Dan Deacon has a new live set up his sleeve, which he’ll unveil on December 11 at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple. So far, we know that his new show includes a 15-piece band made up of eight percussionists, two guitarists, and four individuals besides himself manning various keyboards, synthesizers, and electronics. Deacon will take the full set-up on the road in 2009.

The December 11 performance will see the band showcasing material from Deacon’s forthcoming full-length, Bromst, which will be coming our way March 24 on Carpark. Sets from the Dirty Projectors and So Percussion are also scheduled for that evening.

Dates
12/11 Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Masonic Temple#
12/13 Denver, CO – Rhinoceropolis
12/19 Baltimore, MD – Sonar^
12/29 Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues*

# = w/ Dirty Projectors, So Percussion
^ = Baltimore Round Robin Show
* = w/ Girl Talk

This being World AIDS Day, 4AD has appropriately chosen today to announce the release of a forthcoming compilation, produced by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National and aimed at raising awareness and support for the HIV/AIDS cause.

With the help of international charity Red Hot Organization founder John Carlin, who played the role of executive producer on the release, the Dessners enlisted 32 different artists to record material specifically for this project, then dubbed the compilation Dark Was the Night.

The sampler will be available on February 17, 2009 as a double-CD, triple-vinyl pack, or digital download. Proceeds from sales go towards Red Hot.

Here are the artists, listed alphabetically:

Andrew Bird
Antony and Bryce Dessner
Arcade Fire
Beach House
Beirut
Blonde Redhead and Devastations
Bon Iver
Bon Iver & Aaron Dessner
The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez
Buck 65 Remix (featuring Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti)
Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues
The Decemberists
Dirty Projectors and David Byrne
Kevin Drew
Feist and Ben Gibbard
Grizzly Bear
Grizzly Bear and Feist
Iron & Wine
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Kronos Quartet
Stuart Murdoch
My Brightest Diamond
My Morning Jacket
The National
The New Pornographers
Conor Oberst and Gillian Welch
Riceboy Sleeps
TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek
Spoon
Sufjan Stevens
Yeasayer
Yo La Tengo

What better way to usher in the new year than by writing an opera that commemorates the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species? Well, according to recent news, Swedish brother/sister duo The Knife is doing just that. An announcement made last week states that Danish theatre group Hotel Pro Forma invited the pair to “write music and libretto for Tomorrow, In a Year, a Darwin Opera.”

From the Hotel Pro Forma site:

“The opera concept places the performance on a large scale and in a space of reality where expression dominates. The Swedish music group The Knife creates completely new compositions that challenge the conventional conception of opera. The form is experimental and exploratory. The music is written for three singers who come from different backgrounds: electronica pop, classical opera, and performance. They are the protagonists of the performance, displaying three ways of experiencing the world. They are the spokesman, the organizer, and the one who acts. They are structure, sensation, form, time, and thought.”

And they will apparently be accompanied by numerous found sounds, as Olof Dreijer is currently “at a field… in the Amazon, to record animals, fish, and plants.”

The opera will premiere in Copenhagen, Denmark in September of 2009.

Photo By Elin Berge.