(accompanying
photo by Tracy Popp, used with
permission)
 Terrastock
is not just a festival, it’s a family.
There’s a feeling of community that you
won’t get anywhere else and you can’t
help but feel caught up in it all. This
isn’t Boneroo, Lollapalooza, or Austin
City Limits. People aren’t here for
spectacle or to be seen – they are here
for the music and the community that
surrounds the psych genre whose umbrella
is the zine Ptolemaic Terrascope. That
sense of community extends from the
biggest acts to the smallest. This is,
when you get down to it, nothing more
than a big house party at (founding
editor of PT) Phil McMullen’s pad. The
pad this year just happened to be in
lovely Louisville, Kentucky in the
Mellwood Arts and Entertainment Center -
a former factory turned multi-use
facility.
Perhaps it’s the Terrascopic Family vibe
but I swear the artists were all the
nicest and most generous people you’d
ever want to meet and not an ounce of
pomposity to be found anywhere. Where
else can you sit around and chat about
that cool nightclub back at the
Brownsborough Motel with one of your
musical heroes or talk to someone whose
music you just discovered a few months
ago then have them actually greet you by
name at the merch table later that
evening? You greet artists you haven’t
seen a while with a great hug and meet
new kindred spirits (all the while
reminding them not to forget Houston on
their next tour). And the sense of
community isn’t just the artists but the
fans were just as wonderful (special
shout out to the kids from room 285) and
these fans came from far and wide. It
was pretty telling when Wayne Rodgers of
Major Stars asked “Who here is from
Louisville?” and perhaps two people
raised their hands. This wasn’t a local
event, this was international - an
international event brought together
from a love of music.
And that music was phenomenal. A short
cross section of the bands would dizzy
anyone. Off the top of my head? OK.
Damon and Naomi played a gorgeous and
beautiful set that was amazing plus, I
just love Naomi’s distinctive phrasing
on the bass. The pairing of Masaki Batoh
and Helena Espvall was incredible. I was
particularly entranced when Espvall
would play her cello through a flurry of
effects giving an otherworldly quality
that would play beautifully off of
Batoh’s strong and emotive guitarwork.
Tara Jane O’Neil’s performance was
inspiring. I’m always stunned how as a
solo performer she is able to be able to
use that negative space around her and
be able to make music that is at once
wrenching and lonely but also joyous and
communal. MV & EE and The Golden Road
put on a heavy and heartfelt
performance, despite sound issues, that
wasn’t merely giving the audience a note
by note rendition of their recorded work
but clearly expanding the material to
great effect. Mono’s performance showed
why their careful and patient
arrangements really have to be
experienced live. The impact of the
sound waves hitting you, surrounding
you, and carrying you along is simply
incredible. That’s just a smattering of
bands; there are a hell of a lot more
that deserve mention but it's just too
overwhelming. Hell, just this morning
before I left I heard an incredibly
textured impromptu set by Windy Weber
(Windy & Carl) and then 15 minutes of
Insect Factory’s sonic explosion. That’s
just poking my head in for a few minutes
before making my way out of Louisville
on a ride back to Texas. As I was
leaving, a friend shrugged and said
“Well, I guess it’s back to the real
world huh?” and I nodded my head and
sadly agreed.
Photo blog by Rosa (aka Mrs Medina)
here (some great shots of
Terrastock!)
2.
Charlie
Ebersbaker, TX
So I’m back at my desk at
work now after a very full weekend spent in Louisville,
Kentucky, for Terrastock 7, the seventh in a semi-annual
string of psychedelic music festivals put on by Phil
McMullen (and others assisting and managing) of the British
psych magazine Ptolemaic Terrascope. They have these things
once every few years, and have since 1996, and each time
they put it in a different city. They’ve had Terrastocks in
Providence, Boston, Seattle and other places… aside from
this most recent one, the only other one I’ve been to was
the 2000 Terrastock 4 in Seattle, also the last time my band
the Linus Pauling Quartet played. I think in the future
though, given the awesome time I had at this one, I may
start making more of an effort to go to any and all future
Terrastocks regardless of whether or not Linus is playing at
them.
