Coachella 2011 - The Setup

Originally published by PopMatters on January 19, 2011

Weeks of wondering, of lollygagging around the dark recesses and official enclaves of the music-lovin’ world wild web ended in a heartbeat late Tuesday night with the official for real honest to gosh Coachella 2011 lineup announcement. In a flash, all the anticipation and faith in whatever rumors best suited one’s own particular hopes and dreams began the overwhelming task of trying to immediately process actual information.

As it has been pretty much with each of the past several chapters in the Coachella annals, the immediate response generally fell into one of three areas…

- Aw YEAH! COACHELLA GOT (ARTIST I LOVE)!
- Whatever. I was going no matter what.
- Worst. Coachella. Ever.

The headliners, from Friday to Sunday: Kings of Leon, Arcade Fire, Kanye West. The Strokes are also on Sunday’s top line, so maybe they’re co-headlining. Or maybe they’ll team with Kanye in some unholy mash-up like that cruddy Converse ad Julian Casablancas got roped into a few years ago. Or maybe…

The “maybes” are few and far between now, though they certainly exist, especially with memories of Prince’s 2008 set that wasn’t even announced until weeks after the first draft of the lineup dropped. This year’s pleasegoldenvoiceletusreceivemoremoreMORE acts will probably come in the form of everyone from Daft Punk to the Rolling Stones, but truth be told, there’s a lot to be stoked about with what we’ve already got.

Yes, Kings of Leon appear to be something of a controversial choice among the discerning Coachella faithful, but there’s certainly no denying they’ve steered their careers successfully into the festival headlining domain. Arcade Fire has also followed a similar trajectory, though they’ve done so with fewer accusations of having “sold out.” As for Kanye West, like him or not (and I emphatically like him quite a lot), at the very least it’ll be worth sticking around to see if he flouts the community’s midnight noise ordinance.

The undercard is also pretty rock solid, which is also how the “Worst. Coachella. Ever.” crowd eventually finds themselves making peace with going to the festival anyway.

Some of the highlights to keep an eye on…

- Ms. Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu each released two of the finest solo debuts of the past 20 years: Who will out-enigmatic the other?

- Will Ana Matronic stick around after her set with Scissor Sisters on Saturday to perform her sweet vocals from “Safe (In the Heat of the Moment)” with Duran Duran on Sunday?

- Will Death From Above 1979 remember why they broke up in the first place and kick each other’s asses mid-set?

- Will Elbow take their relatively small font size on the poster as a challenge and leave everyone within earshot absolutely breathless?

- Will Cee Lo Green remember the words to “Fuck You”?

The waiting is over. Well, the waiting for the lineup. Now, the nearly three months of waiting for Coachella to actually happen can truly begin.

Coachella 2011 - The Preamble

Originally published by PopMatters on January 17, 2011

In preparation for my first assignment covering the Coachella Music and Arts Festival for PopMatters, I’ve done a bit of marginal research to occupy my time before learning definitively who it is I’ll be seeing when mid-April brings me and tens of thousands of my best pals to the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, California.

What I mean when I say I’ve done some research is that I’ve actually just gone to the most obsessive internet sources: Blogs, message boards, etc…

Coachella ordinarily drops its lineup some time during the second half of January, but that doesn’t stop bloggers from stirring the pot, fans from going nuts and genuine insiders, presumably, shaking their heads.
 
Coachella fans - at least the ones who spend a reasonable portion of their day hollering about the festival online - are a passionate sort. They take both music and the Coachella Festival incredibly seriously. And as such, they’ve been going positively apeshit over the past few weeks as anticipation builds toward the announcement of the official artist lineup.

On Thursday, that anticipation reached a fever pitch, with the official Coachella website and message board both going offline intermittently during the afternoon, perhaps exploding from the sheer volume of page reloads from the exasperated masses. For a while, the primary site simply said: “It works!”

The feeding frenzy continued elsewhere, including the blog of an unknown alleged insider who calls herself Monklish. Since late 2008, Monklish has helped fuel the fire by positing about artists who might appear at Coachella well in advance of the official lineup announcement. Where she gets her information, she won’t say. Whether she’s actually a “she” is even the subject of considerable debate. But she’s got a captive audience comprised of people who both love and loathe her in equal measures, and that’s at least good for a few bucks from Google ads.

