The Black Keys - Coachella 2012

What can I say about these guys? Pretty amazing rock duo out of Akron, Ohio that formed in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach on guitar and vocals and Patrick Carney on drums.

And again, you either know them, or you don't care to know them, here are their albums, and below will be another possible set list.

Studio albums
The Big Come Up (2002)
Thickfreakness (2003)
Rubber Factory (2004)
Magic Potion (2006)
Attack & Release (2008)
Brothers (2010)
El Camino (2011)

http://soundready.fm/artists/2-The+Black+Keys/playlists/1426
Thank you Internets for making this job easy, and thank you David Huie for finding this website and showing it to me. Also I'm ruining out of time and got lazy on this one, since I think you either love them or are not sure why they made headliner (I'm in the second camp, I like them, I'm just not sure they can pull off headliner status).

Swedish House Mafia - Coachella 2012

DJs/Producers Axwell (Axel Christofer Hedfors), Steven Angello (Steven Angello Josefsson Fragogiannis), and Sebastian Ingrosso (Sebastian Carmine Ingrosso) officially formed Swedish House Mafia late in 2008. All three had been DJing and producing for years, while Steven Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso had been friends since a young age, and Axwell only coming into the picture later. They toured a bunch together between their formation and their first official release, "One" off their debut album, Until One, in 2010 on the record label Polydor Records. This was documented on camera, and there is a documentary, Take One, that encapsulates this time frame. Quickly becoming a success, "One" and "One (your name)" which featured vocals by Pharrell Williams, was followed by "Miami 2 Ibiza" featuring Tinie Tempah. In December of 2011, SHM was the first electronic dance act to play Madison Square Garden, in New York, and that show sold out in 10 minutes. Their most recent tracks have been making the rounds on playlists and DJ sets worldwide, "Save The World", "Antidote" with Knife Party,and "Greyhound". All three songs are singles off the yet to be released live album, One Night Stand.

These three are some of the biggest DJs and producers in their own right, but together they form a super group that has many years of experience and they do a phenomenal job live. Check out their Madison Square Garden set, the second half is pretty amazing.

Pulp - Coachella 2012

Pulp is an english alternative band from Sheffield, England (hey aren't Arctic Monkeys from there too?). They formed back in 1978, but didn't really find success until the 1990s. In the early 1980s, the band was called Arabicus Pulp, and found some local success when they did a Peel Session on BBC Radio 1 with host John Peel. Their sound back then was described as electronic new wave and post punk. They were still in high school at the time, and most of the band went separate ways for university. This resulted in a new line up of musicians, and a new mini album titled It released in 1983, a pun on pulpit, Pulp-It. The album was light and happy, the next change in line up brought out the very dark album, Freaks in 1987. The band folded then when Leader singer Jarvis Crocker went to university for film, but it wasn't for long, and the next development for the band was an album called Separations, with a folkie side A and an acid house influenced side B. The band released several singles with a new label at the beginning of the 90s and then released the hit album, His 'n' Hers in 1994. A double-a side single, "Sorted for E's & Wizz/Mis-Shapes", was to precede the release of their next album, and had an inlay which showed how to conceal amphetamines in a DIY 'wrap'. This was controversial, and Crocker came out with a statement that is was not a pro drugs message, but could see the confusion, the single reached number 2 on the UK charts. Then Different Class was released in 1995, and debuted at the top of the UK charts. At the 1996 BRIT awards, Crocker interuppted the performance of "Earth Song" by Micheal Jackson, by walking on stage and wiggling his butt at the audience. Jackson and his crowd did not enjoy this treatment and had Crocker arrested, but the charges were eventually dropped and the whole prank catipulted Pulp into the limelight, and caused their sales to soar. The next album to hit selves took a while and had some creative hiccups. This Is Hardcore was released in 1998, and contained a lot on how Crocker was dealing with the disillusion of fame and power, and also dealt with porn, and the after effects of drugs. The disappeared for a bit after this, only to resurface in 2001 with the release of the album We Love Life, which was much lighter in tone than This Is Hardcore. Pulp played their last gig before a nine year hiatus at Auto Music Festival in December, 2002. The group announced in late 2010 that they would reunite (the line up from Different Class) and play some dates in 2011. With so much positive feedback and reharsals going well, the band decided to expand those dates to a tour, and now they are playing at Coachella.

