popwreckoning

It’s no secret that Of Montreal loves Janelle Monáe. Anyone who caught the band at Lollapalooza or other random shows the past two years can attest to that. The band frequently invited the songstress to join them on stage for guest vocals. And with her spunky personality mixed with her classic croon, she’s the perfect compliment to the funky indie rockers.

Of Montreal is officially taking Janelle out on a fall tour with them as they promote their newest release False Priest. The tour kicks off in Washington, D.C. with a two night stand at the 9:30 Club September 13 and 14.

False Priest is the 10th studio album from Of Montreal. It will be released in conjunction with the start of the tour: September 13 in the UK/Europe and September 14 in North America. You can pre-order the album and get a free download of the first single, “Coquet Coquette,” here. Janelle does guest perform on the album. The band has also released a “Coquet Coquette” EP featuring remixes by Starf*cker and Yip Deceiver.
Track Listing:
I Feel Ya’ Strutter
Our Riotous Defects (feat. Janelle Monáe)
Coquet Coquette
Godly Intersex
Enemy Gene (feat. Janelle Monáe)
Hydra Fancies
Like A Tourist
Sex Karma (feat. Solange Knowles)
Girl Named Hello
Famine Affair
Casualty of You
Around the Way
You Do Mutilate?

Tour Dates:
9/13 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club w/ Janelle Monáe
9/14 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club w/ Janelle Monáe
9/15 – Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory w/ Janelle Monáe
9/16 – Boston, MA – House of Blues w/ Janelle Monáe
9/17 – New York, NY – Terminal 5 w/ Janelle Monáe
9/18 – New York, NY – Terminal 5 w/ Janelle Monáe
9/19 – Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom w/ Janelle Monáe
9/21 – Covington, KY – Madison Theatre w/ Janelle Monáe
9/22 – Urbana, IL – Canopy Club w/ Janelle Monáe
9/23 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue w/ Janelle Monáe
9/24 – Milwaukee, WI – Pabst Theatre w/ Janelle Monáe
9/26 – Nashville, TN – Cannery Ballroom w/ Janelle Monáe
10/3 – Dublin, IE – Tripod
10/4 -Glasgow, UK – QMU
10/5 – Manchester, UK – Academt 2
10/6 – London, UK – Koko
10/7 – Paris, FR – Cigale
10/8 – Lille, FR – Grand Mix
10/9 – Amsterdam, NL – Melkweg Max
10/10 – Berlin, DE – Admiralspalast (Studio)
10/12 – Stockholm, SE – Debaser
10/13 – Oslo, NO – Rockefeller
10/14 – Copenhagen, DK – Amager Bio
10/15 – Brussels, BE – Botanique / Orangerie
10/21 – St. Louis, MO – Pageant w/ Janelle Monáe
10/22 – Omaha, NE – Sokol Auditorium w/ Janelle Monáe
10/23 – Lawrence, KS – Liberty Hall w/ Janelle Monáe
10/24 – Denver, CO – The Ogden Theater w/ Janelle Monáe
10/25 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex w/ Janelle Monáe
10/27 – Seattle, WA – The Paramount w/ Janelle Monáe
10/28 – Portland, OR – Roseland w/ Janelle Monáe
10/29 – San Francisco, CA – The Warfield w/ Guests TBA
10/30 – Los Angeles, CA – Palladium w/ Janelle Monáe
10/31 – Tucson, AZ – The Rialto w/ Guests TBA
11/1 – Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theatre w/ Janelle Monáe
11/2 – Dallas, TX – The Granada Theatre w/ Janelle Monáe
11/3 – Austin, TX – East Side Drive In w/ Janelle Monáe
11/4 – Houston, TX – Numbers w/ Janelle Monáe
11/5 – Oxford, MS – The Lyric w/ Janelle Monáe
11/6 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse w/ Guests TBA
11/7 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse w/ Guests TBA

At just over an hour and ten minutes long, the only way I’m going to get through this review is by keeping it as summarized as possible. Short story: Field Music‘s Field Music (Measure) double album sounds like Of Montreal mashed with Herman’s Hermits, minus the druggy trip, and dragged through the BBC in 1966. Twenty songs long, Field Music (Measure) isn’t necessarily in flux, but it does carry enough variance to keep you interested all the way to the purely-for-delicate-noise instrumental exit, “It’s About Time”—what a fitting title.

And for such a double album released from a band composed solely of two brothers (David and Peter Brewis hold it together; Andrew Moore didn’t return for this reprise, and just recently have they committed to full-time replacements) and after each brother’s side project took them away from Field Music focus, it’s a completion of artistry done with smarts. They’re known for a pop-like sort of mellow, with former albums sounding a bit more jangly (Tones of Town more so than the sweeping self-titled debut).

