COACHELLA 2010: The Belated Preview

Charlotte Gainsbourg, shot by Andrew Herrold for Spin

So, I sorta spaced on this. On Thursday, LA Weekly released its annual Coachella issue and yours truly was all up in that ish. (Sorry, the long weekend has taken it’s toll on my creative juices.) While I realize the timeliness of this is a bit… untimely, since the focus is on L.A. artists, I’d like to get the word out.

Herein, you’ll find lots of good text on good performers from good writers like Jeff Weiss, Drew Tewksbury, Wendy Gilmartin and Daiana Feuer. I wrote on DJ Lance Rock, Devo, Edward Sharpe, the Glitch Mob, Mayer Hawthorne, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Julian Casablancas, and Thom Yorke. Dig it.

News Roundup: U-Pick New Devo Songs, Dam-Funk Does Human League, Henry Clay People, Mexicans With Guns, Inara George, and more…

They might be men, but they are definitely Devo.

Quick bloggy bits* from around the L.A. underground (and up).

  1. New Wave U-Pick: Help Choose the Songs for Devo’s Next Album
  2. Funk Yeah: Dam-Funk Covers Human League, Releases Video and MP3
  3. MP3 Exclusive: Nocando’s ‘Old Friend,’ from Passion of the Weiss
  4. Hear Songs from Henry Clay People’s New LP, Forthcoming on TBD
  5. MP3 Exclusive: “Me Gusto” by Mexicans With Guns [UPDATED]
  6. Download: Free Music from Inara George and Charlie Wadhams
  7. (all stories via West Coast Sound, via LA Weekly)

*If you like it, then you better put a tweet on it.

Aside: Officially Coining “Rollerbladerhosen”

roll•er•blad•er•ho•sen [roh-ler-bley-der-hoh-zuhn] plural noun

1. Short shorts,  possibly leather, probably black, combined with a tight-fitting, logo-sporting T-shirt (often in a color to match the shorts) and, most importantly, the inexplicable presence of knee pads.

“Last night, Devo stripped off their yellow plastic jumpsuits to reveal rollerbladerhosen. Too bad they left the helmets at home.”

photo by Nicole Campos

Live in LA: Devo Whip It Good (on Spin)

Last night Devo surprised the hell out of the Henry Fonda Theater’s sold-out crowd. In short, the ancient New Wave innovators slayed, proving with grandly nerdy fanfare that, truly, age ain’t nothin’ but a number. They do it again tonight, except performing their 1980 LP, Freedom Of Choice, front to back, whereas last night’s show featured all of the band’s Brian Eno-produced debut, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!. Read about it here, and check out the excellent photos from Andrew Herrold.