Mellower and decidedly more "middle-aged" than previous efforts, it's hard to not be a touch disappointed with TV On The Radio's Nine Types Of Light on first listen.
All of the band's trademark appeal is present...the passion, the inventiveness, the unpredictable blend of soul and art-rock influences, Kyp Malone and Tunde Adebimpe's wonderfully idiosyncratic vocals...but compared to their previous two celebrated releases, Nine Types Of Light just doesn't seem up to snuff, lacking Return To Cookie Mountain's explosive highs, and Dear Science's non-stop, party-funk awesomeness.
But then the album's lyrics start sinking in, and Nine Types Of Light begins to assert itself.
It's hard not to envision the combination of bassist/keyboardist's Gerard Smith's terminal battle with lung cancer (he passed just weeks after the album's release) and the band's decision to record in Los Angeles instead of their native New York as having dominated the record's formation.
Musically, Nine Types Of Light feels saturated in laid-back California sunshine, while lyrically, this is without question TV On The Radio's most elemental and direct album, obsessed with themes of simple human connection, love, perserverance, and an acceptance of life's fleeting duration. In those brief instances when politics/world events do enter the conversation, as on No Future Shock, the album's liveliest track, it's as background noise to be ignored, not problems that need to be addressed.
In many ways, whether a legitimate interpretation or not, the album plays as an elegy to Smith, but one written with his full participation while he was still alive, full of gentle positivity and calm resignation as opposed to grief and sorrow, a proactive choice on the band's part to share their dear friends final days with him, and help him to make his transition with grace, dignity and humor. Killer Crane, the record's beautiful, allegorical centerpiece, takes on special power when considered in this light, but many of the album's other tracks, whether spirited or relaxed, have a similar bittersweet, heartwarming impact.
So while from a strictly musical standpoint it may not quite rise to the level of TV On The Radio's last two releases, Nine Types Of Light is nonetheless a highly satisfying listen, suffuse with a quiet, uplifting power uniquely its own.
Here's the official video for the ballad Killer Crane, my favorite video of the year, which perfectly captures the warm sense of shared existence and cherished small moments that permeates the album.
In the long litany of 80s grave robbers this past decade has produced, you've got your A-team - LCD Soundsystem, Robyn, The National, Arcade Fire, and maybe Cut//Copy, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, Wolf Parade, Wild Beasts and The Xx.
Then you've got your B-Team, artists that haven't quite yet worked their stylistic thievery into at least one bona fide classic, but still hold promise and have managed to produced interesting and worthwhile spins on the 80's established styles...I'm talking about artists like Hot Chip, A Place To Bury Strangers, Goldfrapp, Future Islands, Twin Shadow, The Phantom Band, M83, Santagold, and Foals.
Then there's the dreaded C-team - bands that have maybe hit pay dirt on a track or two, but overall, give no indication they'll ever amount to more than marginal players reworking tired ideas in tired ways....bands like The Teenagers, VHS or Beta, White Lies, and She Wants Revenge.
It's time to add Cold Cave to that C-Team list.
Delivering a percussion-heavy, bombastic mish-mash of goth-flavored 80s tunes, ranging from Cut//Copy lightness (Confetti and Icons of Summer), to dark Cure/Joy Division-styled murk (Burning Rage), Cherish The Light Years does reveal a guilty-pleasure, arena-rock listenability over time despite band leader Wes Eisold's mush-mouthed phrasing, but only on one moment...the killer horns-and-bass intro to the Nick Zinner collaboration Alchemy And You...does one suspect the band has actually latched on to anything genuinely special.
Things do improve significantly on the album's back half, particularly the three song stretch of Icons of Summer, Alchemy And You, and Burning Sage, but overall I can only justify giving Cherish The Light Years the most tentative of mild recommends, and that's for genre addicts only.
It's listenable and energetic, but it ain't that good.
Status: Mild Recommend.
Cherry Picker's Best Bets:Confetti, Icons Of Summer, Alchemy And You, Burning Sage.
Here's the official video for the Arcade Fire-ish Villians Of The Moon.
Component Breakdown:
1. The Great Pan Is Dead - 6
2. Pacing Around The Church - 6
3. Confetti - 7
4. Catacombs - 6
5. Underworld USA - 6
6. Icons Of Summer - 8
7. Alchemy And You - 8
8. Burning Sage - 7
9. Villains Of The Moon - 7
Intangibles - Average
What are your thoughts on Cold Cave's Cherish The Light Years? Let readers know with a comment.
One would think, given that it's now been five years since the release of their disappointing third album, 06's First Impressions Of Earth, a hiatus peppered by several band member solo releases and persistent breakup rumors, that The Strokes would be a determined to reclaim the old magic of 01's decade-defining debut Is This It?.
But that clearly isn't the case.
Instead, other than throwing their fans a couple of classic Strokes-styled bones with the awesome Under Cover Of Darkness and the decidedly average Taken For A Fool, the band has embarked on a musical and experimental odyssey (cue the Spinal Tap joke now), exploring a wide range of genres and styles previously not associated with their music.
In a crisp thirty-five minutes you will hear elements of reggae (Machu Picchu), spare Velvet Underground-styled folk (Call Me Back), seedy Liars-flavored art-rock (You're So Right), Steely Dan-ish classic-rock (Gratisfaction), disco (Games), Muse-like prog-rock pomp (Metabolism), dream pop (the opening to Two Kinds Of Happiness), and mid-60s Kinksian quaintness (Life Is Simple In the Moonlight). In a lot of ways, it reminds me of Franz Ferdinand's sophomore effort You Could Have It So Much Better, which similarly, after offering established fans a couple of crowd pleasers, seemed to have only one ostensible goal...to not sound like anything the band had done before.
