Primavera Sound 2015: Highlights from May 30th

The third and final part of our coverage of Barcelona's Primavera Sound 2015 festival - check out below all our favorite performances from the last full day of the festival which took place at Parc del Fòrum on May 30th, including The Strokes, tUnE-yArDs, DIIV and many more:

tUnE-yArDs 

I knew as soon as I read the festival's timetable that I had some tough choices to make, especially on Saturday. The Strokes were the headliners of the day at Primavera stage and given that I had never seen them live before, I had to fit at least part of their set in my schedule. At the same time, a quarter to midnight, at the ATP stage on the opposite side of Parc del Fòrum, Babes In Toyland, one of my favorite '90s bands, were making their Spanish comeback after two decades, while tUnE-yArDs, one of my current faves, would be on the Pitchfork stage at half-past midnight.

To cut a long story short, I started with The Strokes, missed completely Babes In Toyland's set (and had to make do with watching it on YouTube later) but, thankfully, I got to see the majority of a magnificent performance by tUnE-yArDs which turned out to be amongst the best of the festival. Merrill Garbus has created a truly unique, utterly euphoric sound and is doing a great job in recreating it live by mixing electronic sounds with a variety of percussive instruments, Nate Brenner's bass guitar, her trademark ukulele and, of course, her astonishing vocals given an extra boost from her back-up singers. Respect!

Tune-Yards, live @ Primavera Sound, May 30th, 2015

DIIV

It's been quite some time since "Oshin", the very promising debut by DIIV, but judging by their excellent, highly energetic performance on Primavera's Pitchfork stage, the band from New York is about to make a dynamic comeback. Their set included several new tracks from their upcoming sophomore album (confusingly titled "Is The Is Are"), which managed to excite the crowd despite the fact that for most of us this was the very first time we were listening to them, and, of course, some of "Oshin"s highlights, including the track everybody wanted to hear live, the great "Doused":

DIIV - Doused (live @ Primavera Sound, May 30th, 2015)

The Strokes

They walked on Primavera stage fashionably late (maybe they were waiting for the end of the Spanish football cup final?), they kicked off with "Machu Picchu" followed by "Someday", an indication they would split their set between their new songs (that, let's face it, is not what we came here to listen) and their classic hits, and proceeded without much between song banter to give an efficient performance that would get their numerous fans singing every time they decided to revisit their past glories. I was glad I was able to see them even at this late stage of their illustrious career, even in the overcrowded conditions of a big festival, but after half an hour I knew I had to make my way to one of the other stages.

Here's "All The Time", the track they were playing as I was rushing to see tUnE-yArDs:

The Strokes - All The Time (live @ Primavera Sound, May 30th, 2015)

Shellac

I will not say much about Shellac's late night performance in one of the smaller stages of the festival except state the fact that the approximately half an hour that I've witnessed was absolutely terrific. We'll have more about them soon, as a few days later we had the pleasure of attending their sold out show at An Club in Athens (the kick off event of Plisskën Festival). Also, it seems that Steve Albini watched Sleaford Mods earlier in the day on the same stage (we didn't, but made up for it next week in Plisskën) and was sufficiently impressed to declare them the best band in history during his band's set. 

HEALTH

HEALTH had gone MIA for quite some time now, but they are about to make their comeback with new album "Death Magic" very soon and, based on their impressive performance on the Pitchfork stage, you can expect an explosive mix of industrial dance beats and gothic, noisy guitars. Sounds promising - here's their cover of Pictureplane's "Goth Star":

HEALTH - Goth Star (live @ Primavera Sound, May 30th, 2015)

Hookworms

It was really late when Hookworms took to the stage (nearly 3 in the morning) but their powerful set helped us to somehow muster up the strength to stay on our feet for another 40 minutes. Great energy from a band that has the potential to produce truly exciting rock music in the years ahead.

Other notable performances we got to experience on Primavera Sound's third full day included Einstürzende Neubauten's unique, industrial experimentation, Kevin Morby's charming folk-rock, Foxygen's burlesque theatrics (not sure about the music, but their stage show was certainly something else), Younghusband's melodic pop and Fucked Up's ambitious (and entertaining) hardcore.

