Coachella: Youtubes and words

Somehow, I have managed to have something to do or distract me at all times the last couple of weeks. I'm playing catch up at all times. So, in light of this, some memorable moments from the Coachella 2009 festival. 

Ravey Tunes

Surkin had already achieved "Download everything this guy puts out immediately" status, and now he has achieved "Ill DJs I will try to see everytime possible" status. Killed it in the afternoon.

Crookers

Y'all know me. I get loose on the reg. I got loose for Crookers. They started with a punch in the face and kept it going. When you open it with this banging Major Lazer song, and you've got a pretty dope Italian hypeman people respond to, I am able to get loose. I sprinted into the tent right then and partied the hardest of the weekend during this song.  (Major Lazer, which is Diplo and Switch btw, is already my CD of the summer, after having heard 2 songs.) 

AND THEY PLAYED THE TOAD SONG!(at 22 seconds)

I had downloaded this song off the Mad Decent blog (where else, right?), and thought it was retarded. I WAS WRONG! It is actually the best song of the year, and it was so sweet live. It is infectious too. It goes great with Mario Kart or trying to dance your blues away after a Laker loss. 

Download: Toad's theme

Mad Decent write up of the song

Related: I noticed a strong generation gap between the DJs at Coachella. I felt so much more energy coming from Crookers and Surkin than vets like Felix or the Chemical Bros. Those old guys, and Felix is the posterboy for this, are stuck in the DJ as an idol who controls the crowd and is there to be worshipped. I saw about 30 minutes of Felix before I got fed up with waiting years for buildups to drop with Felix holding his hand up to try and get us pumped. I attribute this to the breakup of the DJ/crowd divide. Once upon a time, DJs were held up as the bridge between electronic artists and the fans. It required tons of time and money to become a DJ. What they did was a beautiful mystery to the average person and the crowd would have complete trust in their DJ to be playing the hot shit. The landscape has completely changed. Everyone's tried DJing on their own. Everyone has downloaded all these songs from hypemachine. The cover's been blown. It's not about you anymore, DJ, its about the crowd. Anyone can do this, it's not hard. Cut the weak theatrics, rock the party, and do some creative mixing. I'm not down with dudes sitting on their electronic royal chair when the young guns are more loose-friendly. 

Non-ravey tunes

By Sunday evening, I was running on fumes. Sunday's lineup had dead time unlike any other Coachella I had been to. On a whim, I went to check out Devandra Barnhart's set in the small Gobi tent. All I knew about the dude was he is classified as "freak folk" and was suggested to us by pretentious people who we had little musical taste in common. When we got there, the place was rocking and it turned out to be the most pleasant surprise of the festival. Dude could be the smoothest cruise ship lounge singer ever. 

By the end, I was satisfied that after 3 years, I have pretty much "done Coachella" as hard as I could. I don't know if I will be back next year (definitely not camping), but I know without the same people, it will not be nearly as great an experience. (That is the sappiest I will ever get on this blog.)

Get Up, The Sun's Out, Where Are We?

This Post to be Aurally Accompanied By:
The Tough Alliance - Neo Violence (SHAZAM Remix)

This post, like the last one, is best enjoyed while listening to the extremely groovy 70's (if that decade was more about X than blow) style synth-laden dance number up there. If that shit doesn't get your toe tapping a little bit not only are you probably not alive, but you were probably a very uninteresting and timid person during your mediocre and conventional life.

Which brings us to THIS and THIS. Basically, the internets (and my brain) are aflame with rampant speculation about the 2009 Coachella line-up, with questions #'s 1 - 867 being: WHERE THE FUCK IS IT. Question #868 is: Please god tell me that the Britney Spears rumor is just some sick sick joke. I mean, Jack Johnson headlining is some weak shit, but it wasn't actually REPELLLENT. I don't care if Britney is stuck on the Outdoor Theatre or in the Navajo Tent (or whatever the smallest one is) at 12:30, competing with AC Slater and some Peruvian Flute Band (that uses electro-flutes made of eco-trash or some shit whatever) and the 110 degree heat.... SHE SHOULD NOT BE AT COACHELLA. That being said, if they do put her in said situation she will probably die of heatstroke, so there's that, and all the gay dudes who drive down from W. Hollywood would be pretty stoked, and it's good to keep them happy, to avoid fashion crimes.
Which brings us back to the semi-realistic rumors. The 'confirmed' bands have been 'confirmed' by people on the Coachella message board e-mailing/myspacing them... so who knows. But most of these make a lot of sense, and aren't big enough to have label shills screening their email yet...

