University of San Diego Radio

At Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio this past April, I got to feed my Radiohead and Thom Yorke addiction, along with tens of thousands of other addicts. This is no addiction you can try to wean yourself off of with other bands. Sure, I can go to various stages during the Friday and Saturday lineups, but when Sunday morning came around I was still dreaming of that lustful, soft and electronic Thom Yorke style. Playing with his band labeled as “????” when the lineup came out in January, gossipers came to know this band included bassist Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers, along with drummer Joey Waronker, percussionist Mauro Refosco,\ and guitarist/keyboardist Nigel Godrich.

The group came together as Thom Yorke’s side project and have not had any official releases of albums or singles to date. Yorke announced in February that the band was called Atoms for Peace, referring to the track of the same name from Yorke’s 2006 solo album, “The Eraser.” “Atoms for Peace” was included in the Coachella setlist, and was dedicated to Pavement by Yorke for an unexplained reason.

The stage was set for Phoenix to play as I finished my $10(ish) french fries, and as the music came on my co-pilot and fellow Virgo Kristina and I noticed the crowd growing considerably quickly and got up to join. Dancing along with the other head-boppers, my mind was still set on Yorke’s approaching set. Fans rushed to other stages as Phoenix ended, and Kristina and I used our energy to move to a perfect spot near the middle of the crowd. With a fence to lean against to lessen the grief of waiting, Kristina and I held our ground.

The masses of people caused one man setting up the stage to demand them to simultaneously take a few steps back – in his English accent, of course.

The music floating from the speakers repeated itself in an eerie, electronic tone as fans stood anxiously. When the lights dimmed, Thom Yorke arrived and headed to the piano. He started off with “The Eraser,” and the band joined him to play every song from the album of the same name – and that was only before the encore.

Dancing in a total trance near the fence for the first half, I made my way into the open, grassy space I found myself getting lost in. With the thousands of fans there, it was like this spot mystically opened for Kristina and I, and we enjoyed it to the fullest. Yorke returned alone for “Give Up the Ghost,” an entrancing performance in which he sang and played acoustic guitar while his own vocals looped. Playing Radiohead favorites “Airbag” and “Everything in its Right Place,” this encore started the crowd moving until the end.

The following two songs were “Paperbag Writer” and “Judge, Jury & Executioner,” respectively. “Paperbag Writer” is a Radiohead b-side that is mysterious, while “Judge, Jury & Executioner” is blatant in its reference to an earlier Radiohead song. This song, titled “Myxomatosis (Judge, Jury & Executioner)” is the 12th track from Radhiohead’s sixth studio album, Hail to the Thief.

Before the band completed their Coachella debut, Yorke told the crowd they had had a long weekend, and needed to freak out. He introduced the song “The Hollow Earth” as “one to freak out to.” This freak out continued as Atoms for Peace played the final song, “Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses,” as everyone danced with the wild Coachella energy Yorke gave them.

The Local Natives

For the past few weeks, my housemates, friends and I have been gleefully bobbing to the beautiful harmonies, eclectic rhythms and all-around addicting melodies of the Silverlake/Los Angeles group, The Local Natives. Whether it’s fair or not, the Natives have been capturing consciousnesses who have immediately likened their sound to that of such greats as Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses and Arcade Fire. So when I got word that I’d be interviewing the group, I let out more than a few fist pumps and yelps in our living room.

Vocalist and guitarist Taylor Rice phoned in from England the morning after a show in London. We got to discuss the Natives’ formative beginnings in their Orange County “Gorilla Manor,” their unique, collaborative approach to songwriting and their recent rise to fame. The gang will be finishing up their European tour before hitting the American circuit, which includes dates at SXSW, Coachella, Sasquatch and Bonaroo.

The Gang from the Closet highly recommends picking up their debut LP, Gorilla Manor.

Full Interview:

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“Sun Hands”

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Robot Love warming up the crowd.

