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?

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).

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

Phoenix – 1901 in Cadillac’s SRX Commercial

Phoenix’s latest album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix has received quite a bit of critical acclaim since it’s release about six months ago. The entire album is great, but I really love the groove this song has. The simple drums, prancing guitars, and striking synth stabs all fit together perfectly. Not that I’ll be buying a Cadillac anytime soon, but the ad uses this song effectively with the lighting flares and mechanical movement of the car parts. Just as a visual, I basically start dancing every time this commercial comes on TV.

New Young Pony Club – The Bomb in AT&T’s SlideIt Commercial

This commercial isn’t exactly new, and neither is the song (it came out in 2007), but it stuck in my head because it’s so catchy. The pulsating beat with the arped synth seem to get me everytime (probably why I also like CSS). Aside from the fact that the song is great, it doesn’t hurt that it says “you really have to display information,” which is essentially what AT&T wants you to hear. The commercial is pretty cool too. I think more could have been done with the moving-parts-of-the-city idea, but 30 seconds isn’t a lot of time to work with.

Nina Simone – Sinnerman (Felix Da Housecat’s Heavenly House Mix) in HTC’s You Commerical

What I really appreciate about this commerical is that it puts the song to perfect use when it says

“And then you realize, you don’t need to get a phone. You need a phone that gets you, and you, and you.”

At this point, the sample of the song is played repeatedly with the “and you” bits. It’s a simple trick, but it works so well. I think the impact comes from the repetition of the shorter sample even when the whole song is a repetition of a sample. Felix Da Housecat has been around for a while, and has never really been someone I listen to. Regardless, he is a force in the house music scene, and this remix is quite a gem. HTC makes great phones from what I read, but they aren’t well known (like Samsung, Sony, and LG are). It’s good to see a great ad to be coupled with a great company.

a crappy remix of Destiny's Child's "Say My Name"

Destiny’s Child – Say My Name (Unknown Remix)

On a recent trip to Amoeba Records, in addition to the records I wanted, I picked up a few $.50 singles sitting on the ground in the clearance bins to see what I’d get. The first of those singles is this horrible remix of Destinys Child’s “Say My Name”. As you can see, this record’s label only had the song’s title printed, and the sleeve it came in was plain and white.

Because I grew up with top 40 radio in the 90s, I knew the song, but I had no idea there was so many remixes and edits of it (one of which features Kobe Bryant rapping.) Because the label only says “Say My Name,” I tried listening to every remix of the song I could get my hands on to find the remixer but to no avail. Here it is for your listening horror: Destinys Child – Say My Name (Unknown Remix)

a less crappy remix of Kelis' "Trick Me" by Basement Jaxx

Kelis – Trick Me (Jaxxbackclash Rerub)

I also picked up this single of a Basement Jaxx remix of Kelis’ “Trick Me.”As you can see, whoever owned this record before me wanted to make sure that no one ever played this single as a 33 (which I did) and kindly wrote “45″ on the label.

The original song is a highlight of its album, but I feel that this remix doesn’t do Kelis or Basement Jaxx justice. If it had been done some no-name DJ, I might say it’s an acceptable remix clearly just meant to make the original playable on the dancefloor, but this is Basement Jaxx we’re talking about here. The single came out fairly soon after Kish Kash, so I’ll brush this off as the Jaxx having used all their creativity at the time on their own album: Kelis – Trick Me (Jaxxbackclash Rerub)

The Field: Axel Willner

The Field

the field opened, if you consider the field an “opener”

minimal, but not really, comment from amg review

Willner’s productions are as minimal techno as early-’90s Field precursors Seefeel were minimal rock; they’re not the least bit minimal, at least not sonically, and his approach to techno continues to sound like that of a dream pop/shoegaze freak

four man band, bass/drums, really only needed two people though

about five songs, more from new album (two old, three new)

when the song I love kicks in, it’s amazing, rave-like (ie. over the ice)

people need to calm down when listening to it, you can dance, but please stop spazzing out

rothko is to the field as …. is to …..

John Maclean & Nancy Whang (of LCD Soundsystem)

The Juan MacLean

amazing, FAR surpassed my expectations

quintessential DFA sound.

four piece, everyone actually doing band stuff

theremin on stage, used to good effect and with real skill

nancy whang is DFA’s Alison Mosshart

played a good mix of new and old songs (I’ll admit I haven’t listened to the new album that much)

great groove “happy house” stretched to about twenty minutes long (from it’s typical twelve), rises and falls, tempo changes, as good of pacing as Daft Punk’s live show, really put the show over-the-top

did I mention there was a theremin?

The Horrors' lead singer Faris Badwan in LA at the Music Box

The Horrors

What do you do after you are one of the most hyped bands of 2006 with the world on your fingertips? If you are the Horrors, you lay low for two years after touring and in the meantime record an album that is incredible but sounds nothing like your debut.

I was hooked after my first listen to the Horrors’ debut album Strange House three years ago. I loved that while there was something familiar in their songs, they sounded like nothing else I was listening to. Quite a bit has changed in the musical landscape since 2006, but the Horrors’ new sophomore album Primary Colors somehow instills the same feeling as Strange House.

