Saturday
Fijuya and Miyagi:
They started late. The left PA speaker was out for about half the set. Vocals never rose above a whisper. Yet despite everything going against them, F&M had certainly won the crowd by the end of their set; they actually seemed a bit taken aback by the response. The new stuff sounded good, with brighter synths and solid beats. They paced material from 2006's Transparent Things wisely for the greatest effect.
Professor Murder:
We knew to expect good things from this hyped outfit, and after seeing all the percussion on stage, including cow bells, we knew we wouldn't be disappointed. They played right after F&M on the smaller stage, so Wolfcock and I had great spots. The lead singer seemed like a really happy guy, as you can see. They sounded good. too-- played some older material that I didn't know as well-- with the highlight being climactic 'Champion'. That's right: we came to party.
Clipse:
Intense. Don't know if it was intentional, but a fair amount of distortion on Malice and Pusha T's vocals gave the whole thing a kind of deranged intensity. One of my favorite moments during the show was seeing Malice crack a smile after a barrage of 'gunshots' from the Dj; it seemed to say that maybe they don't take their agressive self-stylings 100% seriously.
Girl Talk:
I can't think of a much better example of the postermodern in music than hearing a song performed earlier in the day reappear in a different context, presented by a different artist. This of course would be the work of America's reigning mash-up king Greg Gillis, aka Girl Talk, at one point playing a bit of his remix of Grizzly Bear's 'Knife'. Not only were the vocals provided live by the same gentlemen who sang it earlier in the day, but the song also features good portions of Clipse's 'Wamp Wamp', who also did a set just a few hours before. The man has perfected his role as a part-starter, not just by doling out hooks from pop, hip hop, and indie favs by the second, but by doing his best to be a one man spectacle: dancing, stripping, boozing from a bottle rather than sip on free 312-- the man knows that to keep the attention of hundreds of kids who could give a shit about Yoko Ono, he has to ramp up everything. And despite the fact that the smaller PA of his stage couldn't reach an audience that stretched back hundreds of feet, he was able to do just that.
Empty Bottle: Flosstradamus and Chromeo:
Wolfcock and I skipped out on Yoko Ono and headed to the Empty Bottle, where party-rocking Dj's Flosstradamus and the Canadian duo Chromeo. Being from Chicago Floss kept things light during their set and were in control of their domain, playing mostly pop and indie favs. MC Kid Sister showed up to do a few songs, and Floss quickly reformatted, with Autobot playing Dj and Kid Sister's brother J2k (har) grabbed a mic to share MC duties. It was a nice change of pace, and Kid Sister's flow was pretty impressive.
As much as I like Chromeo's singles, the idea of listening to an album all the way through (even though I have one) makes me a bit ill, like the idea of drinking 12 cans of Surge in one sitting. In a live setting though everyone just wants to get funky, and for that Chromeo proved their mettle. With prerecorded drums and a few synth lines, the two added live guitar/bass/synth and vocals. Despite the great sound and energy I got the feeling that on an off night the set could be really limp, and lord knows no one wants limp at a Chromeo show.
[the boys in action]
[kid sister makes an appearance]
[go girl!]
[chromeo]
[party on stage!]
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