Jack White on Conan

It's hard to argue against Jack White still being the central figure in modern rock music. Following the end of the beloved White Stripes, and lengthy hiatuses in his side-projects, White became more popular than ever in 2012.

White played a special performance of "I'm Shakin'," alongside his familiar all-female band on Conan. Fans should know the two have a lengthy past together; The White Stripes played the final show of Late Night With Conan O'Brien, and the premiere show when he moved to TBS, so this is a little more significant than usual. Check it out below.

Lollapalooza 2012 Review: Day Three

Sunday, August 5 was a steady continuation of the current drought in the Midwest. The sun was high in a bleakly open sky. The park was sun-dried, putrefying the baseball fields and grass into a off-putting mud that rivaled Bonnaroo. And the night was set for the biggest acts of the entire weekend; Jack White and Justice. But more so than anything else on my mind was the imminent end of not only my weekend, but possibly my tenure at Lollapalooza. If it would be the final day - the truly final day - how would things end?

Day Three:

Five years in a row, three days a year. There's a passage in Into The Wild that reads, "Happiness is only real when shared." Since my second venture in Grant Park in 2008, I have ridden the Blue Line alone waiting for my friends to arrive late. And if this was truly my end, I'd rather share it than wade through half the day alone again.

We arrived pleasantly late - 3 p.m. to be exact. Slowly wandering the park, we traversed the seemingly endless mud pits on the South side of the park for a spot at Sigur Ros, electing to skip The Walkmen. Coming in, I've heard wild rumors about the Icelandic group's live performances; most notably how it can bring people to tears. Considering the heat and the relatively odd time for their performance (4 p.m.), the band put on one of the most memorable shows in Lollapalooza history. Tears didn't exactly happen, but rumblings of grown men crying did get around eventually. Even though the band left several notable songs out of their one hour set, including "Starálfur" and "Glósóli," the time was unmatched in terms of emotions. Jonsi, seemingly alone in a large group, could project unlike most other singers during the weekend to a continually stunned crowd.

Sigur Ros

While it seems like 80 percent of the park made their way to Florence + The Machine, my friends and I had just decided to spend the time languishing most of our last hours at Perry's with Dr. P, Big Gigantic, and Zed's Dead. It was a good change of pace just to not care for a while and joyously waste some time before the night ended.

The final night rounded out with the weekend's two biggest aforementioned acts - Justice and Jack White. Splitting among friends, I stayed for Justice on the North side. Considering last year's final venture with Deadmau5 proved to be a rain-soaked clusterfuck and that I still haven't seen Daft Punk, this would be the biggest electronica show I've ever seen. And that cannot be understated.

Justice

Justice are unbelievably intense live. Total non-stop, combining the best from their first two albums, It was a totally unique live experience. Although I'd relinquish Daft Punk's status at the top of the live electronica experience, Justice to me would be a fantastic second. It remained the best show of the weekend.

And that's how it all ended. What I'll be saying by this time next year is completely unknown to me, but for the time being I couldn't be happier of what these past five years have been.

Best Performances: Sigur Ros, Justice
Worst Performances: Zed's Dead

Highlights: "Varúð" by Sigur Ros
Lowlights: Mud

Lollapalooza 2012 Must-See Artists Pt. V

Today we'll continue our Lollapalooza countdown with part five.

#2: Sigur Rós
There have been very few artists as consistently remarkable as Sigur Rós throughout the years. With every new album (and side project), the band's enigmatic status continued to grow, with hauntingly emotional expansiveness made all the more surprising considering the fact that they sing in another language. 

There's a distinct fan-fare for the band, despite its Icelandic roots. In a niche entirely its own, Sigur Rós exists as an anomaly. The songs are lengthy and touchingly atmospheric, without connecting any certain meaning to its large English speaking fan base. But that insatiably memorable sound on standout tracks like "Hoppípolla" from 2005's Takk... and "Svefn-g-englar," the song most of us were introduced by from the group, is what keeps the legendary status of the band growing.

