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