With the announcement of this year’s Coachella lineup – a three-day festival in Indio beginning Apr. 16 – it’s hard to balance the pros and cons of spending $269+ for a three-day pass. If you haven’t seen the new Coachella lineup yet, the schedule for the festival is available at Coachella.com. Here are some exciting artists worthy of mention.
Friday, Apr. 16
Fever Ray
Among many of my favorite Swedish electronic artists is Karin Deijer Andersson, also known as Fever Ray and one half of The Knife. Andersson released the self-titled debut record early 2009 on Rabid Records, the label in which she and her brother (and second half of The Knife) Olof co-own. The artists rarely involve themselves with the media or the mainstream music scene, making it tricky to track their ongoings. Andersson announced earlier this month that her set at Coachella will be her only show for 2010.
The Avett Brothers
The North Carolina natives have been churning out endearing folk-rock songs since 2000. Since then, the foursome has built up quite an impressive anthology – releasing one to two albums per year since 2002. Their latest album, I and Love and You, was released in September of last year. Sweet lyrics are paired nicely with the lighthearted acoustic guitar and banjo blend as per usual.
Yeasayer
The experimental group originating from Brooklyn brought us what is now described as “Enya with bounce.” Yeasayer’s debut album, All Hour Cymbals (2007), is a collection of eleven tracks exploring features of world, electronic and psychedelic music. Their second album Odd Blood was unfortunately fated to an early release in December.
La Roux
After seeing this dreamy UK electropop artist earlier last year, I was convinced that they’d hit it big in the US by the end of next year. La Roux, a.k.a. Elly Jackson and Ben Langmaid, released their debut album on Polydor mid last year and has been spreading among electronic/rave fans faster than glow sticks bob up and down.
Saturday, Apr. 17
Camera Obscura
Throughout their long history, Camera Obscura has always been able to successfully pair maudlin lyrics with upbeat melodies – their 2009 release of My Maudlin Career is a perfect example of this. How Tracyanne makes being sad so happy, I will never know. For now I will more than gladly sing along as if my own heart were trampled on by a large stampede of untrustworthy men.
Beach House
Dream-pop artist Beach House, consisting of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, are releasing their much-anticipated third album Teen Dream next week. Since the release of Devotion in 2006, Legrand dabbled in various side projects including a collaboration with Grizzly Bear on their hit “Two Weeks.”
GIRLS
San Francisco-based artist Girls’ debut record entitled Album provided the end of the decade with a much-needed retrospective album. Tracks off of Album explore and intertwine themes of past and current romance with future hopes. More importantly, Girls would not be Girls without the band’s lead singer Christopher Owens.
Sunday, Apr. 18
Delphic
The trendy Manchester electro-rock-pop group Delphic released their debut album, Acolyte, two weeks ago and has already picked up a number of positive reviews. Though Delphic is currently more popular in the UK than in the states, there is no doubt that the four-piece will be collecting many new fans from now to Coachella weekend.
Miike Snow
Electro-pop artist Miike Snow consists of the very talented Swedish producers Bloodshy & Avant (a.k.a. Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg) and American singer/songwriter Andrew Wyatt. Having seen Miike Snow live mid last year, I did not expect that Karlsson and Winnberg had worked with artists such as Britney Spears, Madonna and Kylie Minogue in the past, as Miike Snow’s music differs significantly, and perhaps for the better.
Matt & Kim
Brooklyn’s indie pop duo Matt & Kim have infiltrated the hearts of thousands with their self-titled release in 2006 and the release of Grand last year. Since “Daylight” was featured in a Bacardi Mojito ad a few months ago, I now associate the duo with that minty-fresh goodness.
SIMONE WAHNG can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.