Word of the band's live performances sound almost cult-like in their absurdity. One description heard fairly often when viewing Sigur Rós is that it brings fans to tears. Literal tears. Would you miss an opportunity like that? I won't.

The band will be performing at 4 p.m. on the Red Bull Soundstage, Sunday, August 5.



#1: Justice 
Sitting at the top of my "must-see" list even before Lollapalooza became a staple in my life, French electro duo Justice could easily be the show of the weekend. Known for their chaotic light shows and live experiences, Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay are the next in line to the fellow France natives Daft Punk  (not quite there yet) for their crowning live electronic music experiences.

The only unfortunate circumstance of Justice performing this year is that fans will have to decide between them and Jack White, who will be performing at the same time Sunday night, August 5. Considering I've seen White in various live forms already, I'll venture to the North side of Grant Park for what's sure to be a memorable party.

The band will be performing at 8:30 p.m. on the Budlight Stage, closing the festival.

Lollapalooza 2012 Must-See Artists, Pt. I

By the fifth year in a row, I'm used to this.

With less than two weeks to go before the August 3-5 Lollapalooza festival begins in Chicago, I'll be providing my annual top ten countdown of 2012's Must-See Artists. Last year, headliners My Morning Jacket and Deadmau5 rounded out the top two, with regular Bears and Bullets favorites Black Lips and Titus Andronicus also landing in the countdown.

As it is every year, seeing every act - notable or otherwise - is impossible. So for those waiting through the list to see Jack White, unfortunately, won't be seeing him. Regardless, let's start with #10.

#10: Jeff The Brotherhood
Despite officially beginning their careers in 2001, Nashville brothers Jake and Jamin Orrall didn't really catch anything close to buzz until their 2009 album Heavy Days. Pulsed with fuzzy blues and cool garage punk, the recently released Hypnotic Knights LP finally gave some more ground for the band to walk on. Amid an extremely extensive touring history, the band has finally reached the major festival circuit. And, more than likely, they'll be returning very soon.

You can see Jeff The Brotherhood early Saturday, August 4, at 1:30 p.m. on the Playstation stage.



#9: At The Drive-In
The first project of Mars Volta figureheads Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López made huge news earlier this year after announcing their 2012 reunion. Rodríguez-López has already declared that At The Drive-In would not be recording new material, despite finally returning after more than ten years. Their April performance at Coachella marked one of the very few appearances for the band, so having them perform at Lollapalooza should be considered extremely rare.

Catch the band one last time (probably) Sunday, August 5 at 6 p.m. on the Red Bull Soundstage.



We'll continue with Part II tomorrow ...

New Jack White video - Freedom at 21

In the most recent Hype Williams-directed video from Jack White's spring release Blunderbuss, "Freedom at 21," Jack plays the object of sexual desire from cops and prison inmates alike. Catch Josh Homme at the end too.

Lollapalooza schedule, aftershow lineup released

With less than two months before Lollapalooza, the last stretch of the preliminary events has finally passed. Earlier today, the festival released their official three-day schedule, and their lineup of pre-Lolla and post-Lolla after shows. You can check out the listed shows here; FIDLAR & Delta Spirit is one I'm particularly excited for.

As for the schedule, we already knew which artists were playing on which days, but not at which particular times, so this is simply a clarification. As it is, the biggest obvious dilemma is Justice and Jack White closing Sunday night on opposite sides of Grant Park, which is a fairly big decision for a lot of us. However, because of the relative openness of the Sunday schedule, you have the opportunity to see either At The Drive-In and Florence+The Machine prior to the aforementioned acts with relative ease.

Outside of that, there have been more divisive schedules, but there are a few big decisions that will have to be made. Check out the schedule for yourself, here.

Albums of the Month: April 2012

Albums of the Month - April 2012

With festival season underway, and the full spring and summer catalog of new material getting coming out, April was another solid month. My #1 album may not be a surprise to you guys right now, but you shouldn't be surprised if it's one of the year's best overall. Here's my favorite three albums from last month.

