Osheaga lineup announced

The annual Montreal music festival Osheaga announced their official lineup a few hours ago, with Snoop Dogg, The Black Keys, and Justice leading they way. If you noticed something, the festival's dates are scheduled conveniently (or inconveniently) on the same exact weekend of Lollapalooza.

In years past, both festivals usually had a heavy crossover rate. Last year, 20 of the 83 acts playing the Canadian fest also played Lolla, roughly a 24 percent carryover rate. That is, however, when the fest was a week before. As it stands, a lot of the artists on the billing are suspected to play Lolla, including the aforementioned Black Keys and Justice, along with Florence + The Machine, The Shins, Sigur Ros, Passion Pit, and more.

So far zero confirmations have actually been made for this year's Lollapalooza, which is pretty surprising now that it's getting into late March. This time last year, half of the headliners plus a few other had already been known for weeks. Regardless, the fact that Osheaga and Lolla fall on the same weekend doesn't rule any of the artists out, just that they obviously won't perform on the same days.

Bonus Notes: The $75 souvenir tickets for Lollapalooza have already sold out, despite no lineup confirmations, and early bird tickets go on sale next week, March 27. As always, stick with us for more rumors.

Coachella 2012 Lineup Revealed

As you probably have already heard, the first big music festival of 2012 released its lineup early today, and as you can see from above ... Coachella looks to the biggest event of the year. Not only has the Indio, California festival has enlisted Radiohead, The Black Keys, and Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg as the three primary headliners, but recently reunited At The Drive-In, Pulp, Justice, The Shins, Bon Iver and a crap-ton more have also made the list. Which, by the way, is a bit different this year.

If you haven't heard already (as I had no idea), Coachella is going to take place over two weekends. The lineups won't change from the weekends of April 13-15 to 20-22, but the artists will be playing twice because of overwhelming ticket sales.

Before I get into whatever inclinations this will have for Lollapalooza later this summer, I will affectionately say that this is absolutely the best festival lineup I've seen since Lollapalooza 2008. It's really just astonishing to look at.

Anyway, Coachella usually has a heavy layover of acts for Lolla. Last year, 31 of the 170-plus Coachella acts ended up playing both festivals, with roughly an 18 percent carryover rate. However, of those acts, none were considered the headliners. That doesn't bode fairly well for those hoping that Radiohead would make the Chicago date, but it doesn't completely rule them out.

If there are any tickets left, do your best. They'll be gone fast.

Tuesday Bears: Bears and Bullets Top 25 Songs of 2010 (Pt. II)

We'll continue our top 25 countdown with songs #20 through #16.

#20: On Melancholy Hill - Gorillaz
Damon Albarn's return to the studio as cartoon band frontman for Gorillaz yielded "Melancholy Hill" on an album that, more often than not, showcased the talents of others: Bobby Womack, Mos Def, Snoop Dogg, etc. The song stands alone on Plastic Beach as Albarn's highest achievement because it's only him. Aside from the plush synth drives, Albarn showcases what so many Blur fans remember from the 90s; a solemn and lonely voice that drives toward subtle beauty.

Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill



#19: Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) - Arcade Fire
"Sprawl II" is, in a way, the furthest departure Arcade Fire have ever taken from their coined sound. Regine leads the bass-heavy and synth-driven charge of an Earth catapulting spring that invokes her to scream "sometimes I wonder if the world's so small." It should be taken with a grain of salt, because there have been few times that Arcade Fire have sounded bigger

#18: I Think Ur a Contra - Vampire Weekend
Contra, as Vampire Weekend's second studio effort, came off to some fans as a bit more bumpy and rushed as its self-titled preprocessor - but that argument always seems to follow any band that explodes off a debut (Strokes, anyone?). However, "I Think Ur a Contra," and it is spelled that way, is, for a moment, cold and sad. There have been very few, if any moments in Ezra Koenig's short career that he has sounded so warm that even his minuscule heartbreak seems distant from "Contra's" wintry beauty.

#17: Rill Rill - Sleigh Bells
Oddly enough, Sleigh Bells softest moment from their ear-bashing (in a good way) debut Treats proved to be the record's most endearing track. The jagged guitar, borrowed a bit from Funkadelic, turns away from the group's typically bombasting approach, to turn on sly, jubilant and - most important here - catchy rhythm that escalates into a drifty high school daydream.

#16: Yulia - Wolf Parade
Wolf Parade, the now either defunct or on indefinite hiatus band, hasn't gotten their fair share of compliments since their 2005 debut Apologies to the Queen Mary. With what may have been the band's last work, Expo 86, the group produced "Yulia," a harrowing and true song about Soviet cosmonauts from the 50s that were lost in space to drift along through eternity. But focusing on the bleakness, and in a way, Wolf Parade's departure, takes away from the stark love song that "Yulia" turns into. Indeed, its face front value is something completely different, but here it can't stop from sounding so engrossing and tearful.

Wolf Parade - Yulia



Stay tuned, we'll return tomorrow for songs #15 - 11.

Thursday Bears: New Gorillaz video - Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach (ft. Snoop Dogg)

Head on over to the Gorillaz home page to get a peek at their December advent calender, which included today's present - a new video. It's the third video from last March's Plastic Beach, which may be getting a bit snubbed for some of the year end awards and lists and crap.

The video for "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach" features Snoop Dogg, and, well, no body else.

Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach - Gorillaz (ft. Snoop Dogg)

Monday Bears: Listen to Plastic Beach

I'm not going to lie and tell you I listen to NPR everyday, or ever, for that matter, but every once in a while they offer a gem of an album to listen to in their entirety. Earlier today, NPR gave online listeners a chance to hear Gorillaz' very, very anticipated album Plastic Beach for the first time, outside of singles "Stylo" and "Superfast Jellyfish."

Very quickly, Plastic Beach, thanks to a lot of help from other artists like Snoop Dogg and Bobby Womack, is becoming 2010's first must-listen to album. Expect to hear more from the "group" in the near future, as well as coverage of their should-be awe inspiring performance at Coachella in April.

Listen to the whole album here.

Plastic Beach is scheduled for release March 9 in the U.S. via Virgin Records.