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Coachella's 'Broke' Alternative Announces This Year's Lineup, New Name

It’s springtime in Southern California, and with it comes the promise of culturally inappropriate headdresses, two consecutive weekends of congestion-free freeways, and the potential late charge for May’s rent check. Yes, it’s Coachella season, and to help avoid the latter, Brokechella will once again provide an alternative to the sold-out music and arts festival in the desert for those who want to have cash on hand for the possible Trumpocalype, or who just want to discover new music locally. Like in Indio, taking off your shirt is optional but not advised — illegal for some, in fact.

In its sixth year, the redubbed music festival is coming back as “Broke L.A.” at Imperial Art Studios in Downtown’s Arts District on April 23, during the last weekend of the desert festival. Despite boasting a lineup of over 50 emerging musical acts, visual artists and comedians on four stages, tickets for the event remain at the very affordable price of $20 (plus $2.50 service fee).
The lineup of performers, curated by Los Angeles art collective cARTel, includes psychedelic “spa musician” and music video director Vinyl Williams on the eponymous main stage, along with dusty, country rockers Valley Queen and the relaxed, shoegaze-y outfit Yassou, not to be confused with the eighties British pop band Yazoo, though that would be a great get.
For the DJ-cum-dance set, the Shifty Rhythms stage will feature beat droppers like house duo 2ToneDisco and trap act SKULS.
Performers on the rap-centric Brownies & Lemonade stage will include famed freestyler Kosha Dillz and Bay-area Iamsu! collaborator HBK CJ, among others.
The cARTel Indoor Stage rounds out the tunes with bands like Latin-American-inspired folk quintet Cuñao and soulsters with Afro-pop sensibilities Salt Petal.
Naturally, as at any modern music festival, especially one providing an alternative to one of the biggest in the country, those looking to squeeze in some yuks in between music sets can catch a variety of comics at the comedy stage. On hand will be Quincy Jones, the terminally-ill comedian whom Ellen helped score an HBO special earlier this week.
The good folks over at Time Out have put together a convenient playlist to sample some of the artists that will be in attendance.
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