The five piece put on a great show for being an opening band. Ferris, their lead singer, has a great presence on stage. After going from nothing to the cover of NME, he still seems pleased that people are interested in the music his band makes. Luckily, the Horrors are impeccable live and have no trouble recreating the dense punk sound that Primary Colors contains. There wasn’t much banter in between songs, they played pretty straight through their set.

As for the songs they played on this tour, you wouldn’t know that they ever had a debut album if you just saw the setlist. They essentially play Primary Colors start to finish save for two songs. It’s perfect – if you love Primary Colors; songs from Strange House are nowhere to be found.

Alison "VV" Mosshart, one half of The Kills

The Kills

My new obsession. In the weeks leading up to Coachella 2009, I listened to their most recent album Midnight Boom start to finish and remembered how much I liked a few songs on their previous album No Wow. Since seeing the later half of their Coachella performance (and being completely mesmerized throughout), I’ve been watching/listening/reading everything I can get my hands on relating to the Kills.

The duo often gets compared to the White Stripes, but Meg White hasn’t got a single thing on Alison “VV” Mosshart. And since the White Stripes haven’t done much of anything lately, I’ll take the Kills without complaining.

Hotel and VV might be the most compelling people I’ve ever seen on stage. It might be VV’s long black hair as its own performace, or it maybe its the “chemistry” they have with each other while playing, or most likely, it’s just the fact that the two exude coolness. It’s not hipster snobbery; it’s a feeling of not giving a fuck, but having everything line up perfectly that reels everyone in.

Now that they have three LPs out, finding solid material to play isn’t much of an issue. Well over half of the songs on the setlist are hits with simple lyrics that can be sung along to. It was a great show all around (save for the tall ass with wiry blond hair who did nothing but instigate fights all night long). The last song of the encore was especially great as they invited the Horrors back out to do their 8+ minute version of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put A Spell On You.” The song involved every wire on stage getting tangled around VV and the Horror’s guitar player as they lay on the floor rolling around. It was great.

All in all, the show proved to me that the Horrors aren’t going anywhere, the Kills are even cooler live than on record, and that I absolutely hate LA audiences.

photo credit goes to flickr user hazyskyline6

M.I.A. up on the stage at Coachella

“They tried to make me do the Oscars, I said ‘No, No, No’.” Of all the banter M.I.A. threw into her hour-long set on the Main Stage at this year’s Coachella, this was probably the most pointed. When Amy Winehouse dropped off the lineup because she couldn’t get a Visa to the United States (surprise, surprise), M.I.A. was quickly announced to be her replacement. In my mind, there could be no better choice. I’ve missed the chance to see M.I.A. twice now, and I made sure not to pass her up again.

I’ve been an M.I.A. fan since Arular came out, and like everyone else,  Kala was one of my favorite albums of 2007. I know all the words to all her songs (well, at lease those that are audibly decipherable). You can imagine my disappointment when I found out that there aren’t as many people like me as I thought. Apparently, tons people are willing to stand around for an hour to hear one song. I really hope that the masses can get over “Paper Planes” and realize the true genius in all of M.I.A.’s songs.

Aside from that, the show was one of my favorite all weekend. Six neon glow-in-the-dark dancers started things off and led right into M.I.A.’s entrance at a podium rapping “World Town.” The party went on from there as she flew threw Rye Rye’s new song “Bang”, “$20″, “Boyz”, “Bingo”, “Sunshowers”, “Pull Up the People”, and “Galang”. A perfect set list.

M.I.A. at the end of her show coming out into the crowd

Also included in her set was “Bird Flu”. Last year, M.I.A. only got through six songs in the Mojave tent because she wanted people to get up on stage, but the security guards thought otherwise. This year, she would get people up if it was the last thing she did. She called out, “I’ve already been banned from Coachella once, let do it. Hey hey, let ‘em up! Let ‘em up!” And something clicked in my brain.

In short, I jumped over the center barrier, ran as fast as I could towards the stage, got body checked into another barrier by a 300 lb. security guard, ran so as to not get thrown out, and jumped over another barrier back into the crowd. I didn’t make it onstage, but I did make it to the front row of the show. To those people who did make it onstage, good on ya; I hope you enjoyed yourself. I know I enjoyed my fleeting moment of excitement.

After “Bird Flu” came “Paper Planes.” And of course the crowd went wild for the one song they’d heard on TV and on the radio. While I’m still bitter that M.I.A. hasn’t received the mainstream success she deserves, I’m appreciative that anyone knows her music at all. It’s not everyday that a Sri Lankan girl with paternal ties to the Tamil Tigers makes it onto American radio waves.

I had a great time during M.I.A.’s third Coachella performance, and in the end, that’s what counts. That being said, if you ever go to one of her future shows, please listen to some songs that aren’t “Paper Planes” before heading out.

photo credit goes to flickr user Mick O

lala.com's logo

One of the things I love most is when technology and music are combined to make something incredible. The iPhone, Last.fm, MIDI controllers, and Daft Punk’s pyramid are all perfect examples of this. Lala.com has been added to that list.

