SP20

Another weekend, another outdoor festival. Two down and two [Block Party, Bumbershoot] still to go. Kevin and Andrew are at the very bottom of the above picture, just left of center, but I probably hadn't shown up yet. I believe this Flickr account is overflowing with official photography from Sub Pop themselves.

This was probably the most pleasant experience during the festival itself, smaller than Bumbershoot and Sasquatch yet more comfortable than the Block Party. The older bands were generally fun though not quite revelatory. Mudhoney was probably my favorite among the grunge set, though Eric's Trip was also fun. I didn't actually watch Mudhoney (heard them from the food lines) but Mark Arm was great fun during Green River's set, which brought out the grunge nostalgics in droves. If I recall correctly, Arm provided a lot of interesting stories for the Experience Music Project's oral history section.

Beachwood Sparks were the band I most wanted to see and aside from their sound being turned up a bit too loud, they were completely satisfying.

Iron & Wine satisfied far more than I expected, not in small part due to the fact that it was just Sam Beam, his beard, and his guitar. Fleet Foxes sounded much better than at Sasquatch, engaged the crowd and even playfully acknowledged The Fluid's idiotically soundcheck on the neighboring stage. Comets on Fire demolished everyone else on the schedule with a 20-minute blast of loud, heavy awesome followed up by some shorter slabs of the same.

Sunday I missed Kinski and Foals (who were apparently terrific) so I could have part of my weekend to, you know, catch up on things before the week got started again, having also been out all Friday night. Wolf Parade disappointed a bit, but it may have to do with the direction they're moving on the new record, which I haven't listened to yet since I'd been focusing on electronic music for the past several weeks. I might come around in time.

And there should be a new mix up soon with the best cover art yet. It'll consist of eight techno remixes, all with vocals, some from unlikely sources. Ear candy.

Saturday | Constantines, Eric's Trip, Seaweed, The Helio Sequence, Pissed Jeans, Fleet Foxes, The Fluid, Low, Mudhoney, The Vaselines, Iron & Wine, Flight of the Conchords

Sunday | No Age, Red Red Meat, Comets on Fire, Beachwood Sparks, Green River, Wolf Parade