The record isn’t long, but it has no need to be, filled with “ooohs” and “ahhhs,” plenty of confidence, and plenty of self doubt. It’s easy to call to attention the Wall of Sound heard on Crazy For You. Though the music lacks the dense layers of Phil Spector’s creation, the melodies, reverberations, and harmonies, not to mention Cosentino’s ability to go for vocal swoon to rock frontwoman, makes Crazy For You sound like a Ronnettes record, if the Ronnettes liked indie rock, smoked a lot of weed, and had a cat named Snacks. The album opener, “Boyfriend,” is almost a modern Spector track, where Cosentino pines for a boy she likes, but admits that his girlfriend is “prettier and skinnier” and went through college while she’s just a dropout that sits around waiting for him. Granted, it’s not exactly the pure vision of love of “Be My Baby,” but the song still sounds like its modern, hipster descendant.

What Cosentino lacks in lyrical dexterity she makes up for with wit. On “Goodbye,” she takes a goofy line like “I wish my cat could talk” and follows it with the internal conflict of, “I don’t love you, I don’t hate you/I don’t know how I feel.” The balance between the light and dark on the record is perfect, with the wit keeping the emotion in check and vice versa. The gorgeous “Our Deal,” heavily leans on the Phil Spector vibe, but instead of just singing about her man leaving, Cosentino sings, “When you leave me, you take away everything/You take all my money, you take all my weed.” There’s an emotional bent to it, but there’s also a frustration at having picked someone who will not only sneak out the morning after, but steal your money and drugs. It’s kind of funny, but also a little bit sad.

But all other things aside, Cosentino, along with multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno, have mastered the art of writing a concise, catchy pop song. The longest song on the record is a mere 3:01, giving due time to each infectious hook they could put together. The title track, in particular, will get stuck in your head after one listen, with its repeated ending of “Maybe I’m just crazy/Crazy for you baby.” They’re not just songs that have a summer novelty to them, but are just as fun in the cold dredges of winter. And after all, isn’t that what great songwriting is all about?

It can be hard to predict the success of a band after a handful of singles and an LP, but Best Coast have potential to be around for a while as Cosentino’s songwriting continues to grow. Though early tracks like “Sun Was High (So Was I)” and “When I’m With You” remain incredibly catchy and fun to listen to, they lack the musical and emotional depth the songs of Crazy For You. Though it’s a debut LP, it still is a step up from everything she’d put out before. The last five years have been riddled with bands that put out promising singles or EPs, gain web notoriety, and then release a record that fails to match the quality of their previous work (see: Voxtrot), so there’s reason to believe that Best Coast might be around a little bit longer. But thought of the future aside, I’m content to sit back, relax, and enjoy Crazy For You in the late summer sun.

Michael’s Score: 81
Jonah’s Score: 82
TUiW Grade: A-

Land of Talk – “Swift Coin” [Link]

Pavement closes the festival

TUiW hit the 2010 Pitchfork Music Festival this past weekend, and for those that couldn’t make it out, here’s our blow by blow recap:

Friday
Arriving a little late at the festival, the first act I saw was Robyn, who brought a high energy set to the early evening of Day 1. Armed with a band that consisted of two keyboard/synth players and two drummers, Robyn started the dance party with chart-climbing single “Dancing On My Own,” but sadly left out her American breakthrough single, “Show Me Love.”

Broken Social Scene

Broken Social Scene followed, packing the stage as usual with 4-5 guitarists at once. The only downside of the set was Lisa Lobsinger, filling the role occasionally filed by Feist, Emily Haines, or Amy Millan. Lobsinger has a great voice, and “All to All” is one of my favorite tracks on Forgiveness Rock Record, but Lobsinger hardly swayed as she sang and brought little energy to the high energy band. Her bandmates however brought the fire, especially with closer “Meet Me in the Basement,” their instrumental “anthem” as Kevin Drew called it. Closing out the day were indie rock stallwarts Modest Mouse, who took to the stage with “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes” and largely played some of their deeper cuts alongside singles “Dashboard” and “Satellite Skin.” Issac Brock screamed and shared knowledge with the crowd, but it was during Modest Mouse that the first signs of Pitchfork’s poor stage setups started to show. Anyone to the side or too far past the sound tent had a hard time hearing any of the banter, and the music was garbled. All this aside though, the band put on a great show.

