Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
13-15 & 20-22 April 2012
Empire Polo Club, California, USA
coachella.com

In a sentence
With two identical line ups on consecutive weeks, Coachella boasts what is probably the strongest overall line up in the world.

Headliners
The Black Keys
Radiohead
Dr Dre & Snoop Dogg

If you only see one band
This could have been anybody of dozens, but ignoring the headliners, I wouldn’t want to miss The Shins.

Hidden down the order
It shows the strength of the line up that Gaslamp Killer looks like he’ll be on very early on the final day.

Other sockformation favourites
Pulp, Arctic Monkeys, M83, GIRLS, The Horrors, Frank Ocean, SebastiAn, Yuck, Neon Indian, WU LYF, The Dear Hunter, Miike Snow, Jeff Mangum, Feist, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, SBTRKT, Flying Lotus, Azealia Banks, A$AP Rocky, Buzzcocks, tUnE, yArDs, Black Lips, The Big Pink, Justice, Beirut, The Weeknd, Girl Talk, The Hives, DJ Shadow, Wild Flag, Modeselektor, Real Estate, First Aid Kit, Metronomy, Wild Beasts

despite the fact that it takes away from the live tweet review, i feel i should add some more to this. i struggled with 3g and there is plenty more i could have said. i didn’t even mention wild beasts. excellent of course. i was really looking forward to seeing twin shadow and he didn’t disappoint. i missed about group which was a shame. i needed a beer though. decided on warpaint instead of the horrors in the end as i’ve seen the horrors precisely 502 times before. just imagine those in tweets and we’ll all get along fine.

i guess i could have a moan about the queuing everywhere. it was the worst field day i’ve ever been to for that. i won’t moan though because there is something i love about field day and i’ll still be back next year.

at last year’s field day i debuted my live tweeting reviews. it wasn’t perfect by any means, and i’ve improved it since, but thank you field day 2010 for starting me on this. this probably wasn’t particularly original, but it made my life very easy indeed so expect the same sort of thing again on monday.

as a bit of a preview to tomorrow’s field day i’ve put together a playlist of those acts i’m planning on seeing. i’ve used a clash guide, which i imagine has been put together through a lot of guess work so it may be impossible. some already overlap anyway and i haven’t accounted for food. or, more pressingly, getting drunk and losing my glasses. it’s nice to go with a plan though isn’t it. also, the chances of me being there by pearson sound are pretty much non existent. my aim is ducktails to start really and if i can only see one act all day it will be twin shadow. i don’t know why i would only get to see one act though.

you can listen to the playlist right here.

it should come as no surprise that this month’s playlist is a bit of an amy winehouse special. i wasn’t blogging very regularly last weekend so didn’t really mention her on here. enough has been said anyway, so it isn’t really worth saying much apart from how much she’ll be missed. especially her music. as it happens, i’m in the camp addiction is a disease and it doesn’t matter how what the situation around her life was, she was a young girl who lost her life. and that’s bad. just in case you haven’t read it by the way, russell brand wrote an amazing piece about her.

these playlists aren’t just about what i’ve written about on here, but also what i’ve been listening to in the background. as most new bits of music i like get included on the blog, the extras are often older stuff. this month i’ve broken out crazysexycool for a bit of tlc love. i had to include them on here. also on an rnb feel you’ll find some cassie. a few days ago i had her playing on youtube (she’s hot, so it’s always video rather than mp3 with her) and accidentally started ‘rudie can’t fail’ by the clash on itunes. suffice to say that the two mixed together brilliantly and i now rate myself as the next carl cox.

enjoy the playlist, which can be found here and any feedback (especially tlc love) is always appreciated. also a quick thank you to emma who chose the amy winehouse connected songs to close the set.

i’m back online at home so posts should start to come thick and fast (ie, one a day or so. let’s not get over excited) again. unfortunately i’ve spent most of this evening installing lion os x and sorting out my inbox. i still don’t know why lion is so good but i’ve done it anyway. as for the inbox, this is great news. i’ve got all pretty colours and shit going on so should be a bit better at responding now. it’s filter and label overload heaven. i’ve also updated my gigs graphic to the right which means nothing to anybody. i’m anal about stuff like that though. mentioning it does link nicely to the new wild beasts video though. my next gig is field day you see and they are playing perfect. perfect like this track in fact. remind me again how they didn’t get nominated for a mercury. ridiculous.

wild beasts have released the video for ‘albatross’. the song is beautiful. this is a given. apparently the video “emits a sense of reflection about loss and an underlying hope of being free.” i don’t really know what that means, but i do like the fact that it looks like they’ve covered the walls in cling film. a cheap and effective way of keeping grime off the walls.

it’s the mercury music prize tonight. i think wild beasts or foals should win. i think paul weller will win. or the xx. probably weller though.

do you see what i’ve done with the title there? probably my proudest moment. anyway, the mercury prize nominations have been announced. as the title suggests, gorillaz have missed out. i’m disappointed. out of those that have made it, i’d probably like to see foals or wild beasts win it please. thanks.

so, those nominations in full..

biffy clyro. only revolutions
corinne bailey. rae the sea
dizzee rascal. tongue n’ cheek
foals. total life forever
i am kloot. sky at night
kit downes. trio golden
laura marling. i speak because i can
mumford & sons. sigh no more
paul weller. wake up the nation
the xx. xx
villagers. becoming a jackal
wild beasts. two dancers

i’m more excited about the popjustice twenty quid music prize probably.