Justin Bieber, experimenal ambient prodigy?

The first time I heard of Justin Bieber was last summer in the morning before I went to work. I was living in New York, and because it took me almost an hour to get to work in New Jersey everyday, I woke up fairly early and watched some VH1 music video show. There was this little kid on TV with Usher standing next to him. I was confused to say the least, but I just left it at that.

Skip over the Bieber fever that has been 2010 thus far, and we arrive at this: a version of Bieber’s song “U Smile” digitally slowed down 800%.

J. BIEBZ – U SMILE 800% SLOWER by Shamantis

As you could probably guess, you can’t make out a single lyric of the song. But what’s astounding is how well this song would fit alongside songs by artists like Stars of the Lid, Fennesz, or Gas. The track is thirty-five minutes long and plays like an incredibly crafted ambient or experimental micro-sounds record.

I have been listening to more pop music lately, and after hearing the original version of this song, I’ve gotta admit that there’s something to it. After all of my trying to ignore this kid, I guess it’s finally time to go grab the Bieber album…

(via NPR’s All Songs Considered Blog)

Oh, hello childhood. Nice to see you again.

(via OneCoolThingADay.com)

Kid Sister throwin it down at the Mad Decent Block Party L.A.

Mad Decent, a Philidelphia-based record label headed by Diplo, has put on block parties in Philly for the past couple years, but 2010 is the first time that it’s taken the show on the road. This year they’re hitting up three more cities. So far they’ve hit Philly and New York, and next weeks they’ll be off to Chicago, but today the show descended on L.A.

When we got to the “Premier Events Center”, which was essentially a city block in the gentrified part of downtown a few seconds from skid row, not too much was going on. We wandered around a bit, sat on the curb and talked, and made our way to the stage once Maluca started her set. I’ve heard of Maluca before, but never listened to her music. I’d liken it to Buraka Som Sistema, but the fact that my knowledge of anything characterized as “experimental tropical punk, ghettotech and hip-house” is quite limited, that might be a cheap comparison. Anyways, her set was great. She had two dancers up on stage, which gave the show some personality and livened up what could have turned run-of-the-mill very quickly (not that her music isn’t intriguing, but one girl and a DJ on stage aren’t much to look at.)

Next up was Bosco Delrey, who played a solid mix of harsh guitars and electronic beats for a while. One thing that I noticed about his songs (at least in a live setting) was that they were fairly long. Most artists making this kind of music tend to stick to 2/3 minute jams without really developing the ideas behind their songs. Delrey played songs that were 5/6 minutes long and had some actual heft to them.

Theophilus London followed up Bosco Delrey, and while his indie brand of hip hop was pretty great, the fact that Kid Sister came up right after him sorta made him fade away. Kid Sis was the surprise guest of the evening and did a short set consisting of “Big ‘n Bad,” a new song that I didn’t recognize, and “Pro Nails.” It was short but sweet, and she brought all of the energy she usually does to the stage.

Paul Devro came up next, and we stayed to enjoy dancing to Major Lazer’s “Pon The Floor,” a remix of Big Boi’s “Shutterbug,”  and some other electro songs I couldn’t quite place. Oh yeah, Andy Milonakis was on and off stage all day. Maybe it’s because of this. After that we got out things together and headed out. Now I’m off to a Hercules & Love Affair show!

M.I.A. (or someone who she’s heavily endorsing) has posted music videos on YouTube for nearly every song on her most recent LP, /\/\/\Y/\ (read: Maya). More than anything else, these videos give everyone on the internet a semi-good quality version of every song to listen to. As you can judge pretty quickly from the Meds & Feds video above, there’s not too much depth to these.

So yeah, go ahead and (try to) enjoy the new album if you haven’t listened to it yet. My favorite songs are Steppin’ Up, XXXO, Born Free, Meds & Feds, and Space.

(via SexyNSofistic8d on YouTube)

Update (of couse this came out 2 minutes after my original post):

Here’s the REAL music video for XXXO, it’s pretty damn sick:

"You know that feeling right before you get a tetris?"

I know I’m way late on this one, but it’s just too good to pass up

(via FAIL Blog)

Skream's debut album Skream! cover

La Roux’s debut album is a perfect example of a sleeper hit. It was released over a year ago, but only recently did the song “Bulletproof” get any serious air play. It’s a perfectly-paced record, that puts singer Eleanor Kate Jackson’s voice on top of bouncy electropop beats.

Producer Skream makes the kind of dubstep that proves that the genre deserves some credence. His music seats itself in the fog of night dripping in reverb,  and it stays far away from the strain of dubstep regurgitated over and over by producers like Rusko.

