Blog-achella Goes To '11: What kind of thing is that, exactly?

Today is cold & shitty in L.A. city... see what I did there, rappers? Call me, I'll hook you up with some mad rhymes... what's that? Stick to blogging? Probably a good idea. Next up...

DJ A-Trak is a darn near legendary battle DJ who's found himself a niche as Kanye West's guy. Not bad. He's also part of Duck Sauce with Armand Van Helden... I recently blogged about them in the post so nice it got DMCA'd twice. So I'm gonna recommend him but save myself from the rage I'll feel if another post gets taken down. I did, however, put up a great video on the Facebook page for you to peep. "Like" that shit while you're there, yo...

And, to quote myself from Blog-achella '09, "Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti are just kinda crap." So there's that. Which means I'll be sending you into the weekend with...

Nosaj Thing



Who he is: L.A.-based & full-blown Asian producer Jason Chung (Nosaj = Jason, backwards. Mind = blown), who used to play the clarinet (just like yours truly) so obviously he is one giant homosexual cool dude...

What he sounds like: He's yet another up-and-coming star on the L.A. beat scene, right along with Flylo, Take and the rest of 'em. And my boy can hang just fine...

Nosaj Thing - Light 2 (ysi)

What I think: I think you should go see him do his thing. He rocks some pretty cool visuals, too...



Have a great weekend, folks...

Blog-achella Goes To '11: Sproing Sproing Sproing!

Moving along at a snail's pace, we are...

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez is one of the dudes with the big hair from that band with the dudes with big hair. Never liked 'em much although Mrs. Tonegent thinks they're hot. But then she thinks I'm hot, too, which really puts her taste into question...

Now the namesake singer of Marina & The Diamonds is someone I would say is hot. But that's about where the praise ends, because the retro '80s sound ain't doin' it for me so much...

Really, I have the same problem with Kele as a solo artist that I do with his band Bloc Party... dude can't sing good. Diggin' some of his beats, though... check it out on the Facebook page and tell me what you think...

And The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are just about as good as you might imagine a band that calls themselves The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart would be... a.k.a. not very... which brings us to the always exciting (and excited)...

!!!



Who they are: A band whose members come from bands such as The Yah Mos, Black Liquorice and Popesmashers. And if you don't know those names, you don't know Sacramento, bee-yatch!

What they sound like: !!! (which I like to pronounce Sproing Sproing Sproing) were one of the original members of the whole Dance Punk revival from a few years back, coming up along with LCD, Interpol (p.s. fuck Interpol), The Rapture and about a million other bands. But they were always a little more funky and a little less punky...

!!! - The Most Certain Sure (ysi)

What I think: ... and aside from the genius of Mr. Murphy, they were always the ones I liked the most. That's probably why they're still around. Here's an older live clip. I had to take it because these guys are a bitch to search for. Most engines/sites won't even accept "!!!" as a search term. Stupid Internets...



I know I'll get in at least one more this week... sigh...

Blog-achella Goes To '11: The Kings of Who Knows Where?

You know, I've been doing the Blog-achella for a few years now... and I can't remember ever finding so many bands I'd never heard of that I've dug so soon into it. Does this mean that this year's undercard is simply better than ever or that I'm simply more out of touch with cool music than ever? Discuss...

Monarchy



Who they are: A mysterious duo, allegedly originally from Australia, but it's more fun to say "FROM PARTS UNKOWN!" MUAH!

What they sound like: Just some of the catchiest Synth Pop I've heard in forever. And gloriously lacking in obvious '80s signifiers, which scores major bonus points. Shit is just good, yo...

Monarchy - The Phoenix Alive (ysi)

What I think: I'm down like a clown, Charle Brown. And in tune with being all mysterious and shit, they played their first ever concert at Cape Canaveral and beamed the shit into space, supposedly becoming the first band to do so. Um, ok...



But despite all the wackiness, are they friggin' good or what? I can't even be as snarky as usual. Run, do not walk...

