Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011: Day 2 (Part 2)

Cold Cave



Oh Cold Cave. What happened? To be completely fare, it really wasn't Cold Cave's fault that they had a terrible show. They were set in the mid afternoon, which was discovered to be a terrible time for them because they can't use lights or even the dark to amplify the mood of their songs. So instead it just looked liked three guys standing there making moody synthy music. To be fare Wesley Eisold and Dominick Fernow played with passion, especially Fernow who played his synth more lively aggressively then I think I've ever seen anyone play it. Still, it wasn't enough, and I left early...







M83



...and went straight to see M83 pull it off right. Of course M83 is much better suited for big, wide open festival crowds and doesn't need a certain atmosphere to work like Cold Cave's. Still, it was impressive to go see a band truly pull off a festival show. And pull off a show they did. While I'm sure their set would have been even more impressive if their lights would have been working, they still manged to bring their songs to life. All of M83's songs are really anthems, but their scope is sometimes forgotten until they are placed in a live setting. It was big and audacious, and just what I need after Cold Cave's set.







Childish Gambino



If Community ever gets cancelled (and let us pray that never happens), Donald Glover can look forward to a process career in hip-hop. It felt like Fun Fun Fun Fest was his coming out party. Augmented by a four piece band rather than his usual laptop, Glover/Childish Gambino was in full force all throughout the set. Cycling through his old indie rock mixtape stuff to his newer, more focused material, Childish Gambino never lost a beat. He let the emotions and humor of the songs pour out, but never treated the set like a joke. Near the end of the set he crawled on top of the amplifiers and just glazed intensely into the crowd as the band played on, both saying “I can’t believe this is happening” and “Damn right this is happening”. And that moment, more than anything sums up everything Childish Gambino was about during his set.

Spoon



What do I need to say? The best show of Fun Fun Fun Fest, hands down. Spoon's slightly small touring schedule these days can make people forget that what a force they are live, but no one leaving their show that Saturday night would be forgetting that fact anytime soon. Decking the stage in genius lighting via strings of light bulbs, Spoon proceeded to rock harder than those bulbs could ever glow. It was one classic song after another; the likes "Got Nuffin", "Don't You Evah", "The Way We Get By" all played with the same vigor as the other. They even pulled in a horn section (which frontman Britt Daniel announced with glee) for the likes of "The Underdog" and "Jonathan Fisk". They were just stupendous, pulling off a fierecness that was equally dazzling. Midway through their five (!) song encore, Daniel's declared "We don't know what song to play, we didn't think we would play this much". Of course Spoon was giving more than they had planned. It wouldn't have been Fun Fun Fun Fest, and they wouldn't be Spoon if they hadn't.

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011: Day 2 (Part 1)

Purity Ring



How does a band that has barely any songs, which are also more suited for an atmospheric night club perform an early slot in the middle of the day? By being super impressive of course. I am kicking myself for missing most of their set, but am more than happy to have caught the few bits that I did. Somehow they managed to turn the Blue stage into an intimate setting, drawing the crowd into their hypnotic, electronic world. As a finale the band played their last songs on a pipe system they had miked up to produce the songs' beats. It was astonishing and something that truly needed to be seen to believe. One can only guess if Purity Ring's buzz will hold, but from the moments I saw, it only looks bright for the duo.







The Joy Formidable



The Joy Formidable will never be big. Not in the indie Grizzly Bear or Animal Collective sort of way. They will always be a little too unhip for all the cool kids to like with wild abandonment like they do with other bands. Which is a shame because as The Joy Formidable proved with their wind filled set, they are fucking great. They rage with the intensity of the greatest shoegaze bands but throw in genuine, indie rock hooks that rise the songs to thunderous, anthem like levels. Ritzy Bryan is an incredible frontwoman, creating explosions from her vocals and guitar. They tipped of their set with the inflation of two giant, black cats that felt out of place, but for a band this grand, they deserve rock star moments like this.