It's a bold move for a group that's been out of circulation for such a long period of time, and in the opening moments, it really works. Machu Picchu and Under Cover Of Darkness both rank with the best work the band has ever done, and Two Kinds Of Happiness, though oddly fragmentary, offers a charging, riff-and-drums-powered chorus that stands as the album's peak highlight.
But then the genre-shifting really kicks in, and sadly, it quickly becomes apparent that stylistic experimentalism does not suit this band well. They are who they are, and good or bad, in future efforts, they are going to have to come to grips with it.
Still, while I'd classify most of the songs on the album's back two-thirds as mild failures, they are interesting failures, most with captivating moments of inspiration, which lends the whole affair an air of intrigue even as one acknowledges most of the material isn't that strong.
So based upon that, and the album's excellent 1-2-3 open, I'm giving Angles a mild recommend.
Much of it's musical stretching doesn't work, but it's compelling to hear the band try.
As I wrote earlier, Saturday was to my ears far and away the best day of the 2011 festival, a classic rock flavored smorgasbord with several fantastic offerings.
Here are my thoughts on the Saturday performances I was lucky enough to see.
SET OF THE DAY
1. Foals 3:15 - 4:05 Mojave Tent: My favorite set of the entire weekend. I had high hopes going in, feeling the best tracks off their jammy, anthemic second LP Total Life Forever would translate explosively live...but Foals ended up exceeding my expectations. I just had no idea the band possessed such virtuosic instrumental talent. Listening to their rhythm section alone was worth the price of admission for the entire festival...if there was a more dynamic drummer at Coachella than Jack Bevans, I didn't see him (and I caught some damn good ones), and the dueling, harmonics heavy guitar work from Jimmy Smith and lead singer Yannis Phillippakis was almost as mesmerizing. Halfway through, they launched into the one-two TLF punch of Afterglow and Spanish Sahara...both numbers absolute knockouts, and I figured after that the rest of the show would be anticlimactic. Wrong. They closed with an unbelievable rendition of Two Steps, Twice that including Phillipakis crowd surfing for a second time, (he had earlier jumped in with his guitar without missing a beat). They're not the most endearing of acts, Yannis conveys more of an aloof macho pose than a personable one, and is just an adequate singer, but their insane chops more than make up for it, and no other band brought as much mojo to a Coachella stage in 2011.
A great, great set.
Here's two videos from that set, Afterglow and that killer closing number.
OTHER SATURDAY KNOCKOUTS
2. Elbow 7:00 - 7:50 Mojave Tent: This was a set I was totally pumped for, having felt the band was two years overdue for a Coachella appearance following the release of their marvelously romantic 2008 album The Seldom Seen Kid. All I have to say now is better late than never. Doling out their warm, humanistic take on Brit Pop and Gabrielesque prog, this was as simultaneously moving and epic a set as the 2010 festival produced. Pulling songs from each of their last four albums, including hypnotic set opener The Birds and gorgeous ballad Lippy Kids from latest release Build A Rocket, Boys, Grounds For Divorce from Seldom Seen Kid, and Leader Of The Free World's Station Approach, every moment of this set seemed a textbook example of how to blend intimacy with arena-rock caliber catharsis...each song starting at a slow burn but ending in overpowering crescendo bigger than most metal bands are able to attain. Lead singer Guy Garvey was an engaging, hammy presence throughout, regularly trying to instigate clap-alongs or pointing to individual audience "Joe Biden"-style when not raising his arms skyward beckoning us to sing along. But the best was clearly saved for last with closer One Day Like This, one of the finest sing-along tracks of the last half decade. One had to be present and high on the good vibes in the Mojave at that moment to fully understand how well this song played, but hopefully these videos for this track and Station Approach give a small sense of what I found to be the second most rewarding set of the entire festival.
3. The Love Language - Noon - 12:30 The Outdoor Theater: Along with Delorean, New Pants, and one or two others, this was the biggest surprise set of the weekend for me. I knew nothing about this east coast band on Superchunk's Merge label, but their set to open the Outdoor was fantastic. Charming and a bit on the clean cut side, they delivered a romantic brand of indie pop not unlike that practiced by The Walkmen or DeVotchKa. They're a touch less seasoned and more conventional than those acts, but the band's onstage chemistry was excellent, and lead singer Stuart McLamb's voice was pure gold on this day, cutting through like a diamond and rendering every song a priceless little live gem.
Here's a fan video of their performance of Manteo.
4. Broken Social Scene - 6:05 - 6:55 The Main Stage: The moment Broken Social Scene took the Main, a palpable wave of good cheer swept over Coachella grounds. On record, the band can be quite edgy, if not outright crass, but Saturday, as the many bend members stepped out dressed more for a pool party than a prime time slot at America's premiere festival, then only vibe emanating from the stage was "Relax, we're going to have a great, chill time." Opening with World Sick, and then driving through a fantastic sounding set that pulled primarily from most recent outing Forgiveness Rock Record and their 2003 classic You Forget It In People, the band was in top form start to finish. Just a perfect set to get the evening portion of the 2011 festival's off to a great, warm start.
Here's a fan video of the band's performance of 7/4 Shoreline.
