Tuesday, September 10, 2013

"Bumbershoot Is, Like The Best, In My Opinion, The Best Music Festival" - Patton Oswalt, 2013


Patton Oswalt discusses Seattle and his Bumbershoot experience with Conan, starting at about 1:45.  Also, he talks about death, which is always cool.

Monday, September 9, 2013

A Look Back

musicfest.jpg

A few retrospective shots of MFNW 2013 from The Oregonian, Portland's daily newspaper.

Murder By Death



2013 MusicFest NW: Neko Case at Pioneer Courthouse Square

MFNW, Day Six Summary


This was it - the last and final day of MFNW.  No KEXP daytime performances at the Doug Fir, no free-beer-and-food parties to attend during the day.  The events were pretty much limited to the Pioneer Courthouse Square  performances, starting off with the Washington state band The Moondoggies.


The Moondoggies had a pleasant enough country rock sound and were generally inoffensive to the ears, but one had to wonder with all of the terrific bands that participated in MFNW this year, what this band was doing on the showcase stage of the final night of the festival.

The next act was more appropriate, IMHO - Seattle's Pickwick, the best band you've never heard of, continuing to bring their soulful sound to wider audiences.


The headlining act was Neko Case, who kicked off her set with This Tornado Loves You and played songs from her new album as well as favorites from the past.  It was also her birthday, and the audience broke into a spontaneous singing of Happy Birthday To You without any prompting from the stage. She later admitted that she turned 43 today.


In previous years, the end of the headlining act concluded MFNW.  This year, however, the organizers added an after-party at the Crystal Ballroom, which featured EDM producer, singer, and DJ Ill-Esha


The main attraction for the after-party, though, was EDM band Big Gigantic.  Unlike most other EDM bands, they didn't rely solely on laptops and synths, but consisted of two members - interestingly, a live drummer and a saxophonist, both of who also added the prerequisite samples and recorded beats.  


Big Gigantic's set consisted of nothing but climaxes from the very start, without any build-up or relief.  True to their name, everything was big and everything was gigantic, and even though every song sounded pretty much the same to me - a tenor sax riff repeated over and over while the drums crashed in a continuous crescendo - I can't deny the excitement they created or the enthusiasm of the young audience, who danced non-stop to the music.  Every note was accompanied by lasers and light projections, and I was curious to see how they'd end their set, when each bar of music already sounded like a grand finale.  They seemed unsure themselves on how to end, and the set went well past the one-hour mark. After repeating a riff a number of times, the sax player would pick up the mic to shout "We got one more for you," and them play what sounded to me just like what he had just been playing before.  Each "song" was a little shorter toward the end of their set, as they simultaneously whipped the audience into even more of a frenzy while also getting them used to the idea that this was soon going to end.  They finally threw a sample of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' Can't Hold Us into the mix and after a few more calls of "thank you and goodnight," interspersed with that same sax riff again, they finally ended their set with an even faster set of beats and a final crashing crescendo.  The crowd went wild, and I left even as they were being called back for an encore.

And that's it for MFNW 2013.  I fly back home tomorrow.  I'm in no state right now to identify best (or worst) moments, and will probably be revisiting the sets of the past 6 days - as well as the 3 days of Bumbershoot before that - in the coming days.  A little distance might help give me a little perspective.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

MFNW, Day Five Summary


On a scale of 1 to 11, based on the number of bands seen and not on any sort of subjective quality, Day Five of MFNW was a 10.  Actually, that might work on a subjective quality scale as well.

The first bit of good news was that the first daytime KEXP performance at the Doug Fir was at 12:00 noon, not 10:30 a.m. as on previous days, allowing me a little more time to sleep in and prepare for the day.  When I finally got to the Fir a little after 11, there was already a line, albeit a short one, to see thee first act, New Jersey's Titus Andronicus.  Here's the band's Patrick Stickles wearing a Titus Andronicus t-shirt.  


Titus Andronicus kicked off the day, almost literally, with a powerful set of punk anthems, including a pair of songs no longer than 45 seconds each. That and a couple cups of Stumptown Coffee were enough to awaken even this tired MFNW participant.  Banter line of the day goes to Stickles for "I didn't start a punk-rock band so that I'd have places to be at 11 in the morning."