“Them That Do Nothing” is the first single I ended up paying attention to, since “Measure” was released as a teaser back in October (but I was off concentrating on neon chucks or something). It’s shocking that I did miss the preview, but I’m glad I did, because I would have been way more stoked than I am now. The album is good—it’s still intelligent and well-paced in pop, signature vocals, and the free form of past folky love reminiscent of Lindsay Buckingham—but “Measure” has a brilliant string opening that leads to a catchy plucking that evokes banjo breakdown. “Let’s Write a Book” is romantic in staccato lyrics, diggy bass hooks, off-the-cuff xylophone, and some haunting synth. I reformat what I said in the beginning—this can be a druggy trip of a listen, but not in a modern hit, think back to the vinyl and eight track days (or remember your parents talking about it), and that’s more what you’ll get. Read: Led Zeppelin.

If you at all are a fan of mid-60s era Beatles, or trancy-but-groovy synth pop, HAL or Royal Wood, Bishop Allen, or just really dug that “You Don’t Send Me” Belle and Sebastien song, this will put a smile on your face the whole play through. A notable grit does pop up, boosting the original sound of Field Music, but they remain hook-repetitive. Apparently when you’ve got a good base, you just keep going until someone breaks out with an improv lead. A tight album wrapping “Share The Words” will definitely be the next single, and if it isn’t, you should at least groove to it once a day. In fact, any song that uses the lyrics “I’m hot for myself” paired with loose guitars and a backing off-tempo set should always make it onto playlists everywhere. “Effortlessly” keeps the repetitive theme, but carries it beyond what’s more than welcome—watch out for those. There are only a few tracks that goes off course, but when they do, it’s a rush to hit the >>| button.

     

Remember The Bravery? “An Honest Mistake,” “Unconditional”? Their ongoing feud with The Killers when both bands came out at the same time? Well, it’s been a while since something good of theirs has been out, including their entire second album. They released their third, Stir The Blood, just the other day, to atrocious reviews. However, I’m quite enjoying the single “Slow Poison.”

.The Bravery – “Slow Poison”
“Slow Poison” is done in The Bravery’s same fashion: a little rock, a little goth and a little synth. It’s an upbeat number, perfect as a summer’s driving song and pretty fun to listen too, especially the guitar breaks. I also like how the song trails off at the end; you never really hear that anymore.

.Of Montreal Remix
So this is a pretty bad remix. I feature it as just an example (though some may like it). Usually Of Montreal just make music; I’ve never heard a remix by them and this might be why. All the sounds jar together and collide with so much noise and fluidity. The mix is heavier, obtuse, with no real style: A remix gone wrong.

.Drop The Lime Remix
A much fuller remix, with electro thumps and tropical drums. The vocals are allowed to follow through like that of the original, but the music is changed to that of the dancing kind. It’s slower, heavier with little fits of speed. It’s slightly spacey, but one that’ll surely be able to have you shaking that still body of yours.

The Bravery: website | myspace | @ the midland | under cover

The much buzzed about noise pop act Pains of Being Pure at Heart took some time at Denver’s Monolith Festival to speak with Bethany about their new EP, what the band would have been called if not PoBPaH and the greatness of Scribblenauts. Check out the interview below.

Bethany, PopWreckoning.com: Let’s talk about your EP that’s about to come out, Higher than the Stars (editor’s note: just came out on Sept. 22).
Kip Berman (vox), Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Sure.
PW: What’s the story on it, why an EP and not an album?
KB: Our new album came out in February and we’ve been touring a lot behind that album. At the same time, we have some new songs that we’ve been playing live for awhile and we just wanted to put them on the EP so people could have access to them as well. It was exciting for us to go into the studio and try new things, “Higher than the Stars” and “Falling Over” kind of expressed a different side of the band that wasn’t really there on the album. It was fun for us to record those songs and put that forward.

PW: You say new things, what kind of new things?
KB:Uh, role playing. Haha. The songs are cleaner. The album was heavy on this distortion and fuzz. The EP is cleaner and draws on different influences. The song “Falling Over” in particular is centered around Alex’s bass line. Up to that point we had never developed the bass lines to a point that was sort of the forefront of the songs. It was cool to write a song around a bass line and putting that forward.

PW: Haha. Alex, you excited about the more bass line?
Alex Naidus (bass), Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Totally. Showing off.
KB: Alex’s fan mail is going up 25 percent after this EP.
AN: It is just a fun song to play.

