Phive for Phuzz

This weekend's Phuzz Phest , in Winston-Salem, is loaded with local acts I've seen before, love, and will try to see again (in the rapid-fire, sensory-overload fashion that these festivals afford).  But this short "Phuzzy Phive" concentrates on a few Carolina acts I haven't seen yet and a couple of national ones, each of which I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing.


Quilla (Greensboro, NC)

Quilla (pictured above) made her name as a DJ, and by penning the massive dance-floor hit Walls a couple of years ago.  But she's also a multi-instrumentalist who plays beautiful piano and sings introspective songs that at some times have an almost cabaret feel, and at others, experimental. Bjork is a pretty obvious influence.  Her bio says she's a linguist and anthropologist who's half-Peruvian/half-French Canadian (born Anna Luisa Daigneault), and she's settled here in North Carolina.  That pedigree gives you an idea of the diversity and originality you can expect from her show.  Her new album, Beautiful Hybrid, is a wonderful, moody jaunt. (Friday, 8:15pm, Millenium Center)


Shadowgraphs (Charlotte, NC)

This Charlotte band treads confidently on psychedelic ground, with a very authentic 1960s feel that still sounds relevant.  It also overlaps with the kind of jazzy, bossa nova scene I'm a sucker for.  Moonchild makes you feel as though you've slipped into a backroom of the house from Peter Sellers' The Party, into a secret party-within-a-party to which even Claudine Longet didn't get invited.  That song's got female lead vocals, but the male-sung tunes evoke a similar time and place, if a little more rock'n'roll.  (Friday, 8:45pm, The Garage)



Sunflower Bean (Brooklyn, NY)

This is one of the bigger name acts of the festival, and I wasn't gonna include them because, well, everyone's talking about them (this show will probably be hard to get into).  But their recent album, Human Ceremony, is just perfectly infectious, breezy indie-pop...  another thing I'm a sucker for.  Nothing groundbreaking, but it hits all the right notes, and has just the right amounts of reverb and punk thrown in.  It's a simple recipe, but it's hard to cook it right.  Sunflower Bean make you want seconds. (Friday, 11:45pm, The Garage)


Shirlette Ammons (Durham, NC)

To say this is a local act I've never seen isn't entirely accurate.  I saw Ammons once years ago at Local Band-Local Beer in Raleigh, I think.  That was a good show, but if I recall, fairly straight-ahead rock/hip-hop.  Listening to her new album, Language Barrier, though, I think she's achieved something special.  Ammons' career has always spanned wide territory.  But that chameleon-like variety all seems to congeal on Language Barrier into a collection that's at once diverse and cohesive. Despite the poetry/hip hop background, this is basically a pop-rock album, with a healthy dose of noise and a stellar cast of guest stars:  Meshell Ndegeocello, Indigo Girls, Amelia Meath (Sylvan Esso), Heather McEntire (Mount Moriah), Hiss Golden Messenger, and others.  But they all work towards Ammon's singular musical vision, in which she rails against xenophobia, homophobia, and other societal problems.  Many of the songs are paired couplets, with a "seque" followed by the "main song", starting with the driving Earth Intro Seque and Earth Intro (featuring Indigo Girls).  I LOVE the pair of Language Barrier Segue (ftg. German rapper Sookee) / Language Barrier even more.  That German rap is damn infectious... and oddly reminds me of Arabic rap I listened to a long time ago.  I hope this "segue/song"structure is used live, but either way, it promises to be a compelling performance.  (Saturday, 8:15pm, Millenium Center)

Linear Downfall (Nashville, TN)

The write-up on this experimental band promises a "seamless blend of psychotic noise and beautiful melodies" and an "intense and jarring" show.  Damn, ya got me.  Listening to their music, it's an apt description.  You never know where they're headed.  From song to song, they tend to swap back and forth between sometimes downright abrasive soundscapes and more typically structured and (unexpectedly) even gentle songs.  Some of their earlier material seemed to be more straightforward pop.  But they're best when the they mix the melodic and the caustic.  For sure, Bjork is hiding somewhere in this musical noise amalgamation, too. (Saturday, 9:30pm, Krankie's)

As for Ammons, Sunflower Bean, and Shadowgraphs, you'll have to ask THEM if Bjork was involved in any way at all! :)

Phuzz Phest is this weekend, April 15th-16th, in Winston-Salem, NC.  It's held at a variety of clubs and outdoors spaces throughout downtown, all within walking distance of each other.  Wristbands are relatively cheap compared to a larger festival like Hopscotch, although for quality, Phuzz really holds its own with its big brother.  See PhuzzPhest.com for details.  

