bonnaroo, the notwist, and summer mixes

    Does anyone want to go to the Bonnaroo Music/Art Festival this year? It's June 9-11 in Coffee County, Tennessee. Sure it's not in Cali like Coachella is, but some phenomenal bands will be there, like: Ben Folds, Bright Eyes, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Damian "Jr Gong" Marley, Death Cab for Cutie, My Morning Jacket, Radiohead, Sasha, and the Streets.
    For local shows, Johnny Hugel of Hit/Play Promotions tells me Broken Social Scene and Belle & Sebastian wanted to come to town, except Hit/Play would have to guarantee the bands a sold-out show, which probably wouldn't happen here...

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    Since it's almost summer, here are some recommendations for those road trip mixtapes:

    Deutschland! The Notwist are a German band. Their critically-acclaimed album Neon Golden has been a favorite of mine for quite some time. It's folk and electronica, or "folktronica". It revels in a vibrant solitude with music that feels alive. That is a rare quality: electronica with a soul. Read the Pitchfork Media review here. The reviewer Luke Buckman says it so much better than I could.
the Notwist - Consequence , Off the Rails, One With The Freaks [buy]

    Moving across the Channel to the UK, Coldplay has become a favorite of 30-something mothers who adore not only the band but also Coldplay's biggest fan Gwyneth Paltrow and her two adorable babies. With the 12" Talk - the Remixes Coldplay seeks to appeal more to the trend-obsessed, hard-to-please hipsters. Of the three tracks, the remix by Junkie XL on side Y is the best:
Coldplay - Talk (Junkie XL remix) [buy]

    And even if you are the rare person who cannot speak Russian or Hungarian fluently, you can't help but love the gypsy carnival rock of the bands Ленинград (Lenningrad) and Csókolom.
Leningrad - Malen'kiy Mal'chik, Csókolom - Amari Szi Amari [buy]