Einstürzende Neubauten

Kevin Morby

Foxygen

Younghusband

Fucked Up

Earlier in the day, before we make our way to Parc del Fòrum, we had the opportunity to see once again in action the wonderful Ex  Hex at Parc De La Ciutadella - a great way to start your day, without a doubt:

Ex  Hex, live @ Parc De La Ciutadella

To close our Primavera Sound 2015 saga, let's hear some more live music from the festival:

Ex Hex - New Kid (live @ Parc De La Ciutadella, May 30th, 2015)

Kevin Morby - All of My Life (live @ Primavera Sound, May 30th, 2015)

Fucked Up - I Hate Summer (live @ Primavera Sound, May 30th, 2015)

Check out here Part 1 and Part 2 of our Primavera Sound 2015 coverage.

Coming up, all the action from Plisskën Festival...

C.M.C.'s Guide to Primavera Sound 2015

Parc del Fòrum map

The summer festival season is finally upon us and here in Cool Music Central we're getting ready for an epic 10-day music marathon! The start will be in Barcelona on May 28th with Primavera Sound 2015 and the finish in Athens on June 5th and 6th with the most ambitious edition of Plisskën Festival to date.

We'll have more on Plisskën in a couple of weeks time, but now it's time to focus on Primavera Sound and make plans and tough decisions about what to see and do in Barcelona's Parc del Fòrum between May 28th and 30th:

Day 1

The Black Keys

The Black Keys are the headliners on the Primavera stage around midnight, but our day will start much earlier with the afternoon performances of Hiss Golden Messenger (Ray Ban stage), Twerps (Pitchfork) and Cheatahs (Adidas Originals). Later on Giant Sand are playing against Viet Cong, which brings us to the first tough decision of this festival. Thankfully the latter are expected in Athens for their own show early in September, so Howe Gelb's band will be the most obvious choice for me.

The next tough call of the first day will come around 9 o'clock with The Thurston Moore Band versus The Replacements face-off, but having seen the former in Athens very recently is going to give me an easy way out for this dilemma.

Mikal Cronin (who is also playing Plisskën), Spiritualized (long time no see) and Tyler, The Creator are some of the available choices until it's time for The Black Keys, while for the small hours of the morning there is James Blake and JUNGLE on hand to make things funky.

Day 2

Ride

For the start of the second day of the festival we have Disappears on the Ray Ban stage while The Pastels will be playing on the small Heineken Hidden Stage, a performance that requires acquisition of reservation tickets. 

The ATP stage is having a very solid line-up on Friday, starting with the early afternoon performance of The KVB which is followed by The New Pornographers, Belle & Sebastian and Run The Jewels, while on the Primavera stage we have Julian Casablancas+The Voidz, Damien Rice and Ride as the headliners.

We'll make sure, of course, not to miss the sets by The Julie Ruin and Sleater-Kinney on Ray Ban and Heineken stages respectively, who I'm willing to bet will be amongst the highlights of Primavera Sound 2015, while amongst all this madness Patti Smith & Band will be performing the classic "Horses" in its entirety. A lot of tough choices here and I'm not quite sure who will prevail.

Sleater-Kinney

For the after hours part of Day 2 we have to choose among Death From Above 1979, alt-J, The Juan MacLean, Earth and Jon Hopkins.

Day 3

The Strokes

The last day of Primavera Sound 2015 starts with Kevin Morby on Pitchfork stage with opposition from the promising Younghusband (ATP). DIIV, American Football, Torres, MOURN, tUnE-yArDs and HEALTH form a strong line-up on Pitchfork stage which will certainly lead us to pay it several visits throughout the day. Elsewhere, we have performances by The Vaselines, Fucked Up and Mac DeMarco, while the Sleaford Mods versus Foxygen derby will be decided for me by the fact that the punk-hop Mods will also be part of Plisskën's line-up.

