As my colleague Rya explained in the previous installment of "First Date," we started this project with the idea that we would go on dates with musicians we really liked. Working at MTV News is cool, but it leaves you with very little time for a proper social life. You see your co-workers more than your family, and you constantly have to cancel on your friends (not to mention on actual dates). And if you like high-maintenance, artistic girls, forget about it. They need constant attention that you just can't provide after a day of writing, shooting and editing. Then they got their own thing going on and ... well, enough about me.
For my first "First Date," I decided to take out one of the best all-female low-fi noise surf trios out there. Vivian Girls are an indie outfit from Brooklyn, consisting of Cassie Ramone, Kickball Katy (not her government) and Ali Koehler. They crank out a brand of fuzzy rock that doesn't skimp on noise but keeps a deep groove going, putting them right at home alongside contemporaries like Titus Andronicus, Crystal Stilts and No Age. Their self-titled debut earned them a devoted, enthusiastic following, and their newest album Everything Goes Wrong expanded on their already highly-evolved sound, adding hints of shoegaze and even more reckless abandon.
So where does one take a lo-fi/surfer-punk/Brooklyn warehouse band? To grab a pedicure, naturally. Our crew met them at Enigma Nail & Spa in the Fashion District, and they were the sweetest girls. They were a little shy, and we might have come from two different worlds — I'm more hip-hop and R&B guy — but that's to be expected on a first date. They were definitely excited about a relaxing day at the spa, especially having played the night before. This was my first pedicure, and mein gott! I had no idea what I was missing.
One of the perks of being in a rock band is the opportunity to travel the world and entertain your fans in exotic locations. Of course, the downside of all that traveling is that you are susceptible to every nasty virus, bug and epidemic the globe has to offer, not to mention exhaustion and a good chance of serious injury.
And so, we give you a shockingly long list of the recent walking wounded.
» Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler: The 61-year-old front man of the veteran hard rockers took a tumble of a stage in South Dakota last week and though no official word has been given on what injuries he sustained, they are rumored to include a broken collarbone.
» Kasabian singer Tom Meighan: The leader of the techno-rocking British band has been quarantined after being diagnosed with swine flu in the midst of the band's current Far East swing.
CHICAGO -- This is one of the weirdest shows," said an atypically sedentary Randy Randall, one-half of Los Angeles rock duo No Age on Saturday afternoon at Lollapalooza. The normally physically active guitarist had his arm in a sling due to a dislocated shoulder sustained the previous evening at No Age's round-robin tour with Deerhunter and Dan Deacon -- he got hurt during an over-zealous dance-off against Deacon. Fortunately, Dean Spunt seemed to hit the drums twice as hard to compensate, driving fans into a frenzy during the band's daytime set.
The crowd was mostly made up of younger kids seemingly eager to let loose under the hot afternoon sun and from opening the track, "Every Artist Needs a Tragedy," the relatively small audience immediately set to push and shove to the noise raging from the stage. The band really shines when they're playing small, enclosed spaces where the noise can blow out your ears, but they worked surprisingly well outside on one of Lolla's smaller stages.
There was even a crowd surfer or two that went up during "Sleeper Hold" and "Teen Creeps" really seemed to win over new fans standing idly around in the back of the scrum. The boys mostly stuck to tracks from the first two discs, Weirdo Rippers and Nouns, but also played a handful of new ones. The few fresh tracks sounded typical for the duo, but with denser songwriting and more frequent tempo changes. It's nice to hear the guys evolving and growing together and surely a positive sign of things to come. They're about to release a great new four-song EP called Losing Feeling, but are also hard at work on their next LP, due out sometime in 2010.
We went for a ride with the band and they told us what the pros and cons of playing a festival versus a typical club show.
CHICAGO -- I met up with a friend to catch the tail end of No Age's performance yesterday afternoon. Afterwards, we decided to head over the Playstation Stage to catch the second half of Santigold's performance. Her stage is on the other side of the park, so we figured we better hurry.
Now by the other side of the park, I don't mean just over yonder. Grant Park is 319 acres in total. I don't know the exact distance between stages, but it was a long walk, not to mention the grueling heat, and thousands of other people walking.
We pass Buckingham Fountain, the fountain in the opening credits of "Married... with Children," but as we cross E. Jackson Drive, we started to notice that things where getting tighter.
There was a massive amount of people there to see Santigold, and we went from a brisk walk to a snail's pace. We knew we were getting closer, because we could hear her perform her song "Anne." We looked in the direction of Santi's stage and couldn't see it. We only saw what looked like an endless amount of people.
After a while, it became obvious that the wall of Santigold fans was impossible to break through, so we decided to go back towards Citi Stage to catch Lykke Li. I guess there's always a bright side, because Lykke Li killed, but judging by the video below, there was a clear reason for the impenetrable mob at Santigold's end of the park.
By Steven Roberts, Rich Sancho and Christopher "CJ" Smith
The doors just opened for Lollapalooza 2009, and the theme from Star Wars is blasting over the PA. Despite how lame that is, our team here at MTV News is still really excited for some of the acts that are going to the hit the stage over the next few days. We sat down to give you some of the acts we're really excited to see:
Steven Roberts, Production Assistant: This is my first time at Lollapalooza, and I'm really excited to see what it's all about - I'm hoping it's like that one episode of the Simpsons with the Smashing Pumpkins and Homer taking cannonballs to his gut. But I must say I'm looking forward to one act in particular, Snoop Dogg!
I've grown up on Snoop, but I've never seen him perform. I'm looking forward to just getting lost in the crowd and a cloud of smoke to sing-along to all the classic Snoop tracks with thousands of other people.
