In the wake of the ever increasing pool of festivals and the possible merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster, the idea of paying $200 to see live music during a recession resulted in our pockets slapping us back into reality. But to be fair, the Sasquatch Festival — presented by Live Nation and tickets sold by Ticketmaster — is one of the cheaper weekend-long festivals and the line-up could quite possibly be the best yet.

Of course, this has left us all wondering at what point does the festival circuit become too congested, leaving them all a bit redundant and watered down? Those who remember the 90s will remember that Lollapalooza took time off for this very reason. But we digress, the Sasquatch Festival will take place May 23-25 at The Gorge in Quincy, WA and features the just-announced-today-union of Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction as the festival headliners. But the rest of the line-up is what excites us and looks like this:

Kings of Leon, Ben Harper & Relentless7, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Erykah Badu, The Decemberists, Fleet Foxes, TV On The Radio, Animal Collective, Silversun Pickups, Bon Iver, Santigold, Of Montreal, Explosions In The Sky, Devotchka, Peter Bjorn & John, Gogol Bordello, M. Ward, The Avett Brothers, Doves, Calexico, Grizzly Bear, M83, Girl Talk, The Gaslight Anthem, The Walkmen, Chromeo (dj set), Deadmau5, Mugison, Sun Kil Moon, Airborne Toxic Event, Blitzen Trapper, Shearwater, BLK JKS, The Wrens, Tobacco, Monotonix, King Khan & The Shrines, St. Vincent, Passion Pit, John Vanderslice, Bishop Allen, Blind Pilot, AA Bondy, Black Moth Super Rainbow, The Knux, Ra Ra Riot, The Dodos, Beach House, Arthur & Yu, The Submarines, Owl City, Viva Voce, James Pants, Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, The Builders & The Butchers, The Dutchess & The Duke, Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head, Dent May & His Magnificent Ukelele, Fences, School of Seven Bells, Death Vessel, Horse Feathers, Hockey, Point Juncture, WA, The Pica Beats, Loch Lomond, Vince Mira & more to come.

And the comedy line up includes:
Zach Galifiankas, Demetri Martin, Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job, Todd Barry, Jon Benjamin, God’s Pottery, People’s Republic of Komedy & more.

Ok, got that? Now, as for tickets, beginning on February 28 (on sale weekend only), a discounted 3-day festival pass will be available until March 1 at midnight at $154.50 for the entire weekend with single tickets costing $56.50. Beginning March 2 a 3-day pass will run you $199.50 and a single ticket $66.50 and if you wait until the last minute (and tickets are still available), starting May 11 the weekend pass is $229.50 and single tickets will be $76.50.

Oh, and Ticketmaster will have all your ticketing needs. Go figure.

When any band talks reunion, it’s hard for us not to go straight to we’ll-believe-it-when-we-see-it mode. We’ve been burned too many times. But apparently we haven’t learned our lesson enough with The Wrens, because they’re recording again, and we can’t help but believe it’ll last.

They’ve got a new song, a new web site and promises of an album. And hey, if it doesn’t pan out, at least you can buy a commemorative tee shirt to mark that time we really thought The Wrens were going to go for it. Of course, we hope they really do — it’s been 10 years since the band made music together, and as they noted on their web site (”We hope your ’90s were good”) a lot has happened since then.

Besides that 10-year marker, 2009 also marks the band’s 20th anniversary. There couldn’t be a better time to make good on the promises we’ve heard before and give us some new music. The Wrens’ label Absolutely Kosher says the album is scheduled for release in late spring. “And by ’scheduled,’ we mean … fingers crossed.”

Their optimism doesn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence, but their new single gives us glimmers of hope that this is all really happening. “Pulled Fences” was recorded at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London, and is available for purchase now via The Wrens’ site as well as Absolutely Kosher and iTunes.

So Kev wrote down the chords for one of his demo songs (which was just recently released as ‘In Turkish Waters’ for the Fake Bookshelf issue of the nifty Australian magazine, The Lifted Brow), and what you hear on the single is the first run-through of a song the rest of us hadn’t heard. …

The recording itself was also something of a low-wire act in that it’s a song of Kev’s that none of the rest of us had ever heard or played before. So what you hear on the single is us – also hearing the song for the first time – trying to fake-up some coherent parts while scrutinizing chords scribbled on notepaper like unprepared schoolchildren on test day, all while wearing ill-fitting – yet stylish – headphones. That it came out even half-ok, you’re also hearing us getting lucky.

The guys say that the single and the new site are all part of the kick-in-the-pants they’re giving themselves to get going on the new album. They’ve even set a date — Monday, Jan. 19 they will be back in the studio working on the long-awaited follow-up to The Meadowlands. They also promise that they’ll see us in Austin in March (for SXSW, for those not following along at home). We’ll mark it on our calendars in pencil. For now.

It was a pretty nasty night outside, but whoever fought the rain to get to the Music Hall of Williamsburg would agree that last nights show was worth the trek. Will Sheff and his friends put on a show filled with good vibes and quality music. It was a night of both newly discovered talent and classic sing a longs.


[Beth Wawerna of Bird Of Youth]

Bird of Youth kicked off the show with a solid set of early 90s-inspired rock with a pinch of dusty Americana thrown in. They were a little bit Mazzy Star, a little bit Cat Power, but still a tightly orchestrated band that definitely knew how to craft a solid pop song in their own unique way. I look forward to hearing their debut album, which Will Sheff happens to be producing.

Following Bird of Youth was solo artist Charles Bissell (of the Wrens and now Okkervil River), who put on a pretty amazing show for being the only person on the stage. He was a master of the loop pedal layering guitar riffs on one another creating a bed of dissonance to envelope his Elliott Smith-esque lyrical delivery. He created such a distinctive mood with his loops that he added such a personal touch to a cover of an Okkervil River song that Will Sheff became a fan. This mutual respect spawned the two song 7″ in which they covered each others songs.

[Charles Bissell]

Last but not least Will Sheff took the stage for a solid hour and a half performance of stripped down Okkervil River songs that spanned their full library. It was an intimate show that really put the spotlight on Will’s lyrics, thus creating a completely different experience. The audience was able to bask in the long-winded poetic brilliance of his songs taking in every verse from classics such as “Red”, “Happy Heart” and “Plus Ones”, creating more of an emotional depth to the songs. Other highlights of the show included “Bruce Campbell Interviewed on the Roof of the Chelsea Hotel”, which is a song stuck at the end of their recent release Stand Ins, that I frequently pass over, but performed in such an intimate setting took on a whole new feel that was completely riveting.

Charles Bissell added his atmospheric dissonant touch to “Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe” which they slowed down the tempo to and completely created a distinctive new piece of work from the song. Bird of Youth’s lead singer Beth Wawerna joined him onstage to perform the beautiful ballad from Black Sheep Boy, “Get Big” which was definitely was pinnacle of the performance.

All in all it was a great show that held my interest throughout the whole night. Will surrounds himself with some talented individuals who, along with himself, I look forward hearing more from.