Author Archives: Nicole Pajer

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Featured Gallery Music Sitting Down with The White Buffalo

by Nicole Pajer and Catie Laffoon
April 26, 2012 - 10:51 am

Jake Smith is a singer/songwriter with an uncanny story telling ability. Performing under the stage name, The White Buffalo. Smith’s lyrics are rooted in everyday struggles and center around a variety of outlaw characters. His songs incorporate elements of blues, folk, old time country, and a twist of rock, which can be heard on his recently released Once Upon a Time in The West.

“It’s not an Indian reference, which a lot of people think it is or a Charles Bronson reference or a Ted Nugent reference. It’s a big powerful kind of American symbol, a unique rare thing,” says Smith of his stage name, The White Buffalo. Smith recently performed at The Grammy Museum as part of the Homegrown concert series. We caught up with him after his 45-minute set and audience driven Q&A to discuss his zest for songwriting, childhood camping trips, and secret desire to play Kevin Costner in a tennis match.

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Event Featured Gallery Coachella Flower Power

by Nicole Pajer and Catie Laffoon
April 25, 2012 - 11:22 am

There’s a song that was in that epic scene of Dumb & Dumber when Jim Carey dreams about hooking up with Lauren Holly – “But I knew (I knew, I knew, I knew) she could make me happy (happy, happy). Flowers in her hair, flowers everywhere.” For those of us (guilty as charged) that didn’t know the name or who sings it, it’s a 1967 hit single called “The Rain, The Park, & Other Things” by The Cowsills. That might be a useless fun fact but the point is that it’s a catchy tune and it was in our heads the entire weekend at Coachella. How could it not be? Everywhere you looked there was flower power. Aside from the usual festival hula-hoops, glow bracelets, and goofy attire, Coachella, for the female crowd, was all about accessorizing with flowers this year.

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Gallery Music Setting Sail with We Are Augustines

by Nicole Pajer and Catie Laffoon
April 25, 2012 - 11:19 am

After dealing with the ups and downs associated with their previous band Pela, Billy McCarthy and Eric Sanderson were almost ready to give up on their music careers. Despite people telling them to call it a day, the duo decided to turn the collection of unfinished Pela tracks into an album. Through mutual friends, they were hooked up with drummer Rob Allen, and churned out Rise Ye Sunken Ships, the debut album by We Are Augustines. The disc has far exceeded their expectations, landing the #1 spot on iTunes 2011 Best Alternative Chart. “It was very affirming to see iTunes get behind it and support us that way because there were a lot of people who told us to stop and a lot of people who didn’t believe in the record. This is very much a [middle] finger to them,” says Sanderson.

We Are Augustines performed on the Coachella main stage on Saturday afternoon – the same stage that was later in the day rocked by Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, The Shins, Bon Iver, and Radiohead. We sat down with Sanderson and Allen to chat about the success of the album. Allen shared a blooper regarding the band’s recent Letterman performance while Sanderson explained how he and his bandmates are doing things differently this time around.

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Featured Gallery Music Other Lives Vs. “The Hoff”

by Nicole Pajer and Catie Laffoon
April 24, 2012 - 9:27 am

When we watched Other Lives on Friday at Coachella, we were captivated not only by their sound, but also by the array of instruments they incorporated into their set. We watched as they bounced between the cello, violin, horns, keys, guitar, bass, drums, xylophone – we lost count after a while! Following the band’s performance on the Gobi Stage, we headed over to the press area to pick the brain of lead vocalist Jesse Tabish.

Interviews are always unpredictable, but never in a million years would we have imagined that “The Hoff,” of all people, would come gallivanting through the Coachella grounds at a crucial moment during our conversation with Tabish.

Check out the interview after the jump:

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Featured Music Say “Hello” to Martin Solveig

by Nicole Pajer and Catie Laffoon
April 24, 2012 - 8:41 am

Electronic dance music fans flocked to the Sahara Tent on Saturday to watch Martin Solveig in action. The Paris-based DJ bestowed the power of dance on his audience by dropping remixes by fun. (“We Are Young”), Daft Punk (“Harder Better Faster Stronger”), as well as tracks off his freshly released EP, The Night Out. Solveig closed his set with a peppy version of “Hello,” which he collaborated on with fellow Coachella performer, Dragonette.

Immediately following his show, Solveig told us how special the evening was for him. “I don’t say this all the time but this is very very special. For any recording artist to play at Coachella is really a dream and it’s a gift to play for that kind of crowd.” He explained that he’s excited to be a part of a decade where electronic dance music artists are receiving more recognition than ever and chatted about his plans for the remainder of the year – which include supporting Madonna on her upcoming summer tour.

