Pitchfork

Last week, we announced that the fourth annual Pitchfork Music Festival would jump off at Chicago's lovely Union Park July 17-19. If the mere fact that our festival is happening again wasn't enough to convince you to save the date and book any necessary flights, this should. We can now announce a few of the bands who will play this year's fest, as well as a truly badass new feature.

First, the schedule:

Friday, July 17

Built to Spill
The Jesus Lizard
Yo La Tengo
Tortoise

Saturday, July 18

The National
Pharoahe Monch
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
+ many more!

Sunday, July 19

Grizzly Bear
The Walkmen
Vivian Girls
+ many more!

OK. Now. In past years, we've booked our Friday night lineups by teaming up with All Tomorrow's Parties and their "Don't Look Back" series, presenting bands playing classic albums all the way through. Last year, Public Enemy performed It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, and Sonic Youth performed Daydream Nation in 2007.

This year, we're doing something different.

Starting on Friday night, we're kicking off a new series called "Write the Night: Set Lists by Request." You, the audience, vote on which songs all four bands-- Built to Spill, the Jesus Lizard, Yo La Tengo, and Tortoise-- will play. It'll work like this: When you buy your ticket, you'll get a confirmation email. That confirmation email will include a link to a page where you can vote on which songs from each band you want to hear. The bands will tailor their set lists accordingly. Oh, and did we mention this is the Jesus Lizard's first American show in a decade? Righteous, yes?

Tickets go on sale March 13, and voting starts the same day. Voting ends June 12.

Of course, we'll announce a ton more bands in the coming months.

On the surface, it makes just about no sense for Swedish pop pros Peter Bjorn and John to open Depeche Mode's summer American tour, since their bubbling-over joy has basically nothing to do with Depeche Mode's brooding synthetic throb. You'd think that someone like Ladytron, who will open a few of Depeche Mode's Eastern European shows, would be a better fit, just based on the sense of elegant gloom they share.

Then again, both Depeche Mode and PB&J dress really well and know how to groove, so that's something. And unlike Ladytron, Peter Bjorn and John have at least one song that Depeche Mode's entire American audience will recognize right away.

DM announced their North American tour venues yesterday. Earlier today, we reported that Depeche Mode might headline this year's Lollapalooza. We're guessing there's probably some room for the Swedes further down the Lolla bill.

Another thing Depeche Mode and Peter Bjorn and John have in common: Both of them have new albums coming out on the same day this spring. (UPDATE: Oops, our bad.) Depeche Mode will release Sounds of the Universe April 21 via Capitol/Mute in the U.S. and April 20 via Mute in Europe. Almost Gold Recordings/StarTime International will release Peter Bjorn and John's Living Thing in the U.S. on March 31, and it'll be out in the UK on Wichita on March 30.

Peter Bjorn and John have a whole North American tour to get through this spring before that Depeche Mode jaunt starts.

Last night, mere minutes after Ryan Seacrest inadvertently suggested that a (female) "American Idol" contestant should stay on her knees for him, the most smarmy man alive mentioned that Kanye West would appear on the most popular TV show in the country next week.

He was not lying. West will show this year's 13 "Idol" finalists how to flex their vocal cords when he does "Heartless" on next Wednesday's show. Fellow P4k news correspondent Tom Breihan's reaction: "He's really taking this singing thing seriously!" Can you say AutoTune week? Will T-Pain show up as a mentor? What will Simon say? Can this show get any better?! (Rhetorical.)

On purely technical terms, this means Kanye will become the second worst guest singer in "Idol" history (J-Lo, holler). On purely entertaining terms, he will likely be one of the best guest singers in "Idol" history. And the show could use some originality this season. Sure, we've got the girl who dances like she has a bladder problem and the president of Bobby Brown's fan club, but that's about it when it comes to fresh voices. (Oh shit, I just noticed that Chris Brown is Anoop's "Favorite Male Artist"-- dude!)

You know what, I'm going to just spend the rest of the day discussing Alexis Grace's highlights on the "Idol" forums.

Mentions of both Miley Cyrus and "American Idol" within a span of two days on P4k-- end of the world is nigh.