This new song from Skream is his second piece that involves La Roux, the first being a remix he did of the band’s first single: In For The Kill. Both songs are amazing, so take a listen.

A Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo helmet to be exact. This video made my day, and I love that DIY projects like this exist.

I think that I heard, back around the time of the Alive 2007 tour, that the real helmets cost thousands of dollars to make. Check the link below for a more detailed explanation of how this was done.

Daft Punk: FINAL! -Volpin Props

The single cover for Robyn's new "Hang With Me"

The radio-rip of Robyn’s new and first single off of Body Talk Pt. 2 has been unleashed, and it just so happens to be the dance version of “Hang With Me.” I think this new version of the song sounds akin to Body Talk Pt. 1′s “Cry When You Get Older.” This second installment of what’s supposed to be a three part release will see the light of day on September 6th.

Body Talk Pt. 1 was released a little over a month ago. It’s the best pop release of the summer so far, and it featured the acoustic version of “Hang With Me.” I can’t wait to get my hands on parts 2 & 3.

Simply put, you start with a grid of boxes. The boxes are in either of two states: alive or dead. To play the game, you start by turning some boxes alive, and running these rules over and over:

• A living cell with 0 or 1 neighbours dies, by underpopulation
• A living cell with 4 or more neighbours dies, by overpopulation
• A living cell with 2 or 3 neighbours survives
• A dead cell with 3 or more neighbours becomes alive, by reproduction

I’m not sure why, but we learned about the Game of Life in one of my computer science classes a few semesters ago. I thought it was interesting at the time, but it (sort of) came in handy when I interned at Microsoft. Every year the company puts on “Puzzle Day” which is a program-wide competition between teams that are solving puzzles all day. One of the puzzles was just a wide grid with seemingly random boxes colored black. It came with some clue about “life”, and I figured that it was simply Conway’s Game. Little did I know that there were custom rules that we had to figure out to solve what the boxes revealed… Sadly, this wasn’t one of the puzzles we solved, but we came close, right?

Conway’s Game of Life in HTML5

The "old" Hercules & Love Affair lineup (featuring Antony Hegarty)

The first show I have tickets for right now is Hercules & Love Affair at the Echoplex. I seem to have great luck when it comes to interships ending and H&LA’s touring schedule. Last year I got to see them in New York my last weekend there, and this year I get to see them in LA on my drive back down from here up north. I’m pretty sure Andy Butler will have the same lineup with him in LA as he did in NY, even though this is considered the “new” lineup that’ll be featured on the album (I assume).

The Chemical Brothers performing live

The second show I have lined up features YACHT and Chromeo opening for The Chemical Brothers at the Hollywood Bowl in late August. This show is bound to be incredible. I (and just about everyone else) consider The Chems to be one of the electronica greats*, and I’ve been dying to make it to one of their live shows after seeing them do a DJ set at Coachella last year. While I haven’t ever seen YACHT, their last album got great reviews. And it’s been a long three years since I’ve seen Chromeo at Steve Aoki’s one-off Neighborhood Fest, but their new material that’s been leaking sounds great.

The guys who dedicated an entire song to the oxford comma: Vampire Weekend

Finally, I’ll also be going to see Vampire Weekend, Beach House, and The Very Best at the Hollywood Bowl in September. I’ve seen Vampire Weekend three times now, and they bring it every time. I saw Beach House on a whim at Coachella a couple months ago, and while I thought they were great in the Mojave Tent, I’m sure I’ll enjoy them more now that I’ve gotten to know their material better. I haven’t ever seen The Very Best, but their mixtape and album were both given BNMs from Pitchfork. Now that I think about it, of every album released by all three of these artists, only Beach House’s first album didn’t receive the title. Damn.

*My list of ‘electronica greats’ consists of The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, Basement Jaxx, Daft Punk, and Underworld

Janelle Monae kills it again. I must say though, it looked like Prince was giving her the “bitch, please” look until the very end… When Prince performed “Let’s Go Crazy” and “Purple Rain” during his encore at Coachella a couple years ago, I lost my shit

In related news: when did BET start doing award show performances better than MTV? Why did nobody tell me about this?

This is Frigo string cheese. It's a good brand.

I love string cheese. At work, we have string cheese stocked in the fridges, and work is all the better for it.

I love when you peel off a piece, and it’s thin, and I love when it gets stringy at the bottom.

While walking to my car today, I made a discovery about string cheese: it’s better when it’s NOT straight out of the fridge! Now, I know what you’re thinking, “No way. You are wrong. That’s impossible.”

To that I rebut, “Yes way. I am right. It is possible.”

Today I pulled my string cheese out of my pocket once I got to my car (about 7-8 minutes post-fridge), and it peeled off much better than usual. Believe me, I was as blown away as you are right now. Try it.