Saturday
Opening the day were Free Energy, the James Murphy-produced outfit that genuinely seemed overjoyed to be playing at the festival. The band bounced their way through the impossibly catchy “Free Energy” and “Bang Pop,” and most definitely won over a slew of new fans. Real Estate was a great early choice, with their gentle rocking floating through the oppressive heat before Delorean brought up the energy level with a frantic set that at times evoked M83, if M83 were huge U2 fans. They were followed by one of Saturday’s best acts, Titus Andronicus,

Titus Andronicus

who got the weekend’s first mosh pit going as they ripped through tracks from The Monitor and got the crowed to yell in unison “You’ll always be a loser!” from “The Future, Pt. 3.” The band got major props in my book for dedicating a song to a girl in attendance that they had heard had been in an accident and missed a prior show, a classy move. Unfortunately, the high of Titus Andronicus was followed with the low of Raekwon. Just after his DJ took the stage, technical problems hit, and the Wu Tang Clan member didn’t even hit the stage for another 10 minutes, where he was again slowed by technical glitches, that were followed up by a short, uninspired set that clearly had all of its energy drained from it. Over on the too small Balance Stage, the Smith Westerns put on a more than pleasant set in the shade that would have been better if the sound on the stage didn’t turn the vocals into an indecipherable mess. The smaller stage had a number of problems with, particularly that it was in a small space with limited ways in and out, but the poor sound system made it hard to hear anything if you weren’t positioned right at the sound tent. All of that was thrown out the window during Wolf Parade, who didn’t need banter to show they were clearly loving playing the festival. The band didn’t slow down at all, blasting songs from their superb Expo 86, as well as older cuts like “This Hearts On Fire” and “Soldier’s Grin.” The highlight however came with the monstrous “Kissing the Beehive” closing the set, sending the crowd into a tizzy. All of that excitement would then be immediately followed by the much dissed set by Panda Bear, which consisted mainly of Noah Lennox holding down a few keys on a synthesizer and yelping every now and then as crazy images played on the big screens. The epic scope of Person Pitch was nowhere to be found, and left me hoping that Tomboy sounds better on record than it did live. The night was closed with an epic set by LCD Soundsystem, helped in part by a crowd that was so ready to go nuts they started cheering when the giant disco ball was raised above the stage well before it started. Now, I’ve seen James Murphy and Co. a few times, but this was easily the best. Though the set lacked much of This Is Happening (only “Drunk Girls,” “Pow Pow,” and “I Can Change”), the crowd went absolutely nuts during a particularly pulsing rendition of our favorite song, “All My Friends.” Though few of the twentysomething hipsters can identify with a song about being an aging hipster, the song hit the right note, and created a frenzy of dancing and singing along that was a major highlight of the festival. Capping their set, the band played the chorus of “Empire State of Mind” before hitting the reprise of “New York I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down,” ending the day on a really high note.

Sunday

Best Coast

Kicking off my last day of the festival was Best Coast, a band was really excited to see. Bethany Cosentino led the trio through songs from the band’s early singles and EPs, before giving a taste of her forthcoming album Crazy For You, which sounded great. She also got in one of the best punchlines of the festival, joking, “You guys remember Woodstock in the 90s? This reminds me of that.” While Girls played a set that sounded pretty close to their record, Washed Out produced a great set of chillwave jams, but I personally had a hard time getting into a guy playing with his laptop, so it could have been better. Just as the sun went behind the clouds for a while, Beach House took the stage, bringing the soft sounds of Victoria Legrand’s voice and Alex Scally’s spiky guitar to a crowd that seemed more than happy to slowly nod their heads as they jammed along. Songs like “Walk in the Park” carry a little more power live, adding some extra punch to the Teen Dream tracks. Local Natives played to a huge crowd surrounding the tiny Balance Stage, bringing tracks from Gorilla Manor to life with their three part harmonies and thundering drums. Surfer Blood too played to a big crowd, bringing a little more rock with their now polished live act that didn’t disappoint. Next up came a phenomenal set by St. Vincent,

