Quarterlifeparty

Coachella 2008 Saturday

The Bird and the Bee
Was pleasantly surprised by this cute and witty set. Inar George has a beautiful voice, and I had no idea she had worked with so many other artists including Lilly Allen, Kylie Minogue, and RHCP. The cuteness of the songs were offset by her witty banter as she told members of the crowd that she would “Dickslap” them if they didn’t sing with the song. This was shortly after a mini cyclone went through coachella turning up recycle bins, garbage bags, and umbrella’s upwards of 500 feet. I seriously thought someone was going to get impaled by the umbrella when it came down.

The Teenagers
Brent: I stayed for this entire set, mainly because there wasn’t much else to see. But in defense of the Teenagers they were pretty fun. The music isn’t anything mind blowing, but they pull it off. They lost my attention once they brought some fans on stage playing their best song right before that. Ryan: After two songs i was already super bored with these guys. There seemed to be more focus on the posturing than the actual music, which lacked energy and any sense of fun,imo . The style of the vocals, almost a spoken word at times, was enough to put me over the edge and leave to go next door to check out indie rap-newcomerUffie.

Uffie
Walked into a pretty crowded dance tent where the front 10% was pretty into it. I tried to get into it as much as them, but i couldn’t get over just how much she seemed just like another grime-rapperala Dizzy Rascal/Lady Sovereign. Only not nearly as good. The songs seemed to lack the “in your face” style that that genre of rap is more known for. 2 songs into that set I was bored and ready to go see if The Teenagers had gotten any better. Verdict: no. So it was onto band three..

VHS or Beta
I had just seen these guys play at The Ottobar in what i would consider an above-average performance. Thus they weren’t really on my radar going into the festival. Thankfully The Teenagers andUffie weren’t doing it for me because these guys were great. It was one of those times where you truly realize how important the sound guy/venue is. They sounded 1000 times better on the main stage than they did at the small stage at TheOttobar , and everything sounded better because of it. Much better. They had a lot of energy and were genuinely grateful for being there, saying “playing at coachella is a dream, what a great weekend of great bands”. You couldn’t help but dance to the infectiousness of their electronic rock. Third times a charm I guess.

Man Man
While i can see how their style/sound could be an acquired taste, I really enjoyed it. The 4 member band played in the middle of the stage all facing towards each other, and times their show looked more like performance art than a musical act. The lead singer, who sounded like a indie Tom Waits, was all over the place, jumping in and out of his chair an helping in the percussion dept. by hitting anything and everything within site. Instruments i saw played at one point or another in the set: drums, keyboards, flute keyboard-recorder, guitar, saxophone, flute, xylophone, kazoo, spoons, bells, i lost count. I imagine seeing them in a small venue would be a ton of fun. Tom Waits meets Gogol Bordelo meets Menomena.

Minus the Bear
I missed them in 06′ regrettably and have been trying to see them live every since. They played on the outdoor stage, which sounded amazing as far as sound quality goes throughout the entire festival. Minus the Bear have some of the best interweaving guitar work I have hear din a long time. The finger tapping and constant dynamic change-ups were awe inspiring. I mean, they just have a great band all around. I even think the vocals, which was the hardest thing for me to get over on their albums, sound best live. They closed with an excellent “Absinthe Party at theFlyhouse” which is a perfect summer festival song and got many audience members jumping around.

Devotchka
Needs to be seen in a smaller venue. They put on a great show and sounded good, but in the festival setting it was pretty tough to get into. Right when we were leaving they had cloth streamers hang down from the roof that they had scantily clad acrobats twirling around. The members of the band where dressed formally and drinking wine in 100 degree heat,oof . In the blazing sun, on the outdoor stage, in 100+ degree heat is pretty much the complete opposite environment this band should be seen in. We made note to be sure to check them out next time they came to town.

Cold War Kids
MGMT looked like they were getting the crowd going in the Gobi tent but since we had caught them in philly a few months ago we decided to head over to the main stage for a scorching Cold War Kids Set. i really didn’t think they could play a stage that big. Listening to their album, I liked it, but it also seemed a little forced, like they were trying too hard to create a unique sound instead of just being themselves. Well, all of that changed with this set, as they really blew me away. I was actually disappointed that I didn’t see the entire set. Thatrootsy, bluesy sound blasted loud on a good sound system, amps up the intensity and lead singer Nathan Willett has some crazy energy on stage. The best thing of all was that they played some new songs that sounded great, really looking forward to their new album.

