Coachella is back.
For two desert weekends (April 13-15 and April 20-22), a massive team of writers and photographers from Crossfade's sister blog West Coast Sound will be covering everything from the performances to the fashion trends to the drug-induced tomfoolery.
Over 140 artists are performing and we've got the full list below. But, you may be wondering, who the hell are some of these people? To help, we've got stories on many of them culled from our fellow Village Voice Media papers around the country.
You'll learn about that time Flying Lotus pretended to be a UCLA physics major, Seun Kuti's first Minneapolis performance as an eight year old, even the mysteries of Merrill Garbus and why Chuck Klosterman can't handle her.
Dig in! -Ben Westhoff
A$AP Rocky
Abe Vigoda
*Pop Go Abe Vigoda: The punk-gone-shoegaze band await a mainstream breakthrough
Afrojack
Alesso
Amon Tobin : ISAM Live
Andrew Bird
AraabMUZIK
*Q&A: araabMUZIK On His Influences, His Name, And Filling His Records With Crazy Beats
Arctic Monkeys
At The Drive-In
*Mars Volta and At the Drive-In's Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Is a Real Bastard
Atari Teenage Riot
AVICII
*Avicii appears on OC Weekly's "Top Five DJs Under 25"
AWOLNATION
Azealia Banks
Band of Skulls
Beats Antique
Beirut
Black Lips
*Black Lips Clean Up (A Bit) For 'Arabia Mountain'
*Phoenix New Times Story on The Black Lips
Bon Iver
*Bon Iver wins two Grammys, and "Bonny Bear" is born
*Bon Iver "kind of said 'f*ck you' a little bit" to the Grammys
Borgore
Breakbot
Buzzcocks
Calvin Harris
Childish Gambino
*Childish Gambino Breaks the Hip-Hop Mold
Company Flow
Dada Life
Datsik
David Guetta
Dawes
Death Grips
Destroyer
Destructo
DJ Shadow
Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg
*Big Pimpin': Pimp cups have real players like Snoop Dogg and white kids alike dropping cash
Dragonette
EMA
Explosions in the Sky
Fanfarlo
*Review of Fanfarlo in Minneapolis
Feed Me
Feist
fIREHOSE
*Q&A: Mike Watt on Napping, Beards, the Neutral Milk Guy, and D Boon
First Aid Kit
*First Aid Kit Are Ladies of the Fjord: A Scandinavian spin on Americana
Fitz and the Tantrums
Florence and the Machine
Flux Pavilion & Dr. P
Flying Lotus
*The Time Flying Lotus Pretended To Be A UCLA Physics Major
*Flying Lotus Rising: Could spiritual electronica be the next great California sound?
Frank Ocean
Gardens & Villa
*Phoenix New Times Story on Gardens & Villa
Gary Clark Jr.
*Seattle Weekly Reviews Gary Clark Jr.
Girl Talk
*Girl Talk's Greg Gillis Says Irony Is a Waste
GIRLS
*S.F.'s Girls Issue a Gorgeous Old-School Epic
*Christopher Owens of Girls on Being on God's Dark Side
GIVERS
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Gotye
*Gotye: I don't care if you mispronounce my name
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Greg Ginn and The Royal We
Grouplove
Hello Seahorse!
honeyhoney
Housse de Racket
Jacques Lu Cont
James
Jeff Mangum
*Review of Jeff Mangum in Minneapolis
Jimmy Cliff with Tim Armstrong and the Engine Band
Justice
Kaiser Chiefs
Kasabian
Kaskade
Keep Shelly in Athens
Kendrick Lamar
*Born and raised in Compton, Kendrick Lamar Hides a Poet's Soul Behind "Pussy & Patron"
*Kendrick Lamar's Section 80 tops LA Weekly's list of best LA Albums of 2011
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
LA Riots
Laura Marling
Le Butcherettes
*Le Butcherettes: Teri Gender Bender is the most volatile woman in rock
Lissie
M. Ward
M83
*M83's Anthony Gonzalez Makes Soundtracks, Without the Movie
Madeon
Madness
Manchester Orchestra
*Phoenix New Times story on Manchester Orchestra
Martin Solveig
Mazzy Star
Méa
Metronomy
Miike Snow
*A Mystery No More!: Discover Miike Snow, so very disco
Modeselektor
Morgan Page
Mt Eden
Neon Indian
Nero
Noel Gallagher's High-Flying Birds
*Liam Gallagher On His Brother Noel: "I'd Rather Eat My Own Shit Than Be In A Band With Him Again"
NOISIΛ
Oberhofer
Other Lives
Porter Robinson
*Porter Robinson appears on OC Weekly's "Top Five DJs Under 25"
Pulp
*Pulp: Top 10 Songs for Beginners
*The Pulp Revival Continues With Eve Wood's Documentary The Beat Is Law
Pure Filth Sound
R3hab
Radiohead
Real Estate
*Phoenix New Times story on Real Estate
Refused
Santigold
SBTRKT
SebastiAn
Sebastian Ingrosso
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80
*Seun Kuti first performed in Minneapolis as an 8-year-old
Sleeper Agent
Spector
Squeeze
St. Vincent
*St. Vincent Dials Up the Aggression on Strange Mercy
*Signs of St. Vincent's Success: As the artist gets more personal, Annie Clark holds back
Sub Focus
Suedehead
Swedish House Mafia
The Airplane Boys
The Big Pink
The Black Angels
The Black Keys
The Dear Hunter
The Gaslamp Killer
*The Gaslamp Killer: Greetings From Hell: This Kid's a Total Freak
The Growlers
*The Growlers Go Further, Fursure!: For the Long Beach band, life is a woozy warzone
The Head and the Heart
The Hives
The Horrors
The Rapture
*Review of The Rapture at The Music Box
The Sheepdogs
The Shins
The Vaccines
The Weeknd
Thundercat
*Thundercat Emerges With His Debut, Co-produced by Flying Lotus
Tijuana Panthers
*Drinking Tequila With Tijuana Panthers
tUnE-yArDs
*tUnE-yArDs tops the Village Voice's Pazz and Jop Critics Poll
*Chuck Klosterman irks tUnE-yArDs' fanbase, while likely enlarging it
*tUnE-yArDs' Experimental Pop Is a Strange Pill to Swallow
Wallpaper
We are Augustines
We Were Promised Jetpacks
*Review of We Were Promised Jetpacks in Minneapolis
Wild Beasts
Wild Flag
*Forget Pedigree: Wild Flag Is a Great New Rock Band
*Wild Flag Is Indie Rock's Female Supergroup
Wolf Gang
WU LYF
Ximena Sarinana
*Ximena Sariñana: An Indie-Pop Star In Mexico, Anonymous In L.A.
*Ximena Sariñana: Five Things She Loves About Echo Park Boys
*Five Questions With Ximena Sariñana
Yuck
Zedd
*Phoenix New Times story on Zedd
Zeds Dead
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