Coachella 2012 will run on two weekends in a row, an expansion that feels like it could backfire: will Radiohead’s second headlining set feel as meaningful for those who’ve already watched the videos on YouTube and Pitchfork.tv? Will the bands, festival paychecks in hand, snooze through their second performance? Or will the divided dates return Coachella to the chill glory of its pre-Hills invasion early years? (More importantly: will someone give me press passes to cover all six days? Do I have enough sunscreen? Will Destroyer’s set get anyone pregnant?)

I’ve got questions. Answers will have to wait. In the mean time, the festival announced a pretty serious lineup last night. Find the full list on Coachella’s Facebook page and the bands I’m most excited about below:

Friday: Pulp, Refused, Mazzy Star, Frank Ocean, James
Saturday, what a day: Radiohead, Jeff Mangum, Andrew Bird, Feist, St. Vincent, SBTRKT, Flying Lotus, Buzzcocks, Destroyer, Laura Marling, Gary Clark Jr.
Sunday: Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg (!), At the Drive-In, Justice, Beirut, the Hives (still a band!), Wild Flag, Real Estate, the Gaslamp Killer, First Aid Kit, Wild Beasts.

Notes: There are lot of great bands buried at the bottom of Sunday’s list. I’m surprised Wild Beasts likely aren’t positioned for a sunset 6 p.m. slot — their music is dark and romantic and totally compelling in a way that 2 p.m. heatstroke won’t help. Then again, Deerhunter were stuck with the same billing in 2010. My must-see here is At the Drive-In, the late ’90s/early ’00s emo titans who fractured into the painfully inferior Sparta and the Mars Volta. If they can recapture the magic, it’ll be the most visceral show of any 2012 weekend. It’s great to see a Jeff Mangum California date, finally, though billing him a line below Bon Iver feels unforgivable. Day 2 in general looks spectacular: my only concerns are that groups such as Destroyer and St. Vincent and Laura Marling will wind up 1) off of main stages and 2) all playing at the same time. If I can see Dan, Annie, Laura, Andrew, Jeff and Thom in the same day, while simultaneously playing Portlandia on my iPad, I’ll pee myself. For eight hours straight.

Stream: Coachella 2012 Rawkblog Picks (Spotify)

Will you go this year? Any bands you’re excited about?

Monday, Jan. 9: Princeton’s free residency kicks off at the Bootleg with TV Girl; chamber-folk act Seasons’ free residency starts at the Echo. Highly recommend catching both bands this month.

Tuesday, Jan. 10: Punk upstarts FIDLAR play the Smell.

Thursday, Jan. 12: Radiohead acolytes Masxs play the Bootleg Bar; Robert Schwartzman (of Phantom Planet) and Princeton spin-off Sleeping Bags are at the Satellite, free; the reasonably charming garage-rockers of La Sera play the Echo.

More dates on the monthly calendar after the jump. You can click the buttons below to add my picks to your feeds.

Tuesday: Country legend Emmylou Harris plays the Greek Theatre. Bring a hankie. More after the jump. 

Wednesday: Jens Lekman plays the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in celebration of his excellent new EP (and forthcoming album?) with Crayon Fields frontman Geoffrey O’Connor.

Thursday: Pepper Rabbit makes it home at last on their Red Velvet Snowball tour; Gillian Welch puts down roots at the Music Box; Jon Brion plays Largo.

Friday: Jon Brion plays Largo, which means you should be at Largo.

As usual, here are my recs for the week:

Monday: You can see three of L.A.’s best unsigned bands at the Bootleg Bar tonight: Big Moves, LA Font and yOya. Free! Go, and give them money.

Tuesday: Laura Marling and U.K. colleagues Alessi’s Ark bring their must-see folk to the Troubadour.

Thursday: Systems Officer, a worth-your-time Pinback spin-off, plays the Echo.

Friday: Bright Eyes plays the appropriately melodramatic Hollywood Forever Cemetery; the Bird and the Bee’s Inara George plays the Bootleg.

Saturday: Junior Boys bring their crooner-electro to the El Rey. “Banana Ripple,” from spring’s It’s All True, remains a jam of the year contender.

Sunday: Every indie band we like and also TV on the Radio play the Pitchfork Music Festival the Hollywood Bowl, of all places. Can we retire “indie” yet?

