Coachella 2010 Day Two: Saturday

We got home Friday night around 1am. It was a long and exhausting day, but I had a lot of fun getting the lay of the land and figuring out how the festival works and how to get to the various stages quickly and efficiently and how to jockey for prime real estate. Saturday was my light day owing to the fact that the majority of acts I wanted to see were on Friday and Sunday. There was still a lot to see though, and I was willing to try new things that my housemates were wanting to see.



First off was a spoken word/standup performance from cult director John Waters of Hairspray and Female Trouble fame. Or infamy if you were partial to that description. Honestly, he was charming and extremely funny. Not to mention filthy, vulgar, and completely non-politically correct. So he was brilliant.



After John Waters there was a long period of time between acts I wanted to see, so we hung out under the shade tents in the beer garden. It was a very hot day and the only day that really had no breeze to speak of. Luckily the majority of acts I wanted to see were in the tents so you weren't out in the blazing sun all day. The tents were fun and had tons of great people watching. Most of my housemates joined us, and some even took a nap.



Next up I took Kurt over to the small Gobi tent to see Pitchfork idolized band Girls. I happen to love the cd and think it is melodically adventurous and witty, while being a complete mess. But the sloppiness is what gives it its charm. I was expecting a show full of train wreck moments and what we got instead was a highly professional show. I enjoyed the show while Kurt found them boring. I think if we had more of the sloppiness it would have been more memorable.



Afterwards I went to see Beach House by myself because no one else wanted to see them and Kurt thinks they are boring as well. We saw them last year open for Grizzly Bear and while then I thought their songs sounded too similar, since then I had bought their new cd and fell in love with it. The lyrics are haunting and beautiful and I just fell in love with the singer's voice. the show was attended by an audience of appreciative fans and I had no trouble seeing them or struggle to hear them over annoying groups of people chatting. The setlist was pitch perfect and told an almost singular story. The finished with my favorite song from them, "10 Mile Stereo," and I was so moved I was actually brought to tears. Unfortunately I have not been able to find a video of that performance, which is a crime, but here is a clip of my second favorite song "Walk In The Park."



We had another break and walked around the festival before going to see The Gossip. We tried to all get together for that show because it was one we all wanted to see, but the Mojave tent was packed to the rafters and we couldn't find everyone, so we just ended up seeing the show from different vantage points. The Gossip, led by the fabulously zaftig Beth Ditto, were a lot of fun and put on an amazing show. Lots of incredible energy.



The best part of the show is when James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem came out to join the band in a cover of Grace Jones' "Pull Up To The Bumper." It was wild.



The Gossip unfortunately started late so we were late running over to catch the end of The xx's set. We only got to see about three songs. Kurt and I had already seen them twice in small clubs so we weren't too disappointed but we were sad our friends missed out on a great show. What we did hear was good, and actually in a very large outdoor environment they actually sounded very muscular.



Kurt and I hung out some more and then he took me to see Bassnectar so we could grab something to eat. Funny, we ended up eating the same thing for lunch and dinner every day we were there. We studiously avoided the nasty festival food such as nachos, corn dogs, and garlic cheese fries, and discovered a small booth selling the most delicious and freshly made chicken fajitas. It was just simple ingredients: chicken, tortilla, and fresh pico de gallo. Delicioso! But back to Bassnectar. He packed the Sahara tent and the overflow crowd stretched about 50 yards beyond the tent. We sat in a small grassy patch and listened and crowd watched. Bassnectar's music was completely punishing and sick. The crowd was going mad. The bass was so deep and rumbling my stomach started hurting.



After Bassnectar we caught a few songs from festival buzz band MGMT. We got so tired of seeing all their fans around the grounds dressed in Native American getups. It was frankly silly. And MGMT were not really that good live. I was expecting an upbeat and fun set and it was pedestrian and boring. I actually ended up running into two Facebook friends from LA I had never met in person before. John and Keith were really awesome and fun.



Kurt convinced me to go with him to see Major Lazer, who I hadn't really been impressed with on album. John and Keith were going and were meeting friends, so we joined them. The show was a complete blast. It was essentially a DJ set, but they had a wonderful light and laser show and had the crowd jumping, dancing, and generally having an amazing time. Honestly, it was probably my favorite of the festival. When they played "Pon Da Floor" the tent went ballistic.



It was difficult if not impossible to trump the Major Lazer set, and we didn't try to find something to top it. There were several other acts I wanted to catch sets by (Muse, Public Image Ltd.) but we decided the final act of the night would be Flying Lotus. It was a very dense and challenging electronica set, but was a good way to end the evening on a good note. The visuals were incredible and slightly disturbing.