INDOORS

The indoor section of Lucent L’amour this year was truly unreal. With sparkling sea creatures, black light paintings and a huge tree, the entire indoors area was littered with some seriously visually stimulating pieces.

The first to lay down their set on the indoor stage was Robot Love. This duo did an amazing job of pumping up the crowd as people slowly flooded the venue. With some great dubstep and pounding beats, Robot Love definitely set the mood for the rest of the night.

As Robot Love rounded out their night, Patricio took over and laid down an epic set. Complete with his own set of bongos, Patricio dropped some serious beats and drew a major crowd with his balance of dance and dubstep. Patricio’s set was an amazing one to watch that definitely got the crowd going.

N.A.S.A.’s set was without a doubt one of the best shows of the night. With a faster paced techno sound, N.A.S.A. played some insane remixes and dropped some classic crowd favorites. N.A.S.A. played hit after hit and really set the bar high for the following sets.

With N.A.S.A. throwing down such an awesome set, I could only guess what kind of set Bassnectar was going to roll in with. As he took his place on stage, Bassnectar dropped some of the dirtiest and heaviest bass I’ve ever heard in my life. Those slow, pounding beats shook me to my core and had the entire crowd going absolutely nuts.

Stanton Warriors finished with style as they introduced a fresh dance sound to the awesome dubstep beats that most DJs at Lucent L’amour had been spinning. With some epic techno beats and just about the loudest set of the night, the Stanton Warriors made for a perfect ending to an insanely awesome night.

The aforementioned tree con art shack.

OUTSIDE

I don’t know about all the stuff that Coto kid was trying to tell you, but the real action at Lucent L’amour this year was outside. Outside housed the majority of the art, including a live-art auction, bathroom area complete with an amazing bathroom attendant, and another stage for music. Combine these with the refreshing night air, and you have a formula for a grand old time.

When you first walk outside, to your left is a sort of flea market where people are selling hand-made things, like jewelry and couture clothing. Only a few feet away was the bathroom attendant who, solely working off tips, offered an array of items like gum, cigarettes, lotions, hand sanitizers and even blow-pops. Along the inner wall was a row of blank canvases that artists slowly turned into masterpieces as the night progressed. There was a live auction held for the works, and all of the proceeds will be donated to a charity to keep arts in public schools. At the very front of the outdoor area was the stage that hosted acts such as Lazer Sword and LYNX & Janover. It also hosted acts like The Lucent Dossier Experience and Yard Dogs Road Show. The first is sort of a Cirque du Soleil-lite. They had amazing acrobatics and interesting music. It was quite a delicious feast for the eyes.

Yard Dogs Road Show, on the other hand, was more of a sketch comedy troupe. They were easily the most entertaining act of the night. Each song that they performed was a different show altogether. It could go from a Pineapple Queen and her beautiful pineapple dancers to a punk rocker in skin-tight zebra pants in the blink of an eye. They even had a magician who made an entire live chicken appear from nowhere. The rest of the space outside that wasn’t filled with exuberant concert-goers was filled with large-scale works of art, including a large, metal spider and an attendee-run “Hug Deli” that offered hugs for the low, low price of 2 compliments. Ultimately, it is obvious that The Do Lab know what they are doing. Undoubtedly, Coachella this year will be amazing, but for those with shallow pockets, I recommend trying out Lucent L’amour.

Yard Dogs Road Show - blowing minds since 2005.

Throughout Coachella 2009, I kept seeing subtle things (and not so subtle things) alluding to the power of music.  Eventually, it became overwhelming how many beautiful moments were amassing in my short term memory.  I decided that I had to record them using the median with which I am most capable manipulating, the English language.  Some things witnessed were altogether reminiscent of religion, in particular Christianity.

1.  The checkpoint that all fans had to pass through before entering reminded me of dipping one’s hand in the bowl of water to bless one’s self before entering into a church.  Just as that is meant to be a spiritual cleansing before entry into the church; we also had to be cleansed of weed, alcohol, and whatever else we might attempt to bring into the stage area.  They weren’t very good at checking.

