This year's Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival will be held June 11th through 14th in Manchester, Tennessee. All general admission and VIP tickets go on sale this Saturday, February 7th at 12 ET. LINE UP : Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Phish Beastie Boys Nine Inch Nails David Byrne Wilco Al Green Snoop Dogg Elvis Costello Erykah Badu Paul Oakenfold [...]

The king of summer festivals is back on the beautiful 700-acre Manchester farm in June (11th-14th), and the announcement of (some of) the performers came this morning. The lineup is packed full of big names and great accompanying artists. Metallica and Kanye are gone this year (YES!), and Phish is bringing back Bonnaroo as a jam band festival, doing two shows over the four days. It could use a dosage of hip-hop though, so hopefully that comes with the next announcement (last year I got front row for Lupe Fiasco and Talib Kweli followed - needless to say [...]

Last week the Coachella lineup was released and this week we get Bonnaroo. The lineup looks rather, solid with top acts consisting of the Boss , a reunited Phish , The Beastie Boys , NIN , David Byrne , and Wilco . The lineup is also chalked full of excellent middle tiered bands like TV on the Radio , Andrew Bird , The Decemberists , Bon Iver , Grizzly Bear , and Okkervil River . I can say for certain that I [...]

Not long after Coachella got announced last week , last night the Bonnaroo lineup came out, and it is also incredibly solid. The Boss will be headlining, hopefully featuring epic crotch slides , with 2 shows by Phish, the Beasties, NIN and a slew of indie superstars including the hottest band of the moment right now, Animal Collective . Grizzly Bear will be there with some new material no doubt, and the greatness of Bon Iver will also make an appearance. Girl Talk looks like he is going [...]

Dark Was The Night is the upcoming stunning new double CD set from the Red Hot Organization and 4AD . Honestly, and I never say this about compilations, let alone double records, but this thing could well be my favorite album of the year. Dark Was The Night was masterfully produced (and I'm not just saying that, this thing really is a producer's tour de force) by brothers Bryce and Aaron Dessner of The National , and it includes contributions from the following impressive roster of artists: [...]

So by now most have heard of this AIDS compilation that has everyone and their brother on it. Not sure if we have ever seen such a great combination of artists for a compilation. Have a look below at the track list if you haven't already. Sufjan's ten minute trip fest? Bon Iver singing falsetto over electric guitar? Ben Gibbard with Feist? Dirty Projectors with David Byrne? Grizzly Bear and Feist? There are some interesting match-ups and from what we have heard of the album so far, the artists aren't just treating this like some small charity deal, [...]

Sleep. We all need it. Most of us love it to the point of overindulgence. Sometimes, however, it’s hard to fall into that perfect slumber. Throughout our long days, we become restless and stressed, but just can’t shut off immediately when the time comes. That’s why God invented the sleep timer, lullabies, ambien CR, and of course, music. Okay, so maybe music was not birthed for the sole purpose of putting people to sleep, but it sure can be helpful. For many, certain albums act as the adult world’s answer to a lullaby. Whether it’s Thom Yorke talking about rats [...]
Over the weekend I got my e-hands on a 9 track sampler from the upcoming “Dark Was The Night” benefit album for the Red Hot Organization that contained songs from the album by Dirty Projectors and David Byrne, The National, Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings, Sufjan Stevens and a few others. Such is the size of the comp (31 tracks) that there should be a couple of songs on it to at least spark the interest of people who have a grá for the pitchforkey end of the indie spectrum but in spite of the good intentions [...]
As 2008 comes to a close, we at Stranger Dance are starting to look forward to what 2009 holds. A number of our favorite artists ( Andrew Bird , Bon Iver , Wilco , etc.) have confirmed upcoming albums and even more are flirting with the idea. A few things stuck out to us while compiling this this. First, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy promises his "biggest and most ambitious album" to date. The New Pornographers crew have obviously been busy with a new release scheduled for the group as well as members [...]
A specially recorded compilation with a ridiculously good indie cast entitled Dark is The Night produced by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National will be released on 4AD on the February 16th (Worldwide) and 17th (North America) 2009. A total of thirty-two exclusive tracks have been recorded for the compilation, which will be available as a double cd, triple vinyl and download album, with profits benefitting the Red Hot Organization - an international charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS. Red Hot was founded on the premise that even [...]
Les compilations Red Hot , elles nous suivent depuis bien longtemps (vingt ans exactement), revenant à intervalles réguliers et espacés, pour proposer de belles fournées de titres exclusifs dans un genre en vogue au profit de la lutte contre le sida. Il y a quinze ans, les Red Hot faisaient de l'Acid Jazz, il y a trois ans du tropical. En 2009, elles font donc de l'indé. Red Hot / Indie s'appellera donc Dark Was The Night . Elle a été orchestrée entièrement par Aaron et Bryce Dessner, de The National et des Clogs, qui ont [...]

Bon Iver - Blood Bank Grizzly Bear - Fine For Now

We're a few weeks late - okay, a month - with our mid-year songs lists, but i've finally gotten off my lazy ass to get this up. This has been an annual thing since the blog has started, so it would be wrong to just completely forget about it. Anyways, in previous years, I used to have a set of guidelines in choosing our favorite songs; this time around, though, I just let everyone choose whatever songs they wanted. It took a while to get everyone's lists, but after having all them for a couple of weeks now, it was [...]