Austin Psych Fest 2014 Day 2 (Part 2)

Introduction: This is a continuation of my previous post about Austin Psych Fest. That post introduced the event and discussed the first six or so bands I saw during the day. This post will cover the six or so bands I saw in the evening and conclude with some additional analytic remarks.

I think the attendance of the day's festivities peaked around the time Temples went on stage, or at least that seemed to be the most crowded show I saw all day. It's understandable; I think some of the early arrivers were getting ready to leave, but the latecomers were certainly there by then (the set started at 8:15pm), and the band has been getting a lot of hype. It's not without reason: Temples are a classic psychedelic band, marrying a blues/hard rock core with spacey sounds, lots of effects, and an otherworldly, slightly mystic vibe. (I mean, consider their name!) Live, the spaciness was less apparent and the rock was a little more in focus. They seemed to float between being a Tame Impala ripoff and a less melodramatic Led Zeppelin acolyte. I like the style, and the sound is good, but it still seems like it's missing something to make it really special. I watched them soundcheck and caught the singer asking for the vocals to be pushed as loud as possible. They were almost certainly the only band at the festival to make such a request, and it went a long way to make them stand out. Maybe that makes them too conventional, but I appreciated being able to understand the words.

[Temples. My last picture of the night, taken as darkness was falling.]

I then went back to the Levitation Tent to lie down and listen to Mono for a while. They are an instrumental rock band, and I'm absolutely sure I'm far from the first person to make the Godspeed You! Black Emperor comparison. Admittedly, they have very different ideas of what instrumental rock can be, but their guitar tone was very similar (I recently dubbed it "bulldozer guitar" because of the thick, distorted delay effects) and the sense of dynamic rising-and-falling seemed familiar from the GY!BE playbook. It's probably an unfair comparison, but I couldn't help thinking of it while I was listening. The guitarwork was good, but I think their overall sound is just a little too guitar-heavy. Without vocals, I think other instruments, or at least more focus on the bass and drums, might have made things more exciting.

Next up for me was Unknown Mortal Orchestra, whom I'd heard of but never listened to. I gather they have quite a following, and I was initially hesitant to buy in, but I made myself give them a fair chance, and I found myself enjoying it. They performed as a power trio, with the singer/guitarist as the clear central figure. I was expecting to resent his showmanship (ugh, what's the gender-neutral version of that word?), but I actually found his solos quite appealing, and I liked that the drummer fit right in with them and complemented the guitar. Even if the frontperson was the focus, it was clear that the other members had important contributions to make. The sound was a little hard or heavy, but balanced by a pop feel.

Setlist (borrowed completely from here):
1. The Opposite of Afternoon
2. Thought Ballune

3. How Can You Luv Me

4. Strangers Are Strange

5. Monki

6. Ffunny Ffrends

7. So Good at Being in Trouble

8. Boy Witch

I intended to catch some of Acid Mothers Temple at the Elevation Amphitheatre, but the riverbanks were about as full as they could be, so I decided to give Medicine a shot instead. They seemed to be in line with the shoegaze trend, very similar to My Bloody Valentine. It was like a mix of the drone and trance of a song like "Soon" with the darker, thicker mesh of guitars of Isn't Anything. I found the music to be a little too static and invariant. The bass was pleasantly prominent but yet rather simple. The vocals weaved some good harmonies, but they sounded fairly vague and low in the mix.

Setlist (borrowed in full from here):
1. Christmas Song
2. Long As the Sun
3. The Pink
4. Miss Drugstore
5. The Reclaimed Girl
6. Never Click
7. Farther Down
8. Aruca
Encore:
9. One More

I left their set early to get a decent spot to see The Horrors. They immediately had a stage presence and atmosphere that seemed right out of the gothy, synthy era of the late 70s and early 80s. Their sound would have fit right in with Gary Numan or some corners of the Siouxsie & the Banshees catalog. I had a nagging feeling that they sounded identical to one of my favorite bands, but I couldn't (and still can't) figure out which one, which probably means they absorbed the influences of some of my old favorites and made something new out of it, which should probably be considered an impressive feat. I liked the post-punk bass and the big, moody synthesizer. The singer seemed a little dark and gloomy, almost to a fault, since I couldn't understand him at all. The guitarist started out the set only contributing a useless mess of noise, but by the end he was playing riffs that fit right in. Despite that particular improvement, I actually thought their set kind of dragged downwards as it went on. I enjoyed it, but couldn't connect with it like I thought I should have. It probably wasn't helping that the lightshow was bothering me greatly by that point.

I was getting pretty worn down by that point, so I just sat down and waited for The Brian Jonestown Massacre to start. Most bands only had 30 minutes between sets and 45 minutes to play, and while the Horrors had been given an hour to play, BJM were still scheduled to go on a half hour after that. Despite their 12:15am billing, they were still setting up at that time. They finally hit the stage at 12:45.

Setlist (thanks to here for filling in the holes):
01. Whoever You Are
02. Who?
03. What You Isn't
04. Jennifer
05. Anemone
06. The Devil May Care (Mom & Dad Don't)
07. When Jokers Attack
08. Sailor
09. No Come Down
10. Days, Weeks and Moths
11. Oh Lord

Admittedly, the setlist was awesome, even if they didn't really play any of their "hits". They mixed several classics from their great 90s albums with a few new tracks ("What You Isn't", "Days, Weeks and Moths"). They claimed that they had never played two of the songs live before ("The Devil May Care", "No Come Down"), both of which were great tracks that I was happy to hear. It was also great to see longtime member Matt Hollywood back in the band; he even sang lead on two songs ("No Come Down", "Oh Lord").

