Pitchfork

Cologne looks like the city to be in this week if you're Catholic and/or love electronic music. Mere days after Pope Benedict wrapped up World Youth Day 2005, Cologne will play host to the c/o Pop Festival, which starts tomorrow with a Goldfrapp performance and lasts through Sunday. What with "tomorrow" being so soon, you probably won't make it unless you're already in Central Europe, so allow us to torture you with some details.

The festival mixes concerts, conferences, and nightly parties all revolving around electronic music and the business thereof. Labels showcasing at c/o Pop include Komapakt, Areal, Bpitch Control, Trapez, Ware, and Firm. Are other types of music represented, you ask? Does the pope perform some sort of bodily function in the woods? Yes. On Friday and Saturday, two open-air shows will feature less abstruse rock and pop lineups, including the Go! Team, Hot Hot Heat, Dinosaur Jr., Arcade Fire, Annie, Hard-Fi, Maxïmo Park, and Saint Etienne.

Two million people are expected to make it to Cologne for the festival, which also includes something known as the Ringfest on Friday. According to the Nice City! Cologne tourist website, "The city of Cologne will change into a 2 km long concert area. Along the Ring streets and onto the squares of Neumarkt, Rudolfplatz, and Friesenplatz there are about 10 large stages built." The other nights, events take place in over 50 clubs around the city with shows involving (to name just a few) grime MC Tinchy Strider, Hrvatski, Ricardo Villalobos, and Burnt Friedman.

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