This week in music history is shaping up to be one of eternal return, of the reunion show variety and otherwise. Bob Dylan has announced U.S. dates for his decades-long continuation of the aptly-named Never Ending Tour this fall. The closest date to San Antonio appears to be on October 21st in Colorado, but, given the recent death rate of iconic musicians the world over, it might be worth making the drive to see the man who introduced weed to the Beatles play live. Mavis Staples is opening, so you could really kill the aging musicians in concert thing with one stone.
Additionally, once-beloved UK new wave group The The have announced their first live shows in 16 years. Frontman Matt Johnson, the last original member, has brought his auxiliary group back together for two summer shows at Denmark's Esgeskov Castle and London's Royal Albert Hall. Riding on the wave of their surprise Record Store Day Single, "We Can't Stop What's Coming," The The will also be releasing a box set and retrospective documentary, titled The Inertia Visions, this October. Watch the trailer below:
In the happy realm of festival returns, the organizers behind Levitation Fest (read: the artist formerly known as Austin Psych Fest) announced on Saturday that Levitation will finally resume in Austin this year from April 26th-29th. After taking a year off in 2017 and being canceled for dangerous weather conditions (read: some rain) in 2016, Levitation is a welcome return to the psychedelic and experimental music scene. No further details have been released yet, but the lineup is sure to be killer.
Feist has also come full circle with her recently announced appearance on Beck's long-anticipated album Colours, to be released next month In the not-so-distant year of 2011, Beck remixed Feist's "How Come You Never Go There," and it appears she is now returning the favor on a new Beck track titled "I'm So Free." Colours set to drop on October 13th.
In other history coming back to haunt us, Karl Rove has deigned to respond to the National's use of a quote that may or may not have been attributed to him way back when in a New York Times Magazine piece on the Bush administration in 2004. In case you haven't heard the National's wonderful new album Sleep Well Beast, the spoken-word quote appears on the third track, "Walk It Back." It contains, among other things, a reflection on the governmental manipulation of reality and deception of the public:
Rove has vehemently denied authorship, stating (to the surprise of no one) that he is unfamiliar with the National and the quote is fictitious. As far as his personal opinion on the song goes, he describes it as a "Euro Tech Pop thing" that won't make the Top 40
Finally, we come full circle with the 10th anniversary of Animal Collective's Strawberry Jam. Kooky, nostalgic, sweet, and visceral, Strawberry Jam gave us the infectious "Peacebone" and airy epic "Fireworks." Though it would later be overshadowed by the smash success of Merriweather Post Pavilion a little over a year later, the saccharine melancholy of Strawberry Jam remains my favorite installment in the Animal Collective canon. Relive the glory below.