Blood Orange dreams up a nightmarish wonderland with “Champagne Coast”

Posted on April 27, 2012 by | Leave a comment


Happy Friday, everybody. Enjoy this sexy wonderland of a music video, courtesy Dev Hynes’ synths-n-jamz persona, Blood Orange, which has been making its way around the internet today.

Moving from lush room and sexy lady to more-lush and sexier-lady, all lava lamps and skylines and marble pedestals, the whole thing is rendered in a disorienting 90s-video-game 3D. Even the sexy ladies are kinda weird. But that’s the point, or so I would imagine: the everything-is-great-everything-is-fucked spell that unrequited lust casts on your whole world. Or maybe Hynes just thought it would look cool.

As for the song itself, it starts out as sweet and light as “St. Germaine air” to quote a recent acquaintance, but give it to the two-minute mark, when a mega-sexxxy guitar noodling drops in to add some spice to Hynes’ plaintive, Dan Bejar-with-a-cold stylings.

If anything, the comparison with Destroyer is a flattering one for Hynes–like most of Kaputt, “Champagne Coast” is a fundamentally sad song, a tale of longing and aching. But you can move to it, and on a Friday, that’s enough.

Follow me on twitter at  @Dan_Siegal.

Blood Orange- Champagne Coast (download)

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Purity Ring’s “Obedear”

Posted on April 24, 2012 by | 2 Comments

Purity Ring quietly supplied the world with a taste of their much anticipated full-length release, Shrines, late Monday night. “Obedear” is as rhythmically infectious and stunningly crafted as any track the pair have released to date. The lush, lingering atmospheres, rapid claps and snares and maddeningly addictive beeps form a perfect playground for Megan James’s entrancing vocals. All signs point to this record being a massive summer debut.

Shrines is set to be released on July 24th via 4AD/Last Gang.

Purity Ring – Obedear (download)

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Coachella 2012: Sunday

Posted on April 23, 2012 by | 2 Comments

That's DMX, right?

5-Hour Energy should make a separate slogan for Coachella for when that “2:30 feeling” on Sunday afternoon hits. You know, that time when your head is pounding, your throat is parched and you’re left brain is screaming at you for  deciding to pay in excess of $300 to watch Santigold in temperatures that would fry an egg on your forehead.

Do you want to see Metronomy?

No, where the fuck is the frozen lemonade man and my mom? I want to go home.

For both weekends, Sunday proved to be the hottest of the three days. Sunscreen mixed with sweat (and tears) as people once again sought shelter under the tents. Sets in the shade–like Real Estate–prime time viewing because of location, location, location. Those who had taken a day of respite in Saturday’s more instrument/rock-driven lineup licked their lips at the thought of Nero, Calvin Harris, Justice and AVICII while Gotye proved to be a major pull for that one song that plays on the radio every 30 minutes.

Tired or not, festival-goers were egged through the day by the promise of what was to come at the end of the night. Weeekend One’ers were awed by the guest appearances on the last set of the night on the main stage, while Weekend Two’ers, driven by the hype of Tupacalypse2012, circled Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre’s closer as must-see. During Coachella’s second coming, it seemed that the whole world was watching for the reappearance of the enlightened Shakur, as Craigslist prices skyrocketed for loose wristbands and police presence was greater than ever on the fairgrounds. Tupac came and went though with few hitches, and spectators left buzzing as they were herded like cattle through the exit, already chattering about how they could get back for 2013.

Read our reviews below from Weekend One and Weekend Two below…

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Coachella 2012: Saturday

Posted on April 22, 2012 by | 8 Comments

Spray-on tan.

It seemed that Coachella’s two Saturdays had something in common. They were warmer.

Weekend One’s version didn’t have the rainstorms and gales that punished campers the night before. Weekend Two’s was hot. Like third-degree-when-you-try-to-put-on-your-seat-belt-hot.

The heat did little to abate the excite and rumors for the second coming of Coachella. There had been the rumors from the weekend before. Usher? Macy Gray? Kurt Cobain hologram? The cameos that did materialize on Saturday were just about as prominent: Nicki Minaj with David Guetta and Master P with A$AP Rocky were among the highlights.

If there was a theme besides the heat on Saturday, it was the strong front women presence at Coachella’s middle child. Women in heat, if you will. (Bad joke, bad joke).Grace Potter was captivating as was the capitalization-crazy “tUnE-yArDs,” and Feist brought out a full orchestra to help her rule the Outdoor Stage. The queen of Saturday, however, had to be St. Vincent, who despite the school teacher mystique, obliterated the ears of everyone at the Gobi Stage.

Read our reviews below from Weekend One and Weekend Two below…

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Coachella 2012: Friday

Posted on April 21, 2012 by | 3 Comments

Yes, that is who you think it is.

Two weekends. Two results.

While Weekend One opened as Coldchella, the 2012 Coachella Valley Arts and Music Festival opened on Friday in normal fashion: with sweltering heat.

As temperatures hit 95 degrees Farenheit at nine in the morning, Weekend Two promised all the heat strokes and sunburns that its predecessor forgot to deliver. Weekend One Coachellians were soaked by rain, weekend Two’ers by the sweat of their own brow–and armpits. Last Friday, hoodies were in high demand. This week, clothes were shed faster than one could say “Paris Hilton,” who made an appearance at Weekend Dos for (boyfriend?) Afrojack.

Whatever weather you experienced, we were there for it all. Facing a coverage dilemma with the festival going into a duo-weekend format, Treeswingers decided to go twice. Below are reviews of some Friday acts, some from last week, and some that kicked up the dust yesterday.

Read our reviews below…

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Radiohead at HP Pavilion: 4/11/12

Posted on April 12, 2012 by | 1 Comment

The smallest men sometimes have the most commanding presences. Fig. 1, Thom Yorke. (Dan Honda/San Jose Mercury News)

It should have been billed as the Thom Yorke show.

Radiohead‘s frontman is usually the center of attention, but the rest of the band is no wallflower. On Wednesday night, though, in the expansive, sponsored-out HP Pavilion (which still always feels like a hockey rink, even when bands like this play there), Yorke felt like the only one on stage.

For two hours and more than 20 songs, Yorke twitched, swayed and pranced like a charmed snake or a fox with its tail on fire while the Greenwoods et al. stood in a stoic semicircle around him.

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Aesop Rock’s “Zero Dark Thirty”

Posted on April 10, 2012 by | Leave a comment

The last time we saw Ian Bavitz, aka Aesop Rock, he was tearing apart a giant dinosaur piñata on-stage in San Francisco backed by Kimya Dawson and big Rob Sonic. That was over a year ago when the New York transplant (now living in San Francisco) was at a career inflection point, promoting his collaboration work instead of the vicious solo efforts that made him infamous on Def Jux.

Five years since his last album, None Shall Pass, Aesop Rock is back, this time with Skelethon. There’s a new label (Rhymesayers) and a few new faces (notably, Dawson). But, the core remains the same. On “Zero Dark Thirty,” Bavitz it at his breathless best, flowing over a scratchy alien beat while rhyming words that have no business fitting together (see: “plunging necklines” and “hungry enzymes”). With little room for a chorus, Aesop Rock–so familiar to sharing the spotlight over the last half decade–is back to being the one and only focus. About time.

Skelethon is out on Rhymesayers on July 10.

Aesop Rock- Zero Dark Thirty (download)

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