Refused - Coachella 2012

Swedish punk band Refused, haven't performed in 14 years. Members include Dennis Lyxzén on vocals, Jon Brännström on guitar, Kristofer Steen on guitar, David Sandström on drums and to top off the reunion, and new tour, they have their favorite bassist back, Magnus Flagge (they went through 13 different bass players in 7 years...). Read the official post about the lead up to reuniting and their response to Golden Voice about playing at Coachella: http://officialrefused.com.preview.binero.se/2012/01/we-had-a-band-once-in-umea/

The band formed in 1991, in Umeå, Sweden and released three ablums in total; This Just Might Be... the Truth (1994), Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent (1996), The Shape of Punk to Come: A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts (1998). The band claims that it never got a chance to do The Shape of Punk to Come right, and that this new tour is that chance, so I suspect a lot of songs from this album to be in their set. The band is very anti-establishment, and anti-culture, as can be read in their last statement to the world after they broke up, http://www.burningheart.com/refused/refmanifest5.htm. Their last performance before they disbanded was in a basement at a private residence in Harrisonburg, Virginia on the 6th of October 1998. The show was interrupted after 4 songs by the local police force, although the crowd protested by chanting, "Rather be alive". The Shape of Punk to Come has been a hugely influential album, ranked #13 by Kerrang! magazine's 50 Most Influential Albums of All Time list in 2003.

From Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent :


From The Shape of Punk to Come:






Song recommendations from Alex Ruiz, Thanks!

Arctic Monkeys - Coachella 2012

Arctic Monkeys are Jamie Cook on rhythm/lead guitar, Matt Helders on drums, percussion, and backing vocals, Nick O'Malley on bass guitar and backing vocals, and Alex Turner on lead vocals and lead/rhythm guitar. They were formed in 2002 in High Green, a suburb of Sheffield, England.

Since everyone should already know who English indie rock outfit Arctic Monkeys are, here is their discography and a possible setlist:
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006)
Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007)
Humbug (2009)
Suck It and See (2011)

I also put together a youtube playlist embed at the bottom of this post in case you don't want to click each song, and bolded the ones I thought were more popular.
1. Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair
2. Brianstorm
3. Teddy Picker
4. Black Treacle
5. Crying Lightning
6. The View from the Afternoon
7. Library Pictures
8. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
9. The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala
10. This House Is a Circus
11. Still Take You Home
12. Evil Twin (New)
13. Pretty Visitors
14. Brick by Brick
15. Do Me A Favour
16. When the Sun Goes Down
Encore:
17. Fluorescent Adolescent
18. Suck It and See


Full set from Lollapalooza 2011: http://youtu.be/56Vgbk1716k
New song released Feb 2012: http://youtu.be/VQH8ZTgna3Q

Mazzy Star - Coachella 2012

Mazzy Star is David Roback on guitar and Hope Sandoval on vocals, playing psychedelic rock. The duo is deeply rooted in the Paisley Underground movement that originated in Los Angeles, California in the 1980s, and combines elements of psychedelic rock, folk rock, and garage rock. Opal is the project that directly preceded Mazzy Star. Opal was David Roback and, then girlfriend, Kendra Smith both of whom had been in bands directly involved, if not forerunners, in the Paisley Underground prior to Opal. When Smith walked away from the project in the middle of a tour, Hope Sandoval took up duties on vocals. Roback and Sandoval fulfilled the contract that Opal had, and immediately after the completion of that album, renegotiated the contract and changed their name to Mazzy Star. Their debut album, She Hangs Brightly, as Mazzy Star was released on Rough Trade in 1990. It incorporated the sounds that were pioneered by The Doors on "The End", and the guitar drone on The Velvet Underground on "What Goes On". Their next release came on a different label, Capitol, after Rough Trade went under. So Tonight That I May See, was released in 1993, but the single "Fade Into You" only became a success in 1994. And then their third album, Among My Swan, released in 1996 confirmed their ability to create this dark psychedelic rock and make it come alive. According to one interview with Sandoval, the group disbanded because the record label was breathing down their necks to get them to produce a commercially successful underground sound.