Photo by Kathryn Yu

-- For the first time in the history of this earth, new wave nutballs Devo will perform their classic 1978 Brian Eno-produced debut, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, in its entirety live in concert. Front to back, "Mongoloid", "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", "Jocko Homo" and the rest. The Don't Look Back show goes down at London's Kentish Town Forum May 6. The yellow-jumpsuited crew will hit SXSW this month and ATP's Fans Strike Back fest at Butlins Holiday Centre in Minehead, England May 8.

-- When people talk about the "BBQ Show" part of the King Khan & BBQ Show, they're talking about garage rock mainstay Mark Sultan. The singer/songwriter/shaman releases new single "Hold On" (featuring a Joe Meek cover on the flip) on Sub Pop this Tuesday, March 10. Sultan is also touring with and without King Khan this spring, starting with a run of shows at SXSW.

-- Busy days for pastiche DJ-producer Daedelus. The L.A. artist has a couple new projects out now: the self-titled debut from the Long Lost (aka Daedelus and wife Laura Darlington) on Ninja Tune and an EP, split with L.A. duo Jogger, for the new Friends of Friends series, which promotes socially and environmentally progressive music industry practices. And the Friends of Friends release comes with a dippy t-shirt and remixes! Daedelus and his beloved are gigging through Europe as the Long Lost right now.

-- Lo-fi indie rockers the Soft Pack are ready to release a digital EP, The Muslims, March 10 via Kemado. You see, the band used to be called the Muslims, so they're cutting their losses and making an attempt at cleverness with the title of the new EP. Good on them. They're also playing a ton of shows right now.

-- Hipster-porn dance band Thieves Like Us, known for their addictive track "Drugs in My Body", come out with their first album, Play Music, this Tuesday, March 10 April 7 in the U.S. Fantasy Memory will release the CD, while Shelf Life will release the vinyl and the CD. Get it? Play Music? They play music. They tour, too.

Earlier this afternoon, the Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot reported three of the headliners for this year's Lollapalooza Festival: the Beastie Boys, Depeche Mode, and Jane's Addiction. Reps for the festival and the bands wouldn't confirm Kot's info, which Kot claims he got from "multiple sources inside the industry." What can we say? The man is connected.

The festival will go down August 7-9 in Chicago's Grant Park. Kot reports that the organizers will name "three more arena-level headliners." The festival organizers aren't planning on announcing the lineup until April 21, but they might want to hurry that up a bit now that they've got reporters sniffing around.

Even though we couldn't confirm anything, all those names make sense. Jane's Addiction, as we reported earlier, will sit out the Chicago night of their tour with Nine Inch Nails this summer, a pretty clear sign that they'll play Lolla. (Plus, you know, the whole Perry-Farrell-founding-Lollapalooza thing.) Depeche Mode, meanwhile, will release their new Sounds of the Universe next month. We reported the dates on their American tour yesterday, but they've barely announced any Midwest dates, and there's a big hole in their schedule right around August 7-9. As for the Beastie Boys, they're reportedly at work on a new album, but they'll also play the Bonnaroo Festival earlier in the summer, so they're presumably trying to get back out there in the world this year.

Yesterday, we reported on the release of "The Beatles: Rock Band". But the Beatles aren't the only A-list quartet with a video game in the works.

And I'm probably going to hell for saying it, but I'm way, way more amped for the imminent release of "Guitar Hero Metallica", especially now that Activision, the game's developer, has announced the tracklist.

"Guitar Hero Metallica" hits stores on March 29, and it's available on Xbox 360, Nintento Wii, and Playstation 2. The game allows plastic axe-slingers to play along with 28 songs from the band's discography, and it also features songs from other bands that Metallica hand-picked for the game. (As with recent "Guitar Hero" games, you'll be able to drum and sing along, as well.) The "Guitar Hero" folks tried the same trick last year with an Aerosmith-themed game, but that one had to deal with the fatal flaw of Aerosmith sucking.

Metallica's game, of course, includes plenty of tracks from the band's not-so-great recent years, but there's also an impressive amount of material from their utterly badass do-no-wrong first four albums. My fingers already hurt thinking how hard it's going to be to play "Creeping Death" and "Whiplash".

