Big Lineup Announcements: All Tomorrow's Parties, Rock the Bells

Wow. I can only warn you that some pretty big...well, rather, earth-shattering names are about to be dropped, so small children and pregnant women might wanna step outside. First and foremost, of course, we must discuss My Bloody Valentine headlining the All Tomorrow's Parties fest in New York in September. It will be their first US show since, like, a long time ago, and almost certainly they'll come equipped with the songs that will comprise the history-of-mankind-defining Loveless follow-up. Of course, by that time I will already drilled the live bootlegs of their overseas shows into my brain, so you know how it is.

I hope you didn't think that was it. Oh, no no no no no. Built to Spill performing Perfect From Now On (an all-time favorite of mine), Tortoise performing Millions Now Living Will Never Die (an awesome record, though I'm more of a TNT guy), Meat Puppets unleashing Meat Puppets II (never been all that crazy about, but the Nirvana covers were fantastic), and Thurston Moore playing back his Psychic Hearts LP (which, believe it or not, I have never heard all the way through, despite my ownership of like 10 Sonic Youth albums). And oh yeah, Fuck Buttons, Mogwai, and some other bands I don't care as much about.

Yeah, so as mind-meltingly epic as that show is gonna be, the more hip-hop inclined among us will be enjoying the 2008 Rock the Bells tour, which has quite possibly the most potent and not-to-be-fucked-with roster of hip-hop acts assembled since, well, last year's uber-cool Rock the Bells tour. Who, you say, is playing? A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Mos Def, De La Soul, Ghostface, Raekwon, Method Man, Immortal Technique, The Cool Kids, and a bunch of other exceptional artists. I heard Biggie might play Ready to Die in its entirety. Just a rumor.