Lala.com in a nutshell

Here’s the process that Lala presents for consuming music. First, you can listen to any song in it’s massive online database for free. The catch? You can once listen to each song once. Now you can either download a DRM-free MP3 for about a buck, or you can purchase the web-version of a song for 10 cents. This web version of the song is now free of the one-play restriction and is added to your library.

Now to the second aspect of Lala. Using a small standalone app, Lala will scan your music folder and unlock the web versions of every song you have. If Lala doesn’t find a match in its database, it will upload your song to the cloud. Every song you have on your computer is now available for you to stream for free unlimited times.

Your music in the cloud

If you aren’t familiar with “the cloud”, just think of websites like Gmail or Google Docs where all of your information is stored on some remote servers (the cloud) instead of your local machine. With Lala, its of your music that is in the cloud.

This currently means that you can access all of your music for free on any computer with an internet connection. While this is the main feature Lala boasts right now, the potential of this reaches much further. Lala could integrate the subscription model of services like Real Network’s Rhapsody and Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace and quickly overtake them. Lala’s current monetisation scheme seems to be working pretty well for them ($.10 or $1), but there are so many other directions they can take in the future.

iPhone app

Engadget just posted an article showing a very early build of the iPhone app Lala has in the works. Right now, mobile devices like the iPhone are limited by their data storage capacities. Because of mobile phones’ small sizes, storage is limited to around 16GBs right now.  If Lala can get past the legal hurdles that the record companies present and get the web versions of songs to play on mobile apps, this storage restriction will be lifted.

I’m hooked

Lala has the potential to do everything that I want a media player to do. iTunes works well right now, but the reason I love it is because it syncs so well with my iPhone, not because of its ability to play music (and I’ve never bought music from the iTunes Store).

I believe agility will be one of Lala’s key strengths. If the company can continue to innovate the online music marketplace as it has, I see no reason why media desktop apps won’t be a thing of the past.

update: I’ve fallen in love with Lala’s “Mix it up” feature. It’s basically a playlist generator (ie. iTunes Genius), and it works great!

the official cover art for the prodigy's - invaders must die

The Prodigy – Invaders Must Die

Unfortunately, Invaders Must Die isn’t the return to hardcore techno greatness that Fat of the Land begun… But don’t let that get you down, because there are some damn good bangers in there. Invaders Must Die is a vast improvement compared to their/his (Liam Flint was the only member to contribute) album, Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned (AONO).

As the first Prodigy album with all three members in 15 years, it’s nice to hear Maxim & Keith’s voices on many of the tracks. I think Liam went overboard with the guest vocalists last time around (Juliette Lewis, Liam and Noel Gallagher, Kool Keith, and The Magnificent Ping Pong Bitches), but it’s clear he’s reeled himself back in with IMD.

Starting with my favorite track on the album, Take Me To The Hospital knocks it out of the park. The traces of rave are clear in the synth stabs from the get-go, and the hard beat is brought in right after a short intro. What separates this track from the rest is that it doesn’t sound like an attempt to recapture some lost glory, it takes what the Prodigy is known for (knock-out beats & rave synths) and pushes it forward.

Immediately after Take Me To The Hospital comes Warrior’s Dance which is probably my #2 song on IMD. Instead of having ravy synths, it’s the vocal sample that gives the listener the hints. The bass line in this song is one that makes you wish you had a wall of subs because it would shake you to your core. It has a nice breakdown about 2/3 of the way through, and as expected, the buildup and climax are spot-on.

Jumping down four tracks, Piranha has the best groove on the album. I seriously can’t stop dancing to this one; it gives me the same feeling as Hot Chip’s Out At The Pictures (I just wanna dance). I could do without the lyrics though… “Teeth, grip, razor sharp / Bites hi-power, tear you apart.”

When I was listening to IMD for the first time, I was getting very worried before I hit Take Me To The Hospital and Warrior’s Dance (they are #5 and #6 respectively). Why? Because the first song Invaders Must Die is good, but all I can think about when I listen to it is how much it sounds like The Prodigy trying to be Pendulum. Not a great first impression. Next is Omen, which is OK and doesn’t sound like Pendulum but just doesn’t sit right.

Then came Thunder, which shouldn’t have any vocals at all. The beats are sick, but I can’t stand Maxim on the track. I also feel that they could have made much more with the synths; they don’t fit with the rest of the song at all. Finally comes Colours, which I thought what going to be the redeemer when it started (sound like Hotride at first), then came in the worst synth line on the album. I hate the synths.

Now that you know the songs I loved and hated, the rest sort of fall into the middle. Run With the Wolves is an excuse to have live drums on a hardcore techno track, World’s On Fire is forgettable (but brings the rave back again), Stand Up confused the hell out of me, and Omen Reprise is just a +1 to the total track count (completely unnecessary).

Look before for a simple breakdown of what I rate each track and what my average would be. I enjoyed this album, and there is no doubt in my mind that I’ll be buying tickets when the Prodigy next comes around to LA.