At Terrastock 7,
thirty-nine bands played over three and a half days, from
Thursday evening to Sunday night. Due to a lack of vacation
days, I ended up coming mid-day on Friday, missing the
handful of bands playing Thursday night and a couple more
playing earlier in the afternoon on Friday. From around
noon until around 11 pm or so Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
night, they had bands playing almost constantly. It was
held at the Mellwood Arts Center in Louisville, an old
industrial plant/warehouse area converted into a sort of
mini-mall for local artisans and craftspeople. You could
walk all around the interior and see shop after shop of
private artisans doing things like watercolor, photography,
painting, framing, jewelry, etc. For Terrastock, we had a
fairly sizeable outdoor area with a stage for the outdoor
shows, and two indoor stages, one for regularly scheduled
bands, and one for people to sign up to do largely acoustic
performances and little one-off collaborations and such.
This stage was pretty interesting, but more on that later.
I’m not going to do a
band-by-band recap… that would take too long, and I have a
mountain of work to catch up on now that I’m back. That’s
one thing… I love doing stuff like this, and this really was
an incredibly beautiful and wonderful experience that I
totally and without qualification LOVED… so naturally now
that I’m back, I’m feeling that post-awesome-time depression
that stems from getting back into your everyday normal life,
which somehow doesn’t seem quite as much fun as what you
just experienced. If only I could somehow apply for a Green
Card to live in Terrastock Nation permanently. That would
be immigration work well worth the effort for me.
Linus played Friday
evening, a little before 8 p.m. I’d just been flitting
around the festival prior to that, though I did catch some
fine acts. I’d gotten there just in time to catch Sleeping
Pill, which featured Ira and Georgia from Yo La Tengo,
though the music they did was nothing like Yo La Tengo, so
that was kind of fun… much more droney and spacey stuff than
their primary band. Both of them played guitar, and I don’t
think they had a bassist, and I’m not sure who their drummer
was for the evening. However, as often happens when Linus
is about to play a big show, I got nervous and couldn’t
really stay in one place long enough to get into anything.
That’s just how I get before these types of things…
wandering around, excited and nervous with anticipation,
unable to lock my focus on anything else. Fortunately it
wasn’t long before it was time for us to play.
We soundchecked with “Old
Crow”, and at that point I kind of knew it was going to be a
special show, because everyone started going nuts and
clapping and calling out for another soundcheck. And then
we proceeded to play our set proper, and it was
transcendent; we just rocked very very mightily.
Afterwards, we would all agree it was one of our best
performances ever, if not THE best. I thought about it a
lot after, trying to figure out why, and then I realized a
good portion of the credit belongs to the audience. Houston
audiences just don’t go nuts. Not really for much of
anyone, but certainly not for a local band who’s been around
for fifteen years and whose stylistic heyday was back in the
90s. Some musicians will try to maintain that they don’t
care a whit about the audience’s response to them, and maybe
some really don’t, but most are lying. Music is a true folk
art form; it’s about a direct line of two-way communication
between performer and audience, wherein energy travels in
both directions. So the fact that the audience was SO
receptive to us, applauding a lot and just obviously REALLY
getting into it, drove us to play with more abandon and
energy than we usually muster. So if you were there and
you’re reading this, thanks. We played above our usual
level Friday evening, and it’s largely due to the audience’s
enthusiasm.
Which brings me to
something I sheepishly enjoyed very much: the frequent and
pleasurable boosts to the ego. We have a lot of very
dedicated and passionate fans in Houston, but the simple
fact remains that no one is ever as appreciated in their
hometown as they are elsewhere. Appreciated, yes, but not
to quite the same degree. And this was definitely in effect
at Terrastock. The number of people who came up to me out
of nowhere to tell me how blown away they were by our show
and how we were one of the best shows they’d seen at
Terrastock, particularly when you take into account the
magnitude of the musical company we found ourselves in, was
just overwhelming. Honestly though, the part of all this
that made me happiest was not the boost to my musical ego,
but the fact that because we made such an impression, lots
of people then came up to me and started talking to me.