Keith Mitchell plays drums for all the recordings and live while Mazzy Star tours. Jill Emery played bass for Mazzy Star after 1993. Suki Ewers played keyboards, rhythm guitar (acoustic and electric) and some bass for the group, but was not on the albums,  So Tonight That I May See or Among My Swan, but did tour in the Among My Swan tour.

In 2011, the group reunited and decided to work on a new album set to release in mid 2012, but they did release two songs in October of 2011, the first new material since 1996.





New Material:
http://youtu.be/C7ayH09psxc
http://youtu.be/182Rooyv6Hk

Afrojack - Coachella 2012

Dutch DJ and Producer, Afrojack, was born Nick van de Wall in September of 1987, which makes him only a few months older than me... He was always listening to music as a child, and began using the music program Fruity Loops at age 11. Through lots of hard work and experience he has climbed the ranks of the DJ and Producing worlds. He set up his own record label as well, Wall Recordings, and such rising talents as R3hab and Sidney Samson are signed to it. He is very dedicated to production, and just when he started getting recognition back in 2006, he began producing as much as possible. After his collaboration with Partysquad on "Drop Down (Do My Dance)" which made the Dutch top 20 in 2008, he got recognition for big time electronic artists. David Guetta collaborated with him on "Toyfriend" and Afrojack remixed Guetta's "Sexy Bitch". Afrojack start touring extensively, getting invited to many large festivals, and most recently was ranked number 7 by DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs of 2011. His track "Take Over Control" ft. Eva Simons is still a huge hit and he will be sure to mix it into his set.



The best slice of Afrojack I've heard so far is his 34 minute set from Amsterdam Dance Event in October of 2011:

Explosions in the Sky - Coachella 2012

Hailing from Austin, Texas, Explosions in the sky consists of members, Munaf Rayani on guitar, Mark Smith on guitar, Michael James on guitar and bass guitar, and Chris Hrasky on drums. I'm not sure i can do the band better justice than this well edited and storied description "The early beginnings of Explosions in the Sky occurred in 1999, when three longtime friends from West Texas went to a pizza place in Austin, Texas, for a prearranged meeting with a young man from Illinois. The Illinoisan had just moved to Austin, and he put up a flyer that caught the interest of the others. They ate pizza and discussed movies and decided to meet the next day with their various instruments (two guitars, bass, and drums). Over the coming months they picked a band name, then picked a better band name, then wrote and recorded an album. That album, called How Strange, Innocence, was largely out of tune, but the band members didn't really notice at the time. They optimistically printed 300 copies, and gave most of them away. A friend of theirs sent a recording of one of their live shows to a record label in Baltimore, and that label offered to put out albums for the band. Three albums and hundreds of shows later, the band released their fifth album, Take Care, Take Care, Take Care, this past April."

Described as post-rock, the band plays mostly instrumental music, that is so moving and has so much feeling, you can easily imagine a story to go along with any of their songs or albums. Their live show is absolutely amazing, and they are in fact better live than recorded and that is truly saying something. They are almost guaranteed the sunset time at Coachella and you would do well not to miss them.

They are also known for the soundtrack to Friday Night Lights, the film as well as the tv series.

If you have time, here is a full set:


If not, start the video and at the beginning you will get the option to skip ahead to certain songs, I'd recommend "Your Hand in Mine", "The Birth and Death of a Day", and "The Only Moment We're Alone"

M83 - Coachella 2012

M83 is the music project of Anthony Gonzalez, named after the Messier 83 spiral galaxy. It was started by Gonzalez and former member Nicolas Fromageau in Antibes, France in 2001. Together, the two released the self tittled debut album in 2001, and went on to release the sophomore album, Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, in 2003. Fromageau left the group shortly after the tour for that album. Gonzalez went back to the studio to work on the next album, Before the Dawn Heals Us, which was released in 2005. M83 also made a bunch of remixes for other shoegaze indie rock electo pop bands, like Goldfrapp, Bloc Party, Van She. M83 then went on to record some ambient sounds, and compiled them into the album, Digital Shades Vol. 1, released in 2007. Saturdays=Youth, the fifth album by M83 was produced and helped by Ken Thomas (known for his work with Sigur Rós, The Sugarcubes, Boys in a Band, Cocteau Twins, and Suede), Ewan Pearson (who has also produced for Tracey Thorn, The Rapture and Ladytron) and Morgan Kibby (of The Romanovs), and was released in 2008. This album was a tribute to the 80's and is really about teenage life. The latest album of blissed out electo shoegaze inspired by the 80's music from M83 is Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, a double album released in October 2011. According to Gozalez in an interview the idea behind the album is that everyone dreams, but depending on age and environment those dreams vary greatly. He said that the album was "written like a soundtrack to an imaginary movie with different ambiences, different atmospheres, different tempos, different orchestrations and different instrumentation."