Just before The Strokes headlining performance at Primavera stage, there is fellow New York scene comrades Interpol playing at Heineken stage, while psychedelic Kiwis Unknown Mortal Orchestra will be appearing at the same time on Adidas Originals stage. However the most unfortunate clash for me comes from the fact that Babes In Toyland will be starting their set on ATP stage at exactly the same time as The Strokes, so I think I'll have to make do with my memories from the Babes live set at London's Forum twenty-something years ago.

For the finale of the festival, one can either dance the night away with Underworld and Caribou or catch the guitar blasts of Shellac, Thee Oh Sees and Hookworms. I think you know where we'll be.

The Strokes - Reading 2011 (Full Set)

See you on the other side with, hopefully, plenty of photos, videos and live reviews from all the action in Barcelona!

Listening Habits 02-03.11

This month’s edition of Listening Habits collects the first batch of 2011 albums that have occupied our time in the first few months of the year plus a couple of 2010 releases that got quite a few spins recently. Add Anna Calvi’s debut to the mix (it was at the top of our previous selection) and you have our new music soundtrack for the first quarter of the year.

We have already discussed the 8th albums for both PJ Harvey and Radiohead here, so this time we’ll start our highlights commentary not with the records at the top of the list, but with the most talked about album of the moment which, of course, is none other than "Angles", the long overdue comeback of The Strokes.

The once tight New York City gang has grown apart in the five years since their last work together and now the vibe we’re getting from the interviews is more of the “stay together for the kids' sake” type. The opening synth-reggae notes of "Machu Picchu" don’t do much to raise our understandably lowered expectations, but the familiar sounding first single "Under Cover Of Darkness" that follows it, takes us back to better times for the band. "Last Nite" it ain’t, but it’s certainly a track that could claim a place in the track list of their seminal debut. The sense that the band is trying to return to its earlier sound is soon dissolved by the failed ’80s new wave-pop of "Two Kinds Of Happiness" and the surprising, first-rate manic rush of "You're So Right" that follow. After its first four tracks both the strengths and weaknesses of "Angles" are becoming apparent; the album, whether by accident (the awkward recording process) or by design, is trying to accommodate way too many disparate influences and the end result is uneven but with enough sparks of brilliance to satisfy the thirst of the devoted fan. This frustrating lack of consistency makes "Angles" The Strokes’ weakest work so far, but as the non-stop spinning of the record this week has proven, there’s still plenty of thrills to be had with our old pals even if the help of the skip button is required this time.

Among the best releases of the last couple of months we also find the fifth album by Greg Dulli’s Twilight Singers, the sophomore effort from Swedish siren Lykke Li and the twelfth studio album by art-punk veterans Wire (more about them in our recent live review).

Former Afghan Whigs’ leader Greg Dulli has struck a new creative streak in recent years and after the grunge powerhouse that was "Saturnalia", the album he made in 2008 in collaboration with Mark Lanegan as The Gutter Twins, he is back with the Twilight Singers giving us the amazing "Dynamite Steps", a record that truly lives up to its name, combining explosive rockers like "Waves" or "On The Corner" with dynamic slow-burning numbers like "Get Lucky" or "Gunshots". Guests include Mark Lanegan, Ani DiFranco, Joseph Arthur and The Verve’s guitarist Nick McCabe but make no mistake; "Dynamite Steps" is Greg Dulli’s show and he makes all the right moves to make us relive the glory days of ’90s rock.

Lykke Li’s "Wounded Rhymes" is my definition of a great pop record. In the three years since her promising debut "Youth Novels", Lykke Li has grown into a captivating performer who is able to express in a vulnerable but powerful voice the lows of heartache and unrequited love and exorcise them with magnificently dark pop music that can be at the same time both sad and uplifting. The two excellent singles "Get Some" and "I Follow Rivers" find worthy opponents in "Youth Knows No Pain", "Rich Kids Blues", "Sadness Is A Blessing" and "Jerome" in the competition for best album track in a record where weaknesses are few and far between. The only question that remains unanswered after listening to "Wounded Rhymes" is who would have the heart to turn down the affections of Lykke Li and cause all this heartbreak. Whoever is this man of stone, perhaps we should thank him for inadvertently inspiring Lykke Li to create one of the pop albums of the year!

