Hey, folks! This is just my "quick" review of the Polyvinyl Records' 15 Year Anniversary Show @ Pygmalion Music Festival in Champaign, IL on 9/24/11. This was a long, but fun day.
I left Springfield around 12:30 PM or so. Angie and Francesca stayed at home. Angie, mainly, because I know she would have absolutely no interest in watching a bunch of indie-rock bullshit bands all day, and Francesca, well...because she is 2 months old. God bless Angie for taking care of her all day. I owe you one! Anyhow, I pointed my vehicle towards I-72 East and started making my trek towards the Highdive in Champaign where the festivities were going down. I arrived in Champaign right on time -- about 1:45ish. My directions were spot on until I got into downtown Champaign and then I got lost. Good thing I had my smart-phone on me. The Highdive is located on some weird-ass fucked up street that takes some odd diagonal road to get up to it that is NOT clearly identified. I pulled up there around 2:00 or so after getting lost and started what ended up being 3 circles around the general area before I found a respectable parking spot. I wasn't sure if the metered parking required payment on the weekend, so I walked up the street where I parked and noticed none of the other cars paid the meter, so I decided I'd follow suit. The worst that could happen is my car ends up towed along with 30 or so others. We'd all be in that shit together, so I went with it. I later found out you don't have to pay the meters on the weekend, just like here at home. Cool. The festival was setup in a large parking lot behind the Highdive.
I went to Will Call and got my ticket and went inside. There were several tents setup selling various things along with the nice-sized outdoor stage. One was selling some homemade blankets or some shit. Some "earthy" folks doing all-natural things or what have you. There was also a tent with some very nice folks giving away free organic apples all day -- that was very nice! A tent selling you a plate containing a pulled pork sandwich, mac-n-cheese and baked beans for $7.00, a tent with some video game company premiering some new game they developed along with a Polyvinyl Records table with a bunch of merch from all of the bands performing that day. OH! There was also a booze tent that I hit periodically throughout the day that was serving 312 ale from Chicago and your standard spirits. All drinks were $5.00 no matter what it was.
Now...onto the bands:
When I walked into the festival, Joan of Arc was playing. Joan of Arc is from Chicago, IL. They started in 1995 following the breakup of Cap 'N Jazz, so I DO remember the name getting tossed around during my high school days. Honestly, I never bothered to dive into their music too much. I think I heard a tune or two back then and said, "Meh...". They were OK at this performance. Standard indie-rock stuff.
Next up was Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. These dudes are from Springfield, MO. They did an alright job. Kind of a more "poppy" indie rock band. The singer smiled A LOT and pointed at people in the crowd. They had one song about 3 missing girls from their hometown called, "Yellow Missing Signs". I guess these girls have been missing since 1992 and the case has been referred to as "The Springfield Three". You can read up more about it here. Ryan Dougherty (who ran into me earlier in the day) jokingly said, "This must be their "Runaway Train"...you know...like Soul Asylum." I had a pretty good laugh about that one. Before they started that song, the singer said, "This is our most serious song", and one of the other dudes in the band said, "It doesn't have to be. It could be fun." That kinda made me laugh. During the performance of this song, the singer kinda ripped open his sweater to reveal a shirt showing pictures of the missing girls. Their set was decent. It wasn't Earth-shattering for me or anything like that.
Next up was Asobi Seksu from New York City. They are referred to as "dream-pop" I guess. I would just say they had a very textured and effects-heavy vocal and guitar sound. As they setup the singer brought up a keyboard-synth-type-thing, and and I was like "Oh shit...here we go with a bunch of electronic bullcrap." They got started and the drums came in heavy, then there was this atmospheric synth thing going on. The guitar came in and was VERY effects heavy. Then her voice. Man...it all came together beautifully! Color me (surprisingly) impressed! Now, at first she had a thin-high pitched voice, but a couple of songs in she walked away from her keyboard and was belting it out with some real "umph" behind her voice. THAT hooked me! Along with the intensity of the music behind it...a recipe for perfection! The set was over before I knew it and I just kinda stood there blown away. I overheard a kid say, "Man...THAT was intense. Better live than on their record." This caused some hesitation with me. I asked myself, "Do I go with my gut and go buy a record from them? OR...trust this kid I overheard and let what I just experienced just stay with me? Can they effectively capture that level of intensity on a damn record?" It took a little of inner debate, but I opted to buy their new record, "Fluorescence". I listened to most of it in the car today, and although good, it certainly doesn't have the "punch" that their live performance did yesterday.
Next up was Owen from Chicago, IL. Owen is just Mike Kinsella from Cap 'N Jazz and, naturally, Joan of Arc. Just him and an acoustic guitar. Not much more needs said. He did a real nice job! Singer/Songwriter-type stuff. Well written songs with witty lyrics. Very enjoyable!