Check out our interview with Solveig after the jump:

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Featured Gallery Music Group Therapy with Dragonette

by Nicole Pajer and Catie Laffoon
April 23, 2012 - 11:45 am

One of our top shows of Coachella, and hands down our favorite interview, was with Dragonette. We danced harder than we did all weekend during their set and we laughed more than we’ve laughed in a while during our sit down with the trio. Among the conversation topics were, tour coordination equating to foreplay, freaking out about having to pee on stage, and their love/hate relationship with Deadmau5.

While we did get a few good questions in there, the majority of the interview involved us sitting back and observing Martina Sorbara, Dan Kurtz, and Joel Stouffer in their natural environment. The back and forth banter was cracking us up and at one point, we considered calling in a psychologist to help us mediate through the dialogue, all in the name of fun of course.

Check out our chat with Dragonette after the jump:

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Fashion Featured Gallery Hollywood Tower Fashion Extravaganza

by Nicole Pajer and Dustin Downing
April 23, 2012 - 11:12 am

Recently, LA’s historic Hollywood Tower hosted a pop up fashion extravaganza. The courtyard of Hollywood’s most infamous apartment complex transformed into a world of fashion gurus, sidewalk sales, vendors, and trucks selling a variety of goods from up and coming designers.

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Featured Gallery Music DJ Mea Sets the Bar High at Coachella

by Nicole Pajer and Catie Laffoon
April 19, 2012 - 1:13 pm

The gates to Coachella Day 1 were supposed to open at 11am, sharp, but the ticket checkers had a different agenda. Hoards of people stood with their faces pushed against the chain link fence, begging to be let in as the clock ticked by. “There’s music playing right now. We are supposed to be seeing this badass DJ,” a guy yelled, to which a security guard replied, “We’ll open when we’re ready.” The DJ in mention was Mea, scheduled for a Coachella opening slot of 11:20am in the Sahara Tent. When the doors finally opened, we sprinted over and caught her halfway through her set. The crowd arrived shortly after.

“Thank you guys for hanging around. Man I was scared but opening up Coachella was an honor,” chirped Mea who proclaimed that 11am was the earliest she’d been awake in 10 years and that she wasn’t kidding. The spunky singer warmed up the Coachella-ites with live vocals paired with a DJ and backup singer. Towards the end of the set, a live band accompanied her on stage. Several costumed back up dancers appeared and engaged in a choreographed routine. Mea’s sultry lyrics and high tech LED visuals transformed the crowd into a “Coachella state of mind.”

We caught up with the up and coming singer/DJ who told us about joining Belgian-American post-industrial techno band, Lords of Acid, on the road. She also discussed being a role model for budding female DJs and how she refuses to succumb to a single genre.

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Gallery Music Morgan Page’s Coachella Survival Kit

by Nicole Pajer and Catie Laffoon
April 19, 2012 - 12:01 pm

While Coachella comes with a menu full of exciting live music, there are other things to keep in mind: The sun, the cold nights (gotta love those extreme desert temperatures), lack of cell phone charging stations, and the risk of dehydration. DJ Morgan Page had it all figured out. Following his Coachella weekend one set, he divulged his “Coachella Survival Pack:”

“The last time I went to Coachella was when Daft Punk debuted their stage setup and Madonna made a surprise appearance, so it’s been a few years. I’m gonna bring a lot of coconut water, of course Red Bull, a HyperJuice battery box (for charging devices), SPF 75, and a hat.”

Page performed on Sunday in the Sahara Tent, treating his massive audience to a dose of tracks off his freshly released album, “In The Air.” The new disc debuted at #6 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and includes the hit songs, “In The Air” with Sultan + Ned Shepard, BT, featuring Angela McCluskey on vocals as well as “Body Work,” which he collaborated on with Tegan and Sarah.

In an interview with ChinaShop, Page discussed what makes his stage show different from other DJs, as well as touched on never being 100% satisfied with his tunes – “it’s a constant learning process.”

Read our interview with Morgan Page after the jump:

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Featured Gallery Music A Word with Wolf Gang

by Nicole Pajer and Catie Laffoon
April 18, 2012 - 1:41 pm

Max McElligott made music in his bedroom, as a hobby, and fully intended to continue studying social anthropology and politics at the London School of Economics. Life had a different plan for McElligott and he quickly realized that the world was interested in making his music more than just a side project. He dropped out of school and began to focus on music full time, calling his project Wolf Gang. After creating a buzz in the UK scene, McElligott sought out a band through friends in London and has been building up a fan base ever since.

Wolf Gang recently arrived in the US to take the stage at Coachella where they performed for thousands on Friday of weekend one. The alt rockers are also supporting Miike Snow in Los Angles on April 18th and playing Coachella weekend two before jumping on a summer tour with Coldplay.

We huddled up with McElligott and the rest of the Wolf Gang guys (Lasse Petersen, James Wood, and Gavin Slater) at a picnic table in the Coachella VIP area to discuss annoying neighbors with their bedroom recordings, romantic terrorist songs, and their upcoming tour with Coldplay.

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