Coachella 2007!

[curious]

looks like they finally have the set list up. tickets on sale this weekend. all i can say is FAITHLESS IS COMING TO AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i don't think they've toured here since their 2nd album (when i got into them). regardless i will be there and so should you. there's gotta be at least one band playing you want to see eh?

http://www.coachella.com/

[dteowner]

Don't get overly enthused about trip-hop to be honest, so Faithless wouldn't be a big draw for me. I think the only stuff I've got that would qualify for trip-hop would be FLIR and CORK (caps matter on both). CORK will be nearly impossible to find any more (closest thing I've found is singer Misty Murphy "covering" a CORK demo on her MySpace page). I wouldn't mind seeing Blonde Redhead, though.

[Corwin]

????????? What on earth are you guys talking about?????????? It looks like englisg, but it sure seems like a foreign language to me!! :)

[Danicek]

Coachella is big music festival somewhere in the deserts of California (if they have deserts over there :]).

[curious]

@dteowner
i'm slightly disappointed that you would label faithless as trip-hop. less than 10% of their songs you could call trip-hop. even morcheeba, who hates being labeled trip-hop, has far more trip hop songs than them. no, faithless is a meld of genres but if you are going to call them anything it would be dance music. but what sets them apart from nearly all dance music is not the quality, but maxi jazz (god-the grand oral diseminator). he is one of the 3 permanent members of the group, the other two focusing their amazing talents on the music. dido was also a member of the band on the first 2 albums and still came back to sing a few songs on the next two. also each album has lots of other guest vocalists/musicians on them who do stunning jobs. faithless, like radiohead another one of englands most respected bands, has also become highly political in their music since their 3rd albums.

@Danicek
we have some quite distinct ones, and others quite unimpressive. most of southern california is desert in fact. i'm sure there will be people at coachella from everyones home country here at rpgwatch. its grown quite popular, this year they've added a third day even. i'm sure there are other larger festivals around the world, but coachella gets alot of great bands together, new and old. also a lot of bands have done 'reunion' shows at coachella. its a shame that cocteau twins ended up not playing at the 2005 show...i probably would have gone otherwise.

[dteowner]

The JAMC reunion will be a big draw (although not particularly for me).

I only listened to a couple tracks from Faithless off their MySpace page. That might not have been a representative sample of their work.

[curious]

understandable dteowner

http://www.faithless.co.uk

this is their site, which i hadn't checked in about 3 months. in that time they, managed to release a new album apparently. they had many fans including myself believing that no roots (2004) was their last album, not counting forever faithless (greatest hits). but i'm even more elated now. by the way robert smith is supposedly on a track in the new album.

[Corwin]

I still wish you'd all speak english!! :)

[curious]

sorry its not about footbal;)

[Danicek]

i'm sure there are other larger festivals around the world, but coachella gets alot of great bands together

Yeah, this festival is actually quite famous. It has to be when I know from the name that it is a music festival somewhere in the California/US. I must have read about it something somewhere, probably a review of one of the previous years edition ;].

[txa1265]

I still wish you'd all speak english!! :)

What I find interesting is how more and more of pop & rock has become largely sub-genrefied based not on the music but the lifestyle. Trip-hop makes some sense, as does things like ambient, but 'shoegazer' and 'emo' and the like only indirectly suggest anything musical, and they are so often tied to the stylings of one or two musical groups that they are akin to saying that the Beatles and Stones were in different genres.

Of course, genres don't matter anyway, it is just a label to help you build an association - that can be a good or bad thing, depending on your perspective.

[dteowner]

Careful there, mister, or you're liable to receive a not-so-brief history of the term "shoegazer". It is actually intimately tied to the musicianship of most all purveyors of said music, although I will grant you that it isn't such a stretch to apply it to the people listening as well. Besides, you seem to be saying that you must partake to perform or listen to something like acid rock?

[txa1265]

It is actually intimately tied to the musicianship of most all purveyors of said music

I don't get that - is it a requirement of the musicians to look at their shoes? ...I mean, a meaningful sub-genre for me would be something like 'fusion' which is short for 'jazz/rock fusion', which was exactly what the music was about.

[dteowner]

One of the defining aspects of the music is extensive use of effects pedals while playing, operated with....wait for it....yer feet. With upwards of a dozen pedals, each with its own variable control, you've pretty much got to watch what you're doing.