After that was Starfucker. I watched these dudes setup, and I know you shouldn't "judge a book by it's cover", but goddamn. Three keyboard synth-type things got setup and these dudes just OOOZED indie. Skinny jeans (which you can light me up on all you want, but do NOT fucking belong on a man. Period.), hair that they obviously took their time to get "just right" before leaving the house that day, BRIGHT colored pastel shirts, etc, etc...you get the idea. Just a little TOO stereotypical for my taste. I gave them a chance and they started up the first song and about half-way through I said to myself, "nope" and opted to take this opportunity to go to Jupiter's Pizzeria and Billiards right next door to the Highdive and get some dinner. I wasn't going to miss anything. Jupiter's is a nice little place. They serve pizza done up a little fancier than usual and also have a fairly respectable selection of beer. I opted for the Pesto Margherita pizza with pesto, mozzarella and provolone, sliced roma tomatoes, oregano and basil. Washed it down with a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Good stuff!
I got back to the festival and the next band, Xiu Xiu was starting. VERY avant-garde band from San Jose, CA. I'm usually intrigued by the strange and unusual like this, but holy shit was this band fucking terrible! WAY too out there to really listen to and appreciate for me. ...and that's REALLY saying something. The singer sounded like he was trying to do an mix of Pavarotti and the singer from Midnight Oil at the same time. It didn't even sound natural. It was like he was REALLY trying to sound like an idiot. ...and the two dudes he had up on stage with him just kept randomly hitting electronic shit like keyboards, drum pads, and the occasional cymbal and other percussion instruments. No real structure to anything. Strange lookin' fellas too. Bad stuff. Sorry, guys.
Next up was Japandroids from Vancouver, BC (Canada). I may just have a new favorite band after watching these two dudes. It's just one dude on guitar and one dude on a drum kit and I swear to God it sounds like there are 4-5 people on stage. The guitarist runs his guitar through 4 amps and who knows how many pedals. Sounds like 2 guitars and a bass all going at once. HUGE sound! ...and the drummer, naturally, keeps everything chuggin' along just fine. As far as describing thier sound, well...they are just a rock band I guess. The singer said they are just two dudes who like to play punk rock, so I guess call them a punk rock band. EXTREMELY energetic and a lot of fun to watch play. These dudes REALLY impressed me and I picked up their record and a 7" after their set. Genuinely nice dudes that just love to play music together. Towards the later part of their set, their drummer's seat broke and he fell about a foot lower than where he should be sitting. They stopped, everyone had a good laugh about it, and they picked up from the chorus of the song and finished up. The singer said (as the drummer was getting his seat fixed), "If you ever wondered what it's like to be in a band...it's just like this kind of shit, man."
After Japandroids, were Deerhoof from San Francisco, CA. I've heard a lot of hype about this band, and after watching them perform, I would have to say it's more hype than substance. Lots of really spastic arrangements that didn't really hold my attention all that well. They were a little fun to watch, but not musically pleasing to me. Kind of like Xiu Xiu in the sense they were just a little too out there for my taste. The crowd seemed to love 'em, though and they certainly had enough energy.
Last, but not least, was Braid. The whole reason I made the decision to go to this thing in the first place. Braid split in 1999, but since has done one "reunion" tour in 2005 and recently released a new EP called "Closer To Closed" on Polyvinyl Records and did 2 shows (one in Chicago at the Metro and this one yesterday) for it. I first saw Braid in maybe 1994 at some dude's basement here in town with Ingot and Scout. They captured my attention right away at that show and are responsible for numerous nights of me ignoring my homework in my high school days and listening to their records instead. Their set was the perfect throwback to my youth along with the new songs peppered in. They opened with one of my favorites, "My Baby Smokes" off of their second record, "The Age of Octeen", and then went right into another great tune, "New Nathan Detroits" off of their final album, "Frame and Canvas" which has been hailed as one of the 10 best "indie-rock" records of all time. Often imitated, but never duplicated. They did a nice job of mixing in a lot of the old favorites and actually played all of the songs I wanted to hear along with "Hugs From Boys" which is probably my most favorite Braid song of all time. Great performance! That made the drive and all day standing around listening to random other bands well worth it. Age set in as I was walking out of the parking lot and back to my car. Not only was I surrounded by folks about half my age all day long in a "hip" college town, but I was sore all over from being on my feet all day. That's not gonna stop me, though. I'll continue to listen to my "juvenile" music and go to shows with the kids because that's my passion.
I took some cell phone photos of all the bands I watched at this thing, but this blog setup sucks and won't let me put the photos where I want so I am leaving them out. I was also going to go in and "pepper in" links to various stuff, but I know this blog doesn't have enough traffic for me to bother. SO...if you wanna check out more about these bands or Polyvinyl Records, just do a quick Google search and TONS of information will be at your fingertips.
