We’ve got heavy hitters coming in that we’ve been trying to get for years like Rhys Chatham, The Magnetic Fields and David Cross. In addition to the major names, we’ve got a lot of really exciting up-and-coming artists coming to the festival this year like Little Scream, Dirty Beaches, and The War on Drugs. Add to this a mix of established musicians like Seun Kuti, Sharon Van Etten, and William Elliott Whitmore and you’ve got a solid week of good music on your hands and in your ears.

The lit festival is going to be epic this year as well, going everyday of the festival rather than being confined to its regular Saturday. If that weren’t enough, oh, there’s food this year too. Details are still getting sorted with regards to this thing, but I can present to you the following lineup of this year’s festival on the musical front:

The Magnetic Fields
David Cross
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80
William Elliott Whitmore
Justin Townes Earle
Black Milk
Sharon Van Etten
Tim Hecker
Rhys Chatham
Leslie & the Ly’s
The War On Drugs
Kimya Dawson
Dirty Beaches
Bowerbirds
Jon Benjamin
Jon Glaser
Mike Doughty
Little Scream
Oberhofer
Erase Errata
Like Pioneers
Caroline Smith & the Goodnight Sleeps
Rene Hell
Wet Hair
Muscle Drum
Denison Witmer
Weed Wolf
Grand Tetons
Christopher the Conquered
Mumfords
The Olympics
T’Bone
The Lonelyhearts
Alexis Stevens
The Savage Young Taterbug
Ion
Kelly Hogan
Rich Rok
Super Sonic Piss
Lwa

Are you psyched yet? You can still get festival passes. Peep the main site for more about those.

When I was in high school, I used to listen to nothing but techno and shoegaze. While there may have been a random PJ Harvey or Chris Isaak album thrown in, everything else was house, drum & bass, or shoegaze. As time went on and I got really obsessed with shoegaze and dream-pop, my electronic knowledge has slipped a bit. After listening to all of the rad dance mixes on KRUI Saturday Nights for the past four years, I’ve tried to get back into it, but it’s been far too daunting to recreationally undertake. I need an actual goal to reach, which is why I’ve decided to start The House Project.

Each installment will be about my attempts to learn more about the large, ever expanding, ever more drug-fueled world of dance music. I’ll do this by genres, so you’ll read a post about house then one about trance than another about dubstep. This isn’t going to end anytime soon, but it will be starting very soon. What genre? I don’t know. We’ll find out when I start looking.

If you know of any directions I should look in, leave it in the comments below. I’m willing to listen to anything, but that doesn’t guarantee that I’ll actually like it.

Here, layers of electronics, electric guitars, cellos, and the airy voice of Sprengelmeyer make a track that is controlled, chaotic, and shimmering with beauty. It’s a track that could have been too much for many artists, but Sprengelmeyer never lets the cacophony overwhelm her; she is clearly in the forefront, the leader of all the madness around her. This is a formidable feat for any artist, especially one on her very first album.

As a result, she’s gotten a considerable amount of positive press for The Golden Record. I didn’t spend enough time with this album when it came out, but in 2012, I’ve found myself listening to it a lot. It’s a beautiful, well-crafted album from an artist who is, genuinely, more interesting than a number of her colleagues from Canada (Stars, I’m staring at you). She’ll be playing at The Mill on the 1st of April, and it won’t be a joke.

You can learn more about her at her website. The video is for “Red Hunting Jacket,” a beautiful, booming track from The Golden Record.

You can get festival passes here.

Brad Oberhofer released a fantastic EP in 2009 and has continued to steadily gain critical attention. He will make his biggest splash yet with the release of Time Capsules II, his first full length effort which was produced by Steve Lillywhite who has worked with such acts as U2, The Rolling Stones, Morrissey, and others. The album drops on March 27th, just a few days before his festival performance at Public Space One on the 29th. Oberhofer’s piano driven indie pop songs come straight from the heart. Now I don’t want to confuse anyone with that last sentence. Whenever someone utters the words “piano driven indie pop” I immediately imagine the million and one wannabe Coldplay bands that exist out there. Oberhofer’s band is not one of those. I’m not trying to talk smack about Coldplay, I’m just saying that Oberhofer isn’t trying to be anything he’s not and has honed in on his own individual brand of sparkly, poppy, love songs. Check out “Heart,” the first single off Time Capsules II below, plus a video about the making of the album. It’ll make you feel all warm and fuzzy-like.

