Monday News Mash-Up

Gregory A. Prez

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be at a festival curated by Spoon in the band’s birthplace of Austin? Apparently Britt Daniel and the band have, so they’ve turned your dreams into a reality. SPOONX3 is barnstorming Stubb’s Amphitheater July 9-11. Headlined by Spoon each evening, the shows will feature differing opening acts and the promise of new Spoon Material. Joining the group during the festivities will be Trail of Dead, Low, Atlas Sound, Dale Watson, Black Joe Lewis, and The Strange Boys.

In the ever-increasing amalgamation of American and Latin culture, the upcoming Rudi y Cursi soundtrack will feature the likes of Devendra Banhart, Dios Malos, and Juana Molina providing their own takes on regional Mexican classics. The film’s star, Gael Garcia Bernal, also contributes a Spanish-infused version of the Cheap Trick classic, “I Want You to Want Me.” The OST hits iTunes May 5th with the physical release slated for June 9th.

Sample surgeon Girl Talk — who chooses the mild-mannered moniker Gregg Gillis by day — tells Billboard that his current malleable material flirts with the idea of creating actual songs rather than focus on clipped mash-ups. Please, save you Negativland and Paul’s Boutique vitriol for another time.

In advance of a new single, a new album, and their upcoming Sasquatch appearance, Portland group Viva Voce are sharing the first track from Rose City (May 26 on Barsuk). Check it out now:

Viva Voce – Devotion (MP3)

Oklahoma has little going for it. Aside from some beautiful landscapes and basketball bragging rights for stealing Seattle’s mediocre basketball franchise, the true beauty of Sooner state shines in the music of The Flaming Lips. It turns out the people of Oklahoma, voting on a new state rock song, resoundingly voted for the OKC-based band’s “Do You Realize?” to represent them. Their elected officials in the State House, however, had other plans. But decreeing it the rule of the people, Governor Brad Henry vetoes the House’s nay and gave the people what they wanted: a song about accepting death.

Webzine Tiny Mix Tapes has delivered the site’s first compilation, Tiny Mix Tapes Vol. 1: Darfur. Featuring Jim O’Rourke, Frog Eyes, WHY? and Dan Deacon (among others) the CD/LP is a fundraising apparatus, with 100% (you are reading that right) going to the International Rescue Committee. To find out more or to buy the compilation, click here Good music for a good cause — you give and you get!

Apparently there’s more milking to be done to the Nirvana legacy — this time in the form of a live DVD chronicling the band’s 1992 set at world-renowned Reading Festival. The November disc will also contain unseen footage and the dollar sign eyes of Courtney Love.

The KEXP Blog