Song Ratings

Here is a simple breakdown of what I’d rate each track on a 5 point scale. The average/mean (when converted to a Pitchfork scale) comes to 7.8, which I’d say is pretty respectable (even though I was praying it’d be a perfect 10). But I’m pretty sure that when the Pitchfork review comes out, it’ll be quite a bit lower than what I gave it (update: they gave it a 5.8).

1. Invaders Must Die 5/5
2. Omen 4/5
3. Thunder 2/5
4. Colours 3/5
5. Take Me To The Hospital 5/5
6. Warrior’s Dance 5/5
7. Run With The Wolves 4/5
8. Omen Reprise ?/5
9. World’s On Fire 3/5
10. Piranha 5/5
11. Stand Up 3/5

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Moving away from the New York Times… Andrew Kuo is an artist who (to the best of my knowledge) is best known for the info-graphics that he creates for the New York Times. The illustrations each have some theme relating to music and his quantification of various quasi-quantifiable data. I love them all, and here are 5 of my favorites.

6 songs of bjork @ madison square garden

My admiration for Bjork will always go understated simply because I don’t have enough words to summarize her genius. The experimentation and exploration that she accomplished through her albums is reflected in her live shows. If you ever have the chance (and a full bank account), make sure to see her when she comes you way.

summary of 1992 lollapalooza

As I started going to concerts and music festivals about 5 years ago, I unfortunately missed the Lallapalooza of 1992. Look at that lineup! Chili Peppers, Ministry, JAMC, Rage, STP. Damn. I mean, Coachella is amazing too, but Lolla ’92 looks like it was a “best-of” compilation of the past few Coachellas. 

the longevity of 2007s hit radio

While most of Kuo’s info-graphics have a level of comedy, I find this tops them all. I think that the humor of his pieces comes from the viewers ability completely/partially agree/disagree with the data that is represented. Opinionated data…

second-by-second rundown of kanye west - love lockdown

Two best “variables”:

Insanely lazy… a song with a half-cooked hook and Auto-Tune!? C’mon Kanye- it’s 2008. (T-Pain is rolling over in his grave.)

This is curiously catchy and at least is doesn’t have a Daft Punk or M.I.A. sample in it… bye, hater!

review of hot chip live @ terminal 5

After having seen Hot Chip 5 times (yes, five), I believe that it’s safe to say that I love their live show. I think I included this graphic in my top 5 just because it’s about Hot Chip. Who cares if that makes me biased? That’s what all of these illustrations are about!

• Andrew Kuo’s Blog (emo+beer=busted career)
• Video of Andrew Kuo on Charlie Rose Tomorrow 

I love Nine Inch Nails. I love Nine Inch Nails so much that when their Lights Over North America Tour was announced, I went twice. Seattle was amazing because I had no idea what to expect save for a great light show; LA was amazing because I knew exactly what to expect. Maybe that makes some sense, just read on if it doesn’t (and if it does…)

the amazing deerhunter (w/ the awkward Bradford Cox)

Deerhunter

+10 points for being LA when Deerhunter came around. Crystal Castles sort of bombed in Seattle because no one knew who they were. Admittedly, while they are getting pretty big in the indie world, I can’t really expect a bunch of metal-heads to be too interested with the 8-bit/electro/indie scene. I love both Crystal Castles and Deerhunter, and so do people in LA.

Bradford Cox is one freaking looking dude. The rest of Deerhunter looks fairly normal for an indie noise/ambient/rock group, but Cox stands out like a sore thumb. Luckily for us all, the music that roars out of the speaker towers makes you quickly forget any oddity that Deerhunter embodies. Their set was about 30 minutes long, just long enough for them to find a nice balance between their noise material and their more rocky/beat-driven songs. It went smoothly, and I think everyone enjoyed the set.

trent behind one of three massive walls of light

Nine Inch Nails

When I say that I fully knew what to expect the night of the concert, I honestly mean it. I wasn’t expecting anything new to come up. Maybe they’d tightened things up on the corners (not to say that the Seattle show was sloppy), but the show is so massive that it seems nearly impossible to change anything at all. Turns out I was fairly wrong.

Aside from the different set list (which I’ll discuss later), the light show had changed, and the performances were out of this world. In the Seattle post, I mention that this lineup is the best that NIN has ever had, but I said that because of how good they sounded. At the LA show, I realized that every member of the band brings something unique to the table besides their musical expertise. Whether being menacing, aggressive, staid, precise, or one of the many other things that each are on stage, NIN has captured what an over-the-top live show is.

