60 Days 'til Coachella - Datarock

I have to say that Datarock is not at all what I'd thought from the name and the look of their (twice) self-titled 2007 album (called Datarock Datarock, that's the name of the band twice, get it?), but then again, it's probably best not to judge a book by its cover.

According to Wikipedia, the band hails from Norway, which isn't too hard to believe. The first track on this album makes it clear that English isn't their first language just because of the heavy Scandinavian accents. The sound of the album is varied enough to be interesting, yet cohesive enough to maintain a certain type of sound. The tracks range in feel from electro pop to power punk and everything in-between. Sometimes sounding like yet another band that nods its head to Talking Heads (no pun intended), sometimes sounding like a band that was somehow overlooked for the soundtrack to Repo Man or Decline of Western Civilization (Part I), but always fun, upbeat, and bouncy, never taking themselves too seriously.

So yeah, I'd recommend checking them out. They could be fun.

Radiohead in San Diego August, 2008

I've narrowed it down, I think:

Radiohead have posted their city list for their tour here.

They're confirmed to headline All Points West in NYC on August 8 & 9 (per Pitchfork, here.)

Now there are rumors about Radiohead headlining Outside Lands Festival August 22-24 in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park here (originally found at Pitchfork's site).

So if Radiohead's tour dates are in the order in which they'll be played on their site (which is plausible, except for the jump from Indiana to Los Angeles, then back to Montreal to do more dates in the northeast), then they should be here in San Diego sometime between August 11th and August 21st.

Hmm... maybe I don't have it figured out after all. As long as they're coming, I'm good. It would actually be cool if there was some time between the LA gig(s) and SD show(s) so we could catch them in two places without running ourselves totally ragged.

But hell, it's Radiohead. We'll do what we have to do :)

63 Days 'til Coachella - Porter

I'm listening to Hatful of Corruption, which I have to hope is some sort of nod to The Smiths Hatful of Hollow, but somehow I doubt it. The music isn't bad, it's a little reminiscent of WIG, minus the charm and enigma of Preston, back in the Detroit scene circa 1991.

The songs are short enough to keep my interest, and I think if I were more into this type of stuff, I'd probably really like it, so points there.

It's just a little hard to put my finger on this, it's got elements of Alice In Chains, the bad stuff from Queen, plus the bad stuff from Monster Magnet. Yeah, not a glowing review, but somehow, it's not all that bad.

Nothing I'll be crushing people to get to the front row for, but nothing I'll poo-poo. I'm so masculine.

I think these guys will either be one of the best bands in the early slots or up against Portishead or some other amazing, relevant band, and even their girlfriends, who are probably only dating them for tickets to the big festy, will sneak off to marvel at the relative glory of some other, more deserving band. Like any other band but American Bang.

Yeah. They don't suck HUGE balls, but they're making kissy-kissy faces at that big scrotum in the sky. Don't cry yourself to sleep if you miss them, but if they're the only thing going on and they're in a tent, it's probably a better option than sunstroke.

79 Days 'til Coachella - Justice

My friend Benjamin said that Justice was a highlight for him last year, but I didn't get a chance to see much more than the end of their set. I love the Sahara tent, all the smoke, mirrors, and undercover agents that make PLUR a near-reality are always there.

Justice is a little hard to pinpoint, but they can't help but draw comparison to Daft Punk. Maybe 'cuz they're French, maybe 'cuz they're good. But if I had three words to describe their music it would be:

1. Jacking
2. Pumping
3. Pulsating

I'm not sure what I heard when I first listened to this group in May 2007, but for some reason I'm liking what I'm hearing a lot more now than I did back then. I don't know if I'm listening to anything different, maybe just differently. Their sound is about as electro as Vitalic at Training Bra, but maybe I'm finally getting used to that sound. Damn, has it been four years since my friends Bep and Unix launched LA's premiere monthly electro club?!

Who knows? It's just finally clicking for me, and blipping and bleeping and all that other good shit, too.

So if that sounds like something you might be into, by all means, stand behind me during their set.

80 Days 'til Coachella - American Bang

YAAAAAWWWWNNNNNN!!!

You fuckin' pussies, come on, Van Hagar clones in 2007?!!?!?

These guys have figured out where everyone's been before and have decided that's where they need to be right now.

Hey, assholes, The OC was CANCELLED!!

Finally, the first band I'm not going to be pissed if I'd missed.

Jeebus, to paraphrase myself,

"This band makes me wanna THROW UP!"

83 Days 'til Coachella - Deadmau5

Mmmmm damn, I love electronic music.

I'm just listening to Deadmau5, who are on the not-so coveted smallest-font line for Sunday. That means they could be up against a big headliner like Roger Waters, and that would be just fine with me.

Satisfaction is a groovy, sax riffed house track with just the right amount of electronic sass. Enough repetition to be hooky, but not enough to be annoying. This is the true hallmark of electronic music - does it make you want to dance but leave you wanting more? Yeah. Deadmau5 is some good stuff.

Satisfaction is from their 2005 offering, Get Scraped, which starts off with the Butthole Surfers 22 Going On 23 nod turned progressive breaks track The Oshawa Connection, which brings to mind Vegas-era Crystal Method stuff. But being from Canada, this guy Deadmau5 is anybody's guess, and happily so.

The next track, Intelstat, seats itself firmly and comfortably in the realm of pure (PLUR?) trance (tarnce), and unapologetically pumps through a steady kick/snare line and arpeggiated, flanged and delayed melody. Takes me right back to the turn of the century, and dammit, I'm glad someone is still making good music like this, complete with ethereal chanting, without resorting to crossing into the realm of cheesy hard house.

I remember meeting this one girl, it must have been four or five years ago... she told me that both she and her boyfriend spun records, and when I asked her about her style, she replied, "Hard trance," bopping and smiling like she'd just named her favorite My Little Pony character.

Aah, these kids today. There will be some boppin' in the Sahara Tent when Deadmau5 take the stage. No word yet whether it will be a DJ set or a somewhat live performance, but it's amazing what you can do with computers these days, just ask DJ Peretz.

Oh wait, he uses a DAT. That's not quite a computer.