I don’t think I’ll ever tire of the bass line that stomps around in this song. And the snare hits make me think of someone marching around, stomping their feet and clapping like Mick Jagger in this clip (skip to :45).

Google's new homepage! BP's next PR problem.

I wonder what Google’s take on the oil spill is… Maybe the same as President Obama’s?

Update: Google was rotating a number of photos around, and the internet at large revolted. So what happens? Google ends their 24 hour experiment early.

wait, I thought Firefox, Chrome, and Opera supported HTML5 too...

Apple has been catching a lot of flack for it’s HTML5 Showcase page it recently put up on its website. And for good reason! The problem with the site is that it purports to be a page intended to

show how the latest version of Apple’s Safari web browser, new Macs, and new Apple mobile devices all support the capabilities of HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript.

So what’s the problem? You can only view the demos with Safari. If you’re using Firefox, Chrome, or Opera – all modern browsers that support HTML5 – you get the error message shown in the image above. The fact that Apple is browser sniffing and excluding products that are all capable of displaying the content on those demo pages is troublesome.

Christopher Blizzard of Mozilla summarizes the issue and what’s really important in this way,

The most important aspect of HTML5 isn’t the new stuff like video and canvas (which Safari and Firefox have both been shipping for years) it’s actually the honest-to-god promise of interoperability. Even stodgy old Microsoft, who has been doing their best to hold back the web for nearly a decade, understands this and you’ll see it throughout their marketing for IE9. (Their marketing phrase is “same markup” – watch for it and you’ll see it everywhere in their messaging.) The idea that the same markup, even with mistakes, will be rendered exactly the same. HTML5 represents the chance for browsers to work together and find common ground.

It really sucks that Apple thinks it can push the market around like this, but it’s great to see that people aren’t going to take it.

intellectual honesty and html5 -Christopher Blizzard

Calfornia lawmakers votes to ban plastic bags in supermarkets

It looks like single-use plastic bags are a thing of the past here in California. According to the LA Times and GOOD Blog, lawmakers voted 41 to 27 on Thursday to ban the bags in supermarkets, but retailers will still be able to provide the bags for a nickel.

So how many plastic bags does California use? About 19 billion every year, which averages out to 552 per person! Kind of insane, no?

California Bans Plastic Bags -GOOD Blog
California lawmakers act on flurry of new bills -Los Angeles Times
In California, a Step Toward B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bag) -The New York Times

So I’ve recently been telling everyone I know about two artists I believe will blow up soon: Drake and Janelle Monae. This post is about Janelle Monae.

I do believe that she will blow up soon, and this week has given you a few more reasons to believe me. Monae’s album dropped yesterday, and it’s incredible. It deftly bounces between soul, pop, funk, and experimental sounds with contributions from Big Boi, Of Montreal, and Saul Williams. The lead single from The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III of IV) is “Tightrope (feat. Big Boi)”, and last night Monae performed the song to perfection on The Late Show with David Letterman.

Honestly, if that performance doesn’t make you say “wow,” I don’t know what can.

Abstract

Although personal computers have become everyday items in children’s lives very few children have learned anything about programming. And while programming has been reserved for the most technically-minded engineers in the past, its core concepts have the potential for helping students learn concepts in math, science, and other areas requiring analytical thinking. Recently, programming environments and languages have been developed with the goal of having a “low floor,” a “high ceiling,” and “wide-walls.” Two projects that have had considerable success in their endeavors are Scratch and Processing. While they are targeted at different audiences – Scratch for elementary school students and Processing for high school students and older – both have successfully introduced people to programming who otherwise couldn’t have overcome the barriers to programming.

Software Literacy

“The ability to ‘read’ a medium means you can access the materials and tools created by others. The ability to ‘write’ in a medium means you can generate materials and tools for others. You must have both to be literate.” (Kay)

It has been quite a few years since personal computers were introduced into the marketplace, and since the late 1970s, they have become a commonplace item across the country. While this generation of children and students have come to be known as “digital natives,” very few know much, if anything, about programming and the critical thinking concepts that make it up (Resnick, Maloney and Monroy-Hernandez).

Being able to quickly learn software and the ideas of how to write code have tremendous potential for helping students learn concepts in math, science, and other analytical thinking fields. But what characteristics must the tools we use to teach software literacy have in order to be most affective? It has been argued for years that programming languages should have a “low floor,” a “high ceiling,” and “wide-walls.” This triplet of characteristics means that the language should have a shallow learning curve, create increasingly complex projects, and accommodate a user’s various interests (Papert).

