The Belle & Sebastian-curated ATP Bowlie 2 took place earlier this week (December 10-12) at Butlins Holiday Centre, Minehead. (In 1999 B&S curated The Bowlie Weekender, which ultimately became All Tomorrow’s Parties, hence the “2″.) The event featured 40 bands picked by the Scottish pop ensemble and, according to photographer Elena Morelli, a bunch of seagulls. She also told us Alice Glass walked to the stage with the assistance of crutches (that she didn’t need), the curators invited various audience members onstage with them to dance (later giving the participants commemorative medals), that the “secret act” was Franz Ferdinand, and that (ergo) one of the festival’s highlights was Edwyn Collins’ Teenage Fanclub, Alex Kapranos, and Cribs-featuring set. Kapranos helped Collins with “Do It Again” (along with Nick McCarthy) and “A Girl Like You.” Off-stage, the Vaselines’ Frances McKee led a yoga class, Stuart Murdoch did a reading, and I guess people dodged seagull shit. Take a look at Elena’s photos and pretend you were there.

While selections from Superchunk’s aptly titled new album Majesty Shredding were rock solid, Jon Wurster’s vocal performance during their cover of The Misfits “Horror Business” will go down in Superchunk lore. Kurt Cobain’s favorite band the Vaselines opened as well as Superchunk labelmates Telekinesis.

As mentioned, the Vaselines are releasing their first proper album in two decades in September. This video frames the chirpy title track within a historical/Biblical storyline.

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This September your favorite Nirvana-popularized Scottish twee-pop duo the Vaselines are releasing Sex With An X, their first proper album in two decades. So far they’ve lets us know that they’re not so into young folks fetishizing the past. This time they get more positive via the collection’s chirpy, lusty title track.

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Everyone’s favorite Nirvana-popularized Scottish pop duo The Vaselines have lined up their first album in 20 years: Sex With An X, their the second proper/non-compilation album, is out in September via Sub Pop. The 12-song collection was produced by Jamie Watson, who also handled Dum Dum. The modern version of the Vaselines is the core of Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee with Belle & Sebastian’s Stevie Jackson and Bob Kildea on guitar and bass and Michael McGaughrin from the 1990s (band, not decade) on drums. To see where Eugene and Frances are these days, take a listen to the lead single “I Hate The 80′s,” one that goes out to the folks who fetishize what they didn’t experience firsthand (because it wasn’t all Duran Duran Duran Duran).

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We’ve been telling you about Sub Pop’s 20th Anniversary and attendant celebration party for a while now. This past weekend SP20 up and happened, and modern Sub Poppers like Iron & Wine, Constantines, and Fleet Foxes graced the stage along with more historical acts like the Vaselines, Seaweed and the Fluid (and Mudhoney playing old songs). Maybe the biggest news of the weekend was Green River, together for the first time in two decades. They were all there, Pearl Jam/Mother Love Bone’s Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, Mudhoney’s Mark Arm and Steve Turner, Mother Love Bone/Love Battery’s Bruce Fairweather, and drummer Alex Shumway on one stage, like the future (i.e. grunge, Seattle’s mainstream crossover, etc.) never took place. Billboard says they were great. We weren’t there, but we do have video to back up the claim. We also have video of Mudhoney, the Fluid, and Fleet Foxes, among others, to back up whatever claims you may or may not want to make about them.

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