Hey haay party people! I am back from the desert! Well truthfully, I've been back for three days now but today is the first day that the Coachella glow is starting to fade and reality is coming back into focus. I had the absolute time of my life and that was in spite of losing my ID, credit card, money, VOICE and worst of all, lip gloss! (Cue: "Waa waa"). The whole weekend was an expression of utter epic-ness, I assure you and I am now on the road to recovery for all of the aforementioned misplaced items including my voice. Soon, I'll be looking forward and not backward but until then, I wanted to give one last shout out to the experience that is Coachella before we wave goodbye to it, here on Keeley Kraft (until next year, that is!).
So I thought I'd give a little music debrief on the blawg since last week all of the airtime was monopolized with fashion-talk. Now, I mos def need to preface my discussion of this topic with the fact that I am by no means a musical expert. While I could give you a 2 hour dissertation on the merits of yacht rock, I am probably the last person anyone would come to for any musical shop-talk, outside of that genre. Which is why, I stayed close to my Coachella "docent" throughout the duration of the fest and am delighted that I did. But also note that, as a result, the majority of the credit for these artist mentions is due to her.
I saw some of the "favorites" and had to miss some others due to scheduling conflicts but in my humble opinion, Lana Del Rey, Girl Talk, Foster the People, and Lorde were all fantastic! Outkast - ummm.. not so much, honestly! I didn't get to see Pharrel (but I heard Gwen Stefani made cameo! Noooo!). We also missed MGMT, Cage the Elephant, Muse, the Preatures, Classixx, Grouplove, CVRCHES, the Knife, Calvin Harris, Aloe Blacc, Sleigh Bells, Solange - all of which I wanted to see but alas, such is always the dilemma at these things. Here are my top 5 shows that I actually did see, that I'm newly ALL. ABOUT.:
1. EMPIRE OF THE SUN
I've liked Empire of the Sun ever since I heard "Walking On A Dream" several years ago but their performance was so over-the-top phenomenal that they deserve my "Best In Show" award for all-around awesomeness. IT WAS INSANITY!
Songs of note: Walking on a Dream, Alive, DNA
2. FUTURE ISLANDS
As I was informed of the Thursday night prior to day one, these guys made quite the splash after their Letterman performance and have been tearing it up since! The video of the performance went instantly "viral" and took everyone by surprise. Their lead singer, Samuel T. Herring, is quite the passionate vocalist and is a sight to see because he literally pours his heart into the microphone.
Songs of note: Seasons, Balance, A Dream of You and Me, One Day
3. CHROMEO
These guys were so fun to listen and dance to and I think surprised everyone with their show.
Songs of note: Bonafide Lovin, Jealous, Night by Night
4. FLUME
My "docent" and her friends have coined a verb out of listening to these guys and after taking in the concert in person, I can attest, a gerund was needed to describe this feeling. "Fluming" the act of listening to Flume in concert, is an experience not to be missed out on!
Songs of note: You & Me, Drop the Game
5. HAIM
I had heard of these badass chicks last year and was stoked to see them in person. Let me tell you, they did not disappoint! These three sisters know how to rock it FO SHO.
Songs of note: The Wire, Forever, Don't Save Me
I was not a huge Disclosure fan prior to the fest and we actually had to leave their concert early for "undisclosed" reasons (haha) and subsequently missed Arcade Fire too, which played after, but this Disclosure song has been running through my head on repeat ever since:
Give it a few listens, promise?
*Also, a shout out needs to go out to Flash Tats, which I posted about HERE. Talk about a breakout role at the fest - these glittery temp tats were the BOMB DIGGITY!
Oh, and remember the watermelon shorts I posted about, way back here? Well, I wore them alright, and I even made this little GIF to show them off!
Hee hee!
So, that's all I've got for you today. Thanks for indulging the incessant Coachella posts on here as of late. Normal posting will resume after the hump [day]. Catch y'all on the flip side!
XOXO
