in my mind that Sonic Youth is probably the greatest band to exist in the history of electric guitar music on every level with the exception of maybe The Beatles. I know that may seem a little too much to say, but there is no band ever that has been able to exist 25 years without breaking up, and been able to write some of the best albums and put on some of the best shows of the time that far into their career. These guys are just pure musicians that have never let anything keep them from making the best music of several generations and Pitchfork and most of the acts there would probably never even exist without them. We finished the night off drinking pitchers of Ohmpark's favourite beer, Fat Tire, and it would be a perfect end to an amazing day in the Windy City.

Albums I Love: Liquid Swords

Yesterday Pitchfork announced that in addition to Sonic Youth perfroming Daydream Nation at Pitchfork Fest, Slint will be doing their Spiderland and the GZA will be doing Liquid Swords. I'm a Big Wu-tang Clan fan and this is an amazing hip-hop album. The entire clan shows up for this, like most of the '90s solo Wu-Tang stuff, and I'm curious as to how many of the clan will be backing "The Genius" for this special show. If you're not familiar with this record, it is a must have so check it out:

• Living In The World Today
• 4th Chamber
  

Cold World:



I Gotcha Back:



You need to get to Chicago in July:

Friday, July 13:

Sonic Youth perform Daydream Nation
GZA/Genius performs Liquid Swords
Slint perform Spiderland

Saturday, July 14:

Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues (w/members of Dirty Three, the Delta 72 & JSBX)
Clipse
Iron and Wine
Girl Talk
Grizzly Bear
Battles
Fujiya & Miyagi
Oxford Collapse
Dan Deacon
Beach House
Professor Murder
Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound

Sunday, July 15:

New Pornographers
Stephen Malkmus
De La Soul
Of Montreal
Jamie Lidell
Menomena
Klaxons
The Ponys
Deerhunter
Craig Taborn's Junk Magic

Tickets are on sale now at Ticketweb. Three-day passes cost $50, Friday night costs $15, Saturday and Sunday individual passes cost $25, and a Saturday/Sunday pass costs $35.

Pitchfork Fest Artist Additions

This fest is on its way to having the best line-up of the year for me, here's what they just added:

Deerhunter
Menomena
Klaxons
Fujiya & Miyagi
Oxford Collapse
Beach House
Dan Deacon
Craig Taborn's Junk Magic

In case you don't know, Pitchfork Festival will be held in Chicago July 13-15 and will also include Cat Power, New Pornographers, Clipse, Stephen Malkmus, De La Soul, Iron and Wine, Of Montreal, Girl Talk, Jamie Lidell, Grizzly Bear, Battles, the Ponys, Professor Murder, Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound, and, of course, Sonic Youth performing their landmark 1988 album Daydream Nation (in collaboration with All Tomorrow's Parties' Don't Look Back). The best part is the 3-day pass only costs $50! Ill be there, will you?

Pitchfork Music Festival webpage

Post-Binge Randomness

Boozing is fun, hangovers not so much. Tonight I'm checking out the RJD2 & Busdriver show at the Variety Playhouse and you should too. Here's a Busdriver video:



The biggest news to me from the weekend is that Sonic Youth will be performing Daydream Nation in its entirety at Pitchfork Music Festival this year. I have my tickets, do you have yours?



Speaking of great Chicago festivals, Peter Bjorn and John are supposedly confirmed to do Lollapalooza.

Actress Minnie Driver has a second album coming out featuring cameos from artisits such as Ryan Adams and Liz Phair. I had no idea she had a first album.

Lily Allen is bored of singing her songs.

The Polyphonic Spree have a new album coming out in June.

The Clientele have a new album due May 8th and will be going on tour with Beach House.

The Walkmen's singer got arrested at SXSW.

The new Modest Mouse record came out today. Modest Mouse will be playing at the Masquerade Music Park on May 5th. Here's a sample: People As Places As People

High Sierra Music Festival has announced the line-up.

Leftover Salmon have ended their hiatus and will make wookies dance again.

Bjork is touring but nowhere near Atlanta.

Listen to an Explosions In The Sky show on NPR from the weekend here.

Silverchair has a new album out March 31st called Young Modern.

Steely Dan will be at Chastain Park on Mat 11th.

Interviews wrap-up:

• Hold Steady
• LCD Soundsystem
• El-P
• The Jesus and Mary Chain

The Smashing Pumpkins have announced their first North American date in Canada. While we wait on American dates, here's some videos:

A Case Of The Mondays

Flogging Molly is playing at the Roxy tonight to a sold out crowd, so here's a video:



Courtney Love is being sued for unpaid rehab bills.

Boston lead singer, Brad Delp, died at age 55.

REM guitarist Peter Buck and Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin are working together on a project called Tuatara with an album due out in June.

REM is also getting inducted in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame and about to work on a new album

In a related note, The Rock 'n Roll Hall Of Fame is consumed in Van Halen controvery. Both seem pretty irrelevant.

Daft Punk and The Rapture are mini-touring the US but not coming to the ATL.

The National will be playing at the Earl on June 13th before doing Bonnaroo.

Aqualung's new album Memory Man comes out tommorrow.

Live Music Blog covered the Langerado Festival in Florida over the weekend. Check it out.

Pitchfork has a good article on Girl Talk about him posing for Playgirl and being involved in congressional debates about copyright laws.

Tickets went on sale today for Pitchfork Music Festival. I'm very intrigued by the ATP "Don't look back" stuff going on Friday night. If Sonic Youth ends up playing Daydream Nation I will be there.

In the glorified frat party that is CJ's landing, Passer By played a great show. Here's some pics from Saturday night I took on my phone:









Interviews:

• Air
• Hold Steady
• LCD Soundsystem
• Wilco

Liars are working on a new album.

Neurosis have a new song on their myspace page from their forthcoming album due out May 8th.

Listen to a song off the new Daath album The Hinderers out next week.

Cable and Tweed profile Atlanta's Kill Gordon.

Unfortunetly we are not covering SXSW this year (we will be there next year), but for coverage, check this out.

Untied States are playing at the Drunken Unicorn tonight. here's a video:

Pitchfork Music Festival Line-up!

The cool kids at Live Music Blog are reporting:

While we await some of the details from Whitperson's trip down to Florida for Langerado 2007, we're awarded with some details about another festival that the Chicago locals go crazy for -- Pitchfork.

Some details were posted yesterday, although yet to be made fully official by Pitchfork themselves...

2007 Pitchfork Music Festival
http://pitchforkmusicfestival.com/
July 13-15, 2007
Union Park, CHICAGO

Lineup:

Girl Talk
Powerhouse Sound
Cat Power
Clipse
Grizzly Bear
Professor Murder
Jamie Lidell
Of Montreal
...and more!

Tickets will go on sale this Monday (March 12) at 12pm CST.

(via donewaiting.com).

I'm psyched to see Of Montreal on that lineup and can't wait to see who else is headlining it.

More details to come once we get them...