Meeting these three requirements has not been an easy task for tool and language developers. But two projects from MIT exemplify success in these three areas best: Scratch and Processing. Scratch teaches children age 8 – 16 programming concepts through a building block metaphor. Processing brings together a programming language, development environment, and teaching methodology to appeal to the visual design and electronic arts communities. Each of the tools has its strengths and weaknesses, but both appropriately serve their intended audiences.

A History of Computer Programmers

It’s not difficult to find a highly detailed timeline of the invention of programming languages, but what is to be said for the programmers developing in those languages? Looking at who programmers have been in the past and how they’ve changed over the past fifty years can give us insight into who the programmers of the future might be. The continuing evolution of who computer programmers are and how they are viewed by the public is best explained through the lens of the level of the languages the programmers used.

A “real” programmer working on a mainframe computer

“Real” Programmers

The earliest programmers, or “real” programmers, are best characterized as the select few people in the 1940’s who understood how to operate the immense computers that filled the space of an entire room. They knew machine language, and poured their blood, sweat, and tears into writing it. Machine language is considered the lowest level language class, and it is the only language that a computer truly understands. These earliest programmers labored hard-wiring the switches and cables inside the machines with only the 0s and 1s that the machines could interpret (Lohr). Luckily, very few computer programmers still write any machine code.

1960’s Hacker Culture

The next phase of programmers moved from the cumbersome machine languages to a slightly higher level set called assembly languages. Assembly languages are one level of abstraction away from machine code and take advantage of human words like ‘add,’ ‘sub,’ and ‘mov.’ This abstraction allowed for many more people to learn how to program and bred a new group of people writing code not as their day job, but as a hobby. Some of these programmers, affectionately called “hackers,” were more enthusiasts than professional software engineers, but the results of their efforts are no less important. The World Wide Web and the Internet are both products of 1960s hacker culture. But while assembly languages were slightly less primitive than machine code, they were by no means simple to learn and understand.

Now and the Future

More recently, languages referred to as high level languages have spread as the most prevalent to code in. High level languages are strongly abstracted from machine code and, like assembly languages, must be translated back into machine code in order to be executed. This strong abstraction has allowed for people to teach themselves how to program. As a result, there are far more programmers today than existed even twenty years ago. And while most professional programmers still have a formal education in software development, the next logical step in the evolution of who programmers takes us to the general public.

Today, the software community is working towards the goal of universal software literacy. The hope is for programming knowledge to be commonplace and for ordinary people to understand how to conceive of a simple solution to a complex problem with the help of computers.

This shift of who a programmer is involves a similar advancement in the languages or software environments that these new programmers will write code in. We need languages further abstracted from machine code and syntax that more closely resembles human language to decrease the learning curve of programming and improve the readability of code. Even though software literacy for the general public seems like a lofty ambition, developments have already been made in this direction.

Scratch – the children’s programming language

Of all the programs that have attempted to introduce programming concepts to beginners, MIT’s Scratch has had the most success. Scratch is an interactive program rather than a syntax-based coding language; it employs building blocks to construct programs rather than relying on potentially confusing grammars. Developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Laboratory and released in 2007, Scratch was build with its specific core audience of children age 8 to 16 in mind (Maloney, Peppler and Kafai). The creators of Scratch knew that since computers had been introduced in the late 1970s, they had become everyday items in children’s lives, but that very few children have learned how to program. Knowing this, the Scratch team set out to build a program that satisfied the triplet of having low-floor/high-ceiling/wide-walls and appealed to children (Resnick, Maloney and Monroy-Hernandez).

An example of a Scratch program that simulates a simple pong-like game. It highlights the programming concepts of loops, variables, user input, and conditional statements.

Give It Meaning

Scratch’s users learn important mathematical and computational concepts, as well as how to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively. But how do they accomplish all of this without losing interest? By making sure that every aspect of the program gives meaning to the user’s work. Scratch does this in two ways: diversity and personalization.

Scratch is unlike many of its competitors because it has wide-walls and supports the creation of a diverse range of project types such as stories, games, and simulations. Scratch allows its users to make different kinds of programs as it is much more meaningful to work on a project that reflects one’s own interests. These programs reflect who each young creator is, as exemplified by Scratch’s built-in personalization features.

Scratch makes it easy for people to customize their programs by incorporating different media and allowing users to do things like import photos and record their own voices. Scratch succeeds in having both a low-floor and high-ceiling because kids can not only “develop abstract programs to do mindless things with a cat or a box, etc… but they could add their own pictures and their own voices to the Scratch environment. (Resnick, Maloney and Monroy-Hernandez)” When Scratchers build programs that are personally meaningful to them, they are more eager to learn mathematical and computational concepts that pertain to their projects (Resnick, Sowing the Seeds for a More Creative Society). How better to introduce the eighth-grade algebra concept of variables than to show a boy that a programming variable will let him keep track of how many points he has scored in the basketball game he programmed?

