The Coachella lineup looks great (they had me at Moz), but equally interesting for LA locals will be the inevitable secret shows as bands head down to Indio. As per festival rules, acts can’t play in LA for a month surrounding their Coachella gig, but they usually do anyway — last year I caught Architecture in Helsinki at the Echo the night before.

So who’ll it be this year? The Junior Boys/Max Tundra tour stops in San Francisco on April 16, with the Juniors’ Coachella performance set for the 18th — Max’s publicist tells me that there will be an as-yet-unannounced LA show for him, though not necessarily that week.

A Juniors publicist says a secret show for them is “unlikely” — but that doesn’t mean impossible, right? JuBros at Spaceland!?!?

Cross yr fingers and leave yr insider info in the comments, folks. (Robo-statue at Coachella 2006 photo by David Greenwald)

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Previously: Coachella 2009 Revealed: Moz, Macca and MBV

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Jamz: Took a First Look at Grizzly Bear‘s stunning Veckatimest.

Live: Saw Bell and Asobi Seksu at the Troubadour and Tindersticks at the Henry Fonda.

Camera Obscurist: Captured Tree Man bringing Tolkien to Venice.

And while you’re here, a question for the bloggers and web monkeys — I’ve been using Dreamhost to host the new site, but I’ve noticed it’s not as zippy as it could be. Anyone else having problems with loading speed? And can you recommend another reasonably priced hosting service? I’ve heard good things about Bluehost and GoDaddy.

(Bell photo by David Greenwald)

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The Week In Rawk: Last week’s finest hour (or so). Click below for more.

All photos by David Greenwald

Bluntly, Bell is a charming but second-rate Bjork; worse, she seems to have arrived to the party just in time for Medulla. Frontwoman Olga Bell unleashed the same volcanic vowel affectations as her Icelandic counterpart in her Troubadour show opening for Asobi Seksu, singing over chilly electro-analog hybrid beats that douse her humanity in metalic cool. And you may have noticed she’s a bit pretty. There’s a built-in market for this sort of thing no matter the quality, but there’s a spark to Bell that many of her coffee shop contemporaries lack — the best part of watching the singer play the Troubadour was her energy and excitement at simply being in the legendary venue. With an ingenue’s awe, she kept remarking on how cool it was to be in L.A. (and in her presumable interior monologue, not have the audience fold their arms in unimpressed solidarity). If she can deliver more of that sunshine down to her dystopian songs, she may get something new growing yet. As ush, click any photo to open the hi-res gallery and find ‘em after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

You may have noticed that I haven’t made so much as a hyperbolic whimper about Grizzly Bear‘s Veckatimest since its recent leak. In part, I’ve wanted to be sensitive to co-lead singer Ed Droste, who’s been a good friend (and gourmand) to this blog, but more importantly because the band’s third album is one that requires serious time and attention before an inevitable gushing review calling it their best yet, a great leap forward, the record indie rock has been waiting for, etc. Because, simply, it is. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by David Greenwald

The 21-year-old Fleet Foxes frontman — clearly deep into his Lindsay Lohan phase — is currently having a real-time Twitter conversation with himself about the enormity of the universe and humanity’s ultimate inability to comprehend its vastness. He’s also being extremely self-conscious about it and calling himself “pretentious,” because God forbid anybody feel confident about having a public deep thought without being made fun of by assholes on the Internet. See, guys, this is why the NBA makes people spend two years in college ball first. Edit: One year! Still plenty of time for obligatory 3 a.m. dorm floor conversations about Life, The Universe and Everything.

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All photos by David Greenwald

In my review of Asobi Seksu‘s shoegaze skin-shedding Hush, I praised the band for bringing Yuki Chikudate’s agile voice to the forefront and banishing the sturm und drang of their previous records. This was before the live show. Not that Asobi Seksu sounded bad on Saturday — Chikudate’s voice translated beautifully under the Troubadour’s lofted ceilings, but hearing her properly under the once-again prominent squall took some effort. More frustrating was the iron-pumping drumming, which held down the new songs’ studio airiness with Bonham-like muscularity. Athleticism does have its charms, and fans of the band’s previous heaviness were no doubt glad to see them throwing their weight around — still, I’d advise them to ease off the protein shakes. More after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

All photos by David Greenwald

Rather than maintain a separate photoblog now that I’m shooting regularly with my DSLR, I’m just going to post the best of my camera forays here roughly once a week in a column called Camera Obscurist. OK by you guys? There are more photos from my Venice stroll yesterday on Flickr and another of Tree Man after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

All photos by David Greenwald

Listening back to Tindersticks‘ fifth album, last year’s The Hungry Saw, the band’s exchange of late night cool for ’60s shuffling may not have been the greatest trade. But in their first Los Angeles show in five years, the band plunged deep into their old cocktails and turned the venue into a gentleman’s club — the smoky, pre-stripper variety. Even recent songs such as “The Flicker Of a LIttle Girl” surprised the seated crowd with an energy both evocative and unexpectedly cathartic — and apparently moving enough to egg a couple of audience members into a fight between the folding chairs. Shit’s emotional. Live, Tindersticks have a strength and quiet power not always evident on their recordings; at times on Friday, they shared space with Calexico’s Southwestern wanderings and the National’s brooding misanthropy. Tindersticks are, of course, an antecedent to both bands, and the show was a sorely needed reminder from the shadowy act. Hopefully it won’t be another five years till the next one. More photos after the jump — as usual, click ‘em for hi-res. Read the rest of this entry »