Coachella Band Preview: FINNEAS

From the day after the last Coachella ended in April 2019 until now, I’ve been waiting to go back. Obviously March 2020 put a huge damper on the yearly spring tradition, and since then it’s just been a waiting game. I spent so many times thinking about Coachella, looking at pictures, and wondering what the day would be like when I finally get to go back and hoping by then it would be a normal Coachella. Now here we are, I leave for Coachella in just under a month and the festival begins in 5 weeks tomorrow. 1,090 days since the last Coachella once Day 1 Weekend 1 2022 hits. It’s unreal. I still keep holding my breath as I prep by listening to acts playing the festival this year, watching the Coachella Documentary from 2020, booking my travel, and planning out what I want to wear. With plenty of festivals now happening and three years since the last installment, Coachella seems imminent. I truly can’t believe we’ve made it this far. With the amount of time left, it’s really time to intensify the prep so this week I’m previewing an artist I’ve known about for a few years who, in my opinion, doesn’t get enough credit.

Finneas Baird O’Connell really has his claim to fame through his sister, Billie Eilish. He writes and produces a ton of her music along with other artists. He also writes and records his own music under the name FINNEAS. Before taking on his own project, he was the lead singer in the band, The Slightlys and took on some acting projects in the early 2010’s, including having a few appearances on the musical based TV show Glee. Since 2016, he has been recording and releasing his own music though. He released his first EP Blood Harmony in 2019 and his first studio album Optimist just last year. His music style is considered pop/alternative. After listening to FINNEAS for the first time in 2019, I would definitely consider him a pop artist. Also, despite the fact that he writes Billie’s music, I really do prefer his stuff over his sister’s. I knew once I discovered this that I wanted to listen to him more, but never really made the effort to do so. I guess there’s no better time than the present and no better festival to do it for than Coachella.

Billie Eilish is Saturday night’s headliner and usually a Billie festival appearance equates a FINNEAS festival appearance (sans Coachella 2019 when Billie made her first Polo Fields appearance). He plays a Sunday set. I’d expect a Sunday afternoon appearance from the older O’Connell sibling. I would also expect a Gobi or Mojave set from him. His set will likely be far less crowded than the set he’ll be a part of on Saturday night, but nonetheless, will be just as good. Here’s what you should be listening to in preparation for FINNEAS:

1. Let’s Fall in Love for the Night
2. Break My Heart Again
3. I Lost A Friend
4. Till Forever Falls Apart
5. What They’ll Say About Us
6. Angel
7. A Concert Six Months From Now
8. I Don’t Miss You At All
9. Claudia
10. New Girl

Ultralife: Album Review

Another week. Another new album. This time it’s alt-pop duo Oh Wonder. Yesterday they released the follow-up to their debut self-titled album entitled Ultralife. Unlike the year long, monthly song release project that culminated in their first album, the band released a few singles from their sophomore record over the past few months.

After getting into Oh Wonder over the past year and even more-so after Coachella, I was highly anticipating this new album. “Ultralife”, the first single from the album with the same name, which debuted in March, was a fun and instant hit in my book. The new album offers much of what their first album did, which is catchy, melodic alternative pop jams. The album fluctuates from soft, slower tunes like “My Friends”, “Bigger Than Love”, and “All About You” to songs that will make you want to get up and dance like “Ultralife” and “High on Humans”. If I had to name any difference in sound between the first two albums, it’s that I think the first album had more of an R&B feel versus the electronic/digital type of sound heard more prominently in the second album. Even so, I think my opinion might be a bit of a stretch.

I have a feeling that once I purchase this album and listen to it on repeat in my car, I’ll have a few undeniable favorites. “Overgrown” is already taking a commanding lead in that category. I give this album another high purchasing recommendation, especially if you already know and like Oh Wonder. You’ll easily be hooked on Ultralife after listening a few times. In addition to the release of their new album, Oh Wonder will be embarking on a world tour in support of the album. They’ll be in North America beginning in September so it might be worth it to catch them live too. I know I’ll be headed to a show after missing them at Coachella. In the mean time though, pick up a copy of the new album and “live ultralife.”

Coachella Band Preview: Tove Lo

This is it. The final blog post before the big first weekend. I make my journey out there in two days and I can’t wait to be among that festival atmosphere. Hopefully I get a chance to see one or two of these amazing bands or artists I’ve previewed, but I keep my expectations low to avoid disappointment just in case. The final artist I decided to preview is a Swedish singer/songwriter known as Tove Lo.

