3-day tickets released!

TICKET UPDATE: A limited number of three-day passes has been released at Ticketmaster... go here to get them before it's too late!

All gone, sorry!

Coachella Artist: CocoRosie

CocoRosie is a band comprised of two sisters that make dreamy, atmospheric compositions that utilize toy instruments and strange noises to accompany their haunting, scratchy voices.

The end result is something romantic, or at least it seems so at first listen; but they can tackle some heavy feelings in their ballads. I will never forget the first time I heard the line “I’d wear your black eyes…bake you apple pies…I won’t ask why…” in their song By Your Side. It stirred up so many disturbing feelings that to this day I still get chills when I hear it.

Bianca and Sierra Casady create understandably offbeat music for their upbringing. They are American born, but their parents divorced at a young age and shuffled them around the country, their father being a Shaman and mother being an artist. They were separated for nearly 10 years and Sierra moved across the Atlantic to study opera in Rome. She was living in France when one day in 2003, her sister Bianca showed up on her doorstep and they started recording as CocoRosie.

They just released their third full-length album earlier this month, entitled The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn, and have been branching out to work with other artists and other mediums of art.

For starters, check out the live video for By Your Side.

Their official website is a little slow, but has cool animation and art.

Ever wonder what happens when kazoos, toy recorders and classical harp collide in Hairnet Paradise?

The last song on their cd Noah's Ark is short and amazing: Honey or Tar.

First time listeners: let us know your thoughts. Pleasantly odd or just plain weird?

CocoRosie is scheduled to wow the crowd with awesomeness on Saturday, April 28th.

Coachella Artist: Cornelius

photo from flickr user joi

CHRISTOPHER ATWOOD
GUEST WRITER

Cornelius is a Japanese electro funk DJ/singer whose real name is Keigo Oyamada.

I first heard about him in high school when my friend Jimmy (who goes by the name Kid Vicious these days) got his debut album “Fantasma” from Eastside Records. “He’s amazing,” he told me. “just think of him as the Asian Beck.” This turned out to be a pretty accurate description, his music is a kind of semi folk-alternative blend of cartoon samples, acoustic guitars, drum beats and glitch hop.

Much like Beck, he has the ability to transcend genres as he redefines them. That said, I’m told his couple of albums haven’t really been up to par with the first. Having not heard them myself I can’t really say. I downloaded a version of the Antonio Carlos Jobim classic “Brazil” recently that was badass. Classic bossa nova remixed with modern hip hop style; what more could you want?

Make your own Coachella schedule!

Use the new Coachella scheduler here!

No, set times haven't been posted yet, but you can start picking bands and it'll fill in the schedule once it's posted.

See mine here, and share yours in the comments!

Burning Question: Should Coachella Add More Bands?

photo from mtv.com

Today's bonus post dredges up the perennial Coachella debate: who will be added at the last minute?

Late additions have been a classic part of past Coachella lineups, most recently the surprise announcement of Kanye West as a Saturday headliner in 2006. Kanye was added so late he didn't even make the official poster, but a week's notice was enough to completely sell out the festival.

This year is Coachella's first as a three-day event. Sold-out Saturday boasts a dance-punk utopia (!!!, LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, Justice, MSTRKRFT, the Rapture) plus inexplicable main-stage mainstay Red Hot Chili Peppers. Sunday headliners Rage Against the Machine's first performance in almost seven years could have sold out the whole day on its own, but acts like Lily Allen, the Roots and Willie Nelson are just a few of the many highlights.

However, Coachella's first Friday boasts fewer bands and a weaker lineup, and is the only day that hasn't sold out. (Single-day tickets are still available here.) It would make sense for Coachella promoters Goldenvoice to add more bands on Friday to bolster the lineup and sell out the entire festival. Yet even though artists are still being added to Saturday and Sunday, I don't believe anyone's been added to Friday!

I've been getting emails from readers with their votes for who should be last-minute adds, and asking what mine are. So here are my picks, and some of yours, for artists who could and should make Friday better than it already is:

MY WISH LIST:

• Mew - great live act, huge buzz, actively trying to break the U.S.
• Maxïmo Park - new album, great fit with current lineup, desperately deserves U.S. attention
• The Chemical Brothers - new album, huge draw at past Coachellas
• M.I.A. - new album, best performance of Coachella 2004
• The Shins - hugely popular, current U.S. tour ends just in time for Coachella
  

READER WISH LIST:

• Portishead - perennial rumor, finally playing live again
  
• Underworld - perennial rumor, new album soon
• David Bowie - huge Arcade Fire fan, generally pretty awesome
• Modest Mouse - new album, but scheduled East Coast dates during Coachella
  

Add your picks in the comments!

Coachella Artist: Silversun Pickups

photo by flickr user thewongway

Past the obvious Smashing Pumpkins comparisons - frontman Brian Aubert sounds like Billy Corgan with more hair, less ego and twice the demonic wit - Silversun Pickups are carving out a melodic-indie-rock niche all their own.

Their 2005 Pikul EP showed fantastic promise, with full-scale freakouts like "Comeback Kid" and the stellar "Kissing Families" even worthy of comparison to Radiohead. Sweet harmonies from bassist Nikki Monninger balanced often-unsettling lyrics.

Debut record Carnavas sounds a little softer but stretches much farther, with gems like "Lazy Eye" entrancing larger audiences daily. I've missed their live show at least twice, so that's added reason to catch their set, sure to be one of the few highlights of star-starved Friday.

MP3: Music Is Art has "Kissing Families", "Lazy Eye" and another Carnavas track here.

Silversun Pickups take the stage Friday, the first day of the festival, for their first Coachella performance.