The Bug - Wicked rad English grimy dubstep-ish from the old school. A-
Buraka Som Sistema - These guys are actually confirmed by Goldenvoice (coachella organizers). Kuroda (African break beat) dudes from Portugal. International fat beats. B
Crystal Castles - Come on, you should know them. A man and a lady from Germany who switch between raping my ears with horrible distorted vocals and making sweet love to them with chewy beats that make you want to move like a big rubber band. A-
Drop The Lime - NYC blog house extraordinaire. Domestic fat beats. B
Fleet Foxes - Folk. Some people like soft songs, some don't. If you like tender songs with acoustic guitars and lyrics that make me want to sit alone in a forest looking for gnomes (maybe that's just me) you would not be disappointed by blazing a fattie and lying back for their performance. B-
Flying Lotus - Instrumental beat production from the city of angels. LA's answer to J-Dilla...but alive and making fresh shit. This is what the Neptunes would sound like if they hated selling out and did a lot of acid and maybe moved to Morocco for a bit. If the Dailai Lama was a gangsta rapper Flying Lotus would definitely produce his debut. SO SICK. A+
Girl Talk - If you don't know who Girl Talk is you should probably not go to Coachella. A
No Age - More of the nuevo Los Angeles vanguard of independent music, with a similar ethos but almost inverse implementation as Flying Lotus. Two guys with guitars and a drum set and some effects pedals and an inspiring ability to shape noise and intertwine it with fun punk songs about being dead and other such things. If all the broken guitar amplifiers in the world gained sentience and started a music scene these guys would be like the fucking Ramones, but sadder. Music to lie down in the middle of the street to. A+
Late of the Pier - Really silly Nu-Rave (I promise I didn't make that term up) from ye olde U.K. that brings the ability to get you grooving while still including somewhat useless guitar solos. If the Klaxons were raised by carnies. Listening to their album feels kind of like going to RAVE: THE MUSICAL, but I kind of dig that - I imagine a lot of really extravagant set pieces and 90 kids in stunna shades and neon tank tops and skinny pants all rocking out in sync. B+
The Presets - 'Popular' Australian electro. If you meet an Australian hipster you should tell them you like the Presets before they sold out. Doesn't mean that you can't enjoy breaking it down to big electro synths and 4/4 backbeats occasionally, even if their singer does sound like he should maybe be in a Tears for Fears cover band. B-

All of these bands (if they actually are in the line-up, which I'd guess is like 70-80% likely) are probably going to be stuck playing in the no-man's time of 12:30-3:30, when the sun is at its apex, and most everyone is distracted from the music by the ever-looming threat of heat stroke. This is kind of bullshit, but seems to be some sort of rite of passage for new Coachella bands. Like hazing the rookie. Two years ago we saw Hot Chip at like 2:30 and I honest to god saw someone just up and fucking melt into a big puddle of goo in the middle of the tent. Last year they got a 5:30 slot. By that logic I'm hoping two of my favorite beat droppers - Deadmau5 & Boysnoize - who got early slots last year will be scheduled for a more reasonable hour this time. That being said, all of these acts are pretty quality, and if this is the pre-dusk line-up then the Coachella people got their heads on straight. This is the real shit. Even worth leaving the shade tents before 3:00....



BONUS: How sick is this? Basketball, much more so than football or baseball, presents the capacity for individual style and expression (which is of course the motivation for a website like freedarko [whom i am kind of ripping off]), and a clip like this makes you realize both the sort of crazy shit that NBA athletes could pull off, and how little they try. If I don't see one Wade-LeBron-Dwight double oop during the All-Star game I want my emotional investment back. That shit would be like Cirque du OH SNAP!

p.s. - click the band names