It's Almost Pitchfork O'Clock

In just a few days Union Park is sure to be a sea of fedoras, oversized glasses, and rompers. Saturday and Sunday are sold out and while there are still some tickets available for Friday, I'd rather go to the Beyoncé concé instead. No I'm not kidding. That woman is a goddam national treasure.

Some songs from the acts I'm looking forward to the most — I know the first one is technically Madlib and Doom but this was pretty much my favorite Doom project ever. See you on Saturday!

Madvillain - Figaro (ST101 Mix)

The Dutchess & The Duke - Out of Time

Black Lips - Again & Again

Plants and Animals - Bye Bye Bye

Mew - Repeaterbeater

Weekend of 1,000 Awesome Things to Do

When I told Brad I would take care of Radio Free Chicago while he was gone* my only misgiving was about my lack of knowledge when it comes to the local music scene, as I'm an East Coast interloper. But since I'm neither deaf nor blind I've noticed that people seem crazy-banaynays excited about Chicago rock quartet Mannequin Men's Lose Your Illusion, Too which came out this week. Their record release party is at The Metro tonight, it's 18 and over and will probably be a great place to pick up a hipster in a (sadly appropo for this cold summer) tight black leather jacket.

Tuesday is the Delaware of Weekdays: Gold Coffin Edition

Just about everyone that I follow on Twitter watched Michael Jackson's memorial so I didn't have to. The salient points seem to be: Jennifer Hudson was great, his daughter Paris spoke (for the first time on camera possibly?), and his coffin is flashy. If I was Michael Jackson I would have decreed in my will that Michael Jackson and Bubbles be hollowed out, hinged, and converted into a reliquary which stored my skeleton. And Bubbles' skeleton, obvs. In all seriousness though, while I hope MJ is in a better place and I do feel sorry for his kids, mourning the person(a) Michael presented to the public feels like mourning a fax of a photograph of a life-sized cardboard cutout of a person. I think I'll just listen to "I Want to Be Where You Are" ten times in a row today.

Sunset Rubdown plays Logan Square Auditorium tonight with fellow Montreal...ians  Witchies and Elfin Saddle. Their most recent album Dragonslayer is arguably their most accessible and has taken them well past "Wolf Parade side project" status into just plain old "great band."

A friend saw a sticker for Cute Chicago Boys in the bathroom of The Empty Bottle and texted me to go check it out and report back. Ditch the rating system and update it regularly and this will be a "check every day" site. Keep it up, CBILF-hunters.

Why I don't watch reality shows: I'm Not Here to Make Friends
(Rich FourFour, pop culture conneissuer)

Dust in the Wind, Dude.

As far as I can remember, I never had any traumatic childhood incidents involving fireworks and I've definitely never lived in the Gaza Strip. So I'm not sure why the barrage of backyard fireworks that happens every July 4th basically reduces me to rocking back and forth whispering "EXPLOSION, loud sound, loud sound" until someone lures me out of my hidey-hole with a hot dog and a beer. It's not the first or tenth time that hot dogs have saved the day for me! Anyway: We crushed it, America. Nice work.

While I was hooked up to my acai and wheatgrass detox IV this morning I spent an hour at DonnaSlut.com, an excellent collection of mp3s presented without comment. There's songs you had and lost, or had on tape or vinyl but not mp3, and songs you've never heard before and suddenly your life is that much better. (via HotBiscuit's twitter)

The Fader has a cute interview with the Mad Decent crew. Diplo offhandedly makes a good point about how much easier it is for him to build an empire in the smaller, more affordable city of Philadelphia as opposed to NY or LA. For me, that's what makes Chicago so rife with possibility too.

Fans of Girl Talk, Easter Egg, and house party-ready mashup mixes full of instantly recognizable songs people want to hear when they're drunk should download DJ Cobra's "Iller" mix. The cover art was conceived before MJ's death but I would have changed it, not because it's offensive but because the one-note visual gag seems even less inspired now. The mix itself is way more creative and fun; bonus points for sampling Bill and Ted.

DJ Cobra - Dust In The Wind, Dude