Those of you who know me know I’m ordinarily a painfully shy
person (I think more accurately they call it “social
anxiety” these days), so there’s no way on earth I can talk
to anyone who doesn’t talk to me first. So of course so
many people coming up and talking to me first was a
godsend. Finally I got to be somewhere with hundreds of
other people and be given the “in” to communicate with
them. That was sure nice. So thanks to all of you… the
Tennessee crew, Greg, Jeff, Joe, and everyone else. The
music was great, but actually getting to talk to so many
people was what really made the whole thing totally
worthwhile for me.
Parties: Friday night we
went to a party in the Tennessee crew’s hotel room, just
down the hall from the room Larry and I shared. Saturday
night was a late night for everyone, with most people
(though no one from our group) going to the big afterparty.
I would’ve liked to have gone to that, but honestly I was
seriously worn out, so I just walked down and chatted with
the kids from Tennessee again for a bit before turning in,
and then Sunday night pretty much everyone who was staying
at the Brownsboro Inn (the motel chosen as the primary place
for Terrastock participants to lodge) got together for a
big-but-restrained shindig in the courtyard of the motel,
with beer and food all over the place, and two people
jamming on twin fiddles, until the management came and shut
it down around 2 in the morning. We were sharing the motel
with a Baptist convention, so I’m guessing some of them had
to get some sleep. Odd, putting a rock convention and a
Baptist convention at the same motel. That’s some irony.
Other bands: I really
enjoyed a huge portion of the lineup this year, so whenever
I read people on message boards online saying that they
thought the lineup wasn’t worth the trip, I’m just stunned.
You guys missed an incredible weekend. I have to single a
few bands out that I particularly enjoyed… I’m not going to
get into descriptions or anything; I started to, but then I
realized it would take forever, and my memory might not be
exact on the details. Better then to just list some bands I
loved and hope you’ll go research them and check out their
music: Sapat, Grails, Insect Factory, Windy & Carl, Damon &
Naomi, Mono, Wooden Shjips, Kinski, MV+EE and the Golden
Road, Pelt, and of course Bardo Pond. Pelt in particular
had me totally in a trance with their set-long almost
totally acoustic drone, utilizing multiple gongs, harmonium,
stringed instruments, etc. MV+EE did a great raga out on
that acoustic third stage, with one of the guys playing a
banjo he specially converted to sound like a sitar, replete
with VERY sitar-like effects that he got by basically
playing the instrument with the tuning peg, doing solos by
just quickly but deadly accurately detuning and retuning the
string to play a melody. Very very cool.
The third stage was
really nice. Apparently you could sign up to do something
relatively quiet and/or acoustic on that stage, and people
took advantage. The same incredibly cool hammered dulcimer
player who later joined Insect Factory on stage played quite
a bit out there, doing some very Steve Reich-esque
minimalist stuff. MV+EE’s set on the third stage blew me
away, especially since I’d managed to miss their “official”
slot on the main inside stage on Saturday because I made the
ridiculous error of walking the 4+ miles from the venue back
to the hotel room since I couldn’t find a ride and wanted to
get back there for a bit before Bardo Pond’s set later on.
At one point a girl got up on the third stage and quickly
launched into a solo a capella rendition of “Thank God I’m a
Country Boy”, which was just awesome. It was so cool to
have someone do something so completely different but so
fun.
And oh my GOD my ears
took a beating. Mostly that was our fault. I didn’t wear
earplugs for our show because I wanted to be able to hear my
tone and everything really clearly. But when we launched
into “La Tapatia” the monitors simply couldn’t handle the
abuse Ramon was dishing out with the microphones, so they
howled with searing high-pitched feedback, causing my ears
to actually shut down. I seriously thought we’d blown the
PA out until I noticed everyone was still playing and I just
couldn’t really hear it. I managed to limp through the rest
of the song by following the drumbeats I could feel through
the floor, and keeping my eye on Clinton’s fingers so I knew
where we were in the song. My hearing started repairing
itself so I was okay enough to hear things by Saturday, but
that kind of contributed to me not really paying as much
attention to the other music going on Friday night after our
set. As much as I love and respect Makoto Kawabata of Acid
Mothers Temple, I’m kind of glad I didn’t stick around for
his festival-closing set Sunday night, as I heard he was
ear-bleedingly loud. I don’t think I could’ve taken that.
