Coachella Line-up Announced

Yeah yeah, so we’ve been busy and neglected Bembang, what with the holidays, moving, trips to Rome and Amsterdam (Brian), Taiwan and the Philippines (Lille), Chicago and Mexico (Araceli). But even from the remotest mountain in Baguio I have time to post the just-announced Coachella lineup. I’m not super excited about the lineup, but Sunday seems doable. See you guys there?

FRIDAY APRIL 16: Jay-Z, LCD Soundsystem, Them Crooked Vultures, Vampire Weekend, Deadmau5, Public Image Limited, The Specials, Grizzly Bear, Passion Pit, Echo and the Bunnymen, Benny Benassi, Fever Ray, Grace Jones, She & Him, Erol Alkan, The Avett Brothers, Calle 13, The Whitest Boy Alive, The Cribs, La Roux, Yeasayer, Lucero, DJ Lance Rock, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Proxy, Ra Ra Riot, Deer Tick, Wolfgang Gartner, Aeroplane, Iglu & Hartly, Sleigh Bells, P.O.S., Baroness, Hockey, Little Dragon, White Rabbits, Wale, Kate Miller-Heidke, As Tall as Lions, Jets Overhead, Alana Grace, Pablo Hassan.

SATURDAY, APRIL 17: Muse, Faith No More, Tiësto, MGMT, David Guetta, The Dead Weather, Hot Chip, Devo, Coheed and Cambria, Kaskade, 2Many DJ’s, Major Lazer, Dirty Projectors, Gossip, Z-Trip, The xx, John Waters, Les Claypool, The Raveonettes, Mew, Sia, Camera Obscura, Tokyo Police Club, Porcupine Tree, Old Crow Medicine Show, Aterciopalados, Bassnectar, Frightened Rabbit, Dirty South, Flying Lotus, Corinne Bailey Rae, Pretty Lights, Shooter Jennings, RX Bandits, The Almighty Defenders, Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros, Craze & Klever, Zoe, The Temper Trap, Portugal. The Man, Band of Skulls, Girls, Beach House, Steel Train, Frank Turner.

SUNDAY, APRIL 18: Gorillaz, Pavement, Thom Yorke????, Phoenix, Orbital, Spoon, Sly and the Family Stone, De La Soul, Julian Casablancas, Plastikman, Gary Numan, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Sunny Day Real Estate, Yo La Tengo, MUTEMATH, Deerhunter, Infected Mushroom, Club 75, Matt & Kim, The Big Pink, Gil Scott-Heron, King Khan and the Shrines, Florence and the Machine, Yann Tiersen, Little Boots, Miike Snow, Talvin Singh, Ceu, B.o.B., Babasonicos, Owen Pallett, The Glitch Mob, Mayer Hawthorne, Local Natives, Rusko, The Middle East, Hadouken!, The Soft Pack, Kevin Devine, Paparazzi, Delphic, One EskimO.

Tickets for COACHELLA go on sale Friday, January 22 at 10 a.m. at all Ticketmaster locations and www.coachella.com. Three-day weekend passes are $269, plus surcharges.  More details on layaway, camping options and up-to-the minute information, can be found at www.coachella.com.

Lollapalooza Sunday: Choose Or Die

Let’s be honest.  If you paid for a three-day ticket, by Sunday morning you will be fucking exhausted.  You will be cranky.  It will have probably rained twice in two days but yet it’s still 90+ degrees out and humid as all hell.  We’re here to make your decisions for you:

Friendly Fires OR Yello Fever OR RaRaRiot

• Araceli: I may leave it up to a coin toss. Let’s see, Friendly Fires or RaRaRiot…and it’s heads! RaRaRiot it is!!! (ok, I didn’t really flip a coin, but it’s hard choice, Friendly Fires would perhaps be more lively, but RaRaRiot has a great song I want to hear live. (ditto on the press tent, perfect viewing spots too, though Bonnaroo’s VIP camp site was pretty awesome)
• Brian: I have to go with the amorphous anthemic poly-rhythmic Friendly Fires — they pump the kind of  electro-funk that have made !!!, Cut Copy, and Hot Chip my favorite live experiences of the past few years.  This may very well be the best show of the day.
  
