Pilcrow

Head Like a Kite:



YACHT:



Nortec Collective presents Bostich & Fussible:



Lake:



Ill Cosby:



214:



Phantogram (on the Fountain Lawn stage):



Hall & Oates:



See the full Bumbershoot 2011: Monday photoset on Flickr.

I think that, as with the Concerts at the Mural, I'll just do a single summary post for Bumbershoot 2011 rather than break it up across the three days. I didn't take lots of notes, partly as I spent half my time there running about the Bumbershoot Music Lounge to take photos and upload them to Facebook and Twitter for KEXP, just as I had been doing for the Concerts at the Mural. I think I took the most notes for Bumbershoot After Dark, as I had some intentions of writing a proper post for the KEXP Blog about it, and indeed ended up doing so.

For all of the Bumbershoot Music Lounge sets, I tended to miss out on the middle two or three songs, as I had to run into the green room to upload a photo to Facebook and Twitter. In some cases I wasn't interested enough in the artist to go back into the theater and listen to the rest, in others I did.

Saturday, September 3
Bumbershoot Music Lounge

• Shabazz Palaces—I'd never paid that much attention to them, but I liked them a lot more seeing them play live; I think it was the percussionist playing a thumb piano that won me over, but really they had an interesting style that I liked a lot.
• Vetiver—Folky rock, I didn't stay to listen to the whole set, so that I could see Craft Spells instead.
• Vusi Mahlasela—A solo artist on acoustic guitar, singing at least in Zulu and English, and maybe other languages; some of it sounded like scat singing rather than actual words. He's from South Africa, and seemed to be singing mainly political/social songs; I actually recognized "Say Africa", which I guess made him an "oh these guys" musician. I missed the middle few songs, but caught the last one which got upbeat and dancey, fun stuff.
• Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue—Hot stuff! Really good New Orleans soul/jazz combo, one of the highlights of the weekend. I'd meant to see Nortec Collective, but stayed for all of Trombone Shorty's set first.
• Starfucker (STRFKR)—I didn't really stay to listen.

Outside the Lounge

• Craft Spells—One of the bands outside the Lounge I really wanted to see, and I was able to leave the Vetiver set in order to catch them. I really liked their bright summery pop with ringing guitar. They're a step above "oh these guys"—I knew I liked them and wanted to see them, but still didn't remember a specific song until they started "After the Moment"; I also recognized "Party Talk" and another.
• Nortec Collective presents: Bostich & Fussible—Another band I knew I wanted to see, but couldn't name anything in particular they do. I caught the second half of their set, as they overlapped with Trombone Shorty; it was fun techno-Mexican music.
• Little Dragon—I recognized the name and knew I'd heard and liked some of their music, but didn't remember anything about it; I wasn't sure whether I was confusing this band's name with another one. I ended up catching about half the set, and I was kind of too far away outside too big and noisy a crowd for me to really get into it, but they played a kind of electro dance music that I think I'd really like.
• Bumbershoot After Dark: The Dowlz, Jokers of the Scene, DJ Craze (plus Claude VonStroke, whom I missed)—I liked the Dowlz the most this evening, and didn't care much for the little I heard of Craze, but I had to leave very shortly after his set began in order to catch the bus. See my post on the KEXP Blog.

Sunday, September 4
Bumbershoot Music Lounge

• Mad Rad—Again, damn these guys are good! They had a cellist and guitarist in addition to synths and drums, which filled out their sound well. Despite playing first thing at noon to a relatively small audience, they had lots of energy and didn't hold back. This was the set of the afternoon for me.
• Tennis—Pleasant pop, singer had a really sweet voice although it was actually sweeter when she was warming up quietly backstage.
• Shelby Earl—Seemed to be pretty straight-up country, I didn't stay to listen.
• Davila 666—In contrast to Shelby Earl were very raucous rock, again I didn't stay for all of it as I was still updating the photosets on Flickr for KEXP.
• Pickwick—Good modern prog-folk-rock, I liked them.

Outside the Lounge

• Warpaint—New song! It sounded lovely, but I do hope to hear them change things up a bit. They had a nice (if easy) segue from "Composure" to "Undertow". I was amused that they introduced one song by saying "this one can be kind of angsty"—umm, have you listened to yourselves? Also, it felt more angry than angsty. Also amusingly, in contrast to the musical style, they were clearly having a great time onstage, with the drummer and bassist cracking each other up. Unfortunately I missed the last two songs in the mistaken belief that School of Seven Bells were starting at 7:30 and I had to get over to the EMP.
• Tycho—However, thanks to my mistake and to my press pass allowing me to skip the long line of waiting people, I did catch last couple songs by Tycho as a result. Good trippy dance music, though the crowd was mostly chilling to it.
• School of Seven Bells—With the departure of Claudia, they're a duo now, but had a bass and drums backing duo too. They played a brand new song that was pretty rocking. "Half Asleep" was definitely lacking the dual vocal harmonies—given the contrast with the following song "Jovian", I'd guess Claudia did lead on "Half Asleep"—as were a couple others, and they'll have to do some more adjusting to make up for it. But they finished with the epic "Sempiternal-Amaranth", which sounded fine.
• The Kills—I half-heard the beginning of their set, as I was wandering about while eating some pizza. I'd wanted to see more of their set, but they were up against Lusine, and I just wasn't feeling it. 
• Lusine—I caught the last 20 minutes and wish I'd seen it all but I really needed food. I was also glad I chose this over the Kills, as I needed something relaxing and groovy which he delivered.
• Bumbershoot After Dark: Dam-Funk, DJ Z-Trip (plus Four Tet, whom I missed)—Dam-Funk was pretty great, spinning groovy electro-funk and disco from the early '80s, singing along, and playing a couple of his own originals on keytar. What I heard of Z-Trip involved heavier hiphop beats than I usually care for, but I liked the different things he was mixing in, including the Godzilla theme. I suspect Four Tet would've been my favorite but unfortunately couldn't stay that late. Again, see my post on the KEXP Blog.

