terrastock was a total blast. definitely my favorite festival around, overall. the vibes are great and there's no trendiness whatsoever, unless you count the entrance band, and even they are good despite their cliched hard rock shlock.
quick day-by-day summary:
thursday
the photographic (louisville): caught a little bit because i was looking at records. sounded like decent post-rock, though nothing special. they had some cool projections.
parlour (louisville): saw about 2/3 of the set before i got bored and left. more solid post-rock, with an emphasis on the rock end. they reminded me of delicate awol, who played terrastock in 2002. kind of like an amped-up tortoise, though nowhere as good. they dragged on and should've stopped after 30-35 minutes.
elephant micah (indiana): replaced marissa nadler, who sadly canceled. pretty good low-key folk-psych, definitely fits well on the secretly canadian roster. nothing flashy but well-executed and subtle. steve sanford, the live recording wizard, felt that this was his highlight the whole festival.
dead maids (UK): atmospheric post-rock in the vein of mono/explosions in the sky/tarentel/GYBE!, though without the experimentalism of the latter two. more like mono or EitS without the power or dynamics. good stuff, if not too memorable, because the formula's a good one.
hush arbors (UK/asheville): my favorite set of the first night, terrific folk-psych. james toth and jessica of wooden wand joined keith wood for a few songs.
friday
united bible studies (ireland): can't give you an unbiased report, as i played with them for the whole set. i can tell you that they are now one of my favorite bands and that it was pure joy touring and playing with them for the week after t-stock. they are similar to kohoutek in that no two sets are ever the same, but UBS actually play trad folk songs and their own written songs and improvise around them, while kohoutek generally avoids songs altogether.
sharron kraus (UK): UBS and i joined her for her last song, but she played the rest of the set unaccompanied. her voice is gorgeous and her banjo playing complements it well. i love how she writes songs that sound like they were written around 1600.
ignatz (belgium): caught the last 10 minutes, since i saw him the night before in bloomington. real tripped-out fractured blues, sort of like loren mazzacane connors and jandek and alan licht. the druggy forlorn vocals are a nice touch, too.
antietam (louisville): i was real excited to see this because i am an old fan of their meat-and-potatoes, neil young-esque indie-rock. they didn't disappoint, though the drummer was a bit lackluster, due to the fact that he was a fill in. tara key was ripping it up on guitar and the songs were simple yet effective. nice to see some old blood get a chance to shine.
black forest/black sea (pittsburgh): i usually like them, but they went for an experimental, subdued improv set and it didn't work. a lot of meandering and no direction. the sounds were good but it wasn't enough for an effective set.
sleeping pill (hoboken): was basically yo la tengo without james mcnew. i recall them playing three songs, averaging 12 minutes each. i'm a huge YLT fan, so i enjoyed the set, which consisted of laconic vocals and extended guitar jams. sleeping pill is an apt name for this project.
tanakh (italy by way of richmond): i dropped some mescaline and went to dinner at an italian restaurant with phil mcmullen and randy hammon, so we missed the tanakh set. i've never been much of a fan, and i heard the set was kind of a mess. some people dug it, some people hated it.
plastic crimewave sound (chicago): best set i've seen from krakow and co. they're always enjoyable, but they were on fire for this set. they covered dead c's "bad politics" and played a killer boogie-rock jam the way it was meant to be played. set concluded with krakow destroying his guitar.
linus pauling quartet (houston): one of the highlights of the fest, for sure. i had been wanting to see these guys for years, and they did not disappoint. they had the butthole surfers' original projectionist with them, too. the set was totally over-the-top heavy psych, definitely along the lines of blue cheer, DMBQ, buttholes, etc. demented and tight and highly entertaining.
major stars (boston): another kick-ass over-the-top rock 'n' roll set. major stars always bring it, and they pulled out all the stops for this set. smoke machine, lights, rock moves...and fuzzed-out riffs galore. i mprobably had a smile on my face a mile wide.
damon & naomi (boston): i love this folk-pop duo, but they are best when joined by kurihara or augmented by nmperign (greg kelley and bhob rainey) on horns. i like all of their records but the last couple aren't as strong as their first few, and the material leaned heavily on the recent recordings. helena espsvall (of espers) and masaki batoh (of ghost) joined them for the last couple of songs, which hinted at the gloriousness about to come.
helena espsvall & masaki batoh (philadelphia/japan): what a beautiful, transcendent set. this had it all: strange improv, memorable songs, and a wailing jam at the end with naomi on bass and damon on drums, like the good old galaxie 500/magic hour days. the last song was over 10 minutes and featured batoh's incredible lead playing and espsvall's searing cello. definitely a perfect ending to a great day of music, and ultimately, my highlight for the whole fest.
more on saturday and sunday later...
