This is definitely a unique way you could send holiday cards this season! Make your own at DylanMessaging.com.

1. EveryBlock has finally come to Atlanta! Track news in your neighborhood. EveryBlock Atlanta
2. Magic Wands have a great new video for their single, “Warriors.” Video on YouTube
3. The founders of one of my personal favorite music sites, Last.fm, have stepped aside. Story from Mashable
4. The drought is over! You can water your lawn again. (If there’s anything left of it.) More from WSBTV
5. The Ferst Center For The Arts at Georgia Tech has announced their 2009/2010 Season Ferst’s Calendar of Events
6. Drive A Faster Car Editor-In-Chief, Tessa Horehled, and Contributor, Jonathan Williams, are heading up to Bonnaroo tomorrow and will have updates from the road with artists playing this year’s festival. You can also follow our trip on Twitter for live coverage.

CONFIRMED BY SXSW
8Ball & MJG
Anni Rossi
Arc Angels
Beach House
Ben Harper
B.o.B
Buraka Som Sistema
The Coathangers
Cotton Jones
Courteeners
Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele
Friendly Fires
Gabriella Cilmi
Human Highway
Passion Pit
Past Lives
Pete & the Pirates
Primal Scream
Ra Ra Riot
Raul Malo
Relentless7
Reflection Eternal
Sage Francis
St Vincent
These Arms Are Snakes
Wale
White Lies
Ximena Sariñara

UNCONFIRMED BY SXSW
19 Dirty Queens
A Day to Remember
A Skylit Drive
Adam McInnis
Afghan Raiders
Akream of Arctic Flow Rec. & Ice Box Ent.
Alexander Spit
Alina Simone
American Tourist
An Horse
Andrew Bird
Andy Bull
Ann Vriend
Anthony Snape
Arms and Sleepers
Autons
Avitia
AZA
B WILLING
Balthrop, Alabama
The Beat Poets
The Beauvilles
Ben Mallott
Benny Gallagher
Bex Marshall
Bionic Pixie
Birds of Tokyo
Black Cherry
Black Lips
Black Skies
Blue King Brown
BOAC
The Brunettes
The Boat People
The Brothers Movement
BUL!M!ATRON!
Candy Coated Killahz
Captain Bliss
Casiokids
Cassim
Chase Frank
Choo Choo
Chris Lawson Jones
CLP
Closure in Moscow
The Cocknbullkid
Colin Gilmore
Come On Gang!
Connan Mockasin
Cory Branan
Crossed Keys
Crystal Sunshine
Damon Gowler
DANANANANAYKROYD
Dance Gavin Dance
Dapplied Cities
Dark Captain Light Captain
Dave Wrangler
Death is Not a Joyride
Deathly Fighter
The Deep Dark Woods
Dekadens
The Devil Wears Prada
Dirty Honey
DLake
DNAE BEATS
Donnis is in Cancun
Donte J
Drew Danburry
Eagle Winged Palace
Ebony Bones
The Egg
Elizabeth Wills
The Enright House
The Ettes
The Everyday Visuals
Even Elroy
Fanfarlo
Ferraby Lionheart
The Fever Dreams
Five Times August
Florence and the Machine
Folk and Stress
Future of the Left
Fuckshovel
The Fumes
Funk Bank
Gabriel Minnikin
Gabriella Cilmi
Gallus!
The Gay Blades
GEN.ERIK
Glambilly
Goldielocks
Gordie Tentrees
Grande
The Grand Marquee
The Grates
Graveyard BBQ
Gunslingers WFMU Showcase
The Hall Monitors
Hank IV Siltbreeze Showcase
Harmsway
Have Gun, Will Travel
Heartless Bastards
The Heart Attacks
Heels Catch Fire
Hey Negrita
Hot Panda
Ian Moore
Innercity Pirates
The Intelligence
Ironweed
Jackie Bristow
Jasic
Jason Isbell
Jeremy Jay
Jim Patton and Sherry Brokus
Jimmy Baldwin
John Fairhurst
Joseph Israel
Jump Back Jake
Kamikaze Queens
Karima Francis
Katie Costello
Keaton Simons
Kelli Rudick
Kid Confuscius
The Kin
Kittens Ablaze
KONQISTADOR
Kurt Vile
Le Castle Vania
Les Fauves
Loch Lomond
Lords of Fuzz
Lost Immigrants
The Low Anthem
Louie Fresco
Lower Class Revolt
Lucky Fonz III
Madi Diaz
Magnet School
Manda Mosher
Methadone Kitty & The Daily Dose
Micachu
Michael / Danceism
Midnight Peacocks
Midnight Youth
Modern Day Drifters
Monica Giraldo
Monique Ortiz
The Monthlies SPIN MAGAZINE PARTY
The Moog
Mos Generator
Mother/Father
Muck and the Mires
Myjonahproject
My Disco
Naked on the Vague
Necropolis
NLF3
Nick Bearden
Nicole Eitner
Nightsweats
NOVA
The O’s
Ocky Goodsounds
OH SNAP!!
Opus Dai
Our Lunar Activities
The Pacific
The Pack A.D.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Paris Wells
The Proclivities
Paula Maya
Pedro Menendez
Polly Mackey and The Pleasure Principle
Port O’Brien
Pop Unknown
Porterdavis
Rachael Sage
Rademacher
Randy Weeks
Reason to Rebel
Red Riders
Red Summer
Rediscover
The Resignators
The River Raid
Roadside Graves
Rob Roy
Rocko Dorsey
Rodney Fisher
Roll the Tanks
Sabbath Crow
Sandi Thom
Sara Haze
Sarah Siskind
Scorpion Child
Scram C Baby
Seabird
Selena Garcia
Senor Furley
The Service Industry
The Slants
The Sleepover Disaster
Seth Glier
Shame Club
Shirock
Sickboy
Sindaddy
Skibunny
SKy Eats Airplane
Smokekiller
Sofia Talvik
Sonpub
Sorry OK Yes
Southeast Engine
Sqweek
Stars Go Dim
Steed Lord
Suckers
Sunset
Tacocat
Tarantist
Temoshark
The Temper Trap
The Thermals
The Tiny
Thee Headliners
This Frontier Needs Heroes
Toy Horses
The Tutts
Twilight Hotel
Two Dollar Bash
Two Sheds
Tyvjk
The Union Trade
The Valentine Failures
The Vaquetones
Virgin Passages
Waves
WAZ
The Weird Weeds
We Have Band
White Circle Crime Club
Whitechapel
Whitey Morgan and the 78s
Willy Joy
Youth Group
Zoroaster

