I got the opportunity to see War on Drugs guitarist and recent Matador acquisition Kurt Vile on the final date of his American tour. I turned the following in to another local blog but was horrendously late in doing so. I still find this review relevant to anyone curious about Vile, who has become one of my favorite new finds of 2009. So here are my thoughts on last week’s Black Cat show.
Photo from the Matador Records website
Last time Kurt Vile came to DC, he came alone. The young Philly native with the mop of shaggy hair took a seat in a corner of a dark room and quietly altered the landscape of the Velvet Lounge. Because while his distortion pedals and preternaturally road weary voice seemed at home in such a dark corner, the pretty guitar strumming lifted the room into his psychedelic haze. It was a fantastic out of body experience. However, one gets the sense that Vile is too prolific a songwriter with too broad a range to limit himself solely to lo-fi self-recordings. The show at the Black Cat showed his ability to branch out, while keeping his sensibilities for eliciting a dark transcendence intact.
He started the show much as we’d remembered him: alone with his guitar and his cryptic lyrics. Then his hired guns, The Violators took the stage and fleshed out that dirty/beautiful sound with the sludgy album opener “Hunchback.” It didn’t change the sound so much as amplify it and give it texture. This worked wonderfully for the songs from last month’s Matador debut Childish Prodigy. Even songs like “Dead Alive” that only almost work on the album sounded much tighter and fuller in a live setting and songs like “Freak Train,” with its frenzied saxophone solo sounded even better. The audience, which consisted primarily of notable DC music names and UMD students that pay more attention to PostRock than Pitchfork, did not hesitate to congratulate the singer at every turn.
This is not to say that the show was flawless. Sometimes, Vile’s added guttural roars were so perfectly placed that they brought shivers through the room. Sometimes they seemed unnecessary. The added depth that the Violators created for the outright rockers seemed like overkill on songs like the spacey “Breathin’ Out” from his previous work Constant Hitmaker. Sometimes those kids REALLY wanted to engage Vile in conversation and for some reason, he usually obliged. But perfection isn’t really a part of Vile’s appeal. His appeal is taking those ugly sludgy notes and turning them into something impressive. It’s a trick his classic rock idols have been doing for decades and he seems primed to eventually become a part of that pantheon. Just as he announced with pride that he learned some of his guitar tricks from Steve Forbert, announcing proudly, “I was there!” it doesn’t seem strange that one day some of us will say the same thing. Everyone in the room had a look on their face after he finished with rarity “My Best Friends (Don’t Even Pass This)” that said, “That just happened. I saw Kurt Vile at the Black Cat touring off of Childish Prodigy. I was there. “
After a bit of a hiatus due to a family emergency, I can now comfortably say that I am 100% back and ready to kick things into high gear here over at The Yellow Stereo. Another announcement that has been in the making for a couple of months now, is that I am now living here in Salt Lake City, Utah. After spending my entire life in the south, a time for change was needed and this opportunity opens tons of new possibilities in regards to this blog. Hopefully, it means more of a focus on what seems to be a thriving music scene here, but still keeping things as they’ve always been for our regular readers.
To kick things off, one of my favorite bands right now, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, came into town last night along with Cymbals Eat Guitars and The Depreciation Guild, both of whom have been mentioned here on the blog at some point. It was a night of firsts, as it was my first show in SLC at the lovely Kilby Court and the first time being in Utah for all three bands. The venue reminded me a lot of the Drunken Unicorn in Atlanta, being very small (it’s basically a large garage) with a very long history of bringing great bands to the area. The crowd was not as large as one would hope, though, there were quite a bit of options that night with Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Wavves both playing at other venues.
Cymbals Eat Guitars kicked things off first, and while I’m not as familiar with them as the other writers here on TYS, but the band was very intense and incredibly loud. Definitely provided a good example of why one should bring earplugs to a concert, because as soon as their set ended, a ringing in my left ear continued for the entire duration of the night. To be honest, they seemed like the odd band out that night as their music is almost the exact opposite from the other two bands on the bill. Despite all of this, I still enjoyed their set.
The Depreciation Guild took the stage next, and while lead vocalist Kurt Feldman (also Pains’ drummer) mentioned that this was there first real tour, the trio performed like seasoned veterans. In fact, I will go ahead and say they were the surprise of the night for me with their shoegaze/electronica sound. Performing in near complete darkness (the venue is pretty dark regardless as evident from my photos) except for a rear-projection backdrop that showcased a mix of different colors and shapes that seemed to vibe perfectly with the music being played. While the band’s use of 8-bit sounds are very much at the forefront on the studio recordings, in a live setting a majority of it seemed to be drowned out by the distorted guitars, which made them a completely different sounding band for me.
I couldn’t help but be excited to see The Pains of Being Pure at Heart perform again, as I had only seen a few short sets while I was in Austin for SXSW. It was great to talk to Kip again and hear about their plan to see Titus Andronicus immediately after in nearby Provo, which I would’ve loved to have gone to as well, though I didn’t have a vehicle to drive. Once the band took the stage, it’s just clearly evident that the band just loves to play music. They may not be the most enthusiastic band to ever take the stage, but it doesn’t even matter as the songs speak for themselves. Playing many songs off their excellent debut, they also played quite a few new tracks off their forthcoming EP Higher Than The Stars, including the song “103″ as Kip jokingly compared it to “103 you probably can’t do in Utah.” Their set was a bit quick, with almost no break in between a number of songs, as I suspect that they were trying make it in time to see the aformentioned Titus Andronicus, but who knows. Still, it was great to see them once again, as they seem to continue to improve by leaps and bounds throughout out this extended tour.
I also have a short video I recorded of Pains performing “Higher Than The Stars” which kind of ends abruptly as my memory card ran out of space. You can watch it below.
