Live: Sasquatch 2009

Music festivals have a tendency to become more about drugs and socializing than about music. That being said, here are the music highlights from this year's Sasquatch. I only attended Saturday and Monday, so Sunday is unaccounted for. Sundays was a 'rest' day. Unfortunately, I ended up drinking enough whiskey to turn the day into 'heatstroke' day.

Saturday:

Passion Pit: not sure what all the buzz is about. Seemed like a really white guy with a synthesizer trying to sound impassioned, failing. PA may have been malfunctioning.

Dent May: I knew he sounded good on record (I've called him Sinatra meets Ariel Pink a few times), but his stage present is also fantastic. He comes off as an adorable drunk. His band is super cute and all the song lyrics are prefect, funny, easy. Probably in my top three for the festival.

Animal Collective: There's really no point in explaining why I like this band. There set was prefect, I was on drugs, everything came together.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Karen O = still hot, great lyrics, songwriting, as always. She appeared younger and more girlish than I was expecting. I think the song "Maps" will be canonized over the next few decades.

Kings of Leon: This band rides the fence between the lands 'Americana' and 'critically acclaimed' rock. They're not astounding, but if you pretend that you still care about what is means to be 'an American' and what it means to listen to 'meaningful music' that people from the Midwest might like, the band sort of makes sense. Overall, probably too sappy/unoriginal for my taste.

Crystal Castles: Did not see them. Heard there were goths with pacifiers in the audience.

Monday:

Deerhoof: Is this band actually good? I can't tell.

Grizzly Bear: Never thought I would admit this publicly, but I think I like the Department of Eagles (related project) more. Grizzly Bear lacks the pop/rhythmic sensibility I need.

Santigold: At this point (2:50 PM), bored, stoned, too hot.

Fleet Foxes: This is one of my favorite bands and probably (next to Animal Collective) the band that will be the most popular in ten years. If they can record and tour three good albums (one down) they will probably be the most popular American rock band of my generation (b. 1987). They played two new songs and rearranged the vocal parts on a few others, notably "Mykonos."

Beach House: Besides a lot of PA problems, this set was amazing. A great way to close the festival: lazy, sexy, intelligent. Perfect summer melodies.

Girl Talk: Worst 'band' of the last five years? I had to walk through this show on my way to the parking lot. Terrifying.

Live: The Vaselines at Neumos / Herr Jazz at Vera

Ben stressed at center. Jake on the right. Photo via Keith Johnson and The Stranger.

Tuesday Night:

The Vaselines killed a set of pervy proto-punk for an audience of pervy proto punks [read: old] in Seattle. Notable moment: not being able understand the stage banter due to thick, arty Scottish accents, and being located on the all-ages balcony. I need more friends who are also 21+. But then again, old people seem to not be able to have fun without being totally trashed (last night's front row reminded me of this point, as most oldersters seemed to be either standing self-consciously or flailing wildly as if to recapture their youth via butterfly net). The songs were really tight, and probably a bit tired, but still totally worth the cover. The opening band blew hard, especially with their cover of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" which left me (unironically) uncomfortably numb. They sounded like a sickly child of the AC Newman and Ben Bridwell. KEXP will probably play them all day today.

Last Saturday Night:

Ben Funkhouser, singer/loud mouth of teen sensation Herr Jazz happened to accompany me to Neumos last night. He mentioned many memorable punk rock quips, most of which I cannot remember. We talked about K Records for most of both sets. He did add Niko Case to the list of influences by the forgettable opening band.

Anyways, on Saturday Ben, Jack, and Jake played Vera with buzztacular onomatopoeia-prog-screamo band Ponytail. Herr Jazz are a very healthy, well-fed combination of big and jangly post-Johnny Marr guitar, energetic jazzy punk drums, smoothish bass, and angsty vocals about DIY snacking and trying to 'get with' girls who are older than you at Olympia house parties. Way to be heteronormative dudes. I loved Herr Jazz's set because Ben couldn't really stop himself from playing covers (Beat Happening and Bruce Springsteen) and talking about migrant farm workers while the rest of the band started to unplug guitars and leave the stage (though obviously when I say 'stage' I mean they played on the floor). Way to be a passionate person/go slightly over your allotted set time Ben.

Those kids are going somewhere if only due to the fact that they all seem to care too much about music, being young, and playing to crowds of enthusiastic music people. They have a full West Coast tour planned for the summer. And they're playing my parent's house in June. Serriously, come. Tween northwest prog-punk sounds better in a grassy backyard.