Warpaint, Morning Benders, Magnetic Zeros Highlight Lollapalooza Day 2

Among the lesser-known bands worth a long listen on Lolla's second day are:



The Morning Benders. Sounding a lot like an updated 1960s California pop band, these folks out of Berkeley kicked off the Sony bloggie stage for the day with a too-brief 30-minute set. Great guitar, sunny melody, good rockin' in the afternoon. Check out their 2010 release Big Echo.

Skybox. This Chicago band rocked pretty hard on the BMI stage, and though their sound is sometimes compared to MGMT their pop sound was more electric than electronic in this gig. New album: Morning After Cuts.




Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros. Must have been the day for the Sony bloggie stage. This hippie band had an SRO crowd bouncing and killing more grass than any other band on that stage. Hyped by a number of music mags including Rolling Stone, these folks were featured on David Letterman -- or at least some of them were. While Sharpe is a constant the Magnetic Zeros are a rotating group, so while you never know who you're going to hear you can be assured they're going to be fun -- and easy -- to listen to. Comparisons are often dicey but press references to both Arcade Fire and the 1960s Mamas and the Papas resonate.

Harlem. Check out an earlier blog about these guys as they were a nice surprise following a lackluster indoor set three weeks ago opening for The Dead Weather. Hippies is their second album, released this spring.



Warpaint. Certainly the discovery of the day was this all-woman band which played a dense, dreamy but accessible set that rocked for 45 minutes and the crowd loved them. Powered by newest madwoman member Stella Mozgawa on the drums, this band plays music with a lyrical and musical edge -- and on the Sony bloggie stage you could hear understand the vocals. All four, including bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg and guitarists Emily Kokal and Theresa Wayman, take turns on vocals so the band's sound shows different colors. Look for hints of Mary Well's "My Guy" in the "Billie Holiday" clip. Their debut EP is Exquisite Corpse.

Day 3 "finds" coming Thursday...