Reykjavík Grapevine - 19.05.2006, Page 25

As the landscape of music purchasing changes
increasingly from record shops to iTunes and
other online download sources, an interesting
fact has been revealed: most of us like all kinds
of music. We have become shuffle-heads. We
want to hear our alt-country butted up against
our dirty south rap, and if we don’t, we get bo-
red—the genre-faithful approach of traditional
radio is what is rapidly killing it. Coachella
Valley Music and Arts Festival, in Indio, Ca-
lifornia, has become the most successful of the
American music festivals by anticipating this
change. Launched in 1999 (two years before
the launch of iPod), Coachella has become a
fairly accurate barometer of what is, was, or
will be loved by hipsters across America.
Between the two of us, we have seen 5 of
the last 7 Coachellas, 3 of them together. Over
the years we have witnessed countless perfor-
mances by some of the luminaries of modern
music on a large dusty polo field, and one thing
has become very clear: the future of music
lies in the destruction of genre altogether. No
festival in our experience has ever proven this
more clearly than this year’s Coachella.
The most outstanding performances of
the festival came from those who were actively
attempting to cross boundaries. As we watched
Bay Area rapper Murs with 9th Wonder,
we saw a teenager in a Gogol Bordello shirt
bouncing up and down, and we realized that
this is the testing ground for the future of po-
pular music. The act that perhaps most clearly
demonstrated this genre-crossing is one that is
already a sensation in the UK, and is about to
drop in the US: Gnarls Barkley. In the studio,
Gnarls is the creation of red-hot beat maker
Danger Mouse and ex-Goodie Mob soul
madman Cee-Lo Green. Live, the pair was
joined by a full band including strings, horns,
and backup singers.
We had heard a couple of Gnarls’ singles
on Myspace prior to the show, and they were
brought to full Technicolor life onstage. In
addition to being a band of crack musicians,
the group dressed as characters from the Wi-
zard of Oz, with Cee-Lo as “Mee-Lo the Not-
So-Cowardly-Lion.” Combining electronics
and live instrumentation to execute songs that
in themselves blend rock, soul, funk, techno,
and hip hop was quite an impressive feat. We
can’t remember that last time we saw a stage
show so captivating (though Basement Jaxx
with a full band, Dizzee Rascal, and dancers in
gorilla costumes two years earlier at Coachella
does come to mind.) Musicians like Gnarls
Barkley and UK soul/electronic sensation
Jamie Lidell, who performed earlier in the
same venue, understand that music is about
communication. If a musician can communi-
cate effectively with their audience, it doesn’t
really matter how they manage to do it.
Lidell’s show was much more minimal
than Gnarls’, featuring only him, a rack of
electronics, and his silly dancer/hype man.
Lidell built his music in front of us. He would
start beatboxing, sample a four bar section of
his rhythm, and loop it, immediately jumping
to a keyboard to set up melodies to go with it.
As soon as he had backing tracks created/se-
quenced, he would begin singing, and his show
changed from electronic wizardry to classic
soul-man, complete with James Brown cape
action from his hype man. Here was a decide-
dly electronic musician whose most effective
stage trick was looking the audience in the eyes
and singing very well.
In addition to newly-hip acts, Coachella
is known for returning alternative pleasures of
the last 10 to 20 years to the stage. Sometimes
this is a great success, such as with the Pixies’
recent reunion and excellent Coachella set
two years ago, and this year’s Digable Planets
return with full live band. Sometimes this turns
into the more predictable tired sounding oldies
set by a band whose chops are not what they
should be. Sadly, this seemed to be the case
with this year’s set by Massive Attack. We have
been Massive Attack fans for many years, but
their show at Coachella was sleep-inducing.
They stood absolutely still, and did not play
with much energy. The much-hyped addition
of Madonna to this year’s festival was justified
as the addition of a world-class dance act to the
bill, but proved to be little more than spectacle
for the pop music fans in the crowd.
Not that spectacle is a bad thing. Daft
Punk played what became the most came-
ra-phone videoed set of the weekend in that
same dance tent by assaulting the audience
with some of the most astounding visuals we
had ever encountered, coupled with dynamic
remixing of their beloved catalogue. The pair
arrived inside of a giant pyramid that towe-
red over the stage. The pyramid was used
as a projection surface from inside and out,
allowing light to glow from within and strange
psychedelic visuals to appear on the outside. A
problem that electronic acts traditionally face
in translating their music to American crowds
is the lack of stage show. Daft Punk captivated
even those too shy to dance to their beats.
The way that we listen to music has
changed, and continues to change. This both
reflects and effects the way that music is being
made, and the way it is being performed live.
The record industry is faltering because they
have not quite figured out the new mold, but
Coachella seems to have it down. Hip-hop
next to folk, electronic next to metal, and even-
tually, it’s all just rock and roll.
Clear View of the Future
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Finds a Voice
by electric lights, (anna ehl and josh loar) photos by josh loar
hGrapevinehonhtourh:hCaliforniaroomm
FOREX_grapevine_MAR06.indd 1 2006-03-31 14:20:10
Hornafjörður er blómstrandi samfélag í ríki Vatnajökuls. Auk stórkost-
legrar náttúru og útsýnis sem á sér vart hliðstæðu er á Hornafi rði að fi nna
fjölbreytta þjónustu og afþreyingu fyrir ferðamenn s.s. hótel, veitingahús,
tjaldstæði, verslanir, sundlaug, söfn og sýningar, golfvöll og margt fl eira.
Hornafjörður er því sannkölluð ferðamannaparadís.
Jöklasýning á Höfn var opnuð 3. júní
2005 eftir miklar breytingar. Markmið
sýningarinnar er að miðla á fjölbreyttan
hátt fróðleik um náttúru landsins og
bjóða ferðamönnum upp á áhugaverða
afþreyingu allt árið. Sýningin er opin alla
virka daga frá október til apríl. Daglegur
opnunartími er frá byrjun maí til loka
september. Sýningin er opnuð fyrir utan
hina auglýstu opnunartíma þegar þess er
óskað.
Jöklasýning
á Höfn
www.joklasyning.is
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