Nestled between Oakland and San Francisco is a small man made island built for the World’s Fair in 1940. Being that there’s less than 1,500 residents, it’s the perfect site for a music festival since there’s no one to disturb. With two stages, no overlapping sets and attendance of 10,000 it was a great setup for people that wanted to enjoy music without the big festival hassle. The highlights of the day was Antibalas‘ high energy Fela like funk, Foals, Hot Chip and TV on the Radio.
I arrived to catch Chester French and spent most of my time scratching my head. The singer introduced one of the songs stating that it was about groupies. The hook was,”You can be my Puerto Rican Pamela Lee.” How much longer until TV on the Radio?
San Francisco by way of Brooklyn Aesop Rock was up next and the crowd treated him like family throwing their arms up at his frequent requests. They played a lean set that featured their DJ Big Wiz putting on a clinic towards the end.
Brooklyn’s Antibalas followed by opening with a sped up version of Bob Marley‘s “Rat Race.” They didn’t stop the groove and made use of every second during their 45 minute set. Every member on stage had a massive grin throughout their set. They could have played for 4 hours and not broken a sweat.
The sleeper band of the weekend that blew me away was the Foals, they only had 30 minutes but I’m sure every member in the crowd was wanting more by the end. I don’t even know of any similar bands that I can compare them too, all I can say is they’re poised for greatness and won’t be playing second stages for much longer. Even with a solar power outage, they couldn’t stop playing. The drummer broke into a beat that got the other band members involved in a mini-percussion jam until power was restored. On a side note: to whomever is in charge of the solar panels next year, please aim the panels TOWARDS the sun, not away. Thank You.
Hot Chip arrived on stage to an anxious crowd and quickly broke into the multi-textured sound that’s impossible to classify. While they may be the reigning kings of the remix, they’re also a force to reckon with live.
Amon Tobin and Mike Relm sets were sandwiched around Hot Chip and Goldrapp. Amon Tobin’s set was built around ambient textures instead of beats, which fit the SF crowd perfectly. Although DJ’s are big draw these days, it’s hard for a performer to come off sincere if they’re staring at their laptop for most of their set. The highlight of Mike Relm’s set was breaking into Rage Against the Machine‘s “Killing in the Name of” then segueing into One Day as A Lion‘s “Wild International.”
Goldfrapp took the stage in all white outfits as the sun set over San Francisco. With her hair and dress flying everywhere Alison Goldfrapp pranced the stage barefoot while loving every minute of it. Their set included all their hits and a near perfect mix of all the musicians on stage. There wasn’t any stage banter. Goldfrapp came there to play and the audience was there to listen and dance.
Touring behind their amazing new album, “Dear, Science”, TV on the Radio came on stage as darkness set. The light show accompanied their visual compositions, perfectly setting the table for a flooring performance. Hailing from what used to be Williamsburgh, Brooklyn they were backed by their neighbors, the horn section from Antibalas. Plenty of bands carry the “art rock” card these days but TVOTR is the genuine article. They incorporate so many genres of music within each song and their harmonies are surreal live. Sometimes bands can’t pull off their studio compositions live but TVOTR takes it to a another level, they are truly a phenomenal live band. Pardon for the lack of a full band shot but I had to put the camera down, it was just too good to not stand there and listen.
Monolith Music Festival at Denver’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre was a breath-taking show in so many ways. If the outstanding indie line-up or the gorgeous natural landscape wasn’t enough to take away your breath, then the hike up the stairs in the high altitude would do it.
Although I felt like a terribly out-of-shape and asthmatic half the time, the physical weariness was well worth running around between the five stages Monolith had set up.
Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008. Part I.
1:00 P.M. to 1:30 P.M. Dressy Bessy – Esurance Main Stage
Local Denver band Dressy Bessy kicked things off on the Main Stage with a rocking set that immediately set the bar high for the rest of the bands that followed. Front woman Tammy Ealom perfectly commanded the stage and made coming early well worth their highly energetic set.
