Young Jeezy

If you’re a Howardite—or just an aficionado—you know the university’s homecoming week is truly a beacon, and the admission-free International Yardfest is the most economical way to celebrate. (Though acquiring a fresh outfit still costs money.) As usual, this year’s lineup is semi-secret, perhaps because organizers tend to book acts down to the wire—though Young Jeezy, Big Daddy Kane, Wale, Raheem DeVaughn, and throwback group Whodini are among the confirmed performers. But even with a no-show or two, there’s still plenty to do: The Yard, Howard’s main grassy quadrangle, is usually encircled by vendors hawking tchotchkes, food, and clothing; in the middle of it all, the main stage dispenses mic-dropping of the highest order. While the event has the haphazardness of any outdoor music festival, bumping beats, contests, and lots of fried fish should pacify the several thousand attendees between sets. And believe it or not, it’s family-friendly, as T-shirted and baseball-capped Bison-to-be toddle around with their parents and grandparents in a multi-generational celebration of Howard University. International Yardfest begins at noon at Howard University’s Main Quad, 6th Street and Howard Place NW. Free. (202) 806-6100. (Shani Hilton)

MUSIC

Dark-pop artiste Zola Jesus is back in D.C., this time touring on her new, intriguing album Conatus. She hits the Black Cat Mainstage sometime after 9 p.m. tonight. Here's what arts ed Jonathan L. Fischer wrote about her last time she came 'round:

If the spacey aphorisms Nika Roza Danilova sometimes spouts in interviews (“Earth is a natural dichotomy, and that’s what makes it so interesting”) come off a bit undergraduate-philosophy-major, it’s probably because Danilova is an undergraduate philosophy major. A student at the University of Wisconsin and a full-time purveyor of terminally bleak art pop, the 22-year-old Zola Jesus mastermind trades in harsh synthscapes, siren-voiced theatrics, and frequently unintelligible lyrics. What started out as a lo-fi update of the 1980s New York art-damage milieu (read: Swans) is now an increasingly polished version of the same, but Zola Jesus’ tortured goth operettas rarely grate. That’s because beneath the gloom and cobwebs, Danilova knows how to write a pop hook, or at least slip in a hint of one. Meanwhile, she pumps out straight-up Auto-Tune jams in her side project Nika + Rory. There’s a Depeche Mode-sized future somewhere between the two bands’ sounds, but Zola Jesus hasn’t managed to make its own “Personal Jesus” yet.

Also dark but more in appearance than music: The Dum Dum Girls! Tomorrow! Black Cat! The new record is good!

Up at the Robert E. Parilla Center, Hugh Cornwell from The Stranglers is headlining the Montgomery College stage, and local jangle-pop supergroup Dot Dash occupies the opening slot. 8 p.m. $15.

This weekend also brings the second annual Dancing By the Bayou Cajun and zydeco fest at Glen Echo Park. Check out the sked on the event's website. Tickets begin at $35.

And of course, more Howard University Homecoming events left and right! Stop by the Bison Homecoming homepage for an official schedule. Besides Yardfest, tomorrow's parade through LeDroit Park might be the best (and cheapest) way to join in the festivities.

* A late add: How could I forget the D.C. Record Fair? That's going down at Artisphere on Sunday with a pretty beard-strokey DJ lineup: Jim Byers from City Paper neighbor WPFW-FM, post-punk/coldwave spinner Denman Anderson, John Kelly from WashPo (in a very snazzy outfit, I predict), Marc Eisenberg of the D.C. Music Salon, and John Thornley from U.S. Royalty. Yeah, it's all dudes, but I'll save my social critique for later. Five bucks gets you into the fair an hour early at 11 a.m.; come noon, it's a five-hour free-for-all for only $2.

BOOKS

Dwight Macdonald would not approve of your Forever 21-bought Diane von Furstenberg knockoff, your unlicensed reproduction Eames shell chair, or your artisanal ketchup. His most popular essay, “Masscult and Midcult,” was published in 1960 and appears in an eponymous collection of criticisms; it argues that mass culture rips off both high and lowbrow tastes in order to satiate markets with the goods they covet. Thus, the masscult renders us complacent, materialistic, consumerist drones—and Macdonald’s writing battled it on ideological, aesthetic, and political grounds. Tonight, John Summers, editor of the most recent edition of Masscult and Midcult: Essays Against the American Grain, and Weekly Standard editor Andrew Ferguson will moderate a discussion of Macdonald’s ideas, exploring in particular whether they’ve held up since his death in 1982. I’ll bet you my stretched-canvas Gustav Klimt—I picked it up at Ikea—that they’ve only been galvanized since then. The discussion begins at 6 p.m. Sunday at Politics & Prose. Free. (Alex Baca)

Sunday, the Jewish Literary Festival begins at the Washington D.C. Jewish Community Center. They start things off on a provocative note with Jay Michaelson's discussion of the "gay vs. God" divide. In his book God. vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality, Michaelson asks, shouldn't religious people be in favor of gay rights? 11 a.m. $8-10.

HALLOWEEN

If you're the kind of person who's already jonesin' to celebrate Halloween, we've got some ideas for you. Check out our Halloween listings.