Saturday was an odd day owing to the fact that there were only a few acts I wanted to see, however, I ended up seeing two acts I had no intention of seeing and finding them to be highlights of the festival. I think I overdid the day too much though and had many foot related issues the following day. But that is all for the next post.

Coachella 2010 Day One: Friday

Been a crazy month for me so far. Got a new job starting in May, quit my contract job, and went to the Coachella Music Festival for the first time with my friends Kurt, Dan, and Mikey, and their friends Mark and Don.



I will try to complete these posts before I head off to London tomorrow, so let's get to it.

I had never been to Palm Springs before and was pleased to find it is really a lovely city with one of the most striking mountain backdrops I have ever seen. The weather for the whole festival was nearly perfect, not too hot and had a nice breeze almost every day. I have heard that just a few weeks from now Palm Springs gets ridiculously hot, so my experience is a little clouded by the nicer climate.



We had a nice, but not great, house in a resort across the street from the festival grounds. Even though we were that close, it was still quite a haul to the venue. For one, we were at the very opposite side of the resort from the main gate so it would have been a 40 minute walk from there. Luckily we drove and parked up near the gate and then walked to the polo fields. Even after driving, we had another 30-40 minute walk. In the morning it was hot, but we were so excited about the shows that we overcame it. Coming back, the walk would seem much much longer, however, at night the temp fell into the 60s and was lovely.

It is a bit of a nightmare getting onto the festival grounds. You have to stop at a security station and get your three-day band, which you then have to wear for three days straight. Got to be a little irritating by the final day, but I suppose was necessary. Here is a pic of me and my housemates powering up for the day:



It is difficult to explain Coachella to most people. There are a lot of bands. Too many to ever see. There are two huge outdoor stages: the Main Stage and the Outdoor Theater. Then there are three tents. The smallest is the Gobi, followed by the Mojave, and ending with the Sahara which is where all the DJs and electronica acts perform.

First act of the day for us was Australian singer-songwriter Kate Miller-Heidke in the Gobi tent, which is smallest tent, and would turn out to be logistically challenging when acts that had blown up overnight were booked in there. Kate is a cute, petite blond woman who is a classically trained singer with a phenomenal range. Everyone I was with knew of her and wanted to see her, yet I didn't know a thing about her. Turned out to be a very lovely surprise. I will try to post videos from the actual sets if I can find them. Doesn't seem to be any from her Coachella set. Here is a pic I took of her:



Next, I went off on my own to see a Canadian band called Jets Overhead in the much larger Mojave tent. My friend Mark Gillespie was also at the festival and he told be about them. They had elements of 90s shoegaze with a more melodic songwriting sensibility. I immediately downloaded their cd afterwards.



My friend Kurt dragged me afterwards to see DJ Lance Rock, who is a very skinny African-American man in an orange music conductor's uniform who hosts a children's show on PBS called Yo Gabba Gabba. It is profoundly silly and very childlike, but surprisingly is also brilliantly demented in a Sid and Marty Kroftt kind of way and was one of the highlights of the festival for me.



Afterwards, I went back to the Mojave tent to wait for one of must sees: Yeasayer. Of course I had to sit through As Tall As Lions, which just seemed like a Muse wannabe. I was not impressed.



Yeasayer have really grown on me throughout the year and I had heard their live shows could be painfully bad or extremely brilliant. Luckily I think we caught them on a very good day as it was one of my favorite performances of the festival. It was upbeat and the crowd really seemed to get into it.



My whole group met up to see Passion Pit at the Outdoor Theater. We had all fallen in love with the album and were very excited to see them live. The sound unfortunately was not good and the singer's voice, which is not strong to begin with, seemed even whispier in the desert air. I so wanted to love them, but I just didn't.



All of us housemates gathered together to see La Roux in the tiny Gobi tent. I have never seen that tent so packed in my life. The audience was spilling out into all corners from it. Initially, I was going to go see Grizzly Bear, but decided at the last minute to check out La Roux. Grizzly Bear put on such a perfect show here in Atlanta that I really didn't want to ruin its memory. La Roux, I thought, would be sort of boring, seeing as it is mainly programmed music. Was I in for a shock. The show had amazing energy and the singer was spot on. It was such a wonderful show and definitely one of my favorites of the festival. Here is a clip of the final song, "Bulletproof" which caused the crowd to go crazy.



