Capitol Hill Block Party
So I was at the Capitol Hill Block Party this weekend for about ten hours, maybe a little more.
Friday: The Seattle Times claims that Band of Horses was the highlight of the weekend, but that seems totally wrong to me considering that their set sound notably less good than their album, which is nice but not quite great. I enjoyed Pretty Girls Make Graves, but wasn't really in the best spot to hear them. The Pharmacy sounded a little too harsh for my tastes, but their drummer was really solid and well-miked, so it was an enjoyable set. In fact, unless I was standing a long way from the stage or something, the sound was pretty good all weekend, at least for the bands that I saw.
Saturday: Silversun Pickups sounded pretty good; I heard about half of their set while walking around the perimeter of the fenced off area and waiting in line, and the other half in front of the stage. Sera Cahoone is a really nice alt country band, and their cover of "Take It on the Run" was an unexpected highlight. I think Minus the Bear were probably good, but like with PGMG I wasn't in the best spot and they don't really work in a style that I'm into very much right now. The Black Angels were powerful, with huge waves of drone (organ), massive bass and drums, hypnotically repeating figures (it wouldn't really be appropriate to use the term "grooves"), and stark, reverb/echo-heavy vocals. Kind of like an extended version of the Doors' "The End," except denser and heavier and without the hooting and hollering. I thought that was going to be the high point, but then I headed from the outdoor mainstage into Neumo's where Six Organs of Admittance just totally destroyed. They were crowd-scatteringly loud, and darker and more adventurous than the Black Angels. I think they used to be basically one guy on acoustic guitar and whatever else he wanted to add, but they've recently gone electric and added drums and an effects guy. Basically the performance consisted of long passages of guitar, either improvised sounding lines or repeating riffs or just outright shreddding, punctuated from time to time by some absolutely punishing drumming and backed by a guy on an effects machine or an old synthesizer. By the end of the set it was probably the smallest crowd for any set I saw at the Block Party, but one of the most enthusiastic. Magnolia Electric Co. was as solidly enjoyable as last time I saw them (Charles failed to enjoy it because frontman Jason Molina didn't seem angry) and I caught some of the Murder City Devils reunion show, which didn't do much for me.
The only real lowlight of the weekend was an impossibly goofy MC with a really off-the-mark sense of humor and no idea of when to shut up. Overall the programming was good, the sound was great, and it was really nice to be situated in a real neighborhood with actual shops rather than in the middle of a field beholden to vendors. Hopefully Bumbershoot is as much fun.
Friday: The Seattle Times claims that Band of Horses was the highlight of the weekend, but that seems totally wrong to me considering that their set sound notably less good than their album, which is nice but not quite great. I enjoyed Pretty Girls Make Graves, but wasn't really in the best spot to hear them. The Pharmacy sounded a little too harsh for my tastes, but their drummer was really solid and well-miked, so it was an enjoyable set. In fact, unless I was standing a long way from the stage or something, the sound was pretty good all weekend, at least for the bands that I saw.
Saturday: Silversun Pickups sounded pretty good; I heard about half of their set while walking around the perimeter of the fenced off area and waiting in line, and the other half in front of the stage. Sera Cahoone is a really nice alt country band, and their cover of "Take It on the Run" was an unexpected highlight. I think Minus the Bear were probably good, but like with PGMG I wasn't in the best spot and they don't really work in a style that I'm into very much right now. The Black Angels were powerful, with huge waves of drone (organ), massive bass and drums, hypnotically repeating figures (it wouldn't really be appropriate to use the term "grooves"), and stark, reverb/echo-heavy vocals. Kind of like an extended version of the Doors' "The End," except denser and heavier and without the hooting and hollering. I thought that was going to be the high point, but then I headed from the outdoor mainstage into Neumo's where Six Organs of Admittance just totally destroyed. They were crowd-scatteringly loud, and darker and more adventurous than the Black Angels. I think they used to be basically one guy on acoustic guitar and whatever else he wanted to add, but they've recently gone electric and added drums and an effects guy. Basically the performance consisted of long passages of guitar, either improvised sounding lines or repeating riffs or just outright shreddding, punctuated from time to time by some absolutely punishing drumming and backed by a guy on an effects machine or an old synthesizer. By the end of the set it was probably the smallest crowd for any set I saw at the Block Party, but one of the most enthusiastic. Magnolia Electric Co. was as solidly enjoyable as last time I saw them (Charles failed to enjoy it because frontman Jason Molina didn't seem angry) and I caught some of the Murder City Devils reunion show, which didn't do much for me.
The only real lowlight of the weekend was an impossibly goofy MC with a really off-the-mark sense of humor and no idea of when to shut up. Overall the programming was good, the sound was great, and it was really nice to be situated in a real neighborhood with actual shops rather than in the middle of a field beholden to vendors. Hopefully Bumbershoot is as much fun.
Labels: Music
Posted on Sunday, July 30, 2006
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