The last set I caught was the third-to-last of the festival,
when Windy & Carl took to the inside stage. They played a
lovely set of shimmering clean electric guitar duets, and
Windy was just the most charming and sweet person on stage,
telling stories about Terrastocks past, and about Phil
McMullen, the guy who founded the whole thing. He
incidentally had a birthday (his 50th?) the preceding April,
and was considering Terrastock to be his birthday party, so
Bardo Pond led the crowd in singing Happy Birthday to him,
and several tributes to him were given from various bands
and such. It was a hell of a lot of good vibes going
around, and well deserved they were.
Anyway, so there you have
it. I didn’t get much into specifics, but we had a LOT of
fun, and I loved every second of it, except for the second
where my ears blew. Everything else was a pantload of fun,
and I can’t wait for next time.
3. Thoughts on
Terrastock — and Louisville! June 24, 2008 — Ned Raggett
So now that
Terrastock is over and I’m happily settled in the next step
of my vacation in Charleston — about which I’ll have my own
thoughts later on tomorrow if not today, but as you can
guess I’m quite happy just to relax and not do too much in
the way of work, however described! — a few retrospective
thoughts on both the festival and the community seem
appropriate.
Terrastock is
always, it seems to me, a triumph of organization and
improvisation in equal measure. I have not attended every
Terrastock though I have attended most of them, and it’s
always been evident to me that everyone handling the
behind-the-scenes aspects of the performances, even if they
are sometimes right out in public, never get all the credit
they deserve even when they’re getting thanks right, left
and center. That’s simply because there are not enough
thanks to give — it’s a massive investment of time and money
on everyone’s part, even just to attend, but even more so if
you are performing or being the facilitators of the
performances, as one of the on-site staff members, the
security, the ticket checkers and so forth. The work of
Erica Rucker and Rob Codey, along with founding father Phil
McMullen, at getting it all together can’t be honored enough
and by extension so too with everyone else who helped to
hand.
As with all
Terrastocks, though, there’s always something that won’t
quite work for everyone, and this isn’t to complain, simply
to note. Unavoidable problems are the nature of any
large-get-together, or rather, the potential for those
problems to arise, and some things were beyond the control
of anyone, such as a thunderstorm forcing Simply Saucer to
stop their set (thankfully they were able to retake the
stage later and the schedule was otherwise uninterrupted).
Other things I heard about were almost to be expected — the
sound wasn’t always the best, the food on site was sometimes
mixed, etc. — and yet others were the risks run (if you took
the campsite option, it’s understandable, but I salute your
patience in sticking with it through all the heat, storms
and more!).
Perhaps the most
understandable concern — that there should have been more
people attending, if only because the space was clearly
there for them at many points (more immediately evident for
the outdoor stage rather than the indoor ones), and because
that would have meant a little more cash in everyone’s
coffers — is just simply the nature of any festival at any
time, that it might not work. And in a time of high energy
costs, uncertain economies and more, I think it’s very much
something to keep in mind — certainly I was watching my
pennies carefully, and bought nowhere near the amount of
discs that I’ve done in the past.
But for those
complaints to have some real force would mean that the
festival was a washout, and this was not the case. For many
people the height of the Terrastocks remains the second one,
in part because the lineup was so very wide-ranging under
the umbrella of the general Terrastock rubric, and because
what seemed like a last-minute crisis turned out to be a
heaven-sent opportunity, with the warehouse/rehearsal space
setup proving perfectly accomodating for both bands and
audience. Opinions may differ and should but I’d rank this
one very near the second in terms of excellence — and the
reasons were not simply the musical ones. Certainly many of
the astonishing performances would have been worthy of note
on their own, but having so many career highlights in one
place at one time was breathtaking. And while there is now a
certain expectation of who will attend and what will be
performed at a Terrastock that wasn’t fully in place in the
second one, there’s still enough new variety within that
scope to show that there’s room to make more discoveries,
and for musicians to test more boundaries (it may sound
strange but I was glad to see laptops in evidence for a
couple of the sets — I think it’s long been the case that
the use of small computers on the stage like is not
something new or strange or ‘non’-Terrastock, or simply
non-musical, but simply another tool in a formidable
arsenal, as valid as an antique fiddle or a decades-old
effects pedal).
