Last night saw the release of the lineup of this year’s edition of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Headliners are The Stone Roses and Blur for Friday night, Phoenix hold their own on Saturday night and the Red Hot Chili Peppers close out the festival on Sunday night. Some of the notable undercard includes: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Lou Reed, Modest Mouse, newly reformed Jurassic 5, Grinderman on Friday night. Saturday night’s subheadliners are the XX, The Postal Service, Sigur Ros, New Order, Hot Chip and Grizzly Bear. Helping the Chili Peppers close out the fest are Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Vampire Weekend, Social Distortion and The Wu Tang Clan.

I’ll be sincere, when I first saw the lineup I thought I was being punk’d. First of all, I can deal with The Stone Roses and Blur, but as headliners? I’m not entirely sold. Phoenix is another band that I’m really not that into. I watched part of their set the last time they played Coachella (2010) and it was fine, but again. Headliners? But to be honest, it’s the Red Hot Chili Peppers that bothered me the most. This to me feels like a contingency plan. If the Rolling Stones rumor (that Golden Voice, Coachella promoters, were courting them and failed) is true, then they must’ve called up Kiedis and the boys to fill in. I don’t hate the Chili Peppers, but this is their third time headlining now and let’s face, they’ve become kind of boring.

But this was all last night. All the sadness and anger I had for this lineup needed to be slept on. Ironically, I had a dream that the Chili Peppers were doing sound checks at my house. I woke up this morning and looked at the lineup. I’m becoming more open to this lineup as the time wears on.

Enough crying from this writer, what bands am I excited to see? Being a big Trent Reznor fan, I could never contain my school girl giddiness for the debut performance of his newest group How to Destroy Angels. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bassnectar, Dog Blood, Beach House, New Order, Knife Party, Moby, Benny Benassi, Simian Mobile Disco, Yeasayer, Spiritualized, Ritchie Hawtin, Major Lazer, Dropkick Murphy’s, Bat for Lashes, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Pretty Lights, Tame Impala, The Faint, Paul Oakenfold are the artists I’m looking forward to the most.

Over the course of the next couple of months I’ll be dividing my time between Spotify and Youtube, checking out which artists I may want to entertain as well. One of the best parts of Coachella is checking out some random artist in some tent that you’ve never heard of before and they turn out to be one of your favorite sets.

The festival this year runs over the course of two separate weekends in a row. April 12th-14th is the first weekend and April 19th-21st is the second weekend. I’ll be in attendance during weekend two. Expect another article about my “planned” itinerary for the festival a few days before weekend two. I’ll do my best to report from the festival on a daily basis, but odds are leaning towards a full festival wrap up when I get back. If you want immediate updates during the festival, you can always follow me on Twitter @WayTooIndie.

See the full 2013 Coachella lineup poster of bands below.

The sophomore album, Gossamer, for the breakthrough band Passion Pit not only took 4 years to come to life, but it was also amazing that it was even completed in the first place. Passion Pit has been thrown into the media spotlight recently due to show cancelations due to “mental health” issues of their front man Michael Angelakos. As many know, Angelakos has informed the media that he lives with Bipolar I, which is a mood disorder that includes episodes of mania and depression. All that being said, Gossamer was an album that took me weeks to really embrace and to completely understand.

Upon first listening to Gossamer I was anticipating the perky, hyperactive musical style of Manners from four years ago.  I was, at first, sorely disappointed to not have heard a single song with the same feel as “Little Secrets” and instantly stopped listening to the album for weeks. Eventually, I was talked into giving it a second chance and I am exceptionally happy I did so. Passion Pit is NOT the same band they were when Manners came out four years prior so it is naive to believe that Gossamer would be identical to it, it is easy to think something like this since, as a listener and a fan, you want it to be like the music that made you love the band, but at the same time you want something that is new and different. That pressure to has to be quite the cross to bear for such a young band. This paradox is often referred to as the “sophomore slump”.

The autobiographical Gossamer takes the listener on a dark journey through the life of lead singer Angelakos life for the past four years. Staying ever true their upbeat instrumental style while the lyrics have taken a plunge into darkness. The lyrics are heavy and thoughtful on the life of alcohol and drugs that Angelakos had been fighting through. The blend of poppy beats and dark lyrics makes a link to the musical style of The Smiths, with the obvious difference in vocal styles. Angelakos has been criticized in the past for his extremely high vocals in the past and his lack of vocal range. However, I feel in Gossamer he proves that he does have some range to his vocals which is can be heard in the opening song to the album “Take a Walk.”

