EarthDance has been described by the music industry as the “Dance Aid” for the new millennium. “Think Global Act Local” is the aim of the event bringing together global communities to create a synchronized global festival and dance event to help fund humanitarian causes and develop an environment of peace throughout the World.

The highlight of the EarthDance Global event is a synchronized dance floor link-up, when the specially created song, “The Prayer for Peace” is played at every event across the world at exactly the same time. 6pm Central Time Houston TX, morning in Australia, sunrise over the Himalayas, midnight in London, afternoon in California – the universal prayer is a powerful moment that unifies our intention for a peaceful world.”

The first annual EarthDance Austin is happening in September! The 3-day camping festival will run September 25th-27th, and EarthDance Austin 2009 will support the non-profit charitable organization, Lance Armstrong Foundation. Among many artists from around the world, Chillville friends and Austin locals Govinda are on the bill, along with an impressive lineup of acts that are sure to serve up lots of dance energy and a great festival experience. Guests can also enjoy the psychedelic sights and sounds of Austin’s Canartic which has joined the festival lineup, and new acts continue to be added. The fun will go down at Apache Pass in “Downtown Texas” where there are several acres of open areas and some forested spots in which to camp, play, dance, and sing. You’ll find artisans, workshops, concerts and events all weekend long on five stages and plenty of room to frolic or simply – chill. A limited number of pre-sale tickets are now available. More information at EarthDanceAustin.org, or you can check it out on MySpace.

In other album news, the Pixies have a new album, apparently titled Minotaur, coming out June 15th, which excites us beyond measure…
ETA The Pixies’ Minotaur is actually a box set of all their studio albums, along with some other extra goodies. Not quite as awesome as new material, but very cool nevertheless.

The Lollapalooza lineup is out, and is – of course – a doozy. Just a few of the Chillville artist making an appearance include Depeche Mode, Thievery Corporation, Andrew Bird, Animal Collective, Fleet Foxes, Santigold, Lykke Li, and so many more it’s kinda ridiculous.

Speaking of zombies, Metric released Help, I’m Alive to lather fans into a drooling frenzy anticipating the release of Fantasies, which drops in less than two weeks. We’re particularly fond of the 1% Free remix, which you can stream via Hype Machine.

You may have heard that Spike Jonze has been working on a movie adaptation of beloved childhood classic book Where the Wild Things Are… did you know that Arcade Fire was tapped to do the soundtrack? The trailer came out a few days ago, and looks and sounds pretty much awesome.

Kick it off Friday, March 13th at The Mohawk. Just $9 gets you in without a badge for AMODA’s Digital Showcase featuring live electronic music and digital art. 16 electronic DJs will compete in a a series of elimination rounds, battling it out on their laptops. Austin’s Phranchyze and Zeale will emmcee at the event, and a panel of judges will decide the winners of each round. Digital artists from across the U.S. and the U.K. will showcase their talents, and this is a great way to support the non-profit AMODA in a SXSW event that showcases digital art at it finest.

Thursday, March 19th there’s good news if you like Punk, Pop and Hip Hop – (even on a budget.) Daddy Fat Sacks, A.K.A. Big Boi of Outkast, is headlining a show at Austin Music Hall featuring K’Naan in this Afropunk showcase. Anyone can attend for $15, with or without a badge (or fat sacks). Also, you can follow the link above for a chance to win one of ten free pairs of tickets from Do512. Hey Ya!

Wednesday, March 18th – Saturday, March 21st – Get to the booty bar! Every day and night there’s something going on at the inside stage and in the backyard that’s totally free. Just RSVP. I’m looking forward to catching DJ Craze at 1:00AM, FREE on Friday the 20th – all cash on beer! And if that’s not enough booty for ya, check The Beauty Bar’s MySpace page for even MORE FREE SHOWS, like this one presented by Art Disaster. These free parties are happening day and night during SX.

Thursday, March 19th – Saturday, March 21st – Three nights of awesome FREE concerts at Auditorium Shores. No RSVP required! Gates open at 5:00PM Thursday and Friday, and the fun starts at noon on Saturday. Catch free performances by M. Ward, The Cold War Kids, Erykah Badu and more. Also enjoy festival food, local vendor booths and arts and crafts from some of Austin’s finest artisans. Our own Explosions in the Sky will finish things off with a bang Saturday night at 8:00PM. Though the event is free, no outside food or drinks are allowed. So go sell some plasma, and enjoy these free outdoor shows with some cold beer! (No pets allowed this year.)