Make It Social

Once a child creates a Scratch program, she can share it on the Scratch web site in the same way that one would share a video on YouTube. The Scratch programming environment is tightly coupled with this sharing web site, and the 700,000+ projects that have been shared there are a testament to the vibrant community currently developing in Scratch. This website functions both as a location for viewing or collaborating on one another’s work and as a repository of material to learn new techniques and programming concepts from. Once a project has been uploaded to the sharing site, it can be run from in the browser, commented on or voted for, or downloaded for reverse-engineering by another Scratcher. Scratches share the same benefits as an open-source program like Scratch, namely that its users can keep learning from their peer’s discoveries.

The depth offered by Scratch is quite extraordinary considering the fact that it is merely an educational tool for very young children. It teaches concepts like conditional statements (“if” sometime is true, “then” do an action), iteration (going through each element in a list), parallel execution (multiple processes running simultaneously), and user input (keyboards, mice, etc.) in a manner that a 10-year-old can fully comprehend. Its replacement of a syntax and grammar-based language by a graphical user interface is wholly appropriate for the context of its use. But this veil of simplification must eventually be removed to reveal a more advanced, but hopefully not more confusing, development environment.

Processing – the electronic sketchbook

Processing was born from the idea of making a language that both gives visual expression to sophisticated forms of computation and acts as a teaching tool for those unfamiliar with computer programming (Maeda). Under the direction of renowned graphic designer John Maeda, Processing has been developed by MIT graduate students Casey Reas and Ben Fry since 2001. Processing’s syntax is a stripped down version of Java, which allows for a declined learning curve while preserving the power and flexibility of Java. Whereas Scratch is aimed at young children, Processing looks to serve an older, more educated audience of people in high school and older.

The intelligent development environment used by Processing is called the “sketchbook,” and all of the programs a user writes are referred to as “sketches.” While Processing is fully capable of generating full-featured software, its intention is much simpler than that. Reas and Fry want their users to sketch different renditions of what the finished product might be, much in the way that architects work with cardboard before building a skyscraper or musicians sit down with a piano before composing a concerto. Because Processing was created by people with primarily creative backgrounds, it breaks from the cycle of programmers making tools for programmers and “engages people with visual and spatial minds. (Reas and Fry)”

A piece generated by a Processing script from C.E.B. Reas’ ‘Process/Form’ exhibition at bitforms gallery nyc.

Programmers Teaching Artists Teaching Programmers

The two main audiences that come to Processing are artists and programmers, each with an interest in the other’s field of expertise. For both groups, Processing serves as an excellent jumping-off point from which one can explore other programming languages or creative theory. The variety of classes and workshops being offered at universities such as UCLA, MIT, and Hongik University in Seoul give evidence to Processing’s flexibility, with some classes approaching the language from a programmers point of view and others from an artist’s perspective.

As computers become more pervasive in the creative arts, programming skills increase in demand. One reason why so many people come to Processing and succeed in learning the concepts of programming through the language is because it embraces and is centered around artistic theory. In fact, the equivalent of a “Hello World” program given on the Processing learning web site is one line of code that draws a line. From there it moves on to giving the line a background and color (Fry and Reas).

A one-week workshop at Hongik University in 2003 brought together design and computer science students, and the interaction between the two groups illustrates Processing’s strengths in crossing over the two fields. When students without previous programming experience produced work that was visually complex but technically elementary, the computer science majors helped them understand more advanced programming techniques. And the inverse occurred with the students without any comprehension of basic design principles (Reas and Fry).

Conclusion

The concept of software literacy is not new. Ted Nelson wrote in 1974 that “the more you know about computers… the better your imagination can flow between the technicalities, can slide the parts together, can discern the spaces of what you would have these things do. (Nelson)” This is exactly the idea that Scratch and Processing are striving to further. Pushing programming onto unwilling students is not how software literacy will be accomplished. Rather, tightly coupling people’s interests with the manner in which programming is introduced to them makes them much more receptive to the ideas being presented. Also, we must not forget the reason for teaching programming concepts. The fact that educators are using coding as a gateway to many other critical thinking concepts is important; it betters education and expands how our minds conceive of solving problems.

Works Cited

Fry, Ben and Casey Reas. Getting Started \ Processing 1.0. 2007. 2010 8-March <http://processing.org/learning/gettingstarted/>.

Kay, Alan. User Interface: A Personal View. Addison-Wesley, 1989.

Lohr, Steve. “Frances E. Holberton, 84, Early Computer Programmer.” The New York Times 2001 17-December: F5.