1:00 P.M. to 1:30 P.M. Lovelikefire – Woxy.com Stage
I ran inside to catch some of Lovelikefire. This San Franciscan group also featured a female front woman, and much like Ealom, Ann Yu quickly proved that the girls were not there to mess around. With vocals reminiscent of Grand Ole Party‘s Kristin Gundred, Yu also gave a fun, rocking set complimented nicely by Dave Farrell‘s rolling drums and Robert Kissinger‘s heavy bass.
1:30 P.M. to 2:00 P.M. Colour Revolt – Gigbot Stage
From Lovelikefire I dashed over to the other inside venue to catch some of Colour Revolt. Unfortunately, the acoustics in this room were a little dead and their vocalist lost his voice among the other instruments. It also caused some of the harmonies to be a little off. In another setting, this band would have been a lot better and the crowd still loved them, but this set seemed off.
1:45 P.M. to 2:15 P.M. The Veils – New Belgium Stage
After being slightly disappointed by Colour Revolt, I headed back outside for European rockers The Veils. Their first song left much to be desired, but the next few songs had me hooked as vocalist Finn Andrews stretched out his every last word, forcing the audience to hang onto his every syllable. Girl power again represented as Sophia Burn killed on the bass.
2:00 P.M. to 2:45 P.M. Foals – Esurance Main Stage
Next up, I caught some of buzz group Foals. They walked out looking all suave and like they were too cool to be at this show, but then once they started playing, they just let loose. Their focus was purely on their instrumentals. Voice added an extra flourish, but was not their immediate concern.
2:00 P.M. to 2:30 P.M. Port O’Brien – Woxy.com Stage
I had never heard of Port O’Brien, but I am so glad I stumbled across their set. This was probably one of the best bands out of the entire show and very few people knew to check them out. The alt country group featured free flowing guitar and banjo riffs and some of the best harmonies I heard during the entirety of the festival. Near the end of their set, the group passed out pots and pans and invited the crowd onto the stage with them. They are definitely worth checking out if they come anywhere near you.
2:30 P.M. to 3:10 P.M. The Morning Benders – Gigbot Stage
The guys in Morning Benders seem to be everywhere lately. I’ve seen them multiple times in the last few months opening for different bands and it seemed like every corner I turned at the festival, I would run into a different member of their group either checking out a band or playing ping pong. As for their actual set, it was very laid back, but sadly in the dead acoustic room, so the quality of it was lost upon many.
2:45 P.M. to 3:15 P.M. The Muslims – New Belgium Stage
The Muslims are another band that you should kick yourself for if you don’t check them out immediately. The vocals have an element of folk to them, but the drum solos are what you would expect to hear from a dance electronica group. This eclectic mix works quite well for the group and properly earned them a huge crowd at that stage.
3:15 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. Superdrag – Esurance Main Stage
Superdrag lived up to their name. Their set seemed to have a super drag to it. While the guys moved around and made faces like they were trying to be the rockstars expected of them, they ended up being a little out of place and kind of boring. They even ended up being pitchy.
Set list:
Slow to Anger
Keep It Close
Gimme Animosity
Filthy and Afraid
Carried
Garmonrozia
Do the Vampire
Sucked Out
Cynicality
True Believer
Destination
3:45 P.M. to 4:30 P.M. John Vanderslice – New Belgium Stage
John Vandersliceis a musical genius. The arrangements performed here were absolutely gorgeous and chill. Their violinist had great technique and I loved the effect of his reverberated pizzicato. I could have easily gotten lost in the lush harmonies of this band.
Set list:
Pale Horse
Codeine
Exodus Damage
Up Above the Sea
Angela
Underneath
Kookaburra
Time to Go
Too Much Time
Time Travel
That’s just the first half of Saturday. Look for the next installment shortly.