As they had all week, KEXP had a full slate of fine bands for their daytime performances, but on Saturday I didn't stick around for anything after Titus Andronicus.  Instead, I took a bus uptown to Mississippi Studios for a MFNW party by Oregon Public Broadcasting, an annual event.  Last year, I arrived in time to hear the last song by the last band playing, Menomena.  By the time I got there this year, the Portland band The Parson Redheads were already playing (the party started at noon), but it was still early in the day.    


We've seen The Parson Redheads once before, opening at The Earl for another Portland band, Viva Voce, during Rocktober 2011. I don't remember much about the 2011 performance, other than the vibe in the dark and smoky Atlanta nightclub was very different than the sun-filled patio of Mississippi Studios.

The beer and drinks were free thanks to OPB, but I still left Mississippi Studios to get something to eat (they were serving food, but all the tables were taken and the lines were ridiculously long).  Fortunately, I got back in time to catch the set by Tibourones, the side project of Luz Elena Mendoza of Y La Bamba (far right). Their music was as bright and joyful as the patio was sunny and warm.  


A side note about the weather:  it only rained for a couple of hours all week, on Thursday, which must have been a drag for those at Pioneer Courthouse Square to see Youth Lagoon and Young the Giant, but I was at the Marmoset party with its tents and warehouse space and wasn't much affected.  I did get rained on waiting for the bus to take me back downtown after the party and later walking back to my hotel after the Austra performance, but I had a raincoat and didn't much mind.  Other than that there was no rain, although the skies were cloudy and overcast since Tuesday.  Today, however, the sun finally decided to join the festivities, and the weather was as nice as one could possibly expect: warm (70s), low humidity, and sunny.

But having said all that, the next Mississippi Studios performance was inside, but by the sunny, optimistic Radiation City (they sound almost the exact opposite of what their name implies).  We've seen Radiation City before at the Earl and at the Marmoset party, and I've spotted members of the band all over town at various MFNW performances, but their set at Mississippi Studios was the best I've heard from them yet - stunning, happy pop for a lovely day.  I got goose-bumps from their perfect harmonies several times during the set.  


The Radiation City set headlined the OPB party, which is to say it was over after their performance, leaving me enough time to go back to my room and get cleaned up for the evening's Pioneer Courthouse Square performances.

At every Pioneer Courthouse Square concert I've been to for the three consecutive MFNWs, I've always sat in the exact same spot - on the steps, toward the right (facing the stage).  It's not too far back, but is high enough up to allow one to see over even the tallest member of the audience, plus the spot is against a wall allowing one a backrest or, if standing, does not cause you to block anyone else's view.  It's my usual, borderline compulsive, spot to watch Pioneer Square shows, sort of like the first riser at Atlanta's Variety Playhouse.

Today, when I arrived, there was a couple already sitting in my spot.  They were surrounded by backpacks and food, appearing for all the world like they had no intention of eventually moving anywhere else. However, I also noticed that there were very few people up by the stage, so few that it even appeared possible that I might be able to grab some rail space.  As it turned out, I didn't get the rail, but was only a few people back from the front for the performance by Deep Sea Diver, Jessica Dobson's (currently also with The Shins) band. 


We last saw Deep Sea Diver, twice, during Bumbershoot 2012, but several of Deep Sea Diver's catchy, hook-filled songs still sounded familiar and as good as ever.  The band plays flawlessly and this is an act with a lot of potential for success.  I wish them well, they're deserving of wider recognition.

We last saw Thao and The Get Down Stay Down, twice, last Saturday during Bumbershoot 2013. Several of their songs still sounded familiar, etc.  Hell, at this point I'm so familiar with their set, I could probably fill in for a member of the band (if only I could play anything).  Thao's sexy but quirky stage presence and terrific, enjoyable songs always sound good, and I look forward to seeing her again next month, when her tour brings her back to Atlanta.


When Thao comes to Atlanta, she'll be touring with the next band that was up on the Pioneer Square stage, The Head and the Heart.  Since we last saw them, at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia, they've released a new album, and they played several songs from that new album.  This, of course, is always a difficult time for any band with an immensely popular, previous album - fans only want to hear the old songs and aren't particularly receptive to the new. When TH&TH played an old song, there was hand-clapping and sing-alongs; when they played a new song, you would have been able to hear crickets in the background (if it weren't for the joyful and exuberant sound of the band themselves).  The new songs will probably eventually grow on fans, but until then the set highlights were their standards such as Lost In My Mind and Sounds Like Hallelujah.  


