At Coachella, the up-and-comers are plenty hot

There are good reasons for 50,000 music fans to be drawn into the desert and near-triple-digit temperatures for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and on Saturday not all of them had to do with big-name headliners.

Day one of the weekend gathering once again provided the rock connoisseur with a rich lineup of rising new bands and hip-hop acts, chosen with hardly a thought toward chart action or record sales. Acts such as the antic (International) Noise Conspiracy or the boho hip-hop duo Eyedea & Abilities don’t yet enjoy much radio airplay but deliver excitement to fans who know what they want and now know where to get it.

One of the day’s more challenging highlights came in the form of Desert Sessions, a longtime side project for Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age that serves as both a gathering of friends and a laboratory for new rock songs, some destined to reemerge with Queens, others surfacing elsewhere. Homme was the ringmaster on vocals and guitar. He grew up in the local desert communities, where the likes of Kyuss and Queens have long tapped into the hard-baked atmosphere to take rock into unexpected, even bizarre directions.

A large crowd of players joined Homme at Coachella, including singers Mark Lanegan (formerly of Screaming Trees and Queens) and the Distillers’ Brody Dalle. The result was frequently wild if not quite polished, both upbeat and sinister, unraveling in the half-shade of late afternoon.

Earlier, the (International) Noise Conspiracy erupted with jagged riffing and intense energy. The quartet of Swedish political punks wore matching shirts with red and white stripes, and singer Dennis Lyxzen was part Mick Jagger, part Joey Ramone, leaping into the air and admonishing the crowd for its low energy level -- unavoidable in the heat of the sun.

The Rapture drew an excited crowd of believers with its broad mix of rock sounds and effects, along with vocals influenced a bit by the Cure’s Robert Smith, though the group still lacks the songs to fully pull its sound together. Sparta, which emerged from the wreckage of At the Drive In, took a dreamier, less frantic rock course than its former bandmates now in the Mars Volta.

Junior Senior’s set was packed with listeners and full of energy, as ready to party out of bounds as the early B-52’s, with songs hopping from festive tunes full of handclaps to a darker shade of Velvet Underground-style pop.

The day also was a fine showcase for progressive hip-hop, with a lineup of DJs and rappers who have rejected odious cliches in favor of meaningful ideas and sonic experiments. A midafternoon set by the Bay Area’s Hieroglyphics offered hard raps and funky, loopy beats, followed later by the far-out psychosis of Kool Keith and the frantic, tortured boho of Eyedea & Abilities.

One of the few overtly political statements of the day came from the Living Legends, six energetic rappers who cursed President Bush and the war in Iraq, and chanted, “Bring about a change!”

After Radiohead’s headlining set on the main stage, fans literally ran to the Mojave Tent, where the Electric Six mixed the decibels of the MC5 and the Clash with a driving take on the ‘70s rock of Graham Parker and Elvis Costello. In other words, it was like the day itself, serious fun.