Next, Kurt and I ran over to the main stage to see LCD Soundsystem, who put on a very dynamic show. They have very long songs and sort of blurred them all together, but were just so much fun and musically tight. A definite festival highlight for me. The new cd This Is Happening is brilliant.



The final show of the evening was from the enigmatic Fever Ray. The show was brilliant. Very dark and spooky and really did a great job of highlighting the songs. The only bad thing was having some very obnoxious Euro-trash in front of us who talked throughout the entire performance. It just became infuriating.



All in all, it was a lovely start to my festival. Saw some amazing bands I wanted to see, and was introduced to bands I never would have sought out. Was an exhausting day, but a lot of fun. Really got me excited for the rest of the festival. There would be more disappointments and a lot more surprises set in store for me.

Coachella Here I Come!

I am officially done with my contract job and now am off for the rest of the month before starting my permanent job. Tomorrow I head out with Kurt and Dan for the 2010 Coachella Music Festival in Indio, California, outside Palm Springs. This is my first trip there and I am beyond thrilled. There is a good lineup and I am going to be inundated with great music. The only drawback is that we got the set lineups today and unfortunately there are far too many overlaps with bands I want to see, so I will be making tough decisions on who I will see and who will be neglected. I guess it is a better problem to have than looking around for a band to see.

I know I have been woefully lax in posting to the blog and I am hoping that I will be able to blog some from the festival. I will even attempt to do some videos as well with my new HD camera.

So until this weekend, have a great week and I will report from Coachella!!!

Non-Sequiturs

Music, as most people who know me know, is a huge, almost all-consuming, aspect of my life. It constantly amazes me how music can transform and illuminate my life. I've often sat down and attempted to address why certain music appeals to me, and other music doesn't. Like most art, music is highly subjective. It amazes me when there can be a consensus on why something is good as opposed to bad. In a nutshell, and a completely off-the-cuff nutshell at that, I just like what I like. What brings this up is that three situations have come up recently that intrigued me. First, I bought a cd from a new UK act called LoneLady, which has gotten very good reviews. When I listened to it the first time, I loved every song and immediately began listening to the cd over and over again. Strangely, with each listen, I began liking it less and less. To the point now where I really can't stand it whatsoever, except for one or two songs. Odd that I could go from hot to cold that quickly. I do love the song "Marble."



Second, I had my iPod on shuffle the other day and a song came on I didn't recall (this is pretty easy considering my iPod has 15 thousand songs on it). The artist sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it. I looked at the menu and it was a song called "Gravity" from the German band The Notwist. It came off their last cd The Devil, You + Me, which was a huge disappointment from their brilliant cd Neon Golden. I couldn't even get through the cd and quickly never listened to it again. After hearing "Gravity," I was stunned at how I could have let such an amazing song pass me by. I immediately set forth to listen to the cd again with a more open ear. Unfortunately, "Gravity" is by far the only song on the whole cd I like, so there was no reprieve from my initial assessment of the cd. I am glad I was able to find one redeeming song off the cd though.



Third, and in direct contrast with The Notwist, I also heard a song on shuffle called "Colorado" from my current favs Grizzly Bear, off their second cd Yellow House. I am a huge fan of Veckatimest, which was my cd of the year last year, but Yellow House just never did much for me. After hearing "Colorado" I wondered again if I maybe gave the cd short shrift. Again, in contrast to The Notwist, I rediscovered a cd I wish I had spent more time on. It is a fabulously dense and rewarding cd, and is easily on par with Veckatimest at the least.



All of this goes to show me that I can never be sure why I like something or why I don't. A lot just depends on timing, mood, and other various factors. Sometimes the timing is right, sometimes not.


Song Lyrics Rattling Through My Head

"If everyone in the world
Would give me their treasure
I would not want for more
Than I have right now"

Sade
"I Couldn't Love You More"

"When I clung to you there was nothing to hold on tight with, you left me adrift. Colorado, what now?"

Grizzly Bear
"Colorado"

"Bring in the savage
Bring in the loud
And fill our house with all the holy astronauts
Bring in the trouble
It's where we live
Up on the roof a prayer for love and disbelief"

The Notwist
"Gravity"

"I want to make it up
I want to make my skin adapt to the sun
no barrier fun"

Liars
"No Barrier Fun"

Appealing Things

Healthcare reform
Spring weather
A smooth job interview
Honesty
Forgiveness
Pot roast, carrots, mushrooms, and garlic mashed potatoes
Returns to form
BMB
Coachella soon!
Nosaj Thing opening for The xx

Annoying Things

Republican scare tactics
Winter weather that won't go away
Waiting for word on said job interview
jj opening for The xx

Black Noise

Pantha Du Prince
Black Noise
9.4 out of 10

There are so many sub-genres of dance music that it threatens to become somewhat a joke trying to pinpoint where an artist falls. Because it is now ridiculously easy for anyone with a laptop and Ableton software to put together music (including your intrepid writer), perhaps this micro-naming serves the purpose of separating the truly musically gifted from the mere technologically savvy (which would include your intrepid writer as well). Most of the artists I have heard lumped into the genre known as minimal-techno fall squarely into the latter category. However, the true artists stand far and above these computer charlatans. One of these artists is Hendrick Weber, who records under the moniker Pantha Du Prince.