The tracklist of songs from other bands is likewise jammed with classics. Say what you will about Metallica, but they have good taste. "Ace of Spades"-- with an animated Lemmy appearing in the game! Mastodon's "Blood and Thunder"! Corrosion of Conformity's "Albatross"! Social Distortion's "Mommy's Little Monster"! Seger! Priest! Kyuss! Uh, Foo Fighters!

Metallica's messed around with the "Guitar Hero" franchise before. On the same day that they released last year's not-terrible Death Magnetic as a proper CD, they also released it in downloadable "Guitar Hero 3" form. And people who bought Death Magnetic on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 2 will have access to it on this game. Also, people who buy it on Wii or PlayStation will get three bonus tracks, all from Death Magnetic: "Broken, Beat & Scarred", "Cyanide", and "My Apocalypse".

As we previously reported, Metallica will enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 4. And on March 31, they will release a 163-track digital box set of their entire discography on iTunes. (It will hit other digital retailers on April 28.) Also, they've got a run of European shows coming up, including some with well-chosen openers Lamb of God and Mastodon.

While there were many great bands and performances at last year's Pitchfork Music Festival, there were only a few genuine stars in the classic sense of the word. Jarvis Cocker didn't headline the fest, but he was definitely the biggest star; whether stalking the stage, engaging in witty banter, or breaking down into whiteboy James Brown convulsions, the former Pulp leader entertained like a bizarro Vegas vet.

The trip to our Chicago fest didn't only result in an amazing set. While visiting the Windy City, Jarvis and his band holed up in Steve Albini's Electrical Audio studio to test out a couple new songs. They liked the sound (and the price: "it was very cheap," says Cocker in a statement), so the crew returned in January to record Further Complications, due out May 19 (May 18 in the UK) on Rough Trade.

Though Jarvis claims he hasn't "gone rock," hard-nosed studio rat Albini seems like a fitting choice for the album, considering the increasingly roughed-up tunes Cocker has been peddling since parting with Pulp. Don't expect any of those We Love Life Scott Walker strings here. Do expect some songs he debuted on tour last year, like the incredible soul number "I Told You Twice (Leftovers)", "Angela", "Fuckingsong", and the title track.

More track titles with priceless notes from Jarvis himself: "Slush" ("I guess that slush will be the ultimate outcome of global warming"), "Caucasian Blues" ("an attempt  to understand the pain of a man whose Honda Goldwing has run out of petrol"), "I Never Said I Was Deep" ("the phrase that I would like carved on my tombstone"), "The Night They Let Me Out of the Home" ("portrays the difficulties of using public transport whilst on crutches"), and "Homewrecker!" ("an absolute racket featuring saxophone from Steve Mackey [he played on The Stooges' 'Funhouse', you know]"). If there was a Grammy for song-explaining notes, Jarvis would win every time.

Apparently, all those songs won't be on the final LP-- the tracklist is still being sussed out. "Apparently" is also the title of another new song "about how you can be in love with someone without realising it." Is it me or does this sound like year-end material right here? No pressure!

Most importantly, Jarvis finally explains his recent abundance of facial hair: "I grew it to keep my face warm in the Arctic and then I kind of got attached to it. (The amount of grey in it horrified me at first but now I think it acts as a handy reminder of my own mortality.)" No Just for Men for this man.

Jarvis is taking his show on the road all over Europe this summer. He probably won't play any Pulp songs, so stop asking:

You know impressively bearded alt-country OG Steve Earle is a good guy because he helped Bubbles through rehab on The Wire. So he didn't need to solidify his good-guy status any further by recording an album in tribute to the late country-folk cult hero Townes Van Zandt. But Earle's done it anyway. That's just how he rolls.

On May 12, New West will release Townes, Earle's tribute to his friend and mentor. The album will also be available as a deluxe two-CD set and on 180-gram vinyl. That's the cover above.

According to a press release, Earle and Van Zandt first met when Van Zandt heckled an Earle show in 1972, the sort of thing that must be a total nightmare for most singer-songwriters. But the two stayed tight until Van Zandt's death in 1997.

Dust Brother John King, who produced Earle's 2007 album Washington Square Serenade, mans the boards on one song, "Lungs". On that same song, Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello guests on guitar. (And yes, he does play one of those wikki-wikki turntable-scratch solos, but it sort of works.) Singer-songwriter Allison Moorer, Earle's wife, sings backup on "To Live Is to Fly" and "Loretta". Earle also recruited a backing band of bluegrass all-stars to play on several songs. And duetting on "Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold": Earle's son Justin Townes Earle, appearing on record with his dad for the first time. (Earle really must've loved the guy if he named his kid after him.)

