Fader has a ton of photos and footage from the last leg of A-Trak and the boys’ tour in San Francisco last weekend. If there’s anything we learned at South By, it’s that Fool’s Gold knows how to throw a party. I used like three exclusive tracks off a DJ sampler A-Trak gave out for Juicy Jams.

Check out the most endearing pair of Canadian, guitar-strumming twins who happen to be lesbians you’ll ever meet on Jay Leno tonight. It always amazes me how something as commercial as GE/NBC/Universal’s the Tonight Show manages to cross paths with artists like the Quin twins. Shout out to good booking agents.

Tegan and Sara have a live EP coming out on the 29th for iTunes featuring select tracks from their break out album, last year’s The Con. You should have that album (produced by Death Cab’s Chris Walla), but if you don’t, check out some tracks here.

Man, this is my favorite group of all time. And with Weezer dropping an album this summer, the 90’s are back in a big way. My high-top fade is so fresh right now.

The annual hip-hop heavyweight tour will also feature Nas, Mos Def, De La Soul, The Pharcyde (ATCQ, De La Soul AND the Pharcyde!!!!!), Jay Electronica, Murs, Santogold and more. If you ever owned a tape deck, get yourself a ticket.

The roots drummer and indie rap icon, ?uestlove, recently teamed up with legendary soul singer Al Green for his new album Lay it Down. If that crossover appeal doesn’t get you, the buzzing horns wizards the Dap Kings, of Mark Ronson/Sharon Jones/Amy Winehouse fame, pitched in as well. And if THAT isn’t enough for you, Corinne Bailey Ray, John Legend and Anthony Hamilton will lend vocals to the project. Just do yourself a favor and check it out here and here.

If you love Pinkerton as much as I do, you may have been disappointed by some of River’s & Co’s recent material. Well, after all these years, the California veteran pop rockers are at peace with themselves. Maybe you should listen to Timbaland.

“Timbaland knows how to top the charts,” Cuomo says in a rare moment of snarkiness on the confident, ironic “Pork and Beans.” “Maybe I should get with him to perfect the art.”

Weezer (i.e. The Red Album) is out 6/24

Check it.

I made you a mixtape. Would you like to hear it? Read more »

[Photos by Callie Richmond]

For all the talk about The Mars Volta’s tendencies toward the more cryptic, infuriatingly dense and questionably coherent reaches of the progressive rock genre, the buzzworthy band from El Passo made their case utterly transparent in front of a panic-inducingly packed crowd at the Austin Music Hall Thursday night. These guys rock. Hard.

Guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez emerged at the outset of the two-and-a-half hour set and immediately began shredding something fierce. He kicked and shuffled his feet spastically as Cedric-Bixler Zavala, the other half of an increasingly-legendary Texas post-hardcore duo, took the stage shrieking beneath a thick, kinky, fro’d-out hair-do. Bixler-Zavala is a force. The Volta’s vocalist doesn’t do double duty on guitar or keys, instead he galavants around the stage like James Brown or Freddie Mercury on ‘shrooms – grabbing anyone within striking distance (Rodriguez-Lopez, a stage hand) and climbing anything within a 10-yard radius (speakers, canga drums).

Forget grandiose aural concepts and defiant song structures, the crowd moved in odd time signatures. From the balcony, a sea of die-hard rockers shifted in spasmodic waves like a complex organism. Crowd-surfing was par for the course. It was freaky, hypnotic. Also hypnotic was shirtless, dreadlocked drummer, Thomas Armon Pridgen, who seemed to be giving in to animalistic urges with every inspired, incessant beat.

The show, as previously mentioned, lasted two-and-a-half hours – perhaps a half-hour too long. But The Mars Volta aren’t interested in getting out clean. They want to transcend prosaic genre-tending while thoroughly rocking bodies and minds. Don’t fight it.

[Foo Fighters @ the Frank Erwin Center in 2005]

Headliners include Foo Fighters, Beck, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, John Fogerty and David Byrne. It’s a little white, a little country and, frankly, I’m a little disappointed. But hey, Tegan & Sara, Hot Chip, Erykah Badu, Band of Horses and The Mars Volta will be there. Also, look for Lolla lovers Gnarls Barkley and The Raconteurs as well as N.E.R.D., who will be making their third trip to Austin this year following SXSW and Glow in the Dark. The festival is from 9/26 - 9/28 and three-day passes go for $170 pre-eBay. Full list after the jump.

