photos by David Andrako

Wild Flag's Carrie Brownstein & the Hives @ Coachella Sunday - 4/22/2012

"The second weekend brought record heat. Festival-goers jockeyed for patches of grass around the shaded perimeters. They pounded frozen lemonade at $6 a cup.

"It feels like a different world from last weekend," The Shins frontman James Mercer said. "It was Iceland last week."

While the weather forced some practical fashion choices, Coachella's sartorial influence was noted well beyond Indio. Joan Rivers and Kelly Osbourne debated Coachella-inspired fashion trends, and the wider cultural significance of the festival, on the E! Channel program, "The Fashion Police."

Osbourne, a Coachella regular, proclaimed, "When you go to Coachella, all the girls are half-naked and 22." Rivers, who joked that she goes to Coachella, too, quipped, "If David Hasselhoff was there, this means officially Coachella is no longer cool."" [MYDesert.com]

How was your Coachella?

After DJing a party on Friday night and headlining with his band Radiohead on Saturday, Thom Yorke kept busy on Sunday by DJing a Rolling Stone pool party with Nigel Godrich, and then showing up as a not-so-surprise, special guest during Modeselektor's Sunday night set in the Mojave tent while Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg headlined the main Coachella stage.

Modeselektor (pre-Thom) @ Coachella Sunday - 4/22/2012

You saw pictures from Friday and Saturday, all of last week, and of Dre & Snoop from yesterday (Sunday, 4/22/12). Here are the rest from yesterday, Coachella 2012's final day. More below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2012 Week 2 - Day 3 pics (Modeselektor, Hives, Wild Flag, At the Drive-In, Le Butcherettes, Gotye, Beirut, more)"

photos by Andrew Frisicano

The Growlers @ FYF Fest 2010

The Growlers have a few shows coming up including one tonight (8/5) at Brooklyn Bowl with Wild Yaks. Entry to the show is free before 7 PM so get there early. If you can't make it before 7, Tickets are $5. The Growlers will also play a completely free show this Sunday (8/7) at the new "Rock Yard", which just replaced Rock Beach with Japanther, The Death Set, Cerebral Ballzy, The So So Glos, and CSC Funk Band. Wild Yaks, who are on the bill with The Growlers tonight, played Rock Beach earlier this summer.

All Growlers dates and more pictures that were taken back in 2010 at FYF Fest in LA, below...

Continue reading "Growlers playing 2 free shows this weekend ---- 2011 Tour Dates & some old FYF Fest pics too"

Just one day after all the commotion related to whether "Rock Beach" was a success, Jelly slightly redesigned their rockbeach.us website to remove mention of their sponsor Top Man (they taped over their name) and announce that they're bringing back a more conveniently located "Rock Yard", but not in the same location it was last year since that location is now a restaurant. That's their flyer above.

DOWNLOAD: Uncle Bad Touch - I Wanna Love You (MP3)

Uncle Bad Touch

The above photo may or may not be of Montreal's Uncle Bad Touch in their touring vehicle, though I'm leaning towards the "may not". But don't be surprised if you see said vehicle parked in front of Mercury Lounge TONIGHT (5/10), as the band will play the Manhattan venue with The Growlers. Tickets are still available for the late NYC show. The Growlers are on a much larger tour that also brings them to Maxwell's in Hoboken on Wednesday (5/11)

After the show Uncle Bad Touch will get back to the business of finishing new material for an upcoming full-length (label TBA) and a 7" on Infinity Cat, Jeff The Brotherhood's label... which is now also Warner Brothers' label, sort of. Infinity Cat honcho Robert Ellis Orrall writes...

Just to be super clear, Infinity Cat is still a completely independent record label, distributed by ADA for the upcoming JEFF The Brotherhood release We Are the Champions. Future Bro-hood releases will be under the Warner/ILG umbrella. As far as the rest of the roster is concerned, we will continue to act independently, and we hope to build on that relationship, one band at a time.

We are in our 9th year as a label, and the Greenhornes/JEFF tour split 7" is our 63rd release. We are grateful for the support the Nashville community has shown us, and we couldn't be more excited about the future.

Jeff The Brotherhood is currently on the road with The Greenhornes and if you happen to be on the West Coast, make sure and pick up their limited edition tour-only split 7" referenced above.

In June, JEFF will get on the road with Fucked Up for some dates. It remains to be seen as to whether a NYC date will emerge on that run (there's one in Philly), so meanwhile grab tickets for the show Fucked Up is playing with Dinosaur Jr and Off! at Terminal 5 in June.