In the album's press release, Earle has this to say: "This may be one of the best records I've ever made. That hurts a singer-songwriter's feelings. Then again, it's some consolation that I cherry picked through the career of one of the best songwriters that ever lived." Aww.

You have to admire Earle for recording an entire Townes Van Zandt tribute album and not including "If I Needed You". That takes some balls.

In other Earle news, he'll play two shows at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music on April 4 and 5.

Here's a stream of Earle's cover of Van Zandt's "Lungs", featuring Tom Morello on guitar:

The North Carolina indie institution Merge Records turns 20 this year, and they're celebrating their anniversary in grand style. As you know, they're putting out a sweet subscription-only box set featuring contributions from all kinds of special guests. And, as we reported in January, the label will host a huge five-day music festival this summer. Their SCORE! series is already sending exclusive compilations to everyone who had the foresight to sign up (they aren't taking any more subscribers, sorry).

And now the label has announced the tracklist for SCORE! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers, its compilation of non-Merge bands covering classics from the label's back catalog. Holy shit, this thing is nuts!

The tracklist is full of heavy hitters: the Shins, Broken Social Scene, Death Cab, the National, Broken Social Scene. And the different bands' choices of cover material makes a pretty fascinating study. Like, it's not too surprising that 69 Love Songs, the Magnetic Fields' mammoth collection of classic-sounding, alternate-reality hits, would figure heavily. It is pretty surprising, however, to see that Bright Eyes (who sort of is a Merge artist these days) would try his hand at "Papa Was a Rodeo", Stephin Merritt's semi-ironic cowboy lament. Likewise, it's crazy to see Swedish indie pop heartthrob Jens Lekman and eternally poised Everything But the Girl frontwoman Tracey Thorn teaming up for anything, let alone a version of the Magnetic Fields' "Yeah! Oh, Yeah!"

That's just the tip of the iceberg, though. The biggest eye-popper on this whole thing might be Ryan Adams' cover of label bosses Superchunk's "Like a Fool"; nice to know that guy hasn't thrown out his record collection. Times New Viking's take on the Arcade Fire's "Neighborhood #1" should be noisily cathartic. Barbara Manning, meanwhile, tries out Portastatic's "Through With People", and it's tough to even fathom what level of gorgeosity we'll be dealing with there. And it's nice to see the unjustly slept-on late-90s downbeat lo-fi shambler East River Pipe getting some love; both the Mountain Goats and Okkervil River pay tribute.

This compilation will be one of two SCORE! items that the general public will be able to buy. The other one, a remix compilation-- featuring Battles, Four Tet, Jason Forrest, Caribou, Junior Boys, Trey Told 'Em, Barbara Morgenstern, John McEntire (Tortoise, the Sea and Cake), Mark Robinson (Unrest, Teenbeat Records), and Hands Off Cuba-- will be announced later. The Covers is up for preorder on Merge's site starting today. SCORE! subscribers will get it in their March mailing, and the rest of us can buy it on April 7.

If you didn't notice, 15-year-old actress Dakota Fanning is all grown up now. Well, that's the image she's going for, at least. She had that controversial rape scene in a movie nobody watched, and she played drunk in that movie Push, which apparently came out last month.

And now she's in negotiations to star in the upcoming biopic of 70s proto-punks the Runaways, as none other than ultra-bad ass lead singer Cherie Currie, Variety reports (via The Playlist). Twilight star Kristen Stewart has already been tapped to play guitarist Joan Jett; Floria Sigismondi-- who's responsible for this most incredible Sigur Ros video-- is set to direct.

So how much of a no-nonsense rock'n'roll chick was Currie? Based on her 1989 autobiography, Neon Angel, the bombshell was doing weed, Quaaludes, and coke...all before she hit voting age. Nowadays, she's calmed down a bit-- based on her Chainsaw Chick website, Currie currently spends her free time carving huge wooden sculptures with a massive chainsaw. Really.

Good luck, Ms. Fanning. You'll need it.