First off, I apologize for being an utter failure at festival coverage this year. Having spotty internet has hurt me a lot this year, but still…no excuse. So, I found a way to avoid festival coverage failure…cover a one day festival! Gonna do that again at the end of August when I see Virgin FreeFest in Maryland. Yes, I opted out of Pitchfork this year to see Siren and it was definitely an enjoyable trip. I handed my camera to my friend Rohan and we watched the following bands and enjoyed ourselves mightily. Here’s what you might have seen if you were up in Coney Island this past weekend.
Micachu & the Shapes
This was the first act of the day that I was really interested in seeing. I did catch a few minutes of Blue Van, but they sounded like a shitty version of U.S. Royalty. Moving on. Jewellery seems like it’s high on production value, so I wasn’t sure how well the Micachu set would translate live. Answer: pretty well, actually. Keyboardist Raisa Khan kept things interesting, beating various forms of percussion, including a couple of empty wine bottles and drummer Marc Pell seemed to be utterly enjoying himself. Micachu herself…looked utterly bored. The songs sounded great and she must have known that she had everyone wrapped around her finger because the only time she really appeared to be rocking out on that homemade guitar of hers was during “Golden Phone.” Everyone, including Zack Galifiniakis, still enjoyed themselves since the songs are surprisingly catchy considering Micachu’s harsh accent and the prevalence of NOISE! FUCKING NOISE! in the middle of each song. Despite really having their shit together, they still seemed a sort of like the little kids at the big kids rock show. Which is a terrible thing to say considering that Tiny Masters of Today actually opened the show. Despite all of these detractors, I’ll almost certainly see Mica Levi & co. again when they come through DC in September. I guess she has me around her finger, too.
The Japandroids set had the opposite effect entirely. The duo from Vancouver has stage presence for miles and are clearly having more fun than anyone else on the bill (with the possible exception of Monotonix.) However their songs aren’t nearly as interesting as those of the London trio that preceded them. They come across as a younger, less road-tested No Age coming of age in front of the Pitchfork readers of America and by sheer power of enthusiasm they pull through their set, buzz intact. Singer/guitarist Brian King uses the entirety of the stage including the monitors, the speakers and drummer David Prowse’s bass drum as acceptable places to riff up a storm. The nerdy part of my brain thought that maybe since they’ve been known to cover McLusky’s “To Hell With Good Intentions” during their live show that Falkous would join them onstage since he was here performing with Future of the Left. The realistic part of me knew that wouldn’t happen and they ended the set with “Crazy/Forever,” disappointing the hordes of fans who wondered why they didn’t play “Wet Hair.”
Thee Oh Sees were scheduled to play from 3:30pm – 4:10pm. After sort of dragging our feet leaving the Japandroids set we made our way over to the other stage at 3:45…maybe 3:50pm. At which point we caught the tail end of what turned out to be Thee Oh Sees last song. I have no idea why their set was cut twenty minutes short but since Thee Oh Sees were by far one of the best bands I saw at this past SXSW, I was very disappointed that I only got to catch the lightning quick, sweat-addled distorted folky-punk songs for about two minutes. The east coast has to wait until October. And they’re coming to my area within a week of The Dodos. SF-gasm? I think so.
Speaking of beyond killer. Future of the Left put on the best set of the whole day. I’ve caught them three times since October and they get better every single time. To be fair, this time I had the advantage of actually knowing the songs on their two releases…which thus far don’t hold up for me as well as their live show, but I’m willing to try again. Andy Falkous looked as pissed off and fired up as Mica Levi looked bored and in the middle of the set, Brian King from Japandroids pushed his way past me to park himself in front of the monitor and learn from the masters. The screaming guitars (and outright screaming) gives the more subdued vocals an even stronger punch (especially when the lyric is something like, “Colin was a pussy, a very pretty pussy.”) I’m also finally able to see Future of the Left without trying to make the McLusky comparisons. I’ve never seen them, I accept this and with Future of the Left letting loose fury like this, it doesn’t matter. We needed a break to catch our breath after this set, which is why we missed A Place to Bury Strangers, a band that we weren’t sure would work well in sunlight. Apparently we were wrong.
Okay, so here’s the deal. We tried to see Monotonix. Rohan’s seen them nine times and I’ve seen them three times so we knew that the scantily clad Israeli band would be playing hardly memorable songs at high decibel levels and moving through and atop the crowd on bass drums, trash cans and other human beings. What we didn’t know was that the press pit would be closed. It makes sense since they immediately set up in the middle of the audience, but it meant that there could be no fence jumping! It also meant that by the time we figured this out we were nowhere near any place where we could actually see them jumping around playing chords that sound like they belong on old Kyuss records. We can’t really get irritated at the band for wanting to do their shtick effectively and we can’t really get irritated at the Siren staff for doing their job. But we could get irritated at the situation as a whole.
The Raveonettes
We only saw a few minutes of the Raveonettes because quite honestly, a few minutes was all we needed. We immediately got that they were fans of The Jesus & Mary Chain and that their low vocals and minor key exuded a sort of mod cool. We also got that they weren’t going to move from their spots and honestly, downtempo songs performed with zero energy are hardly going to whip me into a frenzy, especially after having seen Future of the Left. When they introduced a new track as something more dancey and it couldn’t have inspired dance moves in a Mexican jumping bean, we decided it was time to go.
Spank Rock
I’m only a lukewarm Built to Spill fan and Rohan really wanted to see Spank Rock so we decided to see how the set would work out. How it worked…Naeem did one or two songs on his own with XXXChange and Alex Rockswell, none of which were off of YoYoYoYoYoYo before saying that he was tired of the cameras in the front and inviting everyone to jump the barrier. Then suddenly, local duo Ninjasonik got up there and did a couple of their own tracks which are both catchy and hilarious but not what I’d expected to see. A couple songs later they called up Amanda Blank and it became the Amanda Blank show. That woman also has stage presence (and sex appeal) for miles but it wasn’t until after her solo songs when the crew came together to perform “Bump” that everything really seemed to come together. Their set had been a fun dance party up until that point. Unfortunately, that was the last song and things started to get really dicey when Spank Rock got cut off. The crowd really wanted another song and Spank Rock really didn’t want to leave the stage. So somehow the fireworks that went off over the Ferris Wheel seemed an appropriate mirror for the tensions onstage.