But as I said to
others throughout the weekend, Terrastock is not only about
the music, but the social aspect, the people and the
relationships and the friendships and more besides. I’ve
made many friends at past Terrastocks and the pattern
continued at this one, while the amount of new friends and
acquaintances almost can’t be counted. And this is how it
should be; without romanticizing gatherings to an extreme
degree, it is still the case that a commonality of interests
generated by an overall theme will lead to expectations of
bonding on other levels, and that was the case here. If
anything, the fact that Terrastock is not a huge monster of
a festival, not thousands upon thousands of people all
roaring at a stage but everyone in the mix in small amounts
roaming from stage to merch booth to restaurant to motel and
back again, scattered but unified, is one of the handiest
things about it, and one of the most welcoming. It was by no
means the first such small-scale festival of its kind here
or elsewhere in the world, but Terrastock’s long-range
impact on a number of similar festivals in the US has been
notable, and to have such a thing be a welcome if irregular
event on everyone’s social calendar can’t but be something
lovely.
For me to talk
further about everything that happened on that front veers
into the realm of private conversations and get-togethers,
as well as stories told by folks who would not want them to
be shared further! So on a general note I’ll say it was a
particular treat to hang around again with Chris B., a
friend and fellow Terrastock vet of longstanding who I’ve
known for fifteen years; it had been far too long since we’d
had a chance to talk over a lot of things and we made up for
lost time very quickly. Joe Turner, organizer of Terrastock
5, was in the same hotel as us, along with his Abunai
bandmate Brendan Quinn and their mutual friend Scott, and
the five of us got up to a variety of things during and
outside the festival as well. Among the performers, spending
time once again with Windy and Carl was a treasure — they’re
simply great people and all of our chats are among the most
thoughtful and most humorous! — while Jesse Poe of Tanakh
proves himself once more to be at once incredibly intense
and very warm and personable at the same time — very much a
compliment! Then there were past acquaintances and people
met once again like Paik, Kawabata, Jack Rose, Jeffrey and
Miriam from Black Forest/Black Sea, Tara Jane O’Neil, Chris
from Kinski and many others. Among the attendees, seeing
Nari from Texas again was a delight, as was meeting her guy
Bill, while catching up with Lee Jackson, Travis, Mats G.,
Joel, Mike Tamburo and of course, if too briefly, Phil
himself were all treats. As for new friends made or brief
but memorable conversations had, where to begin! Rob
Schnieder, his wife and relatives/bandmates, the Linus
Pauling Quartet, R. Keenan Lawlor, the United Bible Studies
crew, Sharron Kraus, the Plastic Crimewave crew, Elephant
Micah, Natalie, sleeve from ILM, Nashville Dave, Joey from
New Haven and his wife (whose name I forget, alas!), Tess,
Brendan’s dad, Captain Groovy…and I’m forgetting many, many
others or not remembering names, so if you’re not on here,
my apologies! It was simply that much of a splendid time.
And I’ve not really
spoken of Louisville all that much yet! But I should — it’s
a fine city, in my experience of it, and reminded me very
much of Portland. There’s a similar sense of it being a
place to live more than a place one immediately puts on the
list as a must-visit location — this isn’t to denigrate it
in the slightest, merely that, let’s face it, it’s just
simply not as much of an immediate tourist destination in
the mind. But these places are often the most enjoyable to
go to for that reason, and as with Portland, one gets the
clear sense of being able to afford to live here well enough
while being able to make one’s own space in town — the fact
that so many memorable musicians and performers have come
from Louisville now makes much more sense since I’ve gone,
though to be sure many things that I saw, like the Mellwood
Arts and Entertainment Center itself, the venue for the
festival, were comparably recent and the sense of a
community having developed over time rather than having
always been there as an outlet.