• Lille: Did you know that Lollapalooza has the best press tents? They have free granola bars, fresh fruit, FREE BOOZE. Guess where I’m going to be?

Consensus: If you have press credentials make sure to make it really obvious to everyone who paid: eat your free food and drink your free booze in plain sight for all the cultural groundlings to see.  Also mention to everyone you’re only at Lolla because it’s free for you.

Kaiser Chiefs OR He Say, She Say OR The Airborne Toxic Event

• Araceli: Once again, I’m tagging along with Brian (let’s see this white boy dance!)
• Brian: I don’t care for the Kaiser Chiefs — I’m amazed they’re still around.  I’m sticking to the dance-your-ass-off trail and checking out Chicago’s electro-partystarters He Say She Say.
  
• Lille: When in doubt, I always choose the foreign band, just because I never know when they’re going to be in town. I haven’t heard anything new from Britpoprockers Kaiser Chiefs in YEARS, but I did like that one song…what was it called….

Consensus: I predict a riot… at the He Say She Say stage.

The Raveonettes OR The Hood Internet OR Gang Gang Dance OR Dan Deacon

• Araceli: Dan Deacon can kiss my ass. I’m Gang Gang Dance. Laters.
• Brian: As it was at Pitchfork, it is at Lolla. Girltalk killed at Pitchfork and played Lolla’s best set last year.  Spazzy Dan Deacon drew nutso crowds at Pitchfork, he will be a most entertaining show here.  I guarantee mash-up kings Hood Internet will be doing an aftershow somewhere during Lolla weekend — in a setting like this they won’t do much beyond play their singles on a computer.
  
• Lille: I’ve seen Dan Deacon before, and I never know if his sets as performance art stand up with repeated views. However, I’n sure they’re better than the snoozefest from Denmark, surfrockers Raveonettes

Consensus: Dan Deacon: loved by some, baffling to others, blogged by all.

Neko Case OR Glitch Mob OR Vampire Weekend

• Araceli: Neko Case? BORING! Vampire Weekend? DOUCHE BAGS…who the hell is Glitch Mob? Let’s find out. Damn, good thing no one reads this blog…I don’t mean to be this harsh-–bad week.
• Brian: To witness Neko Case live in the flesh is beyond description.  She has a powerful voice that soars mellifluously through even the worst P.A. systems. Vampire Weekend has yet to prove live chops despite having great songwriting abilities. (I just wanted to use the word meliflous.)
  
• Lille: I love Neko Case! She saved my life at Northern California festival Earthdance last year; she was like a military general commanding a sea of dirty hippies. It was awesome.

Consensus: Neko Case pwns the granola crowd, Ezra Koenig’s feelings are hurt, Glitch Mob get a new fan.

Dan Auerbach OR Boys Noise Or Passion Pit OR Cold War Kids

• Araceli: Brian killed himself because he couldn’t choose? Be a man!! I love Cold War Kids, but Passion Pit is pretty fun.
• Brian: Honestly.  You can’t make a bad choice here.  You can make a BETTER choice, but not a bad one. Too many decisions —> brain aneurysm —>  Brian involuntarily chooses death.
• Lille: Fifty percent of the Black Keys is still 100 percent fun. Dan Auerbach FTW!

Consensus: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lou Reed OR Deerhunter Or Snoop Dogg

• Araceli: I saw this incredible Andy Warhol exhibit at the de Young Museum in San Francisco this Spring. I fell in love with Lou Reed there, so I shall see him.
• Brian: I tend to get all the deer and wolf bands confused.  Does Lou Reed do Velvets covers?  I’m would think so.  Lolla is a big, generally uniformed, audience… most big names do “greatest hits” type sets so count me in.  If it’s just his solo stuff, I’ll pass.  Yes, I have just lost cred points.
  
