The Hold Steady’s “Heaven is Whenever” Cover Art: Simple But Beautiful

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In today’s age of digital downloads and evaporating record sales, everything we know about the album is going by the wayside.

Track order used to be a daunting and precise task, CD booklets offered as much in the way of supplementary entertainment as the band desired to eager fans, and album covers were often the iconic image associated with classic collections of music. Case in point: who can’t think of Dark Side of the Moon without picturing that rainbow-crossed prism with the black background?

While Brooklyn-based rockers The Hold Steady may be known much more for their riff-heavy classic rock stylings and frontman Craig Finn’s massively dense lyrical tales, they know how to convey thoughts about their albums through the covers. Their last release, 2008′s highly acclaimed (they’ve actually been highly acclaimed since their debut) Stay Positive, presented a rough, brown, dirty image of a small, dumpy, and utterly soulless town that Finn sang about on tracks like “Constructive Summer” and “Sequestered in Memphis.”

The cover art for their latest album, Heaven is Whenever (due in stores May 4) is probably the simplest album cover they’ve released to date, and perhaps their most powerful. The titles are in text that is decorated only slightly, giving us a clear indication of who we’re getting into, and reaching for the text is the hand of a young boy or girl.

Lead guitarist Tad Kubler described the music of Heaven is Whenever in a press release announcing the album as “evocative,” adding that “There’s a lot more melody. It’s more sonically diverse and dynamically expansive than any of our previous records.”

Finn described his lyrics as being about “embracing suffering and understanding its place in a joyful life.” He explained the significance of the album’s title as referencing “the way that love can help us rise above our modern struggles.” Man does that guy ever know how to express himself!

With dozens of tour dates already lined up, appearances scheduled at several summer festivals such as Lollapalooza and the Isle of Wight Festival, and an as-of-this-writing opening between May 30 and June 12, I am hoping as a Bonnaroo ticket holder that The Hold Steady will be added to the four-day Manchester, Tenn. festival as a second-tier headliner.

Dave Matthews Band, Kings of Leon Among Biggest Additions to Bonnaroo 2010 Lineup

By 3 p.m. Tuesday, Jay-z was the biggest name announced to headline the 2010 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn. this June. The festival added two more super-heavyweights, bringing back Kings of Leon (fresh off winning three Grammy awards) for the third time to the event. Just hours earlier, the long-rumored Dave Matthews band was officially confirmed as a headlining act.

Kings of Leon last performed at Bonnaroo in 2007, before their award-winning hit album Only by the Night. Here is a video of their performance from 2007:

Go to the Bonnaroo Myspace page to see the complete lineup and watch as it updates itself throughout the night.

Jay-Z, Weezer, Regina Spektor Among Confirmed for 2010 Bonnaroo Festival

The legend of the Bonnaroo Music & Arts festival, held annually in Manchester, Tenn. since 2002, has grown exponentially over the years. It has quickly become known for its heavyweight headliners, and so far the 2010 lineup is no exception.

For the first time in its history, Bonnaroo will announce the lineup for the 2010 festival, taking place June 10-13, one-by-one on their MySpace page as the artists themselves announce their involvement in the show. So far, the biggest confirmed act is Jay-Z, who will likely headline one of the final two days of the four-day festival.

One returning artist that has been announced is pianist-singer-songwriter Regina Spektor, who performed at the festival in 2007. Here’s a video of her set from that year:

Here’s the full confirmed lineup thus far:

• Jay-Z
• Weezer
• Phoenix
• OK Go
• The Flaming Lips
• Regina Spektor
• John Fogerty
• Norah Jones
• GWAR
• The Avett Brothers
• Thievery Corporation
• Punch Brothers
• She & Him
• Jimmy Cliff
• Medeski, Martin & Wood
• Cross Canadian Ragweed
• The xx
• Mayer Hawthorn and the County
• Ingrid Michaelson
• Wale
• Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers
• Monte Montgomery

Check back later for an updated lineup!