et ready for phonetic butchery to begin anew: Montreal’s annual Osheaga Music and Arts Festival has announced its 2008 line-up.

In this, its third addition, Osheaga moves up the calendar to August, thus severing its tacit, schedule-based ties with V-Fest. Whereas this year’s V-Fest is fraught with Brit-pop heroes, a dash of post-post-punk revivalism, and a shot of stadium bands, Osheaga once again mixes big-draw attractions with home-grown talent and blog-approved indie acts.

The two-day celebration runs from Sunday, August 3rd to Monday, August 4th (blame NASCAR for the scheduling oddity). You can either purchase tickets for the entire event or just a single day. If you’re going with the latter option, the second day is more stacked than a Vegas deck in the ‘50s. Here are the fest's highlights:

Day 1: August 3rd, 2008
Your parents' favourite post-post punk band, The Killers, headline day one, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, provided they’re still rocking facial hair and the-Boss fetishes. For your pre-post-punk (i.e. punk) fascination, Iggy and the Stooges are also on the bill. The standout, though, is Cat Power. The last time I saw Chan and co. in Montreal, she waxed remorseful and mumbled half-coherently, but the songs remained delicate and beautiful. She wore rubber boots. I was in love, but not in a creepy way. The always fantastic Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and hometown heroes, Plants and Animals, are also on deck.

Day 2: August 4th, 2008
The stronger of the two days, Monday will have your ears surreptitiously sneaking off into the porta-potty for some alone time. Disregarding the light-radio headliner (Jack Johnson), the day has a surfeit of cool-kid allure. Though relegated to the penultimate slot, Broken Social Scene should be atop the marquee; despite recent ubiquity, a Scenester get-together is typically stirring. Speaking of collectives, the best Ukrainian gypsy cabaret art punk band in the history of Ukrainian gypsy cabaret art punk, Gogol Bordello, could steal the entire gig with their cavalcade of eastward-winking ebullience. Other standouts:

With a roots-infused indie rock ethos, alt. country leanings, and a few remaining nods to a punk pedigree (including social consciousness), the Weakerthans have a trenchant and resonant live show (and they’re fronted by Canada’s poet-singer laureate, Jon K. Samson).

With Brazil’s indie blip-disco superstars, Cansei de sur Sexy, you can xpect fuzz delights for fist-fighters and cardigan-clothed bang-tossers. On the other hand, if everyone in the world listened to the Go! Team pep rallies would be daily and joyous, suicide would cease to exist, playful pillow fights would replace wars, morale would soar to record highs, high-sock sales would skyrocket, dance-offs would supersede verbal arguments, and tears would taste like Kool-Aid. Also, don’t miss the Duke Spirit, MGMT, and the Black Keys.

Now book Tuesday off, stock up on sunscreen, and work on your pronunciation. –S.T.