It also made it strange to hear “Carry the Zero” as we passed by the Built to Spill stage. I’d figured they’d have gotten kicked off, too, but apparently not.
Welcome to Day 2 coverage of Bonnaroo! Look at my sweet wristband!
I’d debated on whether or not to even catch the Dirty Projectors or whether to stake out a good spot for Animal Collective. I decided catching the first 45 minutes of Dirty Projectors would be worth it and man, was I right. The set started with just David Longstreth playing guitar and Angel Deradoorian singing “Two Doves” but soon expanded into full band plus backup singer and extra bassist. I was truly moved when they went into “Cannibal Resource” and those harmonies took full effect. I feel like a fool saying this, but I really thought I was going to cry. They were that good. One dude in the crowd yelled out, “You have the voices of angels!” And one of them is named Angel. Convenient. However, it’s Amber Coffman who does the primary vocals on “Stillness is the Move,” and she took full advantage of her moment. She danced around the stage like there weren’t five other people on it and grinned the whole time. They played mostly Bitte Orca songs, but hearing the title track from Rise Above was a nice touch. I left during “Temecula” but I left happy.
Animal Collective will probably go down amongst a lot of festival goers as the disappointment of the weekend. Bonnaroo was the final date of the American tour and whoever decided to put these guys at 3 in the afternoon really didn’t think that one through. They were obviously tired, and couldn’t be as visual as was necessary to make an essentially electronic album translate into a live setting. No amount of weed was going to make up for the fact that they couldn’t effectively use their lighting rig (and Geologist doesn’t even bother with the headlamp) but on the other hand, no amount of energy usage can make up for the fact that “Daily Routine” should not be made into a 10 minute song. It’s kind of a sleeper to begin with and admittedly, when the band takes out all of the electronics and instrumentation and just lets Noah Lennox sing “Just a sec more in my bed” it was breathtaking and everyone cheered as they should have. But David Portner (that’s Avey Tare for those of you who only pay attention to monikers) actually left the stage for a couple of minutes during that song, which just should not happen. I’ve said it before, he is the heart and soul of their live performances. When he got excited during “Slippi,” everyone else got excited right along with him. When he went into the shouting in the middle of “Brother Sport,” everyone else shouted along with him. Whenever he screeched, period, it was a beautiful thing because I’ve yet to see anyone else change to three different vocal pitches in the course of one breath. Because I’m a huge Animal Collective fan, it’s easy for me to point out the amazing points in their set and squeal but I don’t think most people in that audience were huge Animal Collective fans as this seemed to be the only crowd I’ve seen so far at Bonnaroo that wasn’t intensely loud, energetic and thoroughly knowledgeable about who they were seeing. Which is too bad. Don’t feel too sorry for them though…they’re still sitting on the best show I’ve seen so far this year.
Next was one of those unfortunate decisions…go see Santigold, go see Grizzly Bear or stay at the Which Stage for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I opted for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and I can say with certainty that Karen O is a badass. She has this ability to grab a collective attention and hold it in the palm of her hand as she entertains and everyone gives up of it willingly. She comes out in this kimono saying “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Bonnaroo!” and proceeds to give a pretty animated performance, complete with costume changes, smoke machines and a few quick blasts of confetti. The set was a pretty good mixture of all three albums and they even went back to their EP for “Art Star” (although unfortunately, not for my favorite song of the EP, ***, but if that’s my biggest complaint, I’ll live.) Nick Zinner had some tuning problems during “Maps,” so they restarted it as an acoustic number. While this meant no killer guitar solo, it was a nice effective way to hear the song. Had we not been in an open field, it would’ve even felt intimate, but intimacy is one of the intricacies lost to an outdoor summer festival. Another thing that’s lost is the ability to hold your place in the audience for multiple bands. Because the only way not to pass out in the searing Tennessee heat is to drink liters upon liters of water. I probably went through five liters on Friday alone, and actually, I don’t think that was good enough, because I got a headache during TV on the Radio that never quite abated. As such, I actually spent the last two songs of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs set waiting for the port-o-john to get into good position for TV on the Radio.
And good position I got. I’m definitely more familiar with the TVOTR discography than I am with that of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but unfortunately, I never really got into Dear Science and that material comprised at least 40% of their set. “Golden Age” is a cool song, but most of the set didn’t really match up to the “Wrong Way”s or “Wolf Like Me”s that the band had to offer. Tunde Adebimpe still has incredible amounts of energy and can jitter his way across the stage with great speed but seems to have figured out how to do so without losing the correct pitch of the song. Although the best show that I saw them put on was in 2007, this is the best the songs have actually sounded. They’ve definitely smoothed some edges while still keeping some cool effects like the windchime that occasionally appears at the end of David Sitek’s guitar. Kyp Malone also had the most Bonnaroo-appropriate attire of any artist I’d seen, sporting a tie-dye shirt and pants. So some jackass kept shouting “I want your pants! And your beard! I want your beard!” TV on the Radio also had the largest quotient of celebrity viewers that I could actually see (I couldn’t usually see the backstage area.) Yes, the Dirty Projectors had David Byrne…and TV on the Radio had the Dirty Projectors (two of them) and two members of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs amongst their viewers. Awesome. But not as awesome as the fact that they decided to buck tradition and end their set not with their biggest hits but with two tracks from Young Liars. They played the title track and then broke out “Satellite.” Which was the perfect ending to that set. The fact that this wasn’t the best I’ve seen them was all but forgotten after that ending.
