Festival Updates: Bonnaroo Additions, Lollapalooza Lineup, Coachella Happened

Bonnaroo

Bonnaroo has decided to jump into the “curating” game that All Tomorrow’s Parties has made so popular. The are letting David Byrne pick the lineup for one stage on the evening of Friday June 12. He has chosen the following acts to play it:

Santigold
Dirty Projectors
Ani Difranco
St. Vincent
Katzenjammer

Most of those acts were already on the lineup, but Dirty Projectors is an addition, and a pretty badass one at that. What is unclear to me right is what part of the “evening” these acts would play. They seem an unlikely group for late night, although that would be cool. Maybe Bonnaroo will actually have something else going on during the headliner spot. By the way we are only 50 days away from this, I’m starting to get excited.

Bonnaroo website

Lollapalooza

Lollapalooza has announced its lineup and it is looking very similar to Bonnaroo’s outside of the headliners. Check it out:

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Tonight In The A: Antony & The Johnsons

Sunday, February 8: Antony hits the Variety Playhouse.


photo: Don Felix Cervantes

I have been enjoying Antony & The Johnsons‘ newest album, The Crying Light. If you are familiar with Antony, you’ll find everything you’ve come to love from the gifted vocalist on this record. If you aren’t, this is as good an entry point as any. My only complaint is that I’m not a big fan of recycling a hit song from an EP on an LP as Antony does with “Another World”. I don’t want to be already tired of listening to one of the best songs on a new album. But there are plenty of other good tunes on it, so check it out:

Antony & The Johnsons : Epilepsy Is Dancing

Antony & The Johnsons : Aeon

Buy The Crying Light

Antony & The Johnsons myspace

Ohmpark’s Top 20 Best EPs/Short-Length Albums Of 2008

I decided to do something a little experimental this year with my best EP list. When I was comparing very short “full-length” albums to longer albums on my best LP list, I kept wanting to hold the time duration against the shorter album. Also, it seems the difference between EPs and LPs can be a bit arbitrary sometimes, so I decided to just draw a line completely based on album length to split up my best album lists. This list, then, is the best of all albums less than 35 minutes, regardless of what the record is labeled. I’m happy with the end result, as I’m able to really highlight some extremely worthwhile briefer albums and it made the competition on this list a lot tighter. When you really think about it, any classic album this short feels like it is in a different weight class. I want to give an honorable mention to Cynic‘s Traced In Air, Parade‘s Ghosts, and Mount Eerie with Julie Dorion and Fred Squire‘s Lost Wisdom because all three were awesome, but here are the 20 best albums under 35 minutes:

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My Favourite Songs of 2008: Ohmpark Mixtape #6

So here is a playlist comprised of many of my favourite songs from the year. Not all of my favs are here, but I think all of the essentials are in it. I tried my best to build this as a flowing playlist more than just a collection of songs, so the order and even some of the selections reflect that. I really need to do more mixtapes. Based on Hypemachine/elbow popularity, I know everyone loves that Fleet Foxes song, but I decided instead to treat you to a better song from one of the bands that FF is ripping off. Anyways, here is an hour and half of the best songs of 2008. Jam them hard while you can, because in about 3 days they aren’t hip anymore:

Islands : The Arm
Sigur Ros : Gobbledigook
Atlas Sound : Recent Bedroom
Kaki King : Life Being What it Is
MGMT : Weekend Wars
Department of Eagles : No One Does It Like You
Animal Collective : Water Curses
Antony And The Johnsons : Another World
Mount Eerie w/ Julie Doiron & Fred Squire : Voice In Headphones
My Morning Jacket : Touch Me I’m Going To Scream pt. 1
Beach House : Used To Be
Portishead : The Rip
Summerbirds In The Cellar : Now We Are Ugly Inside
Hot Chip : One Pure Thought
M83 : Kim & Jesse
Bon Iver : For Emma
Plants And Animals : Guru
Destroyer : Shooting Rockets (From The Desk Of Night’s Ape)
Deerhunter : Nothing Ever Happened
…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead : The Betrayal Of Roger Casement And The Irish Brigade

A Random Mp3 Trilogy


Asobi Seksu

I had sort of forgotten about Asobi Seksu as they hadn’t made much news since releasing their last stunning album, Citrus, back in 2006. Apparently, they have been working on a new album, and while it isn’t finished, and doesn’t even have a name, they are releasing a new single next month.They do an interesting blend of shoegaze and dream pop that I highly recommend. Here’s their latest:

Asobi Seksu : Me & Mary

Buy Citrus: [MP3] [CD]


Antony

The new Antony And The Johnsons album Another World is a perfect illustration of why I have become so fond of the EP format lately. There is no waste, no fat, it’s almost 20 minutes of pure sonic bliss. Being an album person and not a song person, it’s nice to be able to enjoy an entire piece of work without having to commit a large amount of time to it. Antony is such a remarkable vocalist and his beautiful, imaginative style keeps improving:

Antony And The Johnsons : Another World

Buy Another World: [MP3] [CD] [LP]


The Legends

Finally, the number one track on Elbows right now is an act i had never heard of, so I went to check it out. The band is called The Legends, and they are from Stockholm, Sweden. Legends is dropping a single called Seconds Away next month, and it is noisy and pretty damn good. They have a previous album called Facts & Figures that became available in the US thsi year you can check out until the new material is released:

The Legends : Seconds Away

Buy Facts & Figures: [MP3] [CD]

Live Show: Antony And The Johnsons (11/5/2006)

Antony is not for everyone, but I really like him, so here’s a live show:

Antony and The Johnsons

“TURNING”

The Barbican Centre
London
EC2

5th November 2006

Taper: Youandmeboth

Sony Hi-MD MZ-NH900/Sony ECM-DS70P Mic/Soundcraft 6:2 Mixer/Wave Editor/Flac (level5)

01: Intro
02: Everything is New
03: My Lord My Love
04: Cripple And The Starfish
05: For Today i am a Bouy
06: Where is My Power
07: Spiralalling
08: Rythm of You Love
09: Fell In Love With A Dead Boy
10: Birdgherl
11: Kiss My Name
12: Daylight And The Sun
13: One Dove
14: Hope There’s Someone
15: Twilight
ENCORE
16:You Are My Sister

Download Lossless Torrent Here

Video Of The Day: The Eternal Children

Here’s a great documentary by David Kleijwegt on some musicians that I really dig, CocoRosie and Devendra Banhart. In the second video below, you’ll notice Antony touch on the current music revolution of this decade that I constantly espouse.

Part 1:

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