This past weekend music festival season went into high gear as thousands descended upon Indio for the 12th installment of the Coachella Music & Arts Festival. Earlier this month fest organizers Goldenvoice and the town of Indio reached a long-term deal that would keep the event, along with its country music cousin Stagecoach, there through 2030. According to the LA Times, in addition to the 17-year deal for the April event, Goldenvoice would also be allowed to host two additional concerts each fall starting in 2014, with capacities of 75,000 and 99,000 people respectively. While there are no immediate plans, Goldenvoice Vice President Skip Paige told the Times, “If U2 wants to play a show, I don’t want to not be allowed to. We don’t have plans to do shows, but it is very possible.”

• List Time: 10 Worst Cover Songs Of All Time
• Beach Boy Brian Wilson will release his autobiography in 2015
• Cover Alert: Woods tackle The Kinks
• ?uestlove tells NPR about the night he went roller-skating with Prince and Eddie Murphy
• Download This: John Coltrane – Half Note Club – NYC, NY – 1965-03-03
• CSN&Y to release a live album from their (in)famous 1974 reunion tour

Finally, we’re roughly 36-hours away from Record Store Day, and we couldn’t be more ecstatic about the bounty of great releases that are headed into our local retailers this year. We’ve also loved the fact that organizers tapped Jack White to be RSD’s official ambassador. White, who has taken to his role, has something special in store for those that will be visiting his Third Man Records’ Shop in Nashville this weekend, as he will debut of the Third Man Record Booth. The booth, a refurbished 1947 Voice-o-Graph machine, will allow folks to record up to two minutes of audio and walk away with “a one-of-a-kind 6″ phonograph disc”. Check out how it works…

Rolling Stone has just posted a wide-ranging Q&A with Jack White in which the singer/songwriter/record label exec frankly answers all the questions thrown at him. Within the piece White gives insight into the future of Third Man, The Raconteurs, his solo projects and even weighs in on the authenticity of bands such as The Lumineers and Mumford and Sons.

Here’s Jack White’s take on the music of acts such as The Lumineers & Mumford…

I think it’s brilliant that that music is catching people’s attention. It’s beautiful. That’s a surprise, because even at the moment – when the White Stripes came out and we were performing that type of music and we were getting to do it on television across the world, which we kind of felt was an amazing opportunity – even when the White Stripes did the Grammys, we were going to play “Seven Nation Army,” but I said, “I really want to play ‘Death Letter’ by Son House, as long as I have the opportunity.” And we did. That was a triumph for me – a Son House song was once again played for the American people. And I think these acts nowadays are keeping people’s ears open to the idea of the soulfulness of folk-style music and acoustic music, and you get a little bit closer to the musician, to the writer, at times. It doesn’t have to be about them. I don’t think it’s about authenticity at all. It’s just about the idea that style can sometimes bring you in and bring you closer, like someone sitting at a piano can.

White also discusses the infamous Radiohead pre-Bonnaroo recording session…

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We love the fact that over the last five years, Record Store Day has become a runaway success, thanks in part to loads of special and exclusive releases specially designed to get music fans out to brick and mortar stores. In anticipation of its sixth year, which will take place on Saturday, April 20th, the organization has named Jack White as this year’s official Record Store Day Ambassador. White, who owns and operates Third Man Records in Nashville, posted a fantastic must-read note on Record Store Day’s official website, where he urges people to stop relying on technology and to go out and see a film in a theater, or visit a bookstore and most importantly to go to a record store because  they are “selling discs full of soul that you haven’t felt yet.”

In addition to his statement White also had a bit of fun with his newly anointed ambassadorship, posting this video of him giving of tour of Nashville’s vinyl pressing plant United Record Pressing…

• List Time: Top 10 Albums From The Golden Age Of UK Psychedelia
• Dawes has lined up a tour of record stores to promote their new studio album
• Cover Alert: Divine Fits tackle Bruce Springsteen
• New study finds average person can only name between 10 to 20 musicians or bands
• Download This: Cat Stevens – Civic Auditorium – Santa Monica, CA – 1971-07-02
• Motorhead is releasing their own wine called Sacrifice Shiraz Bag-in-Box

Finally, it’s been roughly six years since we’ve heard anything in the way of new music from Rilo Kiley. The indie-rock act, who according to front woman Jenny Lewis never “officially broke-up”, will release RKives-  a 16-track collection of rarities, B-sides and unreleased songs on April 2. The Los Angeles-based band is now reaching out to their fans to help to create the music video for the album’s lead single – Let Me Back In (which is currently streaming on Spin) by asking them “to upload your favorite personal Rilo Kiley video clip, band footage, created animation, etc… whatever you have in moving pictures that you’d like to share with us.” Submissions will be accepted until March 5, at RiloKiley.com.

