The Dead Part of You

When Fred Schneider paves the way toward the chorus with the lyric "Faster, pussycat/ Thrill, thrill!/ I'm at the mall/ On a diet pill!", I can't tell if he's being sarcastic or honestly reveling in his superficial surroundings, and that alone is evidence that the band hasn't lost much of what made it so great in the first place.

I don't have the record, have no plans on buying it, but the above quote just made my fucking week.

Today, it all about the big ass music festivals.

• I was reminded of a dream I had last night about the Pitchfork Music Festival. GZA performing Liquid Swords. Really? I wasn't dreaming that?
• Coachella released set times today, and I officially decided I am way jealous that I'm not going this year. I spent an hour pretending about what I would see if I were going.
• I am, however, attending Lollapalooza in August, and have started checking out some of those lesser known bands.

And first up on that list is Bound Stems, who mostly get compared to Modest Mouse, which is pretty dead on. Maybe a dash of Pavement in there too. However, Bound Stems are missing the magic that MM and Pavement possess. A je ne sais quoi new musical energy source created within a band sparked by a singer. I do not envision myself rushing off to see Bound Stems, but if they were playing a stage before someone I wanted to see, I don't think it would be painful.

Andover, by Bound Stems, from Appreciation Night
Western Biographic by Bound Stems, from Appreciation Night

So last week was the big Lollapalooza line up announcement, and while I was slightly underwhelmed, I'm still going. The big dilemma for me has been whether Pitchfork might be better or not, because Pitchfork has Grizzly Bear, Sonic Youth performing Daydream Nation and hipsters. Lollapalooza has Daft Punk and

Well, not much else, really. But anyway, it's a weekend in Chicago and there's more than enough for me to pull together a list of things I must see

• Daft Punk
• Interpol
• Lupe Fiasco
• TV on the Radio
• Yo La Tengo

and the things I hope I have time for

• Modest Mouse
• Amy Winehouse
• LCD Soundsystem
• CSS
• Blonde Redhead
  

and of course, a ton of things I hope I get to check out including but not limited to

• Pete Yorn
• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
• !!!
• The Polyphonic Spree
• Peter Bjorn and John
• Silversun Pickups
• The Rapture
• Roky Erikson and the Explosives
• Cold War Kids
• Fields

So it's a pretty good weekend. I work in an industry that allows me cheap hotel rooms and free airline tickets [which you think I would take advantage of more often, but I don't], so I'm good to go. See you there, bitches.