Then the most irritating scheduling conflict of the festival. The Beastie Boys were scheduled from 8:30pm-10:30pm and David Byrne from 8:45pm-10:45pm. Not okay. I decided to catch at least the beginning of the Beastie Boys set and decided, okay, if it starts to go south, I can always move over to the Which Stage. Now, when they Beastie Boys played all of their staples (“No Sleep Til Brooklyn,” “Intergalactic,” “So What’cha Want”) and some less familiar cuts off of Hello Nasty, like “Remote Control” and “Three MCs and One DJ,” all seemed pretty much right with the world. I say pretty much, because I could not actually see them for the majority of the set, even via jumbotron. Because somebody decided that getting artsy with the visuals on the jumbotron would be fun. It was not fun, the power kept going out on the ‘tron and I could barely tell what was going on. I was able to tell that the Beasties switched on and off between moving across the stage and actually playing their instruments and I saw that Nas came out to introduce a new song with them. I’m not sold by the new material solely based on the live performance, but since it’s the Beastie Boys, I’m sure I’ll listen to the album in its entirety when it comes out. They finished off with “Sabotage,” which was damn near sabotaged early on thanks to a fuck-up from Mix Master Mike, prompting The King Ad-Rock to make sure the audience understood that this was in fact, a LIVE show, with no ipod or tape playing the music. Yeah, dude, we got it. But when they finally played the song…gold. So, despite my lack of a sight line, I did enjoy the Beasties set and thankfully, they actually ended it before 10pm, allowing me to catch more than a mere 15 minutes of the David Byrne set.
The David Byrne set…holy crap. He has backup singers, he has choreographed dancers, he has a band that also does choreographed moves and he (and the band) all got into tutus during “Burning Down the House.” If David Byrne and co. end up with a Broadway production in the next couple of years, I will be able to say, I told you so. And of course there’s the music. I walked in during “Wild Wild Life” and heard them play their cover of Al Green’s “Take Me to the River” and roughly two encores. The kitschiness fits, and gimmicky though it seemed, David Byrne has the star power to pull it off. In short, I was completely blown away.
This was the point where I thought, okay, the whole festival is going to see Phish now, I’ll be able to get a good position in That Tent to see Phoenix. Not so much. That Tent was utterly packed. I’ll admit, I’m not totally on the hype wagon with Phoenix. I never listened to the first two albums that much and I think the praise on the new album, which seems like watered down Blur and Supergrass songs with added synthesizers, is misplaced. But when everyone else in that cramped space started jumping around, I’ll admit the energy was infectious and Phoenix, who seemed humble and grateful whenever they talked, seemed bombastic whenever they played. They have the rock star act down and it made for a fun, sweaty 45 minutes. It also made my last show of the night. I attempted to sit down in That Tent after their set and make it long enough to catch either Public Enemy or Crystal Castles, but I started to fall asleep. Luckily, I’ve caught Public Enemy and Girl Talk before, because I was way WAY too tired to continue.
Sorry for the late post, guys…I haven’t had internet since I left for Bonnaroo for more than an hour. But I actually have everything written already, so you’ll be getting my posts throughout the weekend.
Welcome to The Yellow Stereo’s coverage of Bonnaroo 2009! Hopefully, it’ll go better than my coverage of SXSW 2009, right? This is my first time here and I’d never really understood the magnitude of the festival. I’ve been to festival shows…ones that have like, 3 or 4 stages. This one has 7 main stages – and then there’s all the extra dance tents, comedy tent and so on. Most festivals I’ve been to have a couple thousand people – maybe tens of thousands even. Here, there are people as far as the eye can see. And tents. And tie-dyed t-shirts. Seriously, I’ve never seen so much tie-dye in my life…nor have I seen so many camel backs. That said, it was still easier to get into the farm than it was to get into the Nissan Pavilion for the Radiohead show last year. I’ve only seen a few sets so far, and will probably spend the rest of my night getting my bearings, figuring out where all of the stages and the showers are located and playing with some of the fun toys and games like the Ferris Wheel and the Silent Disco. No seriously…everyone dances with headphones on and it’s really a sight to behold. See?
Now for those of you who have never been at the festival, there’s no wondering what stage you’re at or what band you’re seeing because there are signs determining the stage that look like this.
And band signs that look like this.
The first act I had the pleasure of seeing was Atlanta’s Janelle Monae in The Other Tent. She clearly uses up so much energy over the course of her set, but she makes it look easy and fluid. I got in late for her set and still saw her a) create a painting and distribute it amongst the crowd, b) crowd surf, c) drop to her knees and back and d) play a guitar solo that would make other soulful artists jealous. That was about the perfect way to open the festival.
At This Tent, White Rabbits did their best to follow. They did have the misfortune of not only having an interminable sound check but also having a few mechanical problems during the set. During “While We Go Dancing,” the power went out but the Rabbits shrugged their shoulders and led the audience in a group clap-a-long until it came back on. During the following set, one of the stand alone drums took a tumble. However, this was probably the most energetic I’ve seen the White Rabbits and certainly the most energetic I’ve seen their crowd. Between the singing along during “The Plot” and the pounding of hands and feet during “Percussion Gun” as various members of the band took turns playing percussion, White Rabbits had the audience in the palms of their blistered hands. And then for some reason, they decided to finish up the set with two eerie slow burners. Why? Because they had the audience in the palms of their blistered hands.
In short, this feels like a huge playground and I’ve already seen fireworks and a guy going around offering people (or asking for?) mushrooms. I’ve also seen someone aspirating and convulsing on the ground and medics called to the scene. Drugs (and heat stroke) are bad, mmkay? Yeesh.
After a short tent break, it started to drip a little bit, and I thought…it’s okay…I don’t need my rain jacket!Bad move. The rain went from dripping to all out deluge for the rest of the night and although I hardly fear being wet, being cold is another story.But I ended up seeing three bands that I’d had no intention of seeing. The first was the Tangiers Blues Band in the Troo Music Lounge who pretty much did blues-inflected covers of everything from “Rainy Day Women” and “Folsom Prison Blues” to “My Sharona.” It was a nice palette cleanser.