5. The Arcade Fire - 11:20 - 1:00 AM The Main Stage: I missed the opening half hour of the Arcade Fire's headlining set checking out other acts, but the last hour plus I saw was excellent. While the fine but intentionally less dynamic material from 2010's The Suburbs proved to be a touch of an energy drag on the set as I expected, the band did a good job interspersing them with their far punchier, more anthemic earlier material, and the searingly intense Win Butler, prone to occasional moments of off-putting insecurity, was far more relaxed and confident this time out than when I last caught the band in a dual headlining set with LCD Soundsystem
But as I have already alluded to, the magic moment in this set came just before the encore. As the band launched into its always top live track Wake Up from debut Funeral, two thousand remote-controlled beach balls fell from above the stage scaffolding upon the crowd. At first fans were actively bouncing them here and there, but as people started to realize they contained wireless controlled light sources that were in sync with the rest of the light show, the balls became collectors items. One of my favorite memories of this night was the exit, seeing an SUV pass by with all the kids inside smashed against the windows to make room for the three or four beach balls they had also stuffed inside.
Anyway, here's Coachella's official video of that initial moment.
OTHER HITS
6. The Tallest Man On Earth 3:00 - 3:50 Gobi Tent: I had tremendous luck this year in that for two of my worst head-to-head conflicts Twin Shadow & Menomena on Sunday, and The Tallest Man and Foals on Saturday, the first band out of the gate for each of those pairings went on five to ten minutes early, so instead of just catching the first song of this engaging young solo Swede who sounds almost exactly like early acoustic Dylan, I was able to grab his first three...and all were tremendous. Alone hunched over his acoustic guitar, The Tallest Man doesn't do anything but play and sing, but his songs are first rate, and the sound was killer all the way back to the end of the tent. It killed me to walk away, but as profiled earlier, I ended up walking away to something even better with the Foals. Still, from what I caught, a glorious set.
Missed this one which came later, but here's The Tallest Man's performance of one of his livelier numbers, The King Of Spain. The crowd was clearly into it.
7. The Kills - 7:50 - 8:40 Outdoor Theater: Opening with fan favorite No Wow, and charging through blistering covers of the top flight best songs from their excellent 2011 release Blood Pressures, this Kills set was head and shoulders better than their just solid 2009 Mojave Tent set. Allison Mosshart was a captivating dark mistress of ceremonies as always, but first and foremost, it was those great new songs...DNA, Future Starts Slow, Satellite, The Last Goodbye...and the richer, broader spectrum of sounds and styles they add to the mix, that gave this set such full, satisfying feel.
Here's the concert video of their performance of DNA.
8. Freelance Whales 2:10 - 2:50 Mojave Tent: I caught about twenty minutes of this very nerdy, Queens, New York based act's midday set, and for the most part it was twee indie-pop bliss...engaging vocal harmonies, stereotypical oddball Aughts instrumentation, and lots of sunny, happy-to-be-here energy.
Here's their opening number, Generator 1st Floor.
OTHER SETS OF POSITIVE NOTE
9. Delta Spirit - 4:05 - 4:55 Outdoor Theater: Walked up for maybe the last fifteen minutes of San Diego-based, rootsy indie rockers Delta Spirit's set, but was lucky enough to catch their performance of both Trashcan and set closer Children, my two favorite tracks from their appealing debut Ode To Sunshine. Lead singer Matthew Vasquez was in very strong voice, and Trashcan, with yes, a band member indeed playing a trashcan lid, was one of the best single song performances of the entire festival.
Unfortunately, it appears to be one of the few songs no fan has captured and posted to youtube, so here's their rendition of Strange Vine instead.
10. Erykah Badu - 4:50 - 5:40 Mainstage: As with Lauryn Hill the day before, only had a few moments to catch the start of Erykah's set before racing over to catch Glasser, but wish I had been able to stay for more. Like Lauryn, she came across as the seasoned soul performer in full command of her stagecraft and the audience.
Here's the engaging introduction to her set.
11. Glasser - 5:15 - 6:00 Gobi Tent: I got an up close position for this arty L.A. act whose debut Glasser has always felt to me like an electronica variation on Florence And The Machine's debut Lungs, and when lead singer Cameron Mesirow took the stage in a purple leotard further en wrapped head-to-toe in sheer leftovers from a wedding gown train, and then launched into a fine take on the band's best song Apply, things were off to a great start. But after that, things tapered off quite a bit. Mesirow was in solid voice and threw in some goofy slow dance moves to generate some interest, but she's got a long, long way to go to reach Florence Welsh's magnetism as a performer, and while it was kinda cool to watch the band work all their sounds through a midi-pickup hooked to a guitar, it felt as if the band was unable to elevate their material. The goods songs, like Home and Mirrorage, played well, weaker tracks came off dull. So mixed feelings here...like the band, like their sound, and a few very good songs to the set...but they've got a long way to go in terms of delivering a top flight live show.
Here's a fan captured video of Apply.
12. Bright Eyes - 7:20 - 8:10 The Main Stage: Only caught the closer, but it was a fun one, Road To Joy, the ranting emo-folk closer to 2005's I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning.
Here it is.
13. Mariachi El Bronx - Noon - 12:45 Mojave Tent: Shades of The Almighty Defender's reverent irreverence from the year before. I caught the lively final ten minutes of this alter ego performing outlet for veteran punk act The Bronx, and though it felt odd at first to watch a bunch of punky white boys playing traditional Latin music, their commitment was sincere, and the set proved to be a nice stylistic respite from the broad number of indie and dance/electronica acts that dominated my checklist.
Here's a taste.
14. Big Audio Dynamite - 9:05 - 10:00 The Outdoor Theatre: Mixed results from Mick Jones post-Clash outfit. Great opening number, and E=MC2 was stellar, but rest of the set was just okay. Unlike the previous three years, where older acts like Prince, Roger Waters, Paul McCartney, Portishead, My Bloody Valentine, Pavement, Gil Scott Heron, Public Enemy, and X set the performance bar for their weekends, 2011 saw the older acts struggling to deliver just middle of the pack shows. A decent enough but unremarkable set.