We’re big fans of Marc Maron’s fantastic podcast WTF with Marc Maron around these parts. The comedian turned talk show host, has built his reputation around his very personal narrative, self-deprecating and self-analyzing humor, that often times involves stories about his cats, love life and past struggles in the comedy business. Maron’s podcasts typically feature interviews with comedians and actors, but over the last few weeks Marc has invited a number of musicians to stop by for some highly entertaining chats that we wanted to recommend. Marc’s recent episodes with Blues Traveler, Jakob Dylan and Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), all feature some great stories that are well worth blocking out some time to sit down and listen to. Today, Maron uploaded his most recent episode which features an interview with Dave Grohl, which we’re sure is a must-listen as well.

• List Time: 10 Most Annoying Concert Behaviors
• The Godfather Of Go-Go Chuck Brown to be honored with a new music pavilion
• Cover Alert: Ryan Adams tackles Iron Maiden
• Steve Martin and Edie Brickell are collaborating on a new studio album
• Download This: Field Report – Fuel/Friend’s Chapel Session #20
• Grantland’s The Winner’s History Of Rock & Roll profiles KISS

Since opening the doors of his Third Man Records store in Nashville back in 2009, Jack White has made vinyl lovers drool with innovative releases. Earlier this week White revealed the latest project from his label, as Third Man is teaming up with the fine folks at Document Records for a new reissue series that will document the complete recorded works in chronological order of an artist. Volume one of this series is set to feature the earliest works of revered blues artists Charley Patton, Blind Willie McTell and the Mississippi Sheiks. Here’s some more info via Third Man Records…

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All week long we’ve been counting down our staff’s picks for the best albums of 2012. Today, on one of the last workdays of the year, we reveal the top of our list.

When Hidden Track was started in 2006 there were plenty of sites dedicated to indie rock and a slew of sites devoted to improvisational and classic rock bands, but few blogs (and bands for that matter) bridged the gap between the forms. That’s where we came in and five years later the results of our list shows that’s still where our staff’s interests lie.

Thanks for following along all week. We now present our Top 5 Albums of 2012…

5) Dr. John – Locked Down

Key Tracks: Locked Down, Ice Age, Eleggua… aw heck, they’re all amazing.

Sounds Like: Dan Auerbach as Marty McFly, Dr John as Marvin Berry; a time-traveling Delorean and one funky-as-hell Enchantment Under the Sea dance.

The Skinny: If you had a time machine, would you go back to save the world from some certain evil? Would you ensure yourself riches beyond your wildest imagination? Or would you use it to get down to history’s greatest musicians in their prime? Dan Auerbach may very well have a time machine because the Dr. John he’s produced on Locked Down is a revelation of past greatness in the here and now. The album is a swampy, dark Dr. John voodoo funk with Auerbach’s greasy fingerprints all over it, an embarrassment of musical riches, each track its own adventure. As throwback as it sounds, what’s remarkable is how modern and relevant it feels – time machine or not, Dr John & Dan Auerbach have delivered an album for the ages.

- Aaron Stein

• Previously On HT: #25 – #21, #20 – #16, #15 – #11, #10 – #6
• Spotify Playlist: Hidden Track’s Top 25 Albums Of 2012

4) Father John Misty – Fear Fun

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The lineup for this year’s Bridge School Benefit, which will be held once again at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, Calif. on October 20th and 21st, has been revealed and features an eclectic mix of megastars. Joining organizer Neil Young and Crazy Horse on the bill will be Jack White, Guns N’ Roses, The Flaming Lips, Sarah McLachlan, Foster The People, Lucinda Williams, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang and Gary Clark Jr.

Tradition holds that most of these acts will perform acoustic sets which is particularly intriguing for the usual heaviness of Guns N’ Roses. All proceeds from this benefit, and each of the Bridge School Benefits held since 1986, will go towards operations of The Bridge School. The Bridge School “is an internationally recognized leader in the education of children who use augmentative and alternative communication and has developed unique programs and trained highly skilled professionals in the use of state of the art assistive technology.” Neil and his wife Pegi continue to organize these concerts which have featured the likes of Metallica, Tom Petty, Pearl Jam, Phish and R.E.M. over the years.