This:


and then:


http://youtu.be/wrv0F-WTio4
http://youtu.be/v4Pg-2LP76g
http://youtu.be/Abqy3DdAzHI

Amon Tobin: ISAM Live

This post will be a bit different as well, since I know exactly what this set is going to be like, no need to listen to backlogs of Amon Tobin material, although you may want to after listening to his new material on really good speakers or headphones.

ISAM is the most recent release from the amazing Brazilian artist Amon Tobin, who dabbles in field recordings and lots of vinyl samples. ISAM in particular is made up of just field recordings, and honestly the way they are composed together on this album is mind boggling. The shear artistic intricacies found in the album are a huge feat, and Amon Tobin deserves some major recognition for this.

AND then you add the visuals... its tough to put into words, you really just have to see it, but basically its a projection on a 3D surface made up of tons of boxes stacked with a leading edge facing the projector, and Amon Tobin's DJ booth in the center. The visuals are perfectly calibrated to create some crazy illusion on the 3D canvas, and it will literally make your jaw drop. If you took the audio away and just watched it would be amazing, and the synchronization of the audio with this projection setup is so good you feel as if you were watching the sound unfold on "screen". I can't stress enough that you should attempt to be as close to the center of the audience as possible to get the full effect.

I saw ISAM Live at the Warfield in SF a couple months back, and it is truly incredible, even the audience acknowledged that this was an artistic performance by applauding for about 10 minutes after the show ended. Here is a preview that does it absolutely no justice, except maybe the interviews where the people can't even describe what they just saw, only how awesome it was.


Oh and go listen to ISAM, with good speakers or headphones!

Background on the project:

Madness - Coachella 2012

Madness is a seven piece ska/brit pop band that formed as The North London Invaders in 1976, and then changed names to Morris and the Minors, and then Madness, in homage to ska/reggae artist Prince Buster. The band is notable for being one of the most prominent bands of the 2-Tone ska revival(the second wave of ska, fusing elements of ska, punk rock, rocksteady and reggae) in the late 70's in the UK and for being on the UK singles chart for 214 weeks over the course of the 1980s decade.

Madness sings about some very strange subjects, but also some activist stuff. They sing about everything from childhood to politics to weird fetishes and abnormal families and other touche subjects.
Also one of the most interesting things about this band, is that 75,000 fans at their reunion concert in Finsbury Park, London on August 8, 1992, caused nearby apartment towers to shake and feel like an earthquake, read about it in an interview with the lead vocalist Suggs here: http://www.virtualfestivals.com/latest/interviews/3325

Just like any other band founded in the 1970s and active on and off since then, Madness has a large and dedicated fan base and too many albums and EPs to list in a short segment, and since they are also a seven piece band with members popping in and out of the line up over the years, too much drama to go into a storied history. Instead I will do something a little different and just give you a list of probable songs they will play live and a copy from Wikipedia of current members and their active times in the band:
Graham McPherson – Lead vocals (1977, 1978–1988, 1992 on)
Lee Thompson – Saxophone, percussion, and backing vocals (1976–1977, 1978–1988, 1992 on)
Mike Barson – Keyboards, pianos, vibraphone, and backing vocals (1976–1984, 1992 on)
Chris Foreman – Guitar (1976–1988, 1992–2005, 2006 on)
Cathal Smyth – Trumpet, backing vocals, dancing, and occasional acoustic guitar (1979–1988, 1992 on); bass guitar (1976–1977)
Daniel Woodgate – Drums, and percussion (1978–1986, 1992 on)
Graham Bush – Bass guitar (2009 on)