Here's E=MC2.
15. Thao With The Get Down Stay Down - 1:55 - 2:35 The Outdoor Theatre: I only caught one song from Thao's set, but it was a highly enjoyable rollick through Know Better Learn Faster's party starter Cool Yourself. The group was a bit ragged and out of tune, but Thao's voice had a ton of character to it, and the whole band seemed to be having a great time.
16. Raphael Saadiq - 11:00 - 11:45 The Gobi Tent: I was not familiar with Saadiq's music before the festival, and I only saw a few minutes of this set on my way from The London Suede over to The Arcade Fire, but the few minutes I did catch were more than enough to tell me this is a band to catch live down the road. Not sure what song I walked in on, maybe Stone Rollin', but this soul act was positively tearing it up.
17. The New Pornographers - 6:35 - 7:25 The Outdoor Theatre: I'm a fan, but I've always felt this Canadian power-pop super group is best experienced on record, and the ten minutes or so I witnessed between Broken Social Scene's and Elbow's knockout sets did little to change this notion. But I do have to say the band sounded fine and was breaking out some of the best tracks from their increasingly rich arsenal, including Your Hands Together and Twin Cinema's Singing Spanish Techno, which they were generous enough to play while I was attending.
But of all the tracks they played this day, it's their classic Gen X dismissal of the Baby Boomer set that I most wish I had caught.
18. EE - 11:50 A.M - 12:35 The Gobi Tent: I only caught the opening and closing numbers of this bizarre Japanese act that mixes DJ, rock 'n' roll, and something like Kabuki Theater elements, but both were memorable if not always comprehensible. The opener which was performed not by the band, but by a troop of synchronized robots courtesy of The Creators Project dancing to a pre-recorded track. A gimmick for sure, but fun. The closing number saw the band doing what they do in their own inscrutable style.
Here's two videos from that set...a quick snippet of the robots, and then a performance proper.
19. The London Suede 10:40 - 11:30 The Mojave Tent: I saw two numbers from this recently reunited veteran UK act's set, and though unfamiliar with the bulk of their discography, they were really tearing into it, delivering their hard-rocking variation on 90s-flavored Brit Pop. The crowd was really into it, too.
Here's a sample of their high energy performance.
20. Cults - 1:55 - 2:40 The Gobi Tent: I stopped in for about fifteen minutes of this pop act's set. Reminiscent of so many other acts out there right now delivering the same summery female-fronted 60s pop like My Maudlin Career, Best Coast, The Like, and Vivian Girls, just to name a few, I found their bandwagonesque lack of originality a touch depressing, but have to admit their hooks got to me nonetheless, and they sounded good, even if their energy could have been better.
Here's their performance of Go Outside.
21. Trampled By Turtles - 1:30 - 2:15 The Main Stage: I only had a couple of minutes to take in a number from this contemporary bluegrass outfit out of Duluth, Minneasota...but it was a couple of minutes well spent. If you haven't heard these guys before, they really do have an interesting take on melding backwoods genres with a decidedly thrashy, rock 'n' roll sensibility, and are well worth checking out.
Here's just a snippet of Help You off their latest and best release Palomino to give a sense of their engaging, rapid fire approach.
DISAPPOINTMENTS
22. The Radio Dept. - 4:05 - 4:50 The Gobi Tent: Don't get me wrong, I really like The Radio Dept. and their smooth, gentle take on dream pop. I enjoyed last year's Clinging To A Scheme, and I've been loving this year's career retrospective Passive Aggressive. But a live band this ain't. Timid, introspective and virtually motionless on stage...they're a tough band to dig in a live setting no matter how great they sound (and they sounded damn good on this day.) Bottom line - some bands are meant to be heard on record only...this is one of them!
But since the fan clips are available on Youtube, here's their Coachella 2011 rendition of A Token Of Gratitude.
23. Wire 8:40 - 9:30 The Gobi Tent: Maybe this is just how they are on stage. I've never seen Wire before, but I managed to catch the opening twenty minutes of their set before moving over to Big Audio Dynamite, and to me, this felt like the most mailed-in show of the entire weekend. The band seemed positively bored. In fairness to them, friends of mine who stayed for the whole show thought it was one of the best of the festival...so take my opinion as just one in a broad spectrum of thoughts on this set, but needless to say, they hardly won me over.
Here's a fan video of Kidney Bingos, which gives a pretty good indication of the lackluster effort I felt the band was giving.
24. The Joy Formidable 12:55 - 1:35 The Gobi Tent: Guitarist/Singer Ritzy Bryan has this killer blank stare she lords over the audience after the last massive bar chord concludes each song. It's compelling, but totally indecipherable, which unfortunately, also often describes The Joy Formidable's music. Though just a trio, their 90s-flavored mix of punk, shoegaze and other anthemic alt-rock forms can build to epic scales, but it's music that often also feels unfocused, blurry and sometimes just brain dead dumb.
Basically, what you have here is a band whose chops, charisma and ambition greatly exceed their present grasp as conceptualists and songwriters. If they can ever hone those songwriting skills to match their energy and instrumental ability (their drummer is unbelievable), we're going to have a major force on our hands that could be headlining Coachella some year down the road, but on this day, to misquote Shakespeare, I found their set to be "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Needless to say, the rest of the crowd loved it.
Here's Whirring, arguably the best track off their debut The Big Roar.
