Another artist got added to Friday, before LA Riots, so apparently a not very well known artist, in fact its a little hard to find information about her, but there is some stuff.
Mea AKA DJ Mea or Mea Fisher is from Kansas City, but moved to Chicago in 1997. Chicago gave her more practice as a DJ and more influences that shaped her now funky house style. She DJed as far back as 1999, and was the only female DJ to go on the Funky Techno Tribe Tour in 2001. Her next move was to explore her vocal abilities and she started recording and releasing tracks on small electronic labels. This lead to a collaboration with Nynex, "Simplest of Things" released 2002, which lead to another tour and a move to Los Angeles. Her next project was the creation of a band, MeAndMyMachine, which has most recently attracted the attention of the band manager for Lords of Acid. After stepping in to fill the vocalist spot for a summer tour and then auditioning for a more permanent role as vocalist, Mea has become the lead vocalist for Lords of Acid. She has a nice voice, in fact, you know the typical lovely female voice featured in lots of house music? she has a voice like that. She produces chicago house style electronica, and some of her production stuff has dark deeper beats in the background.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Yuck - Coachella 2012
Yuck is an indie rock band that formed in late 2009. Original band memebers, Daniel Blumberg and Max Bloom, were part of a previous band, Cajun Dance Party, but wanted to be more involved with the creative process and started writing and playing together on their own. Sounding like American 90's rock, Yuck has been compared to Sonic Youth, Dinosar Jr., and Pavement. When Danny and Max finally decided to do some recordings, they recruited drummer Jonny Rogoff and bassist Mariko Doi, and now and then Danny's little sister Ilana contributes vocals. They have a single self titled album that was released in 2011 by Fat Possom Records.
On stage they seem to be really absorbed by the music they are playing and they sound crisper live than they do on their record, check out their show at SxSW last year if you are really curious: http://youtu.be/VSmlLV1A5ow
On stage they seem to be really absorbed by the music they are playing and they sound crisper live than they do on their record, check out their show at SxSW last year if you are really curious: http://youtu.be/VSmlLV1A5ow
Friday, February 24, 2012
Neon Indian - Coachella 2012
Neon Indian is the lo-fi synth-pop project of Alan Palomo. The project was formed during his college years while he was juggling music, his studies and his career in gay porn in Denton, Texas. He had been in previous music groups before, but Neon Indian really came out strong. When his first album, Physic Chasms, was released it got great reviews and the blogosphere started putting it in the top albums of 2009. Pitchfork placed two songs from the album on its Top Tracks of 2009, "Should Have Taken Acid With You" at 74th and "Deadbeat Summer" at 13th. "Should Have Taken Acid With You" was an apology in song form for missing an acid date with an old girlfriend, she liked it and Alan continued making strange summery songs. The second album, Era Extraña, was released in 2011, and feels much more polished, still lo-fi, but not to the extent of the first album, and it shows that Alan really has talent.
Live, Neon Indian tours with Alan Palomo doing vocals and keyboard, Jason Faries on drums, Leanne Macomber on keyboard and vocals and Lars Larsen overseeing live visuals. I saw them back in 2009 at the Echoplex and they were awesome live, really got the crowd going. Looking forward to seeing them on a warm summery day in the desert!
From the most recent album:
Live, Neon Indian tours with Alan Palomo doing vocals and keyboard, Jason Faries on drums, Leanne Macomber on keyboard and vocals and Lars Larsen overseeing live visuals. I saw them back in 2009 at the Echoplex and they were awesome live, really got the crowd going. Looking forward to seeing them on a warm summery day in the desert!
From the most recent album:
Dawes - Coachella 2012
Dawes was formed from the ashes of the band Simon Dawes when co-songwriter and guitarist Blake Mills left. Simon and Dawes are the respective middle names of Blake Mills and Taylor Goldsmith. Dawes originated in Los Angeles, and is made of borthers Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith, with Wylie Gelber and Tay Strathairn. Simon Dawes was post punk, Dawes decides to go with the folk rock sound. Dawes released their debut album, North Hills, in August of 2009. Nothing is Wrong, is the group's sophomore album, and was released in June of 2011. Both albums evoke that folkesy and bluesy sound that groups like Fleet Foxes are famous for. Singer Taylor Goldsmith really has a beautiful voice.
