Moon Block Party has just announced the lineup for this year's Desert Daze Music & Arts Festival in Sunset Ranch (near Mecca, CA) on Saturday, April 20, 2013. Acclaimed “Touareg” band Tinariwen and former Amoeba Home Grown artists Warpaint headline the festival, with Chelsea Wolfe, Fool's Gold, Mini Mansions, Night Beats, The Entrance Band and many more performing.

Tickets are on sale now via Brown Paper Tickets and “the fair-trade ticketing company” will donate a portion of the proceeds from the festival to the charity of the ticket purchaser’s choice. You can buy general admission passes ($35 + $2.22 service fee) or there are three additional ticket options that include camping (tent, lakeside or RV) for a bit more. Buy tickets here.

Keep an eye on Moon Block Party's Facebook page for more updates and ticket giveaways in the coming weeks.

 

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Youtube asked us to create a playlist of our favorite music of 2011. That's a pretty big task given how much music we all loved this year. We tried to keep it as close to 20 videos as we could (but we ended up with the random number of 22 faves). Check out our little intro video and then dive into our playlist...




Zola Jesus
Conatus
Sacred Bones

Conatus continued Zola Jesus' evolution to full-fledged goth pop star, with dance beats and hooks underpinning her freaky awesome voice.



Tinariwen
Tassili
Anti- / Epitaph

Malian Touareg band Tinariwen are joined by Kyp and Tunde from TV on the Radio on this beautiful single.





Girls
Father Son Holy Ghost
True Panther Sounds

Dylan Neal, a student of the University of Texas Semester in LA Program, made a short documentary about Amoeba Hollywood as a submission for the 10 Under 10 Film Festival in Texas. The festival was created by Radio-Television-Film professor Ellen Spiro to feature short documentary and experimental films made by UT students. Here's the tricky part: the films must be under 10 minutes long and made for under $10.

The documentary was shot over several days in September and October 2011, and captures Amoeba moments like our in-store with Touareg band Tinariwen and our Halloween festivities, as well as interviews with staff and regular customers. I particularly loved Amoebite Cody in full costume (including face paint) being interviewed on camera with no reference to his appearance or explanation about it being Halloween. But, hey, you never know what you're going to find when you walk into Amoeba!

Amoeba Hollywood - 10 Under 10 Submission from Dylan Neal on Vimeo.

Ooh La L.A., the 3rd Annual French Music Festival in Los Angeles, runs September 29th through October 1st!  

This year's festival features Nouvelle Vague, Tinariwen, Hindi Zahra, Hugh Coltman, DJ Cam, Birdy Nam Nam, and more! Presented by Goldenvoice and KCRW 89.9, all shows take place at the El Rey Theater. More info and tickets HERE.

In conjunction with the Ooh La L.A. festival, Amoeba Hollywood is proud to present a special in-store showcase with acclaimed “Touareg” band Tinariwen on September 29th at 6pm! Find out MORE!



Check out this free download of "Tenere Taqqim Tossam" by Tinariwen featuring Kyp and Tunde from TV on the Radio.

127 Bands, 5 Stages, 3 Days and 1 Mean Sunburn.

"Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival - April 17-19th, 2009 or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Find 30 Reasons To Love a Weekend in the Desert."

- By Scott Butterworth


Day #24 - Artist #24 - Tinariwen:

It doesn't fail! Tonight is the second night in a row that I have been in bad mood, or a stressed mood or an exhausted mood or any combination of undesirable moods. And as soon as I press play on Tinariwen's recent album, Aman Iman: Water Is Life, my mood instantly takes a 180 degree turn. I have plenty of go-to albums to put me in a good mood or get me excited or motivate me, but this album physically woke me up...instantly! What normally takes a cup of coffee an hour or so to do, Aman Iman: Water Is Life does in a matter of seconds.

"Tinariwen is a Tuareg group that performs in the Middle Eastern/African style Tishoumaren, similar to artists like Ali Farka Toure or Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan; [they] sing mostly in the French and Tamashek languages." I consider myself to be a pretty cultured person...but I'm going to be honest; I have no idea what that description means. But what I do know is that they formed in Mali in 1982 and have released music for 18 years, circulating locally in Africa. The music had a political soul of rebellion and became a voice for the Taureg people, eventually becoming banned in Algeria and Mali. It wasn't until 2001 that Tinariwen gained attention from the Western world with the release of The Radio Tisdas Sessions (2001). Their most recent album, Aman Iman: Water Is Life, released in 2007, introduces us to songs that were actually written as far back as the band's origins in the early '80s, but still sound as if they were born yesterday.

There's just something different about this band's music than what I'm used to with Western popular music (and I would put almost every other band at Coachella into that category). They are a magical band, from a magical land. Tinariwen's music feels like it's made because it has to be, and for no other reason. The album title Water Is Life alludes to the band's foundation of necessity and Tinariwen is the water that their Saharan Desert lacks. If the Sahara Desert is a metaphor for my night, coffee is not the "water" that my soil needs...I think it needs Tinariwen.

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