Then when I realized that I couldn’t get into the comedy show I wanted to get into without a ticket, I decided to suck it up and go see Passion Pit who had thoroughly underwhelmed me when I saw them back in February. Of course, back in February, they had only released six songs and I’m pretty sure that Michael Angelakos had not been touring much with the band. Now they have a full length release out and four more months of touring under their belt and it showed. For starters, Angelakos’ voice beforehand had one volume (loud) and one pitch (dog whistle high) when I’d seen them before. Although he still sings everything in a falsetto, he seems to have figured out that varying pitch and volume is a good thing. “Sleepyhead” is still the main attraction…and you can tell that, because that’s when the band has the most fun. But now the fans are singing along to other songs too…and clapping their hands and jumping which motivated the band to do the same. That full tent was all about some Passion Pit and now that they’ve finally found their groove, they were able to deliver. I’m still not 100% sold on this band (which I wish I was, I love Frenchkiss Records and I love Q and Not U which is an obvious predecessor) but this at least shows promise that in the future, they could be great.
Passion Pit was supposed to close out the night and after their set, about half the tent cleared out, but Delta Spirit had been stuck in the Dallas airport, missed their allocated set time, and therefore, went onstage at 12:30am. I’ve seen Delta Spirit before and I’ve only been but so impressed by them. The Bonnaroo set didn’t really change my mind, but on account of the pouring rain, I stayed under This Tent for almost the entire set, finally giving up after “People, Turn Around,” their sort of “We Are the World”-esque version of a protest song. Their singer made probably the most accurate point about their band. To paraphrase, “We aren’t the most talented band out there and we know that there are better bands with better songs…(cue booing and shouts of “Nooooo!” from the audience)…but we really mean it. And we’re glad you appreciate that.” And that’s really the key to enjoying a Delta Spirit set. If you enjoy the wild facial expressions and gesticulations of the band and appreciate their penchant for multiple band members doing percussion (not quite to White Rabbits’ extent) then it’s a fun experience. Of course, if one has only gotten 4 hours of sleep and then driven for 8 hours, one is DONE by 1:30am.
Or at least, that’s what I thought. I walked over to the Troo Music Tent and watched the last half hour of Tobacco’s set and was more inspired to dance than I’d been during Passion Pit. Wow!
Okay, ceasing and desisting with the April Fool’s jokes…you’ll now get a rash of stuff that should’ve been posted last week. I hope you don’t mind.
Edie Sedgwick @ Waves
When I first saw Edie Sedgwick in Washington DC I wondered just what shitshow I had stumbled into. I think that most of the people at Waves fell into that category (although there were definitely a few Dischord diehards in the audience as well as Medications played as their backing band.) Knowing what I was walking into this time around (a cross dressing dude with a Harley mustache singing kitschy lyrics), I had a lot more fun. At the end of the day, some of the songs are actually pretty fun and it was pretty funny to see Edie grab people’s personal belongings (and badges) and sort of fuck with the whole “industry cool” vibe that some people bring along with them to Austin.
Here We Go Magic @ Ms. Bea’s
Ms. Bea’s ended up being my favorite venue of the entire week. Unfortunately, that’s all I can say about the Here We Go Magic set except that I saw it. I don’t really remember much of this set. I feel like that happens sometimes at SXSW…you go back and look at the utter crapton of photos and go – wait – I was there? Crap, this is already happening after night one? Last year it took until my last night to forget sets. I remember liking them, but clearly not enough to give a good report. My apologies to Here We Go Magic. The Telepathe set that finished off the night was even less memorable but here’s a photo of them as well.
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart @ Ms. Bea’s
I paid a little more attention to The Pains since I saw them in DC and was pleasantly surprised. I knew that I liked their album, I just didn’t expect them to bring it so thoroughly live. POBPAH have this innocence about them which shines through beautifully in their lyrical content, but while it comes off as vaguely twee on their albums, it just makes them come off as incredibly likable. Moreover, there’s a certain grit that was especially evident during the Ms. Bea’s show since they were actually playing on the ground. They know how to bring the rock live, blow all of our minds with a short set of the songs we all know the words to at this point and in such an intimate and DIY-style setting – it was just really cool.
After The Pains, my friends left Ms. Bea’s and I made an attempt to get into see Yoni Wolf (of Why? cLOUDDEAD and various other projects) at Mohawk and paid the ten dollars to make it inside just in time to see everyone leaving. Because he had just finished. FAIL. But my friend and I went to the Death Metal Pizza place on 6th Street, which had just come recommended by a member of Deleted Scenes. I also had my first unexpected celebrity sighting at this point. I’ll bet you didn’t know that Panda Bear was at SXSW. But I have photographic evidence. See!
Parenthetical Girls @ Beauty Bar
I walked into the Parenthetical Girls set having only listened to their material once, but knowing that their singer’s voice sounded like Colin Meloy’s…but with more cracks in it and that the music seemed at best, twee as fuck (and unlike PJ, I am NOT a champion of twee) and at worst, boring and irritating. As such, I hadn’t quite expected Zac Pennington to be as good of a showman. By the end of the set he was singing from the top of the truly huge speakers and I’d walked in on round two of his “Marry, Fuck or Throw off a Cliff” game. The comment that he’d love to fuck Morrissey because what a great story you’d have of having fucked a celibate = “priceless.” It made me want to give their albums another chance, because the happiness I felt at the end of their set was just what I needed after a long day on my feet.
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone @ Beauty Bar
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone started off the set on a promising note. He covers a Parenthetical Girls song, and actually brought Zac Pennington back onstage to sing “Love Connection.” He also brought up Nick from No Kids for a nice relaxing duet. Here was the major problem with the Casiotone set. Next door, some extremely loud punk band was playing so in between songs we’d hear the residual “BAM BAM BAM BAM” that just didn’t mesh well with downtempo keyboard bleeps. It fared better, however than the Casiotone show I had seen at The Talking Head in Baltimore which just straight put me to sleep. In this case, it helped me unwind.