Oberhofer performs for the Mission Creek Festival on March 29th at Public Space One.

Festival tickets here.

More on Oberhofer here.
HEART – Oberhofer by Glassnotemusic

This is the album by Alex (aka Dirty Beaches) Hungtai Zhang, a Taiwanese living in Canada that offered in 2011 an artful mixture of hazy rockabilly and psychedelic lo-fi with a unique “distant-crushed” humid tropical flavor in a sense of a low-energy/drifting vibe of a day spent. In this DIY gem, recorded in its home with very few resources available, he creates a solomonic album, divided into two distinct parts and characterized by different sound.

The first 4-piece sung by the canons of fishing grounds of rockabilly contaminated by industrial sounds and waves. The songs are psychotic rock infuse slow-dancing music of the 50s boogie-woogie. In the second half of the disc, brings a different soul to the album. The sound is always retro atmosphere but here he brings the romanticism and lament.

His songs lean heavier on the distortion feeling of dark beats and crashing waves of reverb.  His proto-blues and sinister crooning is swooning and eerie, always one note away from falling apart, just one second away from suicide. The instrumental side is pure cinephilia, where the space is grim. Layers of sounds are dense and the pace doesn’t stop.

“Lord Knows Best” is been on the list of every blog as one of the songs of 2011. The song is a hypnotic, romantic and desperate at the same time. It has a Golden Age of Hip-Hop piano loop but instead of blunt-stained rappers speaking the truth Hungtai’s liquid croon just flows over it, all simple seduction.

What it makes the album a gem is Alex itself. He is a true crooner. A voice that is always in constant move. He is sexual with the reverb sometimes disturbing, sometimes dreamlike. Unique to the palate. A physical soul voice with stories full of mystery and intimacy and not always with a happy ending.

A quote from Alex ” You walk at night often enough, sooner or later you’ll run into a ghost.”

The link below has an interview with Alex Zhang Hungtai

http://bombsite.com/issues/1000/articles/5054

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLEP2riNxxM

More info here.

Buy your ticket here.

The Magnetic Fields – Andrew in Drag by MergeRecords

It takes several listening to digest how much is going on. You might wince at the given reference of titling a song “Shallow Play” until it twinkles you into submission as this is a well-thought, well-produced album. The melancholic vocals never feel forced but it focus heavily on angst and hedonist. The drums are aggressive compositions matching the subtle additions of guitar-gaze. The electronic beats are crescendo rhythms resembling club party moods.

There is a song that explains the possibilities of the band; “Hearts for Sale” a superb composition that begins with a bass and a groove that leaves you high and directs you to a dark bridge with some keyboards that explodes into the chorus.

The New Division is able to create an atmosphere mood that inspires a sense of hope and gives us a very good feeling. There is a high IQ in their composition. A youthful ambition with the capability to become something unique in the years to come.

The New Division, comment in their website “It is a dark, kinda indie danceable album that touches upon a lot of serious themes but not in a serious manner”; founded in a California college dorm room as an experimental electro group in 2005 by Uruguayan frontman John Kunkle. The rest of the band is formed by Michael Janz (synth), Brock Woolsey (guitar) and Mark Michalski (synth).

This year has been a mixed bag for television. On one side, we have the rise of brilliant new cable programming like Enlightened and Homeland as well as new standout network shows like Revenge and Suburgatory. On the other hand, the audience has been fed a series of really, really bad shows. A quick list from memory: Two Broke Girls, Free Agents, Pan Am, The Playboy Club, Whitney, Hart of Dixie, Charlie’s Angels (I feel bad for Minka Kelly here. She’s too good–and too hot–of an actress to be on such a shitty program), I Hate My Teenage Daughter, Terra Nova, Allen Gregory, The Cleveland Show. I could keep going here, but I think this is sufficient.