St. Vincent

who played all material from Actor with a tight backing band that brought the grandeur of the record into a smaller, but equally stunning sound. Annie Clark brought some of the best guitar work of the weekend to tracks like “Just the Same But Brand New” in a set that, while perhaps a bit too soft for its timeslot, was among the best of the weekend by far. Here We Go Magic impressed me quite a bit, bringing an energy I didn’t expect and getting the crowd moving through the hot afternoon. Everyone that wasn’t at Here We Go Magic was busy at Major Lazer, the Diplo-led crazy factory that featured Chinese dragons, ladder leaps, and a huge party. A Major Lazer show can really be described in so many ways, but its truthfully something that has to be seen for its total craziness be believed. Anyone that was wiped out by Major Lazer got a blast of the chillwave from Neon Indian, who brought a whole band together to groove through tacks like “Terminally Chill” for a big crowd. After Neon Indian, many people stuck around for noise duo Sleigh Bells, but with Neon Indian running over and technical delays, the band went on quite late, and apparently suffered through some sound issues, before finally breaking through and bringing the noise. Meanwhile, Big Boi led the crowd through songs from solo and Outkast repertoires, and even brought with him a crew of really awesome 10-and-under breakdancers. And then it was time for Pavement, the big draw of the weekend. With Drag City’s Rian Murphy offering a hilarious sequel to an act he used to do in Pavement’s heyday opening (highlighted by his claim that, “I’ve been listening to Pavement since 1991, so I’ve been waiting for this reunion for 20 years!”), the mood was frantic for the band, who shut down the festivals webcast under suspicious circumstances. The set was a little more uneven than their triumphant turn at Coachella, with songs like “Stop Breathin,” “Stereo,” and “The Hexx,” hitting perfectly, and others, such as “In The Mouth A Desert” and “Cut Your Hair” coming out sloppily. They still served as a fantastic closer for the weekend, which was laden with more bright spots than otherwise. Pitchfork puts on a great festival, with its small size, constant flow of sets, and high quality acts. If issues like the sound and size of the Balance Stage can get worked out, then there’s nothing to stop Pitchfork from being among the best festivals in the country.

RIYL: Pavement, Camera Obscura, Titus Andronicus, Belle & Sebastian, The Mountain Goats

Bear Ceuse – “Kiss Another” [mp3]

Download the “Oh You Blushed!” EP for free [link]

RIYL: Lushlife, k-os, Blue Scholars, The Postal Service, Discovery

AudioDax MySpace

Heaven is Whenever starts with the sound of a record turning on and a twangy steel guitar. No you didn’t accidentally download the new Band of Horses; The Hold Steady really does start their new record with an alt-country ballad. A pretty good one too. “The Sweet Part of the City” is the hangover from the big party that’s been The Hold Steady discography to date. Its a definite left turn, but a gorgeous, stark one that pushes The Band influence to the fore, even while tying in Craig Finn’s usual lyrical obsessions (“we were bored so we started a band,” he sings – calling back to “Positive Jam” – before finishing with “we’d like to pray for you”). It is a shame that what follows is so uninspired.

After four albums worth of their Springsteen-by-way-of-Replacements booze-rock, it seemed like there were big changes in store for The Hold Steady. Longtime multi-instrumentalist Franz Nicolay departed for greener pastures while the band’s profile steadily grew and grew. But more than that, their music had begun to feel like it was losing its effectiveness. 2008′s Stay Positive, while solid, felt like a summation of what The Hold Steady had done thus far (especially on the title track, which worked in references to five or six previous songs); the end of one phase in The Hold Steady’s career and the beginning of another one.

So it is disappointing that Heaven is Whenever is just more of the same. Songs like “Soft in the Center,” “The Weekenders,” and “Rock Problems” all blend together in a mess of power chords and Biblical allusions. I realize complaining that all Hold Steady songs sound like Hold Steady songs is a little disingenious, but there’s something particularly uninspired and even a little joyless about this particular set of them. Even the highpoints, like “Hurricane J,” aren’t as fist-pumpingly exciting as their older stuff.

It doesn’t help that Craig Finn’s lyrics feel stretched out and bloated. “Soft in the Center’s” big sing-along lyric, “you can’t get every girl/you get the ones you love the best” aims for his usual barstool wisdom but ends up being so saccharine that even Wayne Coyne would laugh at it. “Its not going to be like in romantic comedies/in the end I bet no one learns a lesson” could be a nod at LCD Soundsystem (although that’s outside of the usual classic rock and hardcore wheelhouse) but more just comes off as a dumb lyric. And there’s even a somewhat embarassing “get off my lawn” rant crammed in the middle of “The Smidge.”