Foo Fighters
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
Beck
Manu Chao
John Fogerty
David Byrne
The Raconteurs
The Mars Volta
Gnarls Barkley
Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band
N.E.R.D.
Erykah Badu
Robert Earl Keen
Patty Griffin
Tegan & Sara
Iron & Wine
G. Love & Special Sauce
Neko Case
Band Of Horses
The Swell Season
Silversun Pickups
Gogol Bordello
Gillian Welch
Eli Young Band
The Black Keys
Against Me!
Jakob Dylan And The Gold Mountain Rebels
Okkervil River
Galactic
Kevin Fowler
Sharon Jones And The Dap Kings
Hot Chip
Vampire Weekend
Slightly Stoopid
Duffy Alejandro Escovedo
Roky Erikson
Yonder Mountain String Band
Spiritualized
Flyleaf
Drive-By Truckers
Ingrid Michaelson
Stars
Jose Gonzalez
CSS
Del The Funky Homosapien
Man Man
Jamie Lidell
MGMT
What Made Milwaukee Famous
Jenny Lewis
M. Ward
Asleep At The Wheel
Mason Jennings
Heartless Bastards
Antibalas
The Nachito Herrera All-Stars
Shooter Jennings
Xavier Rudd
Yeasayer
Octopus Project
Joe Bonamassa
The Kills
White Denim
Louis XIV
Delta Spirit
Mates Of State
Nicole Atkins & The Sea
Electric Touch
Black Joe Lewis & The Honey Bears
Black Door Slam
Tristan Prettyman
The Strange Boys
Ryan Bingham
Scott Biram
Freddy Jones
Colour Revolt
Five Times August
Langhorne Slim
Sybris
Eli “Paper Boy” Reed And The True Loves
Bavu Blakes And The Extra Plairs
AA Bondy
Christopher Denny
Mike Farris
The Lee Boys
South Austin Jug Band
American Bang
Bobby Bare, Jr.
Massacoustics
Belleville Outfit
We Go To 11
Band Of Heathens
City And Colour
Sunny Sweeney
Elizabeth Wills
Autamata
Bonnie Bishop
Ben Solee
Ben Cylus
The Concert Supremes
River City Christionettes
Shields Of Faith
The Jones Family Singers
Nakia And His Southern Cousins
Brotherly Luv
The Hensley Ensemble
School Of Rock
Jambo
Q Brothers
Buck Howdy With BB
Uncle Rock
Big Don
Mr. Ray
The Jimmies

By Natalia Ciolko, Photos by Callie Richmond

“Radioactivity + ‘88 + black to the future + the 90s + maturity - corny names + instruments + fools that can make noise with their mouth + square roots + copyright infringement - square x dopeness to the power of Philly = THE ROOTS”

- From the liner notes for Things Fall Apart.

Seven men, one mission: The Roots crew aims for nothing less than live perfection. Saturday’s 40 Acres Fest, presented by the University Co-op and produced by the Music and Entertainment Committee, was capped off by a solid performance by the hip-hop innovators, starting just before sunset and lasting into the night.

The lengthy show that Austin witnessed was nothing unusual for the crew known for their two-to three-hour sets. (One show at the Knitting Factory in ‘96, with guests the RZA, Erykah Badu, the Jungle Brothers and others, lasted a bombastic four hours.) The group’s tireless energy extends beyond the stage - Rising Down, their 10th and “best” album, according to Questlove’s blog, will be available in stores April 29. The story of the Roots crew is a living landmark in a genre known for more turnover than the bottom of the birdcage.

The band, in true idiosyncratic fashion, came onstage a full half-hour before schedule. Over the course of the next 45 minutes, emcee Black Thought brought the crowd from polite to possessed. Black Thought is amazingly astute at gauging the crowd and knowing how to react to them.

Don’t let the live instrumentation fool you - the Roots are as hip-hop as it gets. Black Thought embodies the principles of hip-hop’s artistic streak while remaining in touch with hip-hop in all its forms. A touching moment was shared by all hip-hop heads in the crowd when Black Thought led an extended shout-out in honor of the great J Dilla, in all his varied names - Dill Withers, Jay Dee - for more than half a song.

Onstage, Questlove was repping a Philly hood, Tuba Gooding Jr. had on a nice artistic T-shirt, and Black Thought looked nothing short of stadium status in his stealth leather bomber jacket and revolutionary cap. As hard as it is to do with a band like The Roots, I have to give a tie for best performance to Tuba Gooding Jr. and Capt. Kirk.

Their stage presences were phenomenal. I will never forget seeing them feed off each other, standing guitar to horn, body rocked by the power of their combined sound. The physical feat of running across the stage with a sousaphone on your back alone would warrant top regards for Tuba, but his actual performance was the incredible part. In addition to his dancing, strutting and running into the crowd, Gooding proved to be that extra spice that sets The Roots’ crew apart from all other live hip-hop acts. There appeared to be some sound problems with his horn in the first 30 minutes of the show, but after that was resolved, it came through with incredible power. In the moments when he took the horn off, Gooding’s energy got the crowd live, especially the ladies.