Top 20 Albums

1.   Let England Shake - P.J. HARVEY
2.   The King Of Limbs - RADIOHEAD
3.   Wounded Rhymes - LYKKE LI
4.   Dynamite Steps - TWILIGHT SINGERS
5.   Red Barked Tree - WIRE
6.   Angles - THE STROKES
7.   The King Is Dead - THE DECEMBERISTS
8.   Kiss Each Other Clean - IRON AND WINE
9.   Collapse Into Now - R.E.M.
10. Yuck - YUCK
11. Violet Cries - ESBEN AND THE WITCH
12. The People's Key - BRIGHT EYES
13. Hard Times And Nursery Rhymes - SOCIAL DISTORTION
14. The Big Roar - THE JOY FORMIDABLE
15. Rolling Blackouts - THE GO! TEAM
16. Ventriloquizzing - FUJIYA & MIYAGI
17. La Sera - LA SERA
18. Rough Trade Shops Counter Culture 10 - VARIOUS ARTISTS
19. The Inevitable Past Is The Future Forgotten - THREE MILE PILOT
20. False Priest - OF MONTREAL

Top 20 Tracks

1.   The glorious land - P.J. HARVEY
2.   Down by the water - THE DECEMBERISTS
3.   Waves - TWILIGHT SINGERS
4.   Your fake name is good enough for me - IRON AND WINE
5.   Lotus flower - RADIOHEAD
6.   There is a light that never goes out - DUM DUM GIRLS
7.   I heard you say - VIVIAN GIRLS
8.   Youth knows no pain - LYKKE LI
9.   Uberlin - R.E.M.
10. Under cover of darkness - THE STROKES
11. Moreover - WIRE
12. Holing out - YUCK
13. In youth is pleasure - THE NEAT
14. Whirring - THE JOY FORMIDABLE
15. Warpath - ESBEN & THE WITCH
16. Devils hearts grow gold - LA SERA
17. Buy nothing day - THE GO! TEAM
18. Sixteen shades of black & blue - FUJIYA & MIYAGI
19. Singularity - BRIGHT EYES
20. Alone and forsaken - SOCIAL DISTORTION

PJ Harvey - The Glorious Land

Arctic Monkeys vs. The Strokes

The super sounds of the '70s: The new Arctic Monkeys track goes for a heavy, glam rock vibe, while The Strokes return to the lean punk grooves of their early sound with added '70s rock radio melodies. It's a good intro to both bands' latest material, but we'll have to wait for the albums to see if they can recapture the glories of last decade.

Arctic Monkeys - Brick By Brick

The Strokes - Under Cover Of Darkness

The Top 20 Albums of the '00s: Number 2

The Strokes - Is This It (2001, RCA/Rough Trade)

The Strokes was the first 21st century band to have such a huge impact on modern rock music with a sound deeply rooted in last century's most basic sonic blueprints - '50s rock 'n' roll swing, '60s garage energy and '70s punk attitude. On "Is This It" this New York City gang manages to compress 50 years of rock music history in just 36 blissful minutes and add its own magical touch, making this album not only the best debut of this decade, but also one of the most influential rock records since that other landmark back in '91. Read also our 2001 review here and check out Pitchfork's praises here.

The Strokes - Hard To Explain

Counting Down The '00s: The Best Of 2001

Our countdown of the ’00s continues with the presentation of our favorite albums and singles of 2001, a year that will always have a futuristic glow in the eyes of 20th century children since this was the year that usually signified the future in sci-fi literature and cinema.

The new music that dominated in 2001, however, was anything but futuristic. The main influences of the new rock aristocracy were deeply rooted in last century's sounds: garage echoes from the '60s, punk energy from the '70s, new wave and electropop from the early '80s. The major difference between them and the bands of previous decades that had also based their sound on a similar blueprint was the existence of a larger audience willing to listen this time around. A new generation of music lovers who grew up in the '90s listening to Nirvana and with easier access to information, thanks to the internet and the mp3 revolution, was ready to embrace groups like The Strokes or The White Stripes and lead them to a level of success that was unthinkable for the bands that came before them.