PW: So new album, I feel like I saw you’re already planning a January release?
KB: We don’t have a new album ready yet. January would be a bit soon. We kind of have to write it first. After December, when our touring is done, we’re going to take some time and work on some new materials. We’ll go into a studio, but I don’t think we’ll start recording until spring 2010. January release is a bit premature.
AN: It’s impossible, actually.
KB: There might be another band we don’t know about called the Pains of Being Pure at Heart looking to put out a new album in January and trying to still our thunder.
PW: It is a really popular band name.
KB: Yeah, there are tons of them.
Peggy Wang-East (keys), Pains of Being Pure at Heart: We couldn’t believe it wasn’t taken.
KB: The MySpace URL is all ours!

PW: Now, there is tons of information online about where the band name came from, but not too much about where you guys came from and how you all got together. Is there a story there?
KB: It probably isn’t as good as the band name story. Is is pretty much straight up like any other band story. We were friends and we enjoyed hanging out with each other. We were all kind of music nerds and our interests overlapped. I started writing demos. Me and Alex were psyched on this idea of playing music together then I asked Peggy to play music for me. I thought she was too cool for me and she wouldn’t want to do it, but I tried to phrase it in as cool a way as possible like (in a deeper voice), “Hey, you want to be in this band that’s going to be like noisy pop music.” I guess she had nothing better to do so she said ok.
PWE: Yeah, basically, I have a small hole in my life to fill with Kip and his silly pop songs.
KB: I wasn’t really interested in filling Peggy’s small hole.
AN: Haha, oh my God.
KB: Haha, but at at the same time, I did want to play pop music with her, so it worked out. We played for awhile with a drum machine. That made traveling easy. Eventually Kurt, my roommate, joined up on drums. It really changed things for the better. It really added a dynamic aspect to the music having a drummer. He’s really good and he understands the type of music that we play. It is so essential to what we do. He helped us become a better band. The first band practice we had with him, it felt like every song we were playing was for the first time because it was so exciting.

PW: So Peggy, what is it like to be in a band with all guys and be the only girl?
PWE: You know, it is funny. I’m just so used to it at this point. I hang out with a lot of guys anyways. I have like two really close female friends, but I don’t know, I hate being the girl that’s like I hate hanging out with girls and only hang out with dudes because that’s not necessarily true. I feel like the guys that re in the band are not like exclusionary. They include me on their activities. Though when they talk about video games, I don’t know what they’re talking about. Sometimes I wish there was another girl around, but it is totally fine. No complaints.
PW: You could easily work another girl in on cowbell or something.
KB: Originally we wanted it to be 50/50. When looking for a drummer, we thought a female drummer would add balance and I was really into bands that were co-ed and not just one female member. I liked the idea of it being more balanced. There are weird things that come out of it and are interesting. You can’t put your finger on why bands like that are cool, but they are. Kurt’s pretty girly to be honest, so it works out ok. He was really good at drums and he wasn’t too masculine, so we’re all happy.

PW: Yeah. You do have a good balance from what I saw in your stage show today. What was it like to perform in the Monolith weather right as the rain started up and people were reaching their most miserable cold point.
KB: We weren’t at our most miserable point. We had a lot of fun.
PWE: It was a lot of fun. I was feeling like a baby before we went on, “It’s so cold. I’m miserable.” Then being out and once we started playing it was fine. Though I definitely missed a few keyboard notes due to my fingers being really numb.
AN: It was incredible how good the energy was. It was like such a testament to the people that were there. It is so appreciated that not only there were people there, but they were into to it. It made it so much more fun.
PW: Yeah. I’m getting used to it. I’ve been to four festivals this year. Three of the four had rain. Bonnaroo was a monsoon. Lollapalooza had a cold, rainy day. I think South By was the only one.
KB: Yeah. There’s no raining at South By.
PW: Oh yeah. You were at that one! I missed your set.

PW: Oh, so speaking of the video game love and knowing that you have a song that reference’s Kurt Cobain, “Kurt Cobain’s Cardigan,” what do you think of the Cobain avatar in Guitar Hero 5 and the controversy with that?
AN: I just saw that like Activision or whatever had just put a statement out because they had to confirm whether or not it was legitimate and Dave Grohl had to officially say we had nothing to do with this and Courtney Love signed off on it. I don’t know, it doesn’t bother me.
KB: He’s just a dude who started a band. I love him, but it’s not like his image is so sacred you can’t put it in a video game. Jim Morrison was in a video game. Whatever. These people are all public figures. I don’t know how to say this and I probably revere Kurt Cobain more than anyone, but he’s just a dude that wrote songs. If people want to put his picture in a video game, it’s not going to end the world.
PWE: I thought it was totally, really embarrassing to watch. If he wasn’t dead, he’d be upset about it. It is not like the songs in the trailer were so…I just think if he was alive he’d say that wasn’t cool. I don’t know.
KB: If there was a video of Peggy as a cartoon character singing Soul Asylum songs…
PWE: That’d be awesome, but that’s Soul Asylum. I’d do that anyways.
KB: Runaway train never coming home….There are real problems in the world and Kurt Cobain’s avatar is not one of those.
AN: That’s our next song title.
KB: It’s going to be the B-side. “Kurt Cobain’s Avatar” will be the B-side to “Kurt Cobain’s Cardigan. They’re just graphics on a video game.
PW: I hear they’ll let you go into the Rock Shop on the game and buy him a cardigan.
KB: That would actually be cool. I would like to have Kurt Cobain’s cardigan.
PWE: That was the inspiration. I would really like to wear the one that he wears in the MTV Unplugged thing. Some green thing.
KB: It is like pea soup colored. It would be cool to have that to wear right now when it is so cold out. I’d appreciate it a lot.
PW: Oh I know. I’m ready to splurge on the $40 hoodie even though I’m already wearing two right now.
KB: I almost did that too. It is almost worth it.

