tangents / Lollapalooza, Sinead, Elvis …

Brief Bits: (1) Rockapaloozer Take 2? For a festival that in the past has been a lightning rod for electronic music, the upcoming Los Angeles-vicinity date for All Tomorrow’s Parties is essentially free of bands that don’t have guitars front and center. (Check out the fest’s site, atpfestival.com, and survey the latest lineup.) Previous ATP curators have included Autechre and Tortoise. The LA event is curated by cartoonist Matt Groening (The Simpsons, Futurama). The situation parallels the recent Lollapalooza tour, which was oddly rock-heavy (see the Disquiet report, May 9) — speaking of which, someone finally got Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell to talk about the absence of electronic music on this year’s tour. He told the Salt Lake City Weekly (“Lollapalooza Returns,” August 14): “That’s the one thing that was so hard to do right. This year the tour promoters did not have a good feeling about electronic music. [Moby‘s] Area:One and Area:Two [festival tours] didn’t do well. So I just couldn’t get any money from the promoters for those kind of artists.” The LA ATP concert will take place on November 8 and 9 in Long Beach, California. … (2) According to Rolling Stone, Brian Eno produced three songs on Sinead O’Connor‘s forthcoming covers album, She Who Dwells in the Secret Place of the Most High Shall Abide Under the Shadow of the Almighty (that’s really the title; limited soundclips here): “Do Right Woman,” “Love Hurts” and “No Matter How Hard I Try.” Other electronic-minded folk are credited as well, including Adrian Sherwood, Massive Attack and Asian Dub Foundation. … (3) The Miami Herald (and several other papers) recently ran a piece (here) on an “electronic gizmo” that provides realtime explanations of classical music during performances. It’s called the Concert Companion, and it’s apparently under development by two companies (Tribeworks, Kinoma) and Robert Winter, a music professor at UCLA. …. (4) The magazine Xlr8r (xlr8r.com) is celebrating its 10th anniversay. … (5) “Stop, look and listen, baby.” Another Elvis Presley reanimation — that is, remix — is out. Paul Oakenfold has remixed “Rubberneckin’,” following up last year’s hit (“Little Less Conversation,” remixed by Junkie XL). As of August 19, the “Rubberneckin'” video has been streaming on elvis.com. The full album is called Elvis 2nd to None, and it’s due out October 7.