This year’s Monolith Festival held September 13th and 14th in Morrison, CO at Red Rocks Amphitheatre has an amazing line-up. Check out Saturday’s schedule now:
New Belgium Stage
*9:45 PM :: Atmosphere
*8:00 PM :: Del tha Funky Homosapien
6:30 PM :: Mickey Avalon
*5:00 PM :: Holy Fuck
3:45 PM :: John Vanderslice
2:45 PM :: The Muslims
1:45 PM :: The Veils
12:45 PM :: Electric Touch
WOXY.com Stage @ Southwest Airlines Heart of the Rock Theatre
*8:30 PM :: White Denim
7:10 PM :: Pop Levi
*5:10 PM :: Liam Finn
4:40 PM :: The Hood Internet
3:10 PM :: Cameron McGill & What Army
2:00 PM :: Port O’ Brien
1:10 PM :: Lovelikefire
Rock Room Stage
*9:10 PM :: The Presets
7:50 PM :: The Night Marchers
6:30 PM :: A Place To Bury Strangers
5:10 PM :: The Photo Atlas
3:50 PM :: Blitzen Trapper
2:30 PM :: The Morning Benders
1:30 PM :: Colour Revolt
MadeLoud.com Acoustic Stage
10:00 PM :: Rob Drabkin
8:15 PM :: Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons
*6:45 PM :: PWRFL POWER
5:15 PM :: Scratch Track
4:00 PM :: Rock Plaza Central
2:45 PM :: KaiserCartel
1:15 PM :: Noah Harris
12:30 PM :: Erin Ivey
Despite some rain late Thursday night, the weather in Chicago’s Grant Park was perfect for this year’s 2008 Lollapalooza festival. A nice breeze off the lake made this the perfect weekend to host the excellent and diverse lineup of music. The park was kept in pristine conditions as crews constantly walked around encouraging recycling and a cleaner environment. This festival knows what it’s doing and is one of the best organized and most considerate (they even had lots vegetarian options at the food booths!) shows in the business.
Lollapalooza by Jeff Gentner
The whole weekend was sold out for the first time in the history of the festival. Friday had a record-breaking turnout as headliners Radioheaddrew a sold out crowd of 75,000. Although, the earlier portion of the day wasn’t quite as packed, a solid crowd showed up to see the fine bands performing at the different stages leading up to Radiohead.
Starting off my day was Butch Walkeron the PlayStation 3 Stage. Walker started his set solo with some fun loops on two new songs off his highly anticipated new album Sycamore Meadows before his band joined him on “State Line.” Walker performed a solid set showing that he is just as good an artist as he is a producer. If the new songs from his set are any indication of his new album, it is going to be phenomenal.
Butch Walker by Adam Bielawski
Any act following up the strong set by Walker would have a hard time not falling a little flat. Sure enough, the next act on the Bud Light Stage The Go! Teamdid just that. Maybe it is all that jumping around, but just because you want to be energetic in your presence doesn’t mean you should let the vocals suffer. Instrumental tracks like “Junior Kickstart” were just fine, but anytime Ninja would open her mouth I kind of wanted to go ninja and karate chop her throat.
Ninja of the Go! Team by Alberto Trevino
After the poor pitches of the Go! Team, Welsh singer Duffy‘s soulful vocals were a welcome refreshment at the PlayStation 3 Stage. The young singer definitely has some pipes, but her stage presence could use a little work. Her hand motions quickly got repetitive, but maybe with a little experience, her set will get a little fresher.
Following Duffy, I caught a few songs by rockers Louis XIVover on the Citi Stage. Despite a few technical difficulties, the crowd went wild over radio single “Finding Out True Love Is Blind.” I didn’t stick around too long for Louis XIV because I didn’t want to miss a second of gypsy punk group Gogol Bordelloover on the AT&T Stage and this was definitely not the set to miss. This raucous set was exactly what the crowd needed as an energy boost to get through the rest of the day. After walking around all morning in the sun, Gogol Bordello brought the crowd back to their feet for a big dance party as the band played through their accordion rock set.
Gogol Bordello by Chase Agnello-Dean
Next up was Lawrence, Kansas indie rockers Mates of State. Their gentler set on the MySpace Stage was beautiful and it was a nice touch when the couple was joined by some strings. The crowd loved them, but it was hard to settle into their set after jumping around with Gogol Bordello.
Playing at the same time as Mates of State across the venue at the PlayStation 3 Stage was songstress Cat Power. Cat’s voice was just as great live as it is recorded. It is a shame that her set had to be the same time as Mates of State because they attract the same crowd.
