-- Bob Dylan isn't much of a festival guy, but he will co-headline Rothbury Festival in Rothbury, Michigan July 2-5. The other headliners are the Dead, so maybe we'll get some of that Dylan & the Dead action onstage. (Hopefully not, though.) The rest of the lineup is heavy on jam bands: The String Cheese Incident, Disco Biscuits, STS9, etc. There is some serious cool shit happening on the bill, though: Willie Nelson, the Hold Steady, Broken Social Scene, Girl Talk, the Quannum All-Stars, Man Man, Kid Cudi, King Sunny Adé, in addition to the likes of MSTRKRFT, Chromeo, Femi Kuti, Cold War Kids, . Maybe the most intriguing thing on the whole lineup, however, is a shared performance from Nas and Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley. Those two are reportedly working on an album together, and both bring crazy gravitas live. Together, they should be demons.

-- For fifteen years now, Greensleeves' annual Ragga Ragga Ragga compilation series has reliably performed the vital task of collecting dancehall bangers and making them easy to find. On March 24, Greensleeves will release Ragga Ragga Ragga 2009, the latest double-disc entry in the series. It's missing a few obvious jams (Mavado's "So Special", Serani's "No Games"), but if previous volumes are any indication, at least a couple of tracks from this compilation will become just as inescapable as those songs before the summer is out.

-- A Camp, the country-pop band led by the husband-wife team of former Cardigans frontwoman Nina Persson and former Shudder to Think guitarist Nathan Larson, have released two albums in Europe, but as of yet, neither one has been released in the U.S. That'll change on April 28, when Nettwerk gives Colonia, their sophomore album (featuring guitar work by Sparklehorse main man Mark Linkous), an American release. And to celebrate, the band will tour the U.S. for the first time this May and June.

Posted by Tom Breihan on March 17, 2009 at 1:40 p.m.

Tags: A Camp, Compilation, Festival, Nathan Larson, Nina Persson, Rothbury, Shudder to Think, The Cardigans

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If you lived next to Bob Dylan, you might expect some strange sounds coming from beyond the fence. But how about strange smells? Strange smells that smell like shit mixed with chemicals, to be precise? According to the L.A. Times, the Bard's neighbors are complaining about noxious odors coming from a port-a-potty located on Dylan's compound in Malibu. And if the Times didn't already run with the "blowin' in the wind" wordplay, someone else would have.

While this story is tons of fun for anyone who doesn't live next to Bob Dylan, it seems quite unpleasant for those who do. According to the Times, since the stench became a problem last September (!), several people claim to have fallen ill, possibly due to the grossness. One not-dramatic-at-all neighbor set up five industrial-sized fans in their yard to combat the port-a-smell. The same family also came up with the money quote: "Mr. Civil Rights is killing our civil rights."

The outhouse is apparently used by Dylan's security team, which is sad to think about-- these people are forced to use a fake toilet at work and then they get yelled at for using it. Bob: There's this thing called Clear Springs Glade...

Thanks to Richard Anderson for the tip.

In much less important news, Dylan's new album, Together Through Life, is out April 28 on Columbia.

Posted by Ryan Dombal on March 17, 2009 at 1:05 p.m.

Tags: Bob Dylan, WTF

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2009 is looking like the year of the rapper comeback. Thus far, both Cam'ron and the newly christened DOOM have been unleashing relative floods of new material and sounding pretty great doing it. And maybe we'll be able to add Brooklyn boho Mos Def to that list.

Mos has been lost in the wilderness for a few years now, reciting halfassed beatnik poetry onstage and acting in movies like Be Kind Rewind and 16 Blocks, both of which could charitably be described as "OK." Geffen only barely gave his last album, 2006's True Magic, anything resembling a proper release. But Black on Both Sides, Mos' solo debut, has held up better than anything else from the Rawkus era, and the guy can still be a complete monster of a rapper when he actually tries to be one. And now he's got a new label and an album release date, so anything's possible.

On June 9, Downtown will release The Ecstatic, Mos's fourth album. The cover, above, reminds me of the ridiculously awesome French parkour movie District B13, a good thing. UPDATE: Thanks to reader Jose Teodoro, who points out that the cover is actually a tinted still from Charles Burnett's 1977 cult-favorite art film Killer of Sheep. And so far, signs are promising. First single "Life in Marvelous Times", with its off-kilter beat from (of all people) French house producer Mr. Flash, shouldn't really work, but somehow it does. "The Quiet Life", the other song currently streaming on his MySpace page, is a limber little workout. The best part: Mos is actually rapping on both of these songs. More sample song titles: "Casa Bey", "The Ecstatic", "Twilight Speedball". Trust Mos Def to name a song after this guy.

Posted by Tom Breihan on March 17, 2009 at 12:50 p.m.

Tags: Album, Mos Def

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Everyone's getting out of prison this month!