Although there was a ton of new crap on television, the old shows held their ground well and some new shows are showing that they may be more than one trick ponies. This post is a recap of my favorites from this year. With something like television, where the amount of programs is far more limited unlike music, I have no problem with making a list. I’ll be putting this from bottom to top. Some of the numbers could be up in the air, but everything will be about where it’s supposed to be on this list. Let’s begin this then.

10. New Girl

While I thought Zooey Deschanel would be the weak link here, she’s actually the one who’s holding the show together and making it a ratings hit for Fox. I thought this show would crash and burn. I, now, watch it every week. Go figure.

9. Enlightened

This HBO show can be dramatic, but, usually, it’s painfully awkward and funny. Laura Dern is an excellent actress who does well in comedy, a genre that isn’t her particular strong suit. She gets help from everyone around her like Mike White and Luke Wilson, both of whom provide great foils to Dern.

8. Modern Family

ABC has an award-winning show here and with good reason. While the show is so problematic on a number of different levels (honestly, I could write a separate essay about that), Modern Family is a well executed family sitcom with the cheesy Brady Bunch endings every week. In the end, this show is on here because it is funny and gets the job done week in and week out.

7. American Horror Story

This show is weird, confusing, dense, mysterious and one of the most inventive on television. American Horror Story takes some of my favorite things in life (sex, gore, violence, supernatural elements, the occult) and gives them to me in spades. It takes a second to settle in, but I think American Horror Story has the possibility to be a Twin Peaks for the current generation because it’s so unsettling and insular.

6. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

This is a show on FX that delivers regularly. It’s hilarious, funny, mean-spirited, and absolutely gross. I can’t get enough of it. The rave version of “Yankee Doodle” is one of the funniest things to come on television this past year.

5. Louie

Louis CK has been funny for decades, at least since his time at The Chris Rock Show (What? You thought Chris Rock’s cameo in Season Two was random?). Real Talk. I’m glad that this dude is finally getting his shine with his FX comedy show. This show is just like him: grimy, raw, low-rent, slightly heartbreaking and always fucking hilarious.

4. Revenge

I slept on this show after the pilot came on ABC this fall. I got my life together then watched episode two a few weeks later. I haven’t regretted that decision. I absolutely adore this show. The characters are well-drawn and the show is full of twists most of which are completely reasonable, a rarity for a soap opera.

3. Community

The most meta show on television, Community is a weekly 30-minute laugh fest. The cast has come together perfectly, and the breakneck pacing of the show makes it just so much more enjoyable. Everyone has a place in the show, and it’s awesome because they all love each other through all of the randomness. Along with the actual sitcom parts, I love looking at Alison Brie every week; she’s just so hot. Real. Talk.

2. Parks & Recreation

This and Community are interchangeable in ranking. They are my two favorite sitcoms, but for different reasons. I love Community for its self-referential commentary and fast pace. I love Parks & Rec because it is also hilarious but has a heart of gold. If this show has one thing over its neighbor (Community airs before Parks & Rec), it is the cast. With this show, Amy Poehler is cementing her legacy as one of the funniest women of this generation and, probably, all time.

1. Homeland

Most critics in America have this show at the top of their lists. There’s a reason for that. I say this as seriously as possible: THIS IS THE BEST SHOW ON TELEVISION RIGHT NOW. The spy-themed Showtime show is fast-paced and asks serious questions about the effects of war as well as how we understand terrorists. The plot is brilliant, and for every question that is answered, four more are asked. There are (hopefully) award-winning turns from Claire Danes and Damien Lewis as well as Mandy Patinkin. This show comes back in 2012, so you have time to catch up and learn what excellent television is.