Blog-achella Goes To '11: Gayng Signs

Hey, back again! Now, I could spend quite a bit of time ranting about the Grammys, I suppose... but honestly, what's the point? I can't stand Arcade Fire the same amount I can't stand the people they were up against, so I got nothing on that one. Love Esperanza Spalding but she's hardly new, so even though they got that right, they still kinda fucked it up. Really, the only thing that raised my ire was Cee-Lo's "Fuck You", the most genius Pop tune of the entire year (and if you disagree with that, I will fight you), getting beat out in not one but BOTH of the big categories by this load of WTF? And don't get me started about Karaoke Madonna In a Fucking Egg... and look at that, I ranted on about The Grammys anyway. So pointless. Sigh...

Let's rant about Coachella for a bit then... with our first long list of lameness...

First we got Sander Kleinenberg, a House DJ playing all the big room bollocks. Full disclosure: I once went to a Sander Kleinenberg show and had fun. But I recommend staying out of the Sahara Tent for anything but the really essential live acts later in the night unless REALLY you like wearing other dudes' dude-sweat...

Berkeley-via-Brooklyn Indie rockers The Morning Benders are the closest of this group to getting love from me, but their undeniably interesting sonics are let down by some vocals that I'm not quite feelin'. I'll post a vid over at the Facebook page, so go over there, join in the fun and check it out. Bonus content daily! /endplug

The Drums are an awful waste of a good band name...

Hey, can we just stop it with the whole retro-80s shit, please? Especially when it's as bad as Cold Cave. Yikes...

Titus Andronicus have been getting a lot of buzz lately, but their Punk is nothing you haven't heard before a million times. They're a-"meh"-zing...

I made it a point to miss Yacht when they opened for Chromeo & The Chemical Brothers at the Hollywood Bowl this summer, and I suggest you follow that strategy for this show as well...

And hey, remember when Klaxons were a sure shot to become the next Biggest Band In The World? Yeah, neither do the bloggers who said so... which brings us to another unexpected treat...

Gayngs



Who they are: A supergroup... of Minneapolis bands I've never heard of/don't care about. Bon Iver, Megafaun, The Rosebuds, Solid Gold, Doomtree... huh? Oh, and there is rapper P.O.S., who we like... but yeah, who are these guys?

What they sound like: Slow, trippy and a little bit funky, with a love for '80s Soft Rock which somehow doesn't ruin the whole thing. And every song on the record clocks in at 69 bpm... how cheeky! It's kinda hard to describe, but it's really quite good. Just check it out...

Gayngs - The Gaudy Side Of The Street (ysi)

What I think: I think they've overcome their horrible choice of band name quite nicely. Plus I hear they do some fun covers in concert, like Sade and the Alan Parsons Project, CAN I GET A WHAT WHAT?!? But today's live clip is of the exact same song you just heard, because it's the only thing on YouTube with decent sound. Deal with it...



And that's that. Made it through the whole post without a gay gang joke. I'm impressed with myself...

Blog-achella Goes To '11: Another Post? Geddafugouddahere!

Look! I made it back! Twice the posts of last week! Slow down, Mr. Prolific! Anyhoo, we'll start the day with a few acts, none of which are awful but none of which excite me. We have a word around here for that, and that word is "meh"...

First are L.A. rap crew OFWGKTA, which stands for Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, which is pretty fucking stupid. That's probably why most people just call 'em Odd Future. The problem I have with them, besides the name, is twofold. For one, it's the music itself is a little slow and sludgy from what I listened to... and for two, there's a lot of dudes, which generally in the live arena means a lot of dudes shouting at the same time. I hate that...

Then comes Excision, which is some less than amazing Dubstep. One of those acts where the emphasis seems to be on "OOOOH, LOOGIT THE PATCHES I MADE! THIS ONE'S MORE CRAZIER THAN THE LAST! WOBBLEWOBBLE! I'M THE HAMBURGLER!" and then applies the same exact half-time beat and (simple-ass) song structure to each tune. Not a standout of the genre and since we already have heard some much better Dubstep, quite unnecessary...

And Moving Units are an Indie Rock band that are pretty good at sounding like they're trying to sound like The Cure...

So who's hot today? Howzabout...