Maeda, John. “When A Good Idea Works.” Technology Review 2009 September/October: 108-109.

Maloney, John, et al. “Programming by Choice: Urban Youth Learning Programming with Scratch.” ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education. Portland: ACM, 2008.

Nelson, Theodor. “Computer Lib/Dram Machines.” The New Media Reader 2003: 306.

Papert, Seymour. Mindstorms: children, computers, and powerful ideas. Cambridge: Basic Books, Inc., 1980.

Raymond, Eric. The Early Hackers. 2000 25-August. 2010 7-March <http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/hacker-history/ar01s02.html>.

Reas, Casey and Ben Fry. “Processing: Programming for Designers and Artists.” Design Management Review 2009 Winter: 52.

Resnick, Mitchel. “Sowing the Seeds for a More Creative Society.” Learning and Leading with Technology 2007-2008 December/January: 18-22.

Resnick, Mitchel, et al. “Scratch: Programming for All.” Communications of the ACM (2009).

Kate Miller-Heidke and her amazing voice

Kate Miller-Heidke

Whoever made the executive decision to put Kate Miller-Heidke first on the very long list of artists playing at Coachella this year made the right choice. She was by FAR the best opener since I’ve been going to Coachella (2007). Her music was pretty simple folksy pop – it was just her with a keyboard and her husband with a guitar up on stage – but her voice was incredible! Every once in a while, she’d flip a switch and this operatic voice would kick in. She used her voice to perfection and didn’t overdo the novelty of it. The Gobi tent was packed for being that early in the day, and the crowd was eating up everything she was giving us. This was an amazing start to the Coachella weekend.

kill me now, it's Alana Grace

Alana Grace

Wow, how’d I decide to catch this?! My friends and I walked over to the Outdoor Stage, sat down for a song and a half, and then promptly left. As we were leaving, a friend mentioned that it sounded like a horrible Flyleaf cover band (because that’s exactly what the world needs more of.) Truer words were never spoken.

the stardardly pleasing Jets Overhead

Jets Overhead

Don’t have a ton to say about this band. They were good. The lead singer has a nice voice, and he can hit some pretty high notes. That’s about it.

Baroness tearing it up early in the day

Baroness

First metal band of the weekend! I don’t think I’ve caught much metal at Coachella in the years past, but I made sure to change that this year. Baroness was a great start to the day (this was where I started seeing bands I was familiar with.) They shredded through their set. Unfortunately, they had some sound troubles with an amp about midway through, but they fixed it and trekked on. They’ve been getting some great press as of late and for good reason. These guys play sludgy progressive metal like nobody’s business.

talk about a great time! it's DJ Lance Rock!

DJ Lance Rock

Are you familiar with Yo Gabba Gabba? No? It’s a kid’s TV show on Nickelodeon created by one of the guys in The Aquabats, and it’s pretty great! DJ Lance Rock is the main character of the show, and this year at Coachella, he brought along all of his friends from the show: Muno, Foofa, Brobee, Toodee, and Plex. I wouldn’t have caught this show if it wasn’t for some of my friends back at home texting me that I couldn’t miss it, and I’m glad I didn’t. It was totally immature and playful, but it was fun. In summary, it was a bunch of people far too old to watch the TV show singing along to songs like “Party in my Tummy”, “I Like To Dance”, and “Get The Sillies Out.”

the band that wins the "most hype without a release" award: Sleigh Bells

Sleigh Bells

M.I.A.’s label Need Records has been collecting a pretty interesting roster lately, and part of that includes Sleigh Bells. This duo consisting of Derek Miller on guitar and Alexis Krauss on vocals is one part The Kills, one part M.I.A. (imagine that), and another part Atari Teenage Riot. These guys are loud, raw, and want to rip your face off (in the nicest indie rock sort of way.) I enjoyed their set overall. Krauss has a very strong stage presence, and she loves to scream. Their songs are all pretty short and speed along mixing killer distorted beats with killer distorted guitar riffs. The only thing to watch out for with this band is repetitiveness.

BTW: the band just released their first song today. Check it out over at Pitchfork. I think my notes will make perfect sense after listening to this song.

the crapfest that was perry ferrel

Perry Ferrel

So I put this picture up for Perry Ferrel for a reason: it perfectly summarizes what I saw. I walked into the Sahara for a last 5 minutes of the set, which was enough time to catch a horrendous remix of Superhero by Jane’s Addiction. I know Perry is the lead singer of Jane’s Addiction, but how someone could ruin their own creative work like this is beyond me. It was pretty bad. It ended with some stupid remix of an infomercial for a chopping appliance.

Proxy tore the Sahara up!

