Aural Intercourse: A milestone year for Coachella

By Mike Prevatt

You have to ask yourself what's really worth enduring hour-long waits in traffic, triple-digit heat and crowds over the 50,000 mark. But if you attended the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival last weekend in Indio, Calif., you had an embarrassment of answers to choose from.

It has taken Coachella five short years to become the definitive modern music experience in America. A long-overdue answer to both multi-day European festivals and self-serving, playlist-reflecting concerts put on by radio stations, the SoCal desert pilgrimage has become that rare entity that is equally respected and beloved by anyone having anything to do with music. For organizers, participants and attendees alike, that is a source of genuine pride.

And Coachella has never had a better reason to be proud. This year, it sold out for the first time, both days reaching its 50,000 capacity. And it boasted its strongest lineup to date, with Saturday featuring Radiohead and two hugely influential and newly reunited acts, the Pixies and Kraftwerk, and Sunday highlighting the Cure and the Flaming Lips. Also peppering the lineup were revered acts from all over the world, hailing mostly from the more progressive branches of rock, hip hop and dance music.

People might've bought tickets just to see the re-formed Pixies, but chances are they watched other acts that same day. Coachella compels the stubborn guitar worshippers to sample a DJ set, take in an experimental string-section set and/or experience underground hip hop. Conversely, it gives, say, techno fans an excuse to catch up on the current indie rock hopefuls.

Ironically, the increased blurring of rock/dance lines marked one major trend at the festival. While both days offered several electronic music offerings, most DJs and live techno-oriented performers opted to highlight pop melodies and rock samples. Breakbeat DJ Adam Freeland delighted revelers with a remix of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," among others. The collective 2 Many DJs spun reworked Led Zeppelin and the Cult. Even Brit duo Basement Jaxx--the most ecstatically received act on Sunday--mashed on the spot 50 Cent's "In Da Club" with the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army," during its otherwise original-music, band-oriented set.

Balancing that phenomenon was the helping of '80s-style rockers infusing their songs with pulsating rhythms that had crowds compulsively dancing despite the extreme heat. Not only did Canadian newcomers the Stills unleash some of the most tuneful songs of the weekend, but their 4/4 rhythms drove nuggets like single "Still in Love Song." Brooklyn's the Rapture delighted a surprisingly large outdoor crowd with its distinctive, chaotic electro-punk, climaxing with the infectious "House of Jealous Lovers." Indie rockers !!!, Stellastarr, Pretty Girls Make Graves and Elefant all exhibited groove know-how as well.

And then there was Vegas' own the Killers. There are few rock boppers among this year's modern rock singles more engrossingly buoyant than the band's "Mr. Brightside" and the airplay-gaining "Somebody Told Me." And to see charismatic drummer Ronnie Vannucci pound away so blissfully at those songs gave one all the more reason to dance in delight. However, his physical embodiment of the music should have been mirrored by frontman Brandon Flowers, who somehow lacked his bandmate's exuberance and kept crowd interaction at a minimum. Even more mind-boggling--and, frankly, out of place--was Indio's own Mt. Calvary Holy Church gospel choir that helped close the inconsistent set.

But that's the nature of Coachella--because of the media attention the festival gets, surprises and experiments are not only encouraged but expected. The Flaming Lips won the bombshell award when singer Wayne Coyne entered a plastic bubble and rolled over the crowd. And Danish pop duo Junior Senior enlivened its already jubilant set with guest appearances by B-52 singer Fred Schneider and indie faux-heartthrob Har Mar Superstar.

As for the Pixies--influential to several of the festival's bands--they rocked through several discography staples, including "Debaser" and "Monkey Gone to Heaven." And unlike previous reunions at the festival, the four musicians made their artistry resonate beyond nostalgia. The same could not be said for the Cure, playing new songs from its upcoming, self-titled album and hits such as "Pictures of You" and "Boys Don't Cry." Many of the songs lacked energy and sounded thin (a guitar sounded like it had been dropped from the mix, and the volume was low).

Radiohead--whose singer, Thom Yorke, verbally acknowledged the Pixies' influence on him after a riveting version of the rarely played breakout hit, "Creep"--can now claim the greatest headlining set in Coachella's brief history. The Oxford quintet closed both Saturday night and its 2003-2004 tour with a set jam-packed with favorites, most refreshed and manipulated in real time to give the band's performance a sense of spontaneity. However, its more ardent and anthemic moments--such as "Idioteque" and "Planet Telex"--were the most rapturously received.

Sunday underscored the Radiohead influence on contemporary music, from the Section Quartet's all-strings cover of "Just" to Freeland spinning a remix of Kid A chestnut "Everything In Its Right Place." However, it was most evident in the weekend's sleeper performance, by Brit main-stager Muse (see Listening Station). No rock act exerted more dynamo and passion than the big-in-Europe trio, who maintains Radiohead's prog-like adventurism while wielding aggressive riffs and rhythms that complement the persuasive nature of its songs. Everyone walks away from Coachella with a new favorite band, and Muse is mine--just one of the justifications for braving the desert terrain at Coachella.

Send love letters and hate mail to oughtabeinporn@yahoo.com.