tUnE-yArDs



Coming off that guitar filled high, tUnE-yArDs' was there to deconstruct it all for me. Seeing Merrill Garbus put together her songs piece by piece is really an experience, one that manages to be so much more captivating than one would think. The chants, the fragments, the tribe like garbs to a certain extent all draw you in so slowly that you don't notice as you are yelping along with Garbus without knowing it. The compete minimalism that tUnE-yArDs didn't transfer completely off the stage and into the crowd (the far too few songs they were able to play made the end feel sudden as well), but the band still made deconstructed, off-kilter, jazz horn filled, Afro-pop groove filled with bright, neon colors as captivating as they could.







Dan Deacon



Dan Deacon's live shows aren't about the music so much as they are about the experience. While usually this a backhanded way of saying "this band sucks live" with Dan Deacon that not at all true. Deacon is a master of the live form, using his music to soundtrack wild/insane dance parties. Discarding the stage to set up in the crowd, he orchestrated the crowd to have a dance competition, and managed to get some fans to walk on the crowd, Iggy Pop style. It's a pity half the set was devoted to Deacon dealing with audio problems and trying to fix them, otherwise this would have been a incredible set. But that never stopped him trying to give the crowd everything, so I don't think he'll mind settling for "pretty good".

COLOURS-Lost at Sea

COLOURS has finally released some new music thanks to the folks at digital label BEKO, though it’s a bit hard to believe it’s the same band. While on their debut EP was a nice mixture of modern and past shoegaze, these songs have lost lots of the noise and squeal of the guitar work, instead replaced with glisten and a slightly sunnier disposition to them. However this is not at all a slam against the band, for the quality of the shoegaze they produce comes out clearer as well. This is most evident on “Lost at Sea” with COLOURS’ vocals never being clearer, shaping around a pulsing synth line that severs the back bone to a perfect, never was Deerhunter demo that the band has reclaimed for themselves. The band's other digital release is even more representative of their new sound with "Sundown" evoking even more beach-esque vibes than "Lost at Sea". Shimmer riffs bounce of wonderfully reverbed drum machine beats, balancing sunny and hints of melancholy precisely in tune with one another. "See, Hear, Touch, Feel", is the band at the most low key yet, a simple sad song with an equally weeping guitar line to acconpany it.






Links:

COLOURS' on Bandcamp
Download both singles here, from BEKO DSL

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011: Day 1 (Part 2)

Thee Oh Sees



Take everything I said about Ty Segall's set and multiply it by three. That is what Thee Oh Sees were like. For the 50 minutes they were on stage a sense of insanity took hold of the crowd and the Black Stage. I don't know why I haven't listened more to Thee Oh Sees now, but I have learned my lesson. They were twitchy, spastic animals, playing hyper psych-damaged garage rock that that was both insanely off-kilter yet super catchy as well. That they not only kept that degree of energy through out their entire set, with all their songs, but lent the excess to the crowd, who happily went crazy, it beyond impressive. All hail the glory that is Thee Oh Sees and the twisted, glorious music they make.







Okkervil River



Okkervil River's set felt a lot like their songs; so filled with different elements that it feels like it is going to burst at the seems. Will Sheff and co. burst on stage and performed like the rock stars they sing about. Okkervil River are always great live, where Sheffs's sounds and more so his lyrics are give much more roof to stretch, but with this line-up they gave new life to songs that were still thriving. "Our Life is not a Movie or Maybe" eve sounded more potent then here with Sheff nearly screaming out the lyrics. Pair together with ripe new songs like "Rider" or "Our Past Life as a Blast", Okkervil River delivered a set filled with rock clichés (bright colored lights, constant hand claps requests from the audience), but managed to escape all of them and pull something exuberant and great from it.







