Give the sun the finger this weekend: Pitchfork Music Fest streams live

Those Chicago folks have it good, getting what may be the best overall festival of the summer for indie music fans in this weekend's Pitchfork Music Festival.

Well lucky for us West Coasters, Pitchfork is broadcasting some of the sets on the Internets, and today just might be the best day -- there's Real Estate, Titus Andronicus, Wolf Parade, LCD Soundsystem and Panda Bear, who played this "Untitled" track at Spain's Primavera Sound Festival this year that floats my boat into an ocean of holiness, not to overstate its awesomeness. I'm frothing at the mouth for Titus Andronicus, as well. Worth forgoing a bit of that Saturday California sunshine to tune in.

Saturday July 17 

1:00  (11 a.m. PST) Free Energy
1:45 (11:45 PST) Real Estate
2:30 (12:30 PST) Delorean
3:20 (1:20 PST) Titus Andronicus
4:15 (2:15 PST) Raekwon
5:15 (3:15 PST)  The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
6:15 (4:15 PST) Wolf Parade
7:25 (5:25 PST) Panda Bear
8:30 (6:30 PST) LCD Soundsystem 


Sunday July 18 

1:00 (11 a.m. PST) Allá
1:45 (11:45 PST) Cass McCombs
2:30 (12:30 PST) Girls
3:20 (1:20 PST) Beach House
4:15 (2:15 PST) Lightning Bolt
5:15 (3:15 PST) St. Vincent
6:15 (4:15 PST) Major Lazer
7:25 (5:25 PST) Big Boi
8:30 (6:30 PST) Pavement 

Start spreadin' the news: Radiohead West Coast dates revealed

On your marks ...

In August, it'll be official: my transformation (mutation?) into a full-fledged Radioheadhead - the kind of geeked-out superfan who follows the band around on tour. I'm sticking to just Cali stops for the oodles of superfun, but here are all those West Coast dates, announced Monday, for completists' sake: Tuesday, 8-19 Vancouver, British Columbia - Thunderbird Stadium Wednesday, 8-20 Auburn, WA - White River Amphitheatre Friday, 8-22 San Francisco, CA - Golden Gate Park (Outside Lands Festival) Sunday, 8-24 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl Monday, 8-25 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl Wednesday, 8-27 Chula Vista, CA - Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre Thursday, 8-28 Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl Some partially Aussi, fully badass dudes called Liars will open the shows ('cept Outside Lands - we wouldn't want to taint the $225 hippie stinkfest with another good band, would we?).

Get set ...

A presale through Radiohead's Web site is scheduled April 9, U.K. time - a.k.a. anytime my time, a.k.a. no sleep 'til presale. Everyone's five favorite performers (aren't they the best?) also recently recorded a spanky live version of "Bangers & Mash," unveiled Monday (but I still can't get into it; kinda sorta really the least developed track from the batch of new stuff that reveals they are, in fact, fallible). The performance was part of the launch of Pitchfork Media's foray into boob-tube territory, the new music video site Pitchfork.TV, which also aired a live performance from Liars, footage of Man Man lighting fireworks (and recording their new album) on the streets of Philly and an entire documentary about the reunited Pixies. So ...

Go!

ahead and rot your brains at Pitchfork's new site, updated daily with lots of goodies. Yum.