Safe and unsound
Oddball Perry Farrel takes no chances with the Lollapalooza lineup
Anthony Augustine
Lollapalooza 2006 — www.lollapalooza.com
— Perry Farrell’s Lollapalooza has been scaled back,
but the 2006 version of the resilient festival will be held this
August over three days at Chicago’s beautiful Grant Park.
After relaunching Lollapalooza last year, Farrell hopes to bring
together a diverse lineup of over 125 performers. The mainstage
bill doesn’t take many risks, with previous headliners Red
Hot Chili Peppers, slow-burning rockers Death Cab for Cutie, mega-star
Kanye West, pop weirdos The Flaming Lips, heavyweight sluggers
Queens of the Stone Age and noise scientists Sonic Youth all confirmed
to play. As in the past, the side stages look the most promising,
with U.K. grime MC Lady Sovereign, ex-Sunny Day Real Estate singer
Jeremy Enigk and party punks The Go! Team all slated to perform
midday sets. Although closer to Winnipeg than Coachella, Bonnaroo
and Sasquatch, Lollapalooza appears to have the weakest lineup
of the main four remaining outdoor festivals happening this year
in the U.S. Also, considering that Farrell has been spending a
significant amount of time moonlighting as a DJ and immersing
himself in club culture over the past few years, I’m surprised
at the lack of electronic music at the fest. This is almost in
total contrast to Coachella, which features a dedicated electronic
area that will have sets by Daft Punk, Paul Oakenfold, Derrick
Carter, Carl Cox, Shy FX and even a performance from Madonna.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah—
tinyurl.com/nhvvz
— A recent Michael Calore article in Wired Magazine’s
weblog section argues that U.K. band The Arctic Monkeys are the
web’s first rock ’n’ roll success story, but
that might not be the case. Calore suggests that the young four-piece
was one of the first bands to effectively use peer-to-peer networks,
MySpace and other grassroots promotion methods to build a rabid
fanbase prior to releasing a debut. The Arctic Monkeys’
story debunks the myth that the web is killing the music industry,
but a better example of a band optimizing the DIY ethic is Brooklyn’s
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. After setting up its own label and recording,
releasing and promoting the album, the sprawling collective quickly
established itself as one of the most interesting acts of 2005.
This recent live performance from the 9:30 Club in Washington,
D.C., includes the quirky breakout single The Skin of My Yellow
Country Teeth, new material such as The Sword Song and tracks
from the group’s stunning, self-titled debut album.
Matthew Hawtin — www.mhawtin.com
— Probably better known as the brother of techno superstar
Richie Hawtin (Plastikman) than for his own work, Matthew Hawtin
is actually an accomplished visual artist. Matthew approaches
reduction, space and depth the same way his brother does, and
his sparingly simple designs examine modern interpretations of
shape, colour and form. A digital portfolio is available on his
ultra-minimal site. Unfortunately, his newest installation, opening
next month in Berlin, has not yet been uploaded.
Anthony Augustine is a freelance music and pop culture writer
who spends way too much time in front of the computer. He also
hosts a weekly two-hour electronic music program on CKUW 95.9
FM Got a site you think he should see? E-mail him at anthony.alloneword@gmail.com. |
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