This year’s Hopscotch Music Festival is set up to be another amazing event coming to the area. The icing on top of the cake comes with all of the accompanying day parties and various other events held that highlight talent in music. One of these is the Ed McKay Artist and Author Series. Similar to last year’s event, this year’s event will bring several members of some of the larger acts including The Flaming Lip’s Wayne Coyne and Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers.

The Series is three days long and corresponds with the afternoons before the main activities of the night take place. Each event takes place at the Raleigh City Museum from 3-5 p.m.  The first of these programs is titled Present the Past: Honoring and Outstripping Influences City Museum. The second is titled Simple Words: The Power of Narrative Songs. The final of the three is The Bubble: The Limits of Pop Music.

For more information about who will be participating in these events read up on the event at Hopscotchmusicfest.com

The line-up for this summer’s Bonnaroo, an annual music festival which takes place in Manchester, Tennessee, has been announced. The festival will take place June 10-13, and tickets are on sale now.

The following artists have confirmed they will play during the three-day festival, including a couple North Carolina based artists. Here’s the list:

Dave Matthews Band, Kings of Leon, Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z, Tenacious D, Weezer, The Flaming Lips with Stardeath and White Dwarfs perform “Dark Side of the Moon,” The Dead Weather, Damian Marley & Nas, Phoenix, Norah Jones, Michael Franti & Spearhead, John Fogerty, Regina Spektor, Jimmy Cliff, LCD Soundsystem, The Avett Brothers, Thievery Corporation, Rise Against, Tori Amos, The National, Zac Brown Band, Les Claypool, John Prine, The Black Keys, Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers, Jeff Beck, Dropkick Murphys, She & Him, Against Me!, The Disco Biscuits, Daryl Hall & Chromeo, Jamey Johnson, Clutch, Bassnectar, Kid Cudi, Baaba Maal, Kris Kristofferson, Medeski Martin & Wood, The xx, GWAR, Dan Deacon Ensemble, Tinariwen, Wale, Deadmau5, The Melvins, Gaslight Anthem, Miike Snow, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Dr. Dog, They Might Be Giants, Punch Brothers, Isis, Blitzen Trapper, Blues Traveler, Miranda, Lambert, Calexico, OK Go, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Martin Sexton, Lotus, Baroness, Dave Rawlings Machine, Mayer Hawthorne and the County, Japandroids, Jay Electronica, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Ingrid Michaelson, The Dodos, Manchester Orchestra, The Temper Trap, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Tokyo Police Club, The Entrance Band, Local Natives, Brandi Carlile, Mumford & Sons, Rebelution, Diane Birch, Monte Montgomery, Julia Nunes, The Postelles, Lucero, Here We Go Magic, Hot Rize, Neon Indian, B.O.B, Needtobreathe.

According to Bonnaroo’s Web site, there may be additional acts added to the line-up later.

This coming Thursday, December 24, I’ll be playing a selection of Christmas/winter/holiday tunes on my show from 3 to 5 p.m. I won’t be playing the usual songs you’ve been hearing 24/7 on other radio stations for the past month, however. You’ll hear covers and original songs from the likes of Yo La Tengo, Daniel Johnston, and The Flaming Lips, as well as songs by local groups including Megafaun and Schooner. So, tune in this Thursday, Christmas Eve, from 3 to 5 p.m. for a set of Christmas tunes you aren’t tired of hearing

**As a side note, you can download a new cover of “I Saw Three Ships” from Megafaun for free over at the Hometapes website.

The year 2009 has undoubtedly been a fantastic one for music, from the techno tones and spaced out beats of Animal Collective’s “Merriwether Post Pavilion” to the satisfying and deep “Tarpits and Canyonlands” from Bombadil. We were moved by new albums by old favorites like in Yeah Yeah Yeahs “It’s Blitz” and we were introduced to new acts that leave us wanting more like in Florence and the Machine’s beautiful “Lungs.” After knowing the huge amount of great releases that this year has left us with, I asked the daytime DJs at WKNC to complete a job that’s a lot easier said than done. Below is a list of the top five albums as completed by many of the DJs you know and love. Enjoy!

DJ Danger Tape

1. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
2. Bowerbirds – Upper Air
3. M. Ward – Hold Time
4. The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
5. Japandroids - Post-Nothing

Just John

1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz
2. Fever Ray – Fever Ray
3. A Sunny Day in Glasgow -Ashes Grammer
4. Yacht – See Mystery Lights
5. Here We Go Magic – Here We Go Magic

May Day

1. Bowerbirds – Upper Air
2. M. Ward- Hold Time
3. Discovery – LP
4. St. Vincent – Actor
5. Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career/The Love Language - The Love Language

DJ Elly May

1. Luego – Taped-together Stories
2. Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club – The Beautiful Untrue
3. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Up From Below
4. Lonnie Walker – These Times Old Times
5. Gossip – Music For Men

Hot Tamale

1. Florence and the Machine - Lungs
2. Passion Pit – Manners
3. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
4. Matt & Kim – Grand
5. Discovery - LP

