N.E.R.D.
''They put me on a time limit,'' Pharrell Williams informed the crowd at the Levis/Fader Fort with a sly smile. (Fair enough, considering that N.E.R.D. had started their set over an hour behind schedule.) ''But I'm kinda not giving a f--- right now.'' All right, then! Regardless of time pressures, the band — Williams, a newly bald Chad Hugo, their buddy Shay Haley, plus five back-up dudes — kept the crowd moshing with flashy funk-pop-metal-whatever songs (''Lapdance,'' ''Rock Star,'' ''Backseat Love'') drawn from their first two albums, as well as some material from this summer's upcoming Seeing Sounds (''Everyone Nose''). The Clipse, meanwhile, were nowhere to be seen, but their Re-Up Gang cohorts Ab-Liva and Sandman enjoyed the N.E.R.D. show from off to the stage's side, bringing the day full-circle.
DOWNLOAD THIS: ''Everyone Nose''
DIPLO
About 10 minutes after Philadelphia tastemaker Wesley ''Diplo'' Pentz started spinning irresistibly thick dancehall reggae at the club Barcelona, half the venue's power abruptly shorted out. A terrifying quarter-hour of near-silence ensued — after which, thank goodness, the beats came booming right back, and the room resumed its vigorous bobbing. (''Y'all still with me?'' Diplo asked — we were indeed.) The super-hip DJ proceeded through 30 more thoroughly satisfying minutes, ranging from curveball oldies (Mary Wells' ''My Guy,'' sped up a hundred BPM or two) to contemporary ringtone smashes (Pop It Off Boyz' ''Crank Dat Batman,'' Shawty Lo's ''Dey Know,'' even Souljah Boy's ''Yahhh''). Near midnight, when Diplo strategically cut the sound once more during the Souljah Boy song's hook, and the crowd screamed its guttural title on cue, a wide grin crept across the DJ's face.
DOWNLOAD THIS: M.I.A.'s ''Paper Planes'' remix feat. Bun B and Rich Boy
LOS CAMPESINOS!
The punky kids from Cardiff squeezed all seven of themselves onto the tiny stage at Emo's Jr. for an afternoon showcase in front of a packed house — and a line that extended well out the door. Their shouty take on collective musicianship thrilled with a sound unlike any other (defying comparisons like ''a happier Cursive!'' or ''a less precious Mates of State!'' or ''Arcade Fire, but not famous yet!'') as they blew through moments of total chaos and simple beauty with equal panache. The Campesinos! themselves — superfans to the end — may have lamented the fact that they had to play a show instead of seeing bands, but by the time they closed with ''Sweet Dreams Sweet Cheeks,'' every hand in the room was clapping along, not for a second thinking they'd rather be somewhere else.
DOWNLOAD THIS: ''Death to Los Campesinos!''
''BODY OF WAR'' SHOWCASE
Body of War is a documentary that follows Tomas Young, an Iraq war vet paralyzed from the waist down after serving overseas for less than a week. Its soundtrack is a collection of songs that fuel Young, several from the music industry's more progressive sector. Young was sitting stage-right as we walked into Thursday night's performance, where Serj Tankian from System of a Down translated his uniquely hyper-literate and hyper-speed stylings to solo piano, followed by a mellow Billy Bragg. Then Ben Harper invited his ''dear friend'' Tom Morello out to join him on ''Gather 'Round the Stone'' before Morello took the stage by himself. The Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave guitarist laid down a terrifically unrecognizable acoustic version of Rage's ''Guerilla Radio,'' then asked the crowd to invoke the ''buddy system'' and tell their boozehound neighbor to shut the eff up before he began his Nightwatchman project's ''Battle Hymns.'' The night ended with Morello asking Bragg, Tankian, and Mason Jennings to join him on stage for a chorus of Woody Guthrie's ''This Land is Your Land,'' of which the newly-anointed ''Freedom Fighter Orchestra'' sang every last still-subversive lyric before Morello brought the crowd into it. He sang the last verse, the packed Stubb's house sang the chorus, and then, just as asked, every person in the yard began jumping in place, a massive mosh pit that reportedly included Body of War co-director Phil Donahue.
DOWNLOAD THIS: The Nightwatchman, ''Battle Hymns''