They sound really good live:
They sound really good live:
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
The Black Angels - Coachella 2012
Experimental/psychedelic rock outfit The Black Angels formed in Austin, Texas in 2004. They released their first self titled EP in 2005, and their debut album, Passover, in 2006. Consisting of Stephanie Bailey on drums & percussion(wooo, a girl on drums!), Christian Bland on guitar, drone machine/organ, Kyle Hunt on keyboards, percussion, bass, guitar, Alex Maas on vocals, and Nate Ryan on bass, guitar, The Black Angels take their name from a Velvet Underground song, and even their logo is a high contrast image of the Velvet Underground's vocalist. They showed up at Lollapalooza in 2007, and SxSW in 2006 and 2008, and their songs have been featured in TV shows and movies. They released the EP, Black Angel Exit, followed by the sophomore album, Directions to See a Ghost, in 2008. 2010 saw the release of their third album, Phosphene Dream, and 2011 brought the EP, Phosgene Nightmare. While phosphene is the process of seeing light without light actually entering the eye, phosgene is a chemical compound that was used as chemical weapon in World War II. Phosphene can be caused by rubbing closed eyes or taking pyschadelics, and it seems fiting that their influences on this album range from Jefferson Airplane to Animals to Pink Floyd.
Sounding like a mix of The Doors, and The Velvet Underground, with influences from Led Zeppelin, Jesus & Mary Chain, Verve, Joy Division, Syd Barrett, Bob Dylan, and 13th Floor Elevators it seems more like these are just recordings from the 70's released now. In fact the more I listen the more they remind me of a tribute band for The Doors.
http://youtu.be/qE8Ov-N8gE8
Sounding like a mix of The Doors, and The Velvet Underground, with influences from Led Zeppelin, Jesus & Mary Chain, Verve, Joy Division, Syd Barrett, Bob Dylan, and 13th Floor Elevators it seems more like these are just recordings from the 70's released now. In fact the more I listen the more they remind me of a tribute band for The Doors.
http://youtu.be/qE8Ov-N8gE8
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Death Grips - Coachella 2012
Experimental hip hop group Death Grips hails from Sacarmento, CA and is composed of vocalist Stefan Burnett and production team Zach Hill & Andy Morin. Dark and aggressive, the style reminds me of being hunted down or followed in the dead of night. The lyrics don't always make sense but form a sort of cryptic script that references everything from witches and speaking in tongues to drugs and sex. In their first interview they described their sound as “Raw. Raw like wet pennies. Post-Christian, Post-Satan”. They started in December 21, 2010, with the recording of their first single "Full Moon (Death Classic)" on the first winter solistice to have a full moon since 1638. They released their debut mixtape, Exmilitary, in April 2011.
Breakbot - Coachella 2012
French electro disco, its so smooth and silky. From Ed Banger Records, Breakbot creates modern disco, or maybe its electronic french rhythm and blues. Whatever you want to label it, its sensual and catchy, in a way that the french do best. Breakbot is the recording alias of Thibaut Berland, who has also created short videos and made some advertisements. Realizing he had a flare for creating this smooth electronic french sound, he went into producing and DJing. As a producer, he has four EPs, one through Moshi Moshi Records and the other three through Ed Banger Records. His Happy Rabbit EP released in 2007 through Moshi Moshi is a bit more simple and not as sensual, in fact its more electronic, but in a really calm way. The Baby I'm Yours EP and Let The Children Techno EP have many more layers and build up that disco sound.
He also has a few remixes of artists like Justice, Metronomy, Pacific!, Digitalism, Van She, Röyksopp, and Chromeo. And I'm not entirely sure if he is going to be preforming live or doing a DJ set. From a few clips of live shows it seems a combination of a live remixing of his material with some others.
The sensual:
To top it all off, Take Some Crime does some dancing to Breakbot:
He also has a few remixes of artists like Justice, Metronomy, Pacific!, Digitalism, Van She, Röyksopp, and Chromeo. And I'm not entirely sure if he is going to be preforming live or doing a DJ set. From a few clips of live shows it seems a combination of a live remixing of his material with some others.
The sensual:
To top it all off, Take Some Crime does some dancing to Breakbot:
Monday, February 20, 2012
Feed Me - Coachella 2012
Feed Me AKA Spor AKA Jon Gooch, is a Producer/DJ from Hertfordshire, England.
