Rapture, Wu-Tang, CYHSY, Autechre Do Dour Festival
Plus: Thermals, DJ Shadow, Explosions in the Sky, Vitalic, Justice, Digitalism, Notwist

To a native English speaker, the idea of a Dour Festival smacks of as much joy as a Daughtry/Nickelback/Hinder triple-bill. So imagine our surprise when we found out that not only is Dour a city in Belgium, but that Dour's festival-- now in its 19th year-- packs such shiny happy people as the Rapture, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and the Thermals.

Coming live and direct July 12-15, the Dour Festival is anything but; its sprawling roster and reasonably-priced parking are sure to slap a smile on any gloom-mongering fest-goer. Full-fest and individual day tickets are available now, there's onsite camping to be had, and you'll encounter delicious, fluffy waffles everywhere you turn.

C'mon, get happy: the Rapture, Wu-Tang Clan, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the Thermals, Autechre, DJ Shadow, Explosions in the Sky, Justice, Clark, Digitalism, SebastiAn, Venetian Snares, Converge, Vitalic, KRS-One, Mates of State, the Notwist, the Young Gods vs. Dälek, the Cinematic Orchestra, the Frames, Erase Errata, ADULT., Midlake, Wolf Eyes, the Congos, Erol Alkan, Tiefschwarz, Goldie, Stereo Total, Uffie & Feadz, and more more more.

Get Him Eat Him Offer Tour EPs for Download

In anticipation of the June 5 release of Arms Down on Absolutely Kosher, Pitchfork writer Matt LeMay's Get Him Eat Him are offering their three most recent tour EPs as free, high-quality MP3 downloads for one week a piece at armsdown.com.

The Rude Reach and Do As I Tell You are both currently available, and Challenges You to a Game of Basketball is still to come. Unfortunately, you don't get the awesome plastic basketball game that came attached to the 3" CD version of the latter EP.

Most of the songs on the EPs appear fully produced on Arms Down.

After the last EP goes offline, the band plans to post another Arms Down track to follow the recently Forkcasted "2x2".

Get Him Eat Him are planning a full summer tour in support of the new album, and they currently have three dates scheduled. The first is in New York City on May 4. [MORE...]

Art Brut, CSS, Bonde, Voxtrot Make Great Escape
Steve McQueen = huge Voxtrot fan

Art Brut, Voxtrot, the Besnard Lakes, CSS, and Bonde do Role are just a few of the bands who will play Brighton, England's massive Great Escape Festival from May 17-19.

Great Escape will feature over 150 artists at 20 venues across the city, rocking you by night, and chatting to the people by day in special interview sessions.

Among the other artists slated to descend on Brighton: Annuals, British Sea Power, 120 Days, Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip, Future of the Left, Loney, Dear, the Rakes, the Magic Numbers, Good Shoes, Priestess, Elvis Perkins, Nouvelle Vague, Archie Bronson Outfit, Les Breastfeeders, Hello Saferide, Land of Talk, Micah P. Hinson, Help She Can't Swim, Noisettes, James Yorkston, iLiKETRAiNS, and a band called (seriously) DANANANANAYROYD.

For the festival's full lineup, visit the Great Escape website here.

Hold Steady Revamp "Ballgame" for the Twins
I say don't you know / You say you don't know / I say, take me out

The Hold Steady aren't bashful about their love of Minnesota Twins baseball; this reporter has personally witnessed at least a couple boozy soliloquies from Mr. Craig Finn pitching woo towards his treasured Twinkies. (As have most people who have seen the band live, probably.)

But one suspects no one in the Hold Steady organization ever expected they'd have a night at the ballpark quite as massive as Monday's, when the boys' punchdrunk pre-recorded riff on "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" thundered through speakers at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. That's some Little Big League shit right there.

According to MTV.com, the band apparently has a fan in Twins musical director Kevin Dutcher, who, having already pegged "Massive Nights" for last night's Twins home opener, implored Finn and company to take on "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." In typical nonchalant, dude-ish fashion, he agreed, telling MTV, "the Hold Steady, we're all sort of sports guys... we're more likely to be drinking beer and eating wings and watching baseball rather than collecting some obscure 7-inch." Bro's got your number, Meloy.

Finn also told MTV, "I think a lot of the players choose their own music, and generally speaking, baseball players don't have the coolest music taste. I think your ability to hit a baseball takes away from your ability to like good music." Oooh, diss!

You can watch Finn-- King of Beers in hand, per usual-- moan his way through "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" via MTV (see link below).

In other Hold Steady news, they're touring, unplugging, doing a Springsteen tribute show, and probably down for some more tallboys. [MORE...]

Bestival Boasts Bonde, Fujiya, Robyn, Gossip, Figurines
Plus: Electrelane, Simian Mobile Disco, Plastic Little, Orb, Chemical Brothers, Beastie Boys

The folks of Bestival clearly aren't fond of humility (although puns are apparently fair game). Still, if they haven't schemed up the finest European megashow weekend of the summer, they'll have their hand in an awfully big cookie jar fulla lies.