3.) Lotus Plaza - Spooky Action At a Distance
It should be noted before hand that not only Spooky Action At a Distance (Insound), but every album on this month's list ended up beating out the #1 contender coming in; Jack White's Blunderbuss. And while the album was all-in-all, good, it failed to capture my attention and eagerness to replay quite like this and the other two albums did.

The second official album in Lockett Pundt's, Deerhunter guitarist, solo catalog, Spooky Action At a Distance often sounds in line with the best off the latter band. Pundt, who does his fair share of sonic experimentation with the Bradford Cox-led outfit, leads a more subtle guitar-driven set of tracks paired with minimal atmospheric playback; short echoes, underlying noise interference, and the like. But rarely does the 10 track album veer into unreasonable territory. Lotus Plaza, as a whole, plays with captivating, if not simplified elements, creating material that comes off as both outwardly catchy and demanding.

2.) BADBADNOTGOOD - BBNG2
The frequency of jazz albums - modern or retro - making any noise on this site is below the bare minimum. I stick, usually, to what I like, finding a comfortable niche to fill in the daily articles and pieces on Twitter and Facebook. Maybe that's why BADBADNOTGOOD's BBNG2 comes off as so invigorating and new for me. The hip-hop jazz trio, on this completely free album, rework a selection of notable tracks, including Kanye West's "Flashing Lights" and the James Blake-inspired cover of Feist's "Limit To Your Love," adding lively extended flair to each piece. The band, all relatively young, blast through their tracks with a calculated fury, bass and drums heavy. It's a brash, fitting reputation for a band that continues to gain recognition through the hip hop community, and earning more of a spotlight for their inspiring live performances. BBNG2 may not launch the group into a pantheon of modern hit makers (and more than likely, won't), but it gives modern music fans a much fairer and more palatable introduction into something that often gets brushes off.

1.) Death Grips - The Money Store
There's a visceral shock that comes from the first beat drop in "Get Got," the opener to Death Grips' second album The Money Store (Insound). Its chaotic mashing, only further intensified by the glorified tenacity of MC Ride, an unconventional rapper in the most plaintive sense. From then on, the rest of the album blows by you on a stretch of blistering, nerve-wracking tracks that bounce off of rap's comfortable norms. The beats are nauseously heavy, dripping with altered effects that give Death Grips their "punk rap" title. But The Money Store fails to fit anywhere, cruising in a flurry of creative blending and mashing of punk, rap, and electronica. It stands out, convincingly, not only among the crowd of records released so far in 2012, but among much of what rap has seen in the past few years. The unhinged fury of tracks like "The Fever (Aye Aye)" and "Hustle Bones" are almost obscene at times, and still eye opening on repeat. It's, without question, the best thing I've heard all year.

Friday Bears: Jack White on the Colbert Report

The amount of weekly news pouring out of the Jack White camp this week (with Blunderbuss coming out last Tuesday) has been immense. After appearing on Jools Holland a few days back, White performed "Freedom at 21" on last night's Colbert Report. While the performance is worth your time, the interview that the two do together is pretty damn entertaining. Watch both below.

Jack White, Alabama Shakes, and Grimes on Jools Holland

Here's a roundup of yesterday's collection of performances from Later ... With Jools Holland, including Jack White, Alabama Shakes, and cyclops Grimes. Watch them all below.

Jack White - Sixteen Saltines



Jack White - Freedom at 21



Alabama Shakes - Hold On



Alabama Shakes - Be Mine



Grimes - Genesis

Wednesday Bears: Lollapalooza rough schedule released

With three-day passes selling out yesterday, Lollapalooza released their "which artists on which day" rough schedule. The announcement (click photo for larger image) came with the release of single-day passes, which are available now for $95.

Conflicts are inevitable (in life as well, but, forget about that), and it seems that Sunday presents the biggest challenge. Jack White, Florence+The Machine, At the Drive-In, Justice, and Sigur Ros are scheduled to play as the day's largest acts, so decisions are likely going to be made, and unhappiness will spread like, let's say, smallpox.

While Sunday seems unfortunate, days one and two should be comfortable, with a super-strong mid-card scheduled to perform Saturday.

