Coachella Music Festival - Day One

There's no weekend quite like Coachella weekend. You spend so much time getting familiar with the obscure bands on the lineup, immersing yourself in the music of your favorites and planning which ones you must see and which ones you can skip. Then, the last weekend in April finally arrives and everything happens so quickly that it takes a few extra days to realize what you just saw. That's where I am today, finally ready to recount the events of the weekend in a coherent manner.

The first day of Coachella started at 2PM, when I arrived into the security line at the Empire Polo Field and realized that it was balls hot outside. The misery of the heat was compounded by the fact that the security screener at the head of the line was taking his job WAY too seriously. This dude made people take their shoes off and patted me down so thoroughly that I should have filed a harassment lawsuit.

Once inside, I made a b-line to the Sahara tent to see Midnight Juggernauts, who had started 15 minutes ago. I ended up catching four songs, all off their debut album Dystopia, and was impressed enough with their performance to want to see them again. Hopefully it won't be too long before they make it to LA again.

Next up it was one of the more anticipated performances of the day, the much-hyped Black Kids from Jacksonville. Me, my brother and his girlfriend made a point of getting a good spot for this set since we heard so many good things about how well these guys play live. In just 45 minutes the Black Kids played a high energy set consisting of songs from their debut EP Wizard of Ahhhs and previously unreleased material that I assume will end up on their debut LP, whenever it gets a title and release date. After whipping the crowd into a frenzy, included a group of people that were a little too excited, Black Kids proved their reputation for great live shows is completely deserved.

Another highlight of the day was the midday performance of Australian dance pop outfit Cut Copy. For one, it was obvious that the festival organizers underestimated the size of the crowd Cut Copy would attract because the Gobi tent was simply not big enough to hold everyone inside. Secondly, their set was nothing short of amazing as pulsating synth beats and pop guitar hooks turned the tent into one big dance party. I definitely want to see these guys again when the come to town in mid May.

After catching a few songs from the National's lackluster set (they sounded fine, but not as good as in times past), I decided to catch the all-out dance-a-thon that was Diplo's DJ set. I got in there just in time to catch him throw down some "Paper Planes" action, which prompted MIA to jump on stage and dance for a few moments. Having met my quota for electro dance, my next order of business was heading over to the main stage to watch The Verve.

Now don't get me wrong, Richard Ashcroft and company played a very tight (albeit a little too by-the-book) setlist of old favorites and new songs, but circumstances beyond my control forced me to bail early. What happened you ask? About five songs into the show the foulest shit smell (as in, literally, feces) began to waft through the section of the crowd me and my cousin we standing in. This smell was so bad that Ashcroft actually felt the need to announce that the smell wasn't coming from the stage. We tried to tough it out, but after 10 minutes we had to get the fuck out of dodge.

The rancid smell ended up being a blessing in disguise since we might have missed the magic that is Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. I had seen the Dap Kings in action last year when they backed Amy Winehouse, but that was nothing in comparison to watching them with Ms. Sharon Jones. Her stage presence and bombastic attitude make her a force to behold as she channels her inner Aretha and James Brown. Oh yeah, and the lady can dance like nobody's business. Check out the clip below to see what I mean.

Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - Coachella 2008 from Ivan Juarez-Mrazek on Vimeo.
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Black Power

Remember how several years ago there were a bunch of "the" bands taking the music world by storm?  There was The Strokes, The Hives, The Vines, The Libertines, The Music, The Stills, The Thrills, The Faint and. . .well, you get the idea. I was reminded of that this morning as I loaded music on to my iPod before leaving for my commute to work. As I scrolled through the list of artists I noticed several band names began with the word "black" and all of them have released albums in the last year. And most of those releases are quite good.

While I can't vouch for all of them (people keep telling me Black Dice is great, but I've always found their output mostly cacophonous drivel), there are several gems among the black bunch. Perhaps the best is Wizard of Ahhhs, the debut EP from Jacksonville's Black Kids. Exhibiting an enthusiasm for mish-mashing different styles to create pop hooks, the quintet frequently inspires comparisons to England's The Go! Team. While certainly valid, I would argue Black Kids sound a bit more focused than The Go! Team.

Another intriguing release is the fifth album from Atlanta garage/blues punk band Black Lips, Good Bad Not Evil. While they have always had a reputation for being wild and noisy, Black Lips scales back the raucousness just enough to endear themselves to a wider audience and dabble in brief flashes of pop melodies. Couple that with their legendary stage antics (which resulted in banishment from several Atlanta-area venues) and suddenly their appearance at the Coachella Music Festival becomes a must-see event.

Speaking of Coachella, Black Lips and Black Kids will be joined by the excellent Canadian quintet Black Mountain. While I was a huge fan of their self-titled debut record, I am already beginning to think the follow-up may be even better (and it's only been out for three weeks). On In the Future, we hear the band build upon their signature classic rock-influenced sound by delving into darker prog-metal territory, but all the while managing to avoid the pretentious pratfalls that plague similarly-minded bands like The Mars Volta. Hopefully the songs come off just as wonderful in a live setting.

Two more black-named bands worth checking out are Black Moth Super Rainbow, who have been discussed in this space before, and Black Devil Disco Club. The latter of which isn't a new artist at all, but rather a French duo who gained mythical status in European disco circles upon the release of the super rare EP Disco Club in 1978. Thanks to Richard James' Rephlex label, Black Devil Disco Club's music is finally being reissued for a new generation of disco-loving fans. 

In any event, the number of "black" artists with stellar output this year is quite impressive. With each offering something for a different type of music fan, you'd be hard-pressed not to find something worth heavy rotation.

[Editor's Note: I changed the title to Black Power since it reads better and frankly is more obvious]

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