In the vein of electro, house, dubstep and intelligent dance music, Jon Gooch's most recent production project Feed Me is much closer to Deadmau5 than Skrillex, but has elements of both. Lots of piano interludes give way to massive bass drops, and a bunch of fluctuating synthy sounds create catchy melodic beats. Feed Me's Escape form Electric Mountain just came out at the beginning of this month and represents Feed Me's most recent EP. Other material released under this monkier include the EPs in 2011, To The Stars and The Spell/Raw Chicken, and the debut album Feed Me's Big Adventure in 2010. All of these have been released under the Mau5Trap Recording Label. And keeping in the theme, Feed Me's newest stage production is a quite impressive array of LED panels in front of his booth that create a set of teeth in a wide grin similar to that of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.
He has also done wonderful remixes for the likes of Robyn, Muse, Nero and Gorillaz.
TEETH:
Good edit of live footage:
The real treasure:
http://youtu.be/auFtHzMJ7NI
In the vein of electro, house, dubstep and intelligent dance music, Jon Gooch's most recent production project Feed Me is much closer to Deadmau5 than Skrillex, but has elements of both. Lots of piano interludes give way to massive bass drops, and a bunch of fluctuating synthy sounds create catchy melodic beats. Feed Me's Escape form Electric Mountain just came out at the beginning of this month and represents Feed Me's most recent EP. Other material released under this monkier include the EPs in 2011, To The Stars and The Spell/Raw Chicken, and the debut album Feed Me's Big Adventure in 2010. All of these have been released under the Mau5Trap Recording Label. And keeping in the theme, Feed Me's newest stage production is a quite impressive array of LED panels in front of his booth that create a set of teeth in a wide grin similar to that of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.
He has also done wonderful remixes for the likes of Robyn, Muse, Nero and Gorillaz.
TEETH:
Good edit of live footage:
The real treasure:
http://youtu.be/auFtHzMJ7NI
WU LYF - Coachella 2012
WU LYF stands for "World United Lucifer Youth Foundation," which is a band that formed in 2008 in Manchester. Shrouded in mystery, the band refused to do interviews or give away any information about themselves. In the information era, this proved difficult and facts have been leaked.
Described as a heavy pop, indie rock band, WU LYF is comprised of "Jeau" (Joe Manning), "Lung" (Tom McClung), "Elle Jaie" (Ellery Roberts) and "Evnse" (Evans Kati). While the band really broke out in early 2010, their debut album, Go Tell Fire To The Mountian wasn't released until June, 2011. In fact a year before that they founded the Lucifer Youth Foundation, and for a fee, new members receive a bandit mask and a 12" that contained their songs "Heavy Pop"and "Concrete Gold". It was the money generated from this scheme that allowed them to produce their debut album on their own, despite multiple offers from record companies.
Live they have a comfortable stage presence, and attempt to recreate the emotions captured in their recordings.
Something very basic about the vocals gives a real sense of meaning and purpose to the sound, while the instrumentals build up a sense of excitement.
http://youtu.be/YXFN7QZhSuM
http://wulyf.org/
Described as a heavy pop, indie rock band, WU LYF is comprised of "Jeau" (Joe Manning), "Lung" (Tom McClung), "Elle Jaie" (Ellery Roberts) and "Evnse" (Evans Kati). While the band really broke out in early 2010, their debut album, Go Tell Fire To The Mountian wasn't released until June, 2011. In fact a year before that they founded the Lucifer Youth Foundation, and for a fee, new members receive a bandit mask and a 12" that contained their songs "Heavy Pop"and "Concrete Gold". It was the money generated from this scheme that allowed them to produce their debut album on their own, despite multiple offers from record companies.
Live they have a comfortable stage presence, and attempt to recreate the emotions captured in their recordings.
Something very basic about the vocals gives a real sense of meaning and purpose to the sound, while the instrumentals build up a sense of excitement.
http://youtu.be/YXFN7QZhSuM
http://wulyf.org/
Wallpaper - Coachella 2012
Coachella added an artist to Friday, just before LA Riots, and since I've been doing this based on the least important to most important on the poster, I decided to review this newcomer first.
Wallpaper is a white Oakland rapper, whose real name might be Ricky Reed, but more likely Eric Frederic. Creating a band page on Myspace back in 2005, Wallpaper has been throwing out hip hop jams that cater more to the white college crowd. Probably his most famous song to date, "Stupidfacedd" is all about drinking and partying and sleeping and scoring, in the urban college community. The message is straight forward, he doesn't sing or rap well, but it doesn't matter, cause the beat is catchy. A fine multi-instrumentalist and producer, he knows how to do viral marketing well, and has risen up the ranks in youtube fame style.