For their encore, each of the three principal singers in the band came on stage and performed one solo song each, and then the rest of the band joined them on stage for the fan favorite (and old song) Down In the Valley.

The good news about leaving my comfort zone behind and standing near the stage was that I got a terrific, close-up view of three fine bands.  The bad news was that I was standing on my already sore feet for another 4 1/2 hours.  On the one hand, part of the reason that I found last night's performance by Animal Collective less than compelling may have been because I was sitting way back at my usual spot and removed from the concert experience, back by the food vendors and talkative people and not immersed in the music, while tonight, standing up close, my mind was more engaged in the show.  On the other hand, however, my poor feet were sorely looking forward to getting to the Roseland Theater after The Head and The Heart performance so that I could find a seat up in the balcony and relax.  

It didn't work out that way.  The Roseland was at capacity, and I wouldn't have even gotten in if it weren't for my VIP wristband.  But once inside, I had to wait in line for the entire set by the first band, the drone-metal act Earth, to get up into the balcony. From the line at the back of the room, I couldn't focus much on Earth's performance, and it sounded like they were just playing the exact same riff over and over for 40 minutes (I strongly suspect it would have sounded the same even if I had been paying more attention).

I was finally allowed up into the balcony during the break between acts,  but there were no available seats to be found.  I had to stand leaning against the balcony wall for the next set, a magnificent performance by post-rock collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor.  


The entire Godspeed set consisted solely of the song Mladic from their latest album, and the band didn't even take the stage until almost 20 minutes into the set, instead just allowing the instruments to hum on stage.  When they finally did come on stage, they built the song up very slowly at first, employing dissonant violin and a bowed acoustic bass as they slowly reached the crescendo, when the drums and electric guitars kicked in.  A mind-bending series of film and video projections were displayed behind the band as they played, with the film stopping from time to time so that the cells would burn and melt on screen, but otherwise the band played in darkness and I couldn't even tell how many musicians were on stage (I approximated at least about eight).  Overall, it was a powerful and visceral experience, a unique performance by a unique band in a unique setting.

It was also two more hours on my sore feet, and ordinary persons might have called it a night then and there, but I still managed to catch a crosstown bus over the river to The Bunk Bar to see a performance by the band Love As Laughter.   
      

There was a big crowd in the small club, and since The Bunk Bar didn't really have much of a stage as much as a space set aside on the floor for the performers, it was hard to see the band unless you were standing right in front of them.  Still, I managed to find an empty barstool with a sight-line to the stage, but no matter how I sat, my knees still stuck out into the crowded club, and everyone was having a difficult time climbing over or squeezing past me.  Despite the comfort of sitting, I eventually stood back up for the remainder of the set.

Love As Laughter was followed by Sonny & The Sunsets.  Sonny led the band in a set that was all over the place, from 60's-style rock ala Shannon & The Clams to alt-folk to punk to rockabilly, and with everything in between. The audience ate it all up, as well they should, dancing and cheering and transforming the set into a joyful, communal experience.


It was nearly 1:00 a.m, by the time Sonny & The Sunsets were done, and public transit had pretty much ended for the night.  I had to take a long walk home, including a walk across a lonely and desolate Morrison Bridge, a spooky proposition for an out-of-towner late at night.  But I got home safe and sound, and am up and ready for a last and final day of MFNW (Pickwick and Neko Case!).

Saturday, September 7, 2013

MFNW, Day Four Summary


Day Four of MFNW was certainly less ambitious than yesterday, but in many ways no less satisfying.  Tired from the day before, I almost slept in and blew off the first performance of the day, but at the last minute remembered that I hadn't come all this way to lounge about hotel rooms but to hear music, so I rallied and got my fat ass over to The Doug Fir for the first KEXP performance of the day, a set by a band called The Shivas.  
Photo by KEXP
I hadn't heard of The Shivas either, but was glad that I had gotten up to see their 10:30 am set - they play a sort of post-surf garage rock reminiscent of Austin's The Strange Boys.