PW: So what video games would I find on the Pains tour bus then?
AN: MarioKart.
KB: I play a lot of Scribblenauts or whatever.
AN: Scribblenauts. It will revolutionize gaming. I wish I could tell you more, but the other guys can explain it better.
PWE: It’s like a secret club. I watch them play it and they’ll get really into it.
AN: I’ve witnessed it. It’s pretty impressive.
KB: A little known fact. If our band wasn’t called the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, we were going to be called Rainbow Road, which is my favorite level on MarioKart. You beat the game and you get to drive on a rainbow in outer space.
PW: That’s the hardest level! You always fall off.
KB: You fall off, it is really dangerous, but at the same time, a cloud picks you up if you fall off. So you’re in outer space and on a rainbow and it really happy. I love it a lot. So if we weren’t called Pains of Being Pure at Heart, we’d be called Rainbow Road. I’m sure that would open us up to even more jokes about the same subject matter.

PW: Haha, you guys would be fine. You’re popular on the blog circuit. Even Pitchfork gave you a good review and they hate everybody.
KB: Haha, I’m sure that’s not true.
PW: Now Pitchfork is called a hipster blog and you guys get labeled as a hipster band, but nobody every agrees what that means. As a “hipster band” what does that mean?
KB: It is not something that concerns us. We think of ourselves as just a pop band and we have a good time. At the end of the day, all bands are measured by the quality of music they produce and we’re excited about the music we’ve made and what we’ll make in the future. That’s who we are. We’re just regular dudes that like video games and regular stuff.
AN: I don’t think we think of ourselves as a cool band or cool people really. We’re just people who just generally like what we do because it is fun.
KB: All of us growing up were never the cool dude. We just enjoyed what we enjoyed. Music is something we identify strongly with and force our identities around. The kind of bands that we like are the kind of people that we wanted to be. The music we loved growing up and then to meet people who had that too was just a thrill. I never really had friends that knew who half the bands I liked growing up, but then I met Peggy. And I was like oh my God, you’re into what I like, too. It was just awesome to meet these people.

PW: For a final wrap up question since we’re at Monolith, what other bands here are you most excited about? Who have you already checked out that impressed you?
AN: We can’t stick around tomorrow. We got to see Depreciation Guild today on a really big stage, which was amazing. I like them a lot.
PWE: Edward Sharpe was awesome. They were on before us. Then I couldn’t get in, but Starfucker. They were in a room that was really packed and crowded. I kind of snuck in through the back, but then we got kicked out. That’s my teenage rebellion of the day. I want to see Of Montreal. They’re always so fun.
KB: We’re on tour with Depreciation Guild, so we’re psyched about that. Edward Sharpe was really cool. Starfucker, I was with Peggy, we were trying to watch them and they kept throwing us out of the place we where we could watch them. They’re a cool band that I’d like to see. I’m bummed we won’t get to stick around tomorrow because Yeah Yeah Yeahs are playing.
PWE: No, they’re tonight. Phoenix is tomorrow.
KB: Oh, Phoenix. Phoenix is great. We saw them briefly in France, which was cool they’re from there. I’ve loved them since the album United and the song “Funky Square Dance.” They’ve been putting out good records for awhile and they’re finally starting to get the acclaim they deserve. We’ll be driving to Salt Lake City tomorrow, but everyone should see Phoenix. They’re great.

Pains of Being Pure at Heart: website | myspace | @monolith

The coasts of the United States never seem to be at a shortage for festivals, but travel to the heart of the country and festivals are scarce. Chicago does have Lollapalooza, which is a fun festival, but very mainstream. So the addition of Monolith Festival has been a haven for the Midwest hipster to see new buzz indie bands and some classic gems in one of the most beautiful venues in the world: Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver, Colorado.

The first day of the festival was a cold and rainy mess, but the bands stuck it out with smiles and were gracious to all the people who stayed the whole day. Store bought ponchos and trash bag made ones became the must have fashion accessory and one stage emcee quipped he would give a prize to anybody who could pull off the most creative, hipster rain outfit.