Which brings us to now. Monklish posted an update on Wednesday called “Home Stretch” with the following artists…

!!!
Animal Collective
Arcade Fire
Atlas Sound
Beastie Boys
Best Coast
Black Dub
Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears
Blonde Redhead
Bomba Estéreo
Bright Eyes
Brodinski
Broken Social Scene
Cage the Elephant
Caifanes
Chromeo
Cold War Kids
Crystal Castles
Cults
Cut Copy
Daedelus
Daft Punk
Delorean
DJ Shadow
Duran Duran
Empire of the Sun
Erick Morillo and Friends
Fat Freddy’s Drop
Fleet Foxes
Foals
Foster The People
Four Tet
Free Energy
GAYNGS
Glassjaw
Godspeed You Black Emperor
Gogol Bordello
Green Velvet
Groove Armada
Health
Hello Seahorse
Henry Clay People
High Contrast
How to Dress Well
Interpol
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Jack Beats
Kings of Leon
Klaxons
Magnetic Man
Mariachi El Bronx
Marina and the Diamonds
Mary Anne Hobbs
MEN
Menomena
Mew
Neil Young
Neon Indian
Nosaj Thing
PJ Harvey
Queens of the Stone Age
Robyn
Rural Alberta Advantage
Rusko
Sasha
Sven Väth
Tame Impala
The Black Keys
The Chemical Brothers
The Delta Spirit
The Drums
The Morning Benders
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
The Strokes
The Twelves
Titus Andronicus
Tom Tom Club
Trentemøller
Twin Shadow
Warpaint
Wire
Yacht
Zola Jesus

Another website, coachellaleaks.com, dropped a poster on January 11, though a Goldenvoice representative said they haven’t even made a lineup poster yet, so who knows?

In the comments on the Monklish blog as well as on the official Coachella forum, two acts are receiving the lion’s share of the most passionate responses. Those artists: Daft Punk and Kings of Leon.

French electronic duo Daft Punk last played Coachella in 2006, a set that has been described as “epic” on the official forum at least a billion times since. Though naysayers have frequently pointed out that as their Tron: Legacy album was merely a soundtrack, a Coachella appearance wouldn’t make much sense.

Kings of Leon, on the other hand, are apparently this year’s sign that Coachella is no longer cool. It’s an annual rite of passage that in recent years has been filled by everyone from the Killers to Jack Johnson, and if you don’t belive me all you need to do is look in the comments section under Monklish’s latest blog entry.

The following anonymous comments appeared on Thursday afternoon with 11 minutes between them…

“Kings of Leon will be great for those of us who want to leave early and not feel like we missed something.”

“The kings of leon are the worst headliner ever.”

That’s obviously open to debate, though it’s clear the worst thing that could have happened to the Followill clan was to become insanely rich and successful. Few bands can survive such a blow to their cool as to have a hit record.

It’s worth noting that fake posters and other internet rumors have included everyone from the Rolling Stones to David Bowie to a Talking Heads reunion, and none of them will be true unless they are. And with the exception of a few artists here and there who let the news leak on their own, none of this will be known until Coachella makes the official announcement…or until Monklish says so…or until the local media leaks it…or until…

Wire: Red Barked Tree

Originally published by PopMatters on January 11, 2011

Perhaps we’ve been taking them for granted all this time. Maybe Wire’s first few albums were just so good that they made it impossible for us to appreciate the often terrific material they’ve released sporadically during the subsequent decades. They could have just slunk away in the dead of night, leaving us with 1977-79, and their place in history would have been safe and sound. But Wire were always, at least in part, about contrariness. They were crisp and clean and rigidly experimental in an era when punk was more than often not any of those things. And so in 2011, Wire is here to personally remind us not only that they used to be great, but that they’re still capable of great things.

If your favorite Wire music is the jagged quick-snap guitar of their classic debut album, Pink Flag, “Now Was” and the appropriately-titled “Two Minutes” should be right up your alley. Both songs depart as suddenly as they arrive, with the latter delving into drone rock territory with a terrifically twisted spoken-word vocal line. Fans of the band’s forays into contemplative dream-pop should be thrilled with “Adapt” and “Down to This,” each awash in the gentle sway of a feeling you may have long forgotten, building toward something that may never come again.

