MFNW09

Day One

Wednesday night was fun, but kind of a bust.
It was my night to take care of the volunteer duties (I may very well have been the only volunteer that night...I was definitely the only one working the door. But there may have been some volunteer stagehands and whatnot); so at least I was able to get those out of the way up front, leaving me with the rest of the festival free and open in front of me.

Everyone I worked next to/around ~~ from both Wilamette Week and Berbati's (where the show was) ~~ was super cool. Some of the people coming through the door were a bit dickish, but nothing out of hand. All in all, it was an easy, breezy night.

I got to listen to the show in the background, but was usually having to focus on what was going on in front of me to pay much attention to the bands. I don't remember anything about Fences, so I guess they didn't impress me much. The Portland Cello Project sounded nice and interesting, and had the biggest draw of the night. I may check them out sometime, but no rush. Damian Jurado sounded lovely, as could be expected. And Will Sheff sounded alright, though a bit too country~fried for my taste at the time.

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Day Two

Thursday night was truly the first day of the Musicfest ~~ an incredible number of incredible bands spread throughout some incredible venues in an incredible city.

Some bands I missed:
Helio Sequence
Girltalk
Explosions in the Sky
Frightened Rabbit
the Dirty Three
Cymbals Eat Guitars

Bands I caught:

Ah Holly Fam'ly
I caught the last 1.5 songs of their set. They sounded fun, but a bit too hillbilly for me.

Tu Fawning
Husband and wife team Joe Haege and Corrina Repp (he of 31 Knots; she, a "maker of quiet music" according to wikipedia) make a rather astounding team. His musical and songwriting chops combined with her heartstopping voice are a perfect match. Add two more musicians to help beef up the sound and flesh out the corners, and you have the juggernaut that is Tu Fawning. I'm glad I was finally able to catch these folks' live show. I've been coveting their E.P. for months now.
Hopefully those outside of Portland will catch the fire soon because I seriously believe these people can go places I've never dreamed of. However, that's bound to take Haege away from 31 Knots, if only temporarily, which I wouldn't be too happy to see happen.

The Depreciation Guild
I got to the Doug Fir a bit earlier than expected, so ended up catching a set by these guys. It was a nice surprise, and encapsulated everything I love about something like Musicfest NW ~~ there's enough of a mix of "big" established acts and more obscure, up and coming bands. By going to check out the former, you're usually exposed to the latter. And occasionally, that can be wonderful.
The Depreciation Guild's sound harkens back to mid~career Cure (think "Friday I'm in Love" and such; or, more recently, something along the lines of Black Kids' Wizard of Aahhhhs EP), with a bit of My Bloody Valentine thrown in for good measure. There's also a number of bleeps and bloops programmed throughout to add some nice depth and variety to what could easily become a generic hipster throwoff.



The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Taking the blueprint laid down by Belle & Sebastian, and not so much reinventing it but simply remodeling it, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart are quickly making Twee "cool" again. And seeing as how Twee is one of my (many?) musical guilty pleasures, I'm certainly not complaining.
As a live band, they're solid. Very solid. So solid that they sound nearly identical to their studio output. However, in this case, that's quite alright.



I ended up having to cut this last set a bit short so I could catch the 12:45am bus back home, rather than running across the bridge after the show to try and catch the final bus out of downtown at 1:30am. Missing that one would have meant that I was royally screwed, so I didn't press my luck.

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Day Three

After the previous two days of concerts, usually mixed with work or other engagements, I was bit worn down by Friday evening. And so, I decided to sit out on the Arctic Monkeys show, rest up a bit, and head into town a little later than originally planned.

First up, I had planned on catching Karl Blau at Backspace.
But unbeknownst to me, he decided to switch places with the other bands and went on at 8pm rather than the 10pm that was listed on the schedule. Which meant I had to suffer through No Kids set, the whole time wondering (yet again) why I go to shows at Backspace. It's not a live music venue, and the crowd that it normally pulls are mostly the borderline-Aspie kids who go out to one social function a year, and as such, have no idea how to properly function in such a setting. Case in point: last night, the first 50 ft. or so in front of the stage was completely wasted by people sitting on the floor, which caused everyone else to be crammed into the back of the club or crowded near the front, which made movement from one end to the other nearly impossible.

