Artists: The Octopus
Project and Golden Dawn Arkestra
Event: Music Under the
Star
Venue: Lone Star Plaza,
Bob Bullock State History Museum
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 24 July 2015
Music Under the Star is
an event put on by the Bob Bullock State History Museum in which they
sponsor local bands to play free early evening shows in the shade of
the museum. The "star" in question is a literal monumental
star (i.e. "Lone Star") in the adjoining plaza. It might
sound ridiculous, but it actually works well. People can bring chairs
and they sell drinks and food. This summer's edition was cosponsored
by Transmission Events and Fun Fun Fun Fest, which celebrates its tenth
anniversary this year. This was the final night of this partnership.
Golden Dawn Arkestra
came out first, although they actually emerged from the museum and
wound their way around the crowd before finally marching up to the
stage. Much like when I saw them at SXSW earlier this year, they were all dressed up in
various cosmic outfits. While there was no dancing among the audience
this time, there was plenty of dancing on stage, as well as much
praising of Ra,
and a hell of a lot of funk.
[Golden Dawn Arkestra.]
The Arkestra has a lot
of members, which might seem like a gimmick, but when the sound is as
good as it was, all the instruments were discernible: two guitarists,
bass, two horns players, a keyboardist/vocalist/saxophonist, three
percussionists, a xylophonist/keyboardist/vocalist, and four dancers.
(To be fair, while the dancers were not audible, they were quite
visible. Even the somewhat elderly guy that just grooved in place for
the entire hour.) All combined, it makes for quite a spectacle and
quite a jam. It's really hard not to want to get up and move to this
music. It's fascinating and wonderful.
Their grooves would go
on for a while and I'd get lost in them, and after what seemed like a
long time passed, they'd pause for a moment and I'd fear they were
done. But then they'd just go right into another really funky riff
and keep going. Their energy never let down. They'd say a few words,
mostly about peace and Ra and something cosmic, and then just carry
right on. Actually, most of their songs were instrumental, and those
with words were not always easy to understand, but I heard plenty of
the same themes. And somehow that xylophone took the lead in half the
songs!
[Note
the bubbles being blown into the air at the end of their set.]
The Arkestra ended up
being a great match for The Octopus Project, as they too are a
primarily instrumental outfit. However, their approach is less of an
ensemble funk style and more of a dancey, high-energy synthpop
direction. Their four members were all multi-instrumentalists and
constantly traded their tools between (or during) songs. The man that
started at the drumkit stayed their for half the show, but even he
came out and played guitar and bass for most of the rest of the set,
and near the end even contributed vocals.
[The
Octopus Project. Note the theremin!]
I'd seen The Octopus
Project last year at Austin Psych Fest, but I thought they
were a little different this time around. This was partly due to a
more cohesive sound and energy (last time they seemed to have two
divergent approaches, i.e. noisy rock and more direct synthpop) but
perhaps also due to the replacement of Ryan Figg with Lauren Gurgiolo
earlier this year. At any rate, I thought they did an even better job
bringing together guitars and synthesizers in the name of electropop.
When the various band
members did sing, I again couldn't understand a word, but at least
the music was good enough to keep me interested at all times.
Sometimes words aren't necessary, anyway. It's still quite a thrill
to see a band convincingly wield a theremin on stage, and the rest
was rather good, too.
[Yvonne Lambert let the audience control the theremin before leaving
the stage.]
This ended up being a
really fun show with two great local bands. It was amusing to see the
intermingling of young and old, where students, parents with kids,
and the aging rockers and hippies can come together to enjoy the
evening. When they get bands of this quality playing without cover,
I'm surprised it wasn't even busier. I'm also fond of the earlier set
times, as I too cannot always manage to stay up as late as one often
must for concerts.
I kind of wish I'd gone
to the previous weeks of the Fun Fun Fun Fest collaboration, as its
hard to beat free shows with good bands at accessible times. Why
aren't there more shows like this in the early evening, whether in
public spaces or not? It seems like a great formula.
Scores:
Golden Dawn Arkestra: A
The Octopus Project: B+
Golden Dawn Arkestra: A
The Octopus Project: B+
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