popwreckoning

As the weekend was nearing its close, I started the penultimate day of Musicfest Northwest – Saturday at Pioneer Courthouse Square with Laura Veirs and the Decemberists. Pioneer Courthouse Square was the only outdoor venue at all of the festival, right in the heart of Portland surrounded by high rise buildings. Even though I parked a good 5 blocks away, the music rang down the streets as I made my way to Pioneer.

People had already filled the midtown square as Laura Veirs took the stage with her low-key alt country folk tunes. Playing songs mostly off her new album July Flame, which went back to her folk roots after the less-than-overwhelming Saltbreakers, the soft harmonies were perfect for the sunny late afternoon we were having.

For the last song, Veirs called out “some friends” to come sing with her during “July Flame.” Those friends included several other Portland musicians, Colin Meloy of the Decemberists being one of them. As the song grew, the stage full of musicians sang out “can I call you mine, can I call you mine?” It was such a lovely display of local musician love, that it made me want to move to Portland right then and there.

But that evening wasn’t even close to over.

After a short break, The Decemberists stepped out as the sun was started to set on Portland. I must tell you that Colin Meloy is one of those characters that you feel so close with after seeing play live. No matter how large the audience, he brings everyone in this big musical lovefest. At one point he mentioned, “This is an attractive city. We’ve been to a lot of cities, and I must say that Portland is looking pretty good…relatively.”

But it got better.

After playing through some old favorites like “16 Military Wives” and “The Infanta,” we got the breezy “Summersong” as Meloy said we’re just coming out of the summer, so it made sense.

“So, after a song about summer, let’s talk about infanticide!” Meloy said.  Only at a Decemberists concert would you hear people cheering about killing infants. After the positively morbid “Rake’s Song,” the band started the riffs for “O Valencia” off The Crane Wife, and the entire crowd lit up in excitement and sang out along with the chorus a resonant “O Valencia!” However, right in the middle of the song, Meloy changed keys for just a minute and softly let out with a giggle, “Dracula’s daughter, Dracula’s daughter, Dracula’s daughter got it bad.” For people who got the reference, it was what Meloy referred to as “the worst song [he] ever wrote” on a live solo album he released several years ago. It got some laughs, but for those of us who did get the reference, it was almost like an inside joke that made us look crazy to the people who didn’t get the jokes.

Not only did the Decemberists play the songs we all know and love in their 90-minute set, but they did play a few new ones as well. That means a new album coming up, so that definitely made me excited.

As the sun was set, and the lovely glow of the Nordstrom’s sign shone upon us all, the Decemberists began their final song – “Sons & Daughters.”

“I know you all know what day it is, and I don’t need to hammer that home any more, but since you’re all here and we can do this, I want everyone to sing this. But not only sing it, but to walk away with it ringing in your head.” And on that evening of the 9^th anniversary of 9/11, Meloy instructed the audience to sing together in resounding unison “here all the bombs fade away.” That song – and their set – ended in such a moving way that I teared up a little bit, and I’m not ashamed to admit that.

Aww, I love The Decemberists.

At that point I’d contemplated trying to get to the Wonder Ballroom to see the Smashing Pumpkins, but thankfully a friend of mine had already tried and she let me know before I left that it was way too crowded for anyone to get in with even half an hour to spare until the show started at 10:15. So I took short break at Powell’s Books since it didn’t close until 11 p.m. before walking – literally right down the street from my car – to the Crystal Ballroom for Akron/Family and Menomena. How I managed to park closer to the Crystal than Pioneer Courthouse Square is beyond me, but it certainly made getting around for the rest of the night incredibly convenient.

I arrived to the Crystal mid-set for Akron/Family, and they were completely not what I expected. I didn’t know what to expect, to be honest, but they were so intense and energetic that I didn’t even need to know any of the songs to rock out and dance. With Afron/Family’s crazy mix of electronica and folk music, they really know how to get a room moving. The songs were long and epic and wildly mesmerizing. I regret not getting there earlier to see the whole set, because the 15 minutes I did see were really awesome. So you should see them if you get the chance to.