I left Springfield around 12:30 PM or so. Angie and Francesca stayed at home. Angie, mainly, because I know she would have absolutely no interest in watching a bunch of indie-rock bullshit bands all day, and Francesca, well...because she is 2 months old. God bless Angie for taking care of her all day. I owe you one! Anyhow, I pointed my vehicle towards I-72 East and started making my trek towards the Highdive in Champaign where the festivities were going down. I arrived in Champaign right on time -- about 1:45ish. My directions were spot on until I got into downtown Champaign and then I got lost. Good thing I had my smart-phone on me. The Highdive is located on some weird-ass fucked up street that takes some odd diagonal road to get up to it that is NOT clearly identified. I pulled up there around 2:00 or so after getting lost and started what ended up being 3 circles around the general area before I found a respectable parking spot. I wasn't sure if the metered parking required payment on the weekend, so I walked up the street where I parked and noticed none of the other cars paid the meter, so I decided I'd follow suit. The worst that could happen is my car ends up towed along with 30 or so others. We'd all be in that shit together, so I went with it. I later found out you don't have to pay the meters on the weekend, just like here at home. Cool. The festival was setup in a large parking lot behind the Highdive.
I went to Will Call and got my ticket and went inside. There were several tents setup selling various things along with the nice-sized outdoor stage. One was selling some homemade blankets or some shit. Some "earthy" folks doing all-natural things or what have you. There was also a tent with some very nice folks giving away free organic apples all day -- that was very nice! A tent selling you a plate containing a pulled pork sandwich, mac-n-cheese and baked beans for $7.00, a tent with some video game company premiering some new game they developed along with a Polyvinyl Records table with a bunch of merch from all of the bands performing that day. OH! There was also a booze tent that I hit periodically throughout the day that was serving 312 ale from Chicago and your standard spirits. All drinks were $5.00 no matter what it was.
Now...onto the bands:
When I walked into the festival, Joan of Arc was playing. Joan of Arc is from Chicago, IL. They started in 1995 following the breakup of Cap 'N Jazz, so I DO remember the name getting tossed around during my high school days. Honestly, I never bothered to dive into their music too much. I think I heard a tune or two back then and said, "Meh...". They were OK at this performance. Standard indie-rock stuff.
Next up was Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. These dudes are from Springfield, MO. They did an alright job. Kind of a more "poppy" indie rock band. The singer smiled A LOT and pointed at people in the crowd. They had one song about 3 missing girls from their hometown called, "Yellow Missing Signs". I guess these girls have been missing since 1992 and the case has been referred to as "The Springfield Three". You can read up more about it here. Ryan Dougherty (who ran into me earlier in the day) jokingly said, "This must be their "Runaway Train"...you know...like Soul Asylum." I had a pretty good laugh about that one. Before they started that song, the singer said, "This is our most serious song", and one of the other dudes in the band said, "It doesn't have to be. It could be fun." That kinda made me laugh. During the performance of this song, the singer kinda ripped open his sweater to reveal a shirt showing pictures of the missing girls. Their set was decent. It wasn't Earth-shattering for me or anything like that.
Next up was Asobi Seksu from New York City. They are referred to as "dream-pop" I guess. I would just say they had a very textured and effects-heavy vocal and guitar sound. As they setup the singer brought up a keyboard-synth-type-thing, and and I was like "Oh shit...here we go with a bunch of electronic bullcrap." They got started and the drums came in heavy, then there was this atmospheric synth thing going on. The guitar came in and was VERY effects heavy. Then her voice. Man...it all came together beautifully! Color me (surprisingly) impressed! Now, at first she had a thin-high pitched voice, but a couple of songs in she walked away from her keyboard and was belting it out with some real "umph" behind her voice. THAT hooked me! Along with the intensity of the music behind it...a recipe for perfection! The set was over before I knew it and I just kinda stood there blown away. I overheard a kid say, "Man...THAT was intense. Better live than on their record." This caused some hesitation with me. I asked myself, "Do I go with my gut and go buy a record from them? OR...trust this kid I overheard and let what I just experienced just stay with me? Can they effectively capture that level of intensity on a damn record?" It took a little of inner debate, but I opted to buy their new record, "Fluorescence". I listened to most of it in the car today, and although good, it certainly doesn't have the "punch" that their live performance did yesterday.
Next up was Owen from Chicago, IL. Owen is just Mike Kinsella from Cap 'N Jazz and, naturally, Joan of Arc. Just him and an acoustic guitar. Not much more needs said. He did a real nice job! Singer/Songwriter-type stuff. Well written songs with witty lyrics. Very enjoyable!