But that's about where the party ends. First of all, the band itself is confusing. Their current form has eight members: frontperson/singer/guitarist Anton Newcombe, apparent second-in-command/guitarist/vocalist Matt Hollywood, two other guitarists, a keyboardist/guitarist, a bassist, a drummer, and the humorously odd tambourinist Joel Gion. For having four (or sometimes five) guitarists, you'd expect a lot of nuance to their sound, but in fact, they usually all played the exact some chords. Some were even playing what appeared to be identical instruments. The music was cool, but I couldn't help but feel like there were some inherently wasted opportunities. At times one of the guitarists would play a lead line recognizable from the recordings, but the others would still be sharing a single part.

Second, partway into their set, the sound of horrible, all-consuming feedback enveloped the soundscape. It wasn't the ear-destroying screeching of microphone feedback, but more akin to the loud, warm sound of a giant engine. It didn't destroy the music, but it was louder than it, and it kept going for several songs, only fading when they paused between songs. By watching the performers carefully, it was clear that Anton's semi-hollow guitar was the culprit – and I've heard the same voluminous sound from similar instruments. Oddly, no one else seemed to notice, not on stage nor in the crowd. I wondered if I was just in some terrible type of dead zone, but I moved through the crowd and it wouldn't go away. After four or five songs, it finally faded away for good, but it had ruined half of their set in the meantime. I don't understand how their extra half-hour of soundchecking resulted in them having the worst sound of any performer at the festival. How did they get that so wrong? Perhaps having so many redundant guitarists didn't help the problem.

But that's not even the worst thing. Since they started a half-hour late, and I had heard the festival was to end at 1:30, I assumed they'd still give us 75 minutes of music as scheduled. Like I said before, certainly no noise ordinance could be in effect, so who would mind if they played late? However, at 1:30, they unceremoniously bowed out, awkwardly looking at each other and questioningly laying down instruments. They finally mumbled some words of appreciation and then left. The audience cheered for more, but house lights and PA music came on, and stage hands came out, indicating that the show was over. No encore. 11 songs, 45 minutes. That was it. The topmost-billed headliner of the entire festival only played for 45 minutes!

Final Thoughts: First, a word about the environment. Being a ranch, the location isn't exactly great, but there is something nice about being a little removed from the big city and closer to nature. However, the only natural benefit was the backdrop of the Colorado River, and the city is actually inescapable because the airport is very close by and planes continually fly low overhead. My experience was rather dusty, hot, smelly, sunny, and windy, but not so much of any one thing so as to be terribly annoying. In fact, listing those things in sequence makes it sound worse than it was. What was truly annoying was the lightshow. In fact, I'm not sure if it can even be called a lightshow if in practice it just meant blinding the audience. Seriously, those lasers were pointed right at my eyes for almost the entire set by the Horrors and much of the other evening sets as well. I thought I had paid money to see bands play live, not stand in a crowd with my eyes closed.

The other annoying thing was that there was absolutely no oversight of the shuttles at the end of the night. A line formed, but when I say "line", I mean "mob", and it got a little pushy after the first shuttle filled up and we had to wait for the next one, which was going to a different location anyway. I did get on the third one, but there were plenty of people still left behind after that.

I think the overall experience was cool. Ultimately, I didn't really see any great performances, but I did see a lot of good bands, and I had a fun time. I think the sum was actually better than the parts. I'm still not going to give an "overall score" as I have occasionally done before, but don't let all the B grades make you think I didn't enjoy it enough.

Scores:
Temples: B
Mono: B-
Unknown Mortal Orchestra: B+
Medicine: B-
The Horrors: B
The Brian Jonestown Massacre: D+

P.S. BJM is a really good band, and I'm not happy about giving them such a low score, but that's what they deserve. It might not even have been their fault; it's entirely possible that the sound techs, the venue staff, or someone else entirely sabotaged their sound and schedule. Whatever the case, it could have been so much more.

Austin Psych Fest 2014 Day 2 (Part 1)

Event: Austin Psych Fest 2014 Day 2 (Part 1)
Venue: Carson Creek Ranch
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 3 May 2014

Introduction: I heard about the Psych Fest when I was at SXSW, when it came up in connection to some of the psychedelic bands I saw there. I was immediately interested, but frustrated that it was going to be taking place on the edge of town, in a location essentially inaccessible by bicycle. I wrote it off at first, but then a week before, I checked the details again and heard about a shuttle from downtown Austin. That just about sealed the deal for me, so I decided to go for one day and check it out.

Learning from my past festival experiences, I decided it would be best to show up early. The bands started playing at 12:30 and I got there about 3. However, unlike other festivals that end around 11pm because of municipal noise ordinances, the Psych Fest actually takes place just outside city limits and thus is free from such limitations. Somewhere I read that it would wrap up around 1:30am.

I stayed until the bitter end, and because I saw about twelve bands and over ten hours of music, I'm going to split my review into two parts. This first one will cover the daytime bands, and the next one will cover the nighttime bands and a few final thoughts.

[Barn Owl at the Elevation Amphitheatre, overlooking the Colorado River.]

After riding my bike to the shuttle stop, waiting for the bus, finally getting on and getting to the venue, my ticket wouldn't scan. Before I could even protest, the person doing the scanning just waved me through and told me it was fine; he didn't care. Once I finally got to the grounds, I was conflicted whether to see Barn Owl or Steve Gunn. I first opted to see Barn Owl, assuming that their experimental electronics would be more interesting to me, but I was quickly bored by their noisy drones, so I turned around and caught most of Steve Gunn's set. Apparently once part of Kurt Vile's backing band, he's had a solo career for a while as a singer-songwriter with a guitar-centric folk/jam bent. I thought his guitarwork was excellent, particularly with regards to his fingerpicking technique. He was better than I was expecting, but mostly stayed with the tried and true. He had a few sound problems, and the bassist's EQ was biased far too low to allow for a good sound balance, but the music was still pleasant.

