Pitchfork

If you thought the initial lineup for the latest compilation benefiting AIDS charity Red Hot looked pretty unreal, well, it just might be time to re-define your reality. In a recent conversation with Pitchfork, Aaron Dessner-- who is co-curating the comp along with his twin brother and National bandmate Bryce-- shed some more light on what's fast shaping up to be the definitive snapshot of indie rock in the 00s.

I mean, just look at the lineup. In addition to previously mentioned contributions from Sufjan Stevens, Feist, Grizzly Bear, the Decemberists, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, the National themselves, and the combined powers of David Byrne and Dirty Projectors, Dessner tells us the Red Hot set will also feature Bright Eyes, Spoon, the New Pornographers, Antony (with Bryce Dessner), Belle and Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch, the Books with José González (covering Nick Drake's "Cello Song"), Blonde Redhead, Bon Iver, Andrew Bird, My Brightest Diamond (covering "Feeling Good", famously interpreted by Nina Simone), Sigur Rós offshoot Riceboy Sleeps, and TV on the Radio's David Sitek.

As if that weren't nutty enough, Feist actually appears twice-- once with Grizzly Bear, and once with Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard-- while the National are joined by ace composer/arranger Nico Muhly on their track. Grizzly Bear have a second tune, sans Feist, as well. And those are just the confirmed participants; Dessner expects quite a few more. "It'll probably end up being between 24 and 30 tracks," he reports. "We're probably about 80% done with it...we're hoping for a fall release, but it may be an early 2009 release, depending on a few people that we're still waiting on."

The comp will not necessarily be called Red Hot + Indie, as some have suggested. According to Dessner, they've yet to settle on a title for it. The Beggars Group will release the album, while proceeds will go to Population Services International's YouthAIDS organization.

Aaron, who has worked for Red Hot and sister company Funny Garbage, is impressed with the response the comp has received so far. "We're kind of shocked at how enthusiastic people have been," he says. "It hasn't been hard to convince people to do this, because everybody knows about Red Hot, and because a lot of us had [1993 Red Hot charity comp] No Alternative. That had the hidden Nirvana track on there, which was like a big thing back then."

He's also thrilled with the results to date. "We've been amazed...people are giving us great tracks. I think maybe part of that is people know Red Hot and part of it is like, whenever you get all of your peers together, nobody wants to have the dog, you know?"

Aaron's comp work is on hold for the moment, however, as the National kicked off their tour with Modest Mouse and R.E.M. over the weekend. The jaunt has Dessner feeling "really humbled and grateful. We've been used to playing our own shows for quite a while now, and I guess the last time we opened was more than a year ago, when we did the Arcade Fire tour, which was a similar situation of just being really humbled to play with a band that we really respect."

Despite all the recent goings-on, Dessner and the National have also "been working on a lot of music," coming up with "musical ideas and giving them to" vocalist Matt Berninger. "He's been trying to quit smoking so he has a lot of energy," Dessner notes with a laugh, "so he needs something to do with it, and he's been writing a lot. We actually just wrote a song that we played in Dublin. That's something we don't normally do-- playing something that we haven't really figured out-- but it felt really good. It's funny, nobody seemed to notice it, they all just wanted to hear, like, the songs that they came to hear, but it was really good for us to do."

As for the new jam's title? "I can't remember what he's calling it. You know, he may have been calling it 'The Blue Sky', although that's the name of an Allman Brothers song [actually "Blue Sky" --ed.], so we might have to change that. A really good Allman Brothers song, by the way, with dueling guitar parts!"

The brothers Dessner also continue to run the Brassland label with Alec Hanley Bemis. They'll release Nico Muhly's Mothertongue on July 22, while a new album from Bryce Dessner and co.'s Clogs-- featuring contributions from Aaron, Sufjan Stevens, and My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden-- should surface this fall. The label is also planning a U.S. release of Little Blue Nothing, an album from Czech husband-and-wife cello duo Irena Havlová and Vojtěch Havel.

The National:

05-28 San Diego, CA - House of Blues
05-29 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl *
05-31 Berkeley, CA - The Greek Theatre *
06-01 Berkeley, CA - The Greek Theatre *
06-03 Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre *
06-05 Saint Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center *
06-06 Chicago, IL - United Center *
06-07 Pontiac, MI - The Crofoot Ballroom
06-08 Toronto, Ontario - Molson Amphitheatre *
06-10 Raleigh, NC - Walnut Creek Amphitheatre *
06-11 Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion *
06-13 Mansfield, MA - Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts *
06-14 Wantagh, NY - Jones Beach Theater *
06-18 Philadelphia, PA - Mann Center for the Performing Arts *
06-19 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden *
06-21 Atlanta, GA - Lakewood Amphitheatre *
06-22 Richmond, VA - The National
06-28 Cergy-Pontoise, France - Furia Sound Festival
06-29 Glastonbury, England - Glastonbury Festival
06-30 Birmingham, England - Academy
07-01 Leeds, England - Met University
07-03 Werchter, Belgium - Rock Werchter
07-04 London, England - O2 Wireless Festival
07-06 Turku, Finland - Ruisrock
07-08 Belfast, Northern Ireland - Mandela Hall
07-10 Lisbon, Portugal - Optimus Alive! Festival
07-12 Naas, Ireland - Oxegen Festival
07-13 Balado, Scotland - T in the Park
07-15 Athens, Greece - Fly Beeyond Festival
07-16 Montreux, Switzerland - Montreux Jazz Festival
07-17 Munich, Germany - Dachau Music Summer
07-18 Guimaraes, Portugal - Centro Cultural Vila Flor
07-20 Benicàssim, Spain - Benicàssim Festival
08-01-03 Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza
08-04 New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage #
08-07 Oslo, Norway - Øya Festival
08-08 Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West Festival
08-09 Rees-Haldern, Germany - Haldern Pop Festival
08-11 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
08-13 Aarhus, Denmark - Train
08-15 Biddinghuizen, Netherlands - Lowlands Festival
08-17 Crickhowell, Wales - Green Man Festival

* with R.E.M., Modest Mouse
# with Yeasayer, Plants and Animals