Honorable Mentions: Portlandia (IFC), Suburgatory (ABC), Storage Wars (A&E), Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (Starz), 30 Rock (NBC), Children’s Hospital (Adult Swim), Delocated (Adult Swim), any show that references Face/Off (Various), Awkward. (MTV)

This year, I’m going to take this time to talk about awesome albums that might have slipped by your collective radars. I’m not going to talk about, among others, Fleet Foxes, Toro Y Moi, Washed Out, The Antlers, Cults, Bon Iver, Wu Lyf, Shabazz Palaces, M83, St. Vincent, or Girls. The primary reason is that every other indie music writer will talk about these albums like old white people on NPR talk about Paul Simon and Adele. A secondary reason is that out of those 11 artists, I only want to talk about four of them at length: The Antlers, Shabazz Palaces, Toro Y Moi and St. Vincent. I do like the M83, but it’s not a top album for me this year.

With the reasons and rules out of the way, let’s get into this list. If are interested in any of these albums, you should be able to find all of them on iTunes or through a streaming music service like Spotify. I’ve put samples with each release.

Monster Rally – Coral & Crystal Ball

I hate the term chillwave. I find it to be restrictive and just a stupid word. While I have a bias towards this word, I do think there are a number of groups that can just make super chill music. One such person is Columbus, OH resident Ted Feighan. Using the name of Monster Rally, Feighan constructs beautiful albums of laidback tropical pop. Feighan’s true talent is taking all of the samples that he uses and blending them into something that sounds both original and decidedly fresh. He put out two 12″ records this year, and both are equally good. They can be a nice musical vacation from the hell that is the snowy winter and/or daily life.

Clancy Ever After – Iowania

Using the same sampling tactics as Monster Rally, Iowa City artist Clancy Ever After has created an awesome album in Iowania, full of relaxed beats and having a sense of humor about itself. I listened to this album while I was in the Detroit Airport, and it has a beautiful groove, one for moving through space. As well, I’ve found this and the Monster Rally albums to have considerable amounts of replay value.

Dirty Beaches – Badlands

Canadian Alex Zhang Hungtai has released one of the most truly bizarre yet truly amazing albums of the year. Over the span of 27 minutes, Hungtai creates, on Badlands, a sound that merges 60s girl groups, 50s rockabilly, the lo-fi renaissance of now, and the assaultive vocals and drums of Suicide. It’s not nearly as off-putting as it sounds. It is haunting, but’s a very strong statement from an artist on their first album. If you get psyched by this album like I have, come out and SEE HIM AT MISSION CREEK (!!!) as he’ll be playing live.

Mr. Oizo – Stade 2

Mr. Oizo is a dude named Quentin Dupieux. You might know him from this. He’s changed a lot since then. Stade 2 is only another release in his progression. It’s not for the dance floor per se but it’s not for the headphones either. He keeps four-on-the-floor house beats at the core, but the time signatures will be messed up and the main melody will be this acid freakout sound. This is, definitely, a very different type of electronic album to check out but one well worth it. One of my favorite tracks from the album is “France7″, a song that describes so much of what I’m talking about above.

Veronica Falls – Veronica Falls

Out of all the pop albums that I’ve listened to this year, this one is my favorite. Period. It’s a noisier affair, featuring post-punk guitar speeds, sweet harmonies and effortless beauty. For the more pure poppers, the songs are singalongs, which is always the mark of a good pop track. The part that I like the most about this album is how dark and morbid it is. For example, “Misery” is an absolutely beautiful song…about being horribly, horribly sad. Imagine singing to yourself “Misery (I see Misery)/ Taking over me (Taking over me)/ Misery (I see misery)/ My Old Friend”. I wouldn’t have either until I found myself doing it repeatedly because this song is so catchy. I don’t know how they do it, but I don’t want them to stop. If I were to have made an actual list, this album would be in the top ten.

Times New Viking – Dancer Equired

I am putting this album here not because people don’t know who Times New Viking is. If you’ve been paying attention to indie rock vaguely for the past 5-6 years, you know who this Ohio trio is. I put them in this list because a lot of people are sleeping on this album. Dancer Equired is what the other albums would have sounded like if they had recorded them in the studio rather than in a basement. The noise rockers you know and love are still here, doing what they know how to do best: playing catchy, smart songs although they are a little sadder this time around. If you like TNV already, you won’t be disappointed by this album. If you were turned off by the noise of Rip It Off, this is the album that will help explain the appeal of the band.

