I am entirely excited for CocoRosie’s performance tomorrow at the Gothic in Denver. I’ve yet to behold the musical explorations of the Casady sisters live, but I sense that it will be epic. Their music is sultry, experimental, impassioned, and one-of-a-kind. The resonances of Bianca and Sierra’s angelic and otherworldly vocals amid their curious, fantastical realm of effected sounds and tones is true art.
The duo’s name comes from nicknames their mother gave them when they were young, Bianca “Coco” and Sierra “Rosie”. The girls reunited in Paris in 2003 to collaborate and create. The story is quite romantic. Bianca, who was then 2, living in Brooklyn and hadn’t seen much of her older sister for the past 10 years, had grown restless and decided to invite a change. She chose to travel the world and showed up in Paris where 24-year-old Sierra was studying voice. The two sisters sequestered themselves in Sierra’s bathroom, the most acoustic and isolated room in the apartment, for the better part of 2 months and soon completed their debut album, La Maison de Mon Rêve (2004).
Since then, the girls have toured the world, sharing their gorgeous and unrecognizable fusion of hip-hop, opera, electronica and pop. Sometimes it sounds as though you are listening to a field recording equipped with foreign noises, scratches, and faded vocals floating in the background. Other time it’s as though Billie Holiday has come back as a tiny girl obsessed with rhyme. Their third work, The Adventures of Stillborn and Ghosthorse (2007), was aptly produced by legendary Icelandic sound engineer, Valgeir Sigurdsson, who has excelled at capturing the anomalies and eccentricities of the Bjork. The duo recently signed with Sub Pop records to release their fourth full-length album, Grey Oceans (May 2010).
CocoRosie’s music is a reflection of Bianca and Sierra’s relationship with each other and this is what inspires its magic. It’s a means of expression for the intense and complex energy that runs between the two sisters. Originally, the girls performed as a duo with Sierra singing, playing the guitar, piano and harp, and Bianca singing and manipulating children’s toys, electronic and percussion instruments, and other unusual noisemakers. They more often now perform with a variety of backing musicians who take the roles of bassist, synth player and beatboxer.
Costuming is a constant within the world of CocoRosie, another part of the performance that I can’t wait to lay my eyes on. Bianca has been making her own clothes since she was 15. In Paris, the sisters are revered as fashion icons and regularly make the covers of style magazines. But unlike many of the women who surround them, the two are more likely to take and make their attire from 2nd hand stores than from the shops on the Rue Faubourg Saint-Honoré.
So off to the Gothic to experience a world of unicorns, rainbows, fairies and angels and everything else that is CocoRosie. Don’t miss them as they voyage throughout the U.S. and then Europe.
Jun 21 – Gothic Theater, Denver, CO
Jun 22 – Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City, UT
Jun 24 – Vogue Theater, Vancouver, CA
Jun 25 – Showbox, Seattle, WA
Jun 26 – Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
Jun 29 – Regency, San Francisco, CA
Jun 30 – Rio Theater, Santa Cruz, CA
Jul 1 – Belly Up, San Diego, CA
Jul 2 – Orpheum Theater, Los Angeles, CA
Jul 17 – Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreux, CH
Jul 18 – Villa Ada, Roma, ITALY
Jul 19 – Spazio 211, Torino, ITALY
Jul 20 – Wagenhallen, Stuttgart, GERMANY
Jul 21 – KulturZelt, Kassel, GERMANY
Jul 23 – KulturArena, Jena, GERMANY
Jul 24 – Archa Theatre, Prag, CZECH REPUBLIC
Jul 26 – Gödör Klub, Budapest, HUNGARY
Jul 27 – Arena Open Air, Vienna, AUSTRIA
The Westword Music Showcase is Denver’s very own version of SXSW, albeit a smaller one. The yearly event, hosted by the free alternative weekly across 8 blocks of the Denver’s Golden Triangle neighborhood lasts just one day. But don’t let this take away from the fact that it is one of the best events in the area to take in the burgeoning Denver music scene and catch some amazing national acts as well. And it’s cheap. Just $15 in advance and $30 day of.
This year’s event has one of the best lineups to date for indie fans with headliners including Ghostland Observatory (Austin), Dirty Projectors, and Neon Indian. Other stand-out local acts include The Still City, Eleanor, Hello Kavita, Taun Taun, and Kill Paradise. See below for Lux’s picks for this year’s Westword Music Showcase.
Phish will give its first television performance since 2004 tonight on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.” The appearance is part of a Rolling Stones’ tribute week to their 1972 album Exile On Main Street. Each night on Fallon a different band will cover a song from the classic album. The show starts tonight at 12:35 / 11:35 CST on NBC.
