Listen to Coachella mixtapes here.
#19. M83
Still no package. I wonder if Goldenvoice is upset with this list?
I wasn’t playing with myself nearly as much in 2012, as I do today. The Top 40 game was trending and becoming a country-wide phenomenon. It was being played by as many people as I could pressure into playing, all for my ultimate enjoyment. As silly as this game may seem, I know everyone had a small guilty pleasure in playing along, not to mention, playing by the rules. Rules, you ask? Yep, there were rules, my rules, and lots of them.
In 2012, the French electronic act M83 finished at #1 on my Top 40 Must-See Coachella 2012 Bands list. Additionally, the Anthony Gonzalez fronted band would finish at #3 on The Twist, right behind The Shins at #2, and Radiohead at #1.
The Twist is a project developed by deepster19, Owner and Editor-In Chief of the indie music blog Goindeepmusic.com. Its origin traces back to 2009. The game is played by actual people, within the game these people are known as the players. The players are planning on, or pretending to, attend the Coachella Music Festival. Each day, for 40 consecutive days leading up to the festival, the players text out their must-see Coachella bands to the other players in the game. Sound fun? Bands would receive points based on where they landed on each player’s list, for example, 1 point for #40, 2 points for #39, 3 points for #38, and so on. You can stream the 2012 Coachella Twist Mixtape here.
In the end, players that endured the game would receive a commemorative compact disc mixtape to celebrate their misery, and their Top 19 bands. Each player would receive an additional disc to honor the group’s Top 19, which is eloquently known as The Twist. Said discs would be part of the “welcome” packet at Motel 6, distributed on Arrival Day (Thursday).
On Reflection Day (Monday), the Top 40 game players would toss the compact discs out of the car window on their way back home, usually depositing them somewhere along the I-10 freeway. This silent gesture was their way of saying:
“He’s not making me play that silly game again next year.”
Oddly, everyone was back for more fun and games the following year, that is until 2015…
The backlash over the game was brutal, to the extreme that some people stopped going to Coachella altogether. Who knew?
Maybe the array of splash colors weren’t resilient enough. Maybe the frequent update wasn’t updated frequently enough. Maybe there was nowhere to play a physical compact disc anymore.
Or maybe… It wasn’t the game, it was Coachella!
Maybe the Spicy Pie wasn’t as tasty. Maybe the Toaster Pastries weren’t up to standard. Maybe the dead animal had become a tired act. Maybe there wasn’t enough time being wasted at Panera. Maybe it was “the lineup.” Maybe the coffee wasn’t being stirred correctly. Maybe there was just way too much left over Pub Mix, Pringles, and Gatorade. Maybe the Sharpie jokes were no longer funny. Maybe the handicapped porta potty wasn’t clean enough. Maybe it was the cymbal. Maybe it was The 1975. Or maybe, the fear of catching bed bugs is real. Who knows?
Back to M83, they’re now based in Los Angeles and are planning to release Junk, the follow-up to the commercially successful 2011 double-album Hurry Up, Were Dreaming on April 8. The new material has received less-than-stellar reviews. Joziah Lambert, music critic and DJ at North America’s Indie Rock Channel Sirius XMU, compares the first single “Do It Try It” to the first time you heard “Flash Delirium” by MGMT. Junk will be the band’s seventh studio album, and hopefully it’s not junk.
Mr. Gonzalez recently conducted tryouts for a new female vocalist. Kaela Sinclair won the American Idol style contest and will replace the lovely Morgan Kibby. The 2012 Coachella performance in the Mojave Tent was a great show. I always envisioned myself seeing M83 again, in a theatre playing a full set, not at Coachella. You take what you can get, if set times dictate my presence, I will be there.
I really enjoy the band’s earlier shoegazing influenced style that showed up on 2003′s Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts and 2005′s Before The Dawn Heals Us. To a lesser extent, but equally as good, the 2008 release Saturdays = Youth.
As for the game, join in right here with your #19 band, or join in whenever you want. If not, it makes no difference to me. I’ll still shoot out #18 tomorrow, as I sit here and patiently wait for my package to come.
GoINDEEpMusic