Saturday, March 21st – As if there weren’t enough to do on Saturday, how ’bout The Knuckle Rumbler with Rollingstone.com? Taking place at Peckerhead’s on 6th, this event features early sets by Austin’s Scorpion Child and Zeale. Later, Lady Sovereign and “cyber-girl from outerspace” Janelle Monáe are among other performers to take stage. Big Boi fans will recognize this fellow ATL native whose unique fashion sense and musical stylings are freakishly similar to that of Outkast’s other half, Andre 3000. (Listen to her hit song “Violet Stars Happy Hunting” for a good time.) Did I mention this entire lineup is FREE? Plus there’s lots of free alcohol, drinks, food and goodies being offered at this shindig.

Sometimes life takes badges or wristbands… but for everyone else, there’s free stuff.

-St Vincent has a new tune available for download called “The Strangers”, and first let fans know about it via her Twitter account. She’ll be singing during SXSW at Central Presbyterian Church on Wednesday and Antone’s Friday night.

-At least part of the 2009 Pitchfork Music Festival lineup has been announced, and includes Tortoise, Grizzly Bear, Vivian Girls, and the National, among others. Interestingly, for a few artists they plan on letting fans vote on songs for the setlist.

-Indie rock megalith Interpol is working on a new album! After a two-year hiatus, they announced via their website that they are back together and practicing new material (Rolling Stone).

On our last jaunt through local music blog Famousish’s (try and say that three times fast!) electronic-&-dance-heavy site, the above video tied to the name Girl Talk caught our eye. He was writing about a new documentary concerning copywrite infringement, and the fact that really, everything about Girl Talk’s music is really, really illegal. The above vid is essentially a trailer for the documentary, which looks pretty interesting.

In deliciously hilarious musician gossip (that is actually true!), Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne completely trashes the Arcade Fire in a recent Rolling Stone interview. More details via Pitchfork, and to whet your appetite:

They treated everybody in their vicinity like shit. I thought, “Who do they think they are?” I don’t know why people put up with it. I wouldn’t put up with it.

Chillville artist Nellie McKay does Daytrotter.

Free DL – electro remix of Vampire Weekend at Rcrd Lbl

Spin gets a killer lineup for Friday of SXSW: Echo & the Bunnymen, Glasvegas, Passion Pit, Crystal Method DJ set (& we can’t name names, but a gigantically popular classic rock act may just be playing a secret show there later that evening)

Pretty much the entirety of the internets is buzzing about this unconfirmed ‘unreleased take 20′ of Revolution by the Beatles, but from what we heard NME pulled the info together fastest. Very cool if true, and a pretty impressive hoax if not. Either way, worth a listen.

And speaking of awesome people playing that venue during sxsw, Jason Lytle – ex-frontman for Grandaddy, if his name wasn’t ringing any bells – is playing there Friday, and has officially announced his work on a solo project.

In touring news, Black Moth Super Rainbow and School of Seven Bells are teaming up for a US tour that will bring them to Austin the very same week as Animal Collective! BMSR play the Mohawk on Tuesday, June 2, and Animal Collective hits Stubbs on the 5th.

Want some local news? The Octopus Project are playing two interesting shows in the next week. Saturday night they’re doing a DJ set at the Red River Flows East party at a warehouse on the east side, and next Wednesday they’ll be playing something a bit different at Alamo Drafthouse. You’ll want to buy tix for the Alamo gig asap, because with only two shows in one evening, it’s sure to sell out very quickly.

Indies win 50% of this year’s Grammy Awards (via Hypebot)

Extra Extra, Santogold is pulling a P. Diddy (or is it a Prince?), and changing her name. She’ll be known as Santigold now, thanks very much, and has already changed her MySpace (though the Wikipedia entry and her own website still aren’t reflecting the name-change). See Pitchfork for more details. (via the Daily Swarm)

SXSW
-Echo & the Bunnymen confirmed for the gigantor music conference, which is scarcely a month away
-After the Jump fest, who has done some killer parties before, just announced their official and unofficial sxsw showcases… and can we just say that the unofficial lineup is killer. Even cooler, you can rsvp via Facebook!
-KCRW (the Morning Becomes Eclectic peeps) announced their showcase, which includes Port O’Brien and School of Seven Bells, as well as some of the lineup for their day shows (via Austinist)

In the announcements realm, Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear directed his Twitter friends towards a new Stereogum post talking with him about progress on mixing the followup to 2006’s Yellow House EP.

And if you love SXSW but hate spending money, now you’ve got an option other than hitting the free day shows or volunteering: you can be an intern for Purevolume. They set up a house during SXSW each year, and then deliver a stellar lineup each time. If you wanna learn more about the music industry while listening to awesome live music and partying ’til the wee hours for free, then this is definitely worth checking out.