Wallpaper is a white Oakland rapper, whose real name might be Ricky Reed, but more likely Eric Frederic. Creating a band page on Myspace back in 2005, Wallpaper has been throwing out hip hop jams that cater more to the white college crowd. Probably his most famous song to date, "Stupidfacedd" is all about drinking and partying and sleeping and scoring, in the urban college community. The message is straight forward, he doesn't sing or rap well, but it doesn't matter, cause the beat is catchy. A fine multi-instrumentalist and producer, he knows how to do viral marketing well, and has risen up the ranks in youtube fame style.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Atari Teenage Riot - Coachella 2012
A bit of movement on the updated Coachella poster puts Atari Teenage Riot next up for review.
Speaking of movement, ATR has had a consistently changing lineup of muscians, the original lineup of Alec Empire, Hanin Elias, and MC Carl Crack came to a tragic end with the death of Crack in 2001. Formed in Berlin in 1992, the group was active throughout the 90s, releasing 4 albums and 7 EPs, before Crack's death in 2001. There is a lot of politics in their music ranging from Anarchist to Anti-Fascist to Anti-Nazi, and more recently against human trafficking. The group gained a lot of momentum and support after their very memorable SxSW performance in 1997, the live band consisting of Alex Empire, MC Carl Crack, and Nic Endo, a female Japanese-German-American soundscape artist. From 1996 on, Nic Endo has contributed a lot to the band, and has stepped in anytime Hanin Elias has ducked out.
A fusion of punk, techno, and hardcore, ATR basically created the genre of digital hardcore and has inspired and influenced a lot of bands, including Crystal Castles, Sleigh Bells, MIA, Le Tigre, and more. A little hard to access, their first album in 10 years, Is This Hyperreal? was released on Dim Mak Records in June of 2011. Previously, most of their records were released under the Digital Hardcore Recordings label co-rounded by Alec Empire in 1994.
The current touring lineup is Alec Empire (Vocals, synths, drummachines), Nic Endo (Vocals, samplers, noise fx) and MC KidtroniK (Vocals, machines).
This exemplifies the group:
More accessible material:
http://youtu.be/GR_kjdr7e0Y
Speaking of movement, ATR has had a consistently changing lineup of muscians, the original lineup of Alec Empire, Hanin Elias, and MC Carl Crack came to a tragic end with the death of Crack in 2001. Formed in Berlin in 1992, the group was active throughout the 90s, releasing 4 albums and 7 EPs, before Crack's death in 2001. There is a lot of politics in their music ranging from Anarchist to Anti-Fascist to Anti-Nazi, and more recently against human trafficking. The group gained a lot of momentum and support after their very memorable SxSW performance in 1997, the live band consisting of Alex Empire, MC Carl Crack, and Nic Endo, a female Japanese-German-American soundscape artist. From 1996 on, Nic Endo has contributed a lot to the band, and has stepped in anytime Hanin Elias has ducked out.
A fusion of punk, techno, and hardcore, ATR basically created the genre of digital hardcore and has inspired and influenced a lot of bands, including Crystal Castles, Sleigh Bells, MIA, Le Tigre, and more. A little hard to access, their first album in 10 years, Is This Hyperreal? was released on Dim Mak Records in June of 2011. Previously, most of their records were released under the Digital Hardcore Recordings label co-rounded by Alec Empire in 1994.
The current touring lineup is Alec Empire (Vocals, synths, drummachines), Nic Endo (Vocals, samplers, noise fx) and MC KidtroniK (Vocals, machines).
This exemplifies the group:
More accessible material:
http://youtu.be/GR_kjdr7e0Y
Friday, February 10, 2012
GIVERS - Coachella 2012
Reminding me of Vampire Weekend and I am Barcelona, GIVERS creates poppy indie rock music that makes you feel happy and playful.
