deep in the desert

LA Weekly this week preempts the competition with a Coachella issue more than a week before the festivities begin in Indio, Calif.

In "Coachella By The Numbers," Randall Roberts dissects the massive lineup in interesting ways. For example, he finds out that, if YouTube hits count for anything, Justice would be the champion headliner at the fest. He also looks at all the band names and finds 22 percent are "dumb" and 9 percent, including Does It Offend You, Yeah? and Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip, are "Dumb As Hell."

Liz Ohanesian does the cover piece on techno duo Modeselektor, which the paper says is "saving the spirit of techno." Also, at the bottom of the piece (and as a proper sidebar in the print edition) you'll see Ohanesian's lament on "Why You Won't See L.A.'s Dance Underground At Coachella."

"There is something brewing in L.A. right now, something that could trigger revolution on the dance floor," she writes. " ... Nearly every night in Los Angeles, you can feel its racing pulse inside venues like the Smell and Pehrspace and at parties hosted by the likes of Droid Behavior, Part Time Punks and M/R/X-Wolfpak. You won’t, however, see any of this at Coachella."