Friday: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. @ the Troubadour

Saturday: Future Ghost, Summer Darling and Black Apples @ the Echo + Superhumanoids @ Bootleg Bar

Sunday: The National, Neko Case and Sharon Van Etten (!) @ the Hollywood Bowl

Monday: Big Moves continue their residency at the Bootleg Bar with Maston, United Ghosts and dream-poppers Spero. (Monday’s still the weekend, right? #unemployment)

Assuming Goldenvoice works its logistical magic, Saturday’s FYF Fest could be the best non-SXSW music festival of the year. Below you’ll find my planned itinerary; if you skip Olivia Tremor Control or Guided by Voices, it’s time to consider your life choices. Look at this fucking lineup:

12:30 p.m. Twin Sister – Raphael’s Stage
1:25 p.m. Avi Buffalo – Raphael’s Stage (toss-up: 1:35 p.m. Mr. Heavenly - Leonardo’s Stage)
2:50 p.m. Ty Segall – Michaelangelo’s Stage (toss-up: Maintain position at Raphael’s Stage for Olivia Tremor Control; actually, definitely do this)
3:35 p.m. Smith Westerns – Leonardo’s Stage (toss-up: see above; now would be a good time to do drugs, if that’s what you’re into)
4:25 p.m. Olivia Tremor Control – Raphael’s Stage (toss-up: 4:15 p.m. Japandroids – Michaelangelo’s Stage; I’d love to see this band but there’s no imaginable way to not be front row for OTC during this window)
5:30 p.m. The Weakerthans – Raphael’s Stage
6-ish: Dinner break
7:05 p.m. Broken Social Scene – Leonardo’s Stage
8:20 p.m. Guided By Voices – Leonardo’s Stage

This is the end of the bands I’m actively interested in seeing. From here, I’ll probably do:

9:40 p.m. Descendants – Leonardo’s Stage –>
9:35 p.m. Simian Mobile Disco – Michaelangelo’s Stage
10:45 p.m. Explosions in the Sky – Donatello’s Stage

Headliners Death from Above 1979 were a crappy band in 2004 and remained one at Coachella this year; I’ll be going to a bar or to bed at that point. It’ll be nice to end the day with some climactic post-rock, though.

Here are my L.A. concert recommendations, short and sweet, for the week. Only things I actually would like to see. On days with multiple listings, they’re in descending order of priority. Click below to add the ongoing calendar to your Google Calendar, iCal, etc.

Monday, August 22: Worthwhile garage-pop quartet Stone Darling continues its residency at the Satellite. Correatown brings its Grey’s Anatomy-approved folk-pop to the Echo for Active Child’s residency. Both free shows.

Tuesday, August 23: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks promote Mirror Traffic at Amoeba Music with a free gig.

Wednesday, August 24: Fiona Apple makes a rare headlining appearance at Largo to benefit the Littlest Tumor Foundation. Maybe she’ll actually play her own songs instead of the usual (and don’t get me wrong, very welcome) jazz covers.

Friday, August 26: LA Font wraps up its Casey’s residency downtown. Jon Brion plays Largo. John Vanderslice comes to the Echo.

Saturday, August 27: On a busy weekend, the best gig is DNTEL, the One AM Radio and Geotic (Baths’ excellent ambient project) at the Echoplex. Jon Brion plays Largo; the Lonely Wild join Dodos at the Autry; at the Sunset Junction Festival, the Melvins lead an otherwise mediocre afternoon.

Sunday, August 28: Craft Spells and Seapony fuzz over the Echo. Uh Huh Her and Holly Miranda rock the Bootleg. And Sunset Junction, if you dare brave it, has a handful of sorta-stand-outs: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the Soft Pack and, uh, Rooney and Hanson. I’ll be at the Echo.

Here are my Los Angeles recs for the coming days:

Friday: The Fiery Furnaces’ Eleanor Friedberger wraps up her three-night Los Angeles run with a free show in the Origami Vinyl loft; Thurston Moore and Kurt Vile play the Troubadour.

Saturday: Lord Huron plays a free show at the Getty’s Fridays Off the 405 series before heading off to summer festivals.

Sunday: Grass Widow brings its spiderweb guitars to the Echo.

Monday: Princeton pop off at the Troubadour; Stone Darling get funky, lo-fi style, at the Satellite.

Coming up in August: Future Ghost, Summer Darling @ Satellite 8/5, Deerhunter @ Wiltern 8/9, Califone @ Satellite, 8/14, John Vanderslice @ the Echo 8/26, Craft Spells, Seapony @ the Echo 8/28. Keep an eye on our ongoing concert calendar for every essential show.

Eleanor Friedberger – “My Mistakes”: mp3
Lord Huron – “The Stranger”: mp3