Sample some Uncle Bad Touch in the MP3 above. A video of them at Cake Shop from last year, and everyone's tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Uncle Bad Touch, Growlers, Inifinity Cat, Warner Brothers, JEFF the Brotherhood, Greenhornes, Fucked Up & stuff"

"...The line was long at the Glasshouse when the Growlers tour bus pulled up. This painted up school bus that looks like it could be a creature in one of Hunter S. Thompson's mescaline dreams fueled my anticipation. While this FYF affair boasted seven great bands and Burger Record DJ's in between sets, the buzz was in the air for the Growlers. At one point a dusty Jeep full of people, (and all sorts of stuff), rolled up and a wide eyed hippie type girl with sun baked crimped long hair leaned out the window, "Is this the Growler's show?" When we told her yes her face lit up like she had just reached the holy land after traveling 100 miles through a parched desert..." [American Pancake]

Speaking of bands playing Austin Psych Fest, The Growlers also have some other dates scheduled including two in the NYC-area in May. Look for them to hit Mercury Lounge on May 10th with Uncle Bad Touch (tickets) and Maxwell's on May 11th (tickets). All tour dates and a couple of videos below...

Continue reading "The Growlers are playing shows (2011 dates) "

words by Andrew Frisicano, photos by Chris Juarez & Rachel Carr

Local Natives & the crowd @ FYF Fest Saturday

Yesterday was FYF Fest. We know all the problems... The lines... And are addressing them now. In no way are we sleeping on these problems. The bands were amazing and the turn out was unreal. I'm speechless. -Sean Carlson & FYF Fest

That's how the FYF Fest organizers started their post-fest email, which also outlined new, cheaper pricing to the three "fan fest" shows it hosted on Sunday in LA. For all the organizational problems on Saturday, FYF still managed to put on a highly enjoyable day of bands, around 37 total across three stages (plus a comedy tent), at LA State Historic Park.

The day's short sets kept you wanting more from nearly every act, many of whom played for a half hour or 35 minutes (which expanded in 5 minute increments up to an hour for the headliners). That made for tough decisions between overlapping sets. Ted Leo and band blew through their 45 minutes, and Titus Andronicus could've continued for another 35 at least with the momentum from their Monitor songs. Those two, along with Screaming Females, were part of what Ted Leo termed the "New Jersey Takeover" - three punk bands with Garden State roots who all played great sets at the fest.

Ariel Pink

Los Angeles represented with a number of notable hometown acts. Growlers, in grey facepaint, brought an earthy, ramshackle sound and lots of friends. Best Coast, Abe Vigoda, Local Natives and Ariel Pink also repped their hometown - the latter two with mezmerizing late afternoon sets.

Other acts brought some nice surprises. A chorus of kids, costumed as zombie versions of dead historical figures, backed Dead Man's Bones' Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields. The Blow introduced some of her new songs written for an unnamed celebrity (and played recognizable earlier songs too, including one "written with Sting...when [she] was 7"). And Big Freedia, the fest's only act with any trace of hip-hop, shocked the crowd with a short pre-headerliner dose of "Azz Everywhere."

Big Freedia

There was plenty of garage rock (Thee Oh Sees brought the man responsible for their cover art, William Keihn, to play tambourine), punk and metal. A reunited Sleep, in New York this week, grinded away, as !!! had people shaking their ass on the sister stage. On the fest's third stage, hardcore band 7 Seconds reminisced about their first time in LA almost 30 years ago and lead a spirited circle pit. Add to those bands, breezy folk from AA Bondy, the jams of Warpaint and Delorean to name a few.

If FYF's organizers are a bit defensive above, it may be with good reason: the few critical organizational errors were fairly memorable. A long line at will call (an hour would be a short estimate) kept many waiting in the 90 degree sun while the first bands of the day (Magic Kids, Let's Wrestle and The Goat) could be heard starting in the distance. Water inside was also an issue, with limited access to free drinking water and bottled water at $4 (which, according to Noah Lennox, ran out).

By the end of the night, the two final acts - The Rapture and Panda Bear - set up on competing stages. Panda Bear aka Noah Lennox interspersed his dreamy lullabies with patches of noise and dissonance while videos and images that could be described only as "trippy" played behind him; I think your response to the set depended largely on your state of mind after the long day: exhausted or ready for a patience-testing string of songs and sounds. He and The Rapture provided, alternately, a place to dance or doze.

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Unsane also played a rare runion set at the festival where Off! shared a bill with Lower Dens. School of Seven Bells, Davila 666, Cults and Ceremony were there too.

Read what Noah thought about his own set, HERE. More pictures from the entire day, below...

Continue reading "FYF Fest 2010 in pics & review "