Boys Noize
Ryan: I knew nothing about this band other than two things: the coachella message boards had a post raving about this guy, and one of the guys with us said he had heard the same from another festival-goer. So when MGMT was literally packed to the brims, i thought “why not” and headed over to the next door dance tent. Whenever there is a lull in mycoachella schedule, which is rare, i usually head over to the dance tent, because the sound is amazing and dance acts are usually best experienced in an interactive (danceable) environment such as a festival. Man am i glad i did. This was possibly the best act i saw all weekend in the dance tent.

Sure you could say he was just a regular DJ who sampled Justice and Daft Punk, but the way in which he did it, totally tweaking out the sample to have a different tempo, rhythm, and sometimes even pitch, was able to make the entire set both recognizable yet fresh. At one point he had Daft Punk’s “Steam Machine” on loop and 3/4’s of the audienc
e started flashing the unofficial Daft Punk 2007 Tour symbol (making a pyramid with your hands), which made me feel right at home. I was planning on only staying for a bit because i didn’t want to miss StephenMalkmus , but I was having so much fun i ended up staying ’til the last note. Worth every second. And the fact that he had a disco-mirror encrusted skull as his logo? How didn’t i think of that?

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
I would put Malkmus’s face melting set in the top 5 of Coachella 08′. I had no idea how much of a guitar virtuoso he was. The way he throws in off key elements on purpose with weird tunings and surprising change-ups makes it an exciting listen. He knew well how to get the crowd interested, making some good jokes about screaming “ElmoDelmo” across the valley and making a few awkwardly bad, but funny, jokes throughout the set. “baltimore” was a winner, they really blew out the song. Malkmu’s guitar was really, really loud and I came out of that set slightly deaf.

Hot Chip
Hot Chip came to Coachella as a dance band. They usually are very dancy, but when I had seen them before they had been less beat heavy. They got the crowd going strong and it was a fun set. The tent was totally packed and everyone seemed to be enjoying it, and for the most part we did as well. I think Cut Copy tainted us in that genre though.

Kraftwerk
This is music that will hypnotize you. I’m not sure exactly what the guys in Kraftwerk do during the show because they kind of just stand there but it still sounded great. The visualizations were really well done and had that retro-futuristic feel. It’s cool seeing where daft punk got their influence from and to see some musicians that old still putting their very relevant music out there live.

Animal Collective
We wanted to get to Portishead before it started but really tried to go and catch animal collective’s set. Unfortunately they started very late and we didn’t get a chance to hear any of it. Can’t catch them all.

Portishead
Really intense and amazing performance. I think I actually like their new album better than their old stuff. It’s darker and less trip-hoppy. The old songs sounded great but the new songs were the most intense. “The Rip” off of Third was a highlight for me, as that cycling electronic sound just grows and gives you the shivers. They were so good that Jim James, of MMJ, gave them props the next day by saying something like “Listening to Portishead is like being trapped in a crazy fun house nightmare and her voice is like a witch leading you through it”. I couldn’t have explained it better. Top 5 overall performance of the weekend.

Prince
I mean, it’s prince. What can I say other than he is amazing. SO effortless of a performer, specifically on his guitar solos, which were plentiful in this set. He just goes off on his guitar the entire time. He came out explaining that “You are now at the coolest place on earth” and I don’t think there was a member of the audience who disagreed. Morris Day and the Time came out with Sheila E busting it out on drums. The purple one played way past thecurfew , ending his set at 1AM. Highlights (other than all the hits) were a cover he did of “Creep”, and ending the set with “Purple Rain”. Or so we thought…then he came back out saying “they told me i couldn’t come back out, but i couldn’t stop myself” and ripped into “Let’s Go Crazy”. It was hysterical to see everyone: hippies, hipsters, pinkfloyd heads, etc dancing around to “And if de-elevator tries 2 bring u down”.

Tags: coachella

We made it back from coachella with everything mostly intact, thanks to not camping and scoring a sick condo, except for a loss of feeling in our feet and some tight backs. Once again, Coachella was a great experience. We didn’t want to do any live blogging because we would rather sit back and enjoy the festival, and our lazy river and hot tub mornings (This years theme was “Roughing it is Overrated”), instead of typing away at a computer like we do every other day. So we spent our time watching the bands, laughing at LA’s ability to overdo any fashion fad, most the time overdoing more than one at the same time (who knew neon-indian was such a popular look), and eating hamburger-itos. So here is our coachella rundown day-by-day as written by Brent and Ryan.