At times, Red Barked Tree doesn’t feel like it was even recorded in the 21st century, the whiff of a dog-eared copy of the Trouser Press Record Guide faint in its guitars and grooves. Even Colin Newman’s snotty yelp echoes from across the divide of decades, refusing to be softened by age or experience. But because early Wire sounds positively contemporary and necessary in the modern age, the clear line between then and now makes perfect sense. Even when you might want to be embarrassed by earnestly rendered lines like “The absolute of vodka kings” (“Bad Worn Thing”) or the clumsy f-bombs scattered throughout pockets of the entire set, the sound is so clearly Wire, it’s easy to give them a pass.

Selecting a standout track is no easy feat when there’s so much to sink one’s teeth into. “Smash” is a swirling cloud of prickly guitar noise and perfect pop melody, while album opener “Please Take” is so fraught with purpose in its delivery, you may find yourself wondering what it must be like to have all that anger and disappointment focused on you. Over 11 tracks of fantastically unapproachable guitars and vocals, of deceivingly simple rhythms and unswerving purpose, Wire sound perfectly comfortable in their own skin and sense of history on Red Barked Tree.

8 out of 10

Duran Duran: All You Need is Now

Originally published by PopMatters on December 20, 2010

For over a year, Duran Duran and producer Mark Ronson have compared the recording of the music that is about to hit iTunes as All You Need Is Now to the band’s early ‘80s output. Whether they’ve done the job really depends upon how you interpret all that pre-game prattle. But more on that in a moment, because when a band’s been around for more than 30 years, a little perspective can go a very long way.

The members of Duran Duran have so much tonsorial-based ozone depletion in their collective histories, it may seem odd to compare their career trajectory to that of a gritty, woozy prize fighter. But the truth is, Duran Duran have had their asses handed to them time and again by critics and an often disinterested public when it comes to their recorded works since the first few albums. Every now and again an “Ordinary World” pops up and makes everyone take notice, but for the most part Duran Duran has fought the battle for contemporary relevancy to exponentially smaller crowds.

It’s to their great credit that Duran Duran haven’t just taken their lumps and simply allowed themselves to become a greatest hits touring act, with maybe a stretch run in Vegas or Reno or some other place where “Hungry Like the Wolf” could be used to cross-market a casino buffet. They’ve certainly got the back catalogue to support the notion, and their concerts often reflect the struggle between knowing the greatest hits is what got them to where they are and new songs half the crowd doesn’t seem to know quite what to make of.

Now, Duran Duran have returned looking way better than they’ve got any right to, and they’re still as stubborn as ever, still refusing to sit down and shut up and stop making new music. And they’ve still got a nasty left hook, apparently, and a dancer’s gait a young Muhammad Ali would have been proud of. But first, the single, which arrives nearly two weeks before the album which bears its name on December 8: “All You Need Is Now” is an odd choice for an introductory, or at least it seems that way during the plodding verse, which comes on like a pair of mid-period Duran singles that sunk like a stone, “Violence of Summer (Love’s Taking Over)” and “Out of My Mind”. But the chorus, for the first time in a thousand albums, really does feel like that Duran Duran from days of yore, hints of “New Moon on Monday” buried deep within its DNA.

“Blame the Machines” does recall the ‘80s, but not Duran Duran’s ‘80s. It’s 21st century electro-pop, but with little debt to the band’s own history. It’s a forgivable misstep, primarily because it’s such good fun. And perhaps that’s where Ronson’s really earned his pay (or points or whatever.) Though it certainly can’t have hurt that he’s gotten Messrs. Le Bon, Rhodes, Taylor and Taylor to dig their old timey instruments from the backs of their impossibly deep closets, but the real magic the producer and self-avowed superfan has wrought is not the sound of the old Duran Duran, but rather the spirit.

For the first time in a very long time, Duran Duran sounds like they’re having fun, like they remember what it means to actually be Duran Duran. It certainly wasn’t this apparent onAstronaut, the 2004 “reunion” album recorded with Fab Five guitarist Andy Taylor temporarily returning to the fold alongside John (bass) and Roger (drums) Taylor, who if you’ve misplaced your copies of Star Hits aren’t actually related. It wasn’t there in 2007, when the quartet teamed up with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake on the underrated but ultimately misguided Red Carpet Massacre. But it’s here, and maybe all you really do need is now.