But I must say with how many fantastic performances I’d seen over the last four days, the greatest one was to come that evening, with Menomena. Up until then I hadn’t been right up against the stage at the Crystal Ballroom at all. That thing vibrates. Every time a heavy bassline kicked in, the water bottle below Brent Knopf’s keyboard visibly shook.

Having just released their third LP back in July, Mines, Menomena started off their mindblowing – and I’m not being facetious – show with “Tithe,” a thrilling track off the new album. I don’t know what planet the guys of Menomena are from, but they are definitely all on the same otherworldly brain wave, because the music and energy these guys put out is amazing. You have the stark and angry “The Pelican” and the soft and eerie “Evil Bee” off of Friend and Foe, and the heartbreaking “INTIL,” which features mostly Knopf on keyboard and crooning “I never thought I’d lie…sometimes I say too much” over and over again.

Not only are the songs so deeply impactful live, but the musicianship with Menomena is so random that you almost wonder how they came together in the first place. Justin Harris plays bass and baritone sax. In no other band will you get to hear baritone saxophone. And I thought when I heard Friend and Foe for the first time that they used a drum machine. Nope, Danny Seim is just that good.  One thing that I did notice about the new songs was the heavier hand that the guitar took. Menomena even brought in a new member as a lead guitarist to give Mines a rounder sound. And even though the sound has advanced, the band has kept the essence of Menomena, songs that sound completely cohesive and also unique to each member of the band – Knopf’s gentle voice, Harris’ powerful voice, and Seim’s deep and musky voice.

I was so thoroughly impressed that I haven’t really stopped listening to Mines since the show. I was even thinking about skipping out early to see Japandroids at the Doug Fir Lounge that night as well, but after a few of Menomena’s songs I realized I would definitely be staying for the whole thing.

It would have been as long as Friday night was, with six bands at four different venues. But what’s messed up is that I missed one of the bands that I wanted to see.

See? I’m crazy.

The night started again at the Wonder Ballroom with Male Bonding, the English noise pop trio, with their lo-fi, hook-heavy songs. They were an unexpected find for me, but they were quite fun, and a nice lead-in to Surfer Blood, with a similar vibe. One of the tracks off Male Bonding’s critically acclaimed Nothing Hurts was “Year’s Not Long,” which was a fun live track, with bassist Kevin Hendrick sidestep jiving on stage with his floppy bleach-blonde hair swaying to the beat.

From there, the baby-faced Surfer Blood took the stage for a rousing hour of their upbeat brand of surf-punk songs, including a good number of songs off their debut Astro Coast as well as some new, less familiar songs.

“Portland, where you can always get the best haircut,” front man John Paul Pitts exclaimed to the crowd as they jumped into “Fast Jabroni,” which I’m still unsure of it got its name. It was weird being at a show inside a building while it was still daylight outside, but Surfer Blood managed to get the energy up in the crowded room at 5:30 in the afternoon. My favorite track of their set was the catchy “Twin Peaks” with Pitts’ goofy grooving around the stage. Plus, it really made me want to go rent the whole series of DVD. But once Pitts announced, “this next one’s pretty big on college radio,” and started off the riff to the hugely successful “Swim,” the throngs of young people surrounding me responded appropriately and sang along loudly – “swim, to reach the end!”

I’ll admit that this was the third time I’d seen Surfer Blood that week. The first time was at a Bumbershoot after party in Seattle the weekend before, then actually at Bumbershoot the next day, and this was my favorite performance of the week.

I was completely aware of any sort of stage antics of what was to come with Black Lips coming up, and my expectations were met when I felt spit fall on my head. Bassist Jared Swilley had indeed let out an inaugural spit on the crowd through his golden grill. Yes, I just said grill. I’ll admit that I was expecting more in terms of on-stage antics, but the music spoke for itself, making for an uproarious room. A few people standing behind me actually mentioned how tame it was during Surfer Blood, and people better get crazy during Black Lips, “because this is a punk show!” People certainly did, thrashing around in the mosh pit while Black Lips played the heavy hitters like the “Bad Kids,” which people overwhelmingly requested.