Tove Lo, whose real name is Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson, first came on to the music scene in 2014. Her career journey started way before that though. While growing up she went to music school and even became friends with Caroline Hjelt, who went on to form Icona Pop. By the end of her teenage years she formed the rock band Tremblebee. After the band broke up she decided to go after a songwriting career and earned a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music in 2011. Through that she often wrote and recorded her own compositions which lead to her eventual record deal.

Her stage name comes from a nickname she had growing up. Tove is part of her real name and Lo is the Swedish word for Lynx, which was her favorite animal growing up. Tove Lo’s first performances were in London and at SXSW in 2014 right around the time she released her first EP Truth Serum. The EP contained one of her most popular hits, “Habits”, which she released independently even before the EP came out. The track was re-titled “Habits (Stay High)” for Truth Serum and earned her breakout success as one of the hottest new artists of 2014. Her debut album Queen of the Clouds was released on September 24, 2014. It had much success making the top 20 on album charts in the U.S., the U.K., and Sweden. In Sweden the album is certified platinum. Towards the end of 2014, Tove Lo joined the third leg of Katy Perry’s Prismatic World Tour as the opening artist.

By early 2015 though, the breakout artist needed to take a little time away from singing as she had to have surgery on her vocal chords to remove cysts that had developed. Near the end of the year she was back at it touring across North America in support of the re-packaged edition of Queen of the Clouds which was released in October of 2015. The year rewarded Tove Lo with two Grammi Awards (Swedish version of the Grammys) and a Grammy nomination for her writing credit on Ellie Goulding’s song “Love Me Like You Do”.

In 2016 the Swedish singer announced she would be releasing her second album later in the year. She toured as the opening act for Maroon 5 to promote the upcoming release. She released the first single from her new album Lady Wood in early August called “Cool Girl”. The album was released on October 28, 2016. Tove Lo recently went on a solo tour in support of Lady Wood and has plans to join Coldplay’s upcoming tour as an opening act this summer.

Along with her own success, Tove Lo has also been involved in many successful collaborations with artists such as Nick Jonas, Coldplay, and Flume, as well as earning songwriting credits for many well known artists such as Ellie Goulding, Hillary Duff, Victoria Justice, Lea Michele, and Icona Pop. One of her most successful collaborations came in 2015 when she sang on Swedish DJ Alesso’s track “Heroes (We Could Be)”. The single had high chart success in Sweden, the U.K., and the U.S.

Tove Lo’s music style is an alternative style of pop music. It might be considered synthpop or electropop. It definitely has an electronic influence and is a bit darker than your standard pop music as well. A lot of her songs have this sexual type of feel and sound. I’m not saying that’s the intention with her music either. Her style is just perfect baby making music.

I don’t remember when I first heard of Tove Lo. I know I knew her song “Habits (Stay High)” before anything else. I didn’t really like the song though, which is probably because I would only ever hear it on mainstream pop radio. Even though I’m not a huge fan of listening to that type of radio, I have a guilty pleasure song or two that gets overplayed. “Habits” was not one of those. “Talking Body” was though. I first heard “Talking Body” on a Spotify playlist and I really liked the song. It was even part of my work out playlist for a while. I never really got hooked on any of her other songs though, but I think at that point I appreciated her as more of an alternative pop artist.

So for the second week in a row why am I previewing this artist that I’ve never gotten into? In fact compared to Two Door Cinema Club, I don’t even own any of Tove Lo’s records. Well it’s pretty simple. Tove Lo plays Sunday at Coachella and I’ve only previewed two other Sunday acts, Lorde and Grouplove. If I had the whole festival to just hang out and see music, there would only be 2 performances that I’d really wanna see on Sunday which frees up a ton of the day. My familiarity with Tove Lo would make me want to check her set out. I think she’ll put on a great set and I definitely suggest you check her out if you have time on Sunday. Here’s a few songs you might want to know first:

1. Habits (Stay High)
2. Talking Body
3. Cool Girl
4. True Disaster
5. Influence
6. Moments
7. Not On Drugs
8. Got Love
9. Heroes (We Could Be) (w/ Alesso)
10. Say It (w/ Flume)

 

 

Coachella Band Preview: Oh Wonder

Coachella begins in 2 weeks! I hope you’ve been doing some serious music listening. If you haven’t, I’m disappointed in you. Even if you’re one of those people who doesn’t like to listen to the music before they attend the show, I’m still disappointed in you because, I mean, come on. How can you not prep even just a little?! This is one of the biggest music festivals out there. For those of you who have been prepping, here’s another band you should be listening to.