Like a Hold Steady character, Heaven is Whenever rallies towards the finish, first on the Okkervil River-esque “Barely Breathing,” a witty and bouncey tribute to hardcore. “We Can Get Together’s” big finish is kind of nice, even if the requisite trip through Craig Finn’s record collection is kind of a slog. And “A Slight Discomfort” is not just a great title for a song, but a near-gothic flourish (perhaps borrowed from tourmates Drive-By Truckers) that finishes the album with a haunting refrain: “this shouldn’t hurt/but you might feel a slight discomfort.” Its another departure for The Hold Steady; if “Sweet Part of the City” started the record by pushing The Band influence to the foreground then “A Slight Discomfort” turns it down to zero and instead focuses on (believe it or not) Broken Social Scene-esque swelling instrumental dynamics.

Ultimately, Hold Steady songs thrive on specificity and density, but aside from gimmicks (like the references on “We Can Get Together”) Heaven is Whenever is lacking in both. Both sonically and lyrically, the record is flaccid and hollow. Perhaps Nicolay was more important to The Hold Steady sound than we thought. Or perhaps the band is simply trying to play to the back of the larger and larger venues they find themselves playing in. Or perhaps I’ve just had enough of Craig Finn’s rock and roll problems. I hope its not the latter, that my problem with the newest Hold Steady record isn’t simply that its another new Hold Steady record, but I’m not sure. There’s enough about Heaven is Whenever to suggest a band looking to branch out in a new direction and chase some different muses for a while. Unfortunately, they’re just hints on a record that, for the most part, is willing to settle for much less.

Jonah’s Score: 52

TUIW Grade: C

Yet, for a band that makes such pronouncements, Broken Social Scene had actually been, well, broken for a long time. As their profile rose following their breakthrough You Forgot It In People, so did the profile of the multitude of bands that help compose Broken Social Scene. As Stuart Berman’s fantastic book This Book is Broken chronicles, the loose trial and error method that helped create You Forgot It In People simply couldn’t be replicated again. The recording and touring of their previous, self titled record was marred by the inevitable romances, break-ups, and in-fighting that comes with a band of over a dozen frequently rotating members. Though Broken Social Scene is a terrific album in its own right, it in many ways was overshadowed by its predecessor and increased recognition of the various participants. In the five years since then, Broken Social Scene operated as a banner under which frontmen Kevin Drew and Brendon Canning could release solo projects, though it survived as a live entity, playing shows that featured a more consistent lineup, but with guests whenever possible.

So now, five years later, comes Forgiveness Rock Record, an album that has whittled the often sprawling band down to a core of six members: Drew, Canning, Justin Peroff, Charles Spearin, Andrew Whiteman, and Sam Goldberg, though smaller parts are provided by the usual BSS suspects and other friends. It is also the first of the band’s records since their debut, Feel Good Lost, that doesn’t have Dave Newfeld producing, with John McEnitre of Tortoise and the Sea and the Cake taking over that role. Forgiveness Rock Record has a lot of pressure on it, due largely in part to the popularity of You Forgot It In People on Best of the 2000s lists in the last year, not to mention the now huge popularity of the band. While first listen doesn’t immediately knock you off your feet, Forgiveness Rock Record seems like a natural progression for the band. The eclectic nature of You Forgot It In People and the revolving door touring begot Broken Social Scene, and the band turmoil, hiatus, and side projects have begot Forgiveness Rock Record.

The album starts with “World Sick,” an epic track that eases its way out of the speakers. It’s a song akin to putting a pot on the stove, letting it come right to the point of boiling over, and then removing it before the hot water spills everywhere. “World Sick” builds and builds, and just as its about to hit as triumphant climax, it starts to back away. It’s as well crafted a song as the band has mustered since You Forgot It In People, and manages to properly acclimate the listener to what they’re about to hear. “Chase Scene” features processed drums, reverb soaked guitars, and the a haunting, looming violin part to accompany it. “Chase Scene” sounds most similar to the songs on Drew’s solo effort, Spirit If…, especially the song “Frightening Lives.” “Texico Bitches” features the clicking drums of “Fire Eye’d Boy,” and holds a mostly hypnotic pace that is seemingly impossible not to enjoy. “Forced to Love,” like “World Sick,” is as solid a song as the band has ever written, one that features a sing-a-long chorus in a way only Broken Social Scene could manage one, with the lyrics “Because we’re forced to love/All the time.” “Forced to Love” is Forgiveness Rock Record‘s best song, the type of song that demands loud speakers on a sunny day.

