Culture Collide 2014 Festival Lineup

Culture Collide Festival 2014 Poster

We’re very diverse when we post music. We listen to everything coming from Australia, New Zealand, UK, and even Iceland. With that, it’s no surprise we’re huge fans of the Culture Collide festival that takes place in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles.

This year, the Culture Collide festival will also take place in San Francisco (lineup announced July 10th) and New York. The first wave of the Los Angeles lineup has been announced and they are listed below:

Cloud Nothings (USA), Nina Persson (Sweden), Quantic live (Colombia),

Julian Casablancas

 

Julian Casablancas+The Voidz will release their anticipated debut titled Tyranny this September 23 on Casablancas’ own Cult Records. The the album features Casablancas and Voidz band members Jeramy Gritter and Amir Yaghmai (Salt & Pepper) – guitar, Jeff Kite– keyboards, Jake Bercovici – bass, Alex Carapetis – drums and was produced by Shawn Everett.

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The 2013 shortlist for the Barclaycard Mercury Prize UK album of the year has finally been released, and there are some great names up there.

The shortlist is as follows:

Arctic Monkeys ‘AM’

David Bowie ‘The Next Day’

Disclosure ‘Settle’

Foals ‘Holy Fire’

Jake Bugg ‘Jake Bugg’

James Blake ‘Overgrown’

Jon Hopkins ‘Immunity’

Laura Marling ‘Once I Was An Eagle’

Laura Mvula ‘Sing To The Moon’

Rudimental ‘Home’

Savages ‘Silence Yourself’

Villagers ‘Awayland’

Last year’s winners were Alt-J with their revolutionary album An Awesome Wave (read my review of the album here).  The Mercury Prize aims to draw attention

The Southern California Summer Music Festival Lineup

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Summertime is upon us and for Los Angeles that means heat, traffic, and beach trips. The music scene, though, is fourth. One of the great things about Los Angeles, aside from Dodgers games and fast cars, is the talent this city houses. From Local Natives to Red Hot Chili Peppers, they’re based in LA. The venues hosting some of the very best include The Wiltern, The Music Box, and The Palladium. But most of the time it’s in festivals where they make their name known.

This summer, Los Angeles is host to a slew of festivals. Think about it as Coachella spread out over three months. Everywhere from Downtown LA, Pasadena and even Pomona, there will be a host of free or cheap music festivals. The only thing you’ll ever have to worry about is Los Angeles parking (click for real-time parking info), but that shouldn’t hold you up. Here are some of the best from Southern California in order of which festivals are coming up first.

What better way to end the year then to, well, look forward to next year? 2012 was so (almost) last year. We put together a list of bands and artists that we think you should know about in the coming year. Some of these names have been coming up and we’re expecting them to blow up while others have been on the scene for a while and we’re just looking forward to some new material.

PK – We first caught wind of PK when we were asked to interview them while they played a show in Hollywood. We obliged, thankfully because these guys turned out to be a pretty dope group. Their show was intense and they had two good singles to excite the crowd. My turning point was when I caught myself singing along to “Berelain” a couple of months after the interview. It’s become a part of my almost-everyday playlist. So what you waiting for, guys? Come down and make your move (new music!).

Listen to: PK – “Berelain”

Black Kids – I listen to bands more often whenever I start wanting to see them in concert. Black Kids’ debut album was some few years ago and earlier this year they said a new album is in the works. Next year should be pretty big for them if they’re really looking into some new music.

Listen to: Black Kids – “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance”

Daft Punk – This is all rumor here: They’ve been rumored to play at Coachella for years now. There’s been some talk of them having new tunes out by Glastonbury 2013. Whether that correlates with the rumors of playing in the desert in April or even at Ultra MF is yet to be seen. Regardless of where they make their comeback, anything new in 2013 from Daft Punk is a gift from the music gods.

Listen to: Daft Punk – “One More Time”

Gold Fields – I went crazy over this band in October and November. I went to three of their shows and couldn’t get enough. These Aussie mates became one of my favorite acts to see in person. Excited more of these guys in the future.

Listen to: Gold Fields – “Dark Again”

New Politics – New Politics remind me of everything I used to listen to as a kid: from Weezer and Rage and a hint of Nirvana all mixed in. Their second album is in the works and is set to be released early in 2013. This is the band where when they come one you say, “Fuck yeah, I love New Politics!”

Listen to – New Politics – “Yeah Yeah Yeah!”

Other notables: Sky Larkin, Strange Talk, Eliza Doolittle, Warpaint, Icona Pop, Free Energy, and Fez.