Oh Wonder is a band who began creating music together in September 2014. The band is from London and comprised of keyboardist/vocalist Josephine Vander Gucht and guitarist/vocalist Anthony West. Oh Wonder’s claim to fame comes from the release of their DIY debut album. Beginning in September 2014, the alt-pop duo began releasing one song per month via SoundCloud for one year. The year culminated in the release of their debut album which also included two unreleased songs.

The band’s song release process attracted the attention of music fans, blogs, and record labels. They eventually signed with Republic Records. Upon the release of their self-titled debut album in September 2015, the band scheduled shows in London, Paris, New York, and Los Angeles, all of which were sold out. The band has toured internationally since that time and also played a handful of North American music festivals last summer. They made stops at Bonnaroo, Firefly, WayHome (Canada), Lollapalooza, and Live Out (Mexico).

Their music is an alternative/indie pop style, but softer and more mellow than other music I would classify as indie pop. Vander Gucht and West also harmonize magnificently on every track. Their vocals create such soothing melodies that are often times catchy as well. Once you get one of their songs in your head, it’s difficult to get it out.

I heard of Oh Wonder from a music recommendation tumblr post last fall. I checked them out a few days after and decided to download one of their songs. It seemed like after listening to them for the first time, more of their music would pop up on random Spotify playlists I would listen to. I also routinely listened to the song I downloaded. It only took a few times of listening before I would sing-a-long with the music. Their music isn’t the kind of indie pop you’d want to hear to get you hyped up for something. It’s the kind that you’d put on during a sunny afternoon drive or road trip.

That being said, don’t expect a fun, upbeat indie pop style set from them at Coachella. They’re not Grouplove or Matt & Kim. Their music is more relaxed and their set will be too. They play Friday and my guess is that their set will be earlier in the day. They’re a perfect band to see at the festival because I doubt their set time will overlap with other must-see acts. Here’s a few songs you should listen to before their Coachella performance:

1. Drive
2. Technicolor Beat
3. Lose It
4. All We Do
5. Without You
6. Livewire

(But truly, if you just check out their debut self-titled album, you should be fine.)

 

Honeymoon: Album Review

It wasn’t my intention to not post for the last month, but sometimes life happens. And so it goes. But, what better time to get back into the swing of blog posting than with the release of Lana Del Rey’s fourth studio album, Honeymoon?

Yesterday the pop goddess released her fourth full length to the masses of her adoring fans. As one of those adoring fans, I, of course, needed to buy it. Compared to 2014’s Ultraviolence and 2012’s Born to Die, Honeymoon is missing something for me. It feels like it lacks varying melodies and is less upbeat. Let’s be real though, Lana Del Rey doesn’t sing upbeat bubble gum pop music. She’s not Taylor Swift and she definitely won’t be shaking it off anytime soon. Still, even for her usual, many songs off the new album like “Honeymoon”, “Terrence Loves You”, and “God Knows I Tried”, are soft, slow and missing that little edgy background beat. Sure there’s still background music to her songs, but it’s slower than what we’re used to for the singer. This album focuses more on Lana’s powerful hypnotic vocals.

One thing remains true when it comes to Lana Del Rey: girl can sing. Focusing on the singing gives Honeymoon a different feel than her other albums where many of her songs are the whole package. Her choice of lyrics and themes also don’t stray much from standard Lana songs. None of the lyrics reach to the level of quality like “my pussy tastes like Pepsi cola” did, but there’s still some gems. I mean one of her singles off the new album is called “High By the Beach” with the line “all I wanna do is get high by the beach” repeated continuously throughout the song. One of my personal favorite lines comes from the song “24”, “if you lie down with dogs, then you’ll get fleas.” I also dig the chorus in “Freak”, particularly the lines that go “baby if you want to leave, come to California, be a freak like me too.”

Overall, I’ll probably fall in love with this album after listening to it a few times. For my tastes though, it needs to grow on me. I have no doubt it will. I love Lana Del Rey as a music artist, so it shouldn’t be a problem. If you love her as much as I do, I highly recommend purchasing the album.

My song recommendations (favorites) from Honeymoon:

1. High By the Beach
2. Music to Watch Boys to
3. Freak
4. Art Deco