25. The Henry Clay People - 1:00 - 1:45 The Mojave Tent: I had been looking forward to catching some of this set all weekend. The Henry Clay People do not produce particularly original music, but their high-energy, endearing brand of no-frills bar-band/garage rock that seems to reference all manner of bands from Springsteen to Tom Petty to Pavement to The Hold Steady fits as comfortably as an old glove without ever feeling blatantly derivative. Unfortunately, the band just didn't seem to have it going on this day. Boozy chuggers that should have really pulled the crowd never quite meshed, and a closing cover of Bruce's Born To Run only reinforced how far the band has yet to go.
Here's a quick sample.
26. Francis & The Lights - 12:50 - 1:30 The Outdoor Theater: I have a rule...if it sounds like something the cast members of Jersey Shore could like, I'm out. Not as cheesy as Miguel, but only by the slimmest of margins. Think Patrick Dempsey singing like a cross between Steve Perry and Dave Matthews over the lamest of pick-up bar disco/funk/club backings, and you've got a good idea of Francis & The Lights's sound. They did absolutely nothing for me.
Here's a quick montage.
27. Animal Collective - 9:45 - 10:55 The Main Stage: I have another rule...the audience shouldn't have to be high or dropping acid to garner an ounce of enjoyment from your set.
Animal Collective's trippy, free-flowing sub-headliner set was without question the buzz kill not just of Saturday night, but the entire festival...just a text book example of how alienate an enthusiastic crowd and suck the life out of the party.
Standing under psychedlic, video-projecting cubes courtesy of The Creator's Project, the show definitely had a unique feel, but this band is just the worst when it comes to forging any human connection with their audience, and the set, which flowed in medley fashion for the full seventy minutes, was chock full of prolong sections of vapid, introspective noodling.
The first half-hour was awful, probably the worst, dullest half-hour of music I've ever seen at Coachella, and much of the crowd clearly felt the same way - I haven't seen a bible-caliber mass exodus from The Main Stage like the start of this show since My Bloody Valentine launched into their trademark holocaust in 2009.
Things picked up a bit around the half-hour mark, and for a fifteen minute stretch towards the end became quite interesting sonically, if not emotionally, but the damage had been done.
My least favorite Coachella set of all time.
Am I the only one out there that thinks this band's "ground-breaking," Pitchfork-endorsed aesthetic may actually be the art world's best present-day personification of "the Emperor's new clothes?" Probably, despite the numbers who bolted, I know many who loved this set...but of course, they were all stoned out of their mind.
Anyway, here's the video I found that best portrays the set's trippy vibe. Feel free to ingest chemicals now.
Breaking out in the early aughts near the same time as two other celebrated blues-rock duos, The White Stripes and The Black Keys, The Kills, with their seedy posturing and more contemporary punk-flavored aesthetic, have always been the most intriguing of these acts conceptually, but the least interesting in actuality.
Most of this is a simple reflection of core talent.
The band has always been solid, but as songwriters they've never been a match for Jack White's clever humor or prolific and at times boundless compositional imagination, and Meg White excluded, they pale next to both acts when it comes to sheer instrumental virtuosity.
But that hardly means The Kills have thrown in the towel.
Following two intermittently inspired but monolithic first releases (03's Keep On Your Mean Side and 05's No Wow), the band started to stretch with 08's Midnight Boom...accelerating the pace, shifting more purely toward punk and a touch of pop, even working in a few ballads. To many listeners, it was the band's most successful outing, but beyond the dynamite 1-2 opening punch of U.R.A. Fever and Cheap and Cheerful, and the moving Black Balloon, it was my least favorite. I just didn't feel the rest of the material was up to snuff despite the greater diversity.
Enter 2011's Blood Pressures, which finds the band expanding its range even farther, but this time swinging the pendulum in the opposite direction, away from punk and towards a slower, bluesier, classic rock sound. As with Midnight Boom, early reviews have been mixed, but this time I am solidly in The Kills' corner.
This is the best album of their career.
In slowing the tempo, they've managed to make Alison Mosshart's edgy PJ Harvey-styled vocals and their always gritty, fuzzed-out sound feel even edgier and grittier
In expanding their textural and melodic pallet and sequencing their songs well, they've produced their first record that genuinely works as a front-to-back listen, as opposed to merely existing as a full-length suppository for two or three great tracks.
Take the brief, Lennon-esque Wild Charms, guitarist Jamie Hince's first lead vocal for the band. The song's a tiny throwaway, but its placement is perfect, giving us a short respite before album centerpiece DNA's hard charge.
And what a hard charge the first half of this record makes.
Starting with the killer off-kilter riff to Future Starts Slow, the album's opening tracks move like gangbusters despite the slower tempos, incorporating a choir, Hince's backing vocals, and all manner of exciting, subtle textural flourishes.
After the mesmerizing DNA (to date, my favorite track of 2011), the back half of Blood Pressures drops off some, but still contains a few strong tracks, making the album a fully engaging listen to the very end.
So for fans of classic-flavored rock of the riff-driven variety, I feel this is a near must get, missing out on a strong recommend by the slimmest of margins.
Here's a live performance of Future Starts Slow from last week's Coachella 2011 Festival.
Component Breakdown:
1. Future Starts Slow - 9
2. Satellite - 8
3. Heart Is A Beating Drum - 8
4. Nail In My Coffin - 8
5. Wild Charms - 7
6. DNA - 10
7. Baby Says - 7
8. The Last Goodbye - 8
9. Damned If She Do - 7
10. You Don't Own The Road - 8
11. Pots And Pans - 7
Intangibles - High
What are your thoughts on The Kills's Blood Pressures? Let readers know with a comment.
Sunday was probably the weakest day of Coachella 2011, bogged down by a lackluster three hour scheduling block in the late afternoon. But boosted by a fantastic opening three hours and a memorable evening set from PJ Harvey, this closing day still delivered an abundance of great live music.