Check back to Bears and Bullets for when the official schedule is released.

Lollapalooza 2012 lineup revealed

So, the day's really here. And after the previous months/weeks of speculation, the biggest story of Lollapalooza 2012 ended up being that the lineup leaked from Sunday WAS 100% ACCURATE. It's the first time in recent memory that a complete leak like this has happened with a major U.S. music festival, so everything we heard tonight wasn't a surprise.

As you know, Black Sabbath, with all original members, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Black Keys, Jack White, Florence + The Machine, At The Drive-In, Avicii, and Justice are the big names headlining the August 3-5 Chicago festival. And if you've been following, you'd already known that M83, Sigur Ros, The Weeknd, The Shins, and many others will fit the billing as well.

So while the fest isn't as particularly top-heavy as in years past, there's a more-than solid mid-card to support it, with spectacular acts like The Tallest Man on Earth, Jeff the Brotherhood, Michael Kiwanuka, FIDLAR, and many others. Alongside them is an extremely solid electronica lineup, with Bassnectar, Star Slinger, Madeon, Kaskade, and plenty others worth your time this year.

There were a few left-field acts, like Franz Ferdinand and The Afghan Whigs making the billing, despite zero previous rumors of their inclusion.

But as it is every year, there are some notable disappointments. Namely, the absence of Odd Future, St. Vincent, Fucked Up, and Refused, among others, not making the final billing.

Regardless, there is a ton of depth to Lollapalooza 2012, and plenty of reason to get excited. Tickets for the festival are still available. And as always, stay tuned for more additions (and subtractions) from the billing, and the lineup schedule, which should be available in a few weeks. As well, check out the official Lolla video below.
 

Lollapalooza lineup leaked early?

What you're looking at above is an "apparent" copy of the official Lollapalooza 2012 lineup, given to press members at the festival's branch outing at Lollapalooza Brazil from last weekend. The photo leaked a few hours before midnight, Sunday, and for all reasonable expectations it looks accurate.

Considering the leaks that Lollapalooza has already confirmed with their CTA ads (Jack White, Justice, etc.), what you see above looks extremely plausible to be the actual lineup, which will be out officially sometime on Wednesday, April 11.

So while I won't go on the record saying that this is the full lineup, what we'll see Wednesday will probably be very similar to what's listed above. There are, however, a few notable holes in the lineup. Number one, namely, is the absence of Kimbra, who was one of the acts that Lollapalooza promoted with their aforementioned CTA ads. Several other acts, such as Odd Future, St. Vincent, and others, have also personally said that (at least through a varying party) they would be performing at the festival.

The other problem, notably, is that C3 (Lollapalooza promoters) have kept the lineup under extremely tight wraps - more so than they've ever done. Why, then, would they give the entire lineup to press members? What sense does that make, even more so considering the lineup will be out in less than three days?

So while there are some logical holes here, let's play around with the idea that this is the real lineup. Because if it is, I'd be pretty damn happy. Black Sabbath is a huge booking - one that no other festival could get. And Jack White will not performing at the other large music festivals this year, other than Sasquatch! More so, however, is the very strong undercard - possibly the best, in my opinion, since 2009.

I'll be keeping you up to date on Twitter of the leak's legitimacy, but if nothing shows up I'll be updating the real release Wednesday. Stay tuned.

New Jack White video - Sixteen Saltines

The second track (and still only the second track) we've heard from Jack White's hyped up solo debut, the video for "Sixteen Saltines" was released earlier today. The video sets one of those sort of Children of the Corn settings - children running the show, becoming destructive, and a little magical. Watch below, and grab Blunderbuss album April 24 on Third Man Records.

First Lollapalooza confirmations? Let's just say they are for the sake of fun.

Bare with me here, because it's been a pretty long time before I've been able to say that it looks like we finally have some Lollapalooza confirmations.

The reason is a bit different than past years, but Lollapalooza (three-day passes are on sale today, by the way) has posted adds around the Chicago public transit system. At the Logan Square station, four "clue" ads were posted, verified by several Chicago blogs including Wine & Pop.