A preview of Andrew Bird‘s forthcoming “Useless Creatures” from the deluxe version of “Noble Beast” is available for stream over the next three days.

“Noble Beast” will be released January 20 on Fat Possum; February 2 on Bella Union. Andrew is also hitting the road at the end of January for a US tour that will stretch through the middle of April.

01/25/09 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of the Living Arts
01/28/09 – New York, NY – Carnegie Hall
01/30/09 – Boston, MA – Orpheum Theatre
02/03/09 – Washington, DC – 930 Club
02/04/09 – Atlanta, GA – The Variety Playhouse
02/06/09 – Orlando, FL – The Plaza Theatre
02/07/09 – New Orleans, LA – House of Blues
02/12/09 – Austin, TX – The Paramount Theatre – Solo Show
02/13/09 – Albuquerque, NM – The El Rey Theater
02/14/09 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theater
02/15/09 – San Diego, CA – SOMA
02/18/09 – Los Angeles, CA – The Orpheum Theatre
02/19/09 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
02/20/09 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
02/21/09 – Portland, OR – The Roseland Theater
02/23/09 – Seattle, WA – The Moore Theater
02/24/09 – Boise, ID – Knitting Factory
02/25/09 – Murray, UT – The Murray Theater
02/26/09 – Denver, CO – The Ogden Theater
02/27/09 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown
03/15/09 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
03/17/09 – Tulsa, OK – Cain’s Ballroom
03/21/09 – Houston, TX – House of Blues
03/22/09 – Dallas, TX – Granada Theater
03/23/09 – Oxford, MS – The Lyric Oxford
04/03/09 – Toronto, ON – Queen Elizabeth Theatre
04/04/09 – Montreal, QC – Le National
04/05/09 – South Burlington, VT – Higher Ground
04/07/09 – Pittsburgh, PA – Carnegie Music Hall
04/10/09 – Chicago, IL – The Civic Opera House
04/11/09 – Minneapolis, MN – The State Theater

Andrew Bird is one of the latest artists to appear on Twitter! You can now follow Andrew Bird on Twitter for updates on his upcoming album and tour. (Disclaimer: Not run by him personally.)

[pre] Order Noble Beast / Useless Creatures (Deluxe Edition)
[mp3] Andrew Bird – The Privateers (from “Noble Beast”) – MP3 Removed Per Request
[mp3] Andrew Bird – A Nervous Tic Motion Of The Head To The Left (from The Mysterious Production Of Eggs)

“I got a call from the VP of anti-piracy at one of the majors. After I picked up the phone his first words were, “Justin, I just have one question for you: where do I send the summons and complaint?” The conversation picked up from there. There was no summons, it was an intimidation tactic setting the tone for the business development meeting he was proposing, the true reason for the call. Around the same time another one of the big four’s business developers reached out to me, too.”

