UPDATE: Greg Kot informs us that Tribune sources are saying to count on Arcade Fire and The Strokes at the festival.  Kot also reports “Yeasayer, the xx, and Dirty Projectors, as well as veteran dance-oriented acts Cut Copy and Hot Chip” will be playing as well.

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The Daily Swarm, citing “multiple industry sources,” claims to know who is headlining this year’s Lollapalooza festival held in Grant Park on Aug. 6-8.

While we reported before that a reunited Soundgarden was a heavily rumored favorite to close one of the nights, Lady Ga Ga and Green Day’s names just surfaced.

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By Andrew Kahn  \  4 comments

If your Monday evening stroll in downtown’s Millennium Park is interrupted by some raucous noise from the beautiful Jay Pritzker Pavilion, don’t be alarmed.

It’s only the new Downtown Sound: News Music Mondays series, which offers free Monday evening performances from up-and-coming national and local acts. Downtown Sound, a renamed and newly time-slotted version of last year’s Audible Architecture music series, joins Dusk Variations: A Chamber Series and Edible Audible picnic as one of three new music series at Millennium Park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion this summer. It’s the combination of local and national acts, low key Monday nights and early evening start time that makes Downtown Sound: New Music Mondays so appealing to many Chicago music fans.

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By Richard Giraldi  \  2 comments

Downtown Sound: New Music Mondays returns this evening with free performances from The Sea And Cake and Dirty Projectors.

New Music Mondays opened its season June 8 with an incredible performance from St. Vincent. This week features more new and exciting sounds eminating from Millennium Park’s beautiful Jay Pritzker Pavilion.

Chicago’s own The Sea And Cake bring their heart-warming indie pop to the pavillion in support of their new album Car Alarm, which their Myspace page describes as “…bracing, like the surge of wasabe on sweet sushi, like the slap of cool water on a diving body, like the head-rush of a rollercoaster just leaving summit.”

Dirty Projectors are readying the release of their own new album Bitte Orca due to drop tomorrow. The Projectors’ punchy experimental-pop should work as a powerful contrast against the Chicago skyline-at-dusk backdrop.

The show runs from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m. tonight at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. It’s free and open to the public, but get there early for a good seat.

Next week’s Downtown Sound performance features The Feelies and Icy Demons.

By Richard Giraldi  \  1 comment