Proxy

My first serious set in the Sahara tent of the weekend started with Proxy. I’d liken my relationship to this set in the same way that I approached Erol Alkan’s set in 2008. While I knew one or two songs and had an idea of what his sound was, I didn’t know too much else. Regardless, he tore the place down. His songs have these sick synth/bass lines that rip everything apart. I don’t mean that in a Justice/distorted sense; I mean that his synths are incisive and sharp. It’s a pretty unique sound that really only lines up with what Boys Noize and the Boysnoize Records crew is doing (makes sense that he’s on the label.) The tent was going crazy throughout the whole set. Someone smuggled in a blowup alligator, and people were crowd surfing with the alligator the whole time. Some people have said that the Sahara’s volume was down during this set. Maybe they are right. I don’t really remember that.

The Dillinger Escape Plan wants to rip your face off

The Dillinger Escape Plan

Time for metal show #2! When the lineup for this year’s Coachella came out, The Dillinger Escape Plan (DEP) was one of the bands I was most excited to see on the list. I’ve heard so much about their live shows, and I’ve wanted to go to one for a while. For those who don’t know, DEP are about has hardcore as you can get. Their music is insane. They’ve got a singer who can power through every song while screaming at the top of his lungs the whole time, time signature changes happen about forty times per song, and everything they do feels like a runaway train is about to crash and burn. But somehow they keep it on the rails.

Their live shows are known for their intensity and violence. This reputation has spread in part because of a little YouTube video in which vocalist Greg Puciato runs offstage and into the crowd, well, he more runs onto the crowd. He quite literally runs out, stepping on the heads of the audience. Crazy.

Fortunately (or unfortunately?), I don’t think feet met anyone’s head this year at Coachella, but the show was just as intense. After fixing some early mic problems, DEP sped through their set. Like any good metal show, a pit opened up early on, and kept going at a pretty full force throughout the set. I was surprised at just how many people in the crowd knew the lyrics to the DEP songs. I’m familiar with what some of the songs sound like and how they progress, but I have never been able to understand a single thing said in the songs. I guess I’m just not that hardcore of a fan Near the end of the show, Puciato decided to climb the stage structure and hang upside down by his knees for a while. It was a great show to say the least.

Passion Pit at the Outdoor Stage at sundown

Passion Pit

Passion Pit… So I think I should start of by saying that I do not love Passion Pit. I think that they have written some great pop songs and that they’re pretty good at picking the best parts of today’s electro/indie/pop scene and making it their own. My problem with them stems from their singer. I cannot get past his voice! I find it grating and imprecise and unnecessary. And when you sing entirely in falsetto, you should be none of these things.

Other than the singer’s voice (which sounded the same live as it does on record), Passion Pit put on a great show this year. They were lucky enough to get Friday’s coveted “sunset at the Outdoor Stage” slot., which should have been given to Grizzly Bear, but I digress. I really enjoyed their light show, and all of their songs were executed spot-on. I had a good time dancing with the crowd throughout the set, and loved when they played Sleepyhead – my favorite song of theirs. So maybe I’m not the best person to ask about a Passion Pit show, but I still think that they did a good job translating their material live.

Josh Homme of Them Crooked Vultures taking a swig

Them Crooked Vultures

What can you do when you put three rock legends together into one band? You can rock pretty fucking hard, that’s what. And that’s exactly what Them Crooked Vultures’ Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal), David Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters), and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) did on Friday night on the Main Stage.

I haven’t really given their debut album the time it deserves, but after the few time I’ve gone through it, I’ve been left with the impression that, while there are some great songs on it, nothing really matches up to the greatness of its members’ previous bands. And while I still believe this to be true, it does nothing to take away from the fact that this show was amazing. I mean, this is the kind of music that the Main Stage was made for (same with Muse, who you’ll read about later.) Their sound is simply really loud rock that is both pummeling and sharp. Grohl is perfect on drums, Jones can somehow play every instrument known to man, and Homme’s vocals are as solid but haunting as ever.

Oh, and it didn’t hurt that they exclusively used my favorite lights as their backdrop light show!

James Murphy and his disco-ball

LCD Soundsystem

Of all the artists I was excited to see at Coachella on Friday, LCD Soundsystem was my #1. They’ve toured a ton in the past, but I’ve been stupid and missed all of their past shows. This year, their first year on the Main Stage, they turned Coachella into their own disco complete with an oversized disco-ball.

I absolutely loved this show, but it was way too short. When a band has songs that are about 7 minutes long, and they have three full LPs out, at 50 minute set won’t suffice. From the outset, James Murphy let us know that it was short, and that they were going to play a much as they could. Murphy seemed sort of blown away at the fact that he was playing the show, but that just made it all that much better. The emotion that comes through the repetitive nature of LCD’s rhythms and the extraordinarily pointed lyrics in every LCD song really made this a special performance.