The "clues" indicate lyrics from four different acts, of which are two suspected additions: Justice and Jack White, alongside two very surprising inclusions, The Weeknd and Die Antwoord.

Regardless of your opinion on the last inclusion - it's usually not positive - those are four big attention grabbers, and have hyped up a pretty exciting festival that, by the way, will be fully revealed April 11.

As always, stay tuned for more details!

Tuesday Bears: New Jack White single - Sixteen Saltines

When Jack White performed on Saturday Night Live on March 3, he premiered this second song off his upcoming April LP Blunderbuss, "Sixteen Saltines." And while the live version was chaotic, it wasn't totally audible. Listen to the excellent studio version below and grab the album April 24.

Monday Bears: Jack White makes solo TV debut

Last weekend, Jack White made his highly-anticipated solo debut on Saturday Night Live with an attempting to redeem herself Lindsay Lohan. And while the noted problems with the show's tech-crew on musical performances continues to be completely apparent, White's rendition of "Love Interruption" with Ruby Amanfu went off pretty well.

His second song (with a completely different backing band) from Blunderbuss -pretty much the first time any of us heard it - wasn't quite as clean. But for anyone who's a fan of White's past work, that's not a problem. Check out both performances below.

Jack White - Love Interruption (Live on SNL ft. Ruby Amanfu)



Jack White - Sixteen Saltines (Live on SNL)

Jack White's "Love Interruption" video

Valentine's Day theme's keep-a-fuckin' comin'. Jack White also premiered the first video from his upcoming solo premiere Blunderbuss today too. Nothing fancy here, just White and co-singer Ruby Amanfu in the studio shot singing "Love Interruption." Watch below.

Finally, some Lollapalooza rumors

This time last year, we already knew a handful of headliners and sub-headliners for Chicago's Lollapalooza, so waiting until mid-February was a bit boring.

Until today, the only rumors shifting through for the festival have been off-hand suspicions of Metallica and Red Hot Chili Peppers, among other headliners clinging to festivals like Sasquatch! and Coachella. And while those aforementioned rumors for Metallica seem to have some legitimacy now, a few other names have been 'leaked.' Now, these still are not confirmations, so don't take them as such, but they are much more likely as of today, via Consequence of Sound.

Suspected headlining acts like Jack White, Beck (who hasn't played the festival in a surprising 15 years), and Sigur Ros are among the names, of which also include Swedish House Mafia. Personally, Metallica and SHM don't really do anything for me, but are big names regardless. The others, however, make this year seem pretty exciting. It's good to finally hear that.

As always, check back for more rumors as they come.

Friday Bears: Sasquatch! 2012 lineup revealed

Sasquatch!, held every year in the Pacific Northwest, isn't regarded as one of the bigger music festivals in the United States, but is usually regarded as one of the best.

Last year, festival organizers enlisted the talents of the Foo Fighters, Wilco, Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, The Flaming Lips, and lot more over the course of four (yes, four) days. While that may be fairly impressive for what isn't regarded as one of the year's bigger events, this year's does boast a fairly heavy - although not as top-heavy - lineup, which you can read in it's entirety here.

Notables in this year's lineup include, but are not limited to Jack White, whose solo album is set to debut a few weeks before the fest, and is the first confirmed show of the ex-White Stripe. Alongside White will be Bon Iver, who seem to be on pace to play every festival this year, the ever-elusive Beck, The Shins, Tenacious D, The Roots, and native heroes Shabazz Palaces, among many others, including comedy acts.

Tickets are on sale now for $315. The event will take place May 25-28

Monday Bears: New Jack White - Love Interrupted

It's been a long time coming. Ever since the effective end of the White Stripes, it's all been a matter of the waiting game until Jack White would truly release some real solo material. And while I can't imagine this will hault the eventual work of The Dead Weather and The Raconteurs, it's better than five-minute shots on Storage Wars.

Listen to White's first single "Love Interrupted" below, and grab his first solo album Blunderbuss this April.