• Lille: How can you go wrong with Lou Reed? Even if you’re not a fan of his solo work (a lot of which is awesome), the Velvet Underground is the backbone of most art rock these days, and you have to pay your respects.

Consensus: Witness the progenitor of modern rock take a walk on the slightly wild side.

Band of Horses OR MSTRKRFT Or Silversun Pickups

• Araceli: I hate when bands play more than one date. Nap time.
• Brian: Meh.  Band of Horses.  Could be a nice, sit on the lawn, recovery type set.
  
• Lille: Gah. Back to the press tent and free booze!

Consensus: Naps and Food

Jane’s Addiction OR The Killers

• Araceli: Jane’s all the way. (Brian, you’re saying that out of spite. I suppose it’s because you’re not from the West Coast).
• Brian: Perry Ferrell once again over-estimates how much people like him.  He booked his lackluster Satellite Party last year for a late-afternoon set, now he books his own comeback as the 2009 closer.  Sorry.  I choose Killers.
  
• Lille: I hate the Killers as much as I love Jane’s Addiction. I disagree with Brian; I think Perry Farrell can still bring it. Go if only to say, “I saw a Jane’s Addiction reunion show, not a lowly band derivative.”

Consensus: Don’t choose shows based on spite; there’s a reason why “Jane Says  (live)”, is available on every jukebox in the country.

Your map, sir:

Passion Pit Drives Them Crazy.

Reviewed Passion Pit for UR Chicago here.

The article is reposted below, and extend it with some more rambling commentary…

In a giddy fit of keyboards, falsettos, and saccharine dance beats, Boston newcomers Passion Pit are charming their way west during their first national tour. P.P. bounced their way through a congenial but criminally short set last night at Schubas, as Michael Angelakos engaged the audience with the same disarming manner and sky-high vocals that seep through every track of his debut EP, Chunk of Change.

The set started out playful and keyboard-heavy with Angelakos’ ear for pop melody pushing to the forefront. Flanked a guitar, drums, two Rolands, a Moog, and sitting behind a Yamaha synth himself, Angelakos’ dare-you-to-sing-higher-than-me octaves pierced through riffs, piano lines, and programmed back-beats. Espousing sentiments that in lower vocal ranges might be cringe inducing diary entries, the proper set ended with the dance-happy electropop of “Sleepyhead” and “Better Things” to which the sellout crowd lost their collective brains to, bloggers and ALTBros alike.

Angelakos apologized repeatedly for the abridged set, but, the audience couldn’t blame them for succinctness – Passion Pit just haven’t been around long enough to have a full set.

In a backstory that’s impossible not to repeat; Passion Pit’s origins couldn’t be more endearing: Originally a late Valentine’s Day present for Angelakos’ g/f, the “Chunk of Change” CDR made the rounds at Emerson University, made waves in Boston, and made headlines after some stellar sets at this year’s CMJ music fest in New York. A few months later, after some east coast practice gigs, they’re on tour backed by new label Frenchkiss, playing the six songs that everyone knows and road-testing a few new ones.

Passion Pit’s sincerity and DIY style fits with just a few other bands who somehow dodge be criticized for being goddamned “sincere” all the time — people have seemed to get really sick of that recently. (The fact that, as 20-something culture consumers, we already have issues with earnestness is fodder for a different blog).

I see Angelakos along side other singer/songwriters like Khaela Maricich (The Blow), Ben Gibbard (a-la The Postal Service), and Robert Wratten (Field Mice) as artists that manage to be shmultsy but nevertheless loveable.

Let it be a lesson to those aspiring coffeehouse guitar wankers… if you’re inspired to put your love / breakup letters to music and share it with the world, do two things:

1. Sing higher and/or softer than you’re comfortable
2. Put some good fucking beats behind it

You’ll be a blogosphere hero in no time.