Southern California’s annual three-day Coachella Music Festival attracts the Sienna Millers and Rachel Bilsons of celebrities — and you! Get great taste in cool music in just three days (or four clicks) and 15 bands. Bonus: The 5 bands that should’ve made the bill …
DAY ONE:
1. Los Campesinos
The DNA: Pavement + Love Is All vocals + some glockenspiel
Seven Pavement-loving college freshmen from Wales decided to get together and form a band. Throw in boundless energy, boy/girl vocals, a glockenspiel and the decision to all adopt the same last name of Campesinos! — you’ve got one of the catchiest indie-pop bands of the festival.
Songs That We Demand They Play: “Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks,” “We Are Beautiful, We are Doomed” and “You! Me! Dancing!”
Song Your Hipster Friend Will Demand They Play: The excellent Pavement cover “Frontwards”
Lyric That’ll Be Stuck in Your Head: “One blink for yes / Two blinks for no / Sweet Dreams sweet cheeks we leave alone”
2. The Hold Steady
The DNA: Bruce Springsteen + beer
Hold Steady are the ultimate arena rock bar band. They’re the perfect band to hear at the festival when it’s 5:00pm, you’re drunk on a couple beers, and you want to rock the eff out to anthems that Bruce Springsteen wishes he could still write.
Songs That We Demand They Play: “Stuck Between Stations,” “Sequestered In Memphis”
Song Your Hipster Friend Will Demand They Play: “Citrus” — to help show that, despite his hipster exterior, deep-down, he’s sensitive.
Lyric That’ll Be Stuck in Your Head: “We gotta stay positive”
3. Beirut
The DNA: gypsy music + crooning + indie-rock
Perhaps the best way to feel sorry about how your life is to go and watch 23-year-old wunderkind Zach Condon lead his band through an amazing set at Coachella. Sure, we all expect the typical 23-year-old to thrash and bang out songs on the guitar, but when you realize he’s writing his gypsy-indie-rock songs for the ukulele, your full-time job of Twittering seems less hip. Oh, and he was only 19 when he recorded his debut.
Songs That We Demand They Play: “Postcards From Italy,” “Scenic World”
Song Your Hipster Friend Will Demand They Play: the dance/synth song “No Dice”
Instrument You’ll Finally Accept as Being Cool: the Ukulele
4. Paul McCartney
The DNA: If you don’t know already, then you have terrible parents because they never played the Beatles for you.
Yes, we know that Paul isn’t the hippest of the Beatles, but you probably want to see him play live way more than Ringo. While his recent solo offerings have been less than stellar, we really can’t think of a better way to end the first day Coachella than to be on field singing the chorus of “Hey, Jude” with 20,000 hipsters and their boomer parents.
Songs That We Demand He Plays: “Hey, Jude,” “Let It Be,” “Saw Her Standing There,” “Band on the Run,” “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” “Here, There, Everywhere,” “Sgt. Pepper,” “Back in the USSR” … really this list could go on forever.
Song Your Hipster Friend Will Demand He Plays: obviously, something off a Fireman album, aka Paul’s electronica side-project.
Songs That’ll Make Us Run to the Dance Tent: “Wonderful Christmas Time,” “Freedom,” “Silly Love Songs”
5. A Place to Bury Strangers
The DNA: The Jesus and Mary Chain – sibling rivalry + 20 years
So, Day One is winding down, and you want to impress your McCartney-loving buddies with your hip tastes. Well, your best bet is to drag them away from Paul on the main stage and end your night with the second (or maybe third or fourth) coming of The Jesus and Mary Chain in the form of A Place to Bury Strangers. They might be this year’s Black Rebel Motorcycle Club but that doesn’t mean their music can’t be any good.
Song That We Demand They Play: “Another Step Away”
Song Your Hipster Friend Will Demand They Play: Anything off the early EPs because they were cooler back then.
Thing You Will Wonder While Watching: How come all bands with heavy distortion have superlong band names?
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DAY TWO:
6. TV on the Radio
The DNA: David Bowie + Peter Gabriel + Brooklyn circa 2005 Go see this band. For starters, they’ve yet to put out a bad album, and second, Bowie loves them. And that guy can’t be wrong. TV on the Radio has been pushing the boundaries of music since their debut EP and with each album they keep getting better. Sure, sometimes they might descend into weirdness, but it’s always wrapped up in amazing melodies and heartfelt lyrics. So once again, go see this band.
