philaros ◾ notes from Bumbershoot 2012 (Reply)

An iOS upgrade had me looking at the backlog in my Notes app—I had a set of notes marked as "local", which predated the automatic synching with iCloud and so were all more than two years old, so I was checking to see which I could throw out. Among those were my notes from Bumbershoot 2012, and though Saturday's and Monday's notes were largely unremarkable, I liked most of what I'd jotted down for the Sunday sets. So I figured I might as well post the notes here for posterity. Adding some comments now in brackets and italic.

Eighteen Individual Eyes
[I think this was my first time seeing this band, though I'd heard some songs on KEXP already]

Kinda beefy hard rock

Good clear vocals [Irene Barber is seriously a great singer, this isn't giving her credit enough.]

Some good melodies too

I think I want them to be better than they actually are; they're not bad, definitely like them, but they're rather middle of the road [That's a harsh comment for me; while I think they never quite gave me whatever I was hoping for, I also think they were better than I was giving them credit, here.]

Crowd was so quiet between songs, the band remarked on it; but people did seem to be staying and paying attention, so that's a good sign

Maybe it was just my earplugs, maybe the sound mix, but I couldn't hear the backing vocals at all

Katie Kate

[This was my second time seeing Katie Kate, and I briefly introduced myself after]

Trent Moorman drumming

Opened with "Copenhagen", abbreviated, as an intro

Diva singing and hard-edged rapping—illustrated by split hair, black buzz cut one side, long flowing French-braid blonde on other [Easiest to see in this photo and this photo on Flickr]

"Body Princess"

Again with "Aspirations": sweet gentle sung half suddenly breaks into burst of hard-beat fast rap to finish

Confidence and talent to pull it off

But not everything is split like that; "Cracks in the Speakers" is straightforward emo

Cover of "Running up that Hill"

Her voice isn't as full and rich as Kate Bush's, but whose is? Decent cover, did it justice, and if her voice is a bit thinner it's still good and strong

Followed with another instrumental

"Dirty Amazon" [That should be "Bad Amazon"]

Give her one more album, she'll really make an impact [See, I was saying this nearly a year before I got to hear her next album! And if only it were true, but sadly it did not get the attention it deserved.]

Finished with new song, sounds great, looking forward to more

Mudhoney

Hard-driving hard grunge

Really this fits in with AC/DC and other '70s to early '80s metal

Intense ferocious performance

Third track "the new one"?

Packed audience, Seattle still loves Mudhoney

Some complex bass lines (and drum work) in addition to the at-times intricate guitar work, this isn't just fast and loud

Half-sung half-shrieked vocals, but not the screaming/croaking of more hardcore styles

The singing is really the most basic/simple element, and it's where the emotional heft lies

Funny little moments of band interactions, such as dealing with guitar trouble; music may sound seriously ranty, but they don't take themselves too seriously

Niki & the Dove