Austinist Spring Road Trip: Heading Home

2. The line-up was extraordinary. Festival organizers once again assembled a fantastic selection of indie rock, electronica and hip-hop artists, who in large part define the sound of today's best music. Particularly special to us this year were the big comeback acts that reemerged to resounding acclaim: New Order, Bauhaus, and Gang of Four to name a few. You'd be hard pressed to find another festival in the States rivaling the significance of Coachella in what we like to refer to as "mainstream independent music."

3. The bands are thrilled to perform here. Time and again it was obvious that these guys loved playing for us. The enthusiasm with which they rocked out carried on to the audience, which made the bands all the more energetic, which made us dance even more like coked-up monkeys, and so the deliciously vicious cycle went. Case in point: the guitarists for The Bravery and Bloc Party, the drummer/keyboardist/resident antics specialist/Napoleon Dynamite-double member of Arcade Fire, Win Butler's stage-dive.

4. The event staff were monumentally incompetent, as our British mate succinctly articulated, "they couldn't organize a piss-up in a brewery." Upwards of an hour to get past security screening, and monstrous lines for beer, food, merch, and just about anything else. We took advantage of the deadtime to chat up our fellow festival-goers, which helped pass the time considerably.

5. Try as people might otherwise, it's hard to look like a rockstar-wannabe when your mascara is running down your cheek and your faux-hawk begins to wilt. We felt really sorry for the dozen or so goths who insisted on staying in costume, heavy black trenchcoats and all. We found the best approach to go shirtless and take advantage of optimal tanning conditions.

With SXSW and Coachella less than two months apart and the two events so often appearing in the same sentence, we can't help but briefly compare the two:

The former aims to showcase the best national and international independent, unsigned, or otherwise unexploded bands producing potentially era-defining music. The latter is much more geared towards established acts who are already fixtures of today's music landscape - but keep in mind that we're not talking about Walmart Rock. The fact that there is a significant overlap of acts between the two events indicates to us two things: that today's audience is more apt to embrace relatively unknown but fantastic acts, and perhaps these unknown acts aren't as obscure as we'd like to imagine.

People are quick to lament that so much of modern "indie" rock is corporate, and they're right. It has always been the hipster-chic to listen to bands that no one else knows about, but our modern contrivances - websites such as PitchforkMedia, indieworkshop and iTunes-playlists - make it easy enough for anyone with an iPod and High-Speed to tap in. With over ten percent of the US population wielding the trademark white earbuds, it's no wonder that large record companies are taking an interest. We'll leave the commentary at this, and let you draw your own conclusions.

Regardless, we had an awesome time at this year's Coachella Festival. We're still debating whether or not to vaccuum-seal the Hand That Touched Carlos, much in the same manner as Zoolander’s J.P. Prewitt, Bulova Watch model and would-be assassin.

1000 miles to Austin.