Less than a year after releasing their celebrated album, Merriweather Post Pavillion, Animal Collective is set to release a new EP this winter. The 5 track EP will be available digitally November 23 and physically December 15.

Track Listing:

1. Graze

2. What Would I Want? Sky

3. Bleed

4. On a Highway

5. I Think I Can

Track 2, “What Would I Want? Sky” is notable for containing the first ever licensed Grateful Dead sample – the band’s “Unbroken Chain.”

In other Dead news, the University of California, Santa Cruz has announced they are looking to hire a Grateful Dead archivist to join the staff of their Special Collections and Archives department. In what would be the coolest job ever, the archivist would plan and oversee the digital and physical processing of Grateful Dead Archives material. The band donated their archives to the university in April 2008.

Get the full story here: http://www.thedailyswarm.com/headlines/uc-santa-cruz-looking-relegate-patchouli-stench-basement-seeking-grateful-dead-archvist/

Image by the Chicago Tribune

Today was, as Ice Cube would say, a good day. Started things off with Providence hometown heroes the Low Anthem, and I am ever more impressed by their creativity. During the set the used both the blues-rock basics of drums, guitar, upright bass and the like, as well as an old organ, clarinet, bells played with a violin bow, and what I think was a marching French-horn. During the beautiful “This God Damn House,” singer Ben Knox Miller called Jeff Prystowsky’s cell phone from his own and used the reverb in a whistling solo. How does one think to do that?!

Next hit up the Chicago 2016 stage and caught Living Things, who certainly know how to put on a rock show. I haven’t seen that much black leather since Alice Cooper, but they had a message of peace and love that they were excited to party over.

Korzec and I headed to the media area next and he had a lovely interview with Andy and Chris of Manchester Orchestra.

After the interview Korzec and I headed to Ida Maria’s set at the Citi stage, and she was dressed to the nines in a gold lamé dress that I wanted very badly to steal from her. However, she made the same mistake I did: sythentics are a BAD choice. Cotton breathes far more. But I digress. She continues to impress with her ability to win over a crowd of any size, and always seems to be having a hell of a time as she does it. Dancing and singing about whisky and men and dancing on tables, she more or less had the crowd in the palm of her hand. I’m more excited than ever to see her back in Providence on August 14th.

I caught a bit of the set from astonishingly energetic Welsh septet Los Campesinos! The exclamation point is part of their name, not my intonation. Which is not to say they weren’t charming, particularly singer Tom Campesinos!’s jokes about crowd-pleasing, but being a little behind the head-banded and be-flowered dancers at the center of the crowd, it wasn’t all that easy to get carried away. But when they kicked into the swelling epic ode to alt-love “You! Me! Dancing!” I know I was, and closer “Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks” was shouty but adorable end to a show that was both of those things.

I was about to camp out for the Arctic Monkeys but got a call for an interview with the beautiful but dangerous Ida Maria. We caught up in the media area as Coheed and Cambria raged behind us. The sound should be up soon!

Afterwards, I literally sprinted to the end of the Arctic Monkeys’ set, running most ungracefully into Chris and Jonathan from Manchester Orchestra on the way, and caught “Do Me a Favour,” “Potion Approaching,” and “505.” Alex Turner is putting down his guitar to sing more now, and Josh Homme’s touch is definitely there. I can’t wait for the indubitable darker Humbug. And I must say, I love the new hair. Sigh.

Saw a bit of the always raucous and fantastic TV on the Radio before heading to Lykke Li to meet up with Korzec. From there I was off to Animal Collective. It was my first time seeing them, and the way their songs bleed together live makes it a very different experience from their albums. But, the chiming and looping of “Fireworks” was the perfect soundtrack to the beautiful sight of the sun setting on Chicago.

From there I hightailed it to the Budweiser stage for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I’ve long admired the band, and particularly Karen O—who doesn’t? What’s not to love?—but had never actually made it to one of their legendary live performances. So, as sad as I was that I wouldn’t be able to see the Beastie Boys at long last, I’m glad MCA is doing ok and excited to check them out. And although the hype had years to build, the Yeahs managed to live up to it. They seemed so excited, even surprised to be there; guitarist Nick Zinner dropped the guitar vamp from “So What’cha Want” by the Beastie Boys as an homage and Karen O said between thanks, “We weren’t even supposed to be here!” Older crowd-pleasers like “Cheated Hearts” and closing song “Date with the Night” had the whole crowd jumping just as much as the newer, more disco-infused sounds of “Zero” and their new single “Heads Will Roll.” An acoustic version of “Maps” was touching, even when Karen O forgot the words to the second verse. I’m glad I wore my dancing shoes.

One more day. I think I need to sleep for 3 days straight and immediately come back. When’s the Leeds Festival again?
Pics to come later. For now, bedtime.

Image by rocknroll guitar on Flickr

Bonnaroo, probably the best weekend a music lover can ever hope to spend on a farm. The festival hosted a lineup of over 120 bands as well as artists and comedians who performed in creatively named spaces such as That Tent, the Other Tent, and What Stage. Every time I wanted to see a band, I felt as though someone were playing a cruel joke on my poor over-stimulated brain. On Thursday, WBRU DJ Bart and I established our lay of the land and caught a set from Massachusetts natives Passion Pit. Later on I was fortunate to run into their singer, Michal Angelakos, who turned out to be a very sweet and personable guy.

On Friday I was treated to three of my favorite bands performing all in a row at Which Tent, a charming venue which appeared positively radiant at sunset. First up, Baltimore’s Animal Collective graced us with a gently lilting sonic ocean. Although they did not play songs from Feels, my personal favorite album, my desire to hear well-loved tracks was soon fulfilled by an electrifying show from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Toward the end of the set, Nick Zinner’s guitar malfunctioned, bringing an unwelcome interruption to the opening of “Maps.” Encouraging words from Karen O. and resounding cheers from the audience inspired Zinner to saddle up a new instrument for a beautiful acoustic rendition of the popular love song.

After refueling on water and granola, I headed back to Which Tent to catch TV on the Radio’s set, which featured an alternate version of “Staring at the Sun” that the band played during their show at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel last October. Even with such an epic triple-header, the real star of that evening for me had to be David Byrne, who played an outstanding set comprising mostly Talking Heads tunes, much to my delight.

Friday proved to be the musical highlight for me, although I caught many great sets on Saturday, including the increasingly adorable Jenny Lewis and legendary Elvis Costello, who joined each other on stage twice. On Sunday Bart and I awoke early (before noon!) to catch Cage the Elephant’s set. In true rock ‘n’ roll fashion, singer Matt Shultz climbed some scaffolding and nearly electrocuted himself, but continued his high-energy performance as though nothing had gone wrong.

The weekend ended with a marathon set from Phish, who stopped at Bonnaroo as part of their sold-out summer tour. Phish surprised us all when they invited none other than the Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen, onstage to join them for three songs. Gazing out over the nearly 100,000 festival-goers during this performance was truly breathtaking, and proved an appropriate end to my time at Bonnaroo. After such an eventful four days, I was glad to return home to Providence for a shower and clean sheets, but I’m still wearing my wristband in memoriam of this unforgettable festival.