One change to the light show from Seattle was the inclusion of a face morphing graphic during The Hand That Feeds. I don’t recall what was going on at that time in Seattle, but there certainly wasn’t a massive George W. Bush being shown. That night in Inglewood, the only graphic shown was Bush who seemed to be getting progressively older as the song went on. I thought it was weird, until I realized that Bush wasn’t getting older. He was morphing into John McCain. I say this with all honesty, I really thought he was just getting older at first…

The songs that were played throughout the night (+2 from the Seattle show) differed slightly from other tour dates. Unfortunately for me, The Great Destroyer was left out, so the insane spastic strobes and static that the song encompasses was greatly missed. God Given was played however, which almost makes up for the missed Destroyer. That song has a solid tech/glitch beat to it that makes me smile every time I hear it. The best part of the song though wasn’t the music at all, it was Finck. When the chourus dies, this creepy whispered line some in

i would never tell you anything that wasn’t absolutely true that hadn’t come right from his mouth and he wants me to tell you

and the song starts right up when the whisper ends. Finck was the guy who did the whispering live. Talk about something that comes straight from your nightmares. They had the light shining on his face like he was telling a horror story (and he might as well have been). Of course, they closed with Hurt & In This Twilight. It was a night that, when paired with Seattle’s date, makes up one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen.

Now I just have to seen them in a festival setting…

Set List

1. 999,999
2. 1,000,000
3. Letting You
4. Discipline
5. March of the Pigs
6. Head Down
7. The Frail
8. Closer (The Only Time)
9. Gave Up
10. The Warning
11. Vessel
12. 5 Ghosts I
13. 17 Ghosts II*
14. 19 Ghosts III*
15. Ghosts Piggy
16. The Greater Good
17. Pinion
18. Wish
19. Terrible Lie
20. Survivalism
21. The Big Comedown
22. 31 Ghosts IV
23. Only
24. The Hand That Feeds
25. Head Like A Hole
26. Echoplex
27. Reptile
28. God Given
29. Hurt
30. In This Twilight

This is the first of a two part post/review on NIN’s starting and ending dates (Seattle & L.A.) on their Lights In The Sky Over North America 2008 tour.

a fairly glamorous photo of crystal castles

Crystal Castles

I’ll admit that I’m into indie music, but not THAT into indie music. I still enjoy some pop music, hip hop isn’t all bad, and I can appreciate classical and jazz music. That being said, Seattle’s NIN fans made me look like the most hipster of all hipsters when Crystal Castles came on stage. How does no one in this city know who the biggest name in rising indie/electro/8-bit/screaming music is?

As you might be able to tell, I love Crystal Castles. I saw them for the first time about a year ago at the Neighborhood Festival, and I loved what they brought to the table. Since then, they have released their self-titled LP and have been touring around like crazy.

Obviously, I loved them at this show. Though their set was pretty short at about 25 minutes, they are just an opening band, and they fit in all the greats. For me, the standout song was Crimewave. I know it’s not an entirely original song and that Alice sings the same chorus over and over, but when the opening synths start up, nothing else really matters. Of course, I also loved Courtship Dating, but I wish that she had actually sung the song instead of screaming and whispering it all (it kind of goes back and forth).

nine inch nails front man: trent reznor

Nine Inch Nails

I’ll admit that I looked at the setlist from the NIN show the night before the Seattle show, but it was just so that I could prepare myself for the amazingness that I knew I’d be in front of. I didn’t watch any videos, and didn’t try to find any bootlegs. I don’t think that knowing the setlist beforehand is cheating, and I didn’t really want to spoil what I knew would be come insane visual effects.

To say that I wasn’t let down would be a grave understatement.

This show was what I consider to be the epitome of what a electronically infused rock show should be. First you have the music. NIN has been around for almost twenty years and has seven LPs worth of music to pick and choose from as a result. This set is nothing short of a best hits compilation fused with the key parts of NIN’s more recent releases; songs from each and every album were present. But while the songs played are important, they are nothing if they don’t sound good.

Trent Reznor has consistently written songs that fit his voice. He doesn’t stretch it in the studio to hit those high notes that everyone know could only be hit once. As a result, his live vocals are always on point. In addition, this NIN lineup is arguably the best in history. It consists of Trent Reznor, Alessandro Cortini, Robin Finck, Josh Freese, and Justin Meldal-Johnsen. Aside from Trent, the standout here is Robin Finck, who has been playing with Guns ‘n Roses as Slash’s sporadic replacement for the past twelve years. It’s great to have him back, and his dred-hawk is pretty damn sick. Every musician is spot on, and the only hiccups all night where technical ones, not musical mistakes.

So the music was great, what about these visuals that everyone has been buzzing about? I read an interview with Reznor from the New York Times that reads:

“What I’m trying to do is use the stage as an interactive instrument,” Mr. Reznor said. “I’m in the world of science fiction now.”

Trust me, NIN delivers, and here’s what I gathered from the Seattle show. There are three massive dot screens (the ones made up of tons of tiny round lights that work like a TV screen). They are all at different depths of the stage, so they can all be layered on top of one another. There is one wall of 112 lights that rotate around and change color. There are a ton of hanging fluorescent lights that flash on and off during a portion of the show. Finally, the massive dot screens have some sort of light/heat sensor to tell when the musicians step up to them and dynamically change what they show depending on where the musician is. So how is this an instrument? For the Echoplex encore, one screen is used as a drum machine. Yes, a drum machine. It is one of those scream-out-loud-because-this-is-so-amazing moments. This is why I payed for presale tickets to get on the floor.

