festivals

The Dirty Projectors will be performing with White Williams at South Street Seaport on August 15th. It’s part of the Seaport Music Festival and it’s FREE! Both artists are recent signings to the fantastic Domino Records and we love them a lot.

A taste:

The very adorable and ridiculously talented Jenny Lewis has announced plans for a new a solo album, titled Acid Tongue, on Warner Bros in September. This will be the follow-up to her utterly brilliant 2006 album Rabbit Fur Coat (Team Love). The album announcement comes just weeks after Jenny wrapped a world wide tour in support of Rilo Kiley’s Under The Blacklight album.

Some of Lewis’ most steadfast collaborators appear on Acid Tongue: Johnathan Rice, Farmer Dave Scher (erswhile member of Beachwood Sparks and current Interpol live keyboardist), Jason Boesel, Jason Lader and the lovely M.Ward. She also invited other notable musician friends into the fold, including Elvis Costello for a duet  (a 2006 live favorite: “Carpetbaggers”), Chris Robinson (of The Black Crowes), Benji Hughes, Zooey Deschanel (of She & Him) & Vanessa Corbala (of Whispertown2000) on backing vocals, Paz Lenchantin (A Perfect Circle & Press Here favorite The Entrance Band) and her sister Ana provided strings, Davey Faragher (of The Imposters) on bass, as well as Laurel Canyon’s own Jonathan Wilson on guitar, and even members of Jenny’s own family.  Her sister Leslie Lewis provided backing vocals on two songs while her father, harmonica virtuoso Eddie Gordon makes a star turn on something called a “bass harp”.

The all analog, no Pro-Tools sessions were all part of a shared aesthetic between Lewis, her producers, and her musician collaborators, working quickly and tracking her vocals entirely live and without embellishment. Recorded at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California in just 3 weeks. We’re psyched to see Jenny perform a string of shows with Conor Oberst this September as well as her own ACL Festival and Harlem Apollo show.

Tour dates:
9/16 –  Fox Theatre- Boulder, CO
9/17 – Ogden Theatre- Denver, CO
9/20 – Anchor Inn- Omaha, NE*
9/21 – Ryman Auditorium- Nashville, TN*
9/22 – Bijou Theatre - Knoxville, TN*
9/23 – George’s Majestic Fayetteville, AK*
9/24 – The Lyric Theatre - Oxford, MS*
9/25 – Cain’s Ballroom - Tulsa, OK*
9/26 – Austin City Limits - Austin, TX
10/2 - Sixth & I Historic Synagogue- Washington, DC
10/4 – Apollo Theatre- New York, NY

(*with Conor Oberst )

Acid Tongue – Tracklist:

1. Black Sand                    7. Godspeed
2. Pretty Bird                   8. Carpetbaggers
3. The Next Messiah       9. Trying My Best To Love You
4. Bad Man’s World        10. Jack Killed Mom
5. Acid Tongue                11. Sing A Song For Them
6. See Fernando

Here’s a refresher from Jenny’s last album:

We have a confession to make. We didn’t used to like Brooklyn. We rarely went there and when we did we complained bitterly about it. But then, during one hot summer’s day spent in a beer garden in Carrol Gardens, we saw the error of our borough-hating ways. We now *love* Brooklyn. We can’t get enough of it. We blush when we remember our bad attitude of the past. And so, with the 2008 “Celebrate Brooklyn” festival we’re going to get our rocks off in Prospect Park every chance we get. Summer Stage? That’s for wimps! The free performances at “Celebrate Brooklyn” is where it’s at. It all kicks off June 12th with the legendary Isaac Hayes. We’re particularly psyched about that, along with Cold War Kids on June 27th, Brazilian Girls on July 11th and Hal Wilner’s Bill Withers project on August 9th.

Get your F train on and we’ll see you down the front.

Here’s our favorite Cold War Kids video:

Performances take place at the Prospect Park Bandshell, which is also hosting some pretty fantastic musical performances this summer, including the lovely Feist on July 9th and Spoon on July 15th and our hero of all heroes, Bob Dylan on August 12th!!!

The Prospect Park Bandshell is at 9th St. & Prospect Park West Brooklyn, New York 11215.

