Volcano Choir may not mean much to you yet but come next year, it may well be on everyone’s lips. A recently created project made up of Justin Vernon (AKA Bon Iver) and Chris Rosenau of Collections of Colonies of Bees fame, the duo have created this new project, which Vernon has described as “experimental, textural and landscapey.” The first album, titled “Unmap” is scheduled for release in September and word now is that they’re also working on a film score.

This news would still be great if it was for a new film but it’s even more attention grabbing when the score in question is for a film classic. Volcano Choir is working on a score to Charlie Chaplin’s comedy classic The Gold Rush, a score which will be performed on January 21, 2010 at the New York Guitar Festival. For more details on the event and to purchase tickets, check out the Guitar Festival’s website.

No clips of Volcano Choir in action but I’ll share this instead, one of my favourite songs from “For Emma, Forever Ago”.

Last year’s Lollapalooza Music Festival in Chicago was certainly a highlight of the year – maybe THE highlight of the year. The logistics of how the entire thing was pulled off was nothing short of spectacular. If you missed it, never miss is again!

The official Lolla web site is pretty intuitive and as the concert(s) scheduled date approaches ever closer, the site will become even more interactive with band bios and streaming listening posts. Added this year is the social networking tool with which you can share your lineup and schedule with friends, post everything to your Facebook profile, get editable mobile schedule and of course a Twitter feed.

And now for the good news: today the full lineup was announced. Umm… holy shit?

Depeche Mode, Beastie Boys, Jane’s Addiction (a band I would cut off my pinky finger to see), Band of Horses, Neko Case, Kings of Leon, Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, SNOOP DOGG!, Gomez, Silversun Pickups, TV on the Radio, Santigold, Crystal Castles, Of Montreal, Raveonettes, Portugal. The Man, Thievery Corp, Atmosphere, The Killers and Lou fuckin Reed along with a shit ton more.

See the full lineup over at the official web site. Barring death, I’ll see you in Chicago on August 7th!

As almost all years, there was a high amount of quality, an extraordinary amount of undeserved hype (Vampire Weekend, Fleet Foxes, Black Kids to name a few), and it also had a few disappointments (The Hold Steady, Coldplay).  

Here’s ten of what I consider the quality of the year. 

1) Bon Iver- “For Emma, Forever Ago”

Typically not the kind of thing I go for.   Lo-fi, unpolished, almost sounds like a demo.   Thank God I let this one in to my head this year.   I can’t shake these songs.   Delivered with such feeling it’s impossible to not be drawn in.   Every song stands on it’s own, but they all work together to form a brilliant whole. Many nights while laying in bed, these songs would play in my head.   A haunting work.

2) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds- “Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!”

In 1994, I got to see a Nick Cave show at Lollapalooza that I liked, but my attention was severely distracted as I was waiting for the Smashing Pumpkins later in the day.   Too bad I was so young because I’m sure if I had been paying attention and knew who Nick Cave was, it wouldn’t have taken me years to “find” him.   A defining album of what Nick Cave is.   A stunning lyrical work taken alone, but you can’t give short shrift to the Bad Seeds and what really holds the album together, the music.

3) Kings of Leon- “Only By The Night”

Every so often, a record will come by and take you by complete surprise.   While I’ve never been a huge KOL fan, I am now.   This is EXACTLY how I like my rock & roll, huge and ambitious.

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