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Monday, July 26, 2010

Lollapalooza Research: Los Amigos Invisibles, The Ettes, The Constellations and Balkan Beat Box

As I continue researching my way through Day 1, I've checked out who I should see AFTER Foxy Shazam.

As you can see from below, I have many options. I can quickly rule out Wavves cause I don't like their music. And The Walkmen are out because they bothered me when they were at Pitchfork. Everyone knows The Walkmen's song "We've Been Had," which is likely what put them on Pitchfork and everyone else's radar, and yet they didn't play it during their set. I think it was a little too early for them to pull that artistic crap, and shove the rest of their album down our throats. I even liked some of their other songs, but come on. You can play your big hit? Sheesha.

This leaves my options as The Ettes, Balkan Beat Box, Los Amigos Invisibles and The Constellations.


I checked out the Ettes first, and they don't do anything for me. While I can concur with Lollapalooza's statement that you can hear some of The Gossip and The Black Keys within The Ettes, I don't really dig it. It reminds me of Matt & Kim and Sleigh Bells, and I don't really LOVE either of these bands. If you do, I suggest you check them out HERE. That narrows it down to three options for me.

The Ettes
Playing Lolla on Day 1, BMI state at 12:30pm

The next band I checked out was Los Amigos Invisibles. Despite my two semesters of Spanish one, I understand almost none of their songs, as they're all in Spanish. But, I do understand the awesomeness OF their songs. My initial thought was, "awesome, even if all the other bands suck, I can have a fun time dancing to these guys for an hour." I definitely encourage you to visit their MySpace and check them out.

Los Amigos Invisibles
Playing Lolla on Day 1, PlayStation state at 1:00pm

The next band I checked out was Balkan Beat Box. Yet another band I can dance to! My immediate thought was, "this is awesome, but now I don't know who to dance to, Los Amigos or these guys!?" While the Balkan Beat Box is more rap focused, they still use trumpets and trombones and saxes and provide the good times. Another thing to consider, is they're at the other end of the part from Foxy Shazam. I should note here, this distance does not scare me. I'll go back and forth all day long if I want to, so there! :) Definitely check these guys out by, as always, clicking their pic.

Balkan Beat Box
Playing Lolla on Day 1, Parkways stage at 12:15pm
Last but not least was The Constellations. Before I checked them out, I did consider if I even should. I mean, I'm already struggling to decide between Los Amigos and Balkan BB, do I need another contender? However, I'm glad I did! I mean, any band whose MySpace descriptors include Psychedelic / Ghettotech / Showtunes, I'm interested. I was pretty convinced with the first song that played on their MySpace, "Felicia," that these guys were also really freakin' awesome. Starts out with some hand claps and tambourines, then brings in a good bass line. It's like they wrote the song just for me. Even the vocals are that deep, somewhat hard to understand style I love. All this, AND they're also danceable! AND they post pictures like this on their MySpace.
Ok, these guys win.
The Constellations, if you're reading this, way to be awesome. Also, please email me, I'd like to bring you back to Chicago with Verona Red.

The Constellations
Playing Lolla on Day 1, Sony stage at 1:00pm
So, the Day 1 trek looks like this so far: These United States --> Foxy Shazam --> The Constellations --> the end of Los Amigos Invisibles. I would love to check out Balkan Beat Box between Foxy and Constellations, but there's only a 30 minute gap between the two and that would likely give me just enough time to walk there and back, so I'll use that time to apply sunscreen and such.

The next band I KNOW I want to see is Semi Precious Weapons at 4:15, so I there's plenty more research to come.

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