Songs That We Demand They Play: “Family Tree,” “DLZ,” “Wolf Like Me,” “Young Liars,” “Blind”
Song Your Hipster Friend Will Demand They Play: their a capella cover of the Pixies‘ “Mr. Grieves”
Random Thought You’re Sure to Have: Is this the guy from Rachel Getting Married?
7. Superchunk
The DNA: Pavement + Dinosaur Jr. + Guided by Voices We admit: We’re not that familiar with Superchunk, but make no mistake they are indie-rock legends. Along with Pavement and Guided by Voices, they wrote the book on early ’90s lo-fi indie rock. Oh, and less you doubt their hipster cred, they also founded Merge Records, home to The Magnetic Fields, Spoon, and Neutral Milk Hotel.
Songs That We Demand They Play: “Cast Iron,” “Seed Toss”
Song Your Hipster Friend Will Demand They Play: anything off their new EP so H.P. can brag about how they “still got it”
Reason You Should Respect Them: These guys run the label The Arcade Fire‘s on. That makes them Win Butler’s boss.
8. Junior Boys
The DNA: electronica + Timbaland + life in suburban Canada
Sexy. That’s basically what the Junior Boys music is: Sexy dance music that’ll make hipsters want to slowly grind up on each other while sweating in the desert. Oh, and they’ve got some catchy melodies that you can sing along with, too.
Songs That We Demand They Play: “In the Morning,” and “Bits & Pieces”
Song Your Hipster Friend Will Demand They Play: “Birthday,” their first and maybe sexiest single.
Thing You’ll Reconsider: Canadians can actually make sexy electro music.
9. MIA
The DNA: Diplo + gunshots + radical politics
MIA’s set at Coachella last year was supposedly a disaster, so this year is her chance to make a comeback. If you saw her last year and thought she sucked — GO BACK. Sure her DJ might splice in too many gunshots but MIA puts on one of the most energetic live sets out there. Not too many people can rock the Grammy Awards on the day they’re supposed to give birth to a baby, but she can.
Songs That We Demand She Plays: “10 Dollar,” “Paper Planes,” and “Bamboo Banga”
Song Your Hipster Friend Will Demand She Plays: “Jimmy,” so H.F. can point out how they totally know the original version.
Thing We Hope to See: MIA doing a duet with her newborn son.
10. MSTRKRFT
The DNA: Daft Punk + Justice-style dance rock – being French
So, Death From Above 1979 makes an awesome album and then breaks up when one of the guys decides he wants to embrace his inner Daft Punk and form MSTRKRFT. Yes, they might make dance music that borders on the silly, but it’s still just what you’re going to want to be dancing to in the Sahara Tent at 11:30PM. Justice and Daft Punk might have taken the year off at Coachella, so thank God we have MSTRKRFT
Songs That We Demand They Play: “Fist of God,” “Bounce”
Song Your Hipster Friend Will Demand They Play: Their remix of Wolfmother‘s “Woman,” the only version of that song that’s truly listenable.
Um, How Do You Pronounce … That? Call them Master Craft. For some reason, the band has an embargo against vowels.
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DAY THREE:
11. Lykke Li
The DNA: The Concretes + Diana Ross + Peter Bjorn and John
Lykke Li feels like a throw back to a simpler time when a woman could have a heartfelt voice without needing to belt it like Mariah Carey. Even though her voice evokes the feeling of the 1960s, her songs manage to still feel contemporary. She might not be the most rocking act on the bill, but if you just want to see a Swedish woman (read: really, really cute) with a great voice sing some melancholy pop songs, then you should check her out.
Songs That We Demand They Play: “Dance Dance Dance,” “I’m Good, I’m Gone,” “Tonight”
Song Your Hipster Friend Will Demand They Play: Her cover of Rick Ross‘ “Hustlin”
People Not to Bring to Watch: Your boyfriend because he might fall in love after hearing her voice
12. No Age
The DNA: distortion + pogoing 14-year-old hipsters
If you live in L.A., you’ve probably seen No Age before, since they seem to play weekly when they’re not touring. If not, here’s what you need to know: Two guys in their early twenties make the best lo-fi noise rock in all of L.A.; they become the kings of all-ages club The Smell (20 bucks says fellow Smell rockers Mika Miko play Coachella next year). Yeah, they might be adored by Pitchfork, but you’ll know that love is entirely justified once you see them live.
Songs That We Demand They Play: “Eraser,” “Things I Did When I Was Dead,” “Every Artist Needs a Tragedy”
Song Your Hipster Friend Will Demand They Play: That new song they heard them play at The Smell last week.