2.  The majority of people – or at least the die hard fans – walked from concert to concert barefoot for the most part.  It is common for religious devotees to take off their shoes before entering a religious place.  For instance, Moses took off his shoes before approaching the burning bush.  It is also customary to take one’s shoes off before entering a Hindu temple.

3.  During the Paul McCartney concert, a woman was holding up a towel with John Lennon’s face on it.  Paul pointed to it, and the cameramen quickly captured the image for all to see.  Need I say what this is reminiscent of?  In case you’re a little hazy on your “Stations of the Cross,” I’m referring to the station in which the woman wipes Jesus’ face with a towel only to come away with an image of his face on her towel.  I suppose John Lennon was onto something when he said that he was bigger than Jesus.

4.  At People Under The Stairs, fans were so fervently waving their hands in the air with the beat of the song that it reminded me of a Southern Baptist Church times 100 maybe.

5.  People were getting immensely dehydrated at the Lykke Li concert, so she took a water bottle and sprayed people with it.  It looked like she was blessing her fans with water just as a priest may do occasionally as he descends the aisle.

6.  At the end of the Girl Talk concert, a blow up raft for a pool emerged from somewhere and the DJ was on top of it.  He stood atop of it as all of the fans supported it with their reaching arms.  He was legitimately crowd surfing.  I felt like a water molecule in a stream or something, and he was walking on us.  The connotation is abundantly clear now, I’m sure.  He was walking on water like Jesus.

7. Speaking of Jesus’ miracles, many of my friends possessed the power to change water, not into wine, but into vodka.  We carried it around with us wherever we went in our water bottles.

8. Just as mass has its Eucharist, which consists of the body of Christ and the blood of Christ, so too did any given concert have it’s own distorted version of a Eucharist.  Except, instead of consuming a crappy wafer and some cheap wine, we consumed weed, vodka, e, etc.

Perhaps this experience that is Coachella seems so similar to Christianity because it is essentially living life to its fullest extent.  It’s the same concept as religion as it originated.  A bunch of people amassing around someone with a message is what it’s all about.  Each one of those artists has a message to tell humanity and a parish to sing it to who will inevitably sing it back just as a parish community might sing hymns.  In a way, each artist is emitting out into the universe a philosophy regarding how to live life.  Which philosophy do you adhere to?

It was Sunday afternoon at Coachella, and my body was finally letting my nervous system know just how much abuse it had received over the course of the weekend.  My friend and I were looking for a chill concert to go to so as to relax before the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.  Looking at the fifth little pamphlet I had gone through (none of them lasted very long in my pocket) we saw her name.  My friend had never heard of her before, but I insisted that we go.

Lykke Li came on stage and transported us to her realm of understanding concerning the universe.  It was absolutely phenomenal.  The passion that she had for her music literally seemed to ooze from every pore of her being (yeah, it’s not a big deal, but I was chillin front row center, on the fence).  It was a unique experience amidst Girl Talk, The Presets, N.A.S.A., People Under the Stairs, you get my drift.

She genuinely is a master of her craft.  Her lyrics are the sort that you feel like you could have written because you can empathize with them so much.  They seep into your body via osmosis and fill you with love for her music.  “Little Bit” and “Dance, Dance, Dance” were classic, but “Complain Department” was played with a completely new vibe than on her album.  She introduced it by giving a little homage to her home country, “Are you all ready for some Swedish techno!”  She laid all her emotions out on the table for all to see.  She was a bit like Feist, but instead of singing in little parables, Lykke Li seemed to take her human emotion to a deeper level. Later on that day, she dueted with Peter Bjorn for the song “Young Folks.”  It was absolutely epic to see her again on the Coachella Stage. I’d see her again in a heart beat.  If you haven’t given her a listen yet, I strongly recommend looking her up pronto.