Friday you have boundless energy. Saturday you’re crisp from the sun and mildly hoarse, but you’ve still got your legs underneath you. Sunday, however, is when the battle is won or lost; when true heroes are made (or broken) on the grassy proving ground of the Indio desert. It’s Day Three. Do you know where you parked your car?
If you’re at Coachella and plan on spending any time in the Sahara Tent, chances are you’re going to hear your fair share of dubstep, but before the genre even really had a name, a producer named Artwork was dropping a tune called “Red” in clubs throughout the UK; a track many consider one of the earliest manifestations of the genre characterized by its big, wobbly bottom end. Flash forward to today. Artwork is still pushing the envelope, but this time he’s linked up with Benga and Skream to form Magnetic Man, who kicked off their 2011 US campaign with a prime slot at this year’s Coachella. Their debut album features guest collaborations with UK vocalists/MCs Katy B, Ms. Dynamite and Angela Hunte, along with a classic co-write with John Legend on “Getting Nowhere.” We hooked up with two-thirds of Magnetic Man—Artwork and Benga—at the side of the Main Stage while Cee Lo Green was putting on a rousing rendition of “Fuck You.”
This always happens. Sometime around 4pm on the Saturday of every Coachella, there comes a time when I’m filled with equal amounts of excitement and dread. The former because there are still so many bands left to see, the latter because, well, there are still so many bands left to see. Not to mention art installations to walk around/through. Not to mention humanity to gawk at. Here were some of our favorite moments from Coachella Day Two.
If you’re clued into the LA music scene, you’re no stranger to Moving Units. Call ’em what you want—dance rock, post-hardcore, pop—they’ve survived all the ebbs and flows of Hollywood’s fickle tastemaking machine. They’ve also got a fresh new EP out, titled Tension War, that features four new songs (and two remixes) that are unmistakably LA in their cadence and character. Good stuff for sure. Now they’re here in the desert melting faces under the hot Indio sun. So what was it like opening up Coachella’s Main Stage on Day One? We caught up with Blake Miller, Johan Bogeli and Chris Hathwell after their set to find out.
So many bands, so much art, so much sun, so many people with hilarious t-shirts. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is nothing if not a veritable feast for the senses, and Day One kicked off the desert party in grand fashion. The newfangled, RFID chip-embedded wristbands seemed to work perfectly fine, and we encountered no Draconian police presence demanding to see our credentials at the dreaded “one mile perimeter.” It was, as they say, all delicious, but man was it hot.
Moving Units had the distinction of being the first Main Stage artist to play on Friday, their crowd braving 95-degree temps to catch of glimpse of the longtime LA heroes. (Make sure to check out our interview with them.) The Gobi Tent was next, where we caught an earful of Omar Rodríguez-López , who has played Coachella with both his previous bands, At The Drive In and the Mars Volta. His self-titled project is nothing short of amazing; visceral, psychedelic rock and roll with guitars drenched in watery reverb and songs that unfold slowly, angrily and beautifully. At one point, his singer prowled the stage with his microphone clenched between his teeth, sweat pouring down his face to the point where electric shock was sure to be imminent. We must have stood there for at least 15 minutes taking in what felt like one epic jam, with Rodríguez-López manhandling his guitar like he was having an out-of-body experience.
Grammy-nominated, globally acclaimed, socially conscious, dashingly handsome. These are all descriptors one could heap on Paul van Dyk. He released his first album, 45 RPM, in 1994, and since then has been an unstoppable force in dance music, consistently finishing in the Top 5 in most major DJ magazine polls. This summer he’ll release his sixth studio album, titled Evolution, and if you happen to be in Coachella’s Sahara Tent between 10:15pm and 11:30pm on Saturday night, odds are you’ll get an earful of the new material. What’s more, van Dyk is fully aware of the reputation the Sahara has for being the place to show off a killer live experience. (Daft Punk, deadmau5 and Richie Hawtin anyone?) We got a few quick moments with him to ask about the new material and stage show. It should be noted that he briefly name-checks Ollie Metcalfe, who was the lighting and video designer for Muse’s Resistance stadium tour, and has also worked with Kanye West. That alone should give you ample reason to stop on in.
No, not that way, but I like the way you think. Seriously, though, when you’ve got over 75,000 people sharing a wide open space, a lot of trash is bound to be produced. Thankfully, Coachella has made sustainability a big part of their festival experience. Since 2004, Coachella has hosted an art-walk style recycling program that invites artists to design their own refuse bins in hopes of creating an environment that makes—no, wills—people to pitch in and toss their trash where it’s supposed to go.
What? Tell me you don’t think of Christmas every time you say their name? In the past year, Sleigh Bells has taken on the music industry and found themselves winning in a big, not Charlie Sheen, way. The duo, Derek Miller on guitar and synths and Alexis Krauss with her rap-esque vocals, brought about a revolution in sound. Just when you thought there was nothing new under the sun, they blast into your ear hole and rearrange your heart beat to better suit their needs.
A few weeks back I was chatting with legendary God Like Genius (thanks for that NME) Dave Grohl, and he said he only just discovered Sleigh Bells and was loving them. Mighty high praise indeed for a band on, literally, Mom+Pop Records.
Tomorrow they will be in Indio at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. I suggest you slide into your hipster jeans and wiggle your way out there to see em. And if you didn’t plan accordingly for the journey to the desert then catch them on tour here:
T-minus 1 week and counting (crazy I know). As the festival draws near, you’ve probably started pulling together your essentials; sunscreen, sun hat, spirit hood, etc., but what is arguably the most important pre-festival preparation (often neglected) is the drive time mixtape. That’s right, the road to Coachella is long and it requires a very special mixtape. A mixtape so powerful that it gets your juices flowing faster than your high school basketball pregame (Mamma Said Knock You Out, Straight Outa Compton) mix did. A mixtape so invigorating that it has you walk on to the fields of indio like Aaron Rodgers in superbowl XLII. Ok, I’ve made my point. You need a super sexy mix tape dammit and I’m gonna tell you where to get it.
HOBO-TECH is a type of, well… “depression-era” techno if that makes any sense. The genre is steaming full speed ahead thanks to Jon Margulies and his pioneering use of rocking techno beats, smashed up freight train noises, iron skillets and and synthed-out accordions. Added to this curious concoction are hooks and samples taken from some of Americana’s finest the likes of Tom Waits and John Lee Hooker.