Tens of thousands of music fans have assembled in Chicago's Grant Park on the shores of Lake Michigan to attend the three-day annual Lollapalooza Festival.


Despite increasing clouds late Saturday and the chance for showers on Sunday, lower ticket sales than organizers would have wanted (there are still tickets available on the Lollapalooza website, but no word, of course of how many. Nevertheless, a sea of people have gathered in Chicago for one of the most celebrated music festivals in North America.


For rock and pop music fans, especially those with modern tastes, the dizzing array of artists and bands playing at the festival is overwhelming, and unfortunately conflicting as there are many cases in which popular artists and groups are playing at the same time but on different stages, making it a hard choice for fans. Altogether, there are some 100 performers playing on nine stages for three dog days of summer.


Some of the top billed acts include popular indie and rock artists such as Muse, Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Modest Mouse, My Morning Jacket, Spoon, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Pete Yorn, Peter Bjorn and John, Regina Spektor, Snow Patrol, Blue October, Paolo Nutini, !!!, Yo La Tengo, Peter Bjorn and John, Annuals, TV on the Radio, MIA, Tokyo Police Club, The Fratellis, Blonde Redhead, LCD Soundsystem, Motion City Sountrack, Stephen Marley and the festival-closer, Pearl Jam.


Note: Check back later when I will provide links to each individual artist playing at the festival in case you missed it, plus official event video, photographs as well as amateur film and photos (even though they are not allowed) and whatever else I can find.


In addition, there will be a listing of upcoming festivals and other concerts of many of the best indie bands as well as those lesser known. There will also be some mainstream rock and pop, but that is of course not the emphasis, thus the name of this site. ;-)


Read more and view the live webcast at our sister site IndieRockConcerts.com.

Labels: Blonde Redhead, Indie Rock Festivals - Chicago, Indie Rock Webcast, Lollapalooza 2007, Pete Yorn, Peter Bjorn and John, Snow Patrol, The Fratellis, Tokyo Police Club, Yo La Tengo

The Shortlist Organization will release their official "shortlist" of nominees for the sixth annual Shortlist Music Prize in a couple of weeks, narrowing the "longlist" of 61 albums of 2006 down to the Top Ten.

The Shortlist Music Prize is considered one of the highest honors in the independent and alternative rock music profession. Last year's winner, Sufjan Stevens, has taken the music world by storm, releasing one compilation of amazing music after another.


Stevens' 2005 album Illinoise is full of soft melodies, inspirational spurts of engery, lyrical intrigue and is easily one of the classic albums of the past decade.

Earlier this month, TSO released the long list of 61 nominees featuring a compendium of the best indie and alternative music of the past year, including artists such as like Snow Patrol, Arcade Fire, Mates of State, Band of Horses, The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio, and many more. (See below for the complete list)

The 61 nominees were selected by a panel of nine indie rock artists and journalists, including Sufjan Stevens, Franz Ferdinand, Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol, Wayne Coyne of Flaming Lips, Ronnie Vannucci of The Killers, members of Panic at the Disco, Reverend Moose, editor-in-chief of CMJ New Music Report, and a Rolling Stone magazine rock critic.

To qualify for nomination artists' albums must be released in the U.S. in the past year and not have sold more than 500,000 copies worldwide. Panelists are also looking for artists who embrace and push the envelope of the indie rock spirit of "creative and adventurous" music.

"This year's listmakers have created a streetwise playlist of state-of-the art rock, dance and hip hop," Shortlist creative director Greg Spotts said.

Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody told Top40-Charts.com that this year's Long List "looks like my own iPod." He says the melancholy "Begin to Hope" by Regina Spektor is "a gorgeous record which is simple and devastating in equal measure."

Lightbody also elegantly describes two of his favorite artists - both IRC Featured Artists - praising North Carolina's Band of Horses' Everything All the Time as "sublime, blissed out elegance" and Beirut's Gulag Orskestar as "sweeping swooning carnival" of songs, and the couple duo Mates of States Bring It Back as "twisted, warped pop."

Subscribe to this feed and watch for the Top Ten, and ultimately a full profile of the winner. The winner will be announced sometime in May.