Tickets will go on sale September 14th and run from $35 to $110.

[via Consequence of Sound]

Hype Williams’ resume reads like a veritable who’s, who of hip-hop and R&B acts from the last twenty-plus years. So you wouldn’t expect the guy that was behind the camera for videos like Jay-Z’s Big Pimpin’, Biggie’s Mo Money Mo Problems and Tupac’s California Love, and is essentially credited for coming up with the big production and over the top styles that were prevalent in the late ’90s and early aughts to be working with Jack White of all people. If we’ve learned anything about White in the last few years though, it’s that he loves to break the mold and work far outside of the box of what people are expecting.

For the Freedom At 21 video, the second single from his solo debut, White got the big budget, cinematic, Hype Williams-directed video treatment. The clip comes complete with car chases, a sexy female police officer and inmate and White showing off some of his dance moves. Let’s check it out…

Jack White – Freedom At 21

Jack White will kick off his lengthy summer world tour with a headlining appearance at the inaugural Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware on July 20.

No scene is more antithetical to the jamband-based festival scene than that of the hardcore punks. Since time immemorial (or maybe just since the late ’70s, the annals are unclear), the two groups have existed in mutually exclusive worlds. For good reason too; other than sharing the same general mindset of inclusiveness, each group achieves their sense of musical nirvana in drastically different forms. In the time it takes moe. or Phish to kick out one of their epic jams, a hardcore outfit might be able to run through their entire catalog as well as two encores and the noodle-armed prancers and sundress-clad twirlers that form the epicenter of a jamband crowd would find no solace amidst the consensual aggression that fuels a hardcore mosh pit. Your average hippie goddess wouldn’t stand a chance when a pinballing mosher treats them like Ricochet Rabbit treats a cactus.

[Photo by Dennis Blomberg]

Refused, one of the seminal hardcore bands of the Nineties (let’s be honest, I’ve been told this about them), recently reunited and returned to the States for a pair of sold-out shows at Terminal 5. Those who know of what they speak, revere Refused’s The Shape Of Punk To Come in the same manner that Deadhead’s venerate American Beauty, Workingman’s Dead or that bootleg cassette they’ve played down to the heads. To many, it’s the Sgt. Peppers of hardcore punk.

At Terminal 5, Refused masterfully built the tension towards their appearance. From the moment Ceremony, the opening band, mashed their final power chord and left the stage, an ambient hum remained in the speakers. Inching up in volume during the change, a full-length curtain bearing descended from the ceiling and the rear spotlights slowly gained in intensity to reveal the band’s name. By the time the Swedes hit the stage, the hum was deafening, the light blinding and the atmosphere palpably electric. Once the curtain dropped and the aural assault afoot, the crowd on the floor charged the stage with mad abandon. A veritable parting of the tattooed sea, the headlong rush left a ten to twelve foot swath of open ground in the middle of the floor. The truly remarkable sight lasted only a minute or two as it was soon filled with a diverse set of moshers, many of the same vintage age as the band. Bonnaroo this was not.

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Jack White’s solo debut Blunderbuss hits stores on April 24, so it’s no surprise the former White Stripes member has been ramping up the promo. Today, White has unveiled the video for the track Sixteen Saltines (remember the live take from SNL?), a deliciously bizarre clip in which Jack is the only adult living in a world run by kids. And these ain’t no ordinary children. Take a look…

Jack White – Sixteen Saltines 

Our first taste of Jack White’s upcoming solo debut Blunderbuss came in the way of the country-soul number Love Interruption, which featured the singer-songwriter-guitarist-producer-record label owner backed by an all-female band.  When it came to predicting if this was what the rest of record was going to sound like, your guess was as good as ours. Well last night we finally got our chance to see, as White made his eagerly anticipated live solo debut on Saturday Night Live. As expected White’s first tune of his two song appearance, was the album’s aforementioned first single, where he was once again backed by an all-female band, that featured drums, stand-up bass, lap steel, fiddle, electric piano, as well as back-up vocalist Ruby Amanfu, who took center stage alongside White.