13. Public Enemy
The DNA: NWA + poli-sci classes + Flavor Flav
Everyone knows Flavor Flav from his crazy appearances on various VH1 reality-TV shows, but before that, he was a part of one of the most politically active hip-hop groups of all time. Public Enemy is really Chuck D’s baby but Flav helps give us some humor to go along with Chuck’s politics.
Songs That We Demand They Play: “Don’t Believe the Hype,” “Welcome to the terrordome”
Song Your Hipster Friend Will Demand They Play: “He Got Game,” just to be ironic
Mind the Skanks: Watch out for Flavor of Lovers milling about in the crowd.
14: The Kills
The DNA: The White Stripes – garage rock + PJ Harvey
Sadly, The White Stripes didn’t reunite for Coachella this year (I guess only Conan O’Brien has the power to bring them together these days), but despite their absence, go check out the second best guy/girl rock duo in indie rock (sorry, Raveonettes). Like Stripes, The Kills make great music, but they drop the garage-rock shtick and amp up the sex factor. Their album Midnight Boom was definitely an underrated album of 2008 and features better beats than Meg White could ever bang out.
Songs That We Demand They Play: “U.R.A. Fever,” “Tape Song,” “Last Day of Magic”
Song Your Hipster Friend Will Demand They Play: anything they put out under their original name of VV and Hotel.
OK, Maybe They Are Like The White Stripes: Kills singer Alison Mosshart is the vocalist of Jack White’s latest supergroup Dead Weather. Maybe Meg White and Kills guitarist Jamie Hince will start their own group next.
15. My Bloody Valentine
The DNA: The Jesus and Mary Chain + Ride + a ton of effects pedals
Haven’t heard of My Bloody Valentine? Well, shame on you for not knowing about the shoegaze legends that made one of the classic albums of the ’90s. Nothing seems like a better way to wind down the last day of Coachella than watching Kevin Shields pile layer and layer of dreamy guitars on top of each other, while trying to make your ears bleed. Coachella blew it last year by not getting the reunited MBV to play the festival, so it’s nice to see they made good on that mistake by getting them for oh-nine.
Songs That We Demand They Play: Loveless, the entire album, straight through
Songs Your Hipster Friend Will Demand They Play: Loveless, the entire album, straight through
Random Tip: Wear earplugs. Seriously, wear earplugs.
Bonus WTF Artist: Shepard Fairey
The guy who made the iconic Obama “Hope” poster comes to Coachella to paint? Deejay? Lecture? Who knows what he’s doing, but it’d be best to go check out what will surely be the hottest set at Coachella since Sean Penn “played” last year and told a bunch a kids to get on a bus.
KEEP READING: The five bands that should’ve made it![PAGEBREAK]
Oh, and these are the five bands that oughta be there — in our humble opinion. Maybe Coachella 2010 …
1. Animal Collective
These noise-poppers put out the album of the year in January, and so far, everyone else is playing catch-up. While they did play the festival last year, it’s absolutely criminal that the Coachella hire-ups didn’t bring them back to lead everyone in a late-night sing-along of “Brothersport.”
2. Dan Deacon
Like Animal Collective, Dan Deacon also played last year. Now, instead of being one guy with a table in front of stage tweaking synths and pedals, he’s hired a whole band to bring his genius new album “Bromst” to life. It’s a crying shame that Coachella doesn’t get to see Dan Deacon, the bandleader, play the festival.
3. Handsome Furs
Made up of Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade and his wife Alexei Perry, Handsome Furs released their second album this year. Dan sings and plays guitars while his wife works the drum machines. As great as The Kills are, Handsome Furs would have been the guy/girl duo to see this year if Coachella had been smart enough to book ’em.
4. Jay-Z
Let’s look at the headliners this year: Paul McCartney, legend. The Cure, legends. The Killers … WTF? I’m sorry, but Saturday’s headliner is weak, and Jay-Z would be the perfect person to take the festival to the next level. Coachella has flirted with big-name hip-hop acts before, like Kanye West, but bringing Jay-Z would’ve been the best thing Coachella could do to show that this year’s festival is about encompassing all forms of music. Sure, Glastonbury might have had Jay-Z headline first, but Coachella should be willing to steal a great idea when they see one.
5. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Yes, The Jesus and Mary Chain revivalism is in vogue this year (see Day One: A Place to Bury Strangers) but Pains of Being Pure at Heart are the best of the bunch. They wrap sugar-sweet melodies behind waves of distortion, giving you songs that stick in your head for days. This band played about 50 gigs at SXSW this year, and Coachella acted a dummy by not bringing them to the desert.