The 61 nominees include artists from 45 different record labels and ten countries as selected by Sufjan Stevens (and based on his taste in music, you might want to check out some of these albums if you haven't already):

Against Me - Americans Abroad Live in London
And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - So Divided
Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock & Roll
Band of Horses – Everything All the Time
Beck - The Information
Beirut – Gulag Orskestar
Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
Bonnie Prince Billy - The Letting Go
Cat Power – The Greatest
Country Teasers - The Empire Strikes Back
CSS - Cansei de Ser Sexy
Cursive - Happy Hollow
Dabrye - Two/Three
Danielson - Ships
Dead Heart Bloom - Dead Heart Bloom
Editors - The Back Room
Field Music – Field Music
Forgive Durden - Wonderland
Girl Talk - Night Ripper
Hot Chip - The Warning
Howling Bells - Howling Bells
Jeremy Enigk - World Waits
Joanna Newsom - Ys
Kidd Jordan, Hamid Drake + William Parker – Palm of Soul
Kimya Dawson - Remember that I Love You
Liars - Drum's Not Dead
Love is All - Nine Times That Same Song
Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor
Mates of State - Bring It Back
Matmos - The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast
Mew - And the Glass Hand Kites
Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther
Mohair - Small Talk
Mute Math - Mutemath
Neil Young – Living With War
OOIOO - Taiga
Peeping Tom - Peeping Tom
Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope
Roots - Game Theory
Secret Machines - Ten Silver Drops
Serena Maneesh - Serena Maneesh
Skream - Skream
Spank Rock - YoYoYoYoYo
Teddybears - Soft Machine
The Blow - Paper Television
The Bronx - The Bronx
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
The Gossip – Standing In the Way of Control
The Hush Sound – Like Vines
The Knife - Silent Shout
The Stills - Without Feathers
The Strokes – First Impression of Earth
The Velvet Teen – Cum Laude
The Weepies - Say I am You
Tom Waits - Orphans
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
Vaux - Beyond Virtue Beyond Vice
We Are Scientists – With Love and Squalor
Wolfmother - Wolfmother
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones

Labels: Band of Horses, Franz Ferdinand, Gary Lightbody, Indie Music Awards, Mates of State, Panic at the Disco, Ronnie Vannucci, Shortlist Music Prize, Snow Patrol, Sufjan Stevens, The Killers, Wayne Coyne

Whether you're out on a date with your significant other, smooching on the couch with candles and light jazz on, or without a date and sitting at home alone, you may be interested in The BRIT Awards 2007.

Broadcasting live at Earls Court 1 on Wednesday, February 14, 2007, the show's line-up consists of eight live UK acts and a total of 14 nominees. In 2006, seven of the Top 10 best-selling CDs in the United Kingdom were by British artists.

BPI Chairman Peter Jamieson said, "Music is one of the things that the British do well."


"But even by our standards 2006 was a great year. The BRIT Awards...will celebrate Britain's love of music with a fantastic mix of UK and international artists."

As of today, the final five nominees for single of the year are:

The Feeling - Fill My Little World
Razorlight - America
Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars
Take That - Patience
Will Young - All Time Love

The big winners are expected to be Snow Patrol (pictured at the left) whose album Eyes Open was the best-selling album in the UK in 2006, selling 1.5 million copies.

Eyes are also on NYC rockers The Scissor Sisters who sold 1.1 million copies of their album Ta-Dah that spawned the mega-hit "I Don't Feel Like Dancin."

The eccentric and flamboyant New York City rockers The Scissor Sisters (pictured at top right) followed their debut success with the 1.1 million copy selling "Ta-Dah" that contains the hit single 'I Don't Feel Like Dancin''.

The Killers, whose album "Sam's Town" has gone quadruple-platinum, and are up for two awards, will perform live at the awards show.

But a lot of rock fans will be thrilled to know that the Red Hot Chilli Peppers will also perform. They are nominated for Best International Rock Band, an award they won in 2003.


A host of other UK acts are also rewarded with nominations, including Bob Dylan, Paolo Nutini, Nerina Pallot, The Fratellis and The Kooks, Razorlight, Snow Patrol, Kasabian and Lemar, Jarvis Cocker, Thom Yorke, Gnarls Barkley, Lily Allen, Beyonce, Beck, Corrine Bailey Rae, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Winehouse, and Guillemots.

Labels: Beck, Beyonce, Bob Dylan, Brit Awards, British Music Awards, Gnarls Barkley, Kooks, Muse, Razorlight, Snow Patrol, The Arctic Monkeys, The Fratellis, The Killers, The Kooks, Thom Yorke

The red-hot U.K. rock band Snow Patrol announced today that the group's drummer, Johnny Quinn, broke his arm snowboarding in the French Alps.