[Steve Gunn at the Reverberation Stage, presumably the "main" stage.]

I couldn't resist seeing Boogarins again, even though I'd just seen them at SXSW in March. Now that I have the album and I've studied it in depth, I felt like I could appreciate their live performance even more. However, of the seven songs they played, only three were from their album ("Infinu", "Lucifernandis", "Doce"), but each one was extended with additional jam sections. The other four songs were presumably all new works destined for a follow-up album. I thought the mix of old and new was perfect, especially since they'd retooled the old songs to keep them fresh and dynamic for the live experience. While I don't think they were as heavy as last time I saw them, they still had a lot of power. The brighter sound of their record was a little more obvious, lending them a nice balance between serious virtuosity and sunny melodies. Their bassist really stood out, and the lead guitarist was great, too, even if he relied on his rotary effect just a little too much.

[Boogarins.]

I was hoping to catch the last ten or fifteen minutes of Pure X, but they were wrapping up as I approached the stage. The few minutes I caught sounded oddly similar to Steve Gunn. The folky vibe seemed in defiant contrast to their name (reduced from their original name, Pure Ecstasy).

Instead, I headed back to the Elevation Amphitheatre to see Jacco Gardner, a Dutch musician who seems to have his head stuck in the 60s. Retro can be cool, and his keyboardist's tones were great, but the overall sound just felt too predictable and derivative. It wasn't a bad sound, but it wasn't a very clever or creative sound, either. It didn't help that the bassist was way too loud and the lead guitar was all but inaudible.

[Jacco Gardner.]

I was getting hungry at that point, so I found an African food truck and ate vegan curry while watching part of a set by Bardo Pond. I liked the vocalist and her flute contributions, but the guitars were pretty basic, which made having two seem rather redundant. Their sound was heavy, sludgy, almost doomy. The dragging tempos and dark sound were offset by a warmer high end from the flute and vocals, which were the only part that I actually enjoyed.

[Bardo Pond.]

After just recently seeing Imarhan Timbuktu at SXSW, I was both intrigued at the prospect of seeing another Tuareg guitarist and simultaneously concerned that it might sound a little too similar. Thankfully, Bombino exceeded my expectations and went in a rather different direction. The core of his guitar technique was similar to Imarhan's (which is to say it was fantastic), but whereas Imarhan was admittedly somewhat static in their sonic palette, rhythms, and tempos, Bombino wasn't afraid to borrow more from other genres. (To be fair, when I saw Imarhan, they were playing without their full lineup, so I can't really say I saw the real deal.) Bombino used a similar method of playing sharp riffs running up and down the scales, but his guitar tone was a little more distorted and searing. His second guitarist kept it simple, employing few chords but careful rhythm, while the bassist played more dynamically. The drummer was quite exciting, too, playing a variety of beats and rhythms that made each song feel a little different. The grooves were consistently comfortably danceable, and I couldn't help but feel that a little funk or reggae influence had crept in.

[Bombino.]

I finally went to the third stage, the Levitation Tent, to see most of a set by The Octopus Project. At first I thought their vocals were awfully hard to understand, but then I realized I was actually hearing a theremin! I looked closer, and sure enough, a woman (who I could swear did sing at some point) was holding her hands carefully in the air near some gadgetry. (I've never seen one in concert before, although I did play with one once at an ironworks museum in Germany.) I liked that the band could switch between noisy electro-rock and something akin to dancey synthpop. I didn't think the performance was actually particularly exciting, but I was intrigued enough that I'd like to see them again, especially since they are from Austin.

[The Levitation Tent. No musicians pictured due to the lighting in the tent.]

Scores:

Steve Gunn: B-

Boogarins: A-

Jacco Gardner: C

Bardo Pond: C+

Bombino: A-

The Octopus Project: B

P.S. I didn't see enough of Barn Owl or Pure X to be able to judge them appropriately.

P.P.S. The rest of the day will be continued in the next post!

[Edit 2015.02.02:] P.P.P.S. Bardo Pond's setlist has been uploaded here:

1. Kali Yuga Blues

2. Taste

3. Fir

4. Chance

5. Before the Moon

Goblin / Pinkish Black - Live 2014.04.29 Mohawk, Austin, Texas

When I heard that Goblin was coming to town, I couldn't resist my curiosity. I didn't know too many details about the band, but I knew a few important things that probably everyone else in attendance knew: Goblin is an Italian prog rock band from the 70s that wrote and recorded the soundtracks to several big horror films, including Deep Red, Suspiria, and Zombi (Dawn of the Dead). While others may be able to say more about the films in questions, I barely remember the ones I have seen, and I don't even know if I'd enjoy them now. But of the Goblin-scored movies I did see many years back, the thing that sticks in my memory the best is, naturally, the music.

