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 rip off 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.]