Here's how I'd rank the Sunday offerings I was lucky enough to see.
SET OF THE DAY
1. PJ Harvey - 9:45 - 10:35 The Outdoor Theater: Just a fantastic near the end of the festival set.
The exhausted crowds had begun to thin, and a cold wind had kicked up something fierce by the time PJ took the stage, but the chilly vibe proved a perfect match for this quietly mesmerizing show. Stepping out clutching an autoharp, and adorned in a white gown with large feathers woven into her hair, PJ was a perfect visualization of one of latest release Let England Shake's dominant themes - a people's eternal marriage to their native lands. The rest of the band, dressed in British regalia, re-enforced that album's other dominant theme, war, straight down to the bloody severed hands attached to the drummer's sticks.
Starting with Let England Shake and The Words That Maketh Murder, PJ proceeded calmly through seven of England's tracks and four others, most of the rest culled from mid-90s release To Bring You My Love (C'mon, Billy, To Bring You My Love, Meet Ze Monsta). Hardly moving save to change instruments, she was nonetheless a commanding stage presence from start to finish, and the new songs couldn't have sounded or flowed from one to the next better.
Here's an excellent fan captured double hit of The Words That Maketh Murder and C'mon Billy.
HITS
2. Delorean - 2:00 -2:45 The Gobi Tent: I knew next to nothing about this contemporary House/Electronica act out of Spain going into this set, other than that their debut album, Subiza, had just squeaked in on the backside of Pitchfork's Top 50 in 2010 list. Since then, I've given the album several spins, and...it's just okay. But on this day, passing through for the opening twenty minutes, something about their swirling, soaring sound really took hold. Maybe it was their drummer, who outside of the drummer for Foals, was the best I saw all weekend. Whatever it was, I loved the intoxicating mix of processed vocals and samples combined with live rhythm section these guys were laying down in this early afternoon set.
Here's Grow.
3. High Contrast - 5:00 - 6:00 The Oasis Dome: For 2011, Coachella added a six stage, a tiny dome sponsored by Pure Filth, just for niche DJ and drums & bass acts. I spent very little time there, but based on another recommendation from my assistant editor/up-and-coming DJ Kenneth, I decided to give this Scandinavian artist who works almost exclusively with his own proprietary samples a try. What a lucky break for me. Aided by a measured, savvy hype man who knew just when to interject and when to take a break and let the music speak for itself, High Contrast had the dance crowd totally revved up from the moment he kicked off his set. Probably the best crowd response to any set I saw over the weekend save for Cut//Copy. But it was the music that floored me most...really cool, really sophisticated with a lot of art rock flavors...almost as if Radiohead decided to make Kid A or In Rainbows as a dance album. I don't go to a lot of DJ shows, so take my praise with a grain of salt, but this was my favorite DJ set ever.
Here's a brief video of the show's opening moments.
4. OFF! - 3:05 - 3:30 The Gobi Tent: Yep, you're reading that right...just twenty five minutes. But when you are OFF!, the punk supergroup composed of grizzled L.A. veterans and fronted by former Black Flag/Circle Jerks lead singer Keith Morris, twenty-five minutes is all you need. Playing almost all sixteen tracks from their debut full length First Four EPs, the set was one ferocious sixty second blast after another, with Morris providing far and away the best stage banter of the weekend in between. Selling the band as really not that different from the gaggle of indie acts on the bill, "just a slightly different flavor," he broke into tears introducing one song, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, a heartfelt eulogy for the deceased punker, one of Morris's best friends, and was all class in another instance when one rowdy fan shouted out "Fuck Duran Duran!," to which Morris replied along the lines of "I have to respectfully disagree with you there, Duran Duran rules." A very brief but highly charged, thoroughly engaging set.
Here's one of several fan videos on youtube that caught the Jeffrey Lee Pierce performance. It's not the best visually, with the band lost in silhouette, but it's the only video that captured Keith's introduction to the song, which really conveys the vibe of the whole set.
5. Trentmoller - 7:10 - 8:00 The Mojave Tent: Another band I knew next to nothing about going in, other than having caught the grandiose concert video the Coachella website was promoting the week before the lineup was announced. Only had time for the opening fifteen minutes before heading over to indulge some personal childhood nostalgia with Duran Duran, but the portion I caught totally worked. Delivering a instrumental post rock variation on Explosion In The Sky's soft/loud dynamic, but with more of a Euro Disco veneer, the band started out performing behind a maroon slash-ribbon screen, which descended near the end of the first song. It was a thoroughly impressive show of musicianship and composition, full of shifts, builds and left-field instrumentation, and I wish had been able to stay for the complete set, which many ranked as the best of the festival.
Here's one of the number's that I missed.
6. Phosphorescent - 12:15 - 12:45 The Mojave Tent: It's sets like these that keep me foregoing sleep and coming back every day the moment the gates open. Judging by lead singer Mathew Houck's bed head and torn black tank top, I had gotten up this morning far earlier than he when the band took the stage (if he had slept the night before at all), but in no way was early morning grog apparent in the act's delightful performance. Spinning a brand of witty country rock that echoes strongly of Sweetheart Of The Rodeo-era Gram Parsons fronted Byrds, with all the tunes coming from latest release Here's To Taking It Easy, this was as welcoming and easy going a set as the day produced. Might have benefited from replacing one of the many ballads on the set list with something more uptempo like I Don't Care If There's Cursing...but why quibble. The band's renditions of It's Hard To Be Humble (When You're From Alabama), Nothing Was Stolen, and Mermaid Parade were beyond reproach.
Here's Mermaid Parade.
