In this week’s issue, Nick Paumgarten goes inside the world of Grateful Dead “tapeheads,” and looks at the band’s “vast archive of live concert recordings …something intended to be spontaneous and ephemeral [that has] became a curated body of work.” Continue reading.

Last year, it was limericks. The year before, haikus. You sent us your prettiest poetry, and some of you won New Yorker Festival tickets. But this year, we are upping our game—and yours.

We are looking for three up-and-coming acoustic bands or singer-songwriters to play at the Heineken Bandgarten, a hang-out at Joe’s Pub, in the East Village, where Festival-goers will be able to relax between events over food and drinks. Who supplies the music? You do!

To throw your hat into the ring, send a video of up to three minutes of you or your band (current members only) playing an original song to festivalbands@newyorker.com by Wednesday, August 22nd. 

For more information and the complete contest rules: http://nyr.kr/NLetJB

The prosecution of the Pussy Riot women is more than an act of absurd injustice and cruelty; it is a sign that the Russian state is increasingly lashing out against those citizens it sees as overly modernized. Vladimir Putin has often said that modernization is the goal of his regime, but its policy is increasingly slipping toward something egregiously anti-modern, obscurantist, even medieval. The Pussy Riot case is a telling illustration of Putin’s political crackdown—and of his increasing reliance on the Russian Orthodox Church as a resort of the most conservative societal forces.

Click-through to read more from Masha Lipman on Putin’s religious war against the female punk-rock band Pussy Riot: http://nyr.kr/PePGPb

Watch a clip of LCD Soundsystem performing “Dance Yrself Clean” from “Shut Up and Play the Hits” above, and click-through to read Sasha Frere-Jones on the band and their final show and goodbye film: http://nyr.kr/LrsiJS

In 2010, Andreas Laszlo Konrath began photographing Jake and Jamin Orrall, two brothers who form the band JEFF the Brotherhood, chronicling their experiences onstage, on the road, and in their free time. Click-through for a selection of photographs, followed by a brief Q. & A. with Konrath and audio of four of his favorite JEFF the Brotherhood songs: http://nyr.kr/SFon1o

Next month, “Just Tell Me That You Want Me: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac” will collect Mac covers from artists like Lee Ranaldo and J Mascis, Lykke Li, the Kills, and MGMT. One of the most hypnotic tracks on the tribute is “Storms,” which originally appeared on the gnomic 1981 album “Tusk” and is covered here by Matt Sweeney and Bonnie (Prince) Billy. We are pleased to offer this exclusive preview of that song: http://nyr.kr/NjiFjL

(Source: newyorker.com / The New Yorker)

“The Hives Meet the Eleven-Year-Old,” by Ben Greenman.  Plus, listen to an exclusive stream of the new Hives album, Lex Hives: http://nyr.kr/KX9nFx