Monday, September 5
Bumbershoot Music Lounge

• Urge Overkill—Driving rock, a bit Southern. "That was the title track to our new album 'Rock n Roll Submarine'. It wasn't so much 'Can we name it that?' as 'How could we not name it that?'"
• Charles Bradley—Old-school funk and soul, walking in James Brown's shoes. It sounded good but I didn't stay for the whole set.
• Fitz & the Tantrums—High energy soul, they were pretty awesome, and definitely had the most packed and excited audience of the weekend. They were right in the middle of Head Like A Kite's set, which I'd really wanted to see, but I had no choice other than to stay for Fitz & the Tantrums, it was that hot.
• Phantogram—Led with "As Far as I Can See", played a couple new ones from an upcoming EP, and finished with "When I'm Small". A good if short set, but in this case I wish I had skipped out to catch the rest of YACHT, which I think I would've enjoyed more.
• Grant Lee Buffalo—I was surprised by how many songs I recognized; I've never really been into them but they're quite good. Grant Lee Phillips was amusingly affable.

Outside the Lounge

• Head Like A Kite—I caught their first couple songs, went back to the Lounge for Fitz & the Tantrums, and then ran back for last 15 minutes of HLAK. It didn't look like they had too much of a crazy show, although they did have a panda onstage. I caught a few new ones with Asya as the Daydream Vacation project, though officially they were performing as HLAK. Sadly, Trent Moorman is no longer playing with HLAK due to some dispute; the new drummer was fine, though no Moorman. I didn't see any other guests besides the rapper Tilson, who came out for the last song, "Diamond Paint", which Einmo said had been the inspiration for the Daydream Vacation project.
• YACHT—Their set overlapped with Phantogram's Music Lounge set; I caught the first couple songs, including a new one and "Summer Song", before I had to run back to the Lounge to get photos of Phantogram's soundcheck. I wish I'd been able to see more, but by the time I'd covered Phantogram, it was too late to run back.
• LAKE—I caught just the last couple songs of their set, and didn't have time to get into them, but I'd still like to see them again another time, as I did really like them at the Capitol Hill Block Party.
• Ill Cosby—I ran downstairs from the EMP Level 3 stage back into the Skychurch only to catch the very last couple minutes of Ill Cosby's set, which is too bad as that was enough to tell me I'd probably have enjoyed it a lot and should've skipped Lake.
• 214—However, I then stayed for 214, which I hadn't planned on seeing, and I found his cool, deep house music good for relaxing and dancing.
• Phantogram—The other reason I should've skipped out on Phantogram's Music Lounge set to see YACHT is that I knew I'd be seeing at least some of this set, but then I also knew it'd be crowded and harder to enjoy. But it was still a really good set. They played a few new ones in addition to a good chunk of their first album. I was actually leaving early, about halfway through, to go see Hall & Oates when I ran into David and Alethea from Beehive, so I ended up staying through the whole thing while talking to them.
• Hall & Oates—I convinced David and Alethea (and their friend Joy) to join me for Hall & Oates; we entered about halfway through, and I could overhear them playing "Adult Education" as we were walking the outer hall heading for seats. Unfortunately we were just in time for a set of slower sentimental ones, such as "She's Gone" and "Sara Smiles", which even I didn't care for so much. But everyone gamely sat through them, and we were rewarded with a great final set of songs: "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)" closing the main set, "Rich Girl" and "You Make My Dreams" as a first encore, and "Kiss On My List" and "Private Eyes" as the second encore. (I figure they must've played "Maneater" early in the set.) They did a neat slow intro and extended version of "I Can't Go For That" to close the main set, featuring long-haired "Ben Franklin" on sax solos. (Seriously, that's who he looked like.) I'd been really looking forward to "Kiss On My List" and was afriad they'd played it earlier, and was ecstatic that I hadn't missed it. Scoffers can scoff, scorners can scorn, but Hall & Oates put on a great show and have some damn fine pop songs—that was totally worth it, and I probably should've caught the whole thing. 