Cat Power by Alberto Trevino
Toward the end of Cat Power, the crowd quickly scrambled for a place to see The Raconteurs perform on the Bud Light Stage. Jack White and crew sounded great, but there was something a little off about their set. It could have been that they weren’t in their usual uniform, but street clothes or it could have been the technical difficulties causing Brendan Benson to drop out during the vocals of “Level,” but it just wasn’t as tight as their club performances.
Jack White of the Raconteurs by Stephanie Janisch
I stopped at the Citi Stage for a few songs from Brazilian electro group CSS. Lovefoxxx must be tired of looking sexy because she sported a bright red spandex outfit with ruffles wrapping around it. CSS sounded a lot better live than their recording, surprisingly, and the crowd loved dancing around to their beats.
CSS by Abbey Braden
Radiohead closed out Friday on the AT&T stage. Thom Yorke and the rest of the guys thrilled the crowd by combining their tight instrumental skills with an amazing light show and fireworks as they performed songs like “Airbag,” “Fake Plastic Trees” and “There, There.” Friday’s crowd went home pleased after Radiohead’s double encore.
The crowd during Radiohead by Alberto Trevino
Radiohead by Alberto Trevino
Radiohead wasn’t the only reason to attend this festival and Saturday looked just as packed. British group The Ting Tings was the perfect start to the day. Katie White (Interview at Diesel U Music Lounge at the Hard Rock Hotel) easily draws the eyes of the crowd as she energetically moves around singing their hits, but Jules de Martino should not be overlooked as he plays and sings with precision.
The Ting Tings by Alberto Trevino
There was a little lag after the Ting Tings. Dr. Dog took to the MySpace stage, but was unmemorable. Foalsplayed some fun dance songs over at the Citi Stage, but didn’t stand up to the high standard for other electro dance groups set by the Ting Tings. MGMTsounded phenomenal live, but their disinterest in a majority of their own set detracted from the performance. They finally loosened up and started bantering by the end of their set.
MGMT by Abbey Braden
Brand New was the band to beat for best performance of the day, although Jesse Lacey‘s attitude may have detracted from the musical experience causing many to quickly forget just how good this performance was in actuality. Joined by Kevin Devine for their first song, they took to the AT&T Stage and put on the most powerful performance of the day. Jesse Lacey’sperformance is better than ever, but he appears just as moody.
He seemed to be in a good mood at first as he seemingly jokingly told the crowd, “You should all be at Explosions in the Sky. You’re all fools.” But as the set progressed through “Sowing Season,” “Sic Transit Gloria,” “Jesus Christ” and a new song (tentatively called “Bride”), Lacey grew more and more frustrated with a pocket of disinterested crowd members before finally climaxing and throwing his guitar into the drum set and leaving the stage a full fifteen minutes before the set was meant to end. Despite this mishap, this was still one of the best performances of the day and the part of the crowd that was interested was left confused and chanting for an encore.
After Brand New, I caught some of Okkervil River‘s set across the venue at the PlayStation 3 Stage and their sweet indie rock was a nice respite. They were followed by Broken Social Sceneover on the Bud Light Stage, but BSS is more suited for a smaller setting where their fun instrumentations can completely engulf the listener. As great as Okkervil and Broken were, they just couldn’t match the amphitheatric power of Brand New’s set.
Okkervil River by Amrit Singh
To be quite honest, the crowd gathering for Saturday’s headliners Rage Against the Machinedidn’t really appeal to us and we headed out early to get a head start home, which is lucky we did because the Chicago Transit system got backed up by three hours from the large crowd leaving Lollapalooza.
Lollapalooza continued on to Sunday and featured the usual buzz acts like Black Kids, but the real buzz swarming the venue all weekend was the suspected appearance of democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Unfortunately, Obama didn’t put in an appearance, but there were still plenty of special guests present at the festival. While Starsmember Amy Millan joined the boys in Broken Social Scene on the Bud Light Stage, guitarist Slash joined festival co-founder Perry Farrell for a few songs. Plus, there were plenty of celebrities to spot like Lindsay Lohan and the Wentzes if you just kept your eyes open. This festival was filled with fun surprises and definitely not a weekend to miss.