Rich Sancho, online producer: I've caught 2 previous Lollapalooza shows - one in the early 90s, and one in 2007. While Jane's addiction and Daft Punk were highlights in my previous Lolla experiences, I'm definitely looking forward to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Silversun Pickups this year.
Some smaller acts I would love to try and catch are A-Trak, Kanye West's former touring DJ, who is an incredible turntablist. Also The Glitch Mob, a glitch-hop conglomerate out of L.A. that features some next-level mashups and drum programming. Should be a great weekend full of great music!
Christopher Smith, Segment Producer: I'm most excited to see Los Angeles' No Age. They're not sitting on their laurels simply riding the success of last year's breakout album Nouns, they've already got a new EP about to drop and are already working on their new album. They've got a killer stage presence for a duo - and I'm excited to hear new material shine on stage. We're gonna be interviewing the guys tomorrow - so check back to hear more about the new stuff.
So we've been busy as heck down here in Austin this week, shooting tons of interviews all around town for SXSW, but unfortunately, I still haven't had much time to see many shows.
Luckily, the clouds are clearing and the stars are aligning and it seems like today just might be the day where I get to see actual music (not only that, but if all goes according to plan, I'm gonna see some-odd sixteen bands and full sets to boot, scattered at 5 or 6 different venues around town.
You can follow all my progress live throughout the day as I run my butt around town too. Red Bull and sunscreen will surely be my best friends.
What's my schedule looking like? There's not many major artists on today's SXSW schedule (other than Rick Ross and the rumored Kanye West performance - which the rest of our team will be rockin') - so I'm gonna be checking out a lot of great stuff bubblin' around the underground.
My first show of South by Southwest 2009 personified everything SXSW is about - fresh-faced up-and-coming hyped-up bands putting themselves out for the zeitgeist to pass judgment on. This year, one of the lucky few (or unlucky) is San Diego’s twenty-two year-old Nathan Willliams, aka WAVVES. He's an artist, who after playing only a handful of shows in his hometown, had already been raved about on blogs worldwide. He was even name checked in an ABC News/Pitchfork report before he even had a record properly put out to the masses.
It's beginning to feel like I write this same thing every single year (and, lo and behold, I have), but, wow, the lineup for Coachella 2009 is super underwhelming. Again.
Perhaps it's due to the inflated expectations from previous years, or the constant stream of hype, speculation and false-starts that accompanies the unveiling of the lineup each and every winter, but once again, I am let down by the spate of bands the promoters at Goldenvoice have lined up for Coachella '09. For the second year in a row, there are no big-ticket reunions (long a 'Chella staple), no "Man-I-gotta-see-'em" headliners (Paul McCartney, probably playing stuff from his crummy electronic side-project! The Killers! The Cure!). There is Franz Ferdinand. And the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. And, Amy Winehouse, provided she makes it until April. Oh, and there is Leonard Cohen, who should actually be pretty rad now that I think of it.
The announcements for 2009's music-festival season are fast approaching, and rumors are flying all over about who's playing where.
Through some smart Net sleuthing (on artists' MySpaces, etc.), many artists' festival appearances have already been identified. LAist.com, for example, has determined that the Killers, No Age, Girl Talk, Hold Steady and Fleet Foxes will be at Coachella.
But what about the more outlandish rumors? The juiciest one for Coachella is clearly Britney Spears. Many speculated earlier this week that it's well within the realm of possibility for the pop star to drop by the fest (as Madonna did in 2006). She just happens to be performing in Los Angeles that same weekend, and the Coachella grounds in Indio are just a few short hours' drive away. Read more...
We here at MTV News are a pretty diverse bunch, so the views expressed by some in our more official-type year-end lists (like James Montgomery’s Top 25 Albums and Best Songs, and the Mixtape Monday Awards) are not necessarily shared by the rest of the newsroom. So, this week we gave everyone else a chance to chime in with their own lists and explain (or defend) their choices. You’ll find the staff faves of 2008 all together here.
By Christopher "CJ" Smith
2008 Year in Music: Were you listening to the punk-rock underground?
2008 was a year where lo-fi, sh--gaze and weirdo-punk reigned supreme in this formerly straight and narrow-minded indie fan's life. Fleet Foxes? F--- that pretty-boy sh--. TV on the Radio? Been there, done that. Vampire Weekend? LOL.
Every record in 2008 seemingly was an exercise in how not to make interesting and/or exciting music. It was in the bedrooms, basements and garages, however, that musicians WERE taking chances and creating fun new pop landscapes smothered in noise, tapping into their punk lineages, crafting terrific garage rock and, above all, writing hooks that wouldn't leave your head for days.
These 20 records are a good starting point for a year that was rife with melodies, glorious fuzzy noise and static. They've all got MySpace pages, so take a listen to what they're doing and hear what you may have missed.
CHICAGO -- This is one of the weirdest shows," said an atypically sedentary Randy Randall, one-half of Los Angeles rock duo No Age on Saturday afternoon at Lollapalooza. The normally physically active guitarist had his arm in a sling due to a dislocated shoulder sustained the previous evening at No Age's round-robin tour with Deerhunter and Dan Deacon -- he got hurt during an over-zealous dance-off against Deacon. Fortunately, Dean Spunt seemed to hit the drums twice as hard to compensate, driving fans into a frenzy during the band's daytime set.
By Steven Roberts and Rich Sancho
By Steven Roberts, Rich Sancho and Christopher "CJ" Smith
So we've been busy as heck down here in Austin this week, shooting tons of interviews all around town for 
My first show of South by Southwest 2009 personified everything 
It's beginning to feel like I write this same thing every single year (and, lo and behold, 
We here at MTV News are a pretty diverse bunch, so the views expressed by some in our more official-type year-end lists (like James Montgomery’s