Weber's music is deceptively simple. Most of the tracks begin with a very simple drum track and melody, but just as the track threatens to become aural wallpaper he changes tack and it evolves into something wondrously complex. The first track "Lay In A Shimmer" embodies this approach to a T. Building off of found sounds: street noises, crowd sounds, tuning instruments; the music builds off a twinkling synth pattern into a muffled drum pattern and droning bassline. All of the pieces coalesce into a beautiful whole, no one element dominating, each playing off each other perfectly.



This is not to say that every track follows the same pattern. There is a general flow to the cd, (comparable drum patterns, icy synths) but each song is distinctly unique and beautiful. And sometimes, just small variations make a huge difference. "The Splendour" is a perfect example: a shuffling, muted drum track is playfully contrasted with a gamalan-like synth patch, which builds and builds into one of the most dance floor friendly tracks.



Probably the most hyped track on Black Noise is Weber's collaboration with Animal Collective's Panda Bear, "Stick To My Side." There have been criticisms that the track is too cold for Panda bear's warm voice, but I think the two disparate elements complement each other well.



The cd is just stunningly gorgeous; whether it is the delicate and drifting "Welt Am Draht"



or the haunting, beatless "Im Bann."



Black Noise is one of the best cds of the year and will likely end up in my top ten. I understand that words like German and Minimal and Techno tend to have most listeners running for the the hills, however, this cd rewards multiple listens and is not overly schematic or obtuse. I highly recommend this release to those who are electronic music aficionados as well as those who are new to the genre.

Oscars 2010

I did a sort of live blog last year of the Oscars and are going to attempt to do the same this year. I must admit, with 10 nominated pictures I have not seen nearly enough of them. But I will do my best to not come off sounding stupid. The nominees this year are:

Best Picture 2010:
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Sadly, I have only seen District 9 (creepy and gross, held my attention, but no clue why it is nominated); Up (one of the best movies of this or any year; a complete triumph of story and execution); and Up In The Air (one of the best written and acted films in recent years; Clooney is fantastic).

I am assuming Avatar will win Best Picture, but that Kathryn Bigelow will be the first woman to win best director.

Red Carpet Musings:

Kathy Ireland is awful. She should rarely be seen and certainly not heard.

Jess Cagle, hot silver haired daddy.

Penelope Cruz looks amazing as usual.

Jake Gyllenhaal: Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

George Clooney needs a haircut.

Zac Efron looks like a teenage girl.

J Lo looks like a marshmallow peep.

Sarah Jessica Parker: it may be Chanel but it looks terrible.

Mylie Cyrus' dress is like a combo of a Madonna bustier and a bedazzled shower curtain.

Kate Winslet: classy as usual.

Kathy Ireland still pointlessly awful. Her dress looks like a cross between an Etch-A-Sketch and Tetris.

Meryl Streep looks good in a Chris March dress.

Opening Of The Oscars

Neil Patrick Harris!!!!!!

The set is a little too trashy looking.

Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are so so as the hosts. Funny, but not hysterically so.

And Now The Awards:

Best Supporting Actor:

Christoph Waltz: Inglorious Basterds

Didn't see the movie, but hear he was great and that it is a deserved win.

Best Animated Feature Film

UP!

Beautiful, touching, marvelous film. Deserved to win!

Best Original Song

"The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart

Best Original Screenplay

The Hurt Locker

Best Animated Short Film

Logorama

Best Documentary Short

Music By Prudence

Best Live Action Short

The New Tenants

Best Makeup

Star Trek

Best Adapted Screenplay

Precious

Best Supporting Actress

Monique: Precious

Would have rather seen Vera Farmiga win, but Monique looked like she did an amazing job.

Best Art Direction

Avatar

Best Costume Design

The Young Victoria

Best Sound Editing

The Hurt Locker

Best Sound Mixing

The Hurt Locker

Best Cinematography

Avatar

Best Original Score

Up

Completely deserved to win. The opening 15 minutes is almost completely silent except for his score and it is breathtakingly beautiful and emotional.