The next set was at noon and by Georgia's own Washed Out, who we saw just last weekend at Bumbershoot.


Another act we caught at Bumbershoot, Seattle's Beat Connection, played at 2:30.  Bumbershoot was the first time we'd seen Beat Connection, but today their songs already sounded familiar just from that one performance.


I didn't go to the MFNW outdoors set at Pioneer Courthouse Square yesterday 1) because of the rain, and 2) since they were serving free beer with the music and shelter from the rain over at the Marmoset party. So today was my first show this year at the Square, and it started off at 6:00 pm with a band I had not heard of before called Haerts.


Haerts' rather serious and sober-sounding set was followed by the sheer lunacy of Baltimore's Dan Deacon at 7:00.  The expressions on the girls' faces in the upper right of the picture below pretty much capture the spirit of the set.  Deacon himself was somewhere beneath that sea of hands (he played his entire set off the stage and in and among the audience).


If that doesn't explain it well enough for you, then here's one of my 30-second video summaries:


Animal Collective took the stage at 8:30 and played a 90-plus minute set of their psychedelic electronic rock.  Frankly, it wasn't the best AC performance I've seen (I've seen them twice before), but it still was an Animal Collective concert and therefore a singular experience in and of itself, and starting with the song Monkey Shines at around the 60-minute mark, they did finally rise to the level of transcendence I've come to expect from AC.


After Animal Collective, I left Pioneer Courthouse Square and, after waiting 20 minutes, caught a No. 19 bus across the Willamette and walked the rest of the way to Branx, a dimly-lit but hot and sweaty club in the warehouse district down by the river.  I had been hoping to see the 10:00 pm performance by the band Wooden Indian Burial Ground, but by he time I finally got to the club, I managed to hear only about the last 30 seconds of their performance, basically a little guitar feedback followed by "Thank you, good night."  

Oh, well.  The main reason I had crossed the river was to see Unknown Mortal Orchestra, who started playing right at 11:00.  Guitarist Ruban Nielson of UMO made a major statement this evening about his place in the guitar-god pantheon.  He played like a man possessed, and there were times during his extended, psychedelic guitar explorations where if you closed your eyes, you would have sworn you were at the Fillmore West circa 1969.  He hadn't played like this the previous times I've seem him, and you won't hear it on their recordings, but playing to a home-town audience who was probably already familiar with all of his songs, he used the song structures merely as launching pads to find where his guitar could take him, just as jazz musicians use familiar melodies as points of departure for their improvisations.  It was an amazing performance, the kind that you go to festivals hoping to catch, the kind that become the stuff of legends. September 6, 2013 - the day Ruban joined the ranks of Jimi and Eric and Stevie Ray.  I am not exaggerating.  It was that good and the real thing.
  

So that was pretty much it, or so I thought as I walked back home across the Willamette on the Burnside Bridge.  But when I got back on the western side, I saw that Ty Segall was still playing his set at Dante's, so I went in and caught the end of his set.


So that, in summary, was Day Four.  I heard two new bands, revisited two other bands from Bumbershoot, watched Dan Deacon's lunacy, and ended the evening with the triple whammy of Animal Collective, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and Ty Segall.  But far and away the highlight of the day was UMO's set and Ruban's statement on guitar.  Damn, that man can play.

Friday, September 6, 2013

MFNW, Day Three Summary

!!! by KEXP

What can you say about a 14-hour marathon of music that started at 10:30 am with a set by Chvrches and ended after midnight with a set by Austra, that included the discovery of great new band The Family Crest and the front row at an !!! show, when Eric D. Johnson of The Fruit Bats gave you a beer before his set, when you've heard a total of 14 bands at three different venues, one of which may have been the coolest party you've ever been to and where you were one of the few in attendance not a member of one of the many bands that played?

Really, what can you say?  Because I don't know - I'm way too tired to be able to properly describe it, and have to get up early tomorrow morning to do it all over again.  Ill give it a proper recap and post the pictures sometime soon, probably next week.  

Tomorrow can't possibly be as epic as today was, but then again, it will include performances by Animal Collective, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and possibly even Prefuse 73, so literally anything's possible.  We'll see what happens.

