Pulp, Arctic Monkeys, Noel Gallagher – The British Are Coming To Coachella! [Watch]

April 13, 2012 10:11 AM

(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

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England is full of fantastic albeit muddy music festivals: Leeds and Reading, Glastonbury, Party in the Park. But some of Britain’s best artists still love to come play the high-temperature polo fields of California’s Coachella Valley Music and Art Festival.

This year is full of great British bands, including smaller indie ones like Wu Lyf, Band Of Skulls, and folk-songtress Laura Marling, but we’ve picked out the top six to check out from well-known headliners to old-favorites to a smaller band that could blow up next week.

Pulp

The ’90s-era Britpop invasion ushered in a flurry of melody-savvy Brits with hyper-intellectual lyrics, but not many could top the dark humor and latent eroticism of Pulp. Frontman Jarvis Cocker became a hero for nerds everywhere when his sex-fueled sarcastic lyrics and fitted mod-inspired suits made women take a second look at lanky librarians around the world.

Radiohead

When Radiohead released their first single “Creep” in 1992, the song was initially unsuccessful. At the point in their career, it would have been hard to predict that the experimental indie rockers would go on to become the masters of atmospheric, cinematic electronic tones mixed with an arena-ready sound that still makes Radiohead one of the most talked about bands albeit twenty years later.

Arctic Monkeys

After a brief lull in Britpop when pop “boy bands” resurfaced at the end of the ’90s, bands like the Arctic Monkeys from Sheffield, England did their best to take back the Britpop crown and infuse it with the indie post-punk sound growing in popularity. Arctic Monkeys received massive commercial success with songs like “I Bet That You Look Good On The Dance Floor” and are heralded as one of the first bands to do so through internet buzz.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds

Noel Gallagher, most infamously the main songwriter for internationally-successful Britpop arena-rockers Oasis, was given the honor of Godlike Genius at this year’s NME Awards. And it’s easy to hear why; although some had doubts of Noel Gallagher’s success as a solo artist, his songwriting prowess has earned him another stellar album with the band’s début self-titled album.

Metronomy

Experimental indie electro-pop group Metronomy are already burning holes into the faux-vintage turntables of hipsters around the world, but the visionary British group has woo’d audiences with their latest album, The English Riviera, which was Number 2 on NME’s Top 50 Albums of 2011.

Madness

Old-school Camden-Town British Ska-Pop band, Madness, formed in 1976 and are considered one of the most pivotal bands in the British 2 Tone musical movement that still permeates the London music scene today. Madness released a number of hits including “One Step Beyond, ” “Our House,” and “Night Boat to Cairo.” The band is schedule to release a new album this year.