Coachella Press Reviews

[MyLifeISought]

LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-coachella29apr29,0,6543470.story

Unable to pull myself away from the calm Spiritualized created, I came late to My Morning Jacket's triumphant turn on the main stage. As I walked across the field, I could hear the roaring tenor of the Louisville, Ken., band's Jim James as he threw down some piercing falsetto lines. Like Spiritualized, MMJ (as the band is also known) pursues the deep feeling of blues and soul, but it's also very groove-oriented, reflecting the interests of a younger generation that's less afraid to dance than its immediate elders.

A five-piece band that incorporates funky rhythms and some electronic elements into its seedbed of Southern indie rock, MMJ has grown more sonically eloquent as it's become more adept. At times, its Coachella set approached the hugeness of a U2 concert, though it also had a bit of the easy transcendence of a classic Grateful Dead show.

Songs from the band's upcoming album "Evil Urges" showed exciting growth; by exploring new territory, especially R&B, the band has somehow become more focused. A few songs built a sense of tension that only great bands can manage in such a huge space. With a summer release, My Morning Jacket is set to secure its reign over American rock lovers' hearts; this big, exalting performance was the true beginning of that conquest.

[ms. yvon]

wow!  well worded, written review there!   [smiley=beer.gif]

[ms. yvon]

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003795166
the Kentucky-based foursome

:-? come again?

[...vacuuman...]

pitchfork gets it right: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/50260-live-coachella-2008

Let's remove Roger Waters and Prince from this conversation, because they're in a different league-- superstars with decades behind them. So, if we pretend for a moment that they don't exist, then My Morning Jacket performed hands down my favorite set of the festival. In the studio, My Morning Jacket craft good music, but what you're not hearing enough of on those albums is what makes them so unfuckingbelievable live-- the music. Because singer Jim James' voice is so high and crisp that it dominates their records; but live, that instrument you hear lingering just beneath his voice explodes right there with it.

James avoids tagging the band with a genre, being the wonderful weirdo that he is (he was wearing white-strapped moon boots and a scarf on stage): They're funk and honky and blues and metal and vintage and progressive riding this submerged wave of disco. And live, they jam, bringing their music to the brink, probing and testing the limits of their instruments until James' voice hums out over the crowd and lassos them back down to Earth. Maybe you have to wear moon boots to do a thing like that. --Joe Crosby

[ms. yvon]

woo!

i can hold my tongue no longer:  jim is NOT WEARING MOON BOOTS.  christ.  those are the things that one wears when tromping around in the snow.

and:  WHITE???  come on now, pay a little attention if you're going to reference the duds.

and:  how did they all miss the bitchinness of bo's hat?

getting that off my chest is a bit of a relief.   ::)