Indio, Calif. – Nestled in a massive palm-lined polo field in the middle of the desert, the Coachella Valley Music Festival is a musical oasis.
Whereas Austin’s venerable South by Southwest music festival presents nearly 1,500 bands on a three-day platter and lets you create your own menu, Coachella’s nearly 100 groups in two days is more selective. Like the European festivals it is fashioned after, the two stages and three tents feature the bands that matter and the bands that will soon matter.
So forget for a minute the festival’s headliners from this past weekend – Nine Inch Nails and Coldplay, who were both predictably solid – and focus on the bands that will grow to become headliners of future Coachellas and Glastonburys and Readings.
The future of indie music is in good hands. More than 50,000 people each day heard the evidence on Saturday and Sunday at Indio’s Empire Polo Fields. Here are 10 bands from Coachella 2005 you should know about (if you don’t already):
1 The Arcade Fire: The goliath symphonic pop orchestrations of The Arcade Fire, which include multiple scaffolding-climbing percussionists, a few violins and the occasional accordion, are lullabies for the thinking, dancing class. Win Butler and Regine Chassagne are hypnotic vocalists, but the image burned into the synapses after seeing the band live is this: all seven or eight members singing at the top of their lungs, mic or no mic, creating a sound so full and passionate it’s impossible to ignore.
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2 M.I.A.: This Sri Lankan-born MC, with her hot looks and hotter British accent, does more than flow. She sings and dances and rocks the mic with a foreign fervor hip-hop hasn’t seen yet, at least on this level. Her production is basic, but it uses Eastern influences to rock the world/hip-hop vibe in a refreshingly pertinent way.
3 The Raveonettes: Copenhagen, Denmark’s own Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo have taken time to grow into the enormous shoes they set out to fill via 2002’s “Whip It On.” But the band’s new musical digs, this week’s “Pretty in Black” and its Coachella set make it sound better (and bigger) than ever. Only a few years ago the band members struggled at the tiny Bluebird Theater. Under the blazing California sun they did a wall-of-sound set that would have made Phil Spector – and Ronnie Spector, who collaborated with them on “Black” – proud.
4 M83: The duo’s set last weekend was modest – with Anthony Gonzalez and Nicolas Fromageau switching back and forth, occasionally acknowledging each other yet perfectly in sync – but the sound was epic. M83 is all about the synthesizer-rooted soundscapes, always morphing and clicking onto other levels. They go beyond improvisational keyboard pop.
5 Bloc Party: Gang of Four played Coachella after a long hiatus, and the band – fronted by vocalist and post-punk legend Jon King – did a take-no-prisoners gig. And this only made it more obvious that Bloc Party is doing little more than polishing up Gang of Four tracks for the new millennium. Which is OK, because getting some six years out of the original (1977-83) wasn’t enough. We need Bloc Party to carry the torch high and proud, and it seems happy to do it.
6 Miss Kittin: Her plain-spoken, broken English was made world-famous via Felix da Housecat’s “Kittenz and Thee Glitz,” but this Teutonic kitty is also a fierce DJ – especially with a mic in her hand.
7 Gram Rabbit: Rilo Kiley should be ashamed. The excellent L.A. band ditched Saddle Creek Records, made a subpar album, then was outshone in its backyard by Gram Rabbit, billed as Coachella’s only hometown band (from Joshua Tree.) Gram Rabbit’s sample-infused country was not only dynamic (and Wilco-esque), but the tracks from “Music to Start a Cult to” are defined by their restlessness. One moment it’s Flaming Lips-style electro-folk, the next dance- pop. One moment lead singer Jesika Von Rabbit sounds like Kim Deal, next Chrissie Hynde. It’s an aural smorgasbord, and the meager crowd at the band’s early-afternoon main-stage set was left salivating for more.
8 The Kills: There’s only so much W (Alison Mosshart) and Hotel (Jamie Hince) can accomplish with their guitars-versus- drum-track live setup. It’s fascinating at first, but after 15 minutes, it becomes a varying drone set on repeat – something made evident in The Kills’ Coachella set, which at 50 minutes still seemed too long. Yet “No Wow” remains one of the better records released this year.
9 The Bravery: Talk your smack – we don’t care. The Bravery, like fest-mates The Futureheads and Razorlight, makes fun, blippy dance music. The Killers said The Bravery sold out to label demands for a new wave synth band, but so what? “An Honest Mistake” is a blast on the dance floor.
10 Jamie Cullum: While he does little for this music fan, Cullum could well be the next Coldplay. It’s that sunny piano pop the girls and guys love. But this has an edge. “I’m about to play Cole Porter at a rock festival, so feel free to throw things,” he said, before kicking into “I Get a Kick Out of You.” His light British accent skimmed over “Some get their kicks from cocaine” before he hopped atop the piano bench and slammed his big-soled shoe onto the beautiful piano he was playing.
Pop music critic Ricardo Baca can be reached at 303-820-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com .