Day 2 at Redmond, Wa.’s Marymoor Park was just as hot and sunny as the first, with only white fluffy clouds passing overhead instead of menacing rain clouds that are said to always hover over the city of Seattle. After 20 years in the major northwest city, Sub Pop knows a thing or two about Seattle weather and couldn’t have picked a more gorgeous weekend to host their birthday party.
The Ruby Sun, Photo: Brian Tamborello
Paranoid at arriving late again, I showed up at Marymoor Park with an hour and a half to burn before the second day of Sub Pop 20 got underway. I was in good company, so the time easily passed before newly duo’d The Ruby Suns hit the stage at noon. The recent loss of now former band mate Imogen Taylor had little effect on Ryan McPhun and Amee Robinson as they each tackled an array of instruments throughout their experimental set. McPhun and Robinson, both of whom play guitar, keys, percussion and sing, created sweeping melodies along with afro beats and pulsing bass lines that had the audience dancing under the hot sun.
Despite their place as the day’s opener, The Ruby Suns pulled in lots of support as their set wore on. The early birds in the crowd made their way up to the stage to admire McPhun and Robinson’s stellar set and they stayed put for the 20 minutes in between sets to ensure a good place for Grand Archives. The afternoon pressed forward as more Sub Pop fans arrived to the sweet sounds of Grand Archives’ super airy melodies and ridiculously upbeat tunes.
Grand Archives, Photo: Shawn Brackbill
After powering through their first song, guitarist/keyboardist Ron Lewis announced, “I just got a 97% on Rock Band, so I think this is gonna be a good show.” And a good show it was! The Grand Archives’ sounds matched their surroundings: sunny; vibrant; energetic; and just massively fun. In addition to staples of their debut, self-titled album like “Torn Blue Foam Couch,” the guys played 2 brand new songs just as jaunty and carefree as you’ve come to expect from the surprisingly bubbly rockers.
The energy and intensity with which Grand Archives played was matched by successorBlitzen Trapper. The indie folk rockers were laid-back playing some mellow tunes reminiscent of Tom Petty or Neil Young but also shocked the audience with some harder songs. Blitzen Trapper had a great energy that pumped the crowd up for one of my favorite acts of the 2-day birthday bonanza, Kinski, a Seattle native.
Kinski, Photo: Shawn Brackbill
The primarily instrumental experimental, space-rock quartet puts together a dynamic set that both rocks hard with killer riffs and mellows out with ambient melodies. On the occasion that Kinski front man Chris Martin lends his voice to a song, he never once draws focus from the sweeping and intense guitars or sudden bursts of sound. They ended their powerful set with my favorite Kinski song “Semaphore” (download), from 2003′s Airs Above Your Station. With a huge crowd packed in front of the stage, Martin and crew nailed the song proving themselves to be a powerhouse of indie rock.
Following Kinksi was British dance, art rockers Foals. The five-piece brought an energy and intensity to the stage that no act before them that weekend could match, exhibited by guitar Jimmy Smith‘s ability to rally through the the band’s 40 minute set after having gotten sick on stage around minute 20. His warped riffs coupled with the intense energy of drummer Jack Bevan‘s high-powered beats created a non-stop dance party in front of the crowded main stage.
Foals, Photo: Shawn Brackbill
Foals vocalist/guitarist Yannis Philippakis remained very subdued throughout the set, engaging in the stereotypically British demeanor. Despite his calm on stage, Philippakis ripped through power chords on his guitar and banged away on a floor tom, at one pointing using the microphone as a makeshift drumstick after an actual drumstick flew out of his hands and into the crowd. Watching Foals perform reminded me of Tokyo Police Club, whose wild energy they match but whose attention span they trump.