I know some people object to Murphy’s vocal style that at times becomes spoken-word, and others don’t really latch on to the LCD song structure, but I’m thankful not to be one of those people. To be honest, I cried a little during All My Friends. I mean, I knew I would; I do nearly every time I listen to the song. But it became so much more alive Friday night. They played a great mix of old songs and new songs (two new songs back-to-back as a matter of fact), but at the end of the set, they had to cut out two songs (presumably Daft Punk Is Playing At My House and North American Scum). They closed with Yeah (Crass version) and New York I Love You. I mean, they have so many great songs that any setlist would blow me away, and I loved this show. Loved this show.

BTW: the video for Drunk Girls just came out. It’s pretty hilarious.

For those wondering, here’s the complete setlist: Us v. Them, Drunk Girls, Losing My Edge, All My Friends, I Can Change, Pow Pow, Yeah (Crass version), New York I Love You

The always spot-on Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend

I was in transition at this point, but I caught the end of Run and saw (and danced to) A-Punk. I’ve seen ‘em a few times before, so I didn’t feel too badly about missing them this time around. They sounded great as always.

Karin being her haunting self at Coachella 2010

Fever Ray

I finally get to write a review for Fever Ray. I saw her/them last October at the Henry Fonda here in LA, but I never got around to writing anything about it.

Let’s start with me saying that Karin Dreijer Andersson is (in my mind) one of the most creative people right now. She and her brother Olaf (collectively known as The Knife) make music that is haunting and dangerous and bone-rattling and like nothing else in existence. Shit, the fact that I missed Jay-Z to see this show for the second time should tell you how much I love her music. But the music is really only one aspect of the greatness that is Fever Ray. The second part is why I was in the Mojave Tent Friday night at Coachella: the live show.

The live show is the embodiment and physical realization of Fever Ray and the world in which it exists. Take a look at some of these photos. Fever Ray is this mystical experience that might look like Halloween but more closely resembles some pagan cult. I’m having trouble finding words to describe how great it was to see the live show again and to hear the organic sounds coming from the incredible sound system that exists at Coachella. I honestly think I had my eyes closed for a quarter of the set because I was so lost in the music.

So the show was incredible, again. I really hope that Karin produces more material as Fever Ray, or that The Knife comes out with another proper LP (I know they have the opera soundtrack, and it’s great, but I want a studio album dammit.) Another thing that was awesome is the Fever Ray fans that turned up for this show. Because it was against Jay-Z, the people who were in the tent were fully committed to Fever Ray. There were even some people who brought their own homemade masks and wore them during the show. I saw one that resembled The Knife’s crow beaks. Fans are awesome, and it really makes a show when the people surrounding you are as invested in the music as you are.

Setlist: If I Had A Heart, Triangle Walks, Concrete Walls, Seven, I’m Not Done, Mercy Street (Peter Gabriel cover), Now’s The Only Time I Know, Keep The Streets Empty for Me, Dry and Dusty, Stranger than Kindness (Nick Cave cover), When I Grow Up, Here Before (Vashti Bunyan cover), Coconut.

Shit, I made the yankee hat more famous than a yankee can: Jay-Z

Jay-Z

Sadly, because Fever Ray was on at the same time as Jay-Z, I did not catch his entire set. But that’s OK for two reasons:

1: I saw him earlier this year in New Jersey as the All Points West festival. It was an amazing show.

2: I DID see the encore which featured Beyonce singing Mr. Hudson’s part in “Forever Young.” This is one of those things that makes Coachella special. Yes, we get great headliners and subs. And yes, we get unique acts that no other festival has. But when you put the biggest rapper and biggest pop star on the same stage in the middle of the desert, magic happens. Magic happened Friday night with Jay-Z and Beyonce.

Sly Stone back in the day rockin the fro

While I write up my posts for this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, here’s something to tide you over. I wasn’t able to see Sly Stone on Sunday, but from what I’ve read, I missed quite a show! Not that it was full of music or anything…

This had been the rumor, and suddenly it was true: the original Family Stone back together again. But the original band included Sly, and Sly wasn’t playing along. “Fuck rehearsal,” he said, sitting behind a keyboard at the front of the stage.

This post by Ben Greenman at The New Yorker summarizes his experience watching the webcast of the “performance” in pretty entertaining detail. One of the guys who I went to the fest with mentioned that this might happen, that Sly is known for pulling this stuff. But I just brushed it off thinking back to how everyone doubted Aphex Twin would actually come in ’08, but he showed up and gave us quite the sonic pummeling. Looks like my friend was right.

There’s Still a Riot Going On -The New Yorker