Weezer/Flaming Lips w/Yeasayer
PNC Bank Arts Center
Thursday, July 28

Better than: Not seeing Bush at the Bowery Ballroom.

It's extremely easy to forget the advantages of an large-scale concert if you've gone, say, a decade eschewing such shows. Massive venues with lawn seating (and ticket checkpoints at every intersection, of which there are about 20) lose their luster once the intimacy (and relative lack of expense) of club shows becomes an expectation rather than merely an appeal, and the performative transition involved in scaling up often changes the nature of a band's performance.

Last night's Weezer/Flaming Lips double bill at the PNC Bank Arts Center was a rejoinder to that sometimes-prevailing attitude. Here was a show that could only have worked in this sort of venue, playing to the strengths of the setup and even benefiting from its drawbacks.

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Willie Davis

​4Knots Music Festival: Dan Deacon, Yeasayer (DJ sets)
Saturday, June 16
4Knots Indoor Lounge

Better than: Going home and passing out.

In my coverage of the 4Knots main stage, my "critical bias," as named at the bottom of these write-ups, has been fairly obvious—almost so obvious that it's been kind of difficult to state it in the clever, self-deprecating manner that the format requires. So, again, I'll foreground that bias and note that I'm getting paid to write this by the dudes who hosted the whole shindig. But I'll also add a biases into the equation. Like, for instance, the fact that by the time Yeasayer began spinning records I had consumed too many drinks, complimentary or otherwise, to remember much about their DJ set besides some sort of Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth mashup. And I missed entirely the work of BRAHMS, Punches and Finger on the Pulse. Plus I was kind of tired (the curse of arriving on time).

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​The first annual 4Knots Music Festival—free, at South Street Seaport—takes place on July 16; Mr. Dream will perform at the all-day show at Pier 17. In addition to the day's roster of bands—which also includes The Black Angels, Titus Andronicus, Davila 666, Oberhofer, and Eleanor Friedberger—being finalized, the DJ lineup for the 4Knots Lounge, located at 210 Front Street and open from 2 p.m. to midnight, has also been announced; artists spinning that day include Dan Deacon, Yeasayer, Finger on the Pulse, PUNCHES, and Brahms. More info at the official site.

Jason Nocito

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The past two years have been good to Brooklyn-based band Yeasayer. While they released their second album Odd Blood a little over a year ago, "Ambling Alp" and "O.N.E." shot them to stardom in the blogosphere and mainstream music circles in the fall of 2009. Their popularity was, in large part, thanks to the band turning their weirdly experimental tracks into more tightly configured, concise, uptempo pop songs with anthemic hooks. Yeasayer has been touring to support the album ever since and, just a few weeks ago, announced that they'd be heading back into the studio to record a third album. They premiered the new track "Devil and the Deed" on Conan soon after, giving a peek into what seems to be a similarly sampler-driven album with tambourine-accented hooks.

We caught up with Chris Keating to talk about Yeasayer's new album, the idea of subversive lyrics, and the new era of music consumption.

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Yeasayer stopped by Conan last night to debut "Devil And The Deed," a taut, herky-jerky track that uses the upper ranges of lead singer Chris Keating's voice to fine effect and has a lovely, tinkling keyboard break. The band's on tour right now; their headlining show at Terminal 5 on June 18 is sold out, but they'll be back in July, when they open for the Flaming Lips and Weezer at Jones Beach and PNC Bank Arts Center.

Yeasayer. Here's hoping things are a bit warmer than this for their shows this summer.

​Today Live Nation announced a slew of shows at Long Island's Nikon at Jones Beach Theater and New Jersey's PNC Bank Arts Center, and in addition to the many classic rock acts (with "classic rock" now being expanded to include the mid-period Headbanger's Ball era of Tesla, Firehouse, etc.) and country stars lining the bills we've got Brooklyn's own Yeasayer, who have been tapped to open the Flaming Lips/Weezer tour that stops at PNC on July 28 and at Jones Beach the following day. Other highlights: Ke$ha (Jones Beach, August 20); Janet Jackson (PNC, August 6); Aretha Franklin (Jones Beach, July 28/PNC, July 30); and the New York Pops playing the music of Billy Joel (Jones Beach, August 13), a performance that looks to be bereft of the Piano Man himself. There's also the Identity Festival, which looks to be an all-electronic-music Lollapalooza starring the likes of Rusko, Steve Aoki, and Chad Hugo. Tickets for a bunch of these concerts go on sale this Saturday; full schedules for both venues after the jump.

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In her new clip for the [ahem] Madonna-inspired "Born This Way," Lady Gaga includes a unicorn in the opening shot. While the video only gets weirder (and grosser) from there, that mythical beast captivated our attention so much that we decided to search out the best videos featuring such imaginary/otherworldly/just plain weird creatures. Here are our findings:

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​The year in music, circa 2010, started at the Cake Shop, with a shred-down to the New Year courtesy of Siren Festival MVP-to-be Marissa Paternoster and her band Screaming Females. After a tour through the NYE fetes of the Lower East Side and Williamsburg, that night ended amidst a marathon show at Bushwick's Shea Stadium, right around the time the Blastoids' drummer poured paint on his kit and started splattering away.

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​So Saturday night Yeasayer played a free show at Governors Island (first of the season) that was apparently a summer-heralding alt.utopia for all those fortunate to get in before the ferry situation became untenable. For those who missed out (and a few who didn't!), however, well, let's just say it was the worst experience ever. Here, an overview of the grousing on Twitter.

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​Say what you will about these guys, but the press photos don't lie--Yeasayer are 100% willing to do the craziest, most unflattering space future hippy thing ever, whether that be engaging in games of 2100 laser chess or commissioning a full-on Keith Haring dance troupe to bust out Beyoncé-style dance moves to a song that is already on the flamboyantly wonky gay-club side. They have courage and falsetto and we admire both of those things. Watch it at Popjustice.