At one point, Cole Alexander said something about wanting some alcohol at 8 p.m. Apparently they start early, but as soon as Alexander made the hypothetical request, some guy in the front row broke out a flask and offered it to the band. Naturally, they gladly accepted. And may I remind you – this was at around 8 p.m.

Shortly after, I managed to make my way to my second venue of the night – Mississippi Studios for a reasonably calmer show. It was Seattle’s own People Eating People – what’s come out of the demise of Nouela Johnston’s old band Mon Frere. I could describe People Eating People as dark, sassy piano pop, and it carried incredibly well in the musician-built Mississippi Studios. Sadly enough, there wasn’t nearly a large enough crowd for how talented Nouela is. And apparently they almost didn’t make it to Portland, as Johnston explained.

“There was a drill at McChord [Air Force Base]…I think it was McChord. It took us four hours to get here!” To clarify – there’s always traffic on I-5 around McChord and Fort Lewis Air Force Bases, not matter what time of day, but when there’s a drill it’s impossible to get through the corridor.

But the scarcely populated room still got to enjoy the undeniably catchy pop songs like the fiery “I Hate All My Friends,” the almost waltzy “On And On,” and my favorite, “Darling.” Not that many had the chance to enjoy People Eating People, which is understandable because Mississippi Studios was by far one of the most out-of-the-way venues on the list of the MFNW venues. But I strongly suggest you seek out their music, because it’s really good.

From there I had to rush to the Hawthorne Theater to catch Morning Teleportation. Well, I rushed to get to Fred Meyer so I could park in their parking lot when walk to the Hawthorne, but anyway. With the band being local, I should have expected it to be as how and crowded as it was, but I had to be pretty shifty with my maneuvering to front area of the stage. These guys’ wacko brand of psychedelic jam band is sometimes other-worldly like the frantic horns and hand claps-driven “Snow frog vs Motor Cobra,” which is a trip to listen to, but even more a trip to see live with a room of adoring local fans. There were at least six people on stage playing various instruments, which could have equaled some muddled cluster of sounds, but it worked in the sweaty Hawthorne Theater at 10 p.m. Isaac Brock recently produced their debut album on his Glacial Pace Recordings, and I really hope the label’s moniker doesn’t attest to the rate at which the album comes out.

I mean, Morning Teleportation employs a Theremin in their music. A THEREMIN. Who does that? Well Morning Teleportation does, as well as a talk box and a whole slew of brass instruments. And with Brock backing them, this band is going to do big things.

I was going to go to the Doug Fir for the Tallest Man on Earth at midnight next, but even getting there 45 minutes early, the line spread all through the parking lot. The Doug Fir is small. And the guy at the door was letting one person in at a time as one person left at a time because it was so packed. So I bagged the Tallest Man on Earth and went to venue into the Friday night downtown nightlife along Burnside for the Builders and the Butchers at Berbati’s Pan. Needless to say, finding parking on a Friday night was horrendous, but I eventually found some in time to get into the tiny bar/venue ten minutes before the band was scheduled to start at 1 a.m. Settling behind an obvious drunk man that brought his own tambourine, I enjoyed the Builders and the Butchers heavy energetic folk rock all the way until 2:30 a.m. This had been their fourth year n a row playing Musicfest Northwest, and they certainly didn’t disappoint.

“If you all stick around with us until 2:30, we’ll make out with all of you!” Lead singer Ryan Sollee shouted to the audience, which was met with a resounding “woooo!”

Each member of this band has so many talents that you don’t realize when any one of them switches instruments. At one point Brandon Hafer and Ray Rude had both sat at a drum kit and tag teamed this awesome drum sequence during the epic “Golden and Green.” However, my favorite was during “Vampire Lake,” where Sollee cleverly preempted it.

“This next song is about vampires. And we realize that vampires have gotten really trendy lately, but these are more like True Blood vampires rather than Twilight vampires, if you get the reference.”

