Photo by Rocio Rodriguez Salceda

Jace Clayton, who usually performs and records as DJ/ rupture, is applying for a job he knows he's not going to get. He wants to impersonate Julius Eastman, an obscure gay African-American composer, pianist, and vocalist from the late 20th century. Unfortunately, there were a lot of applicants for the position and he just didn't cut it.

"I am sorry to inform you that you have not been selected for this position. We wish you both personal and professional success in your job search and the future," says Pakistani musician Arooj Aftab on "Callback for the Society of American Eastman Supporters," an original composition that closes out Clayton's recently released album and the first under his own name, The Julius Eastman Memorial Depot. "The Julius Eastman Memorial Dinner is an equal opportunity employer. All candidates will be considered regardless of—" Isolated, dissonant piano chords cut her off before she finishes listing the rest of the employment non-discrimination act in disaffected song.

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Even though I've never laid eyes on them, it's easy to recognize Nude Beach's Chuck Betz and Ryan Naideau at the Williamsburg coffee shop where we meet. Ripped leather jackets and Germs pins stand out against carefully sculpted hippery. Vocalist Betz, with his bed-head buffount hair-do, is a dead ringer for the Clash's Mick Jones. He says that The Clash are one of their primary influences-- you can hear that all over their latest release II. It's a jangly rock and roll record, closer to "Rudy Can't Fail" or "Train in Vain" than the currently unavoidable garage-punk sound. The record's initial pressing of 500 copies sold out almost as fast as it was picked up for re-release by Other Music.

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"I've always thought of myself as a fairly sane person, but chronicling this experience is kind of making me wonder why." Those are the last words Theresa Smith, guitar player in one of New Jersey's best bands, Home Blitz, has to say on her bizarre, year-long decent into obsessively analyzing one of rock's most bombastic punchlines: Van Halen.

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- Live: Van Halen Attracts The Naked, Sweaty Eyeballs To Cafe Wha?
- In Which We Say Nice Things About The New Singles By Train And Van Halen

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Ryan Mastro

When My Morning Jacket play live, they tend to come off as an elemental force. They play three hours, paradoxically leaving you wanting more and leaving you absolutely spent. MMJ gives everything live, but also requires a lot of you, pulling you through blissed-out calms into twisting, peaking jams and one epically emotive chorus after another. They're live shows become a religious experience, where fans track recordings of each concert, or make pilgrimages cross-country to see MMJ's marathon sets at Bonnaroo, or at Madison Square Garden, or both. A rare feat.

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The true story of how R. Kelly became R. Belly

R. Kelly's Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me was supposed to be a soul-baring memoir. "I'm tired of being misunderstood," he said 2009 SmileyBooks statement. "I will show you the tears, fears, and sweat. I will open my heart and reveal the good in my life as well as all the drama."

Soulacoaster was slated to come out, then it wasn't, then it was. Maura got a sneak preview and noted that the "memoir" began with a recollection of "the singer hiding in a drum case." There was also a Tribeca Kells' signing scheduled, and then that wasn't. Now, Robert Sylvester's Tribeca Barnes & Noble signing has been rescheduled rescheduled for August 10. The maybe-possibly-maybe details:

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"Below is a video we made to celebrate and get pumped up!" says Jelly NYC. Ok.

Hey, internet people who think confronting nature in Williamsburg means getting drunk outside. Another series of free outdoor shows were just announced five minutes before they're about to start. The organizers are Jelly NYC, the famous people behind the Pool Parties at the Williamsburg Waterfront, and these Saturday-afternoon shows will take place at a new venue called the Rock Yard. The first one is this weekend, but since you'll be at Siren's 10th anniversary Festival, let's just pretend that the first one is July 31 with Priestbird. Other notable names are Bun B (!), Frankie and the Outs, Motel Motel, and ZAZA. There is also "A VERY SPECIAL GUEST" on September 11, curated by Bikes in the Kitchen. Obvious guesses: Japanther, Spank Rock, pr Matt & Kim, which could actually be feasible since their fall tour doesn't start until September 15, but you didn't hear it from us. Full schedule and flyer after the jump.

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Anyone seeking a four-day crash course in Brooklyn Rock (both from BK and of it, I guess) is hereby advised to delved deep into the Northside Festival, which packs hundreds of bands into multiple venues across the sweetest of boroughs, starting tonight with a raft of shows, led perhaps by the triumphant (?) return of Wavves at the Knitting Factory. Plenty of rad stuff to mess with -- those day/night shows Saturday and Sunday at Newton Barge Park (including Titus Andronicus, Liars, Elvis Perkins, and Les Savy Fav) look particularly splendid. I asked L big-shot Mike Conklin for dark horses: He suggests North Highlands, Gabriel Birnbaum, and Shark? That's Shark + question mark. We'll see you there -- try and act like you knew about all these bands already.

PIc by Rebecca Smeyne; fun had by apparently everyone

The mind reels at what wacky, egalitarian antics everyone's favorite spazz-pop good-times provocateur has in store for us tonight in Red Hook Park, part of the borough-traipsing SummerStage 2010 expansion program. Hopefully tacos will be involved in some capacity. The show begins at 7 p.m., so you'd better leave... now. Given the calamity (transportation-based and otherwise) free summer shows tend to cause around here, we look forward to lots of online whining. Stay tuned.

Seems that the long awaited and slaved over Stephin Merritt documentary now has both a name and a trailer. Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields is set to debut at the San Francisco Film Society, February 28th, and will hopefully then eventually make its way to New York, where some of the footage was clearly shot. Why they needed Peter Gabriel and Sarah Silverman in this film, who knows, but the part where Merritt has to explain to a cab driver why there are cameras following him around is pretty immortal. Official world premiere details (San Fran is supposed to be just a "preview") will be announced Thursday. We are way more excited about this than we were two weeks ago! [Strange Powers via Monitor Mix]

Listen, I don't want to pressure you as to how to spend your July 4th weekend, but if you're not fleeing the city in terror entirely you're pretty much a knucklehead if you don't go check out erstwhile Brooklyn duo Das Racist, they of "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell," live and in person, twice. Ten years from now devout fans -- Dasheads -- will trade homemade bootlegs of Das Racist performances and have four-hour conversations about the structural differences between the versions of "Fake Patois" (enjoy here) performed Friday night at the Annex and Sunday afternoon at Webster Hall. Bring a seven-layer burrito and get in free.*

*Not true.