Their three-day, eight-stage festival, curated by BBC Radio 1's Rob Da Bank, will unroll September 7-9 at Newport, England's Robin Hill Country Park on the Isle of Wight. Will Bestival live up to its vainglorious name? Only time will tell, friends.

Willing to take 'em at their word? Pack your boogie-shoes, as the emphasis at Bestival seems to be on all things danceable; sporting a DJ list as long as your arm and trumpeting tail-transporting headliners Beastie Boys and the Chemical Brothers, Bestival wants you to get down. There's some fine rock bands, too, and a whole bunch of reggae, and the way-awesome Plastic Little, and, well, maybe this will be the Bestival after all.

After their mainstage evening performance, Beastie Boys are slated to play a Sunday-afternoon instrumental set in the fest's Big Top tent, which, I guess, is their new thing. Full weekend tickets are available now, although the festival will not-- as they have in previous years-- be issuing single-day admissions.

Bestival highlights: Beastie Boys, Chemical Brothers, Robyn, Bonde do Role, the Gossip, Figurines, Fujiya & Miyagi, Electrelane, the Orb, Plastic Little, the Rumble Strips, Tunng, the Maccabees, Billy Bragg, Horace Andy, Gregory Isaacs, Fields, Bat for Lashes, and Simian Mobile Disco, plus DJs Carl Craig, Erol Alkan, Luke Vibert, James Lavelle, and more. Scope the complete lineup here.

Cloud Cult Tour, Let Us in on Meaning of 8
It's the one after 7 and preceding 9

Way back in October, we reported that Craig Minowa and his twinkly Twin Cities sect Cloud Cult would issue their sixth album, The Meaning of 8, sometime this spring. If the chirping of blue birds and all that melted snow lining your trouser-bottoms weren't enough of a tip off, spring has sprung. That means Meaning of 8 will finally reveal itself April 10, this coming Tuesday.

The band will reach out to their cult following for a month on the road, starting on release day in Columbus, Ohio. Then in June, they'll perform in a tent during a marathon in Duluth, Minnesota. A marathon! [MORE...]

Lily Allen's Perpetual Tour Rolls On
I believe that is called "ad infinitum"

There's really only two reasons to have missed out on Lily Allen's neverending road trip at this point: you either don't hold with bouncy, spunky reggae-tinged pop, or you just aren't trying very hard.

Stragglers rejoice and nonbelievers take heed: though she's been rolling for roughly a year now, Lily shows no signs of slowing down, and the recently announced glut of late-spring U.S. dates will offer yet another chance to get in on all the "Smile"-inducing public intoxication.

Lily's sticking close to the East Coast for the just-tipped shows, sandwiched between a slot at Coachella and one at Bonnaroo. One suspects the gaping holes between a few of these dates could be caulked-up with more shows, but given all the recent references to recording on Lily's blog, she may very well just be thinking follow-up.

As we previously reported, Lily's got both her "Lily Loves" clothing line and her spot on Dizzee Rascal's Maths & English sewed up. She's also paired with fellow clubkid-turned-artist Mark Ronson for one of his trademark batty-sounding covers, Kaiser Chiefs' "Oh My God," set to anchor his debut full-length Version, due April 16.

Lily and Ronson, in addition to their friend, DJ/producer Aaron LaCrate, will DJ at the afterparty for her NYC show on April 11. It goes down at Love, 179 Macdougal at 8th. [MORE...]

Andrew Bird Leaves Armchair for U.S., European Dates
Admit it, you looked up "apocrypha" in the dictionary, too

Soon, Andrew Bird-watchers o'er the Atlantic will get a chance to cozy up to those whistlin' lips and that silken bow hair. Bird will wing across the pond for a paltry seven stops around Europe on the tail of his previously-reported string of U.S. dates. Only seven? Sounds to me like somebody hit #76 on the Billboard album chart and got Fat Possum to pony up vacation money.

Recent album title notwithstanding, Bird's no lazy boy; he just dropped the elegant Armchair Apocrypha, he's rolling around on a bus fueled by old french fry fat, and he's got some film thing going on. Insert your own "early bird catches the worm" joke here, if you so desire. [MORE...]

Gear Theft Brings Dears Guitarist to Tears

Here we go again: the vile shadow of gear theft struck again today, this time leaving Dears guitarist Patrick Krief bereft and weeping. The culprits apparently broke a window at Krief's Montreal rehearsal space, which he shares with one Mike Nash, running off with pretty much everything save a few cords.

Krief's no doubt upset about the whole ordeal, but one loss in particular had him bawling.

"The thing they took that I really want back most," wrote Krief in a post on his MySpace, "is my White Fender Stratocaster. I cried for hours about losing it. It has extreme sentimental value, and I don't know how I'll go on with out it. 16 people (friends and family) pitched in to buy me that guitar (of which I had been dreaming about my whole life) on my 18th birthday.

