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Coachella 2014 – A Complete Guide To This Year’s Festival (Spotify Playlists Included)


Musicheads,

Coachella is mere hours away and I am here to present to you your survival guide to the actual music of the festival.  For those of you going that haven’t yet figured out what you are going to see, look no further.  For the rest of us who aren’t going (or happen to be doing Weekend #2) read on and get yourself acquainted with these acts that are worth seeing, hearing, feeling and any other sense you would like to utilize to enjoy the music.

So if you really hadn’t given much thought as to who to see this weekend, or moreso, who to pay attention to, look no further.  Let me give you the skinny/4-1-1/low down, (whatever you want to call it) on what’s worth your time.  First off, I just have to say, the festival promoters really packed Saturday.  While Friday and Sunday are pretty manageable and straightforward, Saturday is a real cluster for picking one quality act you want to see over another all day long.  Now let me breakdown my ideal schedule for each day, maybe you’ll agree with me.

Note: When I mark conflicts the first listed act would be my winner

 

Spotify Playlist: Coachella 2014 – Friday – “A Good Start”

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Let’s start off with making a schedule for the opening day:

 

Spotify Playlist: Coachella 2014 – Saturday – “Fantastic Lineup, Terrible Conflicts”

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Now onto the day from hell (scheduling-wise):

 

Spotify Playlist: Coachella 2014 – Sunday – “The Final Day: A Fitting End”

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Last day, are you tired yet? Let’s close this baby out!:

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HH set times

With regards to this schedule, who are my Not-To-Miss Acts?  Well, I don’t think I need to speak about many of the “larger font” bands, however, some smaller print bands definitely do deserve attention.

Here is my DO NOT MISS list:

Be sure, if you are going to Coachella, to make time for these acts.  They are well worth your time and ears.   Now show us some of your fancy footwork!

 

 

This year as well, Coachella has decided to live stream some of it’s shows so all of us non-attendees can still partake in the auditory 7 visual enjoyment.

Here is the live streaming schedule: Coachella LIVE! on YouTube

COACHELLA WEEKEND ONE WEBCAST:

Friday, April 11th:
03:30 – Flatbush Zombies
03:30 – ZZ Ward
03:30 – Jagwar Ma
04:15 – Grouplove
04:20 – Wye Oak
05:15 – MS MR
05:20 – AFI
06:00 – Bastille
06:05 – ASAP Ferg
06:10 – GOAT
07:00 – The Afghan Whigs
07:00 – Kate Nash
07:50 – Neko Case
08:15 – Woodkid
08:40 – Ellie Goulding
09:05 – Chromeo
09:30 – Broken Bells
09:30 – Carnage
09:55 – Bryan Ferry
10:30 – Girl Talk
11:00 – The Cult
11:20 – Martin Garrix
12:00 – Anti-Flag
12:20 – Zedd

Saturday, April 12th:
03:30 – White Lies
03:30 – Bear Hands
03:30 – Foxygen
04:10 – CHVRCHES
04:15 – Temples
04:30 – Ty Segall
05:20 – The Head and the Heart
05:30 – Bombay Bicycle Club
06:10 – City and Colour
06:30 – Washed Out
07:00 – Capital Cities
07:05 – Future Islands
07:55 – Lorde
08:00 – Warpaint
08:25 – Dillon Francis
08:45 – Foster the People
09:00 – Pixies
09:25 – Fatboy Slim
09:40 – Queens of the Stone Age
10:25 – Empire of the Sun
10:35 – Pharrell Williams
10:45 – Sleigh Bells
11:25 – Skrillex
11:35 – Pet Shop Boys
11:35 – Muse

Sunday, April 13th:
03:30 – Preservation Hall Jazz Band
03:30 – J. Roddy Walston & The Business
03:30 – Surfer Blood
04:15 – Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
04:30 – Frank Turner
05:10 – Fishbone
05:30 – Superchunk
06:00 – Blood Orange
06:00 – Flosstradamus
06:30 – The 1975
07:15 – Little Dragon
07:40 – The Naked and Famous
07:50 – Alesso
08:30 – Daughter
08:30 – Calvin Harris
09:00 – Big Gigantic
09:25 – Beck
09:55 – Adventure Club
10:10 – Nas
10:20 – Arcade Fire
10:45 – Duck Sauce
11:10 – Disclosure

 

So….what are your thoughts?  Like my daily schedules? Hate them? Did I leave someone out I shouldn’t be? Let me know your thoughts.  If you are going to Coachella, and you use these lists, drop me a line as well!   Also, be sure to check out each day’s Spotify Playlist, chocked full of each day’s lineup from the official poster.  Hours of listening pleasure in each of those playlists, so be sure to get your fill.

 

-Akwitz

Now Playing: Coachella 2014


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‘New Music Tuesdays’ – Does Yeezus walk on water?


Musicheads,

Kanye West hit the news twice this week.  First with the birth of his baby daughter with Kim Kardashian, and second with the release of his album Yeezus.  

On first listen, the album lacks cohesion and makes no sense as a whole.  The album jumps from one track to the next with no sense of direction and no overlapping themes.  The only ongoing theme throughout the album seems to be hate.  Yes, this is a hate album.  He hates on the music industry, hates on people he calls jealous, hates on the rich (a group that he is ironically a part of), hate on just about everyone.  The album, devoid of cover art besides a red sticker (shown above), seems to emulate the feeling of Kanye’s entire album, thrown together.