After that was Starfucker. I watched these dudes setup, and I know you shouldn't "judge a book by it's cover", but goddamn. Three keyboard synth-type things got setup and these dudes just OOOZED indie. Skinny jeans (which you can light me up on all you want, but do NOT fucking belong on a man. Period.), hair that they obviously took their time to get "just right" before leaving the house that day, BRIGHT colored pastel shirts, etc, etc...you get the idea. Just a little TOO stereotypical for my taste. I gave them a chance and they started up the first song and about half-way through I said to myself, "nope" and opted to take this opportunity to go to Jupiter's Pizzeria and Billiards right next door to the Highdive and get some dinner. I wasn't going to miss anything. Jupiter's is a nice little place. They serve pizza done up a little fancier than usual and also have a fairly respectable selection of beer. I opted for the Pesto Margherita pizza with pesto, mozzarella and provolone, sliced roma tomatoes, oregano and basil. Washed it down with a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Good stuff!
I got back to the festival and the next band, Xiu Xiu was starting. VERY avant-garde band from San Jose, CA. I'm usually intrigued by the strange and unusual like this, but holy shit was this band fucking terrible! WAY too out there to really listen to and appreciate for me. ...and that's REALLY saying something. The singer sounded like he was trying to do an mix of Pavarotti and the singer from Midnight Oil at the same time. It didn't even sound natural. It was like he was REALLY trying to sound like an idiot. ...and the two dudes he had up on stage with him just kept randomly hitting electronic shit like keyboards, drum pads, and the occasional cymbal and other percussion instruments. No real structure to anything. Strange lookin' fellas too. Bad stuff. Sorry, guys.
Next up was Japandroids from Vancouver, BC (Canada). I may just have a new favorite band after watching these two dudes. It's just one dude on guitar and one dude on a drum kit and I swear to God it sounds like there are 4-5 people on stage. The guitarist runs his guitar through 4 amps and who knows how many pedals. Sounds like 2 guitars and a bass all going at once. HUGE sound! ...and the drummer, naturally, keeps everything chuggin' along just fine. As far as describing thier sound, well...they are just a rock band I guess. The singer said they are just two dudes who like to play punk rock, so I guess call them a punk rock band. EXTREMELY energetic and a lot of fun to watch play. These dudes REALLY impressed me and I picked up their record and a 7" after their set. Genuinely nice dudes that just love to play music together. Towards the later part of their set, their drummer's seat broke and he fell about a foot lower than where he should be sitting. They stopped, everyone had a good laugh about it, and they picked up from the chorus of the song and finished up. The singer said (as the drummer was getting his seat fixed), "If you ever wondered what it's like to be in a band...it's just like this kind of shit, man."
After Japandroids, were Deerhoof from San Francisco, CA. I've heard a lot of hype about this band, and after watching them perform, I would have to say it's more hype than substance. Lots of really spastic arrangements that didn't really hold my attention all that well. They were a little fun to watch, but not musically pleasing to me. Kind of like Xiu Xiu in the sense they were just a little too out there for my taste. The crowd seemed to love 'em, though and they certainly had enough energy.
Last, but not least, was Braid. The whole reason I made the decision to go to this thing in the first place. Braid split in 1999, but since has done one "reunion" tour in 2005 and recently released a new EP called "Closer To Closed" on Polyvinyl Records and did 2 shows (one in Chicago at the Metro and this one yesterday) for it. I first saw Braid in maybe 1994 at some dude's basement here in town with Ingot and Scout. They captured my attention right away at that show and are responsible for numerous nights of me ignoring my homework in my high school days and listening to their records instead. Their set was the perfect throwback to my youth along with the new songs peppered in. They opened with one of my favorites, "My Baby Smokes" off of their second record, "The Age of Octeen", and then went right into another great tune, "New Nathan Detroits" off of their final album, "Frame and Canvas" which has been hailed as one of the 10 best "indie-rock" records of all time. Often imitated, but never duplicated. They did a nice job of mixing in a lot of the old favorites and actually played all of the songs I wanted to hear along with "Hugs From Boys" which is probably my most favorite Braid song of all time. Great performance! That made the drive and all day standing around listening to random other bands well worth it. Age set in as I was walking out of the parking lot and back to my car. Not only was I surrounded by folks about half my age all day long in a "hip" college town, but I was sore all over from being on my feet all day. That's not gonna stop me, though. I'll continue to listen to my "juvenile" music and go to shows with the kids because that's my passion.
I took some cell phone photos of all the bands I watched at this thing, but this blog setup sucks and won't let me put the photos where I want so I am leaving them out. I was also going to go in and "pepper in" links to various stuff, but I know this blog doesn't have enough traffic for me to bother. SO...if you wanna check out more about these bands or Polyvinyl Records, just do a quick Google search and TONS of information will be at your fingertips.
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