Average set list for 2011 based on setlist.fm below, I put together a youtube playlist embed at the bottom of this post in case you don't want to click each song, and bolded the ones I thought were more popular.
1. One Step Beyond (Price Buster cover)
2. Embarrassment
3. Shut Up
4. NW5
5. My Girl
6. You Can't Keep a Good Thing Down
7. The Sun and the Rain
8. The Prince
9. Take It or Leave It
10. I chase the Devil A.K.A. Ironshirt (Max Romeo cover)
11. Clerkenwell Polka
12. Forever Young
13. 1978
14. House of Fun
15. Baggy Trousers
16. Our House
17. Wings of a Dove
18. It Must Be Love (Labi Striffe cover)
 Encore:
19. Madness (Prince Buster cover)
20. Night Boat to Cairo

The Rapture - Coachella 2012

The Rapture was the forerunner of the post punk revival back in the early 2000s. The members have changed around a bit, but the founding members Luke Jenner on vocals and guitar, and Vito Roccoforte on drums and percussion, have remained the core of the band. The band formed in 1998, and began heavily touring, then released a mini album, Mirror on Gravity Records in 1999, then followed with the EP Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks, in 2001. Bassist Matt Safer had joined the group just before the release of that EP. More touring gave way to the stand out first full length album, Echoes, in 2003 which features one of their most famous songs, "House of Jealous Lovers". Gabriel Andruzzi joined the band full time after the album's completion to help with touring, and now plays everything from keyboard to bass to percussion to saxophone.
Paul Epworth, Ewan Pearson and Danger Mouse produced the next album, Pieces of People We Love, released in 2006. This lead to The Rapture opening for Daft Punk on the North American leg of their 2007 tour. In 2008 Luke Jenner left the band after the death of his mother and to spend more time with his new born son. He returned after a few months, but then Matt Safer left the band amicably to do his own thing. The band then headed back to the studio and recorded In the Grace of Your Love, which was released in 2011 on DFA Records. Philippe Zdar, who has also produced albums for Phoneix, Chromeo and Cut Copy, and is a member of the band Cassius, produced the album.

The Rapture are known for dancey electronic sounding disco hits, with hard to understand higher pitched vocals that turn to screamy punk vocals at times, and at other times croon to the audience.

Check out this little jem i found!:


Some hits:







In The Grace of Your Love:

Jimmy Cliff & Tim Armstrong - Coachella 2012

Sooooo, its tough to say what these two respective icons will play together, since this will be the first time the two take the stage for a joint performance.(pun intended)

Jimmy Cliff:

Is a huge reggae star, and is the only living musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honor that can be bestowed by the Jamaican government in arts and sciences. He also happens to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. The man was born in 1948, and his first success came with a song recorded when he was just 14. What really made him an international star, was his appearance as the lead actor, and a composer and musician for 4 songs on the soundtrack, in the Jamaican reggae film, The Harder They Come, in 1972. This film won international success, and really brought reggae to a world audience for the first time. Since that film, he has added vocals, guitar, composition, and toured with a number of famous bands, including, Kool and The Gang, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and many more. Not to mention many bands cite him as an influence and there are lots of covers of his song out there. Counting the albums he has released on Wikipedia gives a whooping 28 albums, so if you like his music and haven't heard of him before you have tons of material to go back and listen to. 

Tim Armstong:

Is a punk rock powerhouse. He is from Albany, Cailfornia, and along with Matt Freeman has pushed punk rock into the limelight. The two meet in little legaue baseball at the age of 5, and in 1985, at age 20, the two created the band Basic Radio, and when that dissovled, formed the ska punk band Operation Ivy with singer Jesse Michaels, and drummer Dave Mello. Operation Ivy released one album, Energy, in 1989 and then disbanded because of the pressure, even though they had immediately gained a huge cult following. The next step for the pair was the band Downfall, which lasted for three months. Matt Freeman went on to join MDC.

The next step for the pair was to join up with Bret Reed on drums and form one of the most successful independent punk bands of all time, Rancid. Rancid has 8 albums out, and may possibly have a ninth out in 2012.

Tim Armstrong also attempted a solo career, but upon expanding it with Rob Aston, and then Travis Barker of Blink-182 formed The Transplants instead in 1999, and released their self titled debut album in 2002.

