David Byrne’s had his hands in many a cookie jar. The ex-Talking Head and Luaka Bop label founder played a building (literally), designed cheeky bike racks, and released one of 2008’s best records with fellow ’70s-era musical-genius-who-just-won’t-quit Brian Eno. Now Byrne’s got a new concept album in the works (via Stereogum via BBC).

Inspired by Imelda Marcos, the high heels-happy wife of ex-dictator of the Phillipines Ferdinand Marcos, Byrne penned the album with Fatboy Slim. Together they’re recruiting different vocalists for each track. So far, Santigold is on board as well. Byrne told BBC’s 6 Music:

There is a different singer on every song including Sharon Jones from Amy Winehouse’s backing band The Dap Tones, Alice Russell and Tori Amos. There’s a lot of singers, it goes on and on.

“On and on”? How many tracks are on this album? Here’s hoping Byrne doesn’t jump the shark with this one.

I’ll have more thoughts on yesterday’s Bang on a Can Marathon at the University of Maryland later, but the highlight of the day came early for me. Watching the Bang on a Can All-Stars perform a beautifully arranged version of Brian Eno’s Music For Airports was a real treat. This is not how Eno envisioned the music would be heard: it was not meant for live instrumentation, and was not meant to be listened to in a concert setting, with an audience sitting and watching the performers intently.

But the space in which the performers played made all the difference. The airy, modernist lobby of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center was ideal for the music, and even passably close to an airport concourse on a quiet day, with its cavernously high ceilings and skylights. While a couple hundred people gathered to actually watch the performance, CSPAC is an active campus building and as such there was a constant hum of people coming and going, catching earfuls of music and then continuing on their way. The music functioned as soothing background music for these people, yet also stood up to close listening for those of us who chose to focus out attention. So even if the circumstances were quite different from what Eno might have imagined, the end result was exactly what he intended. (Except for the standing ovation at the end: that part might have taken him aback!)

For myself, I’ve always been partial to Eno’s Ambient 4: On Land, but the piano melody of “1/1″ from Music For Airports is so deeply ingrained in my head that it was all I could do not to grin foolishly when I walked into the CSPAC lobby a little late and heard the performance just starting up. Maybe the only way this could have been better is if it had been performed at sunset.

For the past few years, the annual Bang on a Can Marathon in New York City has had my mouth watering, juxtaposing performances of fascinating and often under-performed avant-garde classical music with shows by cutting-edge popular music performers (and generally blurring the line between these two categories). Last year’s festival, for instance, featured compositions by Harrison Birtwistle and Terry Riley alongside performances by Marnie Stern and Dan Deacon.

This Sunday, the D.C. area is in for a treat as a scaled-down version of the festival occupies the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center for an afternoon and evening (from 2pm until about 9pm). A free performance of Brian Eno’s famed Music For Airports is among the attractions, along with performances of compositions by Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche (some of which D.C. concertgoers may have seen when Kotche performed a solo set at the Black Cat back in 2006). A lengthy Terry Riley piece, with Riley himself on vocals and piano, closes out the event.

The first part of the event, from 2pm-6pm, is free; the concert beginning at 6pm is $35. Check out the full schedule of performances here.

Also of note: on Saturday evening, the D.C. Society of Art Rockers hosts renowned electric bassist Michael Manring for a solo show at Jammin’ Java. Manring was long the in-house bassist for new-age label Windham Hill, but don’t let that fool you, as he’s also recorded with jazz luminaries like Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith and even heavy/technical metal musicians like Alex Skolnick (Testament) and Ron Jarzombek (Watchtower). This show celebrates the release of Manring’s latest solo album, Soliloquy, and starts at 7pm.

With the new year comes not-so-new traditions: purging your closet of heinous holiday sweaters, resolving to dissolve your waistline and, if you’re Rolling Stone , looking to Top 40 lists and tired-and-true troubadours to compile your list of the 50 “Best” Albums of the Year.

Read More “Rolling Stone reaches new lows with ‘Top 50 Albums’” »

What is David Byrne interested in as a musician? What does he like, and what makes him cranky? There’s probably no multiplatinum-selling rock frontman who’s more deliberately Sphinx-like—he’s usually had some complaint or other to make about consumerism, but he’s more likely to soak those messages in abstraction (”Heaven”) or irony (”[Nothing But] Flowers”) than in anything resembling outrage. Saying that he’s a tough guy to figure out, though, is not the same thing as saying he’s disinterested. For an hour and 45 minutes at the Warner Theatre last night, he played an energetic set that was drawn largely from his collaborations with Brian Eno, from their new album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today back to their work with “other musicians,” as he said at the start of the show. Maybe saying the words “Talking Heads” is what makes him cranky.

Read More “David Byrne @ the Warner Theatre 11/9″ »

Seriously, it’s been on repeat in the office all morning and doesn’t appear to be losing steam. “Strange Overtones,” they call it, and it rocks—in the offbeat, bouncily bittersweet way that you’d probably expect. It’s tight but expansive, rhythmically impeccable and certainly not—whatever Byrne may sing in the chorus—”slightly out of fashion.”

Download it here (free and legal!), or watch the, er, video below.

Everything That Happens Will Happen Today is available for digital download on August 18.