I know – I’m way behind the curve on getting this stuff up and I apologize for that. But seriously – you try seeing nine bands a day over a 14-15 hour period for four days and try writing about it immediately afterwards. Oh…you did that already? Well, shit. Here goes then.
I’ll admit, I spent the vast majority of my day with DC bands. DC Does TX took up all of my afternoon and then the first band I saw once I left? Edie Sedgwick…from DC. Actually, I posted a quick look at all the DC bands I saw during the week here already, so I’ll try not to repeat myself on the off chance that you read both sites. Nonetheless, amidst spending drink tickets and worrying whether the 90 posters I’d plastered amidst the St. Patrick’s Day revelry had done the least bit of good, I actually got to see some good music.
Jamieson Clem
Jamieson Clem was the artist we got to play the bill at the last minute when Laura Burhenn cancelled. The cancellation initially led to rounds one and two of DC Does TX organizational hell, but at the end of the day we got another solo artist who used to live in DC and has some singing and songwriting chops that aren’t going to blow our eardrums out first thing after waking up. Thank you, Jamieson.
Deleted Scenes
If you needed proof that the economic shitstorm had affected SXSW, look no further than Deleted Scenes. These poor dudes had not one, but two different day parties completely disband, leaving them only a few times to play behind one hell of a Pitchfork review. And as someone that pays as much attention to bylines as to scores, I can say that it was one hell of a review. I already know that they can work a crowd full of their friends from other bands, but the nervous energy helped them out mightily in this performance as they drew people in from the streets with their professional looking video equipment and sweet SLR cameras. And people walked up to the front of the stage. No shyness. There is no question that they deserve the praise that they’ve been getting and I have no qualms about adding to it.
Carol and her bandmates had the unenviable task of playing twice in a three hour period (and their third in a 24 hour period) as they’d just finished up their set at B.D. Riley’s two doors down when they came in to play at Friends Bar. I actually got to listen to them on my way in. They didn’t seem any worse for wear on their final performance in Austin and the new tune “Mira, You’re Free With Me” is currently battling “Modern Dance” and “Quan Am” for my favorite song of hers. And winning. I love the hand claps, the body percussion and the fact that she lets loose a little bit.
Middle Distance Runner
This is where the party really started to pick up. People started to show up into town and Friends Bar is one of the first places to get to find on the western end of E. 6th St. Last year, Middle Distance Runner acted the consummate professionals, but had one sick guitarist, one drunk bassist, one nervous and annoyed show organizer and one set that visibly struggled. They’ve since written new songs, drawn from more far-flung influences and just seem to be enjoying themselves more.
At the end of the week, I ran into someone that had never heard of U.S. Royalty until they’d walked into Friends Bar upon hearing them outside and ended up telling me on Sunday that it was one of her favorite discoveries of the festival. Hell the fuck yeah. U.S. Royalty has some good roots-rock songs but their live show is really what drew me toward the band in the first place and is really where they’re in their milieu. Paul and John Thornley have great harmonies, especially during songs like “Raincoats” and John’s wild movement is nothing if not inspired.
PJ actually showed up in time for their set, but I doubt he remembers much of it as much of their output stays at midtempo and midtempo alt-country isn’t terribly memorable when one has had little to no sleep in 24 hours. So this review is for you, PJ. These United States had a deadline on time which they definitely played over and I didn’t hear anyone complain, since their midtempo alt-country works just fine for people who have spent the past five hours drinking and listening to music (or doing anything else besides staying awake for 24 hours on end.) That, and these guys get better every time I see them. This is the first time I’ve seen Jesse Elliott move out into the audience to finish a guitar solo (even though I think that may have been an accident) and their current five person lineup definitely has a more fleshed out sound than the three person lineup as it allows for that extra guitar on the songs where Tom Hnatow moves to the steel pedal. It was definitely the right band to end the day party.
Yesterday, 6th Street in Austin didn’t quite resemble the musical mayhem to come. The occasional badge holder walked by, but the St. Patrick’s Day crowd was out in full force. Still, I managed to see a couple of bands tonight even before the true festivities began.
I saw a handful of acts for varying lengths of time at the Beauty Bar, but the two that actually made an impact were Carol Bui and Shunda K from Yo! Majesty. Carol doesn’t have her full band with her (read: no cello) but she still turned heads by singing her first song in Arabic and then launching into “Mira, You’re Free With Me” which shows the same guitar chops that she’d already demonstrated on her <em>Everyone Wore White</em> songs but vocally she cuts loose. She lets some of her guard go and coupled with the tambourine, and it sounds awesome. I didn’t see nearly enough of Shunda K, but so far, she’s been the only artist I saw that had the crowd shouting and dancing right along with her. She’s a consummate stage performer, no doubt about that.
Also, if something seems too good to be true…it probably is. We rolled up at La Zona Rosa at 10:30 pm not entirely sure if we were going to get in to see Voxtrot because only one of the three of us actually had a guest list spot (and apparently the badge-only events started early!) The guy at the door just said, “Don’t worry about it” and told us to enjoy ourselves! How awesome is that! Well…more awesome if we’d moved a little quicker. We got inside for Voxtrot’s last song. After going through a huge crush of people in the outside smoking area, we found that there really weren’t as many people close to the stage. Maybe this is because Voxtrot is local, but Ramesh was jumping around with long jumper sized leaps and they always have this palatable energy onstage…and last night was no different. Furthermore, the rumor mill told me that this was going to be their last showing with keyboardist Jared Van Fleet who was going to pursue his solo project Sparrowhouse. Of course, the rumor mill also told me that The Magnetic Fields were going to show up for a set. After staying for an hour of the following DJ and free Shiner, I decided not to see if this (highly unlikely) rumor was actually true.
