Category: Music

Sort of stream of consciousness Terrastock 5 review

I posted this to DroneOn a couple of days ago and more or less sums up what I thought of Terrastock 5.

It’s been a week but I still feel like I’ve eaten a ridiculously extensive and rich meal. BURP!

This was my third Terrastock and going into it I was kinda non-committal about the line-up. A good chunk of the bands playing I’d seen before – either at previous Terrastocks or on their west coast gigs. However, the one thing that I noticed more than at any of the other fests was how, well, “psyched up” all of the bands were. Sure I’ve seen Windy & Carl, Damon & Naomi, Subarachnoid, Bardo, etc. multiple times over the years, but I was floored at just how keyed up everyone was, and not just during the Sunday night juggernaut of Lockgroove / Subarachnoid Space / Bardo Pond / Spacious Mind / Kinski / AMT, but throughout the three days.

Anyway, several random observations not in any particular order of chronology or relevance…

For the first two nights, “stage 2” was a neighboring dance club with a big stage and some acoustical room for sound to rattle around in. Nice set up for the Charalambides for which half of the audience basically passed out flat on the floor in various states of consciousness. Supposedly there was a weird event during their set when the video projections switched (mistakenly?) to a CNN Iraq segment showing multiple missile launches, but I was part of the half that was peacefully conked out on the floor.

Windy & Carl was Windy & Carl & Paik drummer Ryan which gave W&C some much needed power with all the unstoppability of a rotating planet – one long 45 minute piece. Terrific, terrific set and I couldn’t help but babble to Carl that they immediately needed to record it. Sadly, the CDs for their 3-CD box set compilation didn’t make it to Boston, but it should be available now from Stormy Records directly.

Paik was one of the bands I was looking forward to, even though I’d only heard the one track on the PT32 disc. Someone else here namechecked Mogwai, and for lack of a better shorthand I’d agree, but there’s more guitar delay/reverb going on in front a la Loop or Cure backing tracks. Either way, I liked them enough to buy both CDs on the spot. But as long time DroneOn’ers have known I’m genetically programmed to like that sort of stuff.

What I do want to know is what the hell is in the Scandinavian water supply (and I’m not talking about the Hives, etc.)? Is there some insane scene up there that we’re missing out on? Words entirely fail me to adequately describe the Dipsomaniacs, Motorpsycho, and Spacious Mind other than “shit man, they fucking rocked!”. Like I said earlier, the Dipso’s played like they were in Wembley Stadium. Motorpsycho beats the tar out of any latter day MC5/Sabbath imitators out there. And Spacious Mind? Call ’em Amon Duul Zero – mapping out their own heroic territory in the psych/prog omniverse. I can’t remember the last time I’d seen this happen at a club gig, but each Mind got a much-deserved ovation as he walked off stage.

I think we’re in desperate need of a Major Stars drinking game. You know, drink once when Wayne rolls around on the floor, drink twice if he knocks something over.

The posted schedule on the wall of the Axis went something like “band name, band name, Break (this is not a band named Break), band name, etc”. For some reason I found this incredibly funny.

The two big question marks going into T5 were The Lilys and Sonic Youth. I’ll always defend those first three Lilys albums, but no one seemed to know if we were going to get the MBV Lilys, the Kinks Lilys, the krautrock Lilys, or some hybrid of all three. Instead, Kurt discovered his inner Anton Newcombe and we got the seven-piece strong Brian Jonestown Lilys. Not a bad thing really, and they did play that one pop song from In The Presence Of Nothing.

Sonic Youth played Murray Street in order, in its entirety. I freely admit that I would have rather heard (and enjoyed) 45 minutes of Lee Renaldo guitar squonk, so I’m disqualifying myself from commenting – especially since Thurston was in the middle of eye surgery and was playing amidst a lot of pain. FWIW, SY easily had the biggest crowd of all of Terrastock. Couldn’t help but laugh at whoever it was that hollered “Ca Plane Pour Moi” at them.

I’ve freely admitted my unconditional love of both Landing and Kinski. Landing playing a set that was as compelling as it was dreamy. And Great Cthulhu, about the only thing you could do during Kinski’s set was to hang on to the stage and start banging your head. Yes, they’re playing at that level, and yes go out of way to see them on their way back to Seattle. You won’t be disappointed.

Bardo Pond’s set: I’m pretty sure all the songs were new (except for the first one) and out of a half-dozen or so times I’ve seen them this one was utterly apocalyptic and funereal. Quite different from the usual sludge-n-purge set I’d seen before.

Nice to see Lockgroove finally after reading about them on the list for so long. Just realized what I had been missing. And all those comments about Blue Cheer turning the air into cottage cheese and inducing spontaneous canine combustion? They all apply to Subarachnoid Space who’s set was calculated to BLOW YOU THROUGH THE BACK WALL OF THE CLUB. The word “monstrous” came to mind.

And Acid Mothers Temple? The video clips I posted earlier kinda give you an idea. I think there was a subconscious betting pool in the audience as to whether or not Cotton Casino would spill her beer into her synth. Nothing spilled despite the on-stage maelstrom.

Thanks and shout-outs to everyone who participated – audience or artist. If I had my act together, I would have organized another DroneOn family photograph/dinner/whatever, but there’s always T6.

On my way east to Terrastock V

Terrastock V is in Boston this weekend so if you see any befuddled-looking underground music types in the nation’s airports, give ’em a break.

Anyway, I’m blogging from the floor in front of Gate 1 at Orange County’s John Wayne Airport…

How the hell is the cleaning crew suppose to vacuum the place if there aren’t any power outlets anywhere? In the space of about an hour, I’ve joined that particular subset of technological nomads who wander the traveller switching yards, constantly searching for electrical power to give their laptops enough juice to last the next leg of their journey. The sole outlet in all of terminal 1 is located at the very end of the hall, nowhere near any of the seats.

For crying out loud, it’s the 21st Century! I’ve already given up on the Moonbase I was promised. Isn’t there some viridian Nikola Tesla that’s working on laptop trickle-charger that can suck power out of the air?

And another quote of the week

From ProAudio RX:

Recently, a prominent individual in the recording industry was asked to serve on a panel that would judge the best engineered CD for the Grammy’s. After listening to over 200 CD’s, they couldn’t find a single CD worthy of a Grammy based on the criteria they were given. Everything they listened to was squashed to death with heavy amounts compression. What they wound up doing was selecting the CD that had the least amount of engineering. In reality, the winner didn’t win because of great engineering, he won simply because he had messed with the signal the least. What a way to win a Grammy.