The tribute week concides with the May 18, 2010 deluxe release of a remastered version of the album featuring 10 previously unheard tracks including “Plundered My Soul”, “Dancing in the Light”, “Following the River” and “Pass the Wine” as well as alternate versions of “Soul Survivor” and “Loving Cup”.
Throughout the week artists will sit in with hip-hop artists The Roots, Fallon’s house band since March 2009. Other musical guests this week included Green Day, Keith Urban, Sheryl Crow, Taj Mahal, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, and Rolling Stones’ keyboardist Chuck Leavell. LL Cool J is appearing tonight along with Phish.
The million dollar question: What will Phish play? So far nothing has been announced. The rock legends played Exile in its entirety at Festival 8 over Halloween this past fall, so anything is possible.
Check out this clip of “Rocks Off” from Festival 8.
Looking forward to the unveiling of Phish this evening!
School of Seven Bells trigger psychedelic expeditions into colorful soundscapes infused with the sensual vocals of twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza and the ethereal guitar wanderings of Benjamin Curtis. Their multi-layered songs are saturated with melting guitar tones, lush vocal harmonies, raw synths, electronica-edged beats, and heavy production. The band’s love for rhythm, atmosphere and melody is overwhelmingly apparent throughout their explorations.
The members of School of Seven Bells met on tour supporting Interpol in 2004, Curtis performing with Secret Machines and the Dehezas with On!Air!Library!. When first exposed to his future bandmates, Curtis perceived a rare vibe and communication between the girls and fell deeply in love with the sound. Alejandra revealed to Curtis her dreams for a collective entitled School of Seven Bells. The name stems from a fabled training academy of thieves and pickpockets in Columbia. They began making music here and there and by 2007 put some tracks together that they had affection for and released them as the Face to Face on High Places EP. That same year, the band began touring and had the fortune to support both Blonde Redhead and Prefuse 73 on the road.
Initially, the group spent time translating elements programmed in the studio to other musicians who could fill them out in the live setting. Soon, they began featuring the tracks as originally created. If the sounds were programmed, they’d leave it that way, and if they played them themselves, they’d play it on stage. The sound became more honest and the evolution was liberating, enabling the group to remain a trio.
School of Seven Bells’ debut album Alpinism was released in 2008 on Ghostly International. The trio fused their two disparate previous projects into a new sound anchored in gorgeous, winding melodies and beguiling synth backdrops. The recording is glittery and uplifting, peaceful and hymn-like, yet at points dark and tension-filled. Each track is a distinct being, possessing its very own magic. The distorted vocals on “Chain” gorgeously lean in the direction of Black Moth. And at points, School of Seven Bells recall another one of Brooklyn babies, St. Vincent. In 2009, they supported Alpinism on tours with both Bat for Lashes and Black Moth Super Rainbow.
The trio recently announced that Disconnect from Desire, their 2nd full-length release, will drop via Vagrant/Ghostly International and Full Time Hobby in Europe on July 13th. The album, produced by band member Benjamin Curtis and mixed by Jack Joseph Puig, was recorded in the band’s home studio in Brooklyn. “Babelonia” is the gorgeously fuzzy first track off the album, which they’ve released for free into the blogosphere.
“From the start, we knew we wanted to make a record that connected on more of a direct and personal level than we ever had before,” Curtis revealed in a statement regarding Disconnect. “It’s a complete account of our lives this past year, and it’s crazy how taking an honest look at yourself can tell you the most about the world around you.”
In support of the release, the trio will perform one date at The Echo in Los Angeles on June 2nd and two at the Mercury Lounge in NYC on June 9 and 10. And in July, the band will journey abroad to the Netherlands, the U.K., Germany and Australia.
Last year, SoSB brought another atmospheric dream pop group on the road with them, upstate New York’s Phantogram. With their thudding beats, lush synthesizers, psychedelic art-rock and interchange of male/female vocals, Phantogram creates dazzling sounds reminiscent of SoSB. Don’t miss Phantogram on tour throughout the U.S. in May and June. May 13th brings them to the Larimer Lounge in Denver. They’ll also hit Sasquatch in 2010.
Irwin Barbé and Luna Cedron sent me their fashion video set to a High Places song called “From Stardust to Sentience.” The video features Luna’s Venus in Fürs designs. I’m in love with how the images embody the music. I also adore that 17-year-olds from France are sending me their artistic creations…
Check out more from this amazingly talented young designer. Luna’s ethereal creations feature floral fabrics, draping cords, and t-shirts covered in fantatsical childlike drawings. Luna loves live music, meeting musicians and giving them her designs. MGMT and Foals are already part of her following.
At the end of a weekend of award-winning sets, blue skies, and hipper-than-hip crowds, an esteemed analyst of mine pronounced that Gorillaz had won Coachella. After falling for the title, I’m compelled to share who made the grade, offered stand-out sets, and made Coachella what it is: the picking ground for some of the best artists performing now.