For his second song of the night, Sixteen Saltines, White returned to the stage at Studio 8H with an entirely different group of backing musicians. This time around White was joined by an all-male band, with similar instrumentation (subtract the lap steel, and add a mandolin) for the manic fuzzed-out garage rocker,which reminded us a lot of his work with The White Stripes. Let’s check it out……

Last week we all got to have a listen to a track from Jack White’s upcoming solo debut, Blunderbuss, which is due to hit shelves on April 24. For this week’s Mix Tape we’re going to take a chronological stroll through the works of White as he plays guitar, piano, drums and even a little bass.

Leading off is Let’s Shake Hands, a single released prior to The White Stripes self-titled debut in 1998. Then, we head over to Jimmy The Exploder – the first track off that self-titled 1999 LP. Moving to 2000, we mellow out with the Zeppelin-esque I’m Bound To Pack It Up from the De Stijl. From 2001′s White Blood Cells we get a little bit country with Hotel Yorba. Things get a bit more mainstream with 2003′s Elephant, so it has to be Seven Nation Army that gets the nod from that album. Also in 2003, White contributed a few tracks to the soundtrack for Cold Mountain including Wayfaring Stranger.

2005 saw a hit with My Doorbell from Get Behind Me Satan. Also in 2005, White co-wrote Go It Alone on Beck’s album Guero – White also got to play bass on the track. 2006 saw the first record from The Raconteurs and we have the Jack White screamer almost-title-track Broken Boy Soldier. One of my favorite White Stripes songs of their later era is You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do As Your Told) from the last White Stripes LP, 2007′s Icky Thump. Getting to some of White’s work behind the piano, we have a track from the second Raconteurs record, Consolers of The Lonely, and the track is You Don’t Understand Me. In 2008, White collaborated with Alicia Keys on Another Way To Die.

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When The White Stripes officially decided to call it quits roughly a year ago, the big question on everyone’s mind was what would Jack White’s next move be? The singer-songwriter-guitarist-producer-record label owner, who could have gone back to recording with either The Raconteurs or The Dead Weather, has instead decided to go it alone and will release his solo debut, Blunderbuss, on April 24 via his Third Man Records.

Late last month White offered up the album’s first single Love Interruption for download, now the country-soul tune has an official music video, which features back-up vocalist Ruby Amanfu, clarinet/bass clarinet player Emily Bowland and Brooke Waggoner on Wurlitzer electric piano.

Jack White – Love Interruption

At the moment Jack White only has a handful of shows currently scheduled, including headlining slots at both the Hangout Music Festival and Sasquatch!.

Shortly after Sasquatch! organizers announced the 2012 lineup, which has Jack White at the top of the bill, Jack’s publicist put out a press release that mentions the new solo artist will also headline the 2012 Hangout Music Fest ahead of the official announcement…oops. Rather than pretend the news hadn’t leaked, the festival’s Twitter feed came alive with word that White will indeed headline Hangout and that the rest of the initial lineup will be announced on Tuesday.

Here’s six other stories of note as we end the week…

• Black Sabbath dumps original drummer over Facebook
• Greyboy Allstars will perform their debut album in Colorado
• Adam Lambert will front Queen for a large summer tour
• Don Cornelius’s son speaks out about his father’s death
• Neddy collects links to all Freaks Ball XII coverage/media
• Nels Cline runs down all his Wilco touring gear and more

Finally, tomorrow marks radio station KPFA’s annual Grateful Dead marathon hosted by David Gans. Gans promises lots of rare recordings from the archive including unreleased Jerry Garcia Band material as well as live performances from The Fall Risk and David Nelson Band. You can tune in live over the internet starting tomorrow, February 4, at 9AM PST.

In a surprise development, Jack White (White Stripes, The Raconteurs) has just announced that he will release his debut solo album, entitled Blunderbuss, on April 24. The album’s first single, Love Interruption, is available for your listening pleasure right now…

You can pre-order a 7″ of the track, along with B-Side Machine Gun Silhouette now in advance of its February 7th release date. The digital single goes on sale tonight.

What do you think of Jack’s new song? 

Fresh off its #20 slot on the Hidden Track Top Albums of 2011 List, comes the video for Two Against One from Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi off their album Rome. The hand-drawn cell animation video was published over the weekend by NPR.

Director Chris Mik has created more clips, and if you like what you see and have Google Chrome head on over to www.Ro.me to see the interactive lucid dream.