Best Visual Effects

Avatar

Best Documentary Feature

The Cove

Best Editing

The Hurt Locker

Best Foreign Language Film

The Secret In Their Eyes (Argentina)

Very surprised that Michael Haneke's film The White Ribbon didn't win.

Best Actor

Jeff Bridges: Crazy Heart

Glad he won, but I really wanted to see Colin Firth win. He gave such a deep and moving performance in A Single Man.

Best Actress

Sandra Bullock: The Blindside

Don't get me wrong, I like Sandra Bullock, but for her to win over Meryl Streep or the girl from Precious is a travesty.

Best Director

Kathryn Bigelow: The Hurt Locker

Well deserved. The first female best director winner.

Best Picture

The Hurt Locker

Wow, that was a surprise. I would have bet money it would be Avatar. Congrats!

The Oscars this year were painfully boring. I would barely rate it a C. No real surprises, and the same long and drawn out broadcast. There weren't even any great dresses to look at, and no major missteps. Just a big bag of meh. I don't think the additional 5 films made any direct impact to the show. Just made it infinitely longer. I hope they do not keep this format for next year.

Off to bed.

Non-Sequiturs

Long crazy week and it's almost over with. Had jury duty, job interview, and started a new project, all in the space of two days. I was a "stand-by" juror so I assumed I would likely not be called. I waited at the court house for 5 hours before they called my name and told me I would have to come back after lunch. I was the 60th person they called so I thought I was going to be released. Of course they kept all 60 of us and let everyone else go. I was put on a jury panel for a case where the defendant was charged with armed robbery. As I was a victim of a home break-in several years ago, I was told I would likely not be impartial and I was finally dismissed from the jury at 5pm. It was a very long, stressful day and I was glad to be going home. The jury process was fairly streamlined and progressed smoothly. I will say though that the citizens of Fulton County that were in attendance were not a fetching crowd. I felt like I was in a gay man's waiting room from hell.

I had my first job interview in over a year on Tuesday. It was for a staff attorney position for a large firm here in Atlanta. It was a screening interview and I think I passed what they were looking for. I am waiting to see if I get a callback. They liked my trademark experience (the firm is primarily known for their IP litigation group) and my experience with large document reviews. Also, the partner in charge of the staff attorneys is the husband of a law school classmate and former fellow associate at my first law firm. So I am hoping I get called back as I think the job would be a good fit for me. I like the sophisticated work that you can have at a big firm but without the pressures of trying to become and maintain being a partner. I should find out in a couple of days.

Why do people, men and women, feel the need to wear perfumes/colognes, or body products with intense scents when the majority of people have allergies or issues with said scents? On these review projects we are usually crammed into a small room with lots of people and the smells can get overpowering.

43 days until Coachella!

Lyrics Rattling Around My Head

"Lord, hear me now
Junk boats and English boys
Crashing out into the noise
Electric fences and guns

You swallow me
I'm just a pill on your tongue
Up here on the nineteenth floor
The neon lights make me numb

And late in a star's life
It begins to explode
And all the people in a dream
Wait for the machine
Pick the shit up keep things clean

Kid hang over here
What you learning in school?
Is the rise of an eastern sun
Gonna be alright for everyone?

The radio station disappeared
Music turned into thin air
The DJ was the last to leave
She had well conditioned hair
Was beautiful but nothing really was there"

Gorillaz
"Hong Kong"

"Saturday come slow
Do you love me
Do you love me
Is there nothing there"

Massive Attack
"Saturday Come Slow"

"Seems that I have been held, in some dreaming state
A tourist in the waking world, never quite awake
No kiss, no gentle word could wake me from this slumber
Until I realise that it was you who held me under"

Florence + The Machine
"Blinding"

"This push and pull is the force of a wave of time
In the heat of the night, we would cry, you are not mine
They said we would go far, but they don't know how far we'd go
'cause this heart is a stone, and this is a stone that we throw"

Beach House
"10 Mile Stereo"

Appealing Things

Coachella!
Spring approaching
Reconnecting with friends
The surprise and joy of finding you have similar feelings with someone else
Await Your Reply
Getting out of jury duty
LOST
Caprica
The cowboys on The Amazing Race
Projectrungay.blogspot.com
Having a best friend again

Annoying Things

Stress
Having to clean my loft when I am tired
Hypocritical Republicans
Self-hating gays
Having a high deductible insurance policy
This being the final season of LOST
Douche bears