Anyway, before I go to sleep, in case I later forget, here's a list of the bands today, in order of appearance:

Chvrches
The Baseball Project 
!!!
The Wild Ones
The Family Crest
John Vanderslice
The Love Language
Eric D. Johnson (Fruit Bats)
Radiation City
Daniel Blue (Motopony)
Surfer Blood
Vice Device
Diana 
Austra

And, oh yeah, it started raining today.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

MFNW, Day Two Summary


It's late, I'm going to try to get up early tomorrow, and despite a late start to the day, I'm tired, so I'm going to try to keep this quick.  I may update this with post-scripts tomorrow as the day allows.

MFNW 2013 doesn't really get into full swing until tomorrow, but today had no shortage of choices to make.  After an afternoon of not doing anything much in particular, a much-needed rest, I started off the evening by taking the No. 20 bus across the Willamette and going to the Doug Fir Lounge to see the new band Eyelids.


Eyelids are a super-group of sorts, consisting of sidemen from The Decemberists, Guided By Voices, Stephen Malkmus, Loch Lamond, and others.  Accomplished musicians all, they put on a very pleasant symposium on the many varieties of guitar rock, and even brought Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate, The Baseball Project) and a vocalist I didn't know on stage for guest spots at the end of their set.

Clarifying Post-Script: I read in Willamette Weekly that the guest vocalist was Jerry A. of the band Poison Idea, the the closing song was a cover of Gun Club's Sexbeat.

After their set, my transfer pass was still valid to take a bus back downtown to the Roseland Theater without paying anything more (see how nice it is to have a functioning public transit system, Atlanta?).  The site of last evenings's hip-hop night, the Roseland once again had a dj on stage when I entered, this time the very talented XXYYXX, who played a mind-blowing set of slow, nearly ambient, trip-hop electronic beats and bleeps.    


The headliners for the evening were the Scottish band Chvrches.  The Roseland was incredibly crowded with a very young and adoring crowd, and I was on the floor near center stage about five rows back. Chvrches are obviously going to have a very big year next year, and I'll probably never get this close to the lovely Lauren Mayberry again (or will I?).


After Chvrches set (40 minutes, no encore) I once again walked down the block to Dante's, just like last night, and got in just in time to see the insanely exuberant string-band punk of Larry & His Flask.  This was probably the unexpected highlight of the evening, a totally insane and raucous, high-energy rave with banjo and trombone.  I don't usually mosh, in fact I religiously avoid the mosh pit as much as possible, but the high energy, feel-good vibe, and the open, fun-loving attitude of the Portland audience lured me into the pit, and before I knew it, I was slam-dancing and pogoing with the best of them.  To paraphrase the world's most interesting man, I don't often mosh, but when I do, it's to Larry & His Flask.


The headliners for Dante's, Murder By Death, took the stage rig at their appointed hour of 12 midnight.  One of the nice things about MFNW is that the promoters run a pretty tight ship, and most of the shows start right on time and end at their appointed hour, so participants can keep to their schedule (Redd Kross started a little late last night, though).  I briefly saw Murder By Death earlier this year at the rain-sodden Shaky Knees festival in Atlanta while I was getting some food before The Antlers' set.  I liked their sounded and would have gone to see them, but I wanted to eat and then see The Anters more, and besides, there was a small ocean of mud between the food stalls and the stage at which they were playing, and I saw several more-intrepid fellow travelers than I fall face-down in that mud trying to cross the field.


So this evening was my chance to finally see a full set by Murder By Death.  They sounded much as I remembered, with murder ballads played at various tempos, but I was still hot and sweaty from the moshing. They started right on time, but continued on and on, even past the hour mark at which they were supposed to have wrapped it up.  When the singer announced at the 70-minute mark that "the next three songs" were particularly fun, I left for the night.  It was 1:10 am, and as I said at the top of this post, I'm tired, it's late, and I want to get up early.  Murder by Death was becoming Murder By Marathon, and while that might have been a good thing for the large and faithful audience in attendance, it was enough for me.  There's still a lot more MFNW to go.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

MFNW, Day One - Redd Kross at Dante's


Redd Kross' performance was one of the most buzzed-about events at last year's MFNW, and after taking just one look at the line that had formed, I gave up on even trying to get into their KEXP show at the Doug Fir.  So tonight's performance at Dante's was a chance to make up what I missed.