Glasser



Who she is: An L.A. gal whose dad is one of the dudes in Blue Man Group. Luckily she did not inherit his skin color or lack of ears...

What she sounds like: I think Imogen Heap would be a fair comparison... or at least a good place to start. A little bit odder version of Imogen, perhaps, and without the amazing one-woman-band skillz...

Glasser - Mirrorage (ysi)

What I think: Can't hate on that. Give me a cute girl with a nice voice and some bleepy electronics and generally I'm in... but you knew that. Live, as I said, she is not a one woman show like my girl Imogen. But her band are sufficiently geeky with the high tech. Nerd out on this...



See you tomorrow. No, really... three this week, bitches. Just you watch...

Blog-achella Goes To '11: No, I Haven't Stopped Doing It...

... although I wouldn't blame you if you thought I had. Wow, I sucked at this last week. One measly post? What am I, a DMV employee? Pick it up, Tone! Especially since this undercard ain't really giving us a whole lot of chaff lately. But here's some now...

Skrillex is a Fidget House dude, so whatever... plus he's very stupid looking, which only serves to fuel my scorn, so double whatever!

And The Aquabats are a prototypical Orange County Rock band (kinda punky, kinda surfy, kinda trying really hard to be funny) whose wacky matching superhero costumes are probably the most interesting thing about them, so pass...

... bringing us to someone new who sounds old...

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears



Who they are: An Austin, Texas band that's just one dude away from being able to call itself Black Joe Lewis & The Whiteys, which would be an even better name than what they have already...

What they sound like: Though Black Joe seems to channel James Brown in his vocals, the music is like a garage version of Funk, chock full o' dirty guitars. Kinda like a Soul Revue that takes place at a junkyard. I have no idea what that's supposed to mean. Anyhoo... the word "gutbucket" comes to mind, and that is always a good thing...

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Get Yo Shit (ysi)

What I think: I like it. The Funk is few and far between at Coachella... the true funk, anyway... so you better not miss this if you like it stanky...



Okay, I better wrap this up or I won't get it posted 'til Thursday at the rate I'm going...

Blog-achella Goes to '11: Choirs & Orchestras & Dubstep? Oh my...

Oh... busy, busy me. But I'm finally back. Saw none other than Ozzy Osbourne in concert Tuesday night. Since me & Ozzy go back, I enjoyed it thoroughly. But I gotta say... the crowd... it was like a trailer park threw up on a biker convention. Damn...

Hey, guess what kind of music 12th Planet makes. If you guessed "Dubstep", you just won a year's supply of Rice-A-Roni, The San Francisco Treat. But it's not great Dubstep, so I'll pass on by. After all, man cannot live on wobble bass alone...

"Gypsy & the Cat are 21-year-olds Xavier Bacash & Lionel Towers who only a year ago began making music in a garage in Melbourne." And now they're playing Coachella. And, suprisingly, they're pretty decent. I hate overachievers... but the band name is awful so NO POST FOR YOU!

Scala & Kolacny Brothers... now here's something different... a Belgian girls choir. I can think of a couple situations in which I could be very nicely entertained by a Belgian girls choir, but Coachella isn't one of them. Nudge nudge wink wink saynomore! Thing is, it's a Belgian girls choir that covers Radiohead and The Knife and ahhhhh, I get it now. Gimmicky... although you could maybe say that about our next featured act... but you'd be wrong...

Brandt Brauer Frick



Who they are: They are not personal injury lawyers or fine watchmakers, despite the name. They are, however, German, and therefore not to be trusted around your schnitzengruben...

What they sound like: Ladies and Gentlemen, Acoustic Techno...

Brandt Brauer Frick - Paparazzi (ysi)

What I think: How about that? I know "Acoustic Techno" sounds gimmicky, but I think you'll agree that is some solid stuff. Some of their tunes have a little bit more electronics, though, so they are not stuck in any stylistic corners and the end result is pretty damn neato. They've been know to play with a small orchestral ensemble, but I imagine for Coachella they'll probably roll with this configuration...



... which is not quite as acoustic, but totally fine by me. Don't think the Ozzy crowd would be too into it, though...