It’s necessary to focus briefly on Capt. Kirk’s performance, which was outstanding in several regards. First, his guitar. The relationship between Kirk and his instrument is rare - it seemed to be an extension of his soul rather than a tool. Kirk’s attitude and hair were definitely channeling a modern-day Jimi Hendrix. Secondly, the live vocal trills and bebop that Kirk adds to the sound explains where the special something comes from on the album tracks. Kirk’s most memorable scene in the performance was during the politically charged rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War,” performed with just Questlove, Kamal and Kirk onstage. Questlove took the snare drum through the paces with a fierce drumroll with strains of Radiohead as Kirk took on the lyrics with a vengeance that Dylan himself would have envied. His eyes gleamed with passionate outrage as he uttered the crushing line, “Even Jesus could never forgive what you do.”

The two-hour set revisited favorites from all of the group’s albums, including the timeless “You Got Me,” which didn’t lack for the absence of Ms. Badu, but the surprise moments in the show stick out. As a testament to their shapeshifting sound, The Roots performed a mash-up that would put Girl Talk and his laptop peers to shame. Kamal on the keys made light work of every club hit from here to 1995 without breaking a sweat. The band took a lighthearted tour along the Top 40, making stops from Salt ‘n’ Pepa to old-school Snoop to Mims’ “This Is Why I’m Hot,” blending 10 or more crowd pleasers into a big festival soup.

By the end of the show, fans and newcomers alike were satisfied and then some. If the show was any indication of the current state of The Roots crew, the new album is guaranteed to be live.

Rising Down is out 4/29

It’s Monday, the first day back in classes. Spring Break sailed away at approx. 5 a.m. this morning. I’m in the process of unpacking, getting back in study mode and I thought I would share these assorted SXSW notes that I just found.

GHOSTHUSTLER (Denton, Texas)

The Gorilla vs. Booze party was at the Peacock, an east 6th venue with a nice turquoise décor theme and a tiny ballroom for the cramming of bodies. As mortals are doomed to err, the 2:30 Ghosthustler performance didn’t take off until near 4 p.m. The band was plagued with technical difficulties both before and during the performance but the lead singer seemed to be having no technical difficulty in leading his one-man army of booty shake. Video would not kill this radio star, ladies, he’s pretty foxy but he doesn’t look old enough to be legal. Ghosthustler’s unglamorous Denton roots are thoroughly shed by their convincing moog wizardry and sly facial hair, but I think this group still has some tightening up to do before we can call them fully baked.

TALES OF EXHAUSTION

Here is a fable about what happens to spoiled young rabbits who sleep on couches: they get free drinks. After the Cool Kids performance, I felt pretty sapped of the energy that lots of sips from the flask will give you and I was feeling nappy. I ambled down sixth street, looking for refuge when I received a digital telegram offering drinks and food at no charge at Union Park. It was easy enough to get in, the drinks truly were free, free, free and so was the calamari… However, the most alluring aspect of the set-up was neither of the former but rather the fine Italian leather sofas calling out to the weary body. I set up shop on a vacant, full-length affair and before I knew it, I was cruising into R.E.M. territory. (Don’t wake me up for their performance tomorrow, please.) After only a few cloudy moments of bliss I was being tapped, tapped, tapped on the shoulder, ma’am please get up I, we, we can’t have this going on in here. You would have thought I was up to something more sinister with the type of language they were using but either way the dream was over. I hit up another free drink, a quesadilla and then I was out, off to see… Kidz in the Hall.

((((KIDZ IN THE HALL INTERVIEW T.B.A.))))

Percee P, I just don’t know what went wrong but I just couldn’t get into it… About 15 minutes into the act I went off in search of the Killer Slits, who were up to no good, as usual. I wasn’t in Beerland for 10 minutes before I saw Ari Up moon the crowd! Her hair was like the opera diva’s in the Fifth Element, holla back if you love that movie like I do. It looks like the new band members have gotten more comfortable since the last time they played in Austin, and that little drummer girl is seriously sick.

Rejoined my fellow blogger Reggie at Habana Annex and saw a few moments of Sean Price whose performance looked promising. (Sean, I’m diggin the hat.) We had to leave that show pretty early to go try and catch Bun B, which turned out to be a fiasco in and of itself. Basically, the front door was crowded from either side by Sharks on one side, Jets on the other. The Sharks had been patient—some even standing on the sidewalk waiting to get in since 8 p.m. for a 1 a.m. show, but they were working with a lost cause from the start. The Jets, much fewer in number, were either generally disgruntled or actively making a scene about their press credential/badge/wristbander rights. The doorman was steadfastly denying access to any and all people waiting at the door, and that no-go status was only further confirmed when a rowdy fight broke out inside. Doubly so when the cops, six deep, showed up and scattered both the Sharks and the Jets. Sorry folks no access tonight.