Artist: Goblin
Venue: Mohawk (outside)
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 29 April 2014
Opening Act: Pinkish Black

Pinkish Black was apparently only announced as the opener on the day of the show, although it would seem that they've been opening for Goblin for the length of this US tour. The band is a drone/doom/dark ambient duo from Denton, Texas. One member drums and possibly handles some sample manipulation and the other does the vocals and keyboard/synthesizer work. For not having a bassist, their low end was made quite thick and heavy just from the keyboardist alone; he dedicated a lot of attention to the bottom of his instrument's range and used effects and distortion to bolster the sound. They played six rather long songs, each of which included extended droning or ambient segments that eventually built into bigger, louder, heavier sections. The energy noticeably picked up in the middle of the fourth song, when the drummer switched from a slow beat into a rushed, double-time part. The fifth song was particularly heavy as well, which made it seem like there was a carefully planned arc of energy in their performance. I could barely understand the lyrics, and the style doesn't really excite me, but I found the set to be oddly compelling nonetheless.

Goblin has had a long history involving many changing lineups. Currently, original keyboardist and bandleader Claudio Simonetti plays in a separate band that also performs Goblin material, but otherwise, this version of the band is about as authentic as is possible. The band features original members Massimo Morante (guitar) and Fabio Pignatelli (bass), augmented by longtime members Maurizo Guarini (keyboards and vocal effects) and Agostino Marangolo (drums and percussion effects). This tour also features a conspicuously younger American by the name of Steve Moore on keyboards.

[Goblin in their element, performing with film projection.]

I tried to follow the setlist, but my familiarity with specific song titles is far too limited. I believe that what I saw was very similar, if not identical, to the rough setlist for a recent St. Petersburg, Florida show outlined on setlist.fm. The band announced some titles, but for others only mentioned an era or a film. Hence, I know they opened with "Magic Thriller" from their recent Back to the Goblin album, followed by "Mad Puppet" from Deep Red. This led into several works from their early non-soundtrack albums, such as Roller and Il Fantastico Viaggio del Bagarozzo Mark. Then they broke into a series of works from their most popular soundtracks – Zombi, Suspiria, and finally Deep Red. In each case, I think they played a medley or sequence of pieces from each soundtrack (which is not clear from the setlist.fm tabulation). That was the end of the main set, but they returned for a brief encore to perform "Zaratozom" from Zombi.

I think Goblin knew that it was far more likely that most people in the audience would recognize the big soundtrack compositions over their non-soundtrack and latter-day works. However, I was impressed that the quality of these less famous pieces was still quite high. Until they announced that the midsection was mostly non-soundtrack work, I had just assumed they were from a film I hadn't seen, as the style and atmosphere of those pieces fit right in with the rest. Admittedly, a few selections felt a little uninspired or uninteresting, but then again, there are sections of the soundtrack works that drag just a bit, too.

In particular, the opening selection, "Magic Thriller", was one of the highlights of the set, despite being from a latter-day recording made in piecemeal fashion as the band's reunion coalesced. Just as with the best classic works, the song featured fantastic spooky keyboard work, precise and spiky bass and drum parts, and sharp guitar riffs. The best part of the show was watching the musicians play very complicated prog-rock styled parts in perfect harmony and rhythm. While there were plenty of more ambient, slower sections, most of the set kept a high level of energy, such that the night went by faster than I would have guessed.

Morante appeared to take on the role of bandleader, occasionally loosely conducting the rest of the band and grabbing a mic between songs to offer thanks. His guitarwork was great, even if he did sometimes wander into the territory of indulgent, pointless solos, but he may have been overshadowed by Guarini, whose keyboard rack was frequently in the spotlight. I can only wonder what Simonetti would have added if he was there, but his replacement, Moore, seemed to fill the gap suitably. His parts were far less showy, but I did catch him providing wailing moans on one song and even saxophone on another. Pignatelli and Marangolo should not be overlooked in the least, as both were experts with their instruments, and even if they appeared fairly reserved, they played intricate parts that laid down a solid backbone. Without their careful precision, the performance would have fallen completely flat.

The audience perked up considerably when the band switched to the soundtracks, and corresponding film segments were projected behind the band to also help set to mood. The selections from Suspiria were probably the high point for me, being the perfect intersection of haunted atmosphere, unusual sounds, and perfectionist instrumentation. Morante even switched to a bouzouki for the trademark main theme, and Guarini spoke-sang the creepy vocalization part through some dense effects. The Deep Red pieces were also very good, and had a heavier, more intense sound, bringing the energy to a peak before the band left the stage.

Part of the fun of the whole thing was watching a mostly male crowd, almost entirely dressed in black, rocking out to an aging, purely instrumental progressive rock band that doesn't really move around much on stage. Goblin's sound is only a slight shade darker than that of a band like Yes (or maybe even Genesis or Hawkwind), yet the only major difference in style is the absence of conventional vocals. The audience, opening band, and PA music were more in line with a gothic, darkwave, or even metal scene, but yet here was a band that doesn't really fit into any of those genres. This is most likely simply due to the horror movie connections, but if Goblin didn't have that connotation, I wonder what their audience would be like. I can hardly complain; I'm just glad they were able to find their place in history.

Scores:
Pinkish Black: B-
Goblin: B+

[Goblin getting a picture with the audience before leaving the venue.]

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra / My Empty Phantom - Live 2014.04.22 Mohawk, Austin, Texas

It's not often that I see a concert poster and say to myself, "I should see that show", but after all, that is how I found out about the show that essentially kicked off this blog in 2007. A couple weeks ago, I happened to see a poster for this show, and since I'd recently heard most of their new album and liked it well enough, I thought it was worth a shot. Tickets were cheap and the opener even seemed interesting.