Friday:

Rogue Wave
It was disappointing at the beginning probably due to some sound problems, song selection, and them being the first band: it might take some time for them to get into it. But by the end of the set they were a good Coachella kickoff, taking a good 5 minute drum jam and transitioning into an excellent sun-in-your-face festival song “Lake Michigan”. I had seem them before, opening for Feist, and they were better in a small venue, but by the end of the set I wasn’t disappointed.

Midnight Juggernauts
Our friend Marc recommended these guys and it ended up being one of the pleasant surprises of the festival. Neither of us had heard anything from them other than some remixes, so we were surprised when we stepped into the dance tent only to find an entire live band making such electronic robot goodness. It wasn’t long before we were dancing ourselves in the middle of day. Plus is was fun to hear daft-punk-esque robot vocals being sung live. Excellent grooving bass lines that kept the crowd going.

Battles
Couldn’t even see what was going on on stage we were so far back. They sounded great, but we only stayed for one song, making note that we need to see them in a club up close. So we were off to…

Les Savy Fav
One of the highlights of the Festival. I had seen pictures of their sets before and had listened to the album I have a lot, but never put the two together. I don’t think any of us were ready for Tim Harrington’s on stage (and off stage) antics which included rubbing a huge block of ice on his bare chest, running around with a plastic trash bag “toga”, going under the stage to supposedly smoke weed with some concert workers, and taking his mic and chord 50 yards into the audience almost managing to strangle a few crowd members. One of the worst mistakes of the festival was when we left to see the disappointing black kids and missed the end of the set where he climbed up about 50 ft to the top of the stage. I would compare it to seeing a pudgier Zach Galifianakis play in a band. Insanely awesome.

Black Kids
Complete disappointment, going from Les Savy Fav to them was like brushing your teeth and then drinking orange juice. Sure, they sounded fine, just like on the album. But their energy is empty, and totally lacking. Its amazing when you can see a show like The Black Lips, who are nowhere near as polished or possibly “talented” but just had this great genuine quality to them, and then you can see The Black Kids who have good songs but are unable to perform them live. I realize the band has literally only been around for about 6 months or something, so i give them the benefit of the doubt of being new to it and still working out the kinks, but come on. I know it was hot, but don’t tell Mr. Harrington that.

Dan Deacon
It’s weird to live in Baltimore and have Coachella be the first time seeing Dan Deacon. We have been pretty much just not into the whole Dan Deacon thing, mainly because we aren’t huge fans of the music. Seeing him live gave me a new perspective on him and I can see why he is getting all this hype. That being said, it felt like I was in kindergarten at the show. He does have some good crowd experiments going on during the show with people line up to snake a tunnel throughout the set, and then creating a large people cyclone that spreads out throughout the entire set. It’s more performance art than music, if you consider sesame street for indie kids performance art. The music didn’t sound too bad, but it’s not necessarily something I would just throw on at home. And if you don’t involve yourself in the crowd and the “games” then your probably not going to like it, except for having something neat to watch for a few songs.

Jens Lekman
The guy has a great voice, sounding a lot like Morissey. The group is the most Swedish looking band I have ever seen with a beautiful blond drummer. The songs sounded good but I think I like listening to the cd more than I like seeing him live. I think it was a little disappointing seeing a laptop run the backbeats. He sounds like a mix between Peter, Bjorn & John and Belle & Sebastian, so probably pretty good summer music.

The Breeders
I only saw a couple songs so I could get up close for Cut Copy. The Breeders started out very rough. Kim Deal was as crazy as ever, stopping in the middle of the first song because of a fuck up and then beginning the song all over again. I don’t even know the breeders songs that well, but that was a bad first impression. Other than that, they sounded pretty good.

Cut Copy
One of the highlights of the festival, Cut Copy blew people’s socks off with their 80’s dance/rock-rave, frequently counting down to the breaks, leaving the audience jumping up and down halfway back in the tent or more. The audience got more and more into it with every song. The entire set there was a massive beach ball with the home-town Australian flag on it being bounced around the crowd as people lost their shit. Their new album is great, and they perform it live with precision and a ton of energy. I have been waiting to see them since their debut album came out in 2004 and they didn’t disappoint. Probably my top non-main stage act of t
he festival.

