Treasure Island Music Festival takes over the namesake island between San Francisco and Oakland this weekend. You can view the full lineup and daily schedule. Tickets are still available for the festival at $160 for both Saturday and Sunday or $89 for single day passes. For attendees, it’s worth noting that free shuttles will run from Bill Graham Auditorium in San Francisco to the music festival site on Treasure Island. You can view more details here. It’s supposed to be sunny and in the 70’s this weekend on the island too. As we gear up, here’s our Treasure Island Festival 2014 preview.
Saturday:
xxyyxx: As Treasure Island thematically divides the festival into two days, Marcell Everett aka xxyyxx will ease the fest’s opening electronic/R&B Saturday into motion. The Orlando young gun–only 18 years old–crafts low-key, experimental, minimal tracks in the vein of Gold Panda, Clams Casino and Shlomo. xxyyxx takes the Tunnel Stage at 1:50.
Jungle: The captivatingly choreographed video for Jungle’s Platoon is a fitting primer to the London neo-soul/funk band. While Jungle kept themselves largely veiled in mystery before they released their self-titled debut album on XL this summer, their music certainly spoke for itself. The mid-tempo grooves will be a plenty Saturday afternoon at 4:05 on the Bridge Stage.
Janelle Monáe: The Kansas City resident takes over the Bridge stage at 5:30 before eventual the eventual ATLien headliners. The depth of Monáe’s themes and lyrics on 2010’s ArchAndroid and 2013’s Electric Lady span robots, time travel, secret society and the suppression of love. Who knows how many festival goers will appreciate those nuances mid-afternoon. But they should certainly appreciate Monáe’s high danceable R&B jams.
OutKast: Hardly a word more needs to be written about arguably the most prolific and successful rap duo there is. Yet after OutKast’s reunion after a long hiatus, there have been mixed reports of their live shows. Their 2014 Coachella shows got panned and Andre 3000 himself said “I really don’t actually get anything out of performing”. Yet others have claimed the reunion shows have been some of the best live shows they’ve seen. In this regard, their set will certainly be interesting either way.
Sunday:
Banks: The Southern California native cites Lauren Hill and Fiona Apple as influences, yet her sound more accurately mirrors the recent rise of darker R&B a la The Weeknd (whom she toured with). Fellow Treasure Island performers Massive Attack share some similarities as well. Banks takes to the Bridge State at 2:45 on Sunday.
New Pornographers: Following a trend of Treasure Island festival acts with new albums, the Canadian *super group* New Pornographers released their first album since 2010 with Brill Butchers this August. The title track provides a taste of the lighter album, but their 4:15 Bridge stage set will give you the full course.
TV on the Radio: The seminal Brooklyn band have a new album of their own, Seeds, out on November 18 via the same Harvest Records as Banks. They’ve already shared album tracks “Careful You” and “Happy Idiot“, which should be enough to lure you to the Bridge stage at 5:50.
alt-J: Leeds’ Mercury prize-winning trio alt-J dropped their worthy sophomore album This Is All Yours a few weeks ago in September. You can check out the Miley Cyrus-sampling “Hunger of the Pine” and “Left Hand Free” if you haven’t heard the LP. They hit the Bridge Stage at 7:30 before Massive Attack closes the festival down.