Throbbing Gristle headlines Coachella

Holy Crap! Throbbing Gristle! Coachella! Then The Sonics and DEVO at SXSW! I'm not a crusty music snob, and I love the ever evolving shape of modern music, but it's nice to witness a little reverence here and there as new forms take their cues from the old.

The Sonics are a band from Tacoma and were at their height in the 60's playing Kinks-inspired garage rock. They had a number of big hits: "The Witch," "Psycho" and "Strychnine," and then pretty much fell off the map. Lately they've been making a comeback and played their first live show after almost 40 years last Halloween to a packed house here at the Paramount Theater in Seattle.

Throbbing Gristle is an electronic group formed in London back in the mid 70's. You can hear the influence of their sound (and other late 70's industrial groups like Can and Cabaret Voltaire), in bands like Portishead with similar droning beats and electronic programming. TG are performance artists as well, and were known to shock their audience (and critics) with raunchy stage antics. It will be interesting to see what kind of energy they bring to Coachella, 30+ years from their heyday.

Check out the official Coachella lineup here: 2009 Coachella Lineup.

Read my review of Portishead's Third here: Portishead: Third

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