Bumbershoot, Day Two - Broncho

After Tamaryn, I got the rail position again to see garage rockers Broncho at the Plaza Stage.  Musically, their gritty sound was miles removed from Tamaryn's previous dreamy sounds, but the transition was bracing in a good way.

Bumbershoot, Day Two - Tamaryn

From where I had been sitting, it was easy to walk on over to the stage where Mates of State had been playing and take a position at the rail to wait for New Zealand's Tamaryn. More shade, more time out to recuperate.  When Tamaryn took the stage, I was finally in the right frame of mind and body once again to enjoy their dream-pop-meets-shoegaze sound.  Their singer's sultry and glamorous stage presence didn't hurt, either.

Bumbershoot, Day Two - Mates of State

There actually was a fairly large-sized crowd at the Fountain Lawn stage to see Mates of State, but the stage was set in the shade, so it was the best compromise to be found on the festival grounds.  I've seen Mates of State before - they headlined for one of my favorite bands, Other Lives, at the Drunken Unicorn a year or so ago, and frankly I wasn't that impressed.  Maybe their stripped-down dance pop wasn't the best choice to follow the emotional and musical complexities of Other Lives, but I found myself similarly unimpressed today as I stood listening in the Fountain Lawn shade.  

At that point, I realized that I had been to four separate acts (David Bazan, the band filling in for River Giant, the rapper filling in for Charlie XCX, and Eric Burden and the Animals) and was dissatisfied with them all (see entry below).  I've come to realize that when this happens, it's usually not the entire rest of the universe that's off, it's usually myself.  Maybe it was time to just chill out a little bit and regroup.

I found a clear spot of grass in the shade where I could sit leaning back against a picket fence, and rested my eyes (and legs) for a little bit.   I could still hear Mates of State, but they already sounded better when I wasn't standing in a crowd trying to force myself to enjoy them, but just allowed their music to waft over me. I may even have nodded off for a few minutes.  But after a very short time - just the rest of the Mates' set - I found my second wind and got back up reinvigorated and ready to start enjoying the festival again.

It's nice to be reminded that "time outs" still work occasionally.

Bumbershoot, Day Two - Eric Burden and the Animals

Here's where the day started to get a little dicey for me.  After the FIDLAR set, I had planned to see David Bazan, but by this time it was 3:45 in the afternoon, and first I had to get something to eat and some liquids into my system.  I found a nice little Thai kiosk that sold me a plate full of vegetarian pad thai, which I washed down with a cold Sprite.  But after that, I couldn't get anywhere near the stage where Bazan was playing - it seemed like about 100,000 had just parachuted into the festival while I was eating, and most of them were lounging around the perimeters of Bazan's stage making it difficult to get anywhere near where he was playing.  

So I wandered around a little, but even that was difficult due to the sheer number of people.  I eventually wound up at the Plaza Stage for what I thought was going to be the band River Giant, but after one or two songs the band announced that they weren't River Giant  but were, in fact, Seattle's Midday Veil.  I kind of liked them, psychedelic drone metal ala Om, but the stage was right out in the sun, which was getting quite warm, and I could feel my bald head starting to sunburn (I had been standing in the sun for the entirety of The Mowgli's and FIDLAR's sets as well).  

By this time, Bazan's set was over, so I wandered back over to the Fisher Pavilion stage where I had earlier seen FIDLAR to watch the next act there, Charlie XCX.  But once again, I couldn't find a place in the shade from which to watch, and once again someone else came on the stage, some white rapper chick from Seattle, and announced she would be playing in place of the scheduled act.  

So I left there, too, and wandered over to the Starbucks Stage to see British Invasion veterans Eric Burden & The Animals.  The Starbucks Stage is located in a small, natural amphitheater, and apparently the 100,000 people who had parachuted in had all left Bazan's stage and were now waiting to see Burden.  The place was ridiculously crowded and totally devoid of any shade except for a Starbucks pavilion (naturally) that only allowed in people who had some sort of Starbucks' pass.  I have no idea how or where you were supposed to get a Starbucks pass (Starbucks probably), so I squeezed into a spot out in the sun and wound up somehow inadvertently pissing off the person standing behind me ("I was sitting there"), and then not one but two women squeezed right in front of me, totally pissing me off.  But then Eric Burden took the stage.