Although it’s been suggested that I see way WAY too many concerts, I rarely get the chance to actually post as many reviews as I’d like up here on The Yellow Stereo. This is what happens when one doesn’t work by a computer. My editor at DCist was picking on me for seeing such a high volume of shows in such a short span of time and quite honestly – she’s within her right. Nine shows in ten days is at best, really dedicated and at worst, batshit insane. So why not have fun on my way to the loony bin and give mini-reviews of each of the nine shows?
I thought that I’d end up having to see Ratatat up in good old Baltimore since the DC show was long long sold out – and go on a nine show in nine day concert binge. But thankfully, a recent (awesome) acquaintance had an extra ticket for this show and I grabbed at that so fast since using public transit > one hour commute in each direction on a Sunday night. Despite being long long sold out, there’s this stereotype about DC concertgoers that they don’t dance and I was afraid that the crowd at Ratatat would be too cool to bust a move.
Thankfully, I was wrong. Although the crowd stuck to headbobbing for the first two songs of Dark Side of the Moon-esque slow jams. But then they hit the percussion, and the place really started to get moving. For the uninitiated, the brilliance of Ratatat is that they manage to pull in both the fans of dancey electropop and the old-school rock purists who realize that, they’re using straight from the arena rock god guitar riffs on top of those keyboards and sampled beats. This also meant that when the crowd was into it (for songs like encore closer “Seventeen Years,” especially) that it wasn’t one organized jump. Everyone was going apeshit to their own drummer and really, it worked.
The band barely talked. They didn’t need to. Their visuals, which ranged from the absurd (the band’s name in Atari font) to the more absurd (what looked like a slowed-down drugged-up version of Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al” video) worked brilliantly with the sort of influences that they were pulling from. If the availability of public transit lines were no issue, I’d have gladly remained in that audience for another hour.
So I return yet again. After my sabbatical away for most of the previous seven months, I return from hiding in Brussels, Belgium. I am finishing my masters degree there, and will be stationed here for the four months. So I am back, and I wanted to do it in a kind of big way. Also, this is my way of saying that literally, The Yellow Stereo has gone international.
I have some fabulous opportunities here to see shows, and right now is the peak of the festival season here in Europe. Yesterday was my birthday, so what better way to see some great bands at a festival being held an hour and a half away from my place. This festival is Pukkelpop (poo-kuhl-pop), and is held for three days in eastern Belgium. It is one of the premier festivals in Europe (top 5 in Europe), and is probably comparable with Lollapalooza or Coachella. There are 8 stages for the festival, and roughly 140,000 people camp and attend. Bands from all over make Pukkelpop a main-stay on the festival grind through Europe.
Here is a list of the shows that I was able to see, the time (24 hour clock style) and length of the set, and a review of them. Pictures will follow in another post with just pictures!!
Lykke Li – 11:20 (35min)
The Whip – 12:35 (25 min)
Black Kids – 13:40 (40 min)
The National – 14:55 (50 min)
Anti-Flag – 16:25 (50 min)
MGMT – 17:55 (50 min)
Hercules and Love Affair – 19:35 (35 min)
Bloc Party – 20:25 (60 min)
Chrome Hoof – 21:20 (50 min)
M83 – 22:45 (55 min)
Crystal Castles – 0:10 (40 min)
Lykke Li – (Myspace)
She opened up my festival day with a nice bit of energy for late morning. The crowd was somewhat sparse due to the time, but Lykke Li definitely impressed me with her solid set, and ability to put some spunk into the morning. The sensual Swedish voice blared such favorites as ”I’m good Im gone” and “Little Bit”, and they sounded great transferred into the live setting. Some tracks were down tempo, others dancy, and naturally this is the nature with her music. She even COVERED Vampire Weekend’s M79, during which she then looked at the crowd and pleaded “Do you wanna fuck, like you know I do?” Everyone proceeded to blush, and look at the ground. I definitely recommend seeing her live.
The Whip – (Myspace)
I had heard of this band prior, but really could not tell you much about them. These UK four-piece play electro-dance synth-poppy music that is very catchy and definitely good on a late Friday night. But I was somewhat bored overall by their set, as there was nothing that I really had not heard before. The band itself really did not have much stage presence and so after about 25 minutes I decided to move on in order to get a prime spot for the Black Kids.
The Black Kids – (Myspace)
The other day I was in the supermarket here in Brussels, and The Black Kids came over the stereo system singing “I’m not gonna teach your boyfriend…” I was quite pleased to have this on my mandatory grocery soundtrack. So I assumed that this show would be busy with people trying to get a prime spot. Luckily (as with all shows but Anti-Flag and Bloc Party) I ended up in the front row. I have wanted to see these guys since I found out about them, and I had really high expectations. Overall, the band did not disappoint me, and they slammed through their hits and put on a solid set. It was interesting to watch the ladies (Dawn Watley and Ali Youngblood) of the band singing backup and dancing. It reminded me of the olden days when a band would have back-up singers just dancing and singing. However, both the ladies had Synths as well. I would definitely see them again, but it would be nice to get a solid opener with them or vice-versa (depending on who they are with).
The National – (Myspace)
The National followed The Black Kids, and I was unsure if I wanted to see them again, or see a new band, but I had been talking with a local Belgian during the Black Kids set about music, so I decided to stay and see these guys, knowing that they really do not disappoint. They are from my hometown (Cincinnati), and I have also had the opportunity to meet them. The cruised through such awesome hits as “Mistaken For Strangers”, and “Abel”, and ended with “Fake Empire” (They would have done “Mr. November”, but ran out of time). It is much much different seeing them in festival format, after seeing them in ultra-intimate settings back home. I really enjoyed their set, and they looked quite tired after being on the road for so long (near the end of their tour). The crowd was also quite large, so that made me happy.