Lisa Lobsinger, who joined the band during their live shows for Broken Social Scene, dominates “All to All” with her gorgeous, ambient voice bouncing off the drum machine clicks and reverbed guitars. Without vocals, “All to All” would fit nicely on Feel Good Lost, and somehow manages to have a classic Broken Social Scene sound, but one that we’ve never hear before, an indie-rock chamber dance song. Andrew Whiteman’s “Art House Director” revels in the type of horns and syncopated drumming that are characteristic of his tracks with Broken Social Scene and Apostle of Hustle, and like “Forced to Love,” is a song for dancing and having fun. “Highway Slipper Jam” seems to try to reach back into songs like “Looks Just Like the Sun” and “I’m Still Your Fag,” but doesn’t seem to quite land it, but not really for lack of trying. “Ungrateful Little Father” has it’s fill of danceable drums, but the song for an “ungrateful little mother fuck” reaches it’s climax just over half-way through, spending the rest of the time floating through ambient flares and clicks. It’s followed though by the epic, rafter reaching instrumental “Meet Me in the Basement,” a song that many bands try to make, but few can accomplish it, as Broken Social Scene does. Emily Haines makes her big appearance on the fantastic “Sentimental X’s,” which seems to feature Broken Social Scene’s new mantra in repetition: “Off and on is what we want.” The lyric is a startlingly direct and heartfelt sentiment from a band that seems to really prefer to just play music and put the lyrical meanings behind that. By the time the song hits the steady drumming and Haines’ voice starts to fade behind the wall of sound, the song soars upwards, and behind “Forced to Love” is the next best track on the album.

Unfortunately, “Sentimental X’s” is followed by “Sweetest Kill,” which takes a lot of the momentum the album has been building towards, and abruptly slows down. It’s not a bad song, it just feels out of sequence behind a rafter-reaching anthem and “Romance to the Grave,” a song that builds and builds until its final third goes into the type of lovely Broken Social Scene vibe one has come to expect and love from the band. Brendan Canning takes his biggest swing on the ramshackle rocker “Water in Hell” a song that demands toe-tapping and seems destined for a life time of crowds shouting “there’s water in hell!” back at the band. The power and energy of “Water in Hell” is rather abruptly stopped with the album’s goofy closer, “Me and My Hand,” which plays out way to seriously considering how silly it is. That’s the kind of guy Kevin Drew is, at least based on his stage persona, so I guess it couldn’t come as a total surprise.

Put simply, Forgiveness Rock Record is a really enjoyable album to listen to. Its first two thirds are extremely solid, and are about as good as anything else the band has done, but it’s the few hiccups in the middle and towards the end that either disrupt the album’s flow or don’t seem to have fully reached their potential that ultimately keep this record from topping the band’s previous work. This is the problem a band with such acclaim and exceptions has I suppose, but it’s also important to remember how good the good parts of this record are. As a result, the aspects of the record I didn’t enjoy didn’t seem to bother me too much. In the end, this seems to play into the drive behind Forgiveness Rock Record. Broken Social Scene put so many fractures into such a tight group of friends, and Forgiveness Rock Record, it’s good parts and only okay parts, serves as a sonic reconciliation of everything the band has and will continue to do. Forgiveness Rock Record may not be perfect, but it’s Broken Social Scene.

Michael’s Score: 80
TUiW Grade: B+

Stephen Malkmus of Pavement

TUiW spent the past weekend in Indio, CA for this year’s Coachella festival. Here’s our recap of Sunday:

Local Natives
The L.A. band got a lot of support from the locals at Coachella, who packed the tent well in advance of their set. Local Natives worked through tracks off of their stellar debut Gorilla Manor, and brought even more energy to tracks already filled with plenty. Album stand outs “Sun Hands” and “Airplanes” sound even more gorgeous live, as the band’s stellar harmonies floated over a more raw, live sound. With a great debut and a tight live performance, the future looks awfully bright for Local Natives.

Owen Pallet
Owen Pallett brought his quirky, formal style of violin and looping (complete with a multi-instrumentalist accompanying him) and focused mostly on tracks from Heartland, his really good new album. The show also featured Pallett’s amiably goofy stage presence, like when he referred to the stage he shared with Jonsi and Bradford Cox as the “gay ghetto” and then asked his accompanist if he had tried “cornholing.”