For some reason, Burden decided to dress in a sweatshirt and full hoodie for his set (see above), despite the sun, despite the heat.  I don't know, maybe he was shy, maybe he wanted to be remembered as the young singer of the Animals and not as his 72-year-old self, maybe it was a tribute to Trayvon Martin.  Beats me. From where I was standing, though, I just had to trust that it really was Burden underneath that hood, although the voice sounded about right.  But the crowd and the sun (I now could feel my ears sunburning) really started annoying me, so I made a slow and difficult exit through the crowd, accidentally stepping on some people's lawn blankets and ticking them off (a lot of people there, including myself, seemed to be suffering from a low annoyance threshold) as I weaved my way around and out.  

I only got to hear about two or three Animals songs, and for the life of me, I can't remember which ones now.  But my priorities were to find someplace a little less crowded and a little more shady, and allow myself to recuperate until I was ready to enjoy some music once again.

Bumbershoot, Day Two - FIDLAR

FIDLAR. Loud, obnoxious punk, and just about perfect.  I didn't want to go anywhere near the rail for FIDLAR, though, due to the very aggressive moshing at the front of the stage.  Still, it was fun to watch from a safe distance.

Bumbershoot, Day Two - Ramona Falls

Ramona Falls cerebral sounds on a sunny afternoon at the Fountain Lawn stage. We last saw Ramona Falls at the godforsaken Masquerade, and the Bumbershoot stage today showcased the band much better than the Masquerade.  Bonus points for getting the rail (position at the front of the stage by the security barrier with no one else in front of me except security and the band) and for the drummer's hilarious commentary throughout the set.

Bumbershoot, Day Two - The Mowgli's

L.A.'s The Mowgli's played fun, likable folk pop at the Fisher Pavilion, something along the lines of Milo Greene.  Lots of singalongs and lots of hand-clapping, but with less of an emphasis on acoustic string instruments and more on electric guitars.  If you like the up-beat enthusiasm of folk-rock, but have heard enough banjo-and-mandolin duets to last a lifetime, then The Mowgli's are the band for you. Plus everyone n the band takes a turn at lead vocals.

Bumbershoot, Day Two - Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside

Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside kick off the day in the KEXP Music Lounge.  Sallie's main set was last night, but she stuck around to play this early set today.  I'm glad I didn't have to miss her, as she sounded great at this early hour.

Bumbershoot, Day One - Crystal Castles

The long day of music closed out with a completely insane set by Crystal Castles.  Washed Out's set didn't end until 10:00, when Crystal Castles were scheduled to begin, and I expected to miss at least part of their performance, but I was able to make it to the Fisher Pavilion before the band began.  However, like during the final set of the day at Bumbershoots past, the audience was massive, and I couldn't get close enough to the stage to even see the performers, just their video-screen projections until well near the end of the set.  But with all of the dry-ice fog on the stage and Alice Glass' tendency to dive into the audience every few minutes or so, I don't know if I would have seen things much more clearly even if I were in the front row.  Glass is a legendarily reckless performer for her stage diving antics - the woman must have an incredible threshold for physical pain, or just gets so psyched by Crystal Castles' aggressive beats and shrieking synth lines that she doesn't notice the abuse her body must experience.  Several times, she was actually able to stand upright on the arms and shoulders of the audience, so that rather than crowd-surfing, she was actually crowd-walking, a pretty impressive sight especially while still shrieking her vocal parts.  She doesn't actually "sing" most of the time, at least not in a traditional sense of melody, but screams into the microphone with the line run through an echo-box, reverb, and synthesizers where it's treated and distorted to almost beyond recognition as a human voice, all while loud club beats fill the space below.  The vocals are so heavily processed, at times Glass just dragged the microphone across the stage floor and was able to produce similar sounds to her vocal effects.  While all of this may not sound appealing - and to some it may not to be sure - but it all adds up live to a thrilling and exciting performance if one allows oneself to be immersed into the experience.  But it almost by definition has to be the closing set as it was last night - I'm not sure what could possibly follow as aesthetically and physically a daredevil performance as that.

So that was it for Day One of Bumbershoot 2013 - over 11 hours of music and 10 bands.  One new discovery (ZZ Ward) and one newly-appreciated performer (Watsky). The stand-out performance of the day has to go to !!!, and the most over-the-top experience to Crystal Castles.

We're off to a great start.

