More Goodness From Sweden

Swedish electronic musician Andreas Kleerup's debut CD reaches America. The CD is mainly decent electronic rythms but the standout track 'Until We Bleed' featuring Lykke Li is both haunting and catchy. Check it out. 'Thank You for Nothing' is another good track, thorough Euro techno.

Peace is Cool, But Arrogant Consumerism is Power

Just finished Tom Robbins' "Another Roadside Attraction." The book served to entertain, but also succeeded in continuing an ongoing image debate. Hippie or hipster? The book makes a strong case for the freedom and serenity that comes from being one with nature, but then again an urban persona is so exciting and tres chic. One can only suppose the winning point is that the book was written in 1971. Inner serenity and the hippie movement is a thing of the past glimpsed only (and in dwindling numbers) at music festivals and in small Appalachian mountain communities. Enter the reign of self-entitlement and skinny jeans.

Another Great Video From Passion Pit

I loved Passion Pit's video for 'The Reeling', not only is it a great song but the graphic video effects were quite surprising and impressive for a breakout band of sorts. Now a video is out for 'To Kingdom Come' and again Passion Pit doesn't fail to put out something fun and quirky-and possibly referential to global warming. Still great music, too.

M.I.A. and Main Stage Discomfort

In an interview on Spinner.com M.I.A. admits some discomfort with playing the main stage at Coachella '09. I appreciate her reasoning-that it was weird to transfer from a dance show in the Sahara tent in '08 to an artistic concert this past spring. I didn't see her show in '08 but I found her performance this year to be big on the hype and little on the music. I thought perhaps M.I.A. is vastly overrated and sensationalized, but maybe it is true that her artistry is more at ease in a subtler setting. It will be interesting to see if she evolves into her superstardom, reverts back to her off-the-beaten path origins, or just simply fails to make an adjustment.

I loved your set

at Coachella this year, but it seemed like you weren't as comfortable playing on the main stage as you were in the dance tent the year before. Is that accurate?

Honestly, it's like when Daft Punk played .. .Daft Punk have got way more music than I have and time in music than me and they still played the same Sahara Tent that I played in 2008. I think it just has to do with dance music. I just always counted my stuff as dance music. And what happened between Coachella 2008 and 2009 is that 'Paper Planes' had gone mainstream and people started seeing me as an "artist" as opposed to a "dance act." It's really weird. 'Kala' got to, like, Number One on the electronic charts or something and I just processed it always like that -- I make electronic music. And it was really weird because then I was in this other realm where I had, like, 50,000 people, but it didn't feel like being in a club. And maybe in my head and who I am as an artist, I needed to digest that and I felt like I just wasn't ready to turn the main stage into a big club.

I would've much rather moved the main stage into the tent. But when I had it in the tent, there was just so much chaos. And you know it's not like I planned it; that's just how it was. People were climbing up the rafters and people couldn't fit in and stuff. And there was like a huge reaction to that and a reaction against Coachella about that. Loads of people wrote in saying "You should've put M.I.A. on the main stage. Why did you put her in the tent?"

Great New Release

Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij and Ra Ra Riot's Wes Miles just released the album 'LP' under their side project Discovery. The album captures the attitudes of both Vampire Weekend and Ra Ra Riot while taking the synth and electronic quirks even further. My favorite tracks are "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" and the cover of the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back". Listen at Spinner.

Dan Black-Good Songs, Great Videos

I first heard Dan Black's remix "HYPNTZ" last year, was impressed, and since then have been keeping an eye on him. He's released some more videos since then and they're all great and fun.

Michael Jackson-A Revolutionary Performer 1958-2009

Looking back at Michael Jackson music videos and youtube concert recordings, it's amazing to see how much passion there is in all of his performances. In terms of creativity and devotion, he is a true and timeless inspiration.

Londontown-An Artsy Space

The formidable and ornate Westminster Abbey. Quintessential London, right?

An art supplies store encourages artist and, thus, itself.

Postmodernism: what country isn't self-reflexive these days?

Chalk art in Trafalgar. There was the good, the bad and...

the ugly.

A Few Days in San Fran

Kerouac-An iconic San Fran character

Made a trip to the legendary City Lights Bookstore.

Dad got a little confused about which camera to look at apparently.

Coachella-The Final Stand

The last day-so sad!

Necessary hydration.

The Knux

Attempting to find shade for my burnt, burnt skin.

Dancing in the Light-Crazed Sahara tent.

Trail mix is so good. Thank you Target.

So sad. Ended too soon.

Coachella-Day Two Chaos

Andrew, Ashleigh and I got front seat spots at the Blitzen Trapper show. Not the greatest spot to actually hear the music though, it felt like I would never hear anything else again.

MIA graces the main stage. I personally don't get the hype, and it was one of the only bad shows I saw all weekend.

The Killers took the stage and it was definitely time to dance.

The Killers brought quite a show with them.

Devendra Banhart performs his quirky songs in quirky shorts.

Kept seeing this baby everywhere. We were glad she had some headphones. It always seemed like she was enjoying herself. A seriously hipster family.

Hype for MIA.

"All These Things That I've Done" by The Killers

Funky Coachella sculptures came to life in the dark.

These electrical sculptures made the freakiest noise-reminded me of the movie, "The Prestige".