Deerhunter
Though they were beleaguered with technical problems, Deerhunter put on a fantastic live set, thanks in large part to the enthusiasm of frontman Bradford cox. During one particular technical setback, Cox improvised a Coachella songs, pondering the number of people who OD’ed or had faulty condoms. He also gave a shout-out to fellow Coachella performer Julian Casablancas before closing with “Disappearing Ink,” on which he admitted to ripping off Casablancas’ vocal style. The rest of the set was full of fantastic, fuzzed out jams, with the highlight being a great version of “Nothing Ever Happened.”

Yo La Tengo
It was oddly delightful to see Yo La Tengo, a band that has toiled so long in relative obscurity, play the main stage of a major festival. Their brief set functioned as a kind of greatest hits and the band tore through songs like “Autumn Sweater” and “You Can Have It All” (complete with some stylish dance moves) while saving enough time for one of their trademark noise freakouts at the end. All in all, it was an immensely satisfying set from a great band.

Spoon
Continuing the theme of unexpected bands triumphantly taking their rightful place as festival headlines, Spoon played a great set to an adoring audience. While the show didn’t reach further back than Kill the Moonlight, it featured all of Spoon’s newest essentials, even if the crowd didn’t seem as into the songs from their newest album. Also, Bradford Cox joined the band on guitar for “Who Makes Your Money.”

Pavement
For what we’d estimate was a sizeable minority of Coachella-goers, this was it. The reason we shelled out $300 and drove 20 hours to a desert in the middle of nowhere in California. So was it worth? Hell yes. From the first strains of “Silence Kit” to the triumphant finish of “Cut Your Hair,” Pavement was back with an energy and a fire that betrays the slacker storyline. Playing a range of music from across their career (but centered on Slanted and Enchanted and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain) Pavement was, simply, everything we dreamed they’d be.

Thom Yorke and Atoms for Peace
They weren’t Radiohead, but Thom Yorke’s new band injected new life into 2006′s good-not-great The Eraser (which they played through from start to finish). Yorke was bouncy and energetic (and had a bit of an unofficial dance-off with Flea) and all the stuff he played was great, but the highpoint was when he played “Airbag” on just an acoustic guitar and then moved to a piano for “Everything in Its Right Place.”

Gorillaz
A somewhat disappointing end to Coachella, Gorillaz much lauded stage showed was stripped down, with the band appearing as themselves as pictures and weird video clips playing behind them. The music was alright, but without the much discussed holograms or even a video of the cartoon’s singing, it was a fairly typical set. There was no Lou Reed appearance, as was the rumor floating around, but De La Soul (who performed on their own earlier in the day) and a video of Snoop Dog appeared to rock out with Damon Albarn and co.

Beach House

TUiW spent the past weekend in Indio, CA for this year’s Coachella festival. Here’s our recap of Saturday:

Beach House
When Beach House took the stage, they promised to “cool us off,” and they easily succeeded. Playing their dreamy pop in the middle of the day might not have seemed like the best of situations, but it was perfect, with the crowd gently swaying to tunes from their stellar Teen Dream, as well as favorites like the gorgeous “Gila.” Jay-Z was in the house watching (he reportedly saw The xx too) as the band did a cover of Gucci Mane’s “Lemonade,” which they passed off as a “work in progress.” One of the better sets of the weekend, Beach House started Saturday with a chill bang. (Just a note, we missed both Girls and Camera Obscura thanks to traffic and water lines. Thanks Coachella!)

The Raveonettes
With the rest of their band stuck in Europe due to the volcano in Iceland, the Raveonettes’ Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo played on as a duo. This didn’t stop them from bringing the noise as Wagner’s droning, fuzzy guitar riffs blared over Foo’s bass and steady drumming. Both admitted to being nervous and uncertain about playing just the two of them, but they hardly missed a beat, playing their blend of 50′s and 60′s rock run through a blender with the Jesus and Mary Chain. The Raveonettes were one of the great surprises of the weekend with their really phenomenal set.

Dirty Projectors
In the year since we last saw the Dirty Projectors, they became some of the bigger indie darlings of 2009, thanks in part to their funky hit “Stillness is the Move.” The band didn’t disappoint at Coachella, their syncopated guitar riffs and perfectly timed vocal harmonies intertwining effortlessly. The Dirty Projectors have garnered all sorts of praise and dislike for their unique sound, but regardless of what you think, they are a terrific live act. The set was also made better by the fact that we stood right next to Vincent Chase himself, Adrian Grenier (!).

