Your Complete Guide to Coachella 2012

Timothy Norris

Coachella is back, for two desert weekends this year, April 13-15 and April 20-22. Our massive team of writers and photographers will be covering everything from the performances to the fashion trends to the drug-induced-tomfoolery.

Over 140 artists are performing -- we've got the full list below. But, you may be wondering, who the hell are some of these people? To help you out we've got stories on many of them culled from our sister Village Voice Media papers around the country. You'll learn about that time Flying Lotus pretended to be a UCLA physics major, Seun Kuti's first Minneapolis performance as an eight year old, even the mysteries of Merrill Garbus and why Chuck Klosterman can't handle her.

Dig in! --Ben Westhoff, L.A. Weekly

A$AP Rocky Abe Vigoda *Pop Go Abe Vigoda: The punk-gone-shoegaze band await a mainstream breakthrough Afrojack Alesso Amon Tobin : ISAM Live Andrew Bird AraabMUZIK *Q&A: araabMUZIK On His Influences, His Name, And Filling His Records With Crazy Beats Arctic Monkeys At The Drive-In *Mars Volta and At the Drive-In's Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Is a Real Bastard Atari Teenage Riot AVICII *Avicii appears on OC Weekly's "Top Five DJs Under 25" AWOLNATION Azealia Banks *Q&A: Azealia Banks On Growing Up On Stage, Being Compared To Nicki Minaj, And Why Women Have More Sexual Power Than People Think Band of Skulls Beats Antique Beirut Black Lips *Black Lips Clean Up (A Bit) For 'Arabia Mountain' *Phoenix New Times Story on The Black Lips Bon Iver *Bon Iver wins two Grammys, and "Bonny Bear" is born *Bon Iver "kind of said 'f*ck you' a little bit" to the Grammys Borgore Breakbot Buzzcocks *The Buzzcocks: Possessed by the Spirit of '76: Steve Diggle says the punk rock way of looking at the world is just as relevant today as it ever was. Calvin Harris Childish Gambino *Childish Gambino Breaks the Hip-Hop Mold Company Flow Dada Life Datsik David Guetta Dawes Death Grips Destroyer Destructo DJ Shadow Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg *Big Pimpin': Pimp cups have real players like Snoop Dogg and white kids alike dropping cash Dragonette EMA *Q&A: EMA's Erika M. Anderson On How To Shock People Using Stolen Classic-Rock Lyrics And Firing A Gun At Age 14 Explosions in the Sky Fanfarlo *Review of Fanfarlo in Minneapolis Feed Me Feist fIREHOSE *Q&A: Mike Watt on Napping, Beards, the Neutral Milk Guy, and D Boon First Aid Kit *First Aid Kit Are Ladies of the Fjord: A Scandinavian spin on Americana Fitz and the Tantrums *Fitz and the Tantrums: Soul Suits Them: The six-piece combo put the 'move' in the burgeoning American soul movement Florence and the Machine Flux Pavilion & Dr. P Flying Lotus *The Time Flying Lotus Pretended To Be A UCLA Physics Major *Flying Lotus Rising: Could spiritual electronica be the next great California sound? Frank Ocean Gardens & Villa *Phoenix New Times Story on Gardens & Villa Gary Clark Jr. *Seattle Weekly Reviews Gary Clark Jr. Girl Talk *Girl Talk Is the Best at What He Does: Audiences aren't sick of mash-ups yet, not when they're as sophisticated as Gregg Gillis' work *Girl Talk's Greg Gillis Says Irony Is a Waste GIRLS *S.F.'s Girls Issue a Gorgeous Old-School Epic *Christopher Owens of Girls on Being on God's Dark Side GIVERS Godspeed You! Black Emperor Gotye *Gotye: I don't care if you mispronounce my name Grace Potter and the Nocturnals Greg Ginn and The Royal We Grouplove Hello Seahorse! honeyhoney Housse de Racket Jacques Lu Cont James Jeff Mangum *Review of Jeff Mangum in Minneapolis Jimmy Cliff with Tim Armstrong and the Engine Band Justice Kaiser Chiefs Kasabian Kaskade *Kaskade Masters Time, Space and Big-Room Electronica: The DJ from San Clemente headlines the biggest New Year's parties in the Southwest Keep Shelly in Athens Kendrick Lamar *Born and raised in Compton, Kendrick Lamar Hides a Poet's Soul Behind "Pussy & Patron" *Kendrick Lamar's Section 80 tops LA Weekly's list of best LA Albums of 2011 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang LA Riots Laura Marling Le Butcherettes *Le Butcherettes: Teri Gender Bender is the most volatile woman in rock Lissie M. Ward M83 *M83's Anthony Gonzalez Makes Soundtracks, Without the Movie Madeon Madness Manchester Orchestra *Phoenix New Times story on Manchester Orchestra Martin Solveig Mazzy Star Méa Metronomy Miike Snow *A Mystery No More!: Discover Miike Snow, so very disco Modeselektor Morgan Page Mt Eden Neon Indian Nero Noel Gallagher's High-Flying Birds *Liam Gallagher On His Brother Noel: "I'd Rather Eat My Own Shit Than Be In A Band With Him Again" NOISIΛ Oberhofer Other Lives Porter Robinson *Porter Robinson appears on OC Weekly's "Top Five DJs Under 25" Pulp *Pulp: Top 10 Songs for Beginners *The Pulp Revival Continues With Eve Wood's Documentary The Beat Is Law Pure Filth Sound R3hab Radiohead Real Estate *Phoenix New Times story on Real Estate Refused Santigold SBTRKT SebastiAn Sebastian Ingrosso Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 *Seun Kuti first performed in Minneapolis as an 8-year-old