Several acts were immediately taken out of the contest due to their inability to get to the festival. The Cribs, Gary Numan, Bad Lieutenant, and Delphic fell pray to flight cancellations as a result of the plume of volcanic ash from Iceland that descended on the UK and parts of Scandinavia during the week prior to the festival. Sly Stone has been disqualified as well due to the last minute postponement of his Sunday set until later that evening and the difficulty he had making it through his own songs.
While the remaining 130+ artists competed enthusiastically, the Lux votes are in and it’s a tie between Gorillaz and Thom Yorke’s Atoms For Peace. The remaining titles have been awarded respectively to Dirty Projectors, The Whitest Boy Alive, Grizzly Bear, Passion Pit, Phoenix, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, LCD Soundsystem, Jónsi, Pretty Lights, Vampire Weekend, La Roux, Jay-Z, Hot Chip, Pavement, MGMT, Gossip, The Avett Brothers and Little Dragon.
Owen Pallett’s geeky laugh, the longest bout of insanely loud distortion from Girls, and Mutemath’s Paul Meany performing flips on and over his keyboard made for other memorable Coachella moments.
Special thanks to Ra Ra Riot, Local Natives, Little Boots, Beach House, Sia, Miike Snow, Flying Lotus, Sleigh Bells, and Imogen Heap for playing. You have each been awarded an honorable mention.
Last place goes to Tiësto. You can’t win when you insist on being louder than every other artist to perform and drown out your competitors.
Congratulations to Coachella for their first sell out in the festival’s 12 years. Your decision to hold the fest on the meticulously manicured and palm-tree lined grounds of the Empire Polo Fields in California where the weather might be the finest in the nation might warrants you the prize of best indie festival around.
#1 – Gorillaz
The Gorillaz set was all over the map in terms of music diversity. Quality beats and grooves drove audience members to produce their best dance moves yet. Who needs holographic bandmates when you’ve got a live band made up of the Hypnotic Brash Ensemble and a long list of guests including former Clash members Mick Jones and Paul Simonon, Little Dragon, De La Soul, Gil Scott-Heron and Bobby Womack. MySpace|Website
#1 – Atoms For Peace
Thom Yorke’s music is meant for large scale productions like Coachella. The incredible presence of Yorke live with Flea adding his electrifying bass lines truly brought The Eraser to life. Thick beats, resounding piano lines, psychedelic interludes and Yorke’s haunting vocals created an entirely cathartic experience built on inspired song-writing. MySpace|Website
#3 – Dirty Projectors
With chanteurs that sound like birds, Dirty Projectors dazzled listeners with their experimental sonic alchemy. The beauty of Amber Coffman, Angel Deradoorian, and Haley Deckle’s voices shone radiantly alongside the intricate and unique musical stylings of their compatriots. The power of this group live is something to behold. MySpace|Website
#4 – The Whitest Boy Alive
Some of the best music I heard all weekend came from this band out of Berlin. I’ve had a lasting affection for Kings of Convenience, which made it even more exciting when I heard KoC lead singer Erlend Øye’s new project. Øye has dove headfirst into an entirely original form of electro-dance music. His unique vocals fraternize perfectly with the band’s funk guitar lines, smooth keyboard melodies and dance-heavy bass and drums grooves. After the set ended, Øye came out to slap hands with the remaining fans, sing a few lines with them, and proudly wave the German flag that was tossed to him. MySpace|Website
#5 – Grizzly Bear
Grizzly Bear put other artists to shame with their voluptuous 4-part harmonies. The sounds created a thick atmosphere drenched in their deeply textured psychedelic pop. The audience was moved and accepted the invitation into their sonicly rich world. MySpace|Website
#6 – Passion Pit
One of the best synth-pop band out there electrified their audience as the sun dropped over the mountains in Indio on Friday. Offering their realm of highly danceable pop grooves, Passion Pit glimmered and soared. The blissed out crowd reciprocated with elation-filled singing and tumbling exuberance. MySpace|Website
#7 – Phoenix
Phoenix’s sparkling indie-pop has clearly taken the U.S. by storm. Their infectious set on Sunday was packed as Coachella-goers drank in the energetic performance by France’s new sensation. Crowds sang along, danced hard, and demonstrated unabashed love for Phoenix. The band’s lighting designer got caught up in flight delays in Europe but no need when you have an engaging Thomas Mars writhing on stage and getting down into the audience to sing the set’s closer. MySpace|Website