The band, which has a number of shows in Germany in early February, will replace Quinn with a long-time friend and ex-Therapy drummer Graham Hopkins, according to the following note Quinn posted on the band's official website:

"I thought it was time that someone from Snow Patrol learnt to snowboard, so I took myself off to Chamonix [France]." Quinn continues, "on the first day, I tumbled down a hill and broke my elbow...the rest of the band did not want to play with another drummer for the upcoming European dates but I didn't want to cancel anymore gigs after last year, so we've asked longtime friend and ex-therapy? [sic] drummer, Graham Hopkins to step in."

The band has suffered a number of health issues over the past year. They were forced to cancel shows in 2006 after the group's bassist Paul Wilson was injured and singer Gary Lightbody lost his vocal.

Grazed Knees [mp3]

Doctors have reportedly told Quinn his arm needs six weeks to heal properly, but his note insists he will be back in action when the band kicks off their Australian tour.

The group has already canceled its performance at next week’s Meteor Irish Music Awards.
Whether the band will perform with Graham or Quinn at the Brit Awards on Feb. 14 is unclear. They have been nominated in the Best British Group and Best British Single categories.

The band’s manager Jazz Sumner said, "Johnny has said he'll play the Brits, even if he has to go on stage in plaster. But on TV things have to be right.”

Snow Patrol's official website

Labels: Best Single, Brit Awards, Gary Lightbody, Graham Hopkins, Irish Meteor Awards, Johnny Quinn, Paul Wilson, Snow Patrol, Snow Patrol Concert Dates

Each week, IRC posts the Top 20 Indie Countdown (aka "the weekly play"), highlighting great songs from indie bands from today and yesterday. Please support your indie bands by also visiting their websites.


Top 20 Indie Rock Countdown: Week of Dec. 17

1. "Chariot" - Page France from Hello, Dear Wind (2006) - Suicide Records
2. "The Night Will Go As Follows" - The Spill Canvas from Sunsets And Car Crashes - One Eleven Records
3. "No Complaints" - Beck from The Information
4. "Space Travel Is Boring" - Sun Kil Moon from Ghosts of the Great Highway
5. "She's So Cold" - The Golden Republic from The Golden Republic

6. "The Start of Something" - Voxtrot from Raised By Wolves EP
7. "Shine The Light" - Wolf Parade from Apologies to Queen Mary
8. "We Both Go Together" - The Decemberists from Picaresque
9. "Sand" - Pokett from Your Picture Here
10. "Sun A.M." - Moonbabies from The Orange Billboard
11. "Cathie Cline" - R. Stevie Moore from I Killed The Monster
12. "Los Feliz Arms" - Sunday's Best from The Californian
13. "Boardline Creep" - The Matches from E. Von Dahl Killed The Locals
14. "Black Tongue" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs from Fever To Tell
15. "Song For The Angels" - Great Lake Swimmers from Bodies and Minds
16. "Grey Machine" - Pinback from Offcell
17. "On/Off" - Snow Patrol from When It's All Over We Have To Clear Up
18. "The Art of Losing" - American Hi-Fi from The Art of Losing
19. "I Saw Three Ships" - Sufjan Stevens from The Christmas Songs
20. "Honey I Sure Miss You" - Lumberob from I Killed The Monster

Note: We always welcome your suggestions and feedback. Place a comment to discuss the playlist. There is no registeration or ads popping up to make a comment. It's fast and easy. Indie Rock Cafe Radio Podcasts will be available in coming weeks and will be much like the Top 20 Indie songs.

If you want to be alerted when the Podcasts are available send an to sunmoonrain at Gmail.com. In the subject line type: "Subscribe Indie Podcast."

Labels: American Hi-Fi, Indie MP3s, Indie Music Series, Indie PlayList, Indie Podcasts, Pinback, Pokett, Snow Patrol, Voxtrot, Wolf Parade, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Here's a posting I published on Emusic.com about Snow Patrol and the large number of folks who rank the band's albums (those that are available on Emusic) highly:

Honestly, I don't get it. Why is this group so popular? There music is not even that good, especially when you consider that there are so many other artists out there that are fabulous and don't get a fraction of the attention Snow Patrol has for some years now.

There's no question that they have some great songs, but other artists like Architecture of Helsinki, Badly Drawn Boy, Deerhoof, Animal Collective and Bill Richinni get little or no attention for making amazing music.

Maybe if eMusic had their two more widely acclaimed releases - "Final Straw" and "Eyes Wide Open" - I might like them more, but so far, in comparison, I would not recommend them. Yet again, if they were playing around the Santa Cruz area, I might go see them. I guess I need to make sure I hear those other two albums.

Labels: Album Reviews, Animal Collective, Architecture of Helsinki, Badly Drawn Boy, Bill Richinni, Deerhoof, Emuisc, Indie Artist/Group Profiles, Snow Patrol