Anti-Flag – (Myspace)
Let it be known, I did not expect to willingly see a punk band during my day at Pukkelpop. But, after seeing the National, I tried to see Yelle, but the dance hall stage was excessively crowded (she is French, and very known in Belgium), so I went back to the stage where The National played in order to try to set up for a prime spot at the MGMT show. So yes, I saw Anti-Flag, and YES YES YES, they did play right in-between The National and MGMT. I didn’t understand how this happened, as there was another stage for the metal/punk bands. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed their set, and was quite impressed. They livened the crowd that came up (as if they really needed it), and made crowd-surfing, mosh-pits, and punk circles the norm. I love lively crowds, and after going to so so many indie shows where people just fold their arms and act half-disgusted (even if they like it), it was an awesome spectacle to see. The music was your standard punk music, nothing more, or nothing less. I was surprised, and I really enjoyed watching the crowd. (PS. It has been a while since a warped tour for me)
MGMT – (Myspace)
Seeing Anti-Flag allowed me to be in the front for MGMT (barely). This show was incredibly crowded, and it certainly shows that MGMT are noted for good live shows and their music has gained masses of fans during the past year. I had not seen them before, and I was very impressed. The music is very psychedelic at times in rock format way, but they also have the massive favorites “Electric Feel” and “Kids.” They certainly played those, and the quality of music was quick nice. Frontman Andrew VanWyngarden looked like he had just woken up, threw on a t-shirt and jean shorts and tennis shoes, and brought a guitar. He was incredibly laid-back, and nonchalant about everything. They had a few technical difficulties, but ended their set with VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser singing to a backing track for “Kids” and then a guitar solo by one of the touring folks. I definitely would see them again, and it was quite the crowd.
Hercules and Love Affair – (Myspace)
The self titled release by these guys have been one of my favorites this year. I was hoping that their show would be really great, and in fact I had heard some good things. I was satisfied with the set, but I guess I was expecting more. However, Nomi, who is quite the good looking gal, took off a few clothes, and it was funny to see the photographers in front of me taking all sorts of photos. The music was much like their album, but I felt like I was listening to an old jock jams album mixed with a disco flair when it transferred live. However, It was really cool to see the variation of Nomi and Kim Ann Foxman along with Andy Butler. There were a number of backup people on synth, trombone, trumpet, and bass guitar.
Bloc Party – (Myspace)
Bloc Party was by far the biggest show I saw during my day, and arguably the biggest of the festival. If you have never seen Bloc Party, DO IT! They are always worth seeing, and for this being my third time, I love them each time. My personal live favorite is “This Modern Love”. I somewhat dislike where I think they are taking their new music, in the two tracks I have heard, but I love their shows. Needless to say so do a lot of other people. So I watched it from what seemed to be a half mile away behind thousands and thousands of people. It is always a great show. I wanted to set myself up for the night shows, because I knew they would be busy.
Chrome Hoof – (Myspace)
This show was the extreme oddball show of the day. Imagine a band that brings funk and jungle with disco, electro and death metal, and you have Chrome Hoof. The Essex, UK based group merges all of these genres together, and I honestly have never heard anything like it. It was also very artistic and experimental. Their front lady Lola Olafisoye was quite sassy, and really put on a good show. I imagined someone like Aretha Franklin and Santogold and Macy Gray all coming together as one, then quickly going to the dark side. It was just great to see, and she was spot on musically. There are altogether about 9 folks in this group, from interpretive dancers to bassoon player to sax player to guitar players and drummers. Musically, I enjoyed some, but I disliked some. Death Metal is not my thing, so it got a little loud and nasty at times.
M83 – (Myspace)
M83 (along with Crystal Castles) was the reason I saw Chrome Hoof. This was arguably my favorite set of the night. This show was also busy, partly due to the band coming from France, and they are well known by the local Belgian crowd (and all of the French people there as well). Their most recent release “Saturdays=Youth” is just brilliant, and front-man Anthony Gonzalez is equally brilliant as well. The group had all sorts of problems with one of their synths, but fellow member Morgan Kibby was slightly frazzled by it all, and it created an emotional atmosphere that ended up being focused into turning out some stunning music. Put all of that together with the visuals, and it made for a spectacular set. Please try to catch these folks on tour somewhere soon.
Crystal Castles – (Myspace)
Girl Talk, Dan Deacon, and now Crystal Castles. I have heard mostly great things about live shows from this Canadian Duo, and after loving their music, I had to see for myself. This was the final show in the tent I was in (Belgian DJ’s Soulwax closed the festival concurrently). The show was packed like sardines into a relatively small tent. I was in the front, and wanted to hear the glitchy music and see the thrashing about of Alice Glass. Here is how it went. Take a set up for the keyboards and effects etc. for Ethan Kath, a random drummer, and then a microphone and two huge strobe lights for Alice, and you have it. All the lights are off except the strobes, and Alice dances around and screams onstage, comes into the crowd to say hello after laying on the floor, hitting the drum kit with the microphone, and unplugging the wires for the strobes (Accidentally). It was quite the sight. All of this is occurring while glitchy dance music is playing, and people are dancing everywhere. I put it in the same category as my Girl Talk and Dan Deacon shows, because of the hype and nature of it. It was so different, and I felt like Alice had real issues and just took them all out on stage. Ethan Kath is amazing at what he does producing all the of the music and putting the effects in as well.
Overall:
I was able to see so many bands, and meet some pretty sweet people throughout the day. This was the largest festival I had been too, and with 8 stages, there were so many more bands I wish I could have seen in that day and the two previous days I missed. Bands I missed that I hope to see soon are Sigur Ros, Yelle, Soulwax, Jamie Lidell, and We are Scientists. There were a number of DJ’s I wanted to see, especially because I am one myself, but at a festival, bands are the way to go!
Welcome to Day 2 coverage of Bonnaroo! Look at my sweet wristband!
Edie Sedgwick @ Waves
Here We Go Magic @ Ms. Bea’s
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart @ Ms. Bea’s
Parenthetical Girls @ Beauty Bar
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone @ Beauty Bar
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