I wore two jackets and a poncho and wrapped my camera gear in a bag and despite only operating on an hour of sleep, I made it through the festival and loved every minute of it. Monolith fortunately has one of the best indie line-ups with few disappointments, so it was easy to lose yourself in the music and forget that you couldn’t feel your toes anymore.

Generationals // Woxy.com Stage @ 12:20 – 1 p.m.

Like I said, it was ridiculously cold out and off and on sprinkling, so heading to the indoor stages early seemed like a good plan when I arrived at Monolith Amphitheatre. Turns out it was. I started at the Woxy.com Stage, a stage that ended up having the best line-up of the day and hosting a majority of the best acts that I saw. Generationals were among those acts.

Generationals had a rock sound with folksy inclinations. The singer was a lot of the reason I liked them because he had a sort of nasal boldness to his vocal that made me think a bit of Tokyo Police Club without ever thinking that the band sounded like them. The female keyboardist balanced out his vocals, but I wasn’t as thrilled with the band when they gave her the lead vocals on a song. She was a fun support member to watch, switching from keys to keyflute (I have no idea what those mini-keyboards are that you blow air into, but that is what I’m calling keyflute.)

As I walked off from their set, I made a mental note to check out this band’s music at home. I quickly learned that I’d be making a lot of these mental notes.

Stars of Track and Field // Radius Earphones Stage @ 1:00 – 1:40 p.m.

I’ve been dying to see Stars of Track and Field since a few years ago, my local radio station, 96.5 the Buzz, played “Moons of Antarctica” on air and I went out and actually purchased their album. “With You,” my favorite from that album, was actually the last song I listened to in the car ride before the fest.

I don’t know why, but for some reason, I always figured the group had a girl in the band because of the records’ harmonies, so I was a bit surprised when three guys came out wearing tight pants and leather jackets. Despite the gray day and playing indoors, the singer had on bug-eyed sunglasses. He also adorned a scarf and their whole look reminded me of the time I saw Barcelona and their musical sound isn’t that different from each other. Perhaps they’re all friends–they are both bands from the Northwest, and maybe they do their shopping together.

Once I got over my surprise that a weird falsetto was the actual harmonizer, I got really into their set. They had a few pitchy problems, but it was still good. The new songs fit perfectly with the old and it was fun to watch the guitarist take random dips and jumps as he rocked out. Another cool thing that I discovered about Monolith watching them is that to the side of the Radius Earphones Stage, there was an artist that was painting them. I guess this was happening all day and it was fun to see a mixing of the two art genres. Stars of Track and Field just released a new album about a week ago. Go check them out.

Set List:
Movies
EOAT
Static
Bright Fire
With You
The Aviator
Arithmatik
Now You Lift
Lacuna
Lights

The Antlers // Woxy.com Stage @ 1:40 – 2:20 p.m.

The Antlers were yet another amazing discovery for me. I really hadn’t heard much about them until this past week and had no idea what to expect. What I got was the product of if the singers of Cold War Kids and Passion Pit had a baby that then the kid was raised by Fleet Foxes in some mountain cabin in the heart of the Rockies. This group had that sort of classic sound meets modernity.

The vocalist was a crooner and he would crawl up the scales at the end of the verses, hit his high note and add a beautiful, yet different vibrato touch at the end. Gorgeous. As a whole, the group had the Fleet Foxes vibe with that sort of blending and harmonizing that the Foxes do so well. Also gorgeous.

A warning though—the musical subjects are very sad–hospitals, death and cancer.

Set List:
Bear
Sylvia
Shiv
A Trophy
2
Epilogue

Lydia // Radius Earphones Stage @ 2:20 – 3 p.m.

I’ve seen these barefoot indie pop musicians multiple times and they always give warm fuzzies. Piano, pleasing guitars and a perfectly happy band that never stops smiling kind of does that for you. They’re like Straylight Run, but happier.

These United States // Woxy.com Stage @ 3 – 3:40 p.m.

I think this band might win for favorite new artist of the day. PopWreckoning recently raved about them in an album review, and now we continue the raving by declaring them fucking amazing live. It was like being at a barn party with your closest friends gathered and just as you hit the tipsy point, somebody whips out an acoustic guitar and just starts jamming. It’s the kind of party where you love your friends and the music and are having such a good time that you think you could be eternally happy holding your beer and listening to your friends play forever.

These United States made every person in the room feel like they were all close friends at a party such as that. Their crowd interactions made it seem like if you did have a request, they would have tried to fulfill it. In fact they tried to do something like that. A person in the audience asked where they were from and after responding, they want on to say that they had a question box on the side of the stage because nothing was as important as responding to what the people want. And as for the crowd, whether they knew the bands very, very, very new music, they would still try to sing along.