Artist: Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra
Venue: Mohawk (outside)
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 22 April 2014
Opening Act: My Empty Phantom

Setlist (thanks to here for filling in the holes of my knowledge):
01. Fuck Off Get Free (For the Island of Montreal)
02. Austerity Blues
03. Rains Thru the Roof at Thee Grande Ballroom (for Capital Steez) →
04. Take Away These Early Grave Blues
05. 'Piphany Rambler
06. All the Kings Are Dead
07. What We Loved Was Not Enough

Encore:
08. Little Ones Run

My Empty Phantom is a local Austin multi-instrumentalist that does his live act by looping keyboard and guitar parts together and then playing live drums, as opposed to the "conventional" looping technique of starting with a drum loop and then building up the other instruments. He played five songs and they all followed the same pattern. There was some variance in whether he favored guitar or keyboard, but once he had a suitable instrumental base, he would then sit at his set and drum along for a while before bringing things back down. He was proficient at each of his instruments, and I liked the sound, but I didn't find it very noteworthy otherwise. You can stream his debut EP from bandcamp, and presumably the five tracks there are the same five he played live.

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra is a consciously strange band and they are known just as much for their non-musical trappings as they are for their music. First, most people (including myself) know them mostly as a sibling-band to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, a vanguard of the experimental rock/post-rock scene. The two bands share members (guitarist Efrim Menuck, bassist Thierry Amar, and violinist Sophie Trudeau) as well as a hometown (Montreal) and label (Constellation). Second, the band is known for changing their name and their lineup quite regularly. Most variations of their name include the words "Silver", "Mt.", and "Zion", leading fans to frequently refer to them as A Silver Mt. Zion as a compromise for consistency. (I will follow this convention for now.) Third, the band (as with Godspeed) are known for their left-wing politics, including virulent anti-capitalism and an honest attempt to live and work in a truly democratic, communal fashion. Fourth, the band's song titles and album artwork (again, as with Godspeed) are noted for being unconventional, atypically lengthy, and abstract, political, or both.

[Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra.]

A Silver Mt. Zion's music fits pretty well with their aesthetic. While it shares Godspeed's affinity for a less rock and more classically oriented composition style, as well as Efrim's powerful, effects-laden guitar, this band features vocals. While Godspeed seemed happy to let their album art, song titles, occasional samples, and musical atmosphere convey their message, A Silver Mt. Zion is a little more direct. The lyrics are almost confrontational in their honesty and anger about modern life. They claimed that they weren't political, that they are just telling it like it is, and while I agree, most people find honest discourse about the state of a nation or the economy to be inherently political. It doesn't really matter, but the band clearly has a lot to say about topics like the 2012 student riots in Quebec.

The only problem was that I couldn't actually understand the lyrics at the show. Hardly a single line, in fact. Part of the problem was that the vocals were mixed low, treated almost like an instrument à la My Bloody Valentine, and the other part was that Efrim sang most of the vocals and he has a terrible voice. I love his guitarwork, and I might sympathize with his ideologies, but I do not like his voice. He can usually stay on key, but his style is loose, yelpy, and shrieking. While all the other members also sang, they rarely sang lead, and they were mixed even lower.

That leads me to another problem I observed, although his may be a minor quibble of little significance. Much like Godspeed, the band appears to try to work as a collaborative collective, but yet Efrim was clearly the lead singer, he did the vast majority of the talking, and his bulldozer guitar dominated the mix. After "Take Away These Early Grave Blues", while taking a breather, he asked if the audience had any questions. Naturally, people called out a few things, and Efrim answered almost all of them, although he did insist that he couldn't speak for the other members. (I can thus report that Efrim's favorite song is "Complete Control" by the Clash and the first album he bought was ABBA's Greatest Hits.)

So while the vocals might not have done much for me, I found the music to be quite good. Thierry's basswork was excellent, and on half the songs he switched from an electric bass to a stand-up double bass. Drummer David Payant surprised me by occasionally playing a keyboard hidden behind his set. Violinists Sophie and Jessica Moss were unfortunately heard to hear in the mix, but I thought their contributions were the crux of what made the band's sound seem so nuanced and textured. Efrim's guitar tends to be big, heavy, delayed, and distorted, such that despite that he doesn't play many chords or traditional guitar solos, he still fills up a huge amount of space. Thierry's melodic bass parts make a nice bed of sound underneath that, and the violins complete the top end of the picture. It's a very big sound, and it's quite cool to follow its swells and movements.

Scores:

My Empty Phantom: C+
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra: B

The National / Warpaint - Live 2014.04.21 Moody Theater, Austin, Texas

After missing my chance to see The National at the Austin City Limits Festival last year (day three of weekend two was canceled due to flooding), I was quite disappointed that all my studying up on the band was left somewhat unfulfilled. When I heard they were coming back to one of Austin's best venues for two nights, I immediately bought a ticket. (They later even added a third night!) I became even more excited after learning the opener was a band that had begun to show up on my radar with good praise.

Artist: The National
Venue: Moody Theater (Austin City Limits Live)
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 21 April 2014
Opening Act: Warpaint

Setlist (thanks to here for filling in the holes in my back-catalog awareness):
01. Sea of Love
02. I Should Live in Salt
03. Mistaken for Strangers
04. Sorrow
05. Bloodbuzz Ohio
06. Don't Swallow the Cap
07. Hard to Find
08. Afraid of Everyone
09. Conversation 16
10. Squalor Victoria
11. I Need My Girl
12. This Is the Last Time
13. Ada → Chicago (Sufjan Stevens cover tease)
14. Abel
15. Slow Show
16. Pink Rabbits
17. England
18. Graceless
19. About Today
20. Fake Empire

Encore:

21. Runway
22. Mr. November
23. Terrible Love
24. Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks

Warpaint was just in town for SXSW, but because I already had this ticket, I decided it wasn't worth seeking them out there. At this show, they thanked anyone who had seen them there, but admitted that SXSW "was a bit of a shitshow" and that they were much happier to be playing in a "proper venue". It isn't hard to see why a band would prefer a spacious venue with good acoustics and plenty of time to set up and soundcheck over a hasty, rushed affair in some smaller club amid a mess of competing musicians.