Make no mistake, the gentlemen involved in the making of All You Need Is Now do their level best to remind you of Duran Duran’s earliest works: “The Man Who Stole a Leopard”, a grandiose and stunning number which features guest vocals by a reserved, milkshake-free Kelis evokes elements of “The Chauffeur”, “Tel Aviv” and the original single version of “My Own Way”, while “Leave a Light On” recalls “Save a Prayer” if for no other reason than it’s the first time in three decades the band has put together a ballad nearly as good. “Runway Runaway” feels a bit like “Last Chance on the Stairway” by way of an early Charlatans album cut, and if you’ve no idea what any of these references mean, the months of often repetitive hyperbole from Ronson and the members of Duran Duran probably didn’t mean anything to you anyway.

Kelis isn’t the only guest star pitching in; Ana Matronic (Scissor Sisters) comes on all Debbie Harry with a downtown white girl rap on the disco-funk of “Safe”, and Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) throws some indie cred into the mix with string arrangements. But even with all the party inclusive bells and whistles, and even with Ronson (and possibly keyboardist Nick Rhodes) getting cute with with samples and special whiz-bang effects, none of it sounds forced or out of place. It’s also a relief to find that most of the tracks here—especially throbbing dance numbers like “Girl Panic!”—are… err… Taylor-made for the stage. They’ll fit comfortably alongside those golden oldies and probably won’t lead to too many exasperated bathroom breaks from the peripheral fans who only came to hear “The Reflex” or “that one that goes doo-doo-doo-doo.”

All You Need Is Now isn’t Son of Rio, but it’s the best album Duran Duran has released since then, a collection that manages what their best material always has, blending art with grand gestures and popcraft. It’s nine songs full of the promise and thrill of 1981-83. But even more than Ronson and Duran Duran have let on, it’s also an album clearly in debt to the future, a sleek and sexy future where a guy in his early 50’s “driving up the Autobahn” is still the same superhero who wrestled hot chicks in a Sri Lankan swamp all those years ago. This is the sound of time stood still, of a feeling of reckless and sophisticated abandon launched decades forward without skipping a beat.

9 out of 10

The Bees: Every Step's a Yes

Originally published by PopMatters on December 9, 2010

For American fans, the Bees are something of a cruel enigma. First of all, there was already a Bees, so the Bees over here are called a Band of Bees, which is apparently confounding to iTunes but easily fixed on iPods. The Bees have never played live in America, so while fans in the UK have had ample opportunities to hear the Isle of Wight band’s skewed melting pot melodies up close and personal, the best we’ve gotten are a handful of sorta cruddy videos which might as well be that old Sasquatch footage for all it purports to reveal. Compounding the issue is the fact that we seem to get the new Bees albums—which already only come around once every couple of years—several months at least after fans in other parts of the world get them. I’m talking “official” releases rather than “grey area” downloads, which I suppose are sort of egalitarian in that we can all steal it at the same time no matter where we happen to lay our heads.

Don’t do that with Every Step’s a Yes, though. Because no matter how long you have to wait to hear it, if you pay actual money for the Bees’ fourth album, maybe they’ll think it’s worth packing all their crazy instruments into a hundred steamer trunks and playing some shows on this side of the Atlantic for a change. Plus, the album is a total joy, and unlike so much of the flotsam and jetsam calling itself rock and/or roll these days,Every Step’s a Yes is worth your hard earned dough, even at impatient import prices.

The first gentle toe in the water was “Silver Line”, a delicate and plucky number with haunting organs and haunting background vocals and a tingly feeling like sitting in a bathtub filled with warm honey. Then came the single, “I Really Need Love”, which also opens the album. And I don’t know if you have love or want love, but this really is how it might feel, what with the acoustic strumming and the little bridges with their soaring harmonies and desperate pauses.