When I left the room, I was still singing, “Get yourself home, boy, get yourself home.” The little jamboree at the packed Woxy.com Stage was hands down one of the best sets of the festival and maybe one of the best sets that I’ve seen in my life.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros // Southern Comfort Presents Stage @ 3 – 3:30 p.m.

I only caught a bit of this group, but it was exactly like the Letterman performance. Smiliing hippies dancing to the feel good “Kumbayah” like music that a bajillion musicians on stage were performing. It was good, but it is hard to give a complete review of a band when you only caught a song and a half.

Frightened Rabbits // Esurance Music Stage @ 3:30 – 4:15 p.m.

This Scottish act was the first of three that I would see at the festival and the Scottish acts came to the festival to show the American audience who was boss.

Accents made it difficult to really follow lyrics, but it didn’t matter. It sounded great and the people loved it. Some fans got really, really into it:

Pains of Being Pure at Heart // Southern Comfort Presents Stage @ 4 – 4:45 p.m.

Pains of Being Pure at Heart was a band that I was really excited and really nervous to see. I loved their self-titled debut, but one of the critics I respect in Omaha gave them a mixed review about two days before this festival. He basically said something along the lines of PoBPaH as one of those groups that has a great band, but a singer who can’t sing.

After seeing them for myself, I have no idea what he was talking about. The singing was perfectly fine and a nice cheery spot in the extra dismal weather. Kip, the singer, even quipped, “Today we’re the Rains of Being Pure at Heart.”

I think the band’s genuine glee at playing for Monolith made the set just that much better. It would have been easy to be wallow in misery that I could see my breath,  couldn’t feel my extremities and was now at risk for pneumonia, but then I would look up and see Pains’ smiles and I’d smile too and forget the cold and get lost in their noise pop.

OK Go // Esurance Music Stage @ 4:45 -5:45 p.m.

You know them for their dance moves whether in front of funky wallpaper, on treadmills or in a backyard, but OK Go is so much more than that. They are a talented band that cares about their fans and really understand the art of performance.

One member walked out ahead of the group and struck out a large clear sideways bass drum. He was the herald to singer Damian Kulash‘s entrance. It was an attention grabbing opening.

The band proceeded into a set filled with all their well-known songs and some brand new ones. There was lots of confetti and cute little anecdotes.

What I liked the most about OK Go was that the band really was all about the people. Red Rocks is an epic amphitheatre, but there is a big gap between the main stage and the front row of the audience. Kulash bridged that gap and carried his mike stand to the heart of the audience for a love song.

“Denver, are you lovers?” Kulash asked. To which the crowd cheered a yes. “Good. Our next one is a love song. We’re going to give it the 60s treatment and wave…or you got lighters? Those allowed here? Hold up you cell phones and let them get fucked up in the rain.”

They had a playful edge about them that just made it impossible to not like every moment of the set.

“This next one is a new song, but I need your help singing. This is in C er G no D…Pitch perfect. We’re pitch perfect.” said Kulash. “You’ll sing, ‘Let it go, this too shall pass.” The audience had a miserable attempt at repeating it back. “That was a bit fast, but we’ll give it a try.”

Kulash does not have a future in teaching because that was the worst attempt at giving directions I have ever seen. When the song finally got to that part, it sounded nothing like what he sang in the practice run, resulting in a kind of pub like singalong on the audience’s end. Fortunately I think Kulash has a secure future in music so he won’t have to toy with the idea of education as an alternate career.

Set List:
Shooting
Get Over It
Million Ways
White Knux
I Want You
Oh No
BFK
Don’t Ask
HIGA
Last Leaf
Skyscrapers
Disaster
TTSP
Good Idea
Invice
DWYW

The Walkmen // Southern Comfort Presents Stage @ 5:30 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.

I couldn’t bring myself to leave OK Go and I was dreading trekking up the stairs again, so I was strongly contemplating skipping the Walkmen to wait to  see M. Ward, but others at the site have said this act was the shit, so I embraced more soreness to add to my calves and jogged up to see the Walkmen. It was good, but kind of blah. After the last few really solid and crowd-welcoming performers, it was hard to get into this set. The Walkmen’s downfall? They could sing and play well, but the performance was lacking in the entertainment value. Sorry other editors at this site. I just didn’t feel it.

M. Ward // Esurance Music Stage @ 6:15 – 7:15 p.m.

M. Ward had a similar problem to the Walkmen, except, unlike them, I felt really guilty that I found his set a little blasé. He is a fantastic guitarist and singer, but I think he would have been better off either earlier in the day or playing one of the smaller indoor stage. His act was nice because it diversified the line up a bit and I think some of the older audience members really got into it, but the younger kids had a hard time staying awake.