[curious]

speaking of pedals you made me think of levator (originally a solo project by sky lynn)- i've seen her live and she is doing 10 things at once to make some great music/sounds and she's got a lovely voice to. own both her albums (thought the first one was much better though).

http://www.myspace.com/levator

another group she's in, who i haven't seen (though looks like they're coming to town!) or own albums of is blue light curtain who might be up your alley dteowner.

http://www.myspace.com/bluelightcurtain

[txa1265]

Besides, you seem to be saying that you must partake to perform or listen to something like acid rock?

No, but I think it helped people think that much of it was any good - or that people like Jim Morrison were 'profound'.

[dteowner]

Levator was way too lo-fi for me, but Blue Light Curtain wasn't too shabby.

[Corwin]

Anyone for ABBA!! :) or Neil Diamond??!! :biggrin:

[Jaz]

Here! *snaps fingers*
But I also like Rollo and his stuff, and thus, Faithless.

[curious]

@jaz-i presume you've heard dusted-when we were young? that album is great and another example of rollo's amazing skills.

for those who don't know, rollo armstrong (one of faithless's 3 permanent members) is dido's older brother. yes those are there real names!

[Jaz]

Oh yes, I remember :D.
I also liked his OT Quartet and Felix stuff. The man is a genius.

[chamr]

One of the defining aspects of the music is extensive use of effects pedals while playing, operated with....wait for it....yer feet. With upwards of a dozen pedals, each with its own variable control, you've pretty much got to watch what you're doing.

Hmm... I don't know about that dte. I believe the original intent of the "shoegazer" label was to reflect how the bands behaved on stage. Rather than actin' crazy or rockin' out, they were known for standing rather still, looking down, and doing little or nothing to engage with the audience on a visual level. They were just "gazing at their shoes".

[dteowner]

Dost thou droppest the gauntlet, foul youngling? Have at ye! :)

We're actually saying much the same thing, it's just a question of motivation. They were immobile performers as you say, but that stemmed from being tied to their equipment as much as anything. Members of "the scene that celebrates itself" were, overall, lousy interviews (probably dumb luck, although shoegaze is probably more likely to be played by wallflowers than hyper rockers), which gave some legs to the idea that the performers were unresponsive lumps by choice. Some of the bands probably became lumps to play along, but it all begins with effects pedals. The very nature of the music shows that varied sonic texture is paramount.

[chamr]

I do! Foul... um... fouling! :/

You're right in that we simply disagree on the motivation. The way I understand it, it didn't matter whether they had 1 or 100 pedals. It was their attitudes about performing and audience interaction that drew the "shoegazer" epithet. You're right that their music also tended toward the layerd, many-effect, moody style. But the "shoegazing" wasn't because they couldn't look up from their pedals. It was because they couldn't be bothered to look up from their pedals, or shoes, or the carpet, etc.

[dteowner]

Wise you are, but much to learn have you still to know the Ways of the Gaze. Concentrate you must, young jedi.

Many gaze bands have elaborate visual presentations when they play live. It wouldn't be the musicians, but appropriate video/light shows behind the band. Think of how inappropriate it would be for the band to jump around and whoop and hollar. The visual presentation was simply another layer to the tapestry. Anything overly attention-grabbing would run counter to the tone of the entire presentation. Even if they had no pedals to deal with, the structure of the music would mandate that the players be unobtrusive. No layer may outshine the others.

[chamr]

[whiny voice] You want the IMPOSSIBLE! [/whiny voice]

I'm going to say that the term, like many words in a living language, has evolved from it's original meaning (my interpretation) to it's current meaning (your interpretation) and leave it at that.

:)

[dteowner]

Now I'm going to have to see if I can track down the NME article where the term was coined. Not to prove you wrong, but rather to prove me right to myself. You've shaken my confidence in my memory.

[chamr]

Now I'm going to have to see if I can track down the NME article where the term was coined. Not to prove you wrong, but rather to prove me right to myself. You've shaken my confidence in my memory.

Let me know if you do. I'd be curious to know for sure as well...

[dteowner]

I'll get some additional confirmation since wikipedia has no guarantees, but I think this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoegaze) may be the answer. If we take the wiki as fact, you were right about the revision of the definition over time, but it went the other direction.

[chamr]

you were right about the revision of the definition over time, but it went the other direction.

Ah.. but yours is clearly the more useful and accurate one. Thanks for the education. :)

[dteowner]

Always willing to discuss the genre ad-nauseum if given half a chance. ;)

[curious]

on sale in 5 minutes

http://www.ticketmaster.com/promo/pbozyc?brand=coachella