When discussing the album, my friend may have definitely expressed it best with regards to tracks like Send It Up:

L: Send It Up is definitely my favorite, that beat is ridic…
A: Beats do nothing for me if whats on top of it is trash
L: That’s true, the lyrics do suck, but I block out his voice and listen to that beat, it’s delicious
A: Haha and therein lies the problem: it’s a Kanye album and you want to block out the Kanye portion: hence…PROBLEM”

This is representative of most of the album however, and that’s a BIGGER problem.  Wanting to remove Kanye from the equation of the performance.  Let the man produce, he isn’t bad at that, but this album shows how off-the-mark and out of touch with reality he truly is.  Tracks like I Am A God are not only insulting and incredibly egotistical both lyrically and stylistically, but also lack any real depth or dimension.  Numerous tracks don’t seem to go anywhere and some are downright snoozers (i.e. Guilt Trip).  Blood On The Leaves is the most familiar to previous albums, with the use of auto-tune and simple bass beat but falls flat and spends the last two minutes on a sound tangent.

The album isn’t all bad though.  Black Skinhead, despite its offensive title, is perhaps the most well put together track on the album.  Kanye’s lyrics are crisp and the rap is both fluid and fits well with the beat while not being overpowering or detrimental to the whole song.   New Slaves also offers creative lyrics but very little else.  Bound 2 sounds more like a mash-up then an individual track with Kanye’s use of samples, which isn’t all that bad.  Overall, the album lacks consistency and Kanye’s rap is actually a detriment in many of the tracks.  Although critics were quick to dub this album avant garde rap, really it’s just trash no matter how you package it, not even deserving of cover art apparently.

Maybe this is a low blow, but I think Kramer sums up my feelings on this album pretty well right here:

Does Yeezus walk on water?  Hardly.

Although I did not purchase Yeezus after having listened to it this morning on Spotify, I did buy a couple other albums today which are all worth giving a listen to.  One of which is Australia’s very own dynamic duo Empire Of The Sun, back with their first album in 5 years Ice On The Dune.  The 12-track dance pop album clocks in at only a little under 43 minutes, but keeps the beat going and the energy high. Definitely worth giving a listen.

Here was everything else acquired on this New Release Tuesday:

and don’t forget to follow on Facebook and on Twitter @akwitz & @AudiofileAkwitz at to get even more music updates that don’t make my posts.

-Akwitz

Now Playing: Bastille – Pompeii


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Audiophile Concert Series – Foals – Holy Fire Tour


So musicheads,

On a Monday night in Baltimore, Foals will play a packed house at Rams Head Live with opening acts Surfer Blood and Blondfire.  Hot off their Sunday performance at Governor’s Ball Music Festival and continuing to ride their truly breakout album Holy Fire Foals has toured with these two for the North American part of their tour which began in April.

Foals have a number of excellent tracks on their new album including Inhaler, My Number and my personal favorite Late Night.  Late Night also has a few music videos for it, both a live recording in a Paris library and the official NSFW studio/cinematic:

With regards to the other acts on the evening, Surfer Blood is a surf-rock band out of South Florida with a new album, Pythons, released on June 11th.  Their most recent single that has been on the radio airwaves is Demon Dance.

The other group, Blondfire, are an indie pop brother-sister duo from LA who have been building buzz lately with their most recent EP Where The Kids Are with singles Waves and Where The Kids Are.

The night should be an enjoyable one, as all three acts have different sounds and styles.  Here is a playlist of music from the three: Holy Fire Tour

…more to come post show…

Post-Show Review

Rams Head was rocking last night as the rains and wind were raging outside.  All three bands were on point as the Monday night crowd gave the bands their energy on the rainy evening.  The mezzanine was closed, so the crowd packed the floor in front of the stage and danced when given the opportunity.  Although the sound is heard much better from the mezzanine, the sound techs did an excellent job with each band’s unique vibe and sound.  Blondfire kicked the night off with a solid 45 min set which included a fantastic cover of Fleetwood Mac‘s Dreams.  Next came the Florida surf-rockers who utilized their boyish charms, strong vocals and clever licks to get the crowd amped for Foals.  Lead singer, John Paul Pitts, also donned a beret and drew a cat nose and whiskers on his face as he puffed his electric cigarette at one point before jumping off the stage into the crowd.

Foals then performed an incredibly high energy show and the crowd appreciated it thoroughly.  The band appeared on stage in steps, as an obvious opening song, Prelude began to build in each part.  The group connected with the crowd and lead singer and guitarist, Yannis Philippakis, ran down into the crowd numerous times with his guitar as the band jammed on onstage.  The band returned for a brief 2-song encore which included single Inhaler and totally rocked the house.

All-in-all, excellent show last night.  Three bands rocked Baltimore as the rains poured down outside and tornados touched down in other parts of the state.  Foals was a whirling dervish on stage with their funk-infused guitar tones and jams and the supporting acts all stood their own.  Below are some pictures captured from the night.

Foals Holy Fire Tour – Rams Head Live – Baltimore, MD – 06.10.2013 

More ‘professional’ photos

See you all at the next show!

-Akwitz

Now Playing: Hey Champ – Comet (feat. BeuKes)