Carlos Nunez

Sleeper Agent Spector Squeeze St. Vincent *St. Vincent Dials Up the Aggression on Strange Mercy *Signs of St. Vincent's Success: As the artist gets more personal, Annie Clark holds back Sub Focus Suedehead Swedish House Mafia The Airplane Boys The Big Pink The Black Angels *The Black Angels: Reed Scholars: The Black Angels take time off from planning their festival to play ours The Black Keys The Dear Hunter The Gaslamp Killer *The Gaslamp Killer: Greetings From Hell: This Kid's a Total Freak The Growlers *The Growlers Go Further, Fursure!: For the Long Beach band, life is a woozy warzone The Head and the Heart The Hives The Horrors The Rapture *The Rapture Come Home: The band that launched DFA Records returns to its roots after a major-label detour *Review of The Rapture at The Music Box The Sheepdogs The Shins The Vaccines The Weeknd Thundercat *Thundercat Emerges With His Debut, Co-produced by Flying Lotus Tijuana Panthers *Warpaint, TRMRS and Tijuana Panthers Play a Badass Benefit: The bands raise money for late fan Haley Butcher *Drinking Tequila With Tijuana Panthers tUnE-yArDs *tUnE-yArDs tops the Village Voice's Pazz and Jop Critics Poll *Chuck Klosterman irks tUnE-yArDs' fanbase, while likely enlarging it *tUnE-yArDs' Experimental Pop Is a Strange Pill to Swallow Wallpaper We are Augustines We Were Promised Jetpacks *Review of We Were Promised Jetpacks in Minneapolis Wild Beasts Wild Flag *Wild Flag's Ceremony *Forget Pedigree: Wild Flag Is a Great New Rock Band *Wild Flag Is Indie Rock's Female Supergroup Wolf Gang WU LYF Ximena Sarinana *Ximena Sariñana: An Indie-Pop Star In Mexico, Anonymous In L.A. *Ximena Sariñana: Five Things She Loves About Echo Park Boys *Five Questions With Ximena Sariñana Yuck *Go Yuck Yourself Zedd *Phoenix New Times story on Zedd *Review of Zedd in LA Zeds Dead