#8 – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros’ hippy, communal vibe and jubilant feel-good tunes created the perfect soundtrack for Coachella on Saturday. The band took their audience on a magical trip into their realm of love, hope, and happiness and for the trippers I saw, it couldn’t get any better. The female vocalists surfed the crowd in short dresses and the tangible intimacy between Alex and Jane could be felt no matter how far back one might have been. MySpace|Website
#9 – LCD Soundsystem
James Murphy’s disco-tinged, dance-punk, David Byrne-recalling set on the main stage of Coachella Friday night magnified the impact of his imaginative musical world. Murphy was egoless, at points even apologetic, inspiring the audience to equally let down their hair and let go of self-consciousness. The band consistently wowed those ready to dance with heavy synth and explosive drum fills, ridden by Murphy’s smart, lyrical meanderings. MySpace|Website
#10 – Jónsi
Jónsi’s uplifting sounds created the perfect daytime set at Coachella. The exclusion of the fantastical theatre set and projections that accompany the rest of his spring tour enabled fans to focus on Jónsi’s pure musical gift. Flawless falsetto, glistening crescendos, and orchestral embellishments washed over the crowd as the sun warmed them. MySpace|Website
#11 – Pretty Lights
Colorado sent their best and brightest to Coachella to incite audiences with cutting-edge dance beats, heavy funk grooves, diverse hip-hop samples, and eletro psychedlia. It went off. Who cares if it’s daytime when you’re in the Sahara tent dancing to Derek Vincent Smith’s sonic intuition coming to life coupled with the venue’s over-the-top lights, lasers, projections, LED screens and surround sound speakers. MySpace|Website
#12 – Vampire Weekend
The band’s energetic, youthful enthusiasm and deft musicianship infused their performance, which drew on favorites from both of the group’s records. The highlight of the set came when Ezra Koenig shared his love of screaming by encouraging the audience to just let it all go and join in as he shrieked the chorus of “Blakes Got A New Face.” MySpace|Website
#13 – La Roux
La Roux’s set in the Gobi tent might have been the most packed performance of the weekend next to Florence And The Machine. The young crowd went wild for Eleanor Jackson’s synth-driven dance-pop and sugar-sweet vocals. MySpace|Website
#14 – Jay-Z
Classic beats, Jay-Z’s smooth stylings, his evident love for his fans, an unannounced cameo from Beyoncé, and spectacular visual backdrops made for stellar entertainment Friday eve. Just the kind of set you’d expect from the first hip-hop headliner ever at Coachella. MySpace|Website
#15 – Hot Chip
U.K’s electro-pop ambassadors created a massive dance party on Coachella’s Outdoor Stage on Saturday. “It’s our third time at Coachella,” Alexis Taylor told the crowd, “and this is the most fun we’ve ever had.” The high-energy set, based mostly on the group’s latest release, One Life Stand (2010), wove the band’s synth explorations within elegantly placed samples all topped by Taylor’s pastel-colored vocals. MySpace|Website
#16 – Pavement
The legendary indie rockers played one of their first sets in 11 years, proving both their legitimacy and renewed energy. The show was filled with self-effacing humor, dynamic favorites from their vast catalog, and plenty of moments that reminded the audience of what they’d been missing in the 00’s. The set was a redeeming one as many fans consider their performance at Coachella #1 in 1999 as one of the worst Pavement sets ever resulting from the band being burned out and annoyed with each. Plus Stephen Malkamus almost lost his voice from allegedly scorching his throat on a bad-bong hit. MySpace|Website
#17 – MGMT
MGMT have emerged in 2010 as one of the most eccentric band’s on the indie scene with their new release Congratulations (2010). While the audience wasn’t as familiar with the new material, the band didn’t care as they tore through a set of psychedelic wanderings, melodic detours, and Beach Boys-esque harmonies with unabashed ardor. While certainly bizarre, it was hard not to respect the band’s dedication to their evolving sound. MySpace|Website
#18 – Gossip
Beth Ditto might have been the ultimate diva at Coachella despite her stiff competition, namely from Little Boots’ Victoria Hesketh. Ditto controlled the crowd with her powerhouse vocals, enchanting self-assurance, and unabashed elation. The appropriate response? Grin ear-to-ear and dance along with her. MySpace|Website
#19 – The Avett Brothers
The Avett’s played a moving set of tunes to an enamored audience soon after the gates opened on Friday. Closing with “I and Love and You”, the band invited the crowd to sing along and sent the audience on their way wrapped in their heartfelt lyrics. MySpace|Website
#20 – Little Dragon
Sweden’s Little Dragon gave off their bizarre sounds topped by Yukimi Nagano’s sultry vocals to sweet response. Filled with synth, ambient noises, and multi-layered musical explorations all backed by a steady beat, the Gobi tent relented, entering their strange world and keeping in the groove. MySpace|Website
Entries (RSS)