Redd Kross are a veteran band, having been around for some 30 years now.  They sound to me like the quintessential LA band, and one can hear traces of so many Los Anglocentric trends in their music, from early punk, to skater punk, to glam rock, to hair metal, and so on.  They play loud and fast (punk), but retain pop structures, melodies, and harmonies (glam), and are not shy about engaging in a little guitar pyrotechnics (hair metal).  There's a documentary film out about the Sunset Strip and the music scene that's developed around it which documents all of the disparate trends mentioned above.  These trends are far from my favorite musical genres, but to people who do like those genres, Redd Kross are a favorite.  At Dante's tonight, they played a long, 60-minute set without once ever letting the energy level drop despite the heat, and eventually won everybody over out of sheer force of willpower.

After a weekend at Bumbershoot, seeing "only" five bands in one day seems a little anti-climactic, but today did include an Amtrak trip from Seattle to Portland  ("Jump Day").  Also, MFNW used to start with only one venue on Wednesday evenings, but it's now expanded to starting on Tuesdays with events at two venues (hip-hop night at the Roseland and high-volume night at Dante's).  We're just getting warmed up, and tomorrow includes the first of two sets by Chvrches.

MFNW, Day One - Black Bananas at Dante's


I had heard of, but not actually heard, both of the openers at Dante's, and found myself really liking the first opener, Summer Cannibals.  However, I was in for a real disappointment with Black Bananas.

I don't know how to describe this train wreck of a performance.  The lead singer was obviously drunk - not in some glorious sex-and-drugs-and rock-and-roll kind of way, but in the stumbling down, incoherent manner that makes you want to avert your eyes.  Not only that, but she kept on drinking while on stage.  I often got the impression that one of the poor unfortunate homeless persons you see on Burnside outside of Dante's waiting for the Mission to open had somehow wandered into the club and up onto the stage, but it wasn't even that glamorous.

This may sound a little priggish, and I've seen plenty of musicians in various states of inebriation on stage before, but the music was incoherent and excessively loud (they seem to be one of those bands that's assumed that if you just play loud enough, it won't matter how poorly you play).  The vocals were rarely audible and garbled when they were, and the stage banter between songs was even worse, consisting of slurred words and sentences that just trailed off into nothing. ("Really?. . . I just . . . you . . . whatever . . .").

I don't like writing bad reviews and generally try to avoid being negative here, but I almost feel like some sort of intervention is called for in this case.  Some close friends and family of this band needs to sit them down and tell them to "Stop" right now.  Not stop drinking - that's cool, go for it.  But stop making music.  You're awful.  Just stop it.  

Maybe they just had an off night.  Maybe I just don't "get" their sound.  Portland's generally reliable Willamette Weekly described Black Bananas as "some of the most unhinged, funky rock around, akin to the work of ’70s icons like Betty Davis and Parliament."  I didn't hear it, but maybe it was just the heat in Dante's that was just getting to me.

Vindicating Post-Script:  A reviewer in the generally reliable Willamette Weekly who covered the show wrote, "I split at the halfway point of Joey Bada$$ to catch the last few songs of Black Bananas. I find what looks like the cast of Workaholics grinding out an incomprehensible racket, while Jennifer Herrema ambles around the stage in a junkie stupor. The album is loud and funky. Live, it’s just loud. I’m kind of disappointed."

MFNW, Day One - Summer Cannibals at Dante's


From the Roseland, I walked about a block-and-a-half down Burnside Street to Dante's.  I've never been to Dante's before but I liked the place - a small club, but with a sufficiently elevated stage to allow most everyone to be able to see the band.  The club has these old exposed brick walls with "doorways" that literally consist of holes in the wall.  There's even a separate bar on the other side of a wall from the stage for theose who want to drink with some sort of barrier between them and the din of the band.  The only disadvantage is that as it filled up, the temperature inside rose to what felt like about 95 degrees.

Anyway, Summer Cannibals played first.  They're an impressive, obviously well rehearsed band consisting of three women (guitar and vocals, bass, and drums) and one guy (guitar).  They play a bluesy brand of what used to be called alternative rock, and sounded alternately like The Breeders and The Kills.  I liked them a lot, and look forward to hearing more from them in the future.  For me, they were easily the highlight of the evening.