Coachella 2014: Indie Band Playlist

It's that time of year again! Here are 22 indie bands you should check out on those delicious two weekends in April. Obviously you're excited about Outkast (even though you only know four of their songs), and you're planning on Arcade Fire, Beck and all the obvious shit. What about the obscure dreamers at the bottom of the Coachella poster? That's why I'm here, friend.

One note: I hate YouTube commercials, so I tend to select videos with low view counts. This means some of these tunes might eventually get deleted. Just in case, here's the original track listing (which also fits neatly on your typical CD-R if you wanna buy the songs and support the artists like I did).

1. J Roddy Walston – Marigold                                  

2. Capital Cities – Farrah Fawcett Hair            

3. Flight Facilities – Foreign Language              

4. Bear Hands – Crime Pays                        

5. Temples – Shelter Song                         

6. The Internet – Dontcha                               

7. Classixx – All You’re Waiting For  

8. Holy Ghost! - Changing Of The Guard     

9. The Preatures – Manic Baby                      

10. Poolside – Do You Believe?                             

11. Little Dragon – Shuffle A Dream             

12. Foxygen – San Francisco                       

13. GOAT – Run To Your Mama                        

14. Chromeo – Over Your Shoulder                                   

15. Haim – The Wire                                                    

16. Cage The Elephant – Take It Or Leave It              

17. Bryan Ferry – Alphaville                                    

18. Dum Dum Girls – Heartbeat                            

19. White Lies – There Goes Our Love Again                  

20. James Vincent McMorrow – Gold                     

21. J Roddy Walston – Midnight Cry                             

22. Preservation Hall Jazz Band – That’s It!                    

Also if you like this playlist, check out my "blanconada" YouTube channel, browse and subscribe.
Cheers!

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My Favorite Films Of 2013

There's no stopping the juggernaut of bland single-word titles. They're even making my year-end lists. But in twenty years who will remember what certain films were about? Like these: The Family, Enemy, The Internship, Epic, The Purge, Adore, Hours, Paranoia, The Call, The Past. Meanwhile, I'll continue to yearn for titles that are evocative and descriptive like: The Spectacular Now, The Wolf Of Wall Street and Inside Llewyn Davis. Or let's check back in a couple decades to see if you remember 12 Years A Slave vs. The Butler. Whether you liked them or not, chances are you'll remember what the more imaginative titles were about. Hollywood is almost brain-dead, so maybe all these movies will be re-released by then with truncated titles, and it'll be just be Slave vs Butler. Who knows?

Here are my picks for 2013:
1. Gravity
2. Prisoners
3. American Hustle
4. 12 Years A Slave
5. Fruitvale Station
6. The Spectacular Now
7. Blue Jasmine
8. Short Term 12
9. Her
10. Mud
11. Side Effects
12. Stoker
13. The Stories We Tell
14. The Conjuring
15. You're Next
16. The World's End
17. Dallas Buyer's Club
18. All Is Lost
19. Coherence
20. The Wolf Of Wall Street
21. This Is The End
22. The Heat
23. The Hobbit: Desolation Of Smaug
24. Spring Breakers

I confess I still need to see Blue Is The Warmest Color, Kill Your Darlings, Don Jon, Saving Mr Banks and all this year's Oscar-nominated documentaries. The most overrated movies I saw this year? Nebraska and Inside Llewyn Davis (and I'm a huge Coen Bros fan). Oh, well. I'll keep shelling out money to see our collective dreams on the big screen. Cheers!