Songs like “Love is Greed” is an insightful song into the ideas that Angelakos has about love and his ideas of inner workings of being in love with someone.  With lyrics like “If we really love ourselves, how do we love somebody else?” I feel really captures Angelakos confusion, possible frustration and overall ideas about what love is to him. Other songs that I highly recommend a deep listening to really embrace and understand the path that Gossamer is trying to take the listener down are “On My Way,” “Carried Away,” “Constant Conversation,” and “It’s Not My Fault I’m Happy.” Gossamer will be an album that will surprise you with its honesty.

Passion Pit will release their long awaited follow up to their 2009 album Manners on July 24th. The new album will be called Gossamer on will be released on Columbia records. The band recently released the first single named “Take a Walk” from their new album.

Listen to new single by Passion Pit “Take a Walk”:

Passion Pit Tour Dates:
June 2 – Dallas, TX – Meltdown Music Festival
June 22 – Boston, MA – Bank of America Pavilion
June 23 – New York, NY – Governors Ball Music Festival
July 15 – Cincinnati, OH – Bunbury Music Festival
July 16 – Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works
July 17 – Knoxville, TN – The Valarium
July 19 – Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore
July 20 – Norfok, VA – The Norva
July 21 – Dover, DE – Firefly Music Festival
August 3 – Chicago, IL – Lollapalooza
August 5 – Montreal, Quebec – Osheaga Festival
August 7 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheater
August 10 – San Francisco, CA – Outside Lands Music Festival
August 18 – Tokyo, Japan – SummerSonic
August 19 – Osaka, Japan – SummerSonic
August 21 – Singapore, Singapore – Esplanade
August 25 – Leeds, England – Leeds Festival
September 9 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl *
November 4 – Columbus, OH – LC Pavilion

Lollapalooza 2012 lineup has been revealed with headliners Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Black Keys, Black Sabbath and Jack White set to rock Chicago’s Grant Park. While Lollapalooza will share The Black Keys with Coachella as headliners, there are a number of solid bands playing here that will not play at Coachella. Some the most notable bands that will not overlap are; The Walkmen, Passion Pit, Twin Shadow, Dum Dum Girls, Washed Out, The Temper Trap, Delta Spirit, Toro Y Moi, and Dr. Dog.

The Lollapalooza Music Festival will be August 3rd – August 5th. See the full Lollapalooza lineup of bands and lineup poster below.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Black Keys, Black Sabbath, Jack White, Florence + the Machine, At the Drive-In, Avicii, The Shins, Justice, Passion Pit, Sigur Ros, The Weeknd, M83, Miike Snow, The Afghan Whigs, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, Frank Ocean, J. Cole, Childish Gambino, Delta Spirit, Metric, The Temper Trap, Wale, Die Antwoord, Dawes, tUnEyArDs, The Head & the Heart, The Big Pink, Twin Shadow, The Tallest Man on Earth, Toro y Moi, Dr. Dog, Of Monsters and Men, Gary Clark Jr., Alabama Shakes, The Gaslight Anthem, Amadou & Mariam, Band of Skulls, SBTRKT, Tame Impala, The Walkmen, JJ Grey & Mofro, fun., Neon Indian, Dum Dum Girls, Washed Out, Aloe Blacc, Trampled by Turtles, Bear in Heaven, Blind Pilot, Chairlift, The Black Angels, Yellow Ostrich, Givers, Polica, Bombay Bicycle Club, Sharon Van Etten, White Rabbits, Doomtree, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, The Devil Makes Three, Oberhofer, The War on Drugs, Michael Kiwanuka, O Rappa, Bowerbirds, Orchard Lounge, Mona, The Growlers, Hey Rosetta!, JEFF the Brotherhood, Anamanaguchi, First Aid Kit, Wax, FIDLAR, JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound, Milo Greene, Los Jaivas, Kopecky Family Band, The Jezabels, LP, Yuna, Walk Off the Earth, Animal Kingdom, Dev, The Sheepdogs, The Dunwells, DJ Mel, Empires, Kevin Devine, Dry the River, Helena, Haley Reinhart, Imaginary Cities, Overdoz, Ambassadors, DJ Zebo, Chancellor Warhol, Laura Warshauer, Red Oblivion

Perry’s stage: Bassnectar, Kaskade, Calvin Harris, NERO, Santigold, Knife Party, Zeds Dead, Big Gigantic, Skream & Benga, Little Dragon, Porter Robinson, Sub Focus, Madeon, Zedd, Paper Diamond, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Star Slinger, Nadastrom, DJ Nihal, SALVA, & Kid Color.