Coachella 2012
A little late I know. This year was a lot harder for me to digest for
whatever reason. The 4 people I went with went through varying
levels of hating me for my ridiculous antics and I was so
exhausted I left halfway through Dre's overrated / gimmicky set.
And yet, whoa dude -- i'm so ready to use another 40% of my
vacation time (i get 5 days off per year) on bonnaroo. |
| 1 | | Friday
April 13, 2012
While sputnikers klap4music and lucidity are telling me The Rapture and
Refused were sets i really shouldn't have missed, i feel worse about
missing the black angels and explosions in the sky. You can't see them all
though, and here's the ones I did catch at least part of. |
| 2 |  | Kendrick Lamar
Section 80
* I'm a pretty big Kendrick fan so the star is probably more out of respect
for him than his performance. He's new at commanding large crowds and
found grooves at times but wasn't quite as good as I had hoped. Still
would totally see him again as he's gotten tons of upside and performed
well with Dre on the last day. |
| 3 |  | Yuck
Yuck
Very indie, didn't stick around for long |
| 4 |  | Breakbot
Happy Rabbit EP
He wasn't bad per se, but SebastiAn was just so many steps ahead of him,
it's hard to give him much credit |
| 5 |  | SebastiAn
Total
** This guy killed it. With anarchistic visuals and pounding bass, this
cigarette smoking alcohol drinking edm artist should be on your to-see list.
Unless bumping house isn't your thing. |
| 6 |  | Ximena Sarinana
Mediocre
Perhaps an appropriately labeled LP -- I didn't stick around for long |
| 7 |  | Neon Indian
Era Extrana
* I only heard a bit but I would gladly have stayed longer |
| 8 |  | Feed Me
To the Stars
* Always solid |
| 9 |  | Arctic Monkeys
Favourite Worst Nightmare
* Bumping older stuff was a welcome sight. Stayed long enough to hear
Brianstorm, House is a Circus and Still take You Home and was glad to have
done so. |
| 10 |  | Madeon
39 Song Pop Mashup
** This 17 year old knows how to control a crowd, has excellent taste in
music and has incredible flow. Another must see for fans of EDM. |
| 11 |  | Frank Ocean
Nostalgia, Ultra
I was unimpressed with the few tracks I bothered to hear |
| 12 |  | Mazzy Star
Among My Swan
In my mind, Hope Sandoval should only ever be paired with Massive Attack.
Would revisit them perhaps, but they weren't doing it for me on day 1. |
| 13 |  | The Black Keys
Rubber Factory
* For all the criticisms i generally throw at the black keys for being not being
inventive enough or not deserving the immense praise they're consistently
being given, i have to give credit where credit is due. they opened their set
admirably, blaring the blues at you with |
| 14 |  | M83
Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Biggest disappointment of Coachella for me. I managed to catch almost the
entire set and still missed 'Midnight City' but generally found things to be
uninspired and dull. I like their brand of indie meets upbeat electronic, but
they weren't working it out from what I saw. |
| 15 |  | Amon Tobin
ISAM
* Always worth it. Chaotic visual setup and bizarre, twisted interesting
vibes helped close out the night. Had I not been exhausted and already
seen the set, it probably would have merited two stars. |
| 16 |  | The Horrors
Skying
Was not the time or place for me to discover the Horrors |
| 17 |  | Swedish House Mafia
Until One
* Didn't see more than a couple songs on my way out, but the wild visuals
in what appeared to be an mdma fest had me surprisingly intrigued |
| 18 | | Saturday
April 14, 2012
Also known as omg i'm gonna see radiohead today omg i'm gonna see
radiohead today |
| 19 |  | Childish Gambino
Camp
Donald Glover you are a hilarious actor. Now people stop telling him he's
actually good at rapping or else he'll keep doing it. |
| 20 | | Jacques Lu Cont
Jacques Lu Cont
not in the database, and i wasn't shown enough during his fairly boring set
to add him. |
| 21 |  | Zeds Dead
Rude Boy
* Always bring just the right amount of filthstep |
| 22 |  | tUnE-yArDs
w h o k i l l
* I only caught the last song, but i was bouncing up and down and
enjoying myself |
| 23 |  | Andrew Bird
Break It Yourself
I don't understand what everyone else sees. I mean I liked hearing a violin
for a change, but somehow I wasn't really feeling it, and I was right in the
thick of things. |
| 24 |  | Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
* Seemed to be a happy drugged out crowd |
| 25 |  | The Shins
Port of Morrow
** An excellent set. While a couple of the new tracks weren't as good as
the others, the nostalgia evoked by songs off their first 3 lps, coupled with
a shockingly excellent cover of pink floyd's 'speak to me / breathe' did
wonders. |
| 26 |  | Flying Lotus
Cosmogramma
** The beaming flylo probably played the best i've seen from him (and i've
seen him on 3 other occasions). He has a way with truncating remixed
songs and having his way with them that's fascinating, his rendition of
idioteque was the best remix i've heard, and his new material was
impressive. |
| 27 |  | Bon Iver
Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Didn't engage me. Couldn't match flylo's intensity and really just made me
more anxious for radiohead. |
| 28 |  | Radiohead
Hail to the Thief
** I'm such a fanboy. 2 hours of radiohead, about 50 feet back with cool
visuals. I could ramble and ramble but there's really little point. I was so
hyped up that I barely slept, and it cost me the next day. |
| 29 | | Sunday
April 15, 2012
Just because one is able to sneak a plastic bottle of vodka past security
does not mean one should drink most of said vodka in the morning before
coachella. |
| 30 |  | Porter Robinson
Spitfire
* This gunslinger rarely misses his mark |
| 31 |  | The Weeknd
House of Balloons
Perhaps not experienced enough, perhaps limited by their genre, they
always seem so close to getting it. But they were unfortunately unable to
perform in front of an incredibly large crowd at the outdoor stage. |
| 32 |  | Calvin Harris
Ready For The Weekend
Exactly what you'd expect. Don't know why I was expecting it to be
otherwise. |
| 33 |  | Justice
Cross
* Short but intense set. |
| 34 |  | At the Drive-In
Relationship Of Command
* So I can't stand Post Hardcore and I gave this album a 2 / 5. But Omar's
so damn good that he brought it live and people were moshing and having
a great time all around. |
| 35 |  | DJ Shadow
The Less You Know The Better
* Wait that was Zack de la Rocha on stage with him? Sweet mann |
| 36 |  | Snoop Dogg
Doggystyle
The original bill said Dre was headlining, but it was Snoop that seemed
more in the limelight and I found this disappointing. Sure it was cool that
they brought a hologram on stage in recognition of someone who's meant
a lot to west coast rap, but even that harped on the 2pac's still alive theme
that I personally have grown weary of at this point. I would rather have
heard eminem and dre sing 'what's the difference between me and you'
and then hear dre sing 'the watcher' and a bunch of tracks off the chronic,
but he's playing to his crowd. And the crowd liked it so I guess that's cool. |
| 37 |  | Upcoming Festivals:
|
| 38 |  | Richie Hawtin
DE9 | Closer to the Edit
EDC New York - May 19-20 |
| 39 |  | Red Hot Chili Peppers
Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Bonnaroo - June 7-10 |
| 40 |  | Big Boi
Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
Camp Bisco - July 12-14 |
|
