Misc. Music Archives

While I was in Europe, the lineup for the Virgin Festival at Pimlico was announced and, while it's not exactly a slam dunk, it's still pretty good and strong enough not to make me regret not ponying up for a flight to Chicago for Lollapalooza. Of course, it doesn't hurt that many of the bigger bands on the lineup are playing both festivals.

Here's how the lineup shakes out:

Day 1

Amy Winehouse / Beastie Boys / Ben Harper / Booka Shade / Cheap Trick / Danny Tenaglia / Sasha & John Digweed / Felix Da Housecat / Fiction Plane / Fountains Of Wayne / The Fratellis / Incubus / LCD Soundsystem / Miguel Migs (Petalpusher) / Modest Mouse / Paolo Nutini / Peter Bjorn And John / The Police / Sander Van Doorn / Shout Out Out Out / TV On The Radio

Day 2

311 / Bad Brains / The Crystal Method (DJ Set) / CSS / Deep Dish (Dubfire and Sharam) / Dieselboy & Andy C / Girl Talk / Infected Mushroom / Interpol / James Zabiela / M.I.A. / Matisyahu / Regina Spektor / Smashing Pumpkins / Spoon / Velvet Revolver / Wu Tang Clan / Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Chris Cornell was originally announced as part of the lineup but has since decided to pass. Accordingly, chatter on the 9:30 message board says there are still a few more bands to announce.

Overall, the lineups for the festival circuit in general is kinda lacking this year. Lolla is meh, same for Pitchfork. I can't ever see me going to Bonnarroo, no matter how great the lineup is, because leaf doesn't do camping. I'd have to say the best festival lineup of the year has to be the newly announced Austin City Limits which has somehow booked all of the available heavy hitters in one place.

Alternate post title: Damore, You Can Just Skip This One

Depending on your tastes, Saturday's DC101 Chili Cook-Off either got considerably worse or much better with the addition of indie rock whipping boys The Bravery. Count me among the latter. We've been through this all before, but I'm a fan and am curious as to how their upcoming album, produced by Brendan O'Brien, will sound. I'm hoping it will be better than The Music's abysmal Welcome to the North, although I have to say most of the material I've heard so far has been middling mid-tempo indie meh. Drummer Anthony Burulcich recently said The Sun and The Moon will see the band "branch off and get experimental - slow tempo songs, mid tempo. We all sing background harmonies on this record as well." Hmmmmmmmm...

Here's the band's new video for "Time Won't Let Me Go."

Slightly related: This probably only interests me, but it wasn't so long ago that I thought photos like this were pretty good. Yikes. I've come a long way in just two years.

Finally, some warmish weather for D.C.! To celebrate, here is my favorite Pulp b-side, from the "Disco 2000" CD single:

[MP3] Pulp | Ansaphone

Easily one of my favorite "guy gets dumped by girl" songs ever. I've listened to it many a time.

And just for the heck of it, here's the video for "Disco 2000":

Won't it be strange when we're all fully grown?

Could it be? If so, I am so there.

Doowutchyalike, ya'll!

When the D.C. area Arcade Fire show was announced way back when, I didn't pay much attention to it because I quickly figured out that I would still be in Europe on that date, so there was no need for me to get worked up about it. And while I like Neon Bible, I honestly haven't listened to it THAT much and it hasn't really blown me away when I have. I'm sure I'll go back and revisit it in-depth in a month or two when the hype dies down a little, but until then I am secure in the feeling that there was no way the upcoming DAR show would ever top their show in January of '06 at the 9:30 Club.

That was, until today. The National were announced as the openers for the Arcade Fire's DAR show show and six others. Holy fucking hell. I doubt I'll even remember the gig is happening while Ms. Smith and I are frolicking around in German beer gardens and eating our weight in schnitzels, but I'm sure everyone that already has tickets is a very happy camper today. At least, they should be.

In case you were (like me) unaware, The National have set up a new website for their new album Boxer. Here it is. Also, here's a a promotional video by Vincent Moom for one of my favorite tracks off the new record:

I heartily encourage you to go buy the record when it drops in late May, but if you can't wait that long, you can get the above song a few others here. At the very least, be sure to catch The National on their headlining tour around the country in June. As I've mentioned before, they're playing D.C. on my birthday!