What you loved about the Bees from albums past is also there, too. Witness “Winter Rose”, a psychedelicarribean link that draws a line all the way back to their debut, Sunshine Hit Me, right down to the tin-can guitar, cavernous organ, and bubble-pops. They’re not a tenth as aggro, but the Bees share a wide-eyed approach to various musical genres with the Clash. They’re also every bit as good at incorporating those sounds into their own mix without it sounding forced or phony. Even without their splendid mixtape release, The Bees Present: The Sound Selection, it wouldn’t have been a stretch to imagine these guys having wildly diverse record collections. Any band that can pull off a Simon & Garfunkel-meets-the Monkees song like “Silver Line”, come over all Pink Floyd on “Island Lover Letter”, and close out an album with a dub Sesame Street song like “Gaia” is worth at least a happy listen.

Fans of any band have their favorite albums, and it’s too early to tell where Every Step’s a Yes will fall when compared to Sunshine Hit Me, Free the Bees, or Octopus. But it’s to the Bees’ credit that they consistently release albums so strong that there’s no clear way of answering that question.Every Step’s a Yes is more than just a worthy chapter in the Bees’ astonishing collected works. It’s also a single achievement I’d put up against just about anything else released by anyone this year. And sooner or later people in America will have the (legal) opportunity to discover that for themselves.

9 out of 10

The 70 Best albums of 2010 - PopMatters

Originally published by PopMatters on December 13, 2010

#22 - Gorillaz: Plastic Beach

When Damon Albarn puts together a mixtape, he really goes the extra mile. Three albums in to his Gorillaz career, the Blur frontman isn’t treating his cartoon cavalcade like a side project anymore. While its predecessor, Demon Days certainly sharpened the concept, Plastic Beach perfected it, bringing on a host of all-star associates to create one of the year’s best albums. The percentage of albums featuring cameos from Snoop Dogg over the past decade must be as staggeringly high as Snoop by his own admission often is, but his choice as the host of Plastic Beach is as inspired as the segue into the hip-hop/Arabic mash-up of “White Flag”. And therein lies the beauty of Plastic Beach, an album made by many hands, yet with enough of a common thread to not only keep the whole together, but also allow it to work fully in a live setting with a band that boasts half of the Clash among its ranks.

Reading more like an idle flip through the record collection of someone you wouldn’t mind taking a road trip with, Plastic Beach features collaborations with Mick Jones and Paul Simonon, Lou Reed, Mos Def, De La Soul, Mark E. Smith, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals, Little Dragon and Bobby Womack. The latter sounds a million miles away from his halcyon days in the soulful ‘70s, but his voice has matured into something both rougher and more beautiful. Indeed, Womack’s work on the album’s first single, “Stylo”, and on its emotional denouement, “Cloud of Unknowing”, are possibly the best performances on an album hardly lacking in them.

It’s possible Albarn sleeps maybe two hours a night, as he’s apparently recorded a Gorillaz follow-up on an iPad while on the road with the band, has plans early in the year for new Blur material and is nearly finished with an Afrobeat album with Flea and Tony Allen. In the meantime, there’s Plastic Beach, a journey that still sounds as fresh and vibrant as the moment it dropped.

The 60 Best Singles of 2010 - PopMatters

Originally published by PopMatters on December 6, 2010

#20 - Blur: "Fools Day"

It came quietly, the sounds of “Parklife” shouted by tens of thousands in London’s Hyde Park still sending shivers up and down our spines. Blur’s reunion for a handful of shows in 2009 engendered enough good vibes among the Britpop quartet that their “love of all sweet music” apparently left them wanting more. 

Lyrically, “Fool’s Day” reads like a mundane day-in-the-life tale like the Beach Boys’ “Busy Doin’ Nothin’” or “Blue Jay Way” by the Beatles, but with a considerably more satisfying emotional payoff. And ultimately, that’s what “Fool’s Day” is meant to be, a celebration of routine, and of knowing when something is good enough to not let go.

“Fool’s Day” was released in conjunction with Record Store Day in April, a single track in limited vinyl units followed by a free download. “We just can’t let go,” sings Damon Albarn, and it’s hard to argue as the music hovers, shifting back into another verse before the return of Graham Coxon’s gorgeous guitar reminds everyone why Blur’s final album, Think Tank, wasn’t quite what we hoped for.

“Fool’s Day” is four friends finding one another down the road, comfortable in themselves and where they are, in their own legacy and in the pure pleasure of playing music together. There’s more on the horizon for Blur, at least according to Albarn. If it’s half as warm a return as “Fool’s Day,” it’ll be welcomed with open arms.