"I'm on a serious hunt for that guitar, I'm trying to gather some reward money, but I'm pretty broke right now...I can safely say that I'll give $1000 (my family has raised this ransom money) no questions asked to have it back." The guitar is pictured above, and in detail below.

"Keep in mind," added Krief, "that these people might change minor details on the guitar, but the serial number is listed below." Indeed, check out the complete gear list with serial numbers just after the jump. If you have any leads whatsoever, please contact the man via his MySpace.

Krief recently released his debut solo EP-- which bears the eerily prescient title Take It or Leave-- and has a few shows lined up, which are still on as of the moment. The Dears, meanwhile, play the TELUS Spin festival in Mont Tremblant, Quebec on April 7, and Mexico City's Polyforum Siqueiros on May 12. [MORE...]

EMI Dumps iTunes DRM
Free to be you and me

As any member of the iGeneration knows, you never quite own the music you purchase off iTunes. Make too many personal copies of a digital audio file and poof, your privilege is gone. Try to play it on another, non-iPod media player and you'll likely encounter the sweet sound of silence. And don't even think of rocking files downloaded from most other digital retailers on your Pod-- if you didn't buy it from somewhere enlightened, that's just crazy talk.

The culprit in these instances is the reviled little bugger known as DRM, which stands for Digital Rights Management, which refers to a bit of coding melded into digital media files to curtail copyright violations or personal freedom, depending on whom you ask. Apple's iTunes uses what's known as FairPlay (ha) DRM when coding its files, and the music-buying public-- at least those of us who are aware of it-- pretty much universally hates it.

Well, no April Fools joke here-- DRM's stranglehold over at least one major label's digital tunes will soon come to an end. Sort of.

According to various reports, Apple CEO Steve "Mac Daddy" Jobs and EMI Group chief Eric "Jolly Old Saint" Nicoli announced this morning in London that EMI will begin offering DRM-free audio content via iTunes. Here's the rub, however: these files, higher in quality, will sport a fetching 30 cent price increase ($1.29 as opposed to iTunes' standard rate of $0.99).

What's more, EMI will continue offering DRM-infected fare at the regular rate. Still, baby steps. Baby steps.

Read the full announcement here. The press conference also featured a brief performance from Damon Albarn's Danger Mouse-produced regal supergroup the Good, the Bad & the Queen, signed to EMI subsidiary Parlophone.

"We think our customers are going to love this," said Jobs-- who has blamed DRM for stifling digital music sales-- at the press conference, "and we expect to offer more than half of the songs on iTunes in DRM-free versions by the end of this year."

We can probably expect that many, if not most, independent labels will gladly follow suit-- they're already selling their tunes DRM-free over at eMusic, Insound, Bleep, Rough Trade Digital, etc. Will they want to charge more for the privilege, like EMI? We'll see.

 

Photos: Battles [Chicago, IL; 03/30/07]

Strictly business, the men of Battles campaigned through Chicago's Empty Bottle Friday night, pushing their phalanx of equipment to the fore of the stage and blitzing through several hyper-complex cuts from the forthcoming Mirrored (out May 15 on Warp). And really, who needs between-song banter or ironic covers when your music is as tight, inventive, and technically accomplished as this? Many a jaw dropped at the Bottle, with many to follow as Battles wage war across the Eastern U.S. and Europe in the coming weeks.

Chicagoans left out in the cold this weekend needn't fret-- as announced last Friday, Battles return to the Windy City to rock Union Park as part of the Pitchfork Music Festival's second day (of three). The Warp crew join an eclectic July 14 lineup that includes Cat Power, Clipse, Iron and Wine, Girl Talk, Grizzly Bear, and Professor Murder, with many more to be announced. For details and tickets, click click click.








[MORE...]

RZA, GZA, Dead Prez Play We the People Fest

We the People Music Festival will feature RZA, GZA, Dead Prez, and Psycho Realm/Sick Symphonies as headliners at its second annual event. The hip hop and reggae festival will take place April 7 at the W.L.C.A.C. Grounds in Los Angeles.

The other We the People performers are DJ Muggs, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Sabac Red, Medusa (with Feline Science), 2Mex, Los Nativos, Hasan Salaam, Quinto Sol, Miktlan, and Ciuhatl Tonali. The festival's hosts are radio personality Fidel Rodriguez and X-Clan's Brother J, and the DJs who will play are Mark Luv, Orator, C Los, and Gabereal.

According to a press release, We the People's mission is to "celebrate Truth, Consciousness and Harmony," and that means speakers. This year, those speakers are Maxine Waters, Dr. John Carlos, Luis Rodriguez, October 22nd Coalition, Mario Rocha, Unity One, and Homies Unidos.

Do you have a news tip for us? Anything crazy happen at a show you attended recently? Do you have inside info on the bands we cover? Is one of your favorite artists (that's not somebody you know personally) releasing a new record you'd like to see covered? You will remain completely anonymous, unless we are given your express permission to reveal your identity. (Please note that publicists, managers, booking agents, and other artist representatives are generally exempt from this rule, but will also be granted anonymity if requested.)