Aside from his part as vocals and/or guitar in various bands, he is also a producer, and created a record label, Hellcat Records as a sub label of Epitaph.

Jimmy Cliff and Tim Armstrong:

The most recent release by Jimmy Cliff has been the Sacred Fire EP in 2011, it was produced by Tim Armstrong, who was also featured on the the track "Guns of Brixton", a cover of The Clash. The EP also includes a cover of the Rancid song "Ruby Soho", and a cover of "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" by Bob Dylan, with a singular piece of original material, "Ship is Sailing". A full length album between the two is expected in summer 2012.
UPDATE: the album is called Re.Birth and is due out in June.

So I would expect the major hits that Jimmy Cliff usually plays, along with a few songs from the Sacred Fire EP, including the Rancid cover, and then probably one or two unreleased songs off the new album, if the album does not come out before Coachella

I'll leave you with two songs I expect them to play, and a list of others:

http://youtu.be/18EAqHx2lMk
http://youtu.be/lkMzuXlKQv8

Off Sacred Fire:
http://youtu.be/nvt2PMx-PmM
http://youtu.be/mPbpjkkd6J8

GIRLS - Coachella 2012

Founding member of GIRLS, Christopher Owens grew up in the cult, Children of God, but abscounded at age 16. After going through periods of nihilism and listening to hardcore punk, and just absorbing pop culture in general, he met a 64 year old billionaire and quickly became friends by bonding over a shared respect for Elvis, James Dean, and Gene Kelly. After working for the man for a few years he moved to SF to become his own man, started making music and dating and then getting into drugs, especially heroin. He met Chet "JR" White, who is from Santa Cruz, and the two began recording material. Influenced by The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, Gene Kelly, and numerous other large and small icons of rock music past, their debut album, Album, came out in 2009, and received some great reviews. Following this success, they released their EP Broken Dreams Club in 2010, and have most recently released their sophomore album, Father, Son, Holy Ghost in 2011. All of their material has gotten some pretty great reviews on pitchfork and other media reviewing websites, and at first it was hard to tell why. Upon closer inspection and listening intently to the lyrics, you can see that there is a lot going on beneath the sadness or happiness portrayed by the songs themselves. Speaking about love, god, past relationships, longing, and many other strong human emotions, the lryics really get you.

Off Album:


Off Father, Son, Holy Ghost:

http://youtu.be/IxuDoYhQI2o

Madeon - Coachella 2012

Can we all take a moment to thank whatever cultural upbringing french electronic artists get? Seriously so much talent coming out of France, and giving a particularly good showing at Coachella this year.

Madeon is just the next wave of new DJs and producers. Born in 1994, he is one of the younger DJ/Producers out there right now. He really became popular with his mash up of 38 songs in a 3 min 40 second long clip, that he uploaded to youtube in July of 2011, and is approaching 10 million views as of today. But aside from this awesome feat, he has also remixed songs like "Smile Like You Mean It" by The Killers, and "Raise Your Weapon" by Deadmau5. He was slated to release an EP of original material in early 2012, but it was scrapped in favor of several singles.

"Pop Culture"

M. Ward - Coachella 2012

Matthew Stephen Ward, is a Portland, Oregon based folk indie boarding on country artist, who has been releasing solo material as M. Ward since 1999. Also known for his half of She & Him, and a part of Monsters of Folk, M. Ward has also stepped in to do guest vocals or guitar here and there. In his solo career, he has released seven albums and will be releasing his eighth, A Wasteland Companion, on April 10th just in time for Coachella. The highlights of his albums seem to be Transfiguration of Vincent (2003), Transistor Radio (2005), Post War (2006) and parts of Hold Time (2009).

M. Ward sounds very much folksy and alternative and country, fusing the guitar of country with guitar of indie rock, and he has a very soft voice that carries a melody very well.