Vampire Weekend
We only caught the last song “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” after watching the entire Cut Copy show, but I was impressed. I expected Vampire Weekend to be another Black Kids let down, but they totally weren’t as they played with some good energy. They had a good time of day set as they played the outdoor theater at sunset for dramatic effect. As expected there was a massive crowd.

Diplo
Expected less of a traditional trance/dj show since all I know of diplo is from M.I.A albums and a Fabric Live cd I have. Wasn’t very impressed with the set so we left after about 15 minutes to catch…

The Raconteurs
Anything with Jack White in it is pretty badass. The new songs sound good. I didn’t realize Jack White was such a good piano player.

Aphex Twin
Not what I expected at all. We left after about 10 minutes and kept walking back near the tent hoping for something different but kept hearing the same drum n bass beats. I thought it might be more ambient or atmospheric, but what we heard is music that you might hear at any other drum n bass show. Biggest disappointment of the festival for me.

The Verve
I now understand why Richard Ashcroft is considered the shit in England. His voice sounds awesome live. “The Drugs Don’t Work” was probably the highlight of the set and seeing “Bittersweet Symphony” performed on an epic scale live reinvigorated that song for me after hearing it 50 bajillion times on the radio. They even have new songs that they played that sounded just as good as their original material, how often do you hear that.

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
Saw a couple songs in this set and the first thing that came to mind was: “now THIS is how you do soul music”. Amy Winehouse could learn a few tricks from Sharon about how to put on an entertaining show. When we got there Sharon was propositioning a bashful indie guy on stage during the song “Your Gonna Get It”. She was hip-thrusting the guy the entire song, which the crowd found hysterical. Then she went into “100 days, 100 nights”, which was perfect. I only caught 2 songs, but the tent was packed and everyone was LOVING it. Will definitely have to check her out next time she is in town. Top Knotch

Spank Rock
Hurried over to catch these guys and found Devlin and Darko doing a standard DJ set. They seemed to be almost stalling for something, when finally a girl came out and started singing some of Spank’s lyrics. Something was up. After about 20 minutes of the set, one of the girls announced that Spank was sick and wouldn’t be making it. Damnit. I can understand why they didn’t let us know that to begin with (everyone would have left), but they really should have…especially when there are 4 other bands i could have been catching at that moment. Spank Rock apparently partied too hard at the show in l.a. the night before and was too sick to make it. I’m not sure if that is true, just trying to start some rumors.(Update: turns out he was legitimately sick and may have even been getting surgery the very second i was pissed for having left The Verve early to see them).

Black Lips
3 of our group left after the first song (Ryan included…not my thang), and I was tempted to leave as well but stuck around and the music surprisingly grew on me as the set went on, as my friend stated. They came onto the stage, in what looked like, a total state of plowed-ness and tore into their noise-punk songs. We found out the next day in the lazy river they ended the set by lighting their guitar on fire, smashing it and throwing the pices out into the crowd. Nice.

Fatboy Slim
I (ryan) dragged myself over to the fatboy slim set at the dance tent. Mainly because in 2005 after bloc party, me and Marisa went over to check out The Chemical Brothers after Bloc Party and had a great time. Well, not sure what if it was the jet lag, the 12 hours of being on my feet, or the fact that in 2005 i was 26 and now i am 29, but i wasn’t feeling it. His set started out well enough…entering the stage in the middle of a huge Charlie and The Chocolate Factory montage playing behind him but then the music started and similar to diplo it sounded like a standard DJ set with flourishes of his 90’s hits thrown in there. Everyone else seemed to be having a great time, so maybe i was just tired. So with that we made our way back to the car (and air conditioned condo)….with a successful day 1 in the books.

UPDATE: Thanks to photographer Clifton Stubblefield for letting me use his picture of Les Savy Fav’s Tim Harrington up on top of the outdoor stage. That’s one crazy dude.

Tags: coachella

“When pigs fly away, Coachella offers reward “

We are all speculating on this at the end of the Roger Waters show when the giant pig was just let go. “Did Pink Floyd usually just let all their pigs go?” , “Is there some Pink Floyd fan tripping his face off driving a fan trying to follow the pig right this moment?”.