We’re really excited about this! Conor Oberst has announced plans to release a solo album, his first for 13 years, on the very brilliant Merge Records in August. The album, titled Conor Oberst. The recording was made in Tepoztlán, Morelos, México during the months of January and February 2008. In Tepoztlán, a place known for Aztec Magic and Extra-Terrestrial Sightings, a temporary studio was created in a mountain villa called Valle Místico at the outskirts of town. It was produced by Conor Oberst with much help from engineer and long time associate Andy LeMaster. A special band was assembled for the recording, known amongst themselves and to friends as The Mystic Valley Band. It was there at Valle Místico that Conor and the band lived and worked for that time in near perfect harmony, often unaware of the hour or the day. The result is his first solo album in thirteen years, following Water (1993), Here’s To Special Treatment (1994) and Soundtrack To My Movie (1995). In that time he has recorded and performed in many bands and musical projects including Commander Venus, Park Ave., Desaparecidos, and most notably Bright Eyes, his main musical vehicle for the past decade.

Conor Oberst will be touring this album throughout the summer and has already announced an appearance at September’s Austin City Limits festival.

Track List in full:

1. Cape Cañaveral 7. Eagle On A Pole
2. Sausalito 8. Moab
3. Get-Well-Cards 9. NYC – Gone, Gone
4. Lenders In The Temple 10. Valle Místico (Ruben’s Song)
5. Danny Callahan 11. Souled Out!!!
6. I Don’t Want To Die (In The Hospital) 12. Milk Thistle

Live shows for Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band:

8/22 Leeds Festival - England
8/24 Reading Festival -England
8/31 Electric Picnic - County Laois, Ireland
9/27 ACL Music Festival -Austin, TX

Austin City Limits have announced the line up for this year’s festival - taking place in September. We love Austin, and we’re pretty sure it’s the best darn place in the whole of Texas (sorry Marfa, we haven’t been out your way yet!).

Of their “3 days, 8 stages, 150 bands” we’re particular excited about Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, The Raconteurs, Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band*, N.E.R.D, Iron & Wine, Neko Case, Band Of Horses, Gillian Welch, Against Me!, Okkervil River, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Hot Chip, Vampire Weekend, Duffy, Roky Erickson, Spiritualized, Jenny Lewis, Mgmt, M.Ward, Adele, The Kills and Man Man . And that’s just a tiny taster. Get your tickets here.

* More on this later. Check back next week for details.

While we can’t quite picture Jay-Z in a pair of wellies, it seems he’ll be one of the headliners at the 2008 Glastonbury Festival. The past 4 years of perilous mud has filled some music fans with so much dread that when tickets went on sale it didn’t automatically sell out in 3.2 minutes. The way these things work, it’ll probably be blissful sunshine this year. Don’t say we didn’t warn you….! And with 14 years of experience on this subject, we can safely say Glastonbury is still the king of festivals, rain or shine. Other headliners confirmed are The Verve and Kings Of Leon.

Perhaps it’s coincidental that many of our favorite people and things are Welsh…? The Green Man Festival is another Welsh thing we’ve come to admire greatly, a summer camping music festival started by the band It’s Jo And Danny. In the past few years it’s become one of the most popular festivals in Britain, especially for the folk-inclined. That would include us, then.

This year’s spectacular line-up goes like this:

Super Furry Animals / Richard Thompson / Iron and Wine / The National / Black Mountain / Drive By Truckers / Howlin’ Rain / King Creosote / Caribou / Damien Jurado / The Cave Singers / Magik Markers / Alela Diane / School Of Language / Nina Nastasia / Wild Beasts / Make Model / Simone White / The Accidental / Devon Sproule / Jennifer Gentlle / Cath and Phil Tyler / One More Grain / Moon Music Orchestra / Mugstar / Cymbient / Beth Jeans Houghton / The Yellow Moon Band / The Drift Collective / Rod Thomas / Duke Garwood / Brigyn / Wolf People / Threatmantics / Cats In Paris / Radio Luxemburg / City Reverb / Pamela Wyn Shannon / 9 Bach plus loads more and Very Special Guests for the Sunday Headline slot to be announced on 1st May.

We should also make special mention of our old mate Richard Norris who will be “hosting an evening of psychedelic madness”. And who doesn’t need that?

Here’s a special moment from Glastonbury we enjoyed along with the crowd back in 1994. Gosh, it seems so long ago now…

Addendum: It’s Manic Street Preachers performing “Faster” from The Holy Bible, which - if you’re not familiar - is one of the most brilliant punk rock albums of all time.