Last year, Atlanta cult-hero rapper Gucci Mane was sentenced to six months in prison for parole violation, which didn't stop him from releasing roughly fifty bazillion mixtapes during the calendar year. Last weekend, as XXL reports, he finally came home. This footage of Gucci performing at his welcome-back show is sort of dementedly great. Since his release, he's already recorded at least one track with frequent collaborator Zaytoven; Cocaine Blunts has it. Pitchfork contributor David Drake and friends made a pretty strong case for Gucci's greatness here, and his release is definitely good news.

In totally unrelated news, Exclaim reports that infamous Norwegian black metaller Varg Vikernes, otherwise known as Count Grishnackh, has been released from prison. The Burzum mastermind, a notorious wackjob, famously murdered his Mayhem bandmate Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth in 1993. When a Norwegian judge sentenced him to 21 years in prison for that murder and for other crimes, he smiled. In prison, he recorded a ton of suffocatingly grim and scarily weird Burzum albums and tried to escape in 2003. After serving 16 years of his sentence, he's out. If you see him walking toward you on the street, maybe cross to the other side.

Posted by Tom Breihan on March 17, 2009 at 11:55 a.m.

Tags: Burzum, Gucci Mane, Legal, Mayhem

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According to Pitchfork's Joe Tangari, the Stone Roses' self-titled 1989 debut album "simultaneously gathers the disparate strands of UK rock in the 80s and predicts the Britpop of the 90s". Indeed, it was named the 39th best album of the 80s by this very website. The band never quite topped it and, largely thanks to tensions between singer Ian Brown and guitarist John Squire, fizzled out in 1996.

But even these hardened Manchester street blokes aren't immune to reunion fever, it seems. British tabloid The Daily Mirror reports the group are prepping a 21 gig UK tour this summer to accompany the boxed set reissue of their debut LP. An appearance at Coachella is also being bandied about. It's not the Smiths, but it's something.

And, because this is being reported by a notorious UK rag, it should probably be filed under the "rumor" tag for the time being. A level-headed fan site claims "the speculative reports seem to contradict previous commitments some ex-band members have for this year," including an art exhibition for Squire, a new solo LP for Brown, and bassist Mani's work with Primal Scream.

In a 2007 Xfm interview with Squire, the guitarist-turned-painter didn't sound too high on a Stone Roses reunion: "I think it's too late. And I'm pretty sure the band's legacy would be tarnished by a reformation." But, hey, that was two years ago! In today's Mirror article, a source says singer Ian Brown was the last hold-out, and that "the rest of the band were really up for it, especially when they realized the amount of money on the table." Of course, this wouldn't be the first time a band has doubled back on previous "never again" statements. And a quick month-long victory lap seems feasible-- it could probably pay for Squire's art supplies for years to come.

At the moment, no official dates are set; the Stone Roses are not listed on the Coachella website.

Posted by Ryan Dombal on March 17, 2009 at 10:55 a.m.

Tags: Gossip, Reunion, The Stone Roses

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-- Remember Eels? They had that video with the talking carrot back in the day-- wow, that was 11 years ago. I need to stop living in the past. Nonetheless! The new Eels album, Hombre Lobo, is due June 2 on Vagrant. "Hombre lobo" means "werewolf" in Spanish. Yet this does not seem to be a concept album about werewolves (shame). There are 12 songs on the record. The song with the best title is "That Look You Give That Guy" (other song titles here). That's the cover up there.

-- The physical version of Fever Ray's debut album finally drops next week and, on March 31, Mute will release "When I Grow Up" as a single. It will be backed by remixes from Studio's Dan Lissvik (check it out over at Forkcast), Scuba, Hakan Libdo, Par Grindvik, and Fever Ray producers Van Rivers and Subliminal Kid. Fever Ray mastermind Karin Dreijer Andersson is also playing a few rare shows in Europe starting this Thursday, March 19. The gigs feature production design from Andreas Nilsson aka the guy who directed that super sick "If I Had a Heart" video.

-- "A kiss with a fist is better than none." That's the guiding philosophy behind Florence and the Machine. The band is led by Florence Welch, who seems to be on a laser-guided track toward some sort of stardom. Whether it's just British indie stardom, British mainstream stardom, or international stardom has yet to be seen-- Florence and the Machine are still working on their debut LP, which is due this summer. In the meantime, U.S. label IAMSOUND is re-releasing her two singles-- "Kiss With a Fist" and "Dog Days"-- along with a bonus track and calling the cobbled-together EP A Lot of Love. A Lot of Blood. The record is coming out on 12" and digital formats (sorry, CD lovers) April 28 and I plan to purchase it based on the title alone. Florence is playing shows of all shapes and sizes in the coming months. In related news, Flo cannot resist Beyoncé, either.

-- You may not know the Shortwave Set, but surely you've heard of producer Danger Mouse, Beach Boys collaborator Van Dyke Parks, and Velvet Underground OG John Cale. Turns out they all contributed time and work to the Shortwave Set's sophomore record, Replica Sun Machine (out March 24 in the U.S. on Wall of Sound). Hey, those people won't work with just anybody, right?

Posted by Ryan Dombal on March 17, 2009 at 10:20 a.m.

