It’s that time of year again, the weekend-long Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is coming to Indio, Calif., on April 11-13 as well as April 18-20. With 167 bands set to perform, and three major headliners including OutKast, Muse and Arcade Fire, it is guaranteed to be a festival you don’t want to miss. However, if you seemed to have mis- placed the $375 and won’t be attending this year, maybe consider turning on a Coach- ella playlist, closing your eyes and pretending you are out there front and center of the main stage…you never know, it could possibly work. For those interested in hearing more from up and coming artist, Couchella is calling your name streaming online musi- cians via http://couchellafestival.com/ all from the comfort of your humble adobe.

Lauren Duran | Contributing Writer

 

 

ARCADE FIRE

Wake up with Arcade Fire at Coachella on Day 3 of the festival. The indie rock band is set to headline the festival on Sunday, April 13 and 20. Originating from Quebec, Canada, band members Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, Will Butler, Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsburg and Jeremy Gara have found much success in their music over the past 13 years. In 2004 they released their first album Funeral and since then have won many awards. In the past, they have been nominated for Best Alternative Studio Album for all three albums and even won Album of the Year for The Suburbs in 2011. Over the years the band has experimented with its sound and currently is focusing on a futuristic disco groove while incorporating new unique sounds of a LCD Soundsystem as well. You don’t want to miss the bands performances of “Reflektor,” “Afterlife” and “Wake Up.

MUSE

Muse is ready to cause an uprising and stir up some mmmmmmmad madness at Coachella this year. The famous English rock band is headlining the second day of the festival on Saturday April 12 and 19. Band members Matthew Bellamy , Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard have come a long way since 1994, when the band members entered a local Battle of the Bands competition. Making a name for themselves in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, the alternative rock band strived to do the same in the United States as well and they have done just that. In 2006 they won a Grammy award for Best Rock Album for their album Resistance and in 2012 they performed “Survival,” a song from their most recent album The 2nd Law, in the closing ceremony of the Olympics in London. They were also nominated for Best Rock Song in this years Grammy’s for “Panic Station” and Favorite Alternative Band in this years People’s Choice Awards. Concertgoers can expect to hear songs both old and new from Muse next month.

LANA DEL REY

With a unique style of vocals and melodies, Elizabeth Wooldridge Grant, more popularly known as Lana Del Rey, will also be performing on day three of the weekend long festival, April 13th and 20th. 27-year-old Del Rey has been writing music since she was 18, and in 2010 she released her first digital album Lana Del Rey followed by Born to Die in 2012, which featured famous tracks “Summertime Sadness,” “Born to Die,” “Video Games” and “Blue Jeans.”

 

Outkast

Ready to shake it like a Polaroid picture with OutKast? This April, OutKast will be headlining the first day, Friday April 11th and 18th. The American hip-hop group originally formed in 1992 when Atlanta native band members André “André 3000” Benjamin and Antwan “Big Boi” Pat- ton came together to form a band. The sound OutKast produces is a blend of Southern soul, funk, pop and effortless rap music making it extremely versatile and appealing to a larger audience. Their first album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, was released in 1994 and their first moment of recognition occurred in when their hit single “Player’s Ball” hit No.1 on Billboard’s Hot Rap Tracks chart. Fast forward 10 years

later and OutKast’s most famous album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, was released with hit singles “Hey Ya!” and “The Way You Move,” winning them a Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Following their famous album and amongst rumors of breaking up, the band members began going their separate ways working individually with different artists. However, on Jan.13 the band announced via Twitter,“Outkast will return to the stage with a full festival run of over 40 dates to celebrate 20 years. #Outkast20 – Team Outkast,” which will include Indio’s famous festival. The boys are ready to make a comeback with some of their famous tracks.

ADVENTURE CLUB

Electronic dance music is something that can also be promised at Coachella this year. Music artists Christian Srigley and Leighton James, from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, teamed up to start Adventure Club in 2011. The band started as a pop-punk style band, but eventually began producing Electronic Dance Music (also known as EDM) to set themselves apart. Although they have only been around for the past three years, the members of the group worked their way to the top by reaching out to fans via social media networks. They have performed at the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas as well as the Ultra Music Festival in Miami and Seoul, South Korea. Concertgoers can look forward to their most popular songs “Rise and Fall,” “Need Your,” and “Gold.”

 

THE 1975

English alternative and indie rock band The 1975 have finally made it big after seven years of fighting for their spot in the music industry. After taking on many different band names over the years, the band finally settled on “The 1975” after coming across the back of an old Beat poetry book, which read “1 June, The 1975”. Their album was co-produced by Mike Crossney, who also works with bands such as The Arctic Monkeys, The Kooks and Foals. In 2012, band members Matthew Healy, Adam Hann, George Daniel and Ross McDonald released their first EP “Facedown,” followed by “Sex,” and lastly “Music For Cars.” They finally found success in “Chocolate” a song off their last EP. The boy band plans to take the stage on day three of the festival, April 13 and 20.

 

PHARRELL WILLIAMS

Pharrell Williams, also known as simply Pharrell, must be feeling extremely happy to hit the stage in just a few short weeks. After just releasing his new album G I R L earlier this month, the 40-year-old singer-songwriter still has it in him and will be performing on day two of the festival. After over 20 years in the music industry, at one point in his career, Pharrell collaborated with Chad Hugo in which they became known as “The Neptune’s.” They released their first single “Front- in’” in 2003 and three short years later Pharrell released his own solo album In My Mind, where he began collaborating with other popular artists such as Snoop Dogg, Kanye West and Gwen Stefani. Since then, Pharrell continues to collaborate with popular artists, and can be heard in hit songs such as “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke, “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk, and in his own collaboration with Justin Timberlake in “Brand New” on his new album G I R L.

LORDE

17 years old and taking the world by storm is New Zealand singer-song- writer Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Con- nor, better known as Lorde. Growing up, Lorde participated in singing and drama classes and at 16 years old she signed with Universal Music Group. Since then, the pop star has released the hit single “Royals,” which hit the No.1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100. During the 56th Annual Grammy Award she received four nominations for her hit single and won Song of the Year as well as Best Pop Solo Performance. Although she probably won’t perform on a tennis court, it is certain Lorde will take one for the team and hit the stage on day two of the festival, April 12 and 19.

 

SKRILLEX

Another popular EDM artist expected to be at Coachella this year is Sonny John Moore, more commonly known as Skrillex. Moore was originally the lead singer of post-hardcore band From First to Last; however, he decided to venture off as a solo artist in 2007. In 2009 Moore took on the new name, Skrillex. He soon after released his first EP “My Name is Skrillex” via Myspace, followed by “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites,” as well as “More Monsters and Sprites.” In 2011, Skrillex was nominated for five different Grammy Awards and won Best Dance/Electronica Album, Best Dance Recording, as well as Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical. That same year Skrillex was named MTV’s Electronic Dance Music Artist of the Year. Today he is most famously known for hit songs “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, ” “Bangarang, ” “First of the Y ear” and “Kyoto”. His performance is guar- anteed to keep you awake and alert with unique beats and dubstep style dance music.