From Hold Time:


From Post War:



New Material:

The Horrors - Coachella 2012

The Horrors are a shoegaze 80's inspired indie rock band based out of London, and include members Faris Badwan on Vocals, Tom Furse(Cowan) on synthesizer and bass, Joshua Third on guitar, Coffin Joe on drums, and Rhys Webb on bass and organ. They released their debut album, Strange House, in 2007 on Loog Records, it reached 37 in the UK charts. NME featured them on the cover of their August 2006 issue and since then have been darlings of the magazine, playing on the NME Awards Indie Rock Tour in 2007, and other such events throughout their career. In 2009, they released their sophomore album, Primary Colours, on XL Records, which reached number 25 on the UK charts, while NME awarded it the number one album of 2009. Following these successes, The Horrors have played at festivals in the UK and Europe, and opened for acts like Crystal Castles, These New Puritans and most recently Florence and The Machine. The band released their third album, Skying, in 2011 on XL Records, and it reached number 5 on the UK charts.

Their sound is a bit grunge mixed with snyth's and some whiny vocals that are hard to understand but bring a lot of feeling into the songs. Some of it reminds me of Joy Division, and some of it makes me think a bit of Nirvana, but overall it is pretty dark and doesn't draw much from either of those bands.

From Primary Colours:


From Skying:

Frank Ocean - Coachella 2012

Christopher Francis Ocean, born Christopher Breaux, has been a singer/songwriter for many years. He grew up in New Orleans, but now lives in Beverly Hills. Now releasing rhythm and blues under the name Frank Ocean, his debut mixtape, Nostalgia, Ultra, was released in February 2011, and sometime after that 63 songs were compiled and put out under the title The Lonny Breaux Collection, many of which were probably written before 2011. He has also written or been featured on songs for OFWGKTA, Kanye and Jay-Z on Watch the Throne, and Bridget Kelly. BBC announced that he had come in second in their Sound of 2012 poll, and his mixtape has received a ton of great reviews. His lyrics focus on many social issues and personal relationships, "American Wedding" focuses on divorce in America, while "Novacane" explores flirting with a girl at coachella, and getting high with her. "Swim Good" sees Ocean delving into himself and talking about his past and being lost and mourning and finding larger meaning in life. He got in some trouble with The Eagles for using the backing melody to "Hotel California" and the track is no longer available on youtube or anywhere online.

His debut album is set to be released sometime this spring, hopefully before Coachella, but nothing has officially come out about it, other than that. 

Live:
http://youtu.be/viyCqv4JHqw

New Music Day!

Miike Snow's new album, Happy to You, came out today! And a preview of The Shins new album,  Port Of Morrow, is available on itunes, it comes out March 20th!

So the first listen of Miike Snow gave me the idea that they reached a little deeper on this album, but it diverged from the flow that their debut self titled album had. On my run through, "Enter the Jokers Lair", "Devil's Work", "Bavarian #1 (Say You Will)", "Archipelago", "Black Tin Box", and "Garden" stood out as particularly good. "Devil's Work" still sounded the best to me, but that might be because the single came out months ago and I'm pretty familiar with it, "Archipelago" was a close second and considering its the first time I've heard it, that song will probably become my next favorite. Overall a very solid sophomore album, I'll go more in depth on the actual review of Miike Snow which is coming up in the next two weeks or so (hopefully).

Haven't had a chance to preview The Shins, and its bedtime, so to-Morrow. See what I did there? Clearly past bedtime...

James - Coachella 2012

James is an English rock band that was formed in 1982, in Whalley Range, Manchester,. Now composed of members Tim Booth on vocals, Jim Glennie on bass, Larry Gott on guitar, Saul Davies on guitar, violin, and percussion instruments, Mark Hunter on keyboard, David Baynton-Power on drums, and Andy Diagram on trumpet and percussion instruments, the band has lost and gained members in its 30 year long journey. Orignally created by Jim Glennie and Paul Gilbertson, James was a jam band, who resisted going into the studio because they felt the sound would not transfer to record very well. Instead of committing to an album, the band released a series of three EPs from 1983 to 1986, gathering positive reviews along the way. Their debut album, Stutter, was released in July of 1986, and was mildly popular. Followed by their album Strip-mine in 1988, then a live album, One Man Clapping, in 1989, and Gold Mother in 1990, which really gained them mainstream attention. Seven, was released in 1992, followed by two albums with Brian Eno, Laid, in 1993, and Wah Wah, in 1994. A three year gap then gave way to Whiplash in 1997, a Best Of, in 1998, and then Millionaires in 1999. Their album Pleased to Meet You, also with Brian Eno and released in 2001, marked the last album until 2008s Hey Ma. 2010 saw the release of two mini-albums, The Night Before and The Morning After.

