2004

OutKast’s double CD, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was the big winner, taking home Album of the Year as well as Best Rap Album honors. Below are additional winning highlights:
Dave Matthews – Best Male Rock Vocal Performance:

The First Family of Indie Rock

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Junior Senior, Cursive, Bright Eyes, Basement Jaxx, Thursday, the Rapture, Paul Van Dyk, Stereolab and the Queens Of The Stone Age-affiliated Desert Sessions have joined the lineup for the fifth Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, to be held May 1-2 at the Empire Polo Fied in Indio, Calif. Tickets go on sale Feb. 14; more acts may be added.
As previously reported, the festival will be headlined by Radiohead and the Cure. Other confirmed acts include the reunited Pixies, Kraftwerk, Air, Wilco, the Flaming Lips, Mogwai, Belle & Sebastian, Dizzee Rascal, the Thrills, LCD Soundsystem, Electric Six, Sahara Hotnights, Death Cab For Cutie; Kinky, the (International) Noise Conspiracy, Prefuse 73, T. Raumschmiere, Sidestepper, …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, !!! and Atmosphere.
Among the new confirmations are 2manydjs, the Crystal Method, Adam Freeland, Ash, Muse, Antibalas, the Cooper Temple Clause, Stellastar, the Killers, the Stills, the Sleepy Jackson, Broken Social Scene, the Black Keys, Future Sound Of London, Hieroglyphics, Le Tigre, Moving Units, Erase Errata, Seb Fontaine, Laurent Garnier, Living Legends, Sander Kleinenberg, the Sounds, Howie Day, Peretz (aka Perry Farrell), Mark Farina, 22-20’s, Phantom Planet, Dios, Jem, Q & Not U, the Section Quartet and DJ Icon.
Source billboard.com.

Burning Spear and Sean Paul head up a genre-spanning roster for the 23rd annual Bob Marley Day Festival, set for February 14 and 15. The event will take place at the Long Beach Arena in Southern California, and features an international crafts and food fair, along with ten hours of music each day.
In addition to elder statesman Burning Spear, the Saturday lineup includes Beres Hammond, Wayne Wonder, Julian Marley, Hepcat, Arrested Development, T.O.K., Baby Cham, Soul Majestic featuring Rastan, and Mr. Mutton.
On Sunday, hip-hop/dancehall crossover sensation Sean Paul will have help from Elephant Man, Luciano, Sly & Robbie with the Taxi Connection, Big Youth, Edi Fitzroy, Little John, Peter Metro, Carlton Livingston and more. Tickets for the event are on sale now through Ticketmaster and select Southern California record stores and restaurants. See bobmarleydayfesitval.com for more details.

Public Enemy will release two albums this year. Due in early summer, How Do You Sell Souls to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Souls? is a classic-soul-minded album, while the fall-targeted New Whirl Odor is an “eclectic, typical Public Enemy record,” according to frontman Chuck D.
“They’re two totally different albums,” he continues. “But they come together like a nice double set. I can’t write a record without at least mentioning what’s going on. I delve real deep on the second album, and dig deep into the music on the first one.”
The albums and his current lecture tour titled “Rap, Race, Reality and Technology” will all touch on the current events and issues endemic to an election year. “I think this is a year that art can actually speak,” D says. “But I don’t see enough of it being done. I don’t see enough attention given to rap groups that might do it, like the Coup and Dead Prez. The industry is presenting rappers as one-dimensional, and that doesn’t hold as much water in 2004.”
Source Rollingstone.com.

U.K. rock act the Beta Band will return later this spring with its third album, “Heroes to Zeroes.” Due May 4 via Astralwerks, the 12-track set was self-produced by the group and mixed by Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck). “The first single is ‘Assesment’ and the video is going to be the history of human warfare,” vocalist Steve Mason wrote on the band’s official Web site.
In November, Mason said, “all four of us are also working on a DVD to come out around the time of the LP. 12 films, three each, to go with 12 tracks. Some of these tracks may not be from the LP but will be new.” At deadline, it is unclear if the DVD is still being targeted for release in conjunction with the new album. “Heroes to Zeroes” is the follow-up to 2001’s “Hot Shots II.”
Source billboard.com.
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Phish will play three shows at the Thomas and Mack Arena in Las Vegas on April 15, 16 and 17. These dates will be Phish’s only shows before the summer.
A limited number of tickets for all three shows are available directly through PHISH TICKET’s secure online ticketing system at http://phishtickets.rlc.net for a six-day ordering period beginning Friday, February 13, at 12:01 PM EST and ending Wednesday, February 18, at 11:59 AM EST. Tickets go on sale to the public March 6 at 10 am. Full tour information can be found on the Phish web site at http://phish.com/tourdates

Trey Anastasio appears on two tracks of the upcoming Toots and the Maytals album “True Love”. In addition to Anastasio, the album features many special guests, including Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Ben Harper, No Doubt, and The Roots. Trey appears on the Toots classic “Sweet and Dandy” and drops a guitar solo into “Still is Still Moving to Me”, a duet with Toots and Willie Nelson. The album appears in stores on April 6.