PASSION PIT
Lollapalooza offers an incredible and diverse bill of artists. It is one festival that truly caters to just about every type of music lover. With so many incredible sets, it was hard to pick our favorites, but here are a few of the major standouts that made trekking the bad weather and heat worth it!
Passion Pit
This outfit from Boston, MA stunned with a heart-on-its-sleeve set. Front man Michael Angelakos delivered a sincere and powerful performance. The band delivered a non-stop, passionate and energetic performance. A definite highlight.
Electric Zoo may think it has the market cornered for Labor Day Weekend festivities, but music mogul Jay-Z has other plans in mind. Last week, the rapper/producer announced his Made in America multi-genre music festival for the same weekend, to take place on the Ben Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. And with a lineup ranging from classic rock to electronic, what other place would be fit to host the festival besides the “City of Brotherly Love.”
The festival's first day of performers consists of Jay-Z, Skrillex, Miike Snow, Calvin Harris, Maybach Music Group (Feat. Rick Ross, Wale and Meek Mill), Passion Pit, Gary Clark Jr., D'Angelo, Dirty Projectors, Janelle Monae, Prince Royce, Michael Woods, Otto Knows and Savoy.
[photo courtesy of Nicky Digital]
Following a miserable heatwave that threatened the livelihood of the second annual Governors Ball, crowds poured off the ferry and onto Randall’s Island in masses under crystal-clear blue skies. An expansion from last year’s one-day rendition of the festival, organizers grew the festival to a two-day lineup and moved it to the more accessible Randall’s Island (although the name remains reason for confusion about the location).
Big news has dropped today in the festival circuit: New York’s Governor’s Ball has officially announced its 2012 line up. For those not familiar with the Ball, it’s a two day fest featuring diverse tunes, a myriad of activities, and all the usual shenanigans that accompany any outdoor music festival. Situated on Randall’s Island—stock prison backdrop included—this fest boasts headliners Beck, Modest Mouse, Chromeo, Ducksauce, and Passion Pit (to name a few). Interspersed throughout the two days, the line-up looks fiendishly delicious, with June 23 & 24 shaping up to be quite the weekend.
Big news has dropped today in the festival circuit: New York’s Governor’s Ball has officially announced its 2012 line up. For those not familiar with the Ball, it’s a two day fest featuring diverse tunes, a myriad of activities, and all the usual shenanigans that accompany any outdoor music festival. Situated on Randall’s Island—stock prison backdrop included—this fest boasts headliners Beck, Modest Mouse, Chromeo, Ducksauce, and Passion Pit (to name a few). Interspersed throughout the two days, the line-up looks fiendishly delicious, with June 23 & 24 shaping up to be quite the weekend.
Things will be relatively brief this week as I'm quite distracted by soccer right now (curse you ESPN3.com.) That being said, if you're not in the going-out type of mood this weekend, I would highly recommend catching some of the World Cup, especially the United States vs. England Saturday at 2pm. If you do want to peel yourself off of the couch however, here are my suggestions for this weekend:
What to Do
Check out two great concerts this weekend. Tonight you can catch the Dan Band at Mansion and rock out to the group that played the hilarious wedding scenes in Old School and The Hangover.
Indie rockers Passion Pit are in town this weekend to play a show Sunday night at the Fillmore in Miami Beach. This is a great chance to see this up-and-coming group who have recently hit it big with hits "Sleepyhead," "Little Secrets," and "The Reeling."
Founded in 2007, the Boston-based band has been touring heavily recently including high-profile stops like the National Climate Rally in Washington DC back in May. Tickets for the Fillmore show are general admission and only $25, they're available at Livenation.
Sleepyhead
It has been 8 long years since Matthew Young and Grant Wheeler first began to mix sweet, sweet music together. The duo met as college freshmen and started their first project Landau which released IDM tracks on Merck Records. In 2007 they started spinning a weekly party at a modestly tiny dive bar in Hartford, CT called Vegas BLVD which picked up quite a bit of steam; the two were “getting bit by the dance bug”, and soon after began collaborating with Angelica Bass.
Brooklyn bound and bursting with what’s what of hip, the trio finally stumbled upon Ian Chang, the final link to finally complete who we know as Body Language. Collaborating with much hyped electro-pop buzz band Passion Pit back in 2008 on their EP, the group, from the beginning has seduced listeners with their kind of electronic finesse.
Downtown Miami shook from the bass emanating from Bicentennial Park from the most anticipated music festival in Miami: Ultra Music Festival 2010. The 12th annual closing festival to the Winter Music Conference lasted two days (March 26 and 27), and drew in a record setting crowd this year, having been the first Ultra in history to completely sell out.
The best names from all areas of electronic music, including trance, drum and bass, house and electro played on various stages over the course of the two day festival. Even some artists not typically associated with electronic music were performing live at the event. Passion Pit, Nas, and Damian Marley performed at the event alongside some of the biggest names in the electronic music scene. Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Peas also debuted as a house DJ at Ultra, mixing his set in with some Black Eyed Peas songs but still delivering a surprisingly solid set.
"Doing the best they can" since August 2006, Brooklyn band Bear Hands is returning home from a successful stint at SXSW (where they caught the attention of justintimberlake.com, which states that "we've fallen in love with their choppy but dreamy indie-rock stylings. We particularly like it when, mid-set, bassist Val Loper abandons his guitar to play drums with a maraca. Good work.") to play at Glasslands Gallery tonight with Holy Ghost!. See what the hype is all about and download their single "What A Drag" here and get your tickets for tonight's show (fingers crossed that Loper is feeling the maracas again tonight). Catch them tonight before they head out with Passion Pit for a full US tour. They won't be returning until May 6th for a show at Irving Plaza with As Tall As Lions, so don't miss your chance to see the band that provides, according to RockSounds, "just the right amount of danceable anthems to transform the crowd from an intrigued gathering into an all singing, all shaking disco party."
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