Quote from Justin of Muxtape in the great story of where they’ve been and where they are going.

The new Slipknot track, “All Hope Is Gone,” is up for a free download for the next 10 hours or less, so if you’re a fan then you’ll want to link to here right now…

Slipknot’s new album is scheduled for an August 26th release.

You wouldn’t know it because I’m kind of the worst R.E.M. fan ever. Especially out of the populus of Atlanta fans AND as a music blogger. So I’m going to hell. They are still my absolute favorite band of all time. Take note.

I had the extreme pleasure of catching R.E.M. a couple weeks ago at SXSW on my birthday. I didn’t ask for anything more than that.

Check out Murmurs for a download of the live show.

R.E.M. has been up to a ton of really cool promotions in anticipation of Accelerate as well (most of the below is straight from their newsletter)…

VINCENT MOON TAKEAWAY SHOWS
Filmmaker/documentarian Vincent Moon, who worked with R.E.M. on the ninetynights.com website, Six Days (the DVD included in the ACCELERATE special package), and the video for Supernatural Superserious, also filmed footage of the band in Athens in October which he has put together in a series of short vignettes in the acclaimed Takeaway Shows project at La Blogotheque.com. This is can’t-miss for anyone who has been following the action at ninetynights.com!
** You can also get a free download of the Vincent Moon version of “Living Well Is The Best Revenge” video on iTunes.

And of course, you must also check out the video for their first single, “Supernatural Superserious”:

ACCELERATE LISTENING PARTY
If you are in the Athens area today, be sure to stop by for the ACCELERATE Preview Party being held at the Melting Point in downtown Athens. The event is a fundraiser for two fantastic Athens non-profit organizations, Community Connection and Family Connection/Communities in Schools. The Listening Party begins at 8:15PM and will feature a live auction, including a beautiful Gretsch guitar signed by the band, a silent auction, a screening of Six Days by Vincent Moon, and two complete playbacks of ACCELERATE.

The band will be on the Colbert Report on Wednesday, were on the Today Show this morning and have an assortment of other appearances this week as well. Check out the official site for info.

Buy the new album!
iTunes or Amazon – CD & Amazon – CD/DVD

And the reason you’re probably still reading this – here is the mp3 of the first single, which I have been obsessively listening to in mass quantity. Friends keep telling me it’s such a refreshing track after the past few albums. (I, of course, own and enjoy all of their albums. Haha.)

[mp3] R.E.M. – Supernatural Superserious

Official R.E.M. Links:
R.E.M. Official Site
R.E.M. Accelerate
Supernatural Superserious
Ninety Nights
R.E.M. In Dublin

Also check out Murmurs fansite for killer updates!

Now off to work so I have time to get my fanclub presale tickets this morning!

+

Jupiter Watts – “Teenage FBI” (GBV cover, 1-19-2008) [via Cable And Tweed]

They don’t have the Rock 100.5 website up yet. The 99x website has finally changed over to the “virtual” format with an introduction to what virtual radio is followed by a poor resolution 99x logo rolling back and forth like an iTunes visualization screen. Brilliant Cumulus! < insert sarcasm here >

Here’s the letter from the Cumulus Marketing Manager/VP Gary Lewis about the change:

Based on our respect for and belief in 99X and the passion of our listeners, we have the courage to have 99X blaze new trails into the internet and HD in the same way similarly adventurous stations did likewise when AM was all there was and FM was a pipedream. And just like in the days when there was only AM in cars and transistor radios, we’ll be getting out info on all the gadgets out now and coming out soon that will allow 99X to be taken with you, and not just heard on your PC.

Gary Lewis
Cumulus Atlanta
Market Manager / VP
Or you can watch him talk about it (if you can get the page to load!)

I tried to check out the rest of the new site but it’s pretty shawdy and loading pretty slow. They don’t have much content up yet either. About 90 people have voted in their poll. If you’re looking for what content IS up, scroll down beneath the big black box (which will start loading their “virtual stream”, read: not up yet – just crap splash aforementioned) to find it.

Hey Cumulus! Spring for some real web developers! There are enough technically able to do better than this crap in Atlanta.

The funniest part of the new site:

Also, putting up events from two weeks ago when the site just launched this week – doesn’t look good.

We’ll give you a little time Cumulus to figure out what the hell is going on here. It’s going to take me a little time to figure out how to set my alarm to 100.5FM between the equally torturous Q100 99.7FM and Kicks 101.5FM. (Which I ironically lost when trying to tune in for the “first call ever” to Rock 100.5 this morning.)

What do you think of Rock 100.5 and the new 99x?