Bumbershoot, Day One - Washed Out

There was a HUGE audience of Seattle teenagers at the Fountain Lawn Stage to see Georgia's own Washed Out, but with a little perseverance, I managed to work my way to a semi-decent position on the crowd.  The time between the end of Watsky's set, the last performance at the stage, and the start of Washed Out was a full hour, one of the longest intervals between performances of the day, but it still took them another 20 minutes for some reason to finish their sound check and  start their performance.  But once their glimmering synths kicked in and the band's big washes of sound began emanating form the stage, all was forgiven.  This is a band I've wanted to see live for a while now, and although they've played Atlanta many times, they've either sold out before I could get tickets, or I was somehow otherwise engaged at the time of their sets, so this was a nice, make-up set for me at Bumbershoot.   

Bumbershoot, Day One - Gary Numan

Oh, dear.  The first disappointment of the day, and I lost my endorphin high.  Back in the 80s, after nearly a decade of listening to Eno's early, pre-ambient, minimalist rock, krautrock bands like Kraftwerk, and Bowie, both Gary Numan's made-for-MTV appearance and synth-pop hit Cars seemed derivative.  However, I'm not sure I heard much by him other than the MTV staple Cars and I certainly never saw him live.  So, I was surprised by his performance at the Bumbershoot Fisher Pavilion, where he sounded darker and gothier than anything Cars would have suggested (even during his inevitable cover of Cars).  I used to think Numan was a copy-cat of Bowie and Kraftwerk - now I think Numan is a copy-cat of The Cure and Nine-Inch Nails.  But I always like to say something positive, and I'll add that the years have actually treated Numan well - the gaunt, ethereal appearance of his MTV days have given way to age, but he now looks more both healthier and more fleshed-out.  With his newly robust body and Robert Smith hair, he actually resembles his new musical influences - The Cure and Trent Reznor.   

Bumbershoot, Day One - Watsky

Another festival breakthrough - I didn't expect to like white rapper Watsky - the songs I've heard on Spotify sounded puerile and obnoxious, and I almost skipped his set.  But I was pleasantly surprised by his exciting and life-affirming set. Maybe it was the fact that he was backed by a full band, including a female back-up singer, a scorching guitarist, and a powerhouse drummer, rather than just a dj.  Or maybe I'm just still on an endorphin high after !!!.

Bumbershoot, Day One - !!!

Up to this point, I had stuck with my game plan for the day.  However, after Beat Connection, I deided to skip the rest of the already-in-progress set by Gus & Scout and instead hang out at the Fisher Pavilion to get a better position in the audience to watch Sacramento's !!! (pronounced Chk-Chk-Chk).  Their music can be described as acid space groove funk rock, and they boast the most flamboyant and entertaining singer since Mick Jagger. He even wore a pair of shorts with the Some Girls cover on them on stage.  This was a terrifically entertaining set, with the singer frequently leaping into the audience to crowd surf or just cause general mayhem (in a good way).  I can't believe I missed these guys at The Earl earlier this summer.  Anyway, if your brain functions anything like mine, you get a serious jolt of serotonin from an outlandish but seriously funky performance like this. 

Bumbershoot, Day One - Beat Connection

Icona Pop had called in sick, but this Seattle dance-pop outfit filled in very nicely at the TuneIn Stage (Fisher Pavilion).  They also had a horn section (not pictured above) - a three-man ensemble called The Butternut Horns who added some nice oomph to their already funky sound. It remains to be seen whether or not Icona Pop recover in time for their MFNW date.

Bumbershoot, Day One - Thao (Part II)

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down's second set of the day, this time at the Fountain Lawn. This was my first set of the day outdoors among the Bumbershoot gen pop, and I'm glad I saw her Music Lounge performance earlier, both for the intimacy of the small room and because the first three songs of the set were seriously marred by way-too-heavy bass in the PA System.  But, then, I'm glad that I saw her Fountain Lawn performance because she had a larger band, including violinist Alex Guy, whom I had recognized as Led To Sea from her performance at The Earl in 2010 opening for Laura Veirs, and a two-man horn section, and the sound got back into balance after the third song.  

Bumbershoot, Day One - Charles Bradley

The Screaming Eagle of Soul.  I saw Charles Bradley perform during Bumbershoot 2011 (my first), but it was even sweeter seeing him perform in the intimate confines of the KEXP Music Lounge.  This was the third show in a row I had won tickets to online. Despite the small room, or maybe because of the small room, Bradley still gave it his all, singing, dancing, and entertaining the audience with his old-school, James Brown-revived style of soul music.  He even came intot he audience at the end of his set and worked his way row by row to give each member of the audience an individual, if sweaty, hug, your humble narrator included.  No one refused.

