“It all came from a long-term commitment that i made to Oxfam,” Albarn told BBC Radio 4 in a recent interview. “In a way, really, they started the whole kind of ball rolling for me by inviting me to go to Mali. And I didn’t want to go as a sort of ambassador … I wanted to feel something and get involved with people who I thought might be like-minded.” DRC Music‘s official site has more information.

Take a pre-listen here, courtest of the Hype Machine:

Noel Gallagher is back! The heart and soul behind Oasis is releasing two (2!) solo albums in the coming months, one a straight-up Oasis-style disc under the moniker of High Flying Birds, and the other supposedly some wacked out mix of “soul, funk, spacejazz, krautrock, vaudeville… and that’s just the first song!” The video above is a half-hour press gig where he opens up on Liam, buying teapots, and phone hacking. The video below is the first single from the High Flying Birds, “The Death of You and Me”. It’s pretty good, if you were an Oasis fan like I was.

Couple updates to the previous post, and a suggestion to keep your links tuned to Consequence of Sound’s Festival Outlook page and LastFM’s Bluesfest page, which both seem to be updated frequently with the latest speculation:

• Crowded House – 80s indie nostalgia!
• Metric – wouldn’t be a big stretch
• Rush – the requisite classic rock
• Black-Eyed Peas – playing Sarnia Bayfest in the days post-Bluesfest
• Arcade Fire – same as above
• Sam Roberts – same as above
• Scorpions – same as above
• Weezer – same as above
• Jack Johnson – playing Toronto in July
• G Love and Special Sauce – opening for Jack Johnson

Oh, and this isn’t a Bluesfest rumour, but it’s pretty cool anyway: Sloan is playing Westfest on June12…

Jazzfest also has some good stuff: Medeski, Martin & Wood on June 28, Owen Pallett and Elliott Brood on Canada Day, and Souljazz Orchestra on July 2…

It’s a bit later than usual, but the first mention of potential acts for this summer’s Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest popped up this past weekend. There are about 3 weeks until the initial lineup announcement (April 21), and at least 10 bands are already heavily rumoured to be attending. A few years ago, on a whim in mid-winter, I managed to find the ‘images’ folder for the Bluesfest website. It wasn’t read-protected in any way, so I got a little early warning on the acts as the webmasters added their pics to the website. Apparently the organizers got wise to the trick; no such luck this year. I had to do this the old-fashioned way: scour the web. I’ve checked the rumour mill and a lot of concert tour schedules, and here’s the latest on this year’s potential lineup:

Let me get this one out of the way right away, ’cause it’s undoubtedly the grand daddy:

• U2 - I just cannot see this. First of all, I think they’re too big for Bluesfest. This show would pack the place like never before, and have the streets around all the way north to Scott St. and south to Gatineau packed solid. I imagine the thought of that might make the city cringe. Plus, this is their 360 tour, in the round, which would be impossible at Lebreton. Bluesfest fits their schedule, though (Philly on July 12, Montreal on July 16), and the rumour has a lot of traffic, so we’ll see…

Now on to the rest:

• Iron Maiden w/ Dream Theatre on June 6 – pretty much confirmed as part of their The Final Frontier tour. Wow. Hmmm. Um. I don’t know what to say. I’m sure it will be an entertaining show? And here I thought Bruce Dickinson had gone back to being a pilot…
• Great Lake Swimmers is the first confirmed indie act. Glad to hear it. Lost Channels is a great album. Looking forward to seeing who joins GLS on the Black Sheep, Hard Rock and Subway stages.
• Keith Urban are you kidding me?! Now it’s a country festival in addition to blues, hip hop, indie, classic rock, folk, and metal?? This is not a positive development. Maybe Nicole will come with him, though.
• Levon Helm has still got it, and if he brings it, I will be there, picking up what he’s puttin’ down.
• Moody Blues are still on tour??? Well, there’d be lighters and Virtual Zippos ablaze for Nights in White Satin, I suppose. Prog-rock-stravaganza. Seems to be more and more ‘classic rock’ every year, though… not a good trend.
• The Tragically Hip been there, done that. Great Canadian band or Greatest Canadian Band Ever? Whatever. I like the Hip a lot, but chances are there will be something I want to see more.
• Jimmy Cliff would be pretty f’ing cool. I have no idea what he’s got left, but I would love to find out.

And a few on the wish list who are touring this summer:

• Neil Young‘s Twisted Road tour is scheduled through the start of June in the southern US. I expect he’ll make Bonnaroooooooo again. Maybe he’ll make it north in time for mid-July?
• Gaslight Anthem are at Osheaga in Montreal in early August, so the timelines are not off. GA are awesome.
• Arcade Fire also at Osheaga and owe Ottawa another show, no?
• Pavement also at Osheaga
• Weezer also at Osheaga
• The Black Keys also at Osheaga, one of my favourites. Schedule seems to work.
• The National also at Osheaga, were here last year, but were one of the highlights of the festival for me. I’d love to see them again.
• The Hold Steady‘s tour calendar goes up to July 1, when they play in Milwaukee. They also have a new album coming out. I would dearly love to see this show happen.
• My Morning Jacket has a two-month gap in their schedule for June-July until starting an opening gig for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ reunion tour in Massachusetts. Petty has also been rumoured for Bluesfest, and getting MMJ would be fantastic.

I’m a sucker for “best of” music lists from actual musicians. Something in here for everyone.

Once again, we have asked many of our favorite artists from this year to tell us what they’ve enjoyed listening to in 2009, and some were kind enough to take the time to reply. Entries are presented, as are many of the lists they contain, in no particular order. From Animal Collective to Dirty Projectors, Phoenix to Grizzly Bear, here’s what was blaring out of tour bus stereos in 2009: 

Guest List: Best of 2009.

After Robots triumphs on its own strange set of genre-ending rules, and BLK JKS are undeniably a band of our times, embodying the duality of our violent and hopeful new world, these days of mystery and wonder.

From an article in the Johannesburg Mail & Guardian:

Four kids: two from the streets of Spruitview and two from the streets of Soweto. A jazz drummer, a session bassist and two aspiring guitarists whose love for icons such as Ray Phiri and Masike Mohapi sat neatly beside a love of Thurston Moore and Jimi Hendrix.

They dumbfounded audiences and politicised rock ‘n roll — and then there was the music. A giant psychedelic morass, grounded in dub, amplified by punk, thrashed by metal and fuelled by the musical heritage of a country at the southern tip of Africa.

Too challenging to easily understand, too bombastic to ignore, the BLK JKS demanded attention, but the majority of South Africans remained blissfully unaware.

For the most part the BLK JKS were like a cultural oddity, which if ignored for long enough, would quietly disappear. The BLK JKS’s story could have ended there, like so many before them, but they got out, got noticed and got signed.

Now, courtesy of the label Secretly Canadian, we have the debut album, After Robots, which is going to take South African music to places it’s never been before.

BLK JKS – “Cursor” solo live Fantastic shit.