I got the reference.

And after that, myself and the large number of inebriated people filling Berbati’s Pan sang along to songs about Barcelona, the Devil, and of course vampires until 2:30 a.m.

Phew.

Thursday of Musicfest Northwest started at a different ballroom – the Wonder Ballroom. Thankfully it’s in a residential area of Portland, so pay parking lots be damned!

I had planned on just seeing Ra Ra Riot at the Wonder Ballroom, but I arrived early to catch a bit of Phantogram, with their formula of electronic drum machine beats and soft vocals. The duo of keyboardist Sarah Barthel and guitarist Josh Carter was quite good, playing through some darn catchy songs – including the sexy “When I’m Small” and infectious “Mouthful of Diamonds,” which was recently featured in a New York Lottery commercial (and I can’t help but think it’s been used somewhere else, because lord knows we don’t have commercials for the New York lotto over here).

Next up came Ra Ra Riot with their lovely upbeat baroque pop. I can’t say enough how much fun this band is – you have the guitar-driven hit “Ghost Under Rocks” off their first LP The Rhumb Line, all the way to the strings-heavy “Boy” off their new album The Orchard (both of which make you want to sing and dance adorably).

Seriously, everything about this band is adorable – and not in a bad way. Lead singer Wes Miles wispy pop vocals mixed with cello and violin, not to mention the overwhelming friendly synergy on stage. You can’t help but feel the love. A few select favorites from their set included “Too Dramatic” and “Foolish,” both of which Miles singing back and forth with cellist Alexandra Lawn, and “St Peter’s Day Festival.”

Their positive energy was surely contagious, as when they had finished their set, the crowd overwhelmingly started chanting for an encore. I can only guess what the people living in the neighborhood would have thought. After a couple of minutes, the troupe walked back out on stage, Miles now sporting a pair of glasses, and guitarist Milo Bonacci jumped right into the opening riff to “A Manner to Act” off their self-titled debut EP, a quick and almost punk track (except with the addition of strings, so you still know it’s obviously Ra Ra Riot).

I made my way out of the Wonder Ballroom, I went back to Burnside for day number two at the Crystal Ballroom for some punk rock – Ted Leo and The Pharmacists and The Thermals. After circling the block for a good ten minutes looking for parking, I eventually got to the Crystal, with the show already in progress. I wasn’t about to venture into the mosh pit right away, because a.) I needed to get some decent photos and b.) I’d be afraid my camera would get damaged while getting thrashed around by the excited fans.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists were a perfect way to get the energy up for the rest of the night. The band played all through their catalogue, from the last ten years, and it certainly made the crowd happy – which ranged from my age (21) to my parents’ age (50-ish). That’s when you know you’re in a cool city – when people can go to rock shows with their parents. One of the highlights was the almost folk-sounding “Sons of Cain” off their new LP The Brutalist Bricks.

If I thought people were excited for Ted Leo, then they went ape crazy for the Thermals. I mean, they’re local, so it makes sense.

Hutch Harris, Kathy Foster, and Westin Glass took the stage to a loving and enthusiastic crowd, coming off the release of their fifth LP, Personal Life, co-produced with Chris Walla.

“This is a bit of an album release party, so let’s get crazy!” Harris exclaimed.

And that’s exactly what we did. Kicking off the 20+ song set with “Here’s Your Future,” the band played through old favorites like “It’s Trivia” off More Parts Per Million and “Now We Can See” off their last album. Even though The Thermals obviously had some bigger hits with the locals, it was nice to see how receptive the crowd was with the new songs off Personal Life. It always bothers me when a band gets the cold shoulder if they play a bunch of new songs that people aren’t as familiar with, but I guess that’s just a sentiment to Portland’s overall unified nature.

Just after 11 p.m., the Thermals ended their main set with “A Pillar of Salt,” another high-octane song to get people ready for the positively glorious encore. A couple minutes past, and then one by one Foster, Glass and Harris took the stage once again, and started playing a familiar riff.