Tags: Album, Art, Eels, EP, Fever Ray, Florence and the Machine, Single, The Shortwave Set, Tour

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At ATP's Don't Look Back shows, bands play their classic albums straight through. It's a good idea, one that worked great at the last two Pitchfork Music Festivals when bands like Sonic Youth and Public Enemy reprised their defining works. But even the best albums usually have filler tracks or zone-out stretches that inevitably end up sounding a bit flat live. For an album to work in this kind of setting, it needs peaks and valleys, quiet moments and climactic ragers. It needs something like a narrative arc, and it has to unfurl just right.

Spritualized's 1997 drug-rock breakup opus Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space is basically the perfect Don't Look Back album. Now, the band will bring it to the stage of London's Royal Festival Hall for a Don't Look Back show on October 12. This is the sort of thing that makes me wish I could afford plane tickets.

Ladies and Gentlemen, arguably the band's best album, moves gracefully from expansive blissout moments like the title track to stormy classic-rock bangers like "Come Together" and culminates in the 17-minute junkie free-jazz epic "Cop Shoot Cop", which will absolutely wreck everybody's shit live, especially if the ATP folks spring for a decent light show. And when the band plays this ambitious, gorgeously produced record live, they'll do it right, bringing a gospel choir, string and horn sections, and special guests with them.

Sony will reissue Ladies and Gentlemen in October with "added content and new packaging," according to the Spiritualized website. This sounds pretty badass, even if Sony has basically no chance of improving on the fake prescription bottle packaging of the original.

Posted by Tom Breihan on March 17, 2009 at 9:50 a.m.

Tags: Reissue, Spiritualized

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Last month's 10.0 Paul's Boutique reissue made a lot of sense considering it was the album's 20th anniversary and all. But the upcoming tricked-out revamp of Check Your Head isn't quite as traditionally timely-- it's been, er, 17 years since the Beastie Boys' return-to-instruments funk fest hit Tower Records locations across the country.

This seemingly hasty, multi-tiered release-- expanded digital editions out March 30, expanded CD and vinyl editions out April 7, super duper expanded vinyl edition out soon after that-- continues Capitol/EMI's apparent 2009 business strategy, i.e., re-release everything they ever put out in any and all ways possible (see: all those Radiohead repackagings coming your way). They already redid last year's Coldplay album. I'm shocked they haven't gotten around to a Katy Perry reboot-- what are you guys waiting for?

The death of the compact disc (and, you know, the notion of paying for music in general) is sorta depressing, but it brings us this reissue, which should at least satiate those annoying Check Your Head=Best Beasties Album die-hards for a few months. Check Your Head isn't Paul's Boutique, but it still holds up well-- a vintage "Arsenio Hall Show" performance of "So What'cha Want" currently streaming on the trio's site reiterates a fact current high schoolers may not be aware of: these dudes were mean on the microphone. Very mean. Super mean. Especially Ad-Rock.

Some details on the Check Your Head relaunch: The crown jewel of this campaign is a limited edition quadruple 180 gram LP version with a "fabric-wrapped hardcover coffee table book case," according to a press release. They're calling it the "ultra-deluxe" version and it will cost a lot of money. For those of us not profiting from AIG bonuses, there's the standard double vinyl, digital download and double CD versions, each featuring a host of B-sides. A deluxe digital edition offers videos and video commentary, too.

All of these new products put the Beastie Boys in an odd position between reliving the past and trying to stay present, especially since they're due to release their first (real) album in five years this fall. They'll attempt to strike a balance when they hit Bonnaroo June 12 and headline the Hollywood Bowl for the first time September 24.

Posted by Ryan Dombal on March 16, 2009 at 5:35 p.m.

Tags: Album, Beastie Boys, Reissue

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Live music on T.V. this week:

Monday, March 16:

NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Public Enemy, the Roots (house band)
CBS: Late Show With Craig Ferguson: the Upper Crust
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Adele (rerun)
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Ben Sollee (rerun)

Tuesday, March 17:

NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: the Ting Tings, the Roots (house band)
NBC: Tonight Show With Jay Leno: Soundtrack of Our Lives
CBS: Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Dropkick Murphys
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Bell X1

Wednesday, March 18:

CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Modest Mouse
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Vampire Weekend, the Roots (house band)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Kid Cudi
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Andy Samberg, MSTRKRFT

Thursday, March 19:

COMEDY CENTRAL: The Daily Show With John Stewart: Bruce Springsteen
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: the Roots (house band)
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: the Duke Spirit

Friday, March 20:

CBS: Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Conor Oberst (rerun)
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: the Roots (house band)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: the Duke Spirit
NBC: Tonight Show With Jay Leno: Chris Cornell
PBS: Tavis Smiley: Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean (aka Spinal Tap)
DIRECTV 101 Network: Various artists, SXSW Live

Saturday, March 21:

PBS: Austin City Limits: Ray Davies
FOX: Fearless Music TV: Supergrass
DIRECTV 101 Network: Various artists, SXSW Live

Posted by Amy Phillips on March 16, 2009 at 4 p.m.

Tags: TV Eye

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