Sunday, November 10, 2013

Fun Fun Fun 2013: Day Two

Unlocking The Truth - Black Stage: 12:50pm
so miniature and so black

  
I must admit, a small part of me was rather psyched to see the young, black, metal trio Unlocking the Truth early Saturday afternoon from the same part of my brain likely many people came to this past SXSW to see Grumpy Cat. The three boys, guitarist Malcolm Brickhouse, bassist Alec Atkins, and drummer Jarad Dawkins, are all extremely talented 7th graders who have preternaturally-gifted chops. They have a level of comfort on the stage, adaptability (particularly to Fun Fun Fun Fest's chronic sound issues which took them out of play for a good five minutes in the middle of their set to sort out an amp, all the while Dawkins puts up a banter and improved Q&A wherein he revealed they're working on their upcoming EP with the legendary Steve Jordan), and prowess that causes one to marvel at how these boys can play this music with such adeptness with those tiny limbs and then earnestly begin to enjoy what you're hearing when the aghast wears off. The songs are all composed with beats that are as conducive to head nodding as head banging (obvious joke is obvious) though titled simply enough to make it really clear these are still metalhead kids. "Destruction"? "Starting the Game"? It'll be clear down the line that these kids will have a very promising career if the Lord wills and the creek don't rise and that they'll look back at these child prodigy moments as their early work, but good God, they have some really good early work.

The Underachievers - Blue Stage - 2:25pm
catchy rap songs about weed



When Flying Lotus takes an artist under wing, that should be a sign. This is what made me feel it necessary to see The Underachievers take Blue Stage this afternoon. I had missed them at the Brainfeeder showcase this past SXSW, having arrived just in time for PBDY's first DJ set since joining FlyLo's eclectic record label. This rap duo has had a pretty great year since joining the label, releasing two mixtapes this year-- Indigoism and Lords of Flatbush. However, since I must always say I don't quite get hip hop shows, it was still the pair rapping over tracks a dude behind them was likely playing off iTunes. It was cool and all, and the very thick crowd for not even 3pm was hype, throwing joints and blunts to the stage before AK and Issa Dash did (all weed was reciprocated with hugs), but it's still the early stage of a career where hopefully something more will come in the performance aspect. It was still pretty cool to essentially hang with these dudes and a giant, smoke-covered crowd of people for a bit. These dudes are going places. I mean, Flying Lotus says so.


Television - Orange Stage - 5:50pm
where Wilco got it from


This band is important. I was aware of this before walking into this show. I was aware of the festival's impressive ability to bring old acts together and put artists back on the stage after so much time spent away through the sheer power of earnestness. But I wasn't fully aware of what I was getting myself into until that heavy rumble started. Guitarist and vocalist Tom Verlaine's group from the 70s featuring the extremely talented, sleep and you'll miss his incredible-ness Billy Ficca on drums, Fred Smith on bass, and Jimmy Rip on guitar in this present jag. Without having much of a frame of reference, the only real comparison I could make to this group was Wilco and I was hearing Nels Cline everywhere in this set. It's a more contemplative music. It asks for more of your attention. It ruminates as it builds to glorious climaxes. It's a music that exudes a patience this crowd might just not have from where I was standing by the sound booth. Something incredible was happening in the midst of Ficca's subtle, elegant, razzle-dazzle fills peppered through these mountaintop solos from Verlaine & Rip. It was enough to put you in the moment if you really wanted to get there. 




Descendents - Black Stage - 8:45pm
earnest



I was well aware of a few words I would overuse over the course of this weekend's write-ups. While I took all care to avoid using the word "fun" unless absolutely necessary (that one should be obvious), words like "chill" and "earnest" have seem to come up a lot over the last few days. The Descendents' set on Saturday night fits squarely in the earnest category. When this group got together again to play Fun Fun Fun Fest three years ago, it was a momentous occasion entirely worthy of playing the Orange Stage of Waterloo Park. But last night as the headliner for Black Stage, with folks jumping on stage to dive off, at least when they aren't jumping onto Milo Aukerman's mic first to sing out lines of songs beforehand. Black Stage is where these guys eat and where every single person in the crowd sings heartily about youth and belonging and being a crazy pervert sometimes whether or not they're a kid now or were one years ago. These songs meant as much to this crowd in 2013 as they meant in their formation in the 70s and 80s. In some ways, Black Stage was the most earnest stage in all of Austin last night.

 
Anthony Dean Harris


Merchandise
Merchandise recently changed their tune about the type of music they’re willing to play, quite literally in fact. They went from underground punk rockers to atmospheric and shoegaze indie rockers who list Miles Davis as one of their primary influences. I’m not going to lie, I just wasn’t feeling it. They were not bad by any means, playing tunes from their latest album Totale Night, but nothing this band played distinguished them from the hoards of other shoegaze indie rockers that I’ve listened to recently. With that said, the drummer, Elsner Nino, was very talented and a treat to watch. The kid played with such passion that my eyes were glued to him the entire time. At points during his show, he played with such vigor his drumstick launched itself 10 feet up and an indeterminable distance back. Making this look like a regular occurrence for him, he just pulled out another drumstick from what looked like a quiver and kept on going without missing a beat. This band, especially this drummer has great promise, but they have some growing to do.