With such a large discorapghy spanning decades, its tough to nail down a couple songs to exemplify the band that fits in the genres of britpop, post punk, madchester, new wave and alternative rock.

Lets start with maybe their most popular song:


Then some they are particularly famous for:


http://youtu.be/LGfnw4YscBA
http://youtu.be/paNrxISa4Ac

Followed by most recent material:
http://youtu.be/TLeFbnj-q18
http://youtu.be/yd1IDg8eSsw

Alesso - Coachella 2012

Alessandro Lindblad is a Swedish DJ and Producer, who just goes by Alesso. He's 20 years old, has been producing for 3-4 years but just started DJing about 10 months ago. In 2011 he was ranked by DJ Mag's Top 100 at #70. Alesso really got his start after handing a CD over to Sebastian Ingrosso's father and Ingrosso ending up contacting him and they collaborated on a track together, "Calling" which reached number 2 on the beatport website back in September. Since he is such a new producer, it is amazing that he has landed such great spots on the festival circuits so far. Since then, Alesso has also collaborated with Avicii and remixed a ton of different songs.

There has been a lot of talent coming out of Sweden in regards to house music, in the past couple years, and Alesso is no exception. 

SebastiAn - Coachella

Born Sebastian Akchoté in Boulogne, France in 1981, this french electro artist is part of the Ed Banger Label, the label that so much awesome french electro has been attributed to in the past decade or two. SebastiAn was influecned by hip hop and rap and french electronica, like Daft Punk, in the 90's. Fast forward to 2005, when he calls Pedro Winters AKA Busy P, founder of Ed Bandger Records, who signs him and helps get two EPs, H.A.L. and Smoking Kills (?), out that same year. SebastiAn gets a lot of recognition for these unquie tracks, and puts out a couple remixes as well, the most famous being the remix for Daft Punk's "Human After All". In 2006 he released the EP Ross Ross Ross, and then in 2007, he opened for Daft Punk on their Alive 2007 Tour. In 2007 he also helped composed the soundtrack for labelmate Mr. Ozio's film Steak. 2008 saw the release of the EP Motor, and a Remixes compilation. In 2009, SebastiAn played his first live set at Sónar Festival in Barcelona. 2010 found him doing another soundtrack, this time for the film Notre Jour Viendra, directed by Romain Gavras, who has favored other Ed Banger artists for commercials and short films previously. In 2011, SebastiAn released his first album, Total.

SebastiAn is known for hard hitting bass, and some unique variations on synths. His track "Motor" is a great example becuase he used electronic equipment to create what sounds like engine's revving, and it sounds awesome.

Let me know if this link stops working:

The famous remix, that even Daft Punk likes the best:


possible songs he might mix into a set: http://soundcloud.com/edbangerrecords/sebastian-mix

Datsik - Coachella 2012

Troy Beetles is from British Columbia, Canada. He was playing a lot of Xbox and making hip hop beats, but after seeing Excision live at Shambhala electronic music festival in 2008, he tried his hand at being a dubstep DJ and Producer. He made it! His Xbox gamer tag was Datsik and he ended up just using that name. Lots of collaboration with Excision seriously helped him refine his talent, and now Datsik is a big name in the dubstep world. While he does create dubstep, you could define it as more hip hop inspired, a bit dark with the meanings and aura of the tracks. One of Datsik's biggest influences is Wu Tang Clan especially Method Man, he says he loves the flow and how filthy the sound is, striving to attain that in his own productions. He also has a bit of a robotic side, describing a few of his track as "robostep".
He released a string of solo and collobration EPs from 2009 to 2011, a lot out on Rottun Records, but most recently has been signed to Dim Mak Reocrds and is planning to release his debut album, Vitamin D, on April 10th.

I saw him perform a DJ set just before Steve Aoki on the Deadmeat Tour, and while a lot of his tracks had a dubstep feel to them, it was overall a much more hip hop/rap inspired set. He kept the crowd dancing and dropped some awesome songs, overall a good mixture of hip hop and dubstep.