True Widow – As High As The Highest Heavens and From The Center to the Circumference of the Earth

True Widow is very hard to explain, but I’ll do my best. Imagine you and a couple of your friends were really into Low, Bedhead, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and Galaxie 500. One day, one of the people in this cadre suggested that you listen to Sleep’s Dopesmoker, obviously getting high along the way. Getting really inspired, y’all decide to start a band to mix those two interests. The result is As High As The Highest Heavens… by True Widow. As weird as that sounds, it works well. The sludgy guitar riffs played at disturbingly slow speed create a hypnotic effect, detaching you from your body. This album has been sticking with me since I found it, and I think it would with anyone else who likes at least two of the following three genres: shoegaze, stoner metal, and slowcore.

Peaking Lights – 936

I’ve been talking on here about this album all year. It’s an amazing album. You need to get it into your life. Married couple Aaron Coyne and Indra Dunis take dub, psychedelica, and krautrock and make it into a sound that is distinctly their own. If I had to note one album on this list as particularly romantic, it would definitely be this one. “All The Sun That Shines” is a love song over a dub beat with some sweet keyboard and guitar riffs added for good measure. My track of the year “Tiger Eyes (Laid Back)” is on this album, and tracks like “Hey Sparrow” are the ones that you hear in your head when you stare at the person you love.

Young Prisms – Friends for Now

Most years, you can complain about the underground filling itself with acts that think they are far more important than they actually are and bands who never deliver on the promise of their first twenty-eight singles on their first full album. This year wasn’t one of them. Along with Veronica Falls, Beach Fossils, Craft Spells, and Kids on a Crime Spree, S.F.-based noise poppers Young Prisms stand out and show that the underground isn’t dead nor should it be disregarded. While their sound isn’t particularly creative (shoegaze-y noise, atypical pop structures, rise/fall dynamics), their control of it is masterful. They have built a truly solid album with Friends for Now, one that works its way in and doesn’t leave.

Brilliant Colors – Again and Again

The last album I’m going to put on here is another pop album, but this one is from the all-female trio of Brilliant Colors. If you understand the significance of C-86 and Flying Nun, stop whatever you’re doing and go listen to this album RIGHT NOW. If those don’t, imagine a band that could create an entire album that sounds like a dream filled with jangling guitars and girls singing sweetly. If you can, then you understand this album. You’ll listen to it the first time and be sort of impressed but not really. Take your time with this one. It becomes addictive after listen two as the harmonies sink in and the guitars create the atmosphere in your mind.

Is there something that I’ve missed? Something you want to add? Put it in the comments.

North Carolina folksters and Iowa City favorites, Bowerbirds are to release their 3rd studio album on March 6th. And guess what? They’re hitting up Mission Creek later that month. The trio has been gaining momentum ever since their fantastic 2007 debut, Hymns for a Dark Horse, and their indie cred is only on the upswing. Yeah, the Bowerbirds have been doing alright for themselves; The Clearing was recorded in Justin Vernon’s (Bon Iver) Wisconsin studio and will be released on a pretty dope label (Dead Oceans). Bowerbirds also seem to be on a familiar upward arc of accessibility, which usually scares me with most bands, but I know I can trust these guys to do it right. This is not to say that Bowerbirds were ever super “out there” or anything, but after listening to 2009′s Upper Air, the songs are tighter, more polished now. I sometimes close my eyes and imagine that these songs were not written by any human, but extracted from the earth, from roots of trees and projected in English through front man, Philip Moore’s mouth. Alright, you’re allowed to roll your eyes at that one, but I dare you to go to this show and not feel like you’re at least a little bit entranced.

The Clearing is another album you’re going to have just enough time to get to know before Mission Creek. Bowerbirds play with Sharon Van Etten at the Mill on March 28th. Sometimes managing your festival week can get a little overwhelming, but this is not a show you’ll want to skip.

Listen/download the first track here:
Download audio file (Bowerbirds_-_Tuck_the_Darkness_In_1.mp3)
Bowerbirds – Tuck the Darkness In