A new compilation from Ninja Tune - You Don’t Know: Ninja Cuts - is filled with 50 tunes that map the sonic territory the label has explored during it’s 2 decades in the biz and adds sonar imagery of what lies ahead. The 3 CD set features tracks all the way 1998 reppin for the label’s early days (Mike Ladd’s rare classic “Blah Blah”) and big hits from every year since plus 9 tunes slated for release later this year! (Yet-to-be-dropped tunes like John Matthias’ fragile and ethereal “Evermore”, The Bug’s toxic dancehall slayer “Poison Dart”, and Pop Levi’s superb, princely “Dita Dimone”…) To celebrate such an amazing audio history, the Ninja Tune extended family is hosting a 3-room banger at Electrowerkz this month that features many of the artists on the 3CD collection!
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I love music events. I love attending them, I love hosting them, I love hearing other peep’s experiences of them. That’s a huge reason why I write about music for a living. I’ve attended concerts since I was 5 or 6, I’ve been a crew member for various production companies, warehouse events and soundsystems for 14 years, and I’ve experienced countless types of music environments. Therefore, I can say from experience that the Treasure Island Music Festival was unique. ([More →])

San Francisco’s Treasure Island Music Festival has announced its lineup for the weekend of September 15-16:

TIMF Lineup:

Thievery Corporation
Modest Mouse
M.I.A.
Ghostland Observatory
Dj Shadow and Cut Chemist
Zion-I
Spoon
Built To Spill
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
M.Ward
Gotan Project
Kid Beyond
Earlimart
Devil Makes Three
Trainwreck Riders
and more tba

Not much info is available on the web yet, except that tix go on sale on June 24th. If you live in the area, check out the new SF Weekly tomorrow. You can also sign up for email updates on the festival website:
TreasureIslandFestival.com

Oxjam, the Oxfam music festival, announced its preliminary lineup today. Oxjam is no ordinary show, it is an umbrella for 3,000 music events that take place in the UK in October. Oxjam is considered a movement - different musicians, artists, promoters and party people come together each year to try to raise money and awareness for Oxfam. Oxfam is a UK charity whose mission is to end poverty worldwide. So, you can see why it would take such a large event to accomplish such a HUGE goal.

The Klaxons are one of the headliners of this year’s event, and their very own James Righton describes Oxjam thus:

For us, Oxjam is the highlight of the festival season because everyone gets to make the noise themselves. The only thing more exciting than putting on your own event to help fight poverty is knowing that you’re part of a movement of thousands of gigs, club nights and events right across the country.

That’s right, Oxjam needs your help putting these events together! Each year they put out the call for musicians and promoters to organize events as part of the greater movement. And besides a feeling of accomplishment and the satisfaction that you are making the world a better place to live, you might also get featured on MTV. So, if you are in the UK or plan on being there in October, you might want to join the fun!

OXJAM Partial LINEUP 2007

Klaxons
The Kooks
DJ Shadow
Kasabian
Kaiser Chiefs
Merry Men
the Matadors
The Furze
Yer MoMMa
Lost Without Cause
The Clerks Band
The Bakery Girls
Mirno

That’s a lot of K in a lineup… 40,000 musicians total are expected to be involved, so don’t expect a full lineup from me! :) To find out more about any of these bands, and to see other bands that are involved in Oxjam 2007, go to the Mtv Oxjam page…

LINKS

Mtv Oxjam page
NME report
Oxfam website