NON-ART

Mud. Beer. Sculpted thighs. Does it get more virile than DCCX, D.C.'s one-and-only cyclocross race? A clutch of City Paper bicycle geeks will be there on Sunday, perched in the grass with overflowing cups of Dogfish Head. You'd be a fool not to join.

Unsatisfied? Allow me to direct you to our A&E calendar.

Keith Morris of OFF! (Photo by Blake Miller)

The sixth annual Pitchfork Music Festival wrapped this weekend. Dismemberment Plan smiled the whole way through. Attendees got mad at Odd Future for saying offensive things. Face paint sales throughout the Midwest rose. It was dusty. It was hot. It was fun. I learned a few things that concert-goers, specifically those who have tickets to Virgin Mobile FreeFest, can refer to next time they attempt a massive rock festival.

Lesson 1: See Everyone
Music festivals are buffets. Whether they're of the Golden Corral or fancy hotel variety is up to you. Don't stick with what you know. If you're a fan of the artist you're seeing, you're bound to be let down. It's probably not the artists' fault. They don't control the people sitting on blankets talking through everything—that's your fault. Walk away. I was enjoying the Tune-Yards songs I recognized, then I wandered over to Battles and saw my favorite set of the weekend.

Lesson 2: Metal = Good
Metal and punk are awesome but are under-represented at music festivals. I shouldn't have to go to Warped Tour to see bands that have energy. It's why sets from No Age, OFF!, and Kylesa were so great for Pitchfork. Sure, the crowd didn't seem as happy as my teenage self was, but all three acts earned their money with sweat, broken strings, and raw throats.

Lesson 3: The Sun Sucks

DJ Shadow and Zola Jesus played great sets at 8 p.m. during sunset. But the light ruined DJ Shadow's projections, and Zola Jesus looked like a caricature of a pop star.

Lesson 4: The Sun Can Be Good
Battles played to not a very packed mid-afternoon crowd that could have been bigger, were it not for the heat. In other words, show up early. There's more space, people seem to have taken the right amount of drugs, and there aren't as many blankets on the ground.

Lesson 5: Know Your Headliner
Since it's the last act of the night, don't worry about discovering the headliner. If you don't love them by now, you probably never will. Animal Collective, Fleet Foxes, and TV on the Radio headlined Pitchfork's festival. I know all of these bands quite well, and all of them delivered excellent sets that did not surprise me. Just get ahead of the traffic if you don't love the headliner. It's less likely you'll die in a horrible car crash 30 minutes before the last note is played.

Lesson 6: Drink water
When it's hot outside, you should drink more water so you don't die.

Lesson 7: Respect Your Elders
Superchunk, Dismemberment Plan, and Guided By Voices all delivered to their loyal devotees and possibly turned some onto the gospel of '90s rock. Superchunk had the energy of a much younger band; D-Plan played what felt like a greatest hits set and beamed throughout; Guided By Voices made it okay to drink and smoke as much as you could for an hour. Without bands like this, most of the other indie rock acts on this festival—and others like it—probably would not exist.

Zola Jesus at Red Palace, 1212 H Street, NE,  April 26th.  © 2011 Matt Dunn

Former Black and White Jacksons guitarist Tim George formed Dizzy Spells with Kelela Mizanekristos, and the group's songs can be ethereal and deeply felt or playful and jagged. The band describes itself as "Rock/Americana/Neo-Soul," which is pretty apt, but it ignores the woozy trip-hop sound that's all over "Laser Light." You can stream that song and others at Dizzy Spells' MySpace page. The District-based group, now a four-piece, performs tonight at 9 p.m. at the Velvet Lounge. Tickets are $8.

More soulful, minimalistic indie bands after the jump: gothy bawlers, Brits lip-syncing to R&B, and a poorly timed Michael Jackson cover!

Zola Jesus (2006-present): Twenty-year-old Wisconsin native Nika Roza Danilova has a large voice and some really scuzzy-sounding synths—not a bad set of circumstances, since she can wail like Aretha Franklin and mope like Michael Gira, whose band Swans took gothy '80s post-punk and made it arty and iconoclastic. Which perhaps explains how Danilova hooked up with another purveyor of emotive, rough-around-the edges spookiness—Xiu Xiu frontman Jamie Stewart—for her newest project, Former Ghosts.

The xx (2005–present): This restrained London four-piece, whose music is very hushed and extremely slow, is one of 2009's buzzier acts—at least partially because of its blog-pleasing covers of Aaliyah's "Hot Like Fire" and Kyla's "Do You Mind?" So it's a comforting thought that a band responsible for such thoughtful, self-serious music clearly spent its teenage years bawling along to American R&B in front of a bedroom mirror. The xx performs at DC9 on Nov. 15.

Discovery (2005–present): This dreamy, genre-hopping side project featuring members of Ra Ra Riot and Vampire Weekend isn't quite appropriative, but it's clearly a plate for the semiguilty musical tastes—and apparent affinity for high hat—they're willing to only partially absorb into their day bands. The duo's debut album dropped 12 days after Michael Jackson died, so its cover of "I Want You Back" felt pretty poorly timed—but still well-meaning, and certainly audacious.

Wildbirds & Peacedrums (2006–present): This Swedish husband-and-wife duo makes erratic songs with nothing but percussion instruments and steamy vocals, yet it comes away with a sound that's full-bodied, exciting, and utterly singular.