Ward just had a tough act to follow after OK Go’s set and like I said, his problem wasn’t that he isn’t talented. Simply poorly placed in the line up.

Set List:
Sad Sad Song
Chinese Translation
Requiem
Epistemology
Fool Says
Poor Boy
Some Lucky Night
One Life Away/Lullaby Rag (acoustic)
Poison Cup
Four Hours
Magic Trick
To Save Me
Fahey/Fisher of Men
Nobody Like You
To Go Home
Vincent
Big Boat

Beethoven

Girl Talk // Esurance Music Stage @ 7:45 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Anybody who has heard of Girl Talk knows that Girl Talk tears it up every time. My friends had never experienced Girl Talk and I had to rush off to an interview before this set, so I gave them a little tip: stay close to the front before this set and keep your eyes open. Why would I give this tip? Because Girl Talk is a DJ that likes to be surrounded by people, toilet paper and lots of confetti…sometimes blow ups and balloons, but those were missing this time around.

Anyways, my smart friends took my advice and soon noticed a line toward the side of the stage and hopped in the line. This line was to get on stage with Girl Talk and to dance your heart out. So as Girl Talk blasted his spin on modern and classic hits, my friends got to dance up close and personal on one of the most epic stages in the United States.

I got out of my interview to join the rest of the audience getting covered in the rain, toilet paper and confetti and I loved every messy minute of it. Girl Talk has to be the love of everyone…well, maybe not the security and clean-up crews, but still, you know what I mean.

Of Montreal // Southern Comfort Presents Stage @ 8:45 – 9:30 p.m.

It is weird to say this, but Of Montreal was kind of tame this time around. No guitars were given out like at Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza at the end of the set. No guest performers. No balloons. Even the costumes weren’t quite as crazy as usual. They still had the gas mask Christmas story and they had the little dance bits with the people in black.

So since I wasn’t as distracted by the other stuff that usually accompanied their set, I was actually left to focus on their music this time around. Guess what? It was still fucking amazing. Great keys, falsettos and guitars and all while every band member moved around and danced.

Set List:
Intro
Mingusings
Fashion
Seine
Cato
Forecast
Rapture
Id Engager
Faberge
Elegant Castle
Touched
Eluardian
Heimdalsgate

Rejector

Yeah Yeah Yeahs // Esurance Music Stage @ 9:30 – 11 p.m.

I want to be Karen O. This is a woman so creative that she can wear jackets more colorful than Joseph’s technicolor dreamcoat. So bold she has no problem spitting like a man. And so talented that she can be caressing the vocals to a love song one moment, “They don’t love you like I love you,” and then going into a loud yowl, “I do! I do love you!”

Karen O owns the stage and uses every square inch for her dance moves and she never tires as she hops around. Watching her, it is almost easy to forget that Yeah Yeah Yeahs is a band and there are other people on the stage. I’ve seen this band multiple times and tonight was the first time that I really watched the rest of the band. Nick Zinner has some great guitar lines, but I finally noticed him as a performer tonight. He often just stands off to the side in a too cool for school leather jacket with his lower lip out in a concentrated pout as he plays. This show he seemed to finally interact and Karen and Nick even came together in an embrace at one point.

Each song was better than the last as the band went through old and new hits. “Cheated Hearts” into “Headz Will Roll” into the normal full version of “Maps” just made for a non-stop dance party and singalong.

It was  a great way to end the night and left the crowd psyched and ready for day two of the festival.

Set List:
Runaway
Dull Life
Honey Bear
R Tung
Shame
Gold Lion
Zero
Miles Away
Skeletons
Hysteric
Soft Shock
Cheated Hearts
Headz
Maps (full)
Dates

Look for the Sunday follow-up soon!

Monolith Festival: website

After already popping my Lollapalooza cherry in 2008 and coming back home actually looking like a cherry, I came prepared to Lollapalooza 2009 with lots of sunblock and summer dresses. However, Friday quickly showed that 2009 would not be like 2008 in that regard. As a cold rain trickled throughout the day, I spent the entire day shivering uncontrollably and cursing that I had left my sweatshirt 30 minutes away at the Catholic worker house that I was crashing at. In an attempt to warm up, I even tried to buy one of the absurdly expensive festival sweatshirts, but every booth was sold out, leading me to curse some more.

I was not alone in my cursing of the way events transpired that day. As Hockey kicked off the day over at the PlayStation Station, severe technical difficulties cut their set abruptly short. The large crowd which had gathered to hear the band that has exploded onto the scene since JC Penny started playing them in a commercial was disappointed, but Hockey tried to make up for the sound problems by jamming out with an impromptu drum solo and then throwing beer into the crowd (which I am sure made security happy as who knows how many minors caught those cans).