I must make a
special mention of the food, since I honestly do think this
was hands-down the best Terrastock for me foodwise of them
all. Most of the Terrastocks have had moments where despite
at least a couple of good meals here and there — for a while
there every new Terrastock meant trying a new tapas place! —
there were always fairly anonymous meals grabbed on the fly
as a simple means of avoiding hunger. But thanks to a
combination of suggestions from local friends — big ups to
Joel here in particular! — plus fine individual food
websites like Consuming Louisville and Louisville Lunch, not
to mention the handy help of an iPhone (it really proved its
paces throughout the weekend — VERY glad I bought mine back
in March, and not just for the ability to liveblog!), we
were able to hit up one great spot after another, and pretty
much scored a bulls-eye each time. Four great breakfast
spots in a row — the North End Cafe, Lynn’s Paradise Cafe,
Wild Eggs and, on site, Patti Cakes and their excellent
buffet (finally got to try a hot brown while I was there) —
would have been worthy enough, but add to that Genny’s Diner
and their frickles, Clifton’s Pizza, the Kentucky Barbeque
Company and the solid onsite spot that sold bison burgers
and hot dogs, and I was living the life of Riley — and
probably paying for it in pounds gained! Need to walk around
a bit more when I can here.
And overall,
Louisville was just a nice change of pace for a Terrastock —
sure, its more humid weather meant that folks like Chris and
I, used to desert heat patterns and a dryness in the air,
felt like we were stifling at points, but that’s a small
complaint (and the AC at the venue and the hotel both worked
like a charm, so hey!). But its pleasures were all the more
unexpected for finding them, and it didn’t just become
another place to say I’ve visited, but something else for
the mental landscape where I know where I could come back,
spend time, have a blast and enjoy life if I wanted to, like
Portland, like London, like Dunedin. I missed the official
afterparty on Saturday night — apparently there’s video of
Chris, Joe, Brendan and Jesse all jamming acoustically on
Velvets and Can covers — but the final get-together after
things closed up on Sunday at the Brownsboro Inn, with a
bunch of us all in the central gazebo having some drinks and
chat, music playing, Sharron and Michael breaking out their
violin and fiddles for an impromptu duet, stories swapped
and final good wishes exchanged, that’s one of those great
moments to have been a part of, and I’m glad for it.
Who knows when I’ll
ever visit Louisville again, but here’s to the next
Terrastock, whenever it might be, and with whoever it is in
attendance. It’ll be a treat and a half, for sure.
Terrastock Thursday —
live reports!
June
19, 2008 — Ned Raggett
The Photographic — a
local trio, guitar/bass/keyboards, who are still
funding their own sound but are off to a great
start. Very much a shoegaze instrumental act but
with a strong rolling drum sound which adds heft to
the performance. Think the clean triumphalism of
Sianspheric in part. Good way to begin!
Parlour — another
Louisville instrumental band — who would figure!
Eight person lineup, from guitars to horns. It’s
enjoyable but I admit to being more impressed by
them rather than fully getting into it. They have
many elements down to a T, the steady building
crunches, the structured jams, but nothing is on
fire for me. No complaints, at least.
Elephant Micah —
lovely, full stop. A last minute sub for Marissa
Nadler and to my mind, a more than worthy one.
Really enjoyed many of his releases over the moons
and hearing him perform these short, delicate songs
this way is surprisingly effective, and affecting. A
fine counterpoint to the previous two sets. Nick
Drake comparisons audible but warranted, but he has
his own vocal style and way around melody.
Dead Maids — MUCH more
like it in comparison to Parlour. Instrumental epic
drone psych and all, but with frills, filigrees and
frayed edges. The guitar work in particular is lush
in ways suggestive the Cocteaus and early Verve, or
even And Also the Trees, but just as apt to find and
focus on a core hook. They work within an
established form but find ways to reinvent. Another
great introduction!
Terrastock
Friday — live reports!
June 20, 2008 — Ned Raggett
United Bible Studies — another fine surprise,
specially recommended by sleeve on ILX. Reminds me a
bit of a more electric/folk and less goth Unto Ashes
given the blend of styles that resolve into a dark
lilting intensity, both loud and fragile. Sharron
Kraus guested, which leads me to…
Sharron Kraus — unsurprisingly wonderful, performing
on violin and banjo. Heavy and expected anticipation
for this one given her many collaborations. After a
fine solo set on banjo, she’s joined by the United
Bible Studies on vocals and drums while she plays
violin on a ‘midsummer song.’ Quite lovely and rich
sounding, a great closer!
