Robin Pecknold (of Fleet Foxes fame) released a behind-the-scenes documentary covering a recent solo tour opening for Joanna Newsom. Shot by Pecknold’s brother Sean, the 14-minute B&W video is as mesmerizing as you’d expect, especially with some nice camera work.

For folk fans, I haven’t seen something this captivating since Jeff Tweedy’s behind the scenes footage.

Our friends over at The Bay Bridged are proud to announce their second annual fundraiser, Regional Bias. This Friday July 23rd Thao Nguyen, John Vanderslice and others will take the stage at Potrero Hill’s Verdi Club to celebrate independent music’s vital place in Bay Area culture. Local artists and foodies will also be selling their wares.

Purchase your advance tickets ($20) here or simply show up at the door at 7PM.

When: Friday Jul 23rd, 7PM

Where: The Verdi Club, Potrero Hill

Why: Music, Culture and the Bay Bridged Rock!

How Much: $20 – 50

After leaks in both Rolling Stone and Spin this weekend, the folks behind the Outside Lands Festival announced the initial lineup for year three of the Outside Lands Festival. Headlining a pack of 42 announced artists were Kings of Leon, Further (featuring the Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh and Bob Weir), Phoenix, My Morning Jacket and Al Green. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (June 2) at 10AM PST.

Let us know what you think about this lineup in the comments. How does this stack up to the past two years? Who are you most excited about seeing?

I’ve never been a die-hard electronic fan… especially the live version. But, with tickets to the see the first of two sold out Caribou shows at the Independent and Swim dominating a few trindie charts right now I would say my expectations were higher than normal. I have been spinning the album quite frequently and was interested to see the interpretation on stage.  Toro Y Moi opened with a little fanfare, however it was evident that the laptop musician wasn’t accustomed to a live show.

Dan Snaith on the other hand knew exactly what he was doing. While it wouldn’t be absurd to imagine Snaith with nothing but a laptop on stage, he was accompanied by three others crowded together in the center of the stage. Imagine a cluster of four desks all facing each other in an elementary school classroom. One mastered the bass most of the evening, another guitar and some vocals, and the third and most surprising was the master of a less than complete drum kit and drum machine. Snaith manned the Korg, guitar, vocals, recorder, tambourine, what remained of the primary drum kit and of course the trusty afuche cabassa.

Caribou as a ”band” was highly energetic, highly entertaining and quite adroit at genre hopping. The kinetics on the drums were no less than amazing. I don’t know who the drummer was but I was drawing comparisons to Danny Carey, due to the precision pounding he was putting on the kit. At times Snaith and said drummer would drum in unison as well as give each other some captivating back and forth. The only shows I can recall with two drummers interacting so frequently with so much fun would probably be Sigur Ros or Beta Band.

Personal favorites like “Lalibela,” “Hannibal” and “Jamelia” were all better than expected live. But “Sun” may have been a show stealer, with long drawn out psychedelic instrumentation in between Snaith’s chants. The songs from previous albums often saw Snaith employ more guitar than computer/synth yet fit in perfect lockstep with the rest of the show. At times the sounds coming from stage were far from electronic/club/dance music.

The shredding and reverb of guitars quickly mixed with the poppier rock and ambient electronic made for a mind bending experience. It’s as if Sonic Youth, The Shins and Flying Lotus all had a love child. My final word: if you are a fan of music and are continually interested in the progression of sounds and the blurring of genres you owe it to yourself to see this act live.

MP3:

The good people at Extraneous Noise sent us some of their recent footage of Neon Indian’s show at the Great Scott in Alston, MA.

“Should Have Taken Acid with You” was a standout and definitely shows that no matter what you think of Neon Indian, they put on a good live show (we also recommend checking out their performance on the Jimmy Fallon show). Enjoy.

And by Thom Yorke, I mean Atoms for Peace (Yorke’s side project featuring Flea, Joey Waronker and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich). They pulled into Oakland’s Fox Theatre last night and gave fans a version of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” during the second encore.

But you know what I was more excited about? The fact that they also broke out “Follow Me Around” during their first night. For those of you who don’t know, this gem is just as much of a fan legend as “Nude” which finally appeared on Radiohead’s album In Rainbows. Both tracks are from the days of OK Computer and were featured in the documentary, Meeting People is Easy.

Check out the their tour schedule on Matador. Although most dates are overseas, there are stops at Coachella, Sasquatch, four days in Central Park and a show at The Greek in Berkeley.

You can soak up some more of their harmonies tonight as they hit San Francisco’s Swedish American Music Hall with local patriarch John Vanderslice for Noise Pop 2010. Rumor on the street is you’ll be able to pick up their self-titled EP as well.

MP3:

Great news for those of you who “go to concerts to relax.” Purchase your tickets at their official site.

02-07 Missoula, MT – Adams Center
02-09 Portland, OR – Arlene Schnitzer Hall
02-10 Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre
02-12 Victoria, British Columbia
02-13 Vancouver, British Columbia – David Lam Park (Free Show)
02-15 Edmonton, Alberta – Northern Jubilee Auditorium
02-16 Calgary, Alberta – Southern Jubilee Auditorium
02-17 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – TCU Place
02-19 Duluth, MN – DECC Arena
02-20 Madison, WI – Overture Hall
02-21 East Lansing, MI – Wharton Cobb Great Hall
02-23 Hamilton, Ontario – Hamilton Place Theatre
02-24 London, Ontario – Centennial Hall
02-26 Quebec City, Quebec – Imperial de Quebec
02-27 Montreal, Quebec – Olympia de Montreal
03-01 Ottawa, Ontario – National Arts Centre
03-03 Halifax, Nova Scotia – Halifax Forum Multipurpose Room
03-22 Miami, FL – Jackie Gleason Theater
03-23 Clearwater, FL – Ruch Eckard Hall
03-25 Savannah, GA – Johnny Mercer Theatre
03-26 Atlanta, GA – Fox Theatre
03-27 Durham, NC – Durham Performing Arts Center
03-29 Richmond, VA – The National
03-30 Bethesda, MD – Strathmore
03-31 Scranton, PA – Scranton Cultural Center
04-02 Montclair, NJ – The Wellmont Theatre
04-03 Montclair, NJ – The Wellmont Theatre
04-04 Providence, RI – Lupo’s
04-06 Boston, MA – Orpheum Theatre
04-07 Concord, NH – Capitol Center for Arts
04-09 Hartford, CT – Bushnell Center
04-10 Philadelphia, PA – The Electric Factory
04-11 Pittsburgh, PA – Carnegie Music Hall
04-22 Osaka, Japan – Big Cat
04-23 Tokyo, Japan – Zepp Tokyo
04-27 Auckland, New Zealand – Civic Theatre
04-28 Wellington, New Zealand – Wellington Town Hall
04-30 Brisbane, Australia – The Tivoli
05-01 Sydney, Australia – State Theatre
05-02 Marrickville, Australia – Factory Theatre
05-05 Melbourne, Australia – Forum
05-06 Melbourne, Australia – Forum