With the release of Coachella's lineup yesterday, we decided to ask our resident curmudgeon and "good old days" music expert, Indie Grandpa, what he thought of the annual desert festival, which has now expanded to two weekends.
What do you think about Coachella's lineup? First of all, morning everyone. Second, why in fancy Jesus does the font make the non-headlining bands so hard to read? I need a goddamn microscope to see if Dawes is playing.
Thirdly, let's talk Radiohead. If I wanted to see the UK's greatest band of 2000-2010 (nothing tops their album run starting at OK Computer, people) in a sea of dilated pupils and sweaty hipsters, I'd head back to my alma mater, Loyola Marymount University. No thanks. Honestly, there's no better Radiohead experience then listening to Hail to the Thief's "There There" with a scotch in your hand. Ignore the noise and the Ecstasy, I say. Didn't someone die in a tent out there last year?
So, it's hard to see myself there. I must say, after the rough weekend I had last year at Bumbershoot, I'm not inclined to buy airplane tickets to Palm Springs yet.
Who are you excited to see? Big fan of Destroyer and Andrew Bird's work in the past few years (is there any better album than Armchair Apocrypha?), so I'd like to at least stop in for a verse and chorus of each. However, I do not plan on seeing Neon Indian. And Girls and Real Estate? What'd they record their albums on a goddamn yacht or something? Every one of those "chillwave" songs sounds like a sea mariner barfed all over it. Not into it. Give me the dulcet tones of St. Vincent's "Marry Me," M. Ward's "Here Comes the Sun" or those new girls "Wild Flag." Is that the girl from Portlandia? I like her. Also, Beirut.
Are you a fan of Radiohead's early work? I believe I answered the question above, and I resent the implication that Radiohead's work is "early," as I chose to erase Thom Yorke's "Eraser" clean from my mind.
Did you ever see Noel Gallagher, Pulp, Mazzy Star or At the Drive-in back in the old days? I caught Mazzy Star in a dive bar in El Paso in 1992 (why aren't there any real dive bars anymore?), and it was fantastic. It could have been one of the best shows of all time ever. Unfortunately, the scar was a concert-talker, who proceeded to argue with his green-haired friend. Probably some nonsense about Rage Against the Machine. Hope Sandoval, ugh, was forced to scold him mid-song. It ruined the mood.
What's a Greg Ginn? I don't know what you just said, but it better not have anything to do with anything on Gorilla vs. Bear.