I started hearing about Warpaint because they seem to be grouped in with the contemporary psychedelic crowd, which I have been hearing a lot about because of SXSW and the upcoming Austin Psych Fest. Warpaint have the distinction of being an all-woman band, as well as having a sound unto themselves, apart from any psychedelic connotations. I can see the relationship to that concept, but they merge the floaty, ethereal guitars of The Chameleons with a very rhythmic, rooted, earthy bass and drum feel. The solid, danceable beats with the flexibility of multiple singers reminded me just barely of The Slits or The Raincoats, or maybe even Gang of Four or The Au Pairs.

I consistently found myself mesmerized by the rhythm parts, studying the bass and drums and letting the vocals, guitars, and keyboards float through my awareness. That isn't to say the guitars weren't good; they are, after all, what drew me in to the band initially. I love the sound of delayed, atmospheric, effects-laden guitars, but I think this band lets the guitars fill space around the other elements of the songs.

[Warpaint. Sorry for the poor quality of these pictures, but it's better than nothing.]

If I had to criticize, I would say that some of their songs got lost in a bit of a trancey haze. I think the band has a bit of a formula, and for the most part it works, but I'm excited to see how they can break the bounds they seem to have set for themselves. I want to buy their new record, and maybe it is slightly more adventurous, but on stage, they seemed to operate in just one space. Of course, I like that space, but I don't know if it will work for them forever. The other problem was that their lyrics were a challenge to understand, mostly because the vocals just weren't clear and distinct from the other high-range instruments.

The National came to my awareness thanks to the recommendation of a friend, and as such I bought their last two albums (High Violet and Trouble Will Find Me) in anticipation of seeing them at ACL. I haven't heard much of their back-catalog, but now I am rather curious about what it contains. Seeing the band live made me realize that the impressions I have of the band must be incomplete or inaccurate. While I really like both of the albums I have, they do have a bit of a privileged white male perspective, and a lot of the lyrics deal with family life and upper-middle class social environments. The music is a very orchestrated, refined chamber rock that manages to have just enough energy to be thrilling but not enough to be anarchic, chaotic, or anything near punk. The "dad rock" cliché would be fitting, inasmuch as it fits a band like Wilco, which is to say, hardly at all except that a lot of aging white males seem to appreciate the combination of mature lyrics, youthful but restrained energy, and a refined update of classic rock sounds. Obviously, I appreciate those things myself, but sometimes I can't help but wonder if I'm being played to, like it's a calculated game to appeal to a certain demographic.

[The National.]

However, the concert experience defies this. The first sign was that there might have been more women in the audience than men. The second was that the age demographic was split fairly evenly between those around the age of 40 (as I might have expected) and those around the age of 20 (which I had not foreseen). Judging by the number of times I heard the cry of, "I love you, <bandmember>!", The National must have once had a different aura that lent itself more towards, uh… youth appeal. This contrasts sharply with the latest albums, which are not youthful at all (unless you take "youth" to mean kindergartners).

The other strange thing is that the band seems just a little awkward or goofy on stage. I don't know how to explain this, but I almost feel like they don't know how to behave up there. While brothers Bryan and Scott Devendorf (drummer and bassist, respectively) didn't move or talk much, and twin brother guitarists Aaron and Bryce Dessner could only engage the audience at a minimal level (occasional mumbled offerings of thanks, occasional wanderings near the front of the stage with a raised guitar), lead singer Matt Berninger almost seemed to be overcompensating for the others. Despite his semi-conspicuous suit, he was already jumping on the stage monitors during the first song. It didn't take him long to start throwing down the mic at dramatic moments, or flinging water cups into the air, or jumping in the audience and running around while singing, forcing the stage hands to carefully watch the microphone cable. (The most hilarious moment of the show was during one of these jaunts, when Berninger straight up walked out a side door while still singing "Mr. November". He came back out right as the song ended.)

However, I certainly don't mean to write off the other members. I enjoyed watching the Dessner twins, although I have to admit I couldn't tell them apart at all. After doing some research, I think Aaron was on stage left and Bryce on stage right. Both mostly played guitar, but also sang backing parts and occasionally went to the back of the stage to play a piano. Aaron played harmonica on "Sea of Love", and halfway through the show I realized that on half the songs, Bryce was playing bass pedals with his right foot while also playing guitar and singing. Talk about coordination! His other trick was to grab an extra guitar for "I Need My Girl" and hit the headstock on the floor, letting it ring out and feed back at dramatic points. (This can be seen on several live videos, including this one. I actually like the effect enough that I miss it on the album version.)

[Note Bryce, stage right, slamming a guitar into the floor.]

The other thing that stood out to me about the Dessner brothers was that they didn't really ever play a guitar solo. They played lead parts, but never took center stage to noodle about on the upper fret board. They focus more on making a cool part that fits the sound and movement of the song. They play guitar as if it were a violin in an orchestra – important, but not the only part of the picture.

I also appreciated that the band toured with two additional musicians, a trumpeter and a trombonist, both of which occasionally also played keyboards or other instruments. They allowed the songs to sound full and layered without requiring samples, gimmickry, or sacrifice of vital elements of the songs.