Chromatics
They started playing at the time when all the late comers and One-day passers begin to pour into the festival and check out the bigger names. The general chaos of the festival contrasted sharply with the dreamy and mellow tunes The Chromatics were coaxing out of their instruments. They played so sharply and cleanly that I probably could have shaved with the sounds coming out of their guitars, drums, and synths. Their newest album, Kill for Love, features minimalist electronica that I love to listen to and they showcased that at the Fest. It was a shame that hundred of people were too busy scurrying through the festival grounds to pay attention to this unexpected gem.

Saint Rich
St. Rich 
This Fest I had the pleasure of interviewing two amazing bands, Thee Oh Sees and Saint Rich. These bands are two sides of the same coin. Where Thee Oh Sees were a supernova of intensity, Saint Rich is a slow and seductive smolder of passion that is reminiscent of a stormy night filled with slightly too much red wine, an imperfectly cooked steak dinner, candlelight,  and slow tunes on the radio. Needless to say, I’m absolutely smitten. Before the show started, I managed to snag a chair on the balcony in North Door. I was sitting next to a couple of ladies who asked me to describe Saint Rich. I struggled, as I always do, when people ask me to describe a band, “They’re kind folksy but not extremely so and there’s some country influences but not the annoying kind and it’s only barely there oh and there really really good instrumentalists they’ve got another side project, they are rockish but not overly so” and the poor ladies became more confused as I sputtered through my description. I finally just said, “They’re good. Really good. You will not be disappointed.” Thankfully and enjoyably I was right. These kids are amazing. Christian Peslak is the lead singer with his best pal Steve Marion supporting him on guitar. In fact, the entire band are pretty much best friends and have been touring together for a good number of years as Delicate Steve. This translated to an incredibly comfortable stage presence and a fantastic show. They sang most of their songs off their debut album “Beyond the Drone” and all of them were killer. They had a couple of standouts, “Officer” an ode to an overly enthusiastic police officer and “Dreams” having the aforementioned ladies humming to the melody well after it ended. Christian sings with a twang and long drawn out vowel sounds that works oh so well. His stage presence and his sound are very reminiscent of Julian Casablancas from the Strokes even featuring the characteristic “I’m going to stare at the drum set at the beginning of the song and slide backwards towards the microphone” move that Casablancas loves to do. These guys have it all. Saint Rich is a band to pay attention to in the coming years as they put forth, what I’m sure are going to be, incredibly albums. But for now listen and be seduced by Beyond the Drone and catch Saint Rich live when you can. As I said, these kids are good.
-Matt Peebles


Melt Banana - 3:20 | Black
Riding along the Japanese noise-rock wave with The Boredoms and Boris, Melt Banana have distinguished themselves as perhaps the weirdest of the bunch (no small task for anyone who's listened to all of Soul Discharge.) They were unfortunately at diminished power for this set, lacking the low-end punch of the brilliant Rika Hamamoto on bass, and the drum duties of, well, anyone. Not that singer (or whatever you call what she does) Yasuko Onuki or guitarist Ichirou Agata couldn't hold their own. The two raged like a fever-dream Sleigh Bells, Agata in a surgical mask stacking layer upon layer of barbed feedback, and Onuki shrieking, howling, belting and leaving me wondering how the hell her vocal chords have let her do this for 20 years.  No telling what this band could do at full strength.



Television - 5:50 | Orange
Television 
Beyond the Taco Cannon and Ryan Gosling sightings, if there's one thing FFFFest is known for, it's band reunions: Public Enemy, Run D.M.C. the Refused, all bands coaxed back into action for gigs at past year's Fests. 2013 doesn't quite have anyone of that marquee caliber, but Television comes damn close. Sure the band isn't really reuniting (they've been back together in some form since 1992) and they no longer feature tone-setting guitarist Richard Lloyd (he left in 2007.) But none of that stopped this from being among the best sets of the weekend. Singer/guitarist Tom Verlaine was in fine voice (from one you could hear through the low mix anyways), and Billy Ficca and drums and Fred Smith on bass still know how to throw in all those amazing little rhythmic flourishes that colored the band's early records. But it was the new guy, guitarist Jimmy Rip, who ended up stealing the show, particularly on an extended (and explosive) solo on "Little Johnny Jewel." They threw in some of their beloved classics ("Venus de Milo," "Prove It") and l left some other's disappointingly untouched ("See No Evil," "Friction.") But they ended with all 10 glorious minutes of "Marquee Moon," wiry Tom Verlaine solo and everything.



M.I.A. - 8:30 | Orange

The opening bass drop of M.I.A.'s set likely registered on the Richter Scale. It also just about deafened the 15,000 people or filling the Auditorium Shores main field, all anxious to see what Ms. Maya Arulpragasam had up her sleeve. Truth be told, I have no idea what she played or what went on the first four or so songs. I saw a backup dancer doing what might have been a twerked-out Irish jig (with more flailing involved) and heard nothing but incessant, chest-vibrating bass thump. These issues eventually got ironed out to some degree, and M.I.A. slowly began to show why her status as an international pop star is deserved. She kept mostly to material from her first two excellent releases Arular and Kala, working the crowd up with "Bamboo Banger" and "Sunshowers." But these weren't straight playbacks of the original tracks; she'd splice in Lil' Wayne into the intro of "Bucky Done Gun," or re-work the chant from "Jesus Walks" into the bass-line of "Bird Flu." It made for a constantly shape-shifting, genre-skipping set, ending with a TKO with the one-two combo of "Paper Planes" and "Bad Girls."
-JD Swerzinski


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