But it wasn’t familiar as a Thermals song.

No, it was Weezer’s “My Name Is Jonas.” Needless to say, the guy standing next to me went absolutely nuts.

Kansas City’s Making Movies will play a free show at Power and Light’s KC Live Stage on Friday, September 24.

They’ll be appearing with San Antonio’s Pop Pistol.

The show is in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. It is 21+.

Check out Making Movies on MySpace here.

Being the completely crazy person that I am, I took the 150-mile drive to Portland two days after Bumbershoot ended for the tenth annual Musicfest Northwest. I still hadn’t caught up with the 10 or so hours of missed sleep and I was yet to lose some more. But hey, I’m young. I can still do that sort of thing.

Why did I decide to drive down on Wednesday? Panda Bear was playing at the Crystal Ballroom that night. That’s why.

It had been just over a year since I saw Animal Collective live for the first time, and I was in need of some of their genius. Apparently a lot of other people felt the exact same way, because that place with its bouncy walking-on-a-cloud floor filled up fast.

With the Crystal Ballroom already smelling of cannabis and man sweat, Noah Lennox, a.k.a. Panda Bear took the stage at just after 10 p.m. With nothing but a Fender Stratocaster, his big table of electronic gadgets, and a screen projecting trippy visuals throughout his set, Panda Bear was mesmerizing. I say mesmerizing because he’s not what you could call “entertaining” in the usual sense of the word. Hundreds of people swayed in unison to his heavy psychedelic beats, causing the floor to almost vibrate from the collective movement.

Panda Bear played several new songs off his upcoming album Tomboy, which currently doesn’t have an actual release date, but he says “near the end of 2010.” Well it’s nearing the end of 2010, and we still don’t know when we’ll get to hear the whole record. That fact also made this gig even sweeter, because we did get to hear these new rhythmic journeys into Lennox’s mind, as well as some of the sample-heavy (but absolutely fantastic) Person Pitch.

It’s daunting to think about a follow-up to such a great album as Person Pitch, but Lennox took Tomboy as a chance for a departure from the sampling, and to focus more on heavy rhythm and guitar. And in a live situation, that certainly makes for a more interesting show, as Lennox’s performance was more organic than if he has been strictly pressing buttons the whole time.

Plus, the use of more traditional instrumentation paired with the sometimes psychotically captivating song crafting of Animal Collective helped differentiate Lennox’s solo stuff from the band.

Panda Bear started off the show with “Drone,” a song that literally shook the crowd into attention, as if we weren’t attentive enough already. The loud and often startling back and forth tones paired with Panda Bear’s – for the lack of a better term – droning voice flooded the room with sound and vibration. In the Crystal Ballroom, you don’t just hear the music; you actually feel it. From there he transitioned right into “Tomboy,” the first single off the upcoming album, which was further enriched from the recorded version to include Lennox’s random shrieks of  Lennox also had a beautiful drawn-out version of “Daily Routine” that built so much anticipation that I could see the people around me mouthing the words to the song even before he sang them. “Slow Motion” was one of the stand out new tracks, with its addicting bass line, one that you’d almost hear in a modern hip-hop song.

After the just-under-an-hour set Panda Bear quietly exited the stage, almost as if he was completely unaware of the awesome show he’d just put on. And the throngs of people slowly filed out of the doorway and down the two flights of stairs outside. That was by far the only way to start off another 5 nights of great music all throughout Portland.

This was going to be a long weekend.

Figuring it was time to mellow out a little bit, I headed over to the State Farm Stage, just in time to catch Budos Band. While I am not usually a fan of the instrumental easy-listening genre, I was mildly intrigued, to say the least.

Fluctuating from ten to thirteen members at any given time, Budos Band is self-described as “Afro-Punk.” Mixing both soul and funk together, with an undercurrent of their Ethiopian influences, they add in nontraditional instruments for festivals such as these with more traditional instruments like their incredibly beautiful baritone saxophone. Combining all of these together creates a very funky sound that would just be ruined by the addition of a vocalist.