No Age, Photo: Shawn Brackbill
Les Thugs followed energetically and enthusiastically with a loud, fast, post-punk set rife with ripping and driving riffs and pounding beats. L.A. duo No Age was up next. Their performance left much to be desired, despite a Nirvana cover in tribute to Sub Pop and Seattle. While the instrumentation was on par, drummer Dean Spunt‘s vocals were pretty torturous. To be completely honest, I left Sub Pop 20 about halfway through No Age’s set. A friend had traveled all the way to Seattle with me and we wanted to soak up as much of Seattle as we could before leaving the next afternoon.
The remainder of the day saw performances by Red Red Meat, Comets on Fire, Beachwood Sparks, Green Riverand Wolf Parade. As for Red Red Meat and Comets on Fire, I was told that their sets were “solidly unremarkable” by a source who stayed through the latter’s set. I am bummed out about missing headliner Wolf Parade’s set, which I can only speculate was amazing, but that’s nothing short of my own fault.
Wolf Parade, Photo: Shawn Brackbill
Wolf Parade, Photo: Shawn Brackbill
Wolf Parade, Photo: Shawn Brackbill
Despite my sneaking out early on Sunday, I’d like to extend a huge thanks to Sub Pop for putting on such a special and amazing event. To those of you lucky enough to attend, I hope you had as wonderful a time as I did. If you weren’t there, make it your business to get to Seattle in another 20 years — it’s an amazing place — and hopefully I’ll see you at Sub Pop 40.
Structured patterns, poppy dance-rock, and, considering their Myspace page possibly pot-induced, dreams of vampires and “marching bands which never rest” may not sound like they’d go together but combined, it makes up Foals first full length album Antidotes. The self-proclaimed “snotty art school dropouts hungry for the dollar” have managed to connect mathy guitars with rarely changing, nonchalant vocals while keeping the fun alive.
Horns swell into the first song, “The French Open,” until changing into jazzy guitars. Just when you think you’re moving forward, the unlikely transition repeats and you’re back to the beginning. While you’re anticipating this happening again (it doesn’t), vocals finally come in; first he’s singing in (you guessed it) French then in English and mid-sentence, the song runs right into “Cassius.”
“Cassius” is a cocky, would-be jock anthem on beating out the competition and then rubbing it in their face. The music is like putting a puzzle together without going in any particular order: you don’t know what the picture is yet, but you place pieces by guess until it turns out to be a work of art. This song, as most of the others on the album, has so many timing changes and alternating sounds that it could easily come out messy, but they are so precise, it’s a nice surprise rather than annoyance.
The next song, “Red Socks Pugie” is my hands down favorite. The sound in the verses is casual and indifferent with mostly drums and guitars only once in a while, then the chorus grabs you in and even after one listen, you’ll be singing along to: “Oh what the hell, we set it on fire.” It took me a while to finally change it and move on.
“Olympic Airways” is made for a road trip to the coast. It’s driving with the windows down on a cool night; it’s that feeling of being completely aware of the breeze off the ocean, knowing you’re getting close. The lyrics match the moment with simplicity: “Let’s disappear ’til tomorrow.”
While many of the songs on the record take a similar path, “Big Big Love (Fig. 2)” stands out the most. They’ve created a hazy, clouded atmosphere, like walking through a dream that takes a bad turn when Yanni Philippakis yells, “Oh! Electric shocks, no!” Then the following track, “Like Swimming” is nearly two minutes of overly upbeat guitars and clapping that is so lazily done, I can’t really see it as an attempt to pump up the crowd during live shows. Really, there’s seems to be no point of it at all (like “Space” which is exactly one minute of complete silence). Whatever the reason they put these on the album, they don’t take anything away from it – just makes you pause and laugh to yourself, “What the?”
The album overall is nothing short of excellent. I will say it may be a little too repetitive for some. Being that it’s 14 tracks of comparable sounds, the songs following “Big Big Love (Fig. 2)” are almost too much of a good thing. Antidotes is more than worth a listen, though; it’s sure to make you a fan. You can pick up a copy of in stores now.
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1:00 P.M. to 1:30 P.M. Dressy Bessy – Esurance Main Stage
2:45 P.M. to 3:15 P.M. The Muslims – New Belgium Stage
3:15 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. Superdrag – Esurance Main Stage
John Vanderslice
SUNDAY, JULY 13th