Anyway, Sign on San Diego has reported that it was a mistake and they are offering a $10,000 reward and four Coachella tickets.

Tags: coachella, pig , pink foyd , roger waters

Before we get to our Coachella rundowns, I thought this moment we had at Coachella deserved a special Superficial type post, yes we “met” David Hasslehoff himself.

So the story begins with me needing to trek across the outdoor stage area to use the bathroom with Ryan and his girlfriend Jill following behind me. I think I had been holding it in for a few sets so I was pretty much running to the port-o-pots. When I came out after one of the longest urinations ever in my life, there was a lot of commotion. I look to Ryan and he explains to me “I Just saw the Hoff”. I didn’t believe him at first, but then I just had to look to my left and there he was standing at least 6′4 taking pictures with some of the fans. I would have liked a photo opp myself but I didn’t really feel like “Hassling” The Hoff.

Step a few minutes back to when I was cramped in the port-o-pot. Ryan was on the outside, David Hasslehoff was exiting his own port-o-pot where he, without hesitation, said “What’s Up Hoff”. Jill went in right after him to find that he lifts up the seat, but doesn’t put it back down (shame on you Hasslehoff).

And just to prove that we met the prophet of the German people, Michael Knight, here is a crappy cell phone picture. I used enhanced photographic digital imaging technology to zoom in and clear up the photo.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x20v9F-sWHQ&hl=en]

Tags: coachella, hasslehoff

*Unessecary Sarcastic Post Alert*

Take that All Points West, Bonarroo and ALl Tomorrow’s Parties, we’ve got Penn!

I was looking over Ryan’s finely tuned Coachella schedule with all the pretty color codes when I almost shit myself to see Sean Penn not only playing once at Coachella, but twice. The Coachella message boards are abuzz and waiting in anxiety questioning what he will be doing there.

Will he be reenacting a scene from Dead Man Walking? Doing an Into The Wild Puppet Show? Or maybe he has a band like the Bacon Brothers or 80 Odd Foot of Grunt.

Here are some other ideas people had from the message board:

Performing a kick-ass dance music set?
He’s gonna sing “Woolly Boolly” like in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”.
yeahhhh baby talk to me about politics allllll night!!!!!! not just 15 minutes!!!!!
Hurly Burly screening with cocaine commentary

So In honor of this special event here are some Sean Penn clips:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueCzVg6-krM&hl=en]

Tags: coachella, sean penn

Heading to Coachella? Think that Coachooser thing is gay? Your OCD like me? You just happen to prefer your Coachella set list in pastel colors?

You have come to the right place. Every year I put together a nifty little coachella spreadsheet that makes it easier to make split decisions while dehydrated in the dessert. If you know Excel, each worksheet is a day, and if printed in landscape it should fill up a sheet of paper. So enjoy, and see you at the fest.

Download the Set Times.

Tags: coachella

At 4AM (oof) Thursday morning I will be on my way to my 5th consecutive Coachella Music Festival. You would think by now I would be used to the 100+ degree temps. I don’t think you can ever get used to that. This year I opted for a condo rental (with a lazy river!!) instead of the normal camping, so hopefully that should help. Waking up at 6AM in a 90 degree tent doesn’t make for a a very energized festival-goer.

To celebrate Coachella, as well as the official start to the music festival season, here is a “little” mix I put together of some of the bands playing this year. The mix is in the order the bands will appear at the fest. We will be sure to report back on the fest as soon as we get back.

UPDATE: Due to being strong-armed by “the man” we had to take down the mix. If you really would still like it. I’m sure i could think of something.

Tags: Mobtown MixTags: coachella

And as much as i am looking forward to Roger Waters…his 2 and a half hour set is really screwing me up, since Justice and Chromeo play during that same time. Some tough decisions will have to be made indeed. As always during coachella.

Get the set times here (on the right side under downloads).

Tags: coachella

Weak lineup my ass.

Prince has been added as the Saturday headliner. Prepare for the purple one to melt my face with purple rain. Cheesy, i know, but lay off…i’m excited.

quote of the day from my girlfriend: “i hope he wears ass-less pants”

UPDATE: Here is one of my favorite video’s of Prince at the rock n roll hall of fame induction ceremonies, doing the guitar solo in a rendition of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. Amazing stuff at the 3:30 mark:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5zOPGMIyMQ&hl=en]

Tags: coachellaTags: prince