MGMT
Congratulations bro! MGMT is already getting a lot of flack for their new, different record, but you have to give them credit for sticking to their guns and playing new songs with as much gusto as the older, much loved ones. While the crowed danced and sang along to hits “Time to Pretend” and “Electric Feel,” they mostly seemed bored during the Congratulations tracks, and genuinely disappointed that the band didn’t even play “Kids.” It’s going to be an uphill climb for MGMT.

Major Lazer
Major Lazer was probably the most ridiculous live show of the whole weekend. Their show quickly turned into a sort of rave, with the unhappy MGMT fans coming over to dance and party. A manic blend of hip-hop, trance, and electronica, Major Lazer is all about one thing: dancing.

Flying Lotus
Though he was sadly not joined by Thom Yorke (who appears on his new record), Flying Lotus put on a great set of chopped beats and hooks, and appeared to be having way more fun than your average dude at a laptop. Like Major Lazer, Flying Lotus is all about dancing, but with more emphasis on hip-hop than dance. Those disappointed by the absence of Yorke were treated to an awesome live remix of the Radiohead track “Reckoner,” which stood out in an all around stellar set.

Grizzly Bear perform at Coachella

UIW spent the past weekend in Indio, CA for this year’s Coachella festival. We just arrived back in our respective homes, so we’re working on our reviews, which will all be up over the next two days. To start though, here’s our recap of Friday.

P.O.S.

A former punk rocker who has since incorporated more rap into his repertoire, Minneapolis’ P.O.S. started Coachella off with a loud and raucous bang. While it’s too easy to call him “rap rock” P.O.S. definitely comes from that mold.

Baroness

Those of us here at TUIW aren’t the biggest of metal fans, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying Baroness. Each of their songs sounds like the epic finale, but there’s always one more. Baroness didn’t have a huge crowd listening, but it’s safe to say that everyone there was having a blast.

Sleigh Bells

It’s not hard to understand why M.I.A. is so smitten with Sleigh Bells, who put on a manic freakout of a show. Internet hits like “Crown on the Ground” sounded even better live, and songs from their forthcoming debut LP were fantastic. Get ready world, here comes Sleigh Bells.

Yeasayer

We only caught a little bit of Yeasayer, but they drew a huge crowd to see them. Making the most of their patented blend of indie styles, Yeasayer put on a somewhat expected show, one without much variety from their records. The highlight though was easily “2080,” with it’s crowd pleasing screaming at the end.

Ra Ra Riot

Both of us were impressed by Ra Ra Riot’s live show, which had so much more energy than their record might have suggested. The songs were all so much more immediate live than they were on the record. A samples of their new record were pretty good, making that one we’re excited for.

Lucero

The best way to describe Lucero is if the Drive-By Truckers played up their Springsteen influence a bit more. With horns filling in the gaps between the Southern Rock riffs, Lucero made the most of the small, but ardent crowd listening.

Grizzly Bear

Clearly the year spent touring behind Veckatimest has improved the live versions of its songs by the band. Playing to an enthusiastic crowd, the band absolutely blew the doors off songs like “Fine for Now,” while playing quieter songs like “Cheerleader” with the perfect amount of frailty. Both of us had seen them play Bonnaroo last year, and easily agreed this was a much better show.

LCD Soundsystem

James Murphy and Co. picked up exactly where they left off with the first show of the This Is Happening tour. The jury’s still out on the new stuff, but classics like ‘Us v Them,’ ‘All My Friends,’ and “Yeah” sounded as good as ever, and Murphy even improvised a hilarious verse on “Losing My Edge.”

Jay-Z

Jay commanded a crowd of 75,000people like no one we’ve ever seen before and clearly had fun doing it. His set was one of the weekend’s most anticipated and Hova didn’t disappoint. He tore through fan favorites like “HOVA” and “99 Problems” and was easily our favorite of the weekend’s three headliners.

Fever Ray

Given how rare a show from Fever Ray (or The Knife, for that matter) is, her set on Friday night was a can’t miss show that didn’t disappoint. Backed by an awesome band and a trippy light show, Karin Andersson played all the key tracks from her solo debut and ended the first day on a high note.