7. Twin Shadow - 1:10 - 1:55 The Mojave Tent: Wow, is this guy someone to watch. What a live performer. The press often refers to him as "the black Morrissey," but the dance rock artist he reminded me of most was Prince, and any artist that can remind anyone of live Prince has to be taken seriously. I only had a few minutes for the start of his set before breaking off for another show (Menomena), but once again, as with The Tallest Man On Earth the day before, the Coachella god's smile down upon me as the band took the stage a full ten minutes early. Managed to catch four songs before splitting, of which When We're Dancing was the definite highlight. But again, watch out for this guy in the years to come, he is a serious live talent.
Here's a admittedly glitchy snippet of When We're Dancing. The audio problems are with the recording, not the set.
8. Lightning Bolt - 7:50 - 8:35 The Gobi Tent: There are few bands in existence more deserving of the disclaimer "NOT FOR EVERYONE" than this positively assaulting, racket-raising drums and base duo out of Providence, Rhode Island. But what can seem ear trashing on record can often play vibrantly alive on stage, and that was definitely the case here. Donning a "Leatherface" mask with his microphone jammed fully into his mouth underneath, drummer Brian Chippendale and his partner, bassist Brian Gibson put on one of the most horrifying, but also most electrifying, sets of the weekend.
Here's an awesome fan captured video of the last song of their set.
9. Menomena - 1:20 - 2:00 The Outdoor Theatre: I'm a huge fan of this band and their hard-cutting, sample pastiche style...but what's invigorating on record can be challenging to pull off live...challenging, but not impossible. Performing without recently departed founder Brent Knopf, the set consisted entirely of Justin Harris and Danny Seim compositions, and for the most part, it was the hard-charging Harris material...The Pelican, TAOS...that shined, though Seim's Dirty Cartoons was a definite highlight. Other numbers, while still solid, found the band struggling a touch to pull-off all the rapid fire instrumental changes and herky-jerky rhythms that hit so effortlessly on record, but the peaks of this show (especially TAOS) were as good as any all weekend.
Unfortunately, good fan videos of the best numbers of this set are in short supply, so here's Weird instead of one of those highlights.
OTHER SETS OF POSITIVE NOTE
10. Kanye West - 10:30 - Festival End - The Main Stage: Kanye West's headlining set was a mixed bag. I missed opener Dark Fantasy, in which Kanye rode a crane onto the stage, while closing out PJ Harvey, but was able to get over soon after. Dwarfed by a massive Roman Bas Relief background, Kanye engaged the audience with virtually no support. Two sequencer DJs stood deep to the left, Justin Vernon stepped out to add backing vocals on a few tracks, and the toga'd dancers from the Power video made a couple of appearances. That was it. Otherwise it was just Kanye rapping to track. Given how strong his recent recorded material has been, that was often enough. Power brought the whole crowd to a frenzy, a two song interlude in the middle of the set honoring his mother had a lot of heartfelt punch, and Vernon's backing vocals at the end of Monster, a change-up substituted for Nicky Minaj's legendary rap on the recorded version of the song, were genuinely haunting. But other portions of the set really suffered from the lack of live backing and West's limitations as an MC, particular a poorly executed greatest hits medley two-thirds of the way through the show. Wish I could have stayed for the final few tracks, but with about four songs left, I hit my exhaustion wall and headed for the exit...which leads to a general point. I was far from the only attendee bailing due to exhaustion...I think the approach the festival took on Friday night, closing the mainstage with a DJ, and having the headliner play the set before, should become the Sunday night standard. Give your final headliner a chance to deliver the goods without the audience worrying about the drive home, and then let a great DJ act close things out for the die hards who want to see things through to the very end.
Here's the official video of the first half of his set.
11. Chromeo - 8:35 - 9:20 The Outdoor Theatre: I can't say I paid close attention to this set, but as I referenced in my favorite moments list in page one of this festival review, for a few minutes the schedule broke so they were the only band playing, you could hear them everywhere on the grounds, and it felt like every single person in attendance got caught up in the band's infectious brand of techno/disco cheese.
Here's a montage of moments from the show.
12. Good Old War - 11:30 - Noon The Outdoor Theatre: Simon & Garfunkel harmonies and acoustic pop reigned supreme during this young Pennsylvania act's delightful little opening set. Vocals sounded great, and another of my favorite moments of the festival came at the close of this set, when lead singer Keith Goodwin brought out his music loving father to sing backup on the band's final number.
Here's a snippet of That's Some Dream.
13. Duran Duran - 7:25 - 8:25 The Main Stage: While not my favorite performance of the day, Duran Duran acquitted themselves quite well, rolling through an hour long set of most of their MTV hits and several songs from 2010s solid comeback effort All You Need Is Now, and no band seemed more genuinely honored or excited to be included on the festival bill. The first two-thirds of the set was solid, not exceptional, but the band's tremendous enthusiasm help keep things moving, and then the show suddenly kicked into high gear with fantastic back-to-back performances of Girls On Film and a heartfelt multimedia tribute to recently deceased James Bond Composer John Berry, anchored around the song he co-wrote with the band, A View To A Kill.
Here's the Bond medley.
14. City And Colour - 3:35 - 4:25 The Outdoor Theatre: Following OFF!'s blistering set moments earlier, no show could have been more perfectly counter programmed than this mid-afternoon cooldown from Canadian alt-country act City And Colour. The music, spare and primarily acoustic, was easy to take in, and lead singer Dallas Green's voice, a gorgeous Jeff/Tim Buckley-flavored instrument, sent a chill up my spine...easily one of the most striking voices on display the entire weekend.
Here's a fan-captured vid of Sleeping Sickness.
