Presented by Bjork, because why the hell not. The two words that spring immediately to mind here are "half-assed" and "autumnal." The little DING when she see sings "You squeezed my heart so tight tonight" is still the raddest thing.

Nate "Igor" Smith

Japandroids

Now that Siren Festival is over, the sundry bands who played the Voice's Coney Island hotdogging extravaganza can announce their next New York shows without worrying about your proscratinated attendance. So if you did, perchance, miss an act you meant to see--either because you loitered too long somewhere or drunk mooks kept cutting you in the bathroom line (we actually opened the unlocked Port-a-Potty door on one of these assholes and it was sweet revenge) or, pray tell, you didn't actually go to Siren because you were busy taking care of homeless AIDS patients (the only acceptable excuse)--most of these guys will be back in the fall. Built To Spill, as we already told you, are headlining Webster Hall for two days in October. But The Raveonettes, Japandroids, The Ohsees, Micachu and the Shapes, Monotonix, and A Place To Bury Strangers have also declared their intentions to return to our fair stages. Dates and info below.

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Monotonix's frontman got some crowd-surf-drumming in, too.

So Siren '09 is in the books. Thanks for dropping by if you did, which we hope you did, as the weather was excellent (much less brutally hot than in previous years, which also cut down on ill-advised Coney Island boardwalk half-nudity) and the good times plentiful. Here, then, are four highlights and one regret. (Just one. Avoided the chili dogs this year, you see.)

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From last year's Siren Fest

Hey! Siren Festival! Coney Island! Free concert! Thrown by this paper! All-ages! Nine hours long! Hot dogs! (Not free!) Bands! (Which are!) Beach! Sand! Skeeball! (Rain or) Shine! Naked people! Oysters! Rollercoaster! Motion sickness! Enthusiasm! Exclamation points! New additions: A Place to Bury Strangers, Thee Oh Sees, Tiny Masters of Today, Justine D. and and DeadHeat DJs! Also an after-party! With Francis and the Lights and Gordon Voidwell!

Yeah, that made us tired too. Peruse the official press release below, which uses all-caps instead of exclamatory statements and reminds you of all the previously announced performers like Built To Spill, Spank Rock, Grand Duchy (i.e. Frank Black), Micachu & the Shapes, Japandroids, Monotonix, Frightened Rabbit who will be serenading you that day. Go or be lame.

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Today's hot-shit indie-rock video premiere is "Golden Phone," from Micachu & the Shapes stupendously odd/wonderful Jewellry . It's a pretty good "we'd really rather not make a video" video, half-assed in a totally charming way, though I'll admit that while I'm all for band egalitarianism, I'd rather watch Micachu herself trying (and failing, charmingly) to fill the Traditional Frontperson role: Her goofy expressions roughly two minutes in are the highlight.

This might've worked better as an edited Q&A so we all didn't have to sit through the sunburned asides, but this videotaped conversation between Grizzly Bear's Christopher Taylor and Ed Droste and Micachu and the Shapes is still a pretty neat little peek into the playful dynamics of this 15-month-old British band. Jewellry, Micachu's excellent debut on Rough Trade, seems like the product of someone whose inspiration and experimentation are totally on fire--and that's consistent with what Mica (Meeka) says here about the constant need to make things, even on the road, even if it's just scribbling in public and looking like a weirdo. "You just have to go over the fact that you might feel like a dickhead if you're just standing there writing something down because you're in front of people, but . . . who cares?"

Nate "Igor" Smith

Just some guy

Two red-eye flights there and back, a night in a camper without a pillow or blanket, another crashed uninvited on an angry stranger's futon, no consistent shower or WiFi in sight--with pilgrimages like this, I think you're supposed to find God, but instead I found Dent May. In no particular order, five personal highlights:

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Well that's over with. To complete my spiritual journey, I will now both provide my top-five greatest moments (Metallica excluded) and explore how non-SXSW revelers might enjoy their music, immediately or in the immediate future.

1. Ms. Janelle Monáe, of course. Her deeply, defiantly weird dystopian-diva routine is way more exhilarating live than on her Metropolis: The Chase Suite EP, wherein the lovesick-android-on-the-lam shtick gets a little distracting. More Suites are planned soon, though, and power-r&b smash-in-the-making "Tightrope" is a monster, so. See her on tour this summer opening for No Doubt, of all people, including stops at PNC Bank Arts Center June 26 and Nikon at Jones Beach Theater June 27.

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