So if you can’t tell, I loved this concert. NIN was able to combine stunning musicianship with brand new high-tech visuals to create one of the best rock shows I’ve ever been to. Remember, this is only part one of two. Don’t expect part two to be this long, but I’ll be back to mention if the show gets any better on the last North American tour date (L.A.).

Here’s a rundown of the 28 (!!!) song setlist:

1. 999,999
2. 1,000,000
3. Letting You
4. Discipline
5. March of The Pigs
6. Head Down
7. The Frail
8. Closer
9. Gave Up
10. The Warning
11. The Great Destroyer
12. 1 Ghosts I
13. 25 Ghosts I
14. 19 Ghosts III
15. Piggy
16. Wish
17. Terrible Lie
18. Survivalism
19. The Big Come Down
20. 31 Ghosts IV
21. Only
22. The Hand That Feeds
23. Head Like A Hole
24. Echoplex
25. The Beginning of the End
26. The Good Soldier
27. Hurt
28. In This Twilight

Also, that sick picture of Trent is from laura musselman‘s flickr account.

part of the cover art for feed the animals

This whole “give music away for free” distribution method is really catching on! Next up: Girl Talk’s Feed the Animals. After mentioning the album multiple times in recent interviews, Gregg Gillis has finally released the latest Girl Talk album, and it definitely carries on right where Night Rippers left off.

For those who are new to Girl Talk, the music is best described as a mashup of many other songs that combine to create entirely new songs. Essentially Gillis takes 10-20 samples from old and new songs, arranges and layers them ontop of one another, and spits out some genius concoction that is Girl Talk. His ability to take music from nearly every genre and weave them together so flawlessly is amazing.

Getting back to Feed the Animals, please take a look at the album’s Wikipedia page. Scroll down to the tracklist and be blown away at how many songs were sampled from to make this record. In a single song, Gillis takes from Kraftwerk, Genesis, Michael Jackson, The Velvet Underground, and Justin Timberlake.

One thing that I’ve noticed from Night Rippers and Feed the Animals (not so much with Secret Diary or Unstoppable) is that the songs blend into each other, and each song isn’t extremely separate from the songs adjacent to it. I think this is due to the massive number of samples used and the quick twists and turns taken in each song. Don’t get me wrong, I still love both of the two latest albums, but they play as an hour long mashup instead of individual song arranged to fit together.

Many of the songs are constructed through trios of samples layering one songs beats, another’s instruments, and yet another’s vocals. Here are a few of my favorite trios from the album:

• BLACKstreet, Kanye West, and Radiohead
• Busta Rhymes, The Police, The Cure
• Timbaland, Stardust, Yo Majesty
• Salt ‘n Pepa, Deelite, Nirvana
• Fergie, Kraftwerk, Earth Wind & Fire

So all-in-all, I love this album. It’s a great piece to put on with headphones and just test your music knowledge skills to see exactly how many songs you can recognize (more points for beats than vocals). While I know that most music that is good takes some time to create, I really am blown away at how well all of these samples mix together.

julian casablancas, santigold, and pharrell williams

You know an amazing ad campaign the moment you see one. The one’s you have to think about can be good, but I don’t think that an effective ad doesn’t need to be pondered much. Converse’s recent ads featuring both dead & alive pop culture icons has been blowing me away since I first saw an image of it back a few months ago.

These ads break everything down to basics, while staying far away from any abstraction. The black and white photographs are perfect and just further the idea of simplicity that the ads convey. But the thing that really sends it over the edge (and makes them shoe ads) is the overlapping of each icon’s feet. It might be cliche, but it’s very fitting that what connects these artists is their shoes.

When showing other people these ads, they don’t seem to recognize most of the icons. Regardless, each person’s pose and composition lets any viewer know that they are bad-ass. No one dislikes the images, and as they follow their figures down to their feet, that last connection of the spread legs leading to the shoes hits every time.

Finally, a song supporting these ads has been released featuring Santogold, Julian Casablancas, and Pharrell titled “My Drive Thru [Play]
[Play]
.” It’s a nice summer song and perfectly captures what this concept wants to say.

Thus far, here are the artists that have been featured in the many mix-mashed combinations:

• Santogold
• Bradford Cox (Deerhunter, Atlas Sound)
• Common
• Joan Jett (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts)
• Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day)
• Kid Sister
• M.I.A.
• Sid Vicious (the Sex Pistols)
• Pharrell (N.E.R.D., the Neptunes)
• Karren O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs)
• James Dean
• Hunter S. Thompson
• Ian Curtis
• Julian Casablancas (the Strokes)
• Jona Bechtolt (YACHT)
• Frank Carter (Gallows)
• Eleanor Friedberger (Fiery Furnaces)
• Sophie Kasakove (Care Bears on Fire)
• Morgan Quaintance (Does It Offend You Yeah)

Update (7/9/08): A video has been released for this song. Sick 2D special effects.