15. Jack's Mannequin - 2:30 - 3:20 The Main Stage: Though not too familiar with this veteran, LA-based bar band act's piano-anchored material, this show proved to be an agreeable and highly animated set.
Here's the song Racing Thoughts.
16. Ellie Goulding - 5:00 - 5:40 The Gobi Tent: The better of two young, mainstreamy female Brits on Sunday's bill with classic pop and soul leanings, Goulding displayed a greater stylistic range and a much stronger voice (think Adele/Florence) in what I caught of her set than peer Eliza Doolittle.
Here's Animal.
Here's Animal.
17. Eliza Doolittle - Noon - 12:40 The Gobi Tent: Okay, full confession here. I was taken far more by the looks than the songs of this young, petite, very cute Amy Winehouse/Lily Allen wannabe, but after watching fifteen minutes of her set, felt at least a modicum of future success due to video exposure seems all but assured.
Here's her cover of Kanye West's Runaway.
18. The Strokes - 8:55 - 10:00 The Main Stage: Can't say I was huge fan of The Strokes set. Julian Casablancas was clearly drunk, and while that actually was a net positive, leading to some funny stage banter and not affecting his performance much, I've always seen the band as a present day Cars...owners of some great material, but a band that does little more than deliver acceptable versions of their songs live.
Thus, this show was a real peak and valley affair, with the fate of each moment completely tied to the quality of each song...their best songs (Last Night, Take It Or Leave It, Machu Picu, and especially Two Kinds Of Happiness) played great, the rest of their material played flat. So all and all, not a bad show, and the black and white lighting effect that was employed throughout was a cool touch, but I can't see myself ever feeling the need to see them live again. For me, this will always be a band built for the stereo, not the stage.
Here's the last few songs of their set.
DISAPPOINTMENTS
19. Best Coast - 6:05 - 6:55 The Outdoor Theatre: I was never a huge fan of their debut album, liking a couple of tracks but finding the rest of the band's sugary/summery surf-pop melodies somewhat unengaging, but I came away even less impressed with the band live. Their sound was poor, and their music is just so rote. The most unappealingly amateurish show I've seen at Coachella since catching Vivian Girls two years prior.
Here's Boyfriend.
20. Death From Above 1979 - 6:10 - 7:00 The Main Stage: An hour of my life I'd like to have back. I'm actually a big fan of this reunited Canadian drum & bass duo's lone release, 2004's Your A Women, I'm A Machine, but live the limitations of Sebastien Grainger's voice, coupled with the band's monolithic sound, led to a set that wore out its welcome by the ten minute mark. Worst scheduling choice of the festival...Goldenvoice always likes to put a lively ass-kicker on the Main Stage in the 6:00 pm slot to amp up the evening arrivals, but The National, who had already played the Outdoor Theatre sunset slot in 2008, and who will go on to be judged a vastly superior band when all is said and done, should have either been given this slot or Duran Durans's, with DFA 1979 moved to The Mojave or the Outdoor Theatre.
Here's their opening number.
21. Angus And Julia Stone - 3:50 - 4:35 The Gobi Tent: After Miguel, this Delaney & Bonnie-styled brother and sister hippie folk act out of Australia may have been the lamest band I caught all weekend, and I love Delaney & Bonnie...so it wasn't genre or influences that was turning me off here, but rather straight up quality. Just a dud of a set from a couple of minor league talents. There's a reason the All Music Guide hasn't bothered to write a review of their last three releases...surprised they were put on the bill at all, and even more surprised they were given a later time slot than way stronger acts like Phosphorescent, Menomena, and Twin Shadow...the Aussie contingent in the audience this day must have been huge.
Here's For You.
OTHERS
I also caught tiny portions of fun, MEN, CSS, Whiz Khalifia, Jack Beats, Jimmy Eat World, and Health during that weak 3:00 - 6:00 pm run, but none of these acts made enough of an impression, either positive or negative, to warrant comment.
9:00 am - Uggh, These earlier start times for opening acts are killers!
1:00 pm - Loving these early sets. Good Old War excellent Simon & Garfunkel vibe and had totally endearing moment when one band member brought his Dad out to sing vocals for final song.
Eliza Doolittle trying to muscle the Amy Winehouse slot minus the substance issues. Felt American Idolizh but girl is drop dead gorgeous in Mila Kunis way. She'll probably end up being huge.
Phosphorescent looked like they rolled out of bed five minutes before set but were fantastic. The sound of Byrds Sweetheart Of The Rodeo given a contemporary lyrical spin!
3:30 - Delorean, Jack's Mannequin, hardcore punk outfit OFF higlights of last couple hours.
Menomena gave it a solid go, and destroyed on TAOS and Dirty Cartoons, but overall their very tricky recording style create difficulties in translation.
Only caught three songs of Twin Shadow but he's a very compelling presence live. Even though their sound was all over place, his song played stronger live.
Also caught some on MEN and Fun. Didn't care in slightest for either.
explosive highs, and Dear Science's
non-stop, party-funk awesomeness.
, No Future Shock
, Killer Crane
, Repetition
.
, a hiatus peppered by several band member solo releases and persistent breakup rumors, that The Strokes would be a determined to reclaim the old magic of 01's decade-defining debut 
.
, 
, 
, 
.
), the band started to stretch with 08's 
...accelerating the pace, shifting more purely toward punk and a touch of pop, even working in a few ballads. To many listeners, it was the band's most successful outing, but beyond the dynamite 1-2 opening punch of 
and 
, and the moving 
, it was my least favorite. I just didn't feel the rest of the material was up to snuff despite the greater diversity.
, 
, 
, 
.