Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category.Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen Trapper's fantastic Furr smells more like the Kinks than Neil Young. [Editor's note: That's why we put it on our indie-rock list.] We likewise discarded Shearwater's near-masterpiece Rook, despite the fact that the album'
Bonnaroo just announced its 2009 lineup -- and like Coachella, it looks pretty strong. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are headlining, while Phish is doing two(!) shows. Other notables include Elvis Costello (solo), Wilco, Nine Inch Nails, Al Green, Snoop Dogg, Mars Volta and a bunch more. See the entire lineup after the jump.Because the fest takes place in Tennessee, St. Louis always gets a fair amount of spillover from the event. Phish is already confirmed a few days after, but who els
Raleigh, North Carolina's Rosebuds made what it said was its first stop in St. Louis (really? wow) last night opening for Megafaun at the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center. The quartet's set was loose and house party-like, as it ran through a short set of gothic synth-folk.
Annie Zaleski
Kelly Crisp (foreground), Ivan Howard (back)
Seriously, that's the only way to describe the quartet's music, which has evolved from spritely power-pop into something far gloomier and atmospheric. The
Pearl Jam just announced a spring U.S. tour, a trek that includes a St. Louis date on Tuesday, May 4, at the Scottrade Center. Band of Horses, which is releasing a new album, Infinite Arms, on May 18, is opening. Tickets are on sale on Monday, March 15, at 11 a.m. Pacific time (so 1 p.m. here). [Update: That must be for the Pearl Jam fan club: A LiveNation press release just said tickets are $49 and $69 and on sale Friday, March 19, at noon.]
"The Fixer," live last year in Chicago:
HumThe Pageant
*Jordin Sparks/Kate Voegele, May 15
*Passion Pit/Tokyo Police Club, June 23
Old Rock House
*The Middle East, April 5
*Cameron McGill, May 5
*Hum, May 22
*Annuals/Most Serene Republic, May 23
*Jay Farrar, June 17
Busch Stadium
*Eagles/Dixie Chicks, June 24
Hating on South By Southwest is too easy. Just look around: Shit-faced lawyers waxing bizness gobbledygook to shit-faced salesmen of exercise bikes, members of psych-metal bands (probably called Red Octopus or Purple Cobra) barely remaining vertical for all their unbathed rock studiousness, the endless fail of precious band names (This Will Destroy You vs. Swimming With Dolphins vs. Snowbyrd), video game developers fuhreaking out over a Bill Murray sighting, career journos who will write caption