The setlist mostly stuck to the two albums I have, but there were several cuts from the preceding albums Alligator and Boxer. In concert, those songs didn't sound particularly out of place, although I couldn't understand any of the lyrics, because it must be near impossible to mix Matt Berninger's somewhat monotone baritone with all the other mid-range instruments. Of course, at times, he would shift into a shrieking yell unheard on the albums, but still indecipherable due to the nature of screaming. But for the songs I already knew, I could follow every word, and I remembered why I like the lyrics and their willingness to explore.

One of the songs I didn't know, "Ada", was introduced as being an old song (2007! So old!) that Sufjan Stevens had done a guest piano part that they admitted they would not be able to reproduce accurately on stage. Nonetheless, they dedicated the song to him, and at the end, I caught the horns players paying tribute by playing the wonderful part of Stevens' "Chicago"! I cheered, but hardly anyone else seemed to notice, and indeed the setlist I found online made no mention of the tease (until I added it myself!).

The other highlight was something of a gimmick, but one that I thought worked quite successfully. At the end of the encore, all seven musicians came to the front of the stage, pushed away the microphones, and played a completely acoustic, seemingly unamplified version of "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks". I still can't say I understand the meaning of the song, but I joined the audience in happily singing along anyway.

Much as I may have criticized the band, I still thought The National played a good show. It was fun, even if it was tempered. I'm interested in examining the back catalog a little further, and I'm impressed that the setlists of the two following nights are actually substantially different than the show I saw.

Scores:
Warpaint: B+

The National: B

P.S. Thanks to Josh P. for the original recommendation.

Neil Young - Live 2014.04.18 Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas, Texas

A long, long time ago (9 August 2003) I had a ticket in my name to see Neil Young & Crazy Horse at Starlight Theater in Kansas City, Missouri. However, my appendix intervened, and for the only time thus far in my life, I was hospitalized. I missed the show in order to have an appendectomy. And now, over ten years later, I've finally had a chance to make up for it.

Artist: Neil Young
Venue: Eugene McDermott Concert Hall, Meyerson Symphony Center
Location: Dallas, Texas
Date: 18 April 2014

Set 1 (see also Sugar Mountain for more details):
01. From Hank to Hendrix
02. On the Way Home (originally performed by Buffalo Springfield)
03. Only Love Can Break Your Heart
04. Love in Mind
05. Philadelphia
06. Mellow My Mind
07. Reason to Believe (Tim Hardin cover)
08. Someday
09. Changes (Phil Ochs cover)
10. Harvest
11. Old Man

Set 2:
12. Cortez the Killer
13. Pocahontas
14. A Man Needs a Maid
15. Ohio (originally performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
16. Southern Man
17. Mr. Soul (originally performed by Buffalo Springfield)
18. Harvest Moon
19. If You Could Read My Mind (Gordon Lightfoot cover)
20. After the Gold Rush
21. Heart of Gold

Encore:
22. Thrasher

Neil Young is never an easy character to pin down. His recent albums have been released on his own schedule and cover themes and styles that are almost as varied and unpredictable as his 80s albums. He's been touring with Crazy Horse, but then reunited briefly with Crosby, Stills, and Nash for his yearly Bridge School Benefit shows, only to then suddenly announce a few sporadic solo shows in select North American cities. He also surprise-released his new covers album (A Letter Home) on the day before this show.

I saw his second show in Dallas, and I would argue that I got the better performance of the two nights, based on setlists and other reviews. Apparently, Neil got a bit upset at the hecklers on the first night, so he skipped a few of his stories. There were certainly hecklers the night I saw him, but they weren't as malicious. (Certainly makes one wonder why someone would pay a hundred or hundreds of dollars just to piss off their favorite musician.) The second night also got two more songs.

[The inside of the Meyerson.]

Neil's choice of venues does make me wonder, though. He seemed to be selecting venues with the best acoustics possible for this solo pseudo-tour. He remarked at the show that the Meyerson was one of the "top two or three places in the United States". Perhaps he is preparing concert recordings for a live release? There was a gigantic mixing board off to the side of the stage, which would be overkill for most solo artists, but I suppose Neil has a certain affinity for sound quality even if there's nothing more to it than that. In any case, I can't argue with Neil's statement; the sound was incredible. I could hear every note perfectly and it never got so loud that I needed my earplugs. (For reference, I always wear earplugs at concerts, because otherwise I can hear my ears distorting the sound.)

Apparently the venue is seen a model institution; it is featured in multiple books on acoustical architecture that I have, and a colleague told me that it was discussed in an acoustic course he recently took. Part of this acclaim can be attributed to a rather novel feature of the venue: heavy concrete doors can hide or expose large reverberation chambers above the balcony seats, meaning that the venue can easy adapt itself to the ideal reverberation times of a variety of styles. It was hard to tell, but I think the chambers were open for Neil.

[The openings to the reverberation chambers.]

Anyway, all of that discussion is necessary to say that the show was quite special even without considering the actual performance quality. And thankfully, the performance was great. Now, everyone knows that Neil is not a perfect singer, but he is distinctive, and he can sing quite well when he chooses. As Neil has aged, his voice has surprisingly not changed greatly. It might be a touch more gravelly, but his range is practically the same as it ever was. (He couldn't hit the highest notes in "Mellow My Mind", but he didn't actually hit them on the record in 1973, either.) His musicianship is also sometimes loose or rough around the edges, but he has an uncanny ability to make this seem legitimate, like it only makes him more authentic. Generally, though, he never hits a wrong note, and I think he views timing as being more about feel than exactness.

[The stage.]