Reminiscent of Parliament Funkadelic with a hint of jazz thrown in, these guys seriously rocked the stage overlooking the Fisher Green here at the Center. Making the crowd dance and having a blast, they were the perfect mid-afternoon break between the general vibe of the festival and a great promise of what was to come later in the evening.

Check them out at http://thebudos.com/

After wandering around the festival for a bit, I headed back to the EMP Sky Church. The theme for the stage, sponsored by local indie station KEXP, was local music. I wandered back in time to catch Feral Children, a hauntingly beautiful psychedelic electronic experience based right here in the Emerald City.

While shooting Capitol Hill Block Party, there was a lot of hype about these guys. I was super excited to get to catch them this time around and I have to say, they were pretty damn amazing. Rockin’ tunes off their newest album, Brand New Blood, Feral Children exhibited one of the best live sounds that I have heard in a long while.

Pushing the local stereotypes, you can tell that the thought of actually living in Seattle does not really appeal to these boys from neighboring Maple Valley. The haunting memories of the past and their old day jobs leak into their incredibly primal sound, marking them as dysfunctional and isolated- truly a band that just wants to make music their own way.

Besides their almost fearless sound, these guys make some great tunage. Playing crowd favorites and some newer tunes as well, they definitely are pretty amazing live (and coincidentally their albums are scarily accurate to their actual live sound as well). They played everything from teeth-achingly beats to bittersweet haunting melodies that make you want to abandon your home and run away with them, just for fear of your heart exploding otherwise. Truly a remarkable local band and incredible live act, and by far one of my favorite discoveries of Bumbershoot.

Check them out here at http://www.myspace.com/feralchildrenseattle

Kicking off my Saturday at Bumbershoot was Parlour Steps at the EMP Sky Church. Paired with the incredibly rare beautiful sunny day outside was this melodic rock sensation, hailing from nearby Vancouver in the pretty darn epic Sky Church, one of my absolute favorite venues in Seattle.

The acoustics were perfect for frontman Chris Strull’s dreamy lyrics, and incredibly rich arrangements mixed with breathtakingly beautiful harmonies to produce this unique sound that had the crowd dancing and singing along. Take a big dose of pop, a small helping of country, a tiny pinch of big band, and some ingenious planning, and you get singles like “Little Pieces,” my personal favorite of their set.

Vaguely reminiscent of Loch Lamond from neighboring Portland and Barefoot Beware from the UK, Parlour Steps still brings out their own signature sound with their own brand of dreamy pop-rock – and definitely a band to check out. Add them to your rainy day playlist, and I am sure you won’t be disappointed.

Check them out at http://www.parloursteps.com/

Gaining quite a following, thanks to local radio station 107.7 The End, South Africa’s Civil Twilight played a strong set to a crowd of relatively young fans at the Center Square Stage on Saturday afternoon. Their soaring piano-driven arena rock led by Steve McKellar hit a high note when Civil Twilight broke into the opening riffs of “Letters from the Sky,” the first single off their self-titled debut.

The power trio didn’t have necessarily the most mind-blowingly exciting set, but the softer sounds were still nice with the outdoor venue, on the pavement outside the Experience Music Project. And the more low-key performance helped showcase McKellar’s Bono-esque vocals. Plus, it was still early in the afternoon for people to go too crazy.

Go to http://civiltwilightband.com/

Sporting vintage wayfarers, Bradford Cox, a.k.a. Atlas Sound took the stage at Broad Street on Saturday, attracting quite a large audience on the lawn for just one guy with a guitar, a harmonica, a distortion pedal and a microphone.

But Cox has the musical chops to legitimize a crowd that large. His experimental ambient side project apart from Deerhunter carries well in the festival setting rather than on his record Logos , because part of the allure of the music is seeing how little Cox actually has to do to make the sounds that he does.

Being such a stark presence in himself, Cox was mesmerizing on stage, whether he was playing his acoustic guitar with the capo way up or riffing on a harmonica.

Go to http://www.myspace.com/atlassound