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”.

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