Reggie Watts



I don't know how to put into words Reggie Watts' performance. Parts stick out: squeaky voices, a robot dance, randomness in its purest form, and loops upon loops upon loops. All separate this comes off as some surrealist nightmare. But let me tell you that in Watt's hands I never stopped laughing. He deconstructs comedy right before your eyes and puts it together in a new, askew shape that makes you scratch your head, but still giggle the same time. I don't know how he does it, make comedy out of pure randomness, but he does and it is slightly magical every time you see it.



Public Enemy



I don't know what drew me to Public Enemy. Something in the back of mind told me to close out Friday night with them. Apparently my mind knew what was going to happen with Danzig, but that is besides the point. Public Enemy, after more than 25+ years, can still put on a good show. It wasn't perfect, with the stage banter sometimes coming off as time killing, and a weird part of the show dedicated to showing off Flavor Flav's nephew's abysmal rap skills. Still, the rhythm between Mike D and Flav has barely disintegrated in all this time, and Mike D is still the same killer performer you have always heard about. The bombast, from the lights to the noise to performers on stage, could be overwhelming and disconcerting, but to a degree that what's Public Enemy has always been about. Oh, and "Fight the Power" threw everyone in the crowd into a mad frenzy, and that should always be commended.

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011: Day 1 (Part 1)

There is a secret that everyone in Austin knows: Fun Fun Fun Fest is a better music festival then Austin City Limits. And if any year was going to confirm that fact, it would be this year's. The biggest year yet, at new location Auditorium Shores, it might have been their best year as well. Having been able to see everything from Okkervil River to Spoon to Black Lips within the same weekend is almost too much for one mind to comprehend. To a degree that's actually true because I am still coming down from it. I will break it down day by day, hopefully successfully communicating what a whirlwind of a three days it was.

Mind Spiders



It's nice starting Fun Fun Fun Fest with a local band. It's a nice connection to the Fest's past; despite how big it will get, Fun Fun Fun Fest will always support the local scene. Mind Spiders are from Denton, emerging from the ashes of The Marked Men, and sounding nothing like them. Expanded into a six-piece (with two drummers), the band has a sci-fi element to them that doesn't make them New Wave, but doesn't keep them solid punk either. Like Devo covered by a pop-punk band, or a less intense Exposies, they were solidly catchy, and while not the most memorable show on Friday, a solid set none the less.







Cloud Nothings



I think people were aware that Cloud Nothings were going to try out new material at during their set. And hey, I'm all for hearing new sounds and styles from band's I love. But the shift from Cloud Nothings old sound to what they played here was way too big a gap. Every song was a marathon jam session of long, sprawling post-punk/grunge infused songs. Cloud Nothings played everything as passionately as they played their (former?) power-pop songs, but the lack of enthusiasm from the crowd sort of proved that passion is not the same as quality.







Altercation Punk Comedy Tour



The Yellow stage is where all the randomness and comedy of Fun Fun Fun Fest. While it is often ignored in favor of its musical oriented brothers, it has its own share of gems as well. Case in point with with the Altercation Punk Comedy Tour set. Three local comedians led by JT Habersaat, who performed anger filled, volatile comedy. Everything from homogenization because of the internet to finding out a blind date sells heroin on the side, the harshest of topics were bent to comedic intelligence. Habersaat closed out the set by just reading from a trashy romance novel from Walmart themed around pregnancy that was one of fall-out funniest things I have ever heard.

Ty Segall



Whoa, what a set. One wouldn't think that Ty Segall and his bandmates would be able to translate all of their intensity at a fest type show, but boy would you be wrong. Segall just raged though his songs in a a super sloppy manner that resulted in his guitar strap coming off within the first song (among other similar instances). But he just kept banging and raging away so much that no one even noticed, all of them too busy going crazy and kicking up a dust storm. Even that wasn't enough to detour most people, as Segall soundtracked the chaos and crowd surfing to "Girlfriend" and "You Make The Sun Fry". It was a chaotic and manic set, but a knockout set none the less.