Bumbershoot, Day One - ZZ Ward

ZZ Ward rocking the Music Lounge. This is what festivals are all about - the opportunity to discover new bands and performers of whom you most likely otherwise might never have encountered.  ZZ Ward's blues rock is hard to describe - she calls it "dirty shine" - a bone-deep wall of old-fashioned blues crossed with the big city gloss of cutting-edge hip hop.  If Tina Turner had a baby with Ricki Lee Jones, and that baby tricked Robert Johnson at the crossroads that she was the devil herself and bought his soul, and then was raised in a 21st Century, urban setting, that baby might sound like ZZ Ward.  Another great set.

Bumbershoot, Day One - Thao (Part I)

Great start to Bumbershoot for me with a noontime Music Lounge performance by Thao & The Get Down Stay Down.  And Thao herself was as charming as ever in the intimate confines of the indoor KEXP studio.

Seattle Bound

It's finally time.  Today, I'm off to Seattle, Washington to check out the newly legalized marijuana attend the Bumbershoot music festival, my third straight year at the event.  This is one of the strongest schedules yet, and I've done pretty well getting signed up for the KEXP Music Lounge performances, so if I stick to my tentative schedule, it looks like I'll be seeing 34 performances by 32 artists over the weekend, including Thao & The Get Down Stay Down (twice), The Joy Formidable (twice), Death Cab for Cutie, !!!, Washed Out, Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, Crystal Castles, Deerhunter, and Ivan & Alyoshi.  What's more, the weather is forecast to be excellent most of the weekend, with only Labor Day Monday even slightly questionable. 

However, I've probably eliminated any possibility of rain when I went to REI earlier this week and bought an expensive raincoat, one I really can't afford but also the kind that I had wished I had at Shaky Knees. Packing the raincoat and a sturdy pair of rain pants will likely ensure that I won't encounter any rain.  

After Bumbershoot, I'm taking Amtrak down to Portland, Oregon for MusicFest NW, a 6-day event beginning Tuesday evening.  So far, the forecast is looking about as good as one could possibly hope for in the Pacific Northwest:  

Performances at MFNW are almost too numerous to mention, but will likely consist of about 50 sets by 45 or so bands, including Thao & The Get Down Stay Down (again), !!! (again), Chvrches (twice), The Head and The Heart, Animal Collective, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Love Language (twice), Sonny & The Sunsets (three times), Pickwick, Neko Case, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and on and on (On An On will also be playing, as will Ages and Ages, but I probably won't be crossing paths with either one of them).

There will be updates here, but their timeliness and coherence will probably depend on several factors including the schedule, high-speed internet access, and fatigue or lack thereof.  You can also follow me on Facebook, Flickr and YouTube over the next week and a half to document in real time my inevitable mental collapse and descent into dementia and madness.

This will be fun.

Beatle Paul

In 1966, when he was 24 years old, Paul McCartney wrote and recorded a song called When I'm Sixty-Four with three other Britannics of whom you may have heard, eventually releasing the song in an album called Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. 

Sir Paul passed the age of 64 himself a while ago and is now 71 years old, yet still is able to write and record new songs, like the aptly named New, above.  While you can say it sounds like something straight out of the Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band sessions, you can also say it sounds like something straight out of the Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band sessions.

Franz Ferdinand

Likable, intelligent, Scottish pop-rockers Franz Ferdinand has done a huge disservice to English-speaking Buddhists.  It's hard enough to quiet the mind in meditation and not engage in imaginary conversations or recite lyrics you've memorized somewhere along the line, but now Franz Ferdinand has made it even more difficult.  

They've taken words from the Buddha's Eight-Fold Path and turned them into a catchy and melodic song that I'll never be able to get out of my head while trying to sit.   Right Thoughts Right Words Right Action are three parts of the Eight-Fold Path (Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Meditation) enumerated in the Buddha's very first sermon.  Virtually all Buddhists know them, and now, all English-speaking Buddhists, or at least all English-speaking Buddhists hip enough to have heard this terrific song, will have this stuck in their heads even while they're trying to empty their heads.

And I had just finally been able to stop singing Steely Dan's Bodhisattva to myself during meditation.  

But now you've heard the Franz Ferdinand song, too (if you haven't before), and now it's stuck in your head as well.  Because I posted it.  

So much for my karma.  

Spark & Whisper

Here's some bright new music by Marin County, California indie-folksters Spark & Whisper.  Thanks and a tip of the ol' hat to my kid sister (and Marin resident) Jackie for sharing this with me.

!!!

It now appears that I'll be seeing !!! not once but twice next week.