The album of the year for 2001 was one of the most impressive debuts of the ’00s, the calling card of New York’s coolest new gang, The Strokes. As I was writing at the time "…"Is This It" is one of the best debut albums in years and one that reminds us how exciting punk rock was 25 years ago, when it started. But we are not talking about nostalgia here. The Strokes, along with other new bands like The White Stripes, The Hives and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are reintroducing raw, powerful, back-to-basics rock music to a new generation, bringing rock'n'
roll into the 21st century".

Next to this new rock breed, we also had several astounding efforts from older bands that, in most cases, didn’t receive the attention that they deserved but their importance is evident by their influence on the new scene. Guided By Voices, the kings of lo-fi from Ohio who count The Strokes among their fans, were in top form in 2001 and in a more power-pop mood than usual. Rocket From The Crypt took no prisoners for their powerful last record and the same is true for Fugazi. Mercury Rev and Spiritualized presented their finest records for the decade while Pavement front-man Stephen Malkmus kicked off in style his solo career with his eponymous album.

Top 30 Albums of 2001

1. Is this it - THE STROKES
2. Group sounds - ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT
3. Isolation drills - GUIDED BY VOICES
4. All is dream - MERCURY REV
5. Let it come down - SPIRITUALIZED
6. Stephen Malkmus - STEPHEN MALKMUS
7. White blood cells - THE WHITE STRIPES
8. Black rebel motorcycle club - BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB
9. The argument - FUGAZI
10. Iron flag - WU-TANG CLAN
11. Ancient melodies of the future - BUILT TO SPILL
12. Are you are missing winner - THE FALL
13. No more shall we part - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS
14. Ease down the road - BONNIE PRINCE BILLY
15. It's a wonderful life - SPARKLEHORSE
16. Get ready - NEW ORDER
17. 604 - LADYTRON
18. Souljacker - EELS
19. Change - THE DISMEMBERMENT PLAN
20. Behind the music - THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES
21. The cold vein - CANNIBAL OX
22. #1 - FISCHERSPOONER
23. Song yet to be sung - PERRY FARRELL
24. Sound-dust - STEREOLAB
25. The red thread - ARAB STRAP
26. Rain on lens - SMOG
27. Sunny border blue - KRISTIN HERSH
28. Girls can tell - SPOON
29. When do we start fighting - SEAFOOD
30. The photo album - DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE

Top 30 Singles of 2001

1. Glad girls - GUIDED BY VOICES
2. Whatever happened to my rock 'n' roll (punk song) - BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB
3. Hard to explain - THE STROKES
4. Hotel Yorba - THE WHITE STRIPES
5. Street gang - A.R.E. WEAPONS
6. NYC's like a graveyard - THE MOLDY PEACHES
7. Souljacker pt.1 - EELS
8. Piano fire - SPARKLEHORSE
9. Capitalism stole my virginity - THE (INTERNATIONAL) NOISE CONSPIRACY
10. The hook - STEPHEN MALKMUS
11. Love detective - ARAB STRAP
12. As I sat sadly by her side - NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS
13. Last nite - THE STROKES
14. Furniture - FUGAZI
15. Splinter - SEAFOOD
16. Imitation of life - R.E.M.
17. Crystal - NEW ORDER
18. Clint Eastwood - GORILLAZ
19. Nite and fog - MERCURY REV
20. Out of sight - SPIRITUALIZED
21. Hashpipe - WEEZER
22. Song yet to be sung - PERRY FARRELL
23. Uzi - WU-TANG CLAN
24. Androgyny - GARBAGE
25. Grace - RUBY
26. Playgirl - LADYTRON
27. Bang bang you're dead - EXPERIMENTAL POP BAND
28. Any day now - ELBOW
29. New York, New York - RYAN ADAMS
30. It is important throughout your life to proclaim your joy - MARK EITZEL