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Saturday

Institubes (Para One, Orgasmic, Surkin)

A record label full of electro DJs is always a nice way to start a chock-full Coachella day. One nice thing about getting to Coachella near to opening (aside from the short lines) is that you have the ability to lay down in the tents and just listen to music. No more worrying about keeping your spot. Para One, Orgasmic, and Surkin served up the Institubes flavored electro for about an hour and a half, but I didn’t stay for the whole time, I had other stuff to get to.

The Teenagers

I’d say that I was pretty excited to see The Teenagers. The new album is interesting. It’s not really full of songs, but I can’t think of a good noun to apply to what they make. Too bad this sounded like crap. Maybe it was because I was sitting at the back of the tent, but the boring backing tunes with the annoying/incomprehensible voice didn’t make for pleasent listening. But this is Coachella where music is everywhere all the time, so I left.

Uffie feat. DJ Mehdi

Leaving The Teenagers for Uffie & DJ Mehdi was a bad idea, but it was my only choice. Uffie really is the odd girl out on Ed Rec, and she sounds like crap live. She isn’t much of a rapper, and there isn’t any stage presence. One thing that was interesting was the guys running around the stage with Uffie and rapping along with her. Don’t know who they were, but I hope that they don’t try to ride up with her, they won’t get anywhere.

Dredg

Talk about a stark change in pace. Dredg was the fresh gust of wind that I needed, and their show was one of my favorites for the weekend. I was introduced to Dredg about a year ago, and I’ve been hooked on their progressive rock style ever since. The lead singer of the band has an amazing voice, but I was worried that it would be a studio voice and he’d be all over the place live. Not so. I couldn’t have asked for a more solid performance.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t too many people watching the show at the Outdoor Stage. This is Dredg’s first year at Coachella (performing at least) even though they have 4 LPs already out. They really do deserve more attention than they get; they just don’t have a marketable edge even though their music is amazing. I hope that their upcoming album stays true to their honest sound, they’ve been at it for a long time and I hope they get a break soon.

Boys Noize

Beginning my last 2008 Sahara Tent run was Boys Noize, and I was fully prepared to have my face melted off. After the best DJ set of the weekend, it sufficiently was. I find it really interesting how France has such a firm grip on electro right now with Ed Banger and Institubes throwing out DJ after DJ, and here we have this single German guy who’s killing all of their efforts. I don’t mean to make it sound like a war of sorts, but Boys Noize is the dictator of all things electro right now.

His set consisted heavily of material from his album Oi Oi Oi, but he threw in some Bloc Party and Daft Punk for size. I must say that his remix of Feist’s My Moon My Man is one of the best remixes (more like a re-interpretation) that I’ve ever heard, and I was so glad that he played it during his set. He did his trademark move where he puts the headphone-strap over his eyes and continues DJing a few times. All in all, it was just a electro set to rule all electro sets.

Erol Alkan

I don’t know too much about Erol Alkan other than he doesn’t tour in the US too much, so it was pretty cool to see him here. Following up Boys Noize is no easy task, and considering Alkan didn’t really play any recognizable songs, I think of his set as a way to wind down from Boys Noize. It was a pretty high energy show, but you can’t really top the best. I enjoyed the show, but I was really waiting around for Hot Chip.

Hot Chip

I saw Hot Chip last year at Coachella for the first time, and they blew my socks off. They have such a high energy show that it’s impossible not to love every moment that they are on stage. Lets consider a few things that changed this year from last: 1) Sahara Tent baby! 2) New album out 3) Later set time. All of these things contributed to an great performance that (by my standards) topped last year.

I think the biggest component of their live show that made it so incredible at Coachella is that they have a ton of material to play and a very short time to play it in. This means that they forego all of their slow-mid tempo songs for the raving mad ones. All of Made In The Dark translates perfectly to a live performance, and the seamless flow from song to song doesn’t let the energy drop at all. It was pretty clear that they’ve worked on tidying up the loose ends over the past year. So much damn fun.

Kraftwerk

Admittedly, Kraftwerk isn’t really my favorite band/group. I completely understand the massive impact that they have had on every genre of music that uses any kind of electrical instruments (they formed back in the 70s), but their music hasn’t aged well in my opinion. While I’m sure some people were blown away, I guess it was cool. It was exactly what every YouTube video makes it out to be any nothing more. The screen behind them was nice, but again, exactly what’s happened at every single one of their tour dates for the past 5+ years. I will concede that their music translates amazingly to a setting like Coachella. Their sound is so big that it just fills the fields with the electronic bleeps and pops of the past. Good, I guess, didn’t wow me.

Portishead

This is where my night turns golden. Portishead hasn’t done much of anything (as a group) for the past 10/11 years, and I’ve listened to Dummy countless times since discovering the group as my interest in Massive Attack grew. Some music is awesome because of the great show that goes along with it (Daft Punk), some music is great because of its intensity (Rage Against the Machine), and some music is great because of the emotions that pour out of it (Portishead).