So, since I didn't get to catch Karl Blau, I headed over (for the third night in a row) to Berbati's where I caught most of Rocky Votolato's set. He's enjoyable and somewhat folky. He'd make a nice touring compliment to Steve Poltz.

After his set, I settled in for Viva Voce -- one of the bands I was most excited to see this weekend. It'd been quite some time since I'd last seen them, and this would be the first time seeing them perform after adding the two other members to the fold. Despite horrible sound (something kept causing horrible feedback throughout the set), they put on a great show. I've been a bit trepidatious about picking up their latest album, mostly due to the additions to the band. As a duo, they were capabale of making some absolutely fantastic music (The Heat Can Melt Your Brain continues to hold its ground as one of my favorite albums of the decade, if not of all time), so I was weary of what the "full band version" would sound like. If last night's set was any indication, I had nothing to worry about.

After their set was over, I had planned on sticking around for the Long Winters. But I was exhausted and my feet and back were aching, so I called it an early night and came home.







Some bands I missed on Friday night:
Mount Eerie
Sunny Day Real Estate
the Zeros
Mudhoney
Pink Moutaintops
the Prids
Bad Brains
Strength

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Day Four

It's a good thing I didn't have plans to go out on Sunday night, because Saturday took nearly everything I had left.

Mariachi el Bronx
Meh.
If there could ever be such a thing as a vanity project for a hardcore band, Mariachi el Bronx is such a thing. Hitting the stage 35 minutes after the scheduled start time with a frontman who seemed visibly fucked up, Mariachi el Bronx played a decent, if underwhelming, set...of a bunch of SoCal white boys (and one Hispanic gal ~~ to add authenticity, I suppose) playing fairly traditional mariachi music. Only with English lyrics.

The Bronx
The regular day jobs of Mariachi el Bronx, minus the lady. Loud, fast, crazy, volatile insanity. Everything one could expect from such a band as the Bronx. Though, it was a bit too loud.
The Wonder Ballroom is a great venue with wonderful acoustics ~~ which means that a band doesn't need to play very loud to be heard. However, with a band such as the Bronx, the acoustics only increase the already amped up volume: making it loud enough to be indecipherable. Add to that a soundman who increases the already~too~loud volume and you're left with an experience that, while fun, is incredibly painful.

Fucked Up
Much like with the Bronx, Fucked Up's set was fun and insane and too damn loud to really process.
Randy made it up from visiting family in Salem, but forgot his wristband at home, so he was a bit late. He kept asking me if I wanted to get further up in the crowd (like most homos, he was obviously wanting a piece of Pink Eyes ~~ who, in wonderful form, spent quite a bit of time baiting the bear~friendly audience), but I was fine to stand in the back of the room, far from the maddening speakers.
Like last year's performance at Satyricon, Fucked Up put on a wonderful show. It's always nice to see a band who appreciates its fans as much as Fucked Up seems to. However, given the size of the Wonder Ballroom, and the fact that for a free all~ages show in the middle of the day the place wasn't even half~full, the level of energy and magic wasn't nearly as high as it was last time they were in town. But nonetheless, it was well worth it.


"Rub yourselves together 'til the magic comes out!"


Jealous Butcher Records showcase
Randy and I headed over to Slabtown after the Fucked Up show.
We were present for sets by both Jeff London and Arch Cape, but between games of pinball and plates of bar food, I don't think either of us were paying much attention. Both bands sounded good, but I can't really make a judgement call one way or the other.
Since he had to wake up far too early the next morning to take his sister to the airport, Randy decided to call it a night just as I settled in for a rollicking set by The Valiant Arms. Over the past year or so, the guys (and girl) have quickly become one of my favorite Portland bands. Not only because bass player Diane Rios is one of the sweetest people I know, but also because the band has a spirit that's contagious, and incredibly sound and solid songwriting chops. They fired through a great, short and sweet set that was definitely a highlight of the weekend.

I had planned on closing out the weekend with a performance by Portland metallers Red Fang, but between a severe headache, ears that were still ringing from the time at the Wonder Ballroom, and a steadily approaching 9am start time for work the next morning, I threw in the towel and called it a night, and a weekend.

Some other bands I missed:
Panther
John Vanderslice
Beach House
Black Francis
Riverboat Gamblers
Dillinger Four
Team Dresch
Trash Talk

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I look forward to MFNW 2010.