The stage was arranged with a circle of guitars (and a banjo) up front and center, a couple more guitars and a statue of a Native figure behind that, a grand piano (painted by his daughter, according to Neil) on stage left, an upright tack piano on stage right, and a pipe organ on a raised stage in back. In total there were eight acoustic guitars, plus the banjo. I think two of the guitars were twelve-strings. Neil introduced several of the guitars with extended stories when he picked them up.

Actually, Neil spent a large portion of the night just telling stories. He was a little rambly at times, but he has a sort of captivating charm such that you wouldn't want to miss any of the wisdom he might impart. Some of the stories were fairly interesting; he held up one of the guitars to show the work that had been done on it after a previous owner was shot while playing it. He also claimed that a hotel lobby wall with two buttons, labeled "Man" and "Maid", was the inspiration for a "A Man Needs a Maid". Other monologues were more humorous, such as his repeated comments about sleep, or political, such as his repeated comments about water. His best quote: "Sleep is great. Almost as much as water."

[Neil Young talking about his piano.]

As far as the setlist goes, I couldn't have asked for much more. While he played a few songs I don't think are very special ("Philadelphia", "A Man Needs a Maid", "Harvest Moon"), he also did many of his best, including obvious crowd-pleasers ("Old Man", "Heart of Gold", "Ohio", "Southern Man") as well as excellent album cuts and obscurities. He even played what may be my personal favorite of his, "Pocahontas" (on a 12-string!). "Mr. Soul" was done on the pipe organ, giving it an odd drone feel not too distant from his electronic version on the wonderfully strange Trans album. "A Man Needs a Maid", while not one of my favorites, was given a more complicated arrangement in which Neil switched between the grand piano and a synthesizer for different sections.

The recent solo setlists have been notable for including several covers, but of course that's because he just recorded them for his new album. Hardin's "Reason to Believe" didn't seem anything special to me, but I thought Ochs's "Changes" was quite good and Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind" was modestly good.

Some of the most special moments were the songs that Neil doesn't play very often. "Thrasher" is the most obvious – until this tour, it hadn't been played since the original Rust Never Sleeps tour in 1978. It's a great song with some of his best lyrics, and despite the adoration of the fans, Neil just doesn't play it. Since it has long been rumored to be about CSNY and Neil's departure from that scene in the 70s, it does not bode well that he has resurrected the song after a brief CSNY reunion and comments from Graham Nash that a full tour was not out of the question. All signs point to Neil not wanting to be tied down and held back, "lost in rock formations", or turned into "park bench mutations". Other lyrics include this: "So I got bored and left them there / They were just deadweight to me / Better down the road without that load".

A couple other songs were unexpected surprises as well. "Love in Mind" has been played very rarely since its Journey Through the Past tour debut in 1971, and the extended and political "Someday" was played only twice between its origins in the Freedom era (circa 1989) and this tour. Lastly, the solo acoustic version of "Cortez the Killer" has been fairly infrequent. The electric version is far more common, but I found this version quite compelling as well.

[Neil Young playing the tack piano.]

There was hardly a misstep during the whole show. Neil's banter may have been a little fragmented, and hecklers may have been a little annoying, but he didn't let any of that get him down. It's hard to make any other complaint. Neil played well, the venue was amazing (minus all the drunk people), the setlist was superb, and I was pleased that Neil hasn't toned down his politics. It's a rare opportunity to see such a renowned singer and songwriter in such a good venue.

Score: A

P.S. Thanks to Alyssa and Cheryl!

Jon Dee Graham - Live 2014.04.16 Continental Club, Austin, Texas

Artist: Jon Dee Graham
Venue: Continental Club
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 16 April 2014

On the advice of my bandmates, we took a field trip to see a local Austin favorite. Jon Dee Graham performs regularly at the Continental, playing just about every Wednesday night unless he's out of town. I wasn't sure what to expect of him, but I decided it was worth a shot to check him out.

Jon isn't a young musician by any means, but judging by his stage presence and his lyrics, he's clearly been around the block. I don't know many details about his history, but I do know he's been in several Texas bands and he's played guitar for a long time. His bandmates were not young either, but they too had the appearance of being quite familiar with the stage. While Jon did all of the singing and talking, he shared guitar parts (rhythm and lead) with a serious-looking but sharp-playing guitarist. Also present were a drummer and a bassist/backing vocalist.

Jon sings and plays guitar in a rootsy, uncomplicated, but emotionally compelling fashion. He doesn't have a pure or perfect voice, nor extensive range, but his voice does have strength and depth, and he clearly knows how to make the most of what he's got. Watching him sing was oddly captivating; he wasn't melodramatic or particularly showy, but he had a certain way of making me want to pay attention. His lyrics didn't lose themselves in metaphor or obscurity, but instead revealed honest and sometimes rather plain descriptions of life. I appreciated his willingness to break out of the narrow-mindedness of most songwriters who simply write about romance, as if that was all there was in the world.

In describing Jon, I find it hard not to use so many contrasting statements. This constant dichotomy underlies the crux of the experience. I felt like he wasn't quite up my alley, but he was appealing nonetheless. He didn't blow me away, but he kept surprising me in little ways, like a seamless chromatic ascension between radically different parts of a song, or a song sung in Spanish, as if he had been speaking bilingually the whole night. The bassist had a few tricks up his sleeve, but the second guitarist had even more. He switched between a semi-hollow Gibson and a dobro, both of which were tuned unconventionally, allowing for fingerings and phrasings that were easy to differentiate from Jon's. His expert use of a volume pedal to slide in and out of the mix made him all the more impressive.

I think I found myself enjoying the show more than I expected.

Score: B

P.S. I did not see any of the other bands on the bill. We were on a mission.