Portishead was by far my favorite act at Coachella 2008. Regardless of the fact that I probably won’t ever see them again and any other factor other than the music that makes the existence of their performance at Coachella great, it really was the music that got me. Beth has said in interviews that lyrics are her way of communicating to people, and it really shows. In between songs, you could hear her faintly saying to Adrian and Geoff, “Say something… just say something into the microphone…”

Their twelve-song set consisted of the best songs from Dummy, Portishead, and Third. It really was a hauntingly moving experience. As a fan, it’s nice to know when artists acknowledge some sort of connection with you, and as Geoff was walking off stage, he shot out, “Thanks for waiting so long.” As anyone who’s listened to Third all the way through, it was well worth the 10 years.

Prince

The surprise headliner for Saturday night was Prince, as everyone knows. Following Portishead isn’t an easy thing to do, but really, this is Prince we are talking about. I wish that I had more to say about his show other than it was what a perfect funk/soul/R&B show is. He played about 20 songs in total over 2 hours (he ended at 1am, not midnight). The set was made up of 80s songs, plenty of covers, and some of his more recent singles.

Here are some of the highlights from the performance: Morris Day and Sheila E. opened with a few songs with Prince on guitar, Prince covered Radiohead’s Creep (perfect choice for the Coachella crowd), he also covered the Beatles’ Come Together, and the encore was a double dose of Purple Rain and Let’s Go Crazy.

Seriously people, Portishead brought the melancholy, and Prince brought the party. It was one of the best nights of music I’ve been to.

These incredible pictures of the Coachella weekend are from Mick 0, Caesar Sebastian, and Jevon Feinblatt.

(thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years – this one’s on me)

As a long time fan of NIN, I headed right over to the download page, got my copy of The Slip in FLAC, threw it into iTunes, admired the album art (though I still don’t understand what it means), and played through the new material. 

Album Review

The first thing I noted about the album was its relatively short length. At 43:45 it’s well under an hour, which is fine by me. If there’s one thing that I’ve recently noticed it’s that I don’t really have the patience or time to sit still through a full album if it lasts longer than an hour. Whether an hour genuinely is a good marker for an album or if I’m just abnormally impatient isn’t too important, I’m just glad that The Slip can be taking in from start to finish is one sitting. 

On to the actual musical contents of The Slip. The album opens with the intro track “999,999″, which leads into “1,000,000″. “999,999″ is a fairly generic building of an ambient industrial sound-scape that Reznor seems to be enjoying more and more these days. 1,000,000 is a more traditional NIN song with a distorted guitar, a simple drum line, and Reznor’s vocals all layered on each other once for verses and reverbed back on each other for choruses. The rest of the album follows in similar fashion with a few more “single-quality” songs, a piano ballad, and a 7 and a half minute sound-scape arriving near the end of the album. 

One feeling that I got from The Slip is that Reznor isn’t so much interested in straightforward industrial music anymore. I guess the feeling has been building since With Teeth, but The Slip is the first full NIN album that I could almost categorize as alternative metal. I don’t think I like this feeling, but I loved Year Zero, and I sorta like The Slip. Hopefully this feeling is only coming on because The Slip feels like a promo for the upcoming tour that NIN will be embarking on (which I already have tickets for). 

The main reason why I don’t have the hots for The Slip like I did for Year Zero is because it’s relatively predictable. Year Zero was so varied and unexpected, yet it flowed perfectly. To me, The Slip seems like an extension of some Year Zero songs where fresh material should be instead. 

Beyond the Music

I started to get into this in the review section, but The Slip doesn’t feel like a full NIN album to me. Maybe it’s because of the fact that I didn’t have to (or even get to) pay for it, but the album seems like a promo for the upcoming tour. Getting away from the fact that The Slip isn’t my cup of tea, Reznor is truly putting his money where his mouth is when it comes to his views on the record industry. 

The models (or experiments) that he has been going through are fairly unprecedented. Please don’t give me any crap about Radiohead, because I don’t think that the release of In Rainbows holds any weight against the release of Ghosts I-IV and The Slip. In Rainbows was amazing, don’t get me wrong, but if Radiohead was serious about trying out new models of selling and marketing their music, they wouldn’t stop after one go around. 

My best guess right now is that Reznor is playing mind games with his fans, and that we are all too willing to play along. Not only is he building loyalty through producing good music, he is now giving us gifts for participating in his experiments. Reznor made well over a million dollars of pure profit with Ghosts I-IV, so in return he’s giving us a full NIN album for free. With the antics that surrounded the release of Year Zero and the distribution methods being used now, Trent Reznor, who is already one of history’s greatest musicians, is soon to be one of the great marketers and business men of the music industry.

PS: Upcoming Tour

Here’s a few random notes about the upcoming NIN US tour. I have my tickets for the Seattle date because I’ll be up in Redmond this summer interning for Microsoft. A friend and I are hoping to snag tickets for the LA date when the presale goes up. The supporting acts this go around include Crystal Castles, Does It Offend You Yeah?, Deerhunter, A Place To Bury Strangers, and White Williams. I’ll be seeing Crystal Castles up in Seattle and Deerhunter in LA! Two amazing openers if you ask me. So exited!

Photos below are from the nineinchnails flickr feed.