Sweden’s Alex Willner releases gorgeous minimal techno as The Field. Typified by long-form, loop-based compositions, Willner’s music has a trance-like ambient quality to it, and last year’s “Cupid’s Head” appeared on numerous year-end charts. Check out one of his most famous tracks, “A Paw In My Face:”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jfRsIoTC4c

Footwork/juke/ghetto giants Rashad and Spinn will be playing their native Chicago. Both are founding members of the TEKLIFE collective. Rashad had a big 2013, putting out an EP, “I Don’t Give a Fuck” and a full length, “Double Cup” on the influential Hyperdub label.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i58pI_gebAg

Female-fronted snotty punkers Perfect Pussy split heads last year with their EP “I have lost all desire for feeling,” a 4 track, 13-minute affair. Their debut LP, “Say Yes to Love,” tightens the screws without losing the edge. Pitchfork’s Lindsay Zoladz gave the album an 8.6 and the coveted “Best New Music” tag, so it’s no surprise to see them on the line-up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyVrZfyfeZw

Sean Bonnette is a heavy smoker, and references this constantly in his lyrics. There are even two Andrew Jackson Jihad songs explicitly about his addiction, “Cigarettes” and “Still Smokin'.” But more so, this stanza is about smoking as an act of self-destruction as a result of self-deprecation.

A common belief of the United States public circa 2001 was that if we hadn’t invaded Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda would infiltrate the U.S.

http://youtu.be/tXWi26VWi0g?t=1m43s

Again, dueling vocals. If this reunion fails, their relationship will never recover.

Here the narrator, voiced by bandleader Jack Barnett, and his lover, voiced by Elisa Rodrigues, trade off lines, discussing what their relationship means. Light is a very common metaphor in this album, the “light in your name” refers to her spirit, or essence that he yearns for. Dreams are also mentioned several times throughout the album, a parallel between fiction and reality. He waits on the Island for her return.