GIVERS started in Lafyette, Lousiana in 2009 with Tiffany Lamson on vocals and percussion, Taylor Guarisco on vocals and guitar, Kirby Campbell on drums and vocals, Josh LeBlanc on bass and guitar, and Nick Stephan on flute, saxophone, and keyboard. Having one EP and one Album, In Light, makes them easy to listen to, and they have a diverse sound among their ten track album. "Noche Nada" reminds me a bit of Battles, only because they have the same sound in the background. Some of it also sounds kinda island-y, like you should be on a beach in Hawaii.
http://youtu.be/A_Gteo080NI
http://youtu.be/QKsFMSC9MUQ
GIVERS started in Lafyette, Lousiana in 2009 with Tiffany Lamson on vocals and percussion, Taylor Guarisco on vocals and guitar, Kirby Campbell on drums and vocals, Josh LeBlanc on bass and guitar, and Nick Stephan on flute, saxophone, and keyboard. Having one EP and one Album, In Light, makes them easy to listen to, and they have a diverse sound among their ten track album. "Noche Nada" reminds me a bit of Battles, only because they have the same sound in the background. Some of it also sounds kinda island-y, like you should be on a beach in Hawaii.
http://youtu.be/A_Gteo080NI
http://youtu.be/QKsFMSC9MUQ
Monday, February 6, 2012
Sasquatch 2012 Lineup
I realize I am late posting on this but the Sasquatch lineup has been out for 4 days now and I feel I must comment,
Looking very similar to the Coachella lineup, there are a few key differences. Most notably Jack White, who is set to release his first solo album Blunderbuss April 24th, followed by Beck, Pretty Lights, The Roots, Metric, Wolfgang Gartner, Apparat, Little Dragon, and STRFKR. The Gorge looks like the prettiest place on earth to hold a music festival, and seeing some acts like Jack White, or The Shins or Explosions in the Sky there would probably be tear jerking. While watching amazing visual installations from Pretty Lights and Little Dragon and Metric and Apparat and SBTRKT, would be just awesomely cool.
While this lineup is spectacular and considering it's a mini coachella, Coachella still puts out a wider range of artists and acts that are hard to top. Oh if only I could go to both, sigh.
Tickets are sure to sell out.
Looking very similar to the Coachella lineup, there are a few key differences. Most notably Jack White, who is set to release his first solo album Blunderbuss April 24th, followed by Beck, Pretty Lights, The Roots, Metric, Wolfgang Gartner, Apparat, Little Dragon, and STRFKR. The Gorge looks like the prettiest place on earth to hold a music festival, and seeing some acts like Jack White, or The Shins or Explosions in the Sky there would probably be tear jerking. While watching amazing visual installations from Pretty Lights and Little Dragon and Metric and Apparat and SBTRKT, would be just awesomely cool.
While this lineup is spectacular and considering it's a mini coachella, Coachella still puts out a wider range of artists and acts that are hard to top. Oh if only I could go to both, sigh.
Tickets are sure to sell out.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Other Lives - Coachella 2012
It looks like Band of Skulls got moved to sunday... so its on to Other Lives.
Other Lives creates beautiful, slow building indie rock. Orginally named Kunek, the band was formed in 2004, and released an album under that name titled Flight of the Flynns in 2006. It seems they changed names to Other Lives in 2008, and released a self titled EP in 2008, and then a self titled album in 2009. In 2011 they released Tamer Animals. The band members include Jesse Tabish on vocals, piano, guitar and percussion, Jenny Hsu on cello and backing vocals, Jon Mooney on violin, horns, piano and percussion, Colby Owens on clarinet and percussion and Josh Onstott on bass and percussion. This is another band that would qualify for the symphonic rock genre, and it totally fits in shows like Grey's Anatomy, and Gossip Girl, oh wait they have songs featured in those shows. They also toured in support of Bon Iver last year, and are scheduled to support Radiohead on the first leg of their US tour. They sound really good, but i'm not sure their live show is that good.
http://youtu.be/EfnGHRVCik0
Other Lives creates beautiful, slow building indie rock. Orginally named Kunek, the band was formed in 2004, and released an album under that name titled Flight of the Flynns in 2006. It seems they changed names to Other Lives in 2008, and released a self titled EP in 2008, and then a self titled album in 2009. In 2011 they released Tamer Animals. The band members include Jesse Tabish on vocals, piano, guitar and percussion, Jenny Hsu on cello and backing vocals, Jon Mooney on violin, horns, piano and percussion, Colby Owens on clarinet and percussion and Josh Onstott on bass and percussion. This is another band that would qualify for the symphonic rock genre, and it totally fits in shows like Grey's Anatomy, and Gossip Girl, oh wait they have songs featured in those shows. They also toured in support of Bon Iver last year, and are scheduled to support Radiohead on the first leg of their US tour. They sound really good, but i'm not sure their live show is that good.
http://youtu.be/EfnGHRVCik0
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