It was a tough call to choose between Manchester Orchestra and Hey Champ. Manchester Orchestra is a band I’ve seen several times before and they have always impressed, but Hey Champ has been getting a lot of buzz lately, so I wanted to see them too. I watched a few Manchester Orchestra songs first. I was impressed with how extra intense the yowls of Andy Hull were and how extra beardy he looked. Despite Hull’s chops, Chris Freeman always steals the show with alternation from keyboard playing to air guitar.

I dashed over to catch some Hey Champ and as I was walking up, they warned the front row to “cover your faces because this next song will make them melt.” Now, while there wasn’t a re-enactment of Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Arc, the fun electropop rock of Hey Champ might have at least rocked socks if they didn’t melt faces. I’m not sure I saw enough to decide if they were worth all the hype, but they are worth looking into further.

The Knux were next on my schedule. Despite not being a part of the usual genre that I like, it was fun to watch as the hip hop/rap crew invited fans on stage then proceeded to teach us how to do a dance and “put it in the air.” Despite the unnecessary swearing and the confusion of what song was about to be played (they would start a song, say it didn’t feel right and play something else), it was a blast to be in the crowd.

I was again torn at 2:00 p.m. as to whom I should see. I started with a bit of Jersey rockers The Gaslight Anthem. I’m not sure if if was them, sound problems or the weather, but something was just off and I left early, unimpressed. I went to the opposite end of the venue to watch some White Lies, which started to lift my spirits in the cold rain, but still was not enough to wow me.

The “wow” band was soon to come. And I caught Kevin Devine tucked away on the BMI stage. The crowd wasn’t the largest of the day (Bon Iver was a few stages over and LeAnn Rimes was getting ready to play as a special guest over at Kidzapalooza), but the people there were excited to see him. I was especially excited to see him get his own set at Lollapalooza this year after he surprised us last year by joining Brand New on stage for their performance. Kevin sang his heart out, but the crowd got distracted when they noticed Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull sitting on stage mouthing along to the set. As the overzealous crowd yelled for a guest performance, Hull eventually left the stage to let Kevin enjoy his moment in the spotlight. Hopefully no hard feelings, the crowd did not mean to make diminish his performance with their request.

I took a break to do an interview and got back in time to catch some Ben Folds. His piano chords carried throughout the streets and as  I heard “You Don’t Know Me” start, I ran over in hopes of seeing a surprise guest of some sort do the Regina Spektor part. The song was great, but I was disappointed to see that no guest would be joining him and a recording track would take care of the part. Alas.

The perfect harmonies of the Fleet Foxes warmed me up a bit, and I especially enjoyed their good humor as they joked about their beards. I would have liked to have heard some more new songs, but like many Lollapalooza bands, they stuck to what people knew and shied away from anything that was still in the works.

Tummy grumbling from a long day, I skipped the Decemberists, whom I heard were a bit of a let down, and walked past the jams of Thievery Corporation to grab some food and wait for Of Montreal.

As I expected, Of Montreal owned the day with their clusterfuck of a stage show. Costumed characters, balloons, confetti, trippy videos, glitter and more, they not only were tight as musicians, but they were the best performers of the day, really interacting with the crowd. They even had the best surprises. Janelle Monae joined for a few numbers, some of the stage performers surfed the crowd in an inflatable boat and to end the set, the singer tossed his guitar up in the air twice. When it didn’t break he just handed the whole guitar to a kid in the front row. Imagine going to a festival and leaving with a souvenir that was an entire guitar. Mind-blowing.

It was actually really hard to be super impressed after that set. Kings of Leon were kind of boring for a follow-up to Of Montreal. Depeche Mode was cool, since they’re fairly legendary and influential to some of my personal favorite bands (Killers at Lollapalooza on Sunday!!!), yet again, they couldn’t beat out Of Montreal as my most memorable act of the day.

Lollapalooza doesn’t end at 10 p.m. People flooded off in all directions to hit up after parties, both official and unofficial. I hit up one that was supposed to feature Kid Cudi and the Knux and an open bar (holla!). After a bit of a Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist moment–where’s bunny–they told us we had the wrong entrance and the line of people mad dashed to the other side, we finally got into this party. The acts did show, but went relatively unannounced and only did like one number, but the open bar was still pretty ace. The only performer who was there the whole time was a very intoxicated Hollywood Holt, but he was just enjoying the party.

Lollapalooza: Friday in summary:
Best set of the day: Of Montreal
Best surprises of the day: Of Montreal giving away an entire guitar, Janelle Monae, LeAnn Rimes
Breakthrough of the day: Kevin Devine
Biggest let downs of the day: Kings of Leon, Decemberists
Crazy crowd moment: Saw a woman taking a dump in the middle of the crowd at Depeche Mode…ew!!!

Lollapalooza: website | schedule | set lists | saturday

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