Hopscotch Saturday Night - T0W3RS, Versus, Wye Oak, No BS! Brass Band (8/8/12)

Saturday night, the last night of Hopscotch, and I'm already worn out from a several hours of day parties.  What would the night bring? 

Best to start with a sure thing:  T0W3RS, at CAM.  The moment I saw them first play, T0W3RS became one of my favorite locals.  Their recent full-length, If All We Have Is Time, is one of the best releases anywhere in the past year.  They took the opportunity of this year's festival to launch a new EP, Wyatt. "Cassingles" of each song from the EP, with B-sides from 5 other local bands, were strategically hidden throughout downtown during the festival (I found two!).  Having created a lot of buzz playing a day party at last year's Hopscotch, they're more than ready for the night.  Just before this early (9:30) show, a few people were millling around.  But once the Carrboro wunderkind of a band took the stage, a large crowd seemed to magnetically gravitate out of nowhere towards the stage.  Baloons were released, and the party started.  If I remember right, they started with Bounty, a bouncy song from the EP that got the crowd jumping -- or at least I'm sure they played it, and a few others from the new EP.  Besides the new music this night, there are revelations each time I see these guys.  This time -- maybe it was the acoustics of the space -- I realized just how strong a voice Jacki Huntington has (when not playing guitar or banging the tom).  And testament to the energy T0W3RS inspire in their audience?  There probably wasn't one second of the set when every baloon touched the ground.  It looked like the wall-installation at CAM, Exploded Hipster, had exploded into the air... perfect for this show.

T0W3RS...

 

So what next?  Tired of trudging all over Raleigh all day, I thought (after crossing downtown one more time) I'd stay put for awhile.  I made for Lincoln Theater and their all-Merge line-up, having just missed Superchunk/Merge Records co-founder Mac McCaughan.  Versus was up next.  I hadn't seen Versus in years, and they were playing back-to-back with the always great Wye Oak.  Early on, I wasn't feeling it.  Festival-fatigue, maybe.  But I grabbed a beer, popped the lens cap, and head to the stage.  Perhaps I forgot how their restrained intensity can build, and their quiets can seamlessly turn into very louds.  I should have known better:  this is the band that taught me the value of restraint in hard rock.  Within three songs, fatigue was a distant memory.  I listened to a lot of Versus back in the day, but I was surprised I didn't recognize most of the songs.  They were probably playing a lot of newer material from their first release in a decade, On the Ones and Threes, which has sat criminally neglected in the nether-regions of my iPod.  Based on this blazing show, I've made a promise to myself to correct that horrendous oversight (hitting "play" NOW).

Versus...



Wye Oak, I've seen a couple of times, but in smaller venues.   In that setting, the duo of Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner's minimal instrumentation flood the space and make for a surprisingly intense and loud experience.  I was curious how they'd fill the closer-to-arena-sized space of the Lincoln.  Really, they had no problem.  Part of it is probably Jenn's voice, which could fill an arena. 

[just a sec... OKAY, I remember this Versus song from the show! (playing on iPod now):  Into Blue... great one!  Now back to your regularly scheduled review...]

Um, where was I?  Wye Oak, right.  Jenn Wasner's voice is a force of nature, and it had no problem filling this space.  She wailed on guitar and roared that beautiful, penetrating, otherworldly voice.  It went straight past the ears to the brain. Spine-tingling.  Andy accompanied her on drums, simultaneous keyboard, and sometime bass.  As always, a dark, insense, and rocking set...  perhaps even better than usual in the big venue, which I wouldn't usually say of any band. 

Wye Oak...

So it's 1:30 or so.  I walk over to Slim's to catch... DAMN!  I just missed Whatever Brains!  STILL have not caught them. I thought that would be a perfect way to close out Hopscotch.  Never fear.  There must be something left, right?  Back to the Pour House, where I started my day at noon, at the Trekky Records day party... maybe they at least still have iced coffee?

Better!  No BS! Brass Band is still playing!  This was on my list, being from NOLA and all.  Now, I can be a little picky about brass bands, having been raised on the Dirty Dozen, and with the Soul Rebels being the house band at my old haunt back home. But these Richmond, VA, natives held their own.  A lotta chops, and a lotta fun.  They did standards, they took no less than full crowd participation, they covered A-Ha...  Yes, A-Ha (you'd be surprised at what a good brass band is capable of).  Though I only caught 3-4 songs, it was a great way to close out a great festival.  Finishing where I started the day, and "coming home", as it were.

No BS! Brass band...

It's Tuesday night and I'm still recovering.  I can't wait for next year.