i figure i’d better write this before i forget what happened three days ago. i can usually remember specific things well but large detail-less chunks escape me constantly in as few as twelve hours.
friday, the weakest of the three days lineup-wise, had no pleasant surprises in store for us. there was one highlight, however. thomas dybdahl played a moving set inside a pin-drop-quiet presbyterian church. it was both strange and comforting to sit in a pew during “love story”, and the acoustics were terrific. the night began going downhill when we were denied from the polyvinyl showcase, featuring headlights and saturday looks good to me among others. we decided to head back to lambert’s to catch the canadian chad vangaalen. however, upon arrival we heard he got stopped at the border (which border is uncertain) and would not be in attendance. i’m of the opinion it was the texas-oklahoma border for trying to smuggle in cold. regardless we watched the cape may, wholly average band, play straightforward rock while we downed vodka-sodas. after deciding to leave, the rest of the night was spent hanging out with business school students from u.c. berkeley at a variety of places. i am not victor ward would be better at explaining how (i still don’t know) we hooked up with them and giving any descriptions of the physical or spiritual nature. one thing i am sure of, though, is that berkeley’s business school gained national ranking as the night wore on, until finally i believe it eclipsed harvard business school when it was mentioned in conversation.
the luck of the irish was with us on saturday even though i am native american and ianvw is part Italian (the good part). by far my favorite night, we began by trying (and failing) to see both the kings of leon in stubb’s and field music at beauty bar. normally this would have ruined my night as you know my feelings on the overall vortex of cool around the kings. however, the lineups were so strong everywhere that night that we ended up going to our old faithful la zona rosa on fourth street. it is off the hipster-beaten path so it is never at capacity. mew played early, making majestic progressive rock so pretty that it reminded me of seeing sigur ros live. the lead singer, jonas, has an angelic voice and an amazing range. they also had some arty video playing in the background which added to the splendid mood. next was eisley the majority-girl band from dention, texas. they played some new stuff, and their harmonies worked well, but following a far superior band hurt their effect on me a bit. their melodies and guitar parts were simple and clean. overall, they were fine. we next decided to see if elysium, this dirty alt-divey bar was still under capacity for the late show who was girl talk, of course. they were, and we made a decision to stay there even though we’d not heard of the bands playing before him. after some idle conversation and rolling rock green light we made our way to the stage to hear 65daysofstatic, an avant-garde band from england. for a mostly instrumental set they were surprisingly good. lots of tempo changes and electronic sections balanced out hard distorted guitars and a feverish percussion section. if this makes any sense, their chaotic beauty conveyed a sense of serenity. finally, girl talk’s laptop supplied the cap to the night’s great music. his a.d.d. blending of numerous samples at once is always enough to get everyone moving. he appeared a little tired but proceeded to rock the crowd anyway, who, as is traditional, rushed the stage and danced with him. personally, i just love letting go to pop music. hall & oates never sounded better than when fused with daft punk and m.i.a.
the best performances of the weekend go to mew and menomena, with mew edging out the west coast trio mostly because of atmosphere. i am still undecided as to whether this year was better than last. but i am certain that i wouldn’t trade it for anything.
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