DJ Kligz

1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It’s Blitz
2. Florence and the Machine – Lungs
3. Dirty Projectors- Bitte Orca
4. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
5. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone

Riff Raff

1. Regina Spektor – Far
2. Passion Pit – Manners
3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs- It’s Blitz
4. The Temper Trap – Conditions
5. You and Your Effects – Wire Sharks/Jay Farrar & Benjamin Gibbard – One Fast Move Or I’m Gone

Audity

1. Sonic Youth – The Eternal
2. U.S.E – Loveworld
3. Regina Spektor – Far
4. Metric – Fantasies
5. Veelee – Three Sides/Various Artists – Here Here Compilation

DJ Ones

1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs- It’s Blitz
2. Florence and the Machine – Lungs
3. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
4. Animal Collective – Merriwether Post Pavilion
5. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca

DJ Matticus Rex

1. Do Make Say Think – Other Truths
2. Pelican – What We All Come to Need
3. Bon Iver – Blood Bank
4. Caspian – Tertia
5. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

Chuck

1. The Antlers – Hospice
2. Megafaun – Gather, Form & Fly
3. Various Artists – Dark Was The Night
4. Antony and the Johnsons – The Crying Light
5. Wilco – Wilco (The Album)

Mick

1. Bombadil – Tarpits & Canyonlands
2. Cotton Jones - Paranoid Cocoon
3. Megafaun – Gather, Form, & Fly
4. Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There Are Mountains
5. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Up From Below

DJ Ray

1. Rural Alberta Advantage – Hometowns
2. Brazos – Phosphorescent Blues
3. Here We Go Magic – Here We Go Magic
4. Grouper – Cover the Windows and the Walls
5. The Low Anthem – Oh My God Charlie Darwin

Tommyboy

1. The King Khan and BBQ Show – Invisible Girl
2. Megafaun - Gather Form and Fly
3. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
4. Telekinesis- Telekinesis
5. The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa

Spaceman Spiff

1. Bowerbirds - Upper Air
2. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
3. Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
4. Harlem Shakes – Technicolor Health
5. The Temper Trap- Conditions

Check out the top 30 albums played during the past week, compiled by Daytime Music Director Jenna St. Pierre:

1. James Husband - A Parallax I
2. Brazos – Phosphorescent Blues
3. Bear in Heaven – Beast Rest Forth Mouth
4. Headlights – Wildlife
5. Temper Trap – Conditions
6. LAKE – Let’s Build A Roof
7. Middle East – The Recordings Of The Middle East
8. Happy Hollows – Spells
9. Via Tania -  Moon Sweet Moon
10. Noah and the Whale – The First Days Of Spring
11. No Age – Losing Feeling [EP]
12. Royal Bangs – Let It Beep
13. Vivian Girls – Everything Goes Wrong
14. Depreciation Guild – In Her Gentle Jaws
15. Boat -  Setting The Paces
16. Le Loup – Family
17. Big Pink – A Brief History Of Love
18. Flaming Lips – Embryonic
19. The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You
20. Stricken City – Songs About People I Know
21. Kitty, Daisy & Lewis – Kitty Daisy And Lewis
22. Da Vincis -  See You Tonight
23. Gospel Gossip – Dreamland
24. Maps – Turning The Mind
25. Kurt Vile – Childish Prodigy
26. King Khan and BBQ Show – Invisible Girl
27. The XX – The Xx
28. Heavy – The House That Dirt Built
29. Lou Barlow – Goodnight Unknown
30. Letting Up Despite Great Faults – Letting Up Despite Great Faults

1. Ten British albums will be immortalized as UK stamps starting next January. The albums that will be featured include “Let It Bleed” by The Rolling Stones, “London Calling” by The Clash, “Led Zeppelin IV” by Led Zeppelin, “The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders from Mars” by David Bowie, “Tubular Bells” by Mike Oldfield, “Power, Corruption & Lies” by New Order, “The Division Bell” by Pink Floyd, “Parklife” by Blur, “Screamadelica” by Primal Scream and “A Rush of Blood to the Head” by Coldplay.

via NME

2. At a Q&A session with fans, The Flaming Lips announced that they will follow up their release of “Embryonic” with a full-album cover of Pink Floyd’s famous 1973 album, “Dark Side of the Moon”.
via Pitchfork

3. The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas will release his solo album “Phrazes for the Young” on November 3 instead of later this month. The release will soon be followed with a series of shows in the United States.
via NME

4. Alison Mosshart (The Kills) says that The Dead Weather are already halfway through recording their second album. She followed up saying, “In between now and Christmas I’m going to go back to [Jack White's studio in] Nashville at some point. I think I’ll spend most of December in America and finish the second record.”
via NME

5. The White Stripes will be releasing out-takes from their first recording session. These include alternative takes of their 1998 single “Let’s Shake Hands”. However they are only to be released via The Vault, which is a part of Jack White’s label Third Man, and will only be available to platinum subscribers.
via Spinner