And that was Bumbershoot 2011! I took over 700 photos throughout the weekend (in part because of having to cover the Bumbershoot Music Lounge), and haven't yet taken the time to go through them and upload them to Flickr, which is going to take literally hours and hours thanks to my pitifully slow upload speeds. I'm planning to go through at least some of them tonight and start uploading, I'll have to do another post once they're all done.

May 2010 was a busy month for music, with four shows plus the Sasquatch Music Festival (and some late-night dancing on top of that, but that doesn't get reviewed). I was also very busy with work (in a welcome change) that month, which I guess is my still-lame excuse for never noting here when I posted a review on the KEXP Blog of the first show I saw that month: on Saturday the 8th, I went to the Crocodile to see Owen Pallett, with Snowblink and Cataldo. Owen Pallett put on an amazing performance that made me a confirmed fanboy. I took several photos at this show which you can see in this set on Flickr.

On Tuesday the 11th, I was thrilled to see Annuals return to Seattle, also playing at the Crocodile, and happy that they brought along their previous opener What Laura Says for a second time, along with the Most Serene Republic. I decided this time that What Laura Says are a kind of southern version of Grizzly Bear, with their '70s-esque bluesy prog rock and good vocal harmonies. I liked their ability to handle minor trouble without blinking: the lead guitarist didn't stop playing when he broke a string, and the drummer and bassist covered further technical difficulties after another song by starting a groove that went seamlessly into the next song. I also liked that their multi-instrumentalist had a table-ful of glass jars and tin pots to play as percussion. The Most Serene Republic played late-'90s indie pop-rock, sounding something like Harvey Danger. But the band tossed in some unusual extra instruments including trombone, banjo, trumpet, and a bit of violin amongst the guitars, keyboard, bass, and drums, adding some color and individuality. Their music was also pretty busy, with complex bass and drum lines in unusual rhythms; it didn't quite grab me, but it was definitely enjoyable. Annuals were amazing as always, ranging from intimate folk music to epic prog rock. I was amused to see that guitarist/drummer Zack Oden had added accordion to his repertoire; by my count, that puts them up to at least 15 different roles among the six members. They played several new songs from their Sweet Sister EP, which all sounded good, but nothing as glorious as "Complete or Completing" or "Hot Night Hounds", for example. Still, new music from Annuals is always welcome, and I'm always eagerly hoping for their next visit to Seattle. The lighting at the Crocodile is seldom kind to my iPhone's camera, but I still took a lot of photos, which you can see in this set on Flickr.

On Thursday the 20th, I went to the Rendezvous Jewel Box Theater to see Unwoman, the solo project of cellist/vocalist Erica Mulkey, who I first saw performing as a member of Stripmall Architecture back in 2008. I missed most of the opening set by the Tin Can Tobacco Band, who as you might expect from that name played roots folk. Next up was Nathaniel Johnstone, performing on banjo with a concertina player and with Mulkey as a guest on theremin for a couple songs. Johnstone claimed to have just picked up the banjo for the first time that Monday, but attributed his skill with it to the fact that it had the same tuning as the viola, which he played in school; I would guess though that he's also a talented guitarist, based on his playing. Apparently this was an unusual set-up; if I recall correctly, the other three usual members of his band were already en route to a tour stop. Musically the sound was unusual too, having a strong Balkan influence, and I wondered whether that was the normal style with the full band. The players had some good banter, at one point Johnstone asking "what key is this in?" and receiving the reply "it's in the key of shame flat." I enjoyed their set. As Unwoman, Mulkey used computer backing tracks including synth rhythms and self-sampled cello to augment her own cello playing and singing; she also played theremin for "Casualties", the title track of her then-new album. The album was written in response to a bad breakup and aftermath she went through, and so the songs tended to be weighty and dramatic, but her strong clear voice and classical-music sensibilities carried them well. She also did a lovely slow and moody cover of Joy Division's "Ceremony". I'm honestly not sure yet how much I actually enjoy most of her music, though I have no doubt that it is quite good, but I do plan to keep listening as she does and no doubt will continue to do interesting things.

I didn't take any notes at the fourth concert of the month, which featured the Tripwires, the Fucking Eagles, and Hotels playing at the Skylark Cafe on Friday the 21st as part of KEXP's "Hood to Hood Challenge/Celebration" in West Seattle. I can say that this was Hotels' first show with their new drummer Aaron Voros, who acquitted himself admirably, and of course all the boys put on a good show as always. I know I stayed up front for the Fucking Eagles, who delivered a strong set of rock, and I decided I wasn't interested enough in the Tripwires to stay through their whole set, instead leaving early to go dancing as I'd planned. 

Finally, I finished the month by once again having the privilege of attending the Sasquatch Music Festival as a correspondent for KEXP. You can still read my coverage of Saturday, Sunday, and Monday at the festival on the KEXP Blog, and check out a large assortment of photos from all three days on Flickr. I had a fantastic time and saw some amazing performances, particularly by My Morning Jacket, Massive Attack, Phantogram, and Seattle fire-dancing troupe Pyrosutra. 

Read about Monday at Sasquatch 2010 on the KEXP Blog.