As we’ve come to expect in recent years, LA’s FYF Fest has announced it’s 2013 lineup and it’s a doozy. This year’s installment features a slew of modern alternative and indie rock from today and yesteryear. Headlining on night one are Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio and Flag (the supergroup of ex-Black Flag members Chuck Dukowski, Keith Morris and Bill Stevenson performing Black Flag songs). Night two features the first U.S. performance of My Bloody Valentine since their slot at Coachella 2009. Joining them at the top of the bill are MGMT (who have been strangely quiet lately), Beach House, Solange, Yo La Tengo and mxdwn favorites, The Melvins.
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By Raymond Flotat Posted in Top Story Beach House, Deerhunter, FYF Fest, MGMT, My Bloody Valentine, The Breeders, TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Tonight, we have something special for you. We’re live at STAPLES Center for the kick-off of the Rolling Stone big tour. We’re going to liv blog the whole event so watch this space for updates. Right now, no bands are playing, the venue is half full.
8:49 – Still nothing happening. No sign of when the show might start. Good sweet potato fries though.
8:59 – Video package with famous fans talking about how they first heard the group.
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By Raymond Flotat Posted in Reviews, Show Reviews Rolling Stones
In a move that’s sure to shock the metal world, Slayer has revealed via their Facebook and Twitter profiles that founding member Jeff Hanneman has passed away.
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By Raymond Flotat Posted in News Jeff Hanneman, Slayer
Some corporate sponsored events are held and put on entirely free to the public. The major sponsors do this as a token of good will to the hip public they’re trying to reach, hoping to engender positive associations for their brand and/or product line in exchange for the free entertainment. For Red Bull Sound Select Presents: Los Angeles, the massive energy drink company chose a different approach, helping to fund the event, but offering a low $3 entry fee before 10 p.m. The sponsor sweetened the pot by offering all proceeds to go to the local opening bands on the bill. Tonight’s event was appropriately headlined by the ever-evolving garage rock band Wavves with support from Incan Abraham, Hands and Hour of the Time Majesty Twelve (known most commonly as HOTT MT).
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By Raymond Flotat Posted in Reviews, Show Reviews hands, hott mt, Red Bull Sound Select, Wavves
With Coachella 2013 done and in the books we thought we’d give you a more in-depth look at the many varied and awesome sites of this year’s festival. We give you a big picture look at Coachella 2013. This includes some of our favorite photos of Vampire Weekend, Puscifer, How to destroy angels_, Nick Cave, Grimes and many many more. Until next year and the inevitable speculation of the 2014 lineup, here is our last look at Coachella 2013.
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By Raymond Flotat Posted in Features coachella 2013, Grimes, How to destroy angels_, Puscifer, rodriguez, Vampire Weekend, Violent Femmes
Coachella 2013 is over. What did we learn? That this year’s festival is a festival without headliners. It’s a festival without headliners, and it didn’t matter one bit. The cardinal rule of any festival is that the top line of the bill needs to represent the largest drawing act. Someone sensational that people can’t possibly avoid. Blur, Phoenix and the Red Hot Chili Peppers formally topped the bill of this year’s festival, but you’d be lucky to find a massive congregation of fans that were here for any of them. They all represent a sizable fan base, but none have them the shock and awe the usual Coachella headliners add to the event. Today, like day 2 and day 1, it wasn’t the measure of this festival’s success. There were so many good bands happening on every stage, the headliners were rendered all but irrelevant.
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By Raymond Flotat Posted in Reviews, Show Reviews coachella 2013, Grimes, James Blake, Jessie Ware, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Pretty Lights, rodriguez, Tanlines, the lumineers, Thee Oh Sees, Vampire Weekend, Wu-Tang Clan
Another day is in the books for Coachella 2013, and what this day lacked in mega, blockbuster star power or once-in-a-lifetime performances, it made up for in sheer volume of quality. A requisite composite of indie darling bands butted directly up against electro heavyweights and punk heroes of yesteryear.
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By Raymond Flotat Posted in Reviews, Show Reviews coachella 2013, Descendents, Dropkick Murphys, Hot Chip, Janelle Monae, Major Lazer, Puscifer, The Evens, The Postal Service, The XX, Violent Femmes
With one weekend fully complete (see our photos from day 1, 2 and 3) we now begin weekend 2 of Coachella 2013. As with 2012, this weekend is nearly identical to weekend 1. The major difference being a switch in lineup positions between posted headliners Blur and The Stone Roses. Also, Biffy Clyro formally dropping off the bill as they cancelled a large portion of their tour dates. For those that weren’t here, or weren’t watching selections from last weekend on the official live stream, day 1 was still a bounty of talent almost too numerous to take in.
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By Raymond Flotat Posted in Reviews, Show Reviews Blur, coachella 2013, How to destroy angels_, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, Metric, passion pit, The Stone Roses, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Here’s a real test of how long you’ve been reading mxdwn. If you’ve been with us the whole decade we’ve been in operation you’ll know that we’ve avidly covered Secret Chiefs 3 since the beginning of this magazine. What’s interesting to note, is that it’s been almost ten years since the band released the first piece in a three-part mega album (the Book of Truth), entitled Book of Horizons. That was quite literally one of the best albums of the last decade. Band mastermind Trey Spruance had long indicated that Book of Horizons‘ follow-up would be called Book of Souls and it would be an extension of the new splintering of the band into 7 sub-identities. Read more…
By Raymond Flotat Posted in News Secret Chiefs 3
With the town abuzz with the word of super private shows happening from Justin Timberlake and Prince, there was an even more exclusive show that set the last night of SXSW on fire. For Red Bull’s excellent five-night Sound Select series, The Smashing Pumpkins were the final, super secret headliner of the week. And this event, literally around only 350 capacity. Fans started lining up within minutes of the venue’s announcement and waited several hours before doors even opened. The line even at 7:30 p.m. was all the way around the block. And boy, was it worth the wait. Billy Corgan, Nicole Fiorentino, Jeff Schroeder and Mike Byrne make complicated, technical and epic rock seem painlessly easy. Aside from a few vocal oddities in Corgan’s delivery on “Cherub Rock,” the set was practically flawless. Fans were treated to a helping of songs from almost every Pumpkins album. “Zero” provided the simple singalong playoffs, “United States” became a monumental worked out jam and “Disarm” brought the contemplative emotional weight they’re famous for. Elsewhere, “Pale Horse” was a soothing, quiet number and “Bullet with the Butterfly Wings” delivered on cathartic power. Even new track “Oceania” was intricate and rewarding. For good measure, they did a dead-on cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” The strongest two highlights however came in the form of “X.Y.U.” and “Tonight, Tonight.” The former exploded into cascading walls of distortion prompted by Corgan’s snarling mid-song roar, “And in the eyes of a Jackyl I say Ka-boom!” and the latter, a heart wrenching testimonial on the enigmatic talent Corgan possesses. There one and only encore was a special treat, the multi-passage suite “Porcelina of the Vast Oceans.” The crowd warmly sang “Happy Birthday” to Corgan (guitarist Jeff tipped the crowd off earlier such was the case) and they were done. Throughout the whole set, it barely looked as if the band broke a sweat. It was a fitting, appropriately incredible end to SXSW 2013.
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By Raymond Flotat Posted in Reviews SXSW 2013 Live
