If Dessa uncharacteristically botches a lyric in her headlining set Saturday at the West Bank Music Festival, you could write it off as a brain-fried byproduct of making two albums in one summer. The rapper/singer/poet finished off a new solo album several weeks ago and then dove straight into the making of Doomtree's second all-crew LP, both of which are slated for release this fall.

First up is "Castor, the Twin," her own disc, which features new versions of songs straight out of her live set -- this time recorded with the powerhouse backing trio she took on the road to promote last year's breakout album, "A Badly Broken Code." Among the remade tracks are "Dixon's Girl" and "The Chaconne."

"I just got the masters back on that one two weeks ago, and they passed the test," Dessa said. She offered this explanation of what that test actually is: "Lazerbeak and I put it on in his parked Camry. His test is if he feels his pants leg vibrating against his skin. Mine is if I can see the rearview mirror vibrate."

As for the Doomtree record, only the second full-length to feature all seven members, it's going to be called "No Kings" and will arrive Nov. 22 to help hype more Blowout concerts. Dessa said the record includes a couple of their most accessible tracks yet, but also a lot of "totally weird, dark, ambitious material."

Attendance at the Minnesota Fringe Festival dipped slightly this year. Preliminary numbers are that 48,350 tickets were distributed, compared with last year's record 50,222. That's a drop of 3.7 percent. The main factor in the drop, said Fringe director Robin Gillette, was the price rise of an all-access Ultra Pass, from $150 to $225.

Which shows were hot? Measured by percent of capacity, "Blood & 2 Gingers" finished first. It was staged at Kieran's Irish Pub. "You Only Live Forever Once" by Four Humors at Bryant-Lake Bowl was second best; "Angelina Jolie Is a Zionist Whore! or, Plan 9 From Baghdad" by Partizan Theater at Intermedia Arts was third. "Losing My Religion" by Seth Lepore at Augsburg Studio and "A Little Bit of Vegas" by Offspring Productions at the Rarig Xperimental stage rounded out the top five. All those venues are roughly 100 seats.

In terms of total tickets, "Brain Fighters" by Joking Envelope at the Rarig Thrust sold the most. "7 (x1) Samurai" by David Gaines, "The Smothers Brothers Grimm" by Comedy Suitcase, "Red Resurrected" by Isabel Nelson and "Minnesota Middle Finger" by Ben San Del filled out the top five.

Last Friday night, Peter Wolf Crier took over the Vita.mn August Music & Movies series at the Lake Harriet Bandshell. The gig was more or less the band's coming out as a trio, with the addition of Laarks guitarist Kyle Flater. It also served as a warmup to a busy fall following the Sept. 6 release of PWC's sophomore album for Jagjaguwar, "Garden of Arms" (release party Sept. 23 at the Cedar Cultural Center). The album is shaping up to be quite a doozy sonically and lyrically, but maybe the biggest new treat Friday was the band's wise choice of a summer-night cover, INXS' "Never Tear Us Apart."

Who says the Twin Cities can't go Hollywood? According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Food Network has filed a $1.5 million countersuit against the former producer of "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives," for setting such an "intolerable" tone that they had to replace him. David Page had been producing the Guy Fieri-hosted show out of an office in the Twin Cities. Page had sued the network in May, claiming it had breached its contract. This counterpunch claims Page's treatment of staff members was so bad that many had asked for changes in work environment. The suit claims Page sent out e-mails to staffers laced with obscenities and insults. The Hollywood Reporter says Page and his reps didn't immediately respond to comments.

As the pending breakup of Roma di Luna became public knowledge last week, singer Channy Moon Casselle was off recording in Austin, Texas, at Spoon drummer Jim Eno's renowned studio with none other than Gayngs guru Ryan Olson and Solid Gold's Zach Coulter as backers. Details are still under wraps, but word is Eno drummed on a few of the tracks.

When 20-year-old Michael Holloway reports for the 2012 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute in January, the other participants -- graduate and doctoral students from East Coast music conservatories -- might say: Who's this guy? Holloway, an undergrad at McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul, was one of six chosen in a national search for the program in which Minnesota Orchestra musicians play pieces by early-career composers.

"As a composer, you spend many months alone with a pencil and paper, working on a piece of this length," Holloway said, "and you may never hear your work realized." Thanks to the institute program, Holloway will hear his composition, called "Rhythm: Theta Beta Theta." By the way, it's not inspired by a frat-boy dance troupe but is actually a reference to brain waves.

Two years after a viral YouTube cover of an Animal Collective song helped land him a deal with Frenchkiss Records (the Hold Steady's first label), St. Paul-reared singer/songwriter Colin Caulfield will finally release his first full-length album under his still-fitting pseudonym Young Man on Sept. 27, titled "Ideas of Distance." The first video and single, "Enough," is making the rounds online.