The lineup for Lollapalooza 2012 has been revealed, and while the headliners aren’t mind-blowing, the meat of the festival is promising overall. That’s not to say the main people don’t rock; I wouldn’t mind crossing the Chili Peppers and Black Sabbath off the list, and the Black Keys are so hot right now. There’s not a bad band here, and there’s enough variety here to please even the most jaded music lover. From hyped buzz bands to festival mainstays to popular artists, C3 has put together a brilliant little shindig for Chicago in August. Now if they would only do this for ACL.
Seminal post-hardcore band At the Drive In reunited and played their first show in 11 years right here in Austin, and I heard the whole thing. I didn’t get tickets to the intimate 400-capacity show, but I joined about 100 alley rats behind the venue, who were holding their own private party amongst dumpsters and barbed wire, moshing and singing along to every word. The moment when the band finished their last song and hopped in the van to make their getaway was straight out of A Hard Days Night with the addition of several camera phones. It was incredible. And now there’s videos of the actual show, which looks like it was exactly how I imagined. Can’t wait for Thursday, when I’ll be making the trek to Marfa to watch these guys in an even smaller venue.
Another “One Armed Scissor” with cooler editing, but worse sound. I thought these guys hated crowd surfing…
Yesterday, whilst driving home from class, I heard via 101X the first track in 15 years from Soundgarden, which will be available on the upcoming soundtrack to The Avengers. And…..it’s pretty bad.
It’s called “Live to Rise” and it sounds more like bland Cornell solo material than anything remotely close to old, awesome Soundgarden. I really hope radio sticks to overplaying “Pretty Noose” and “Fell On Black Days” than this dreck. I think I’d rather hear “Black Hole Sun” for the millionth time over this. I can’t say I’m surprised, but I can still be disappointed. Maybe the album will rock harder than this sappy safe single. Apparently the track will be part of the upcoming new album from the group, and it leads off the spectacularly awful tracklist for the Avengers soundtrack, which features new tracks from bands I forgot existed since graduating high school. Shinedown and Theory of a Deadman are still soldiering on, it would seem.
Today Pitchfork reports something I should’ve known in retrospect, but didn’t: Neil Young is quite the audiophile. I guess releasing your box set on Blu-Ray qualifies as dropping a pretty big hint. So much so he has filed trademarks with the US Patent and Trademark Office to develop a high resolution quality audio file format comparable to studio quality sound. The whole thing has apparently been in the works for years, and it may be a year or two more worth of paperwork before we see Young’s project come to light. But like most things with his name on it, I would expect nothing but greatness. Read more here.
Hard to believe, but the excellent Lisbon came out two years ago. And The Walkmen have already created what will likely be a worthy follow up. Heaven, the band’s new album, drops on June 5th, and features a guest appearance from Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes. Leader Hamilton Leithauser has stated the new album is a “bigger, more generous statement” than previous albums.
Enjoy some classic Walkmen tracks from previous albums below.
Someone found a video of Nine Inch Nails doing a performance of “Down In It” on the super retro and hilariously campy Dance Party USA – the big-haired version of American Bandstand and Soul Train. The group look marvelously out of place lip-synching and fake-playing instruments to an obvious album track of the band’s dark industrial groove, while the studio crowd dances like they’re listening to Katrina and the Waves. Oh, and Trent rocks a scrunchie. You have to watch this.
“Smashing Pumpkins” (I put quotes around this because the real band is long gone) have announced the latest release in destroying their 90’s alt-rock legacy and stroking the gargantuan ego of frontman Billy Corgan. Oceania drops June 18th, and we can expect it to be overzealous, unfocused, uninspired, and devoid of any hooks or even a hint of songwriting strength heard on Gish, Siamese Dream, or Mellon Collie. While we patiently wait for the inevitable, enjoy this sampling of what once was.