Ignatz — took a break to chat outside with friends
and otherwise relax a bit, but what I heard sounded
good, v. Loren Connors spiked with harsher edges.
Antietam — never really had an opinion on them in
the past, a certain respect but no more. Their set
confirms this — loud, energetic, a couple of strong
moments but little else to add.
Black Forest/Black Sea — a beautiful fragmented
glow. This has always been the case with Black
Forest/Black Sea, and this afternoon is one of their
best. Working without a PA and letting their voices
and spindly, crackling performances set the tone,
and we’re all duly enraptured. A highlight.
Sleeping Pill — aka Ira and Georgia from Yo La Tengo.
It’s an experimental set for them but again, it’s
time for chat and circulation for me. I do like what
I hear though!
Tanakh — Jesse Poe rapidly pulls together an ad hoc
group — and I helped! In a small way. Kawabata was
already on board, I grabbed Joe Turner and he got
Brendan Quinn in, flagged down the lead fellow from
United Bible Studies when Jesse mentioned he’d love
to see if they could help, looks like Tara Jane
O’Neill is there too maybe (whoops, I’m wrong — it’s
a fellow in a very Tara like hat, wait it’s Kris
Thompson, of course! Three quarters of Abunai!) and
the end result is magic, everyone playing following
Jesse’s lead and doing a damn great job. Kawabata
and Brendan’s filigrees stand out but the whole is
as lushly romantic as Tanakh is at their best. A
pleasure and I hope there’s an official recording,
and Jesse’s wideeyed humility and generosity is
evident.
Plastic Crimewave Sound — biker spacerock messiah
crucified strutting feedback motorik YEARGH! Total
goddamn compliment. Makes the sunset seem like a
nuclear blast. Give these guys a B-movie to star in!
Linus Pauling Quartet — somewhere between the
volume, the educational films and Satan and Dungeons
and Dragons, I saw God and he said
YARRRRRRGH!!!!! From Texas. Naturally.
Major Stars — Wayne and Kate are very much in love
for how else would they fondle each other’s feedback
so well? “Just” another Major Stars set, in that
hair was everywhere as was the fog from the fog
machine. The neighbors up the hill hopefully have
escaped to local bars.
Damon and Naomi — skipped this one as I’ve seen them
at past Tstocks and enjoyed them well enough but
conversation called and I took it easy…though I did
see their last couple of songs accompanied by…
Helena Espvall and Masaki Batoh — noise, chaos,
serenity, reflection, epic rock. I would say more
but it is late. Roll on Saturday!
Terrastock
Saturday — live reports!
June 21, 2008 — Ned Raggett
Oneida — now I will freely admit that Oneida have
always just sort of been there for me, and that they
have press packs prone to hyperbole. However they
are starting off what’s been called ‘earplug day’ on
the right note with a tight-as-hell
feedback/chant/organ/drum drone rampage assault, so
credit to them! From there into a more rambling flow
of sonic ooze that’s as superheavy as they claim.
Pleasant surprise of the day already and I thought
this was going to be the weak spot!
Wooden Shjips — these guys have been on my ‘I should
listen to them, shouldn’t I’ list for about a year
so this was long overdue. Less full-on revelatory
than I might have guessed but still solid; if
anything it’s a kind of good time stoner rock band,
with all the reverb on the vocals and effects and
all well suited for a warm afternoon like this one.
Very glad I’m not standing in the sub right now,
actually.
Tara Jane O’Neil — had a chance to see Tara Jane a
few times recently, including a brilliant
collaborative set at Halleluwah last year. This
performance is solo, so far, but no less entrancing.
The combination of a slightly keening folk edge with
thick electronics via guitar and pedals is both
familiar and distinct — her work sounds most of all
like herself, a clear style all hers.
Kinski — it’s Kinski. I really can’t add anymore to
what I’ve already said over the moons. Biker
shoegaze. Clean white line fever acid trips. Tight
as fuck sprawl and splay. Once again,
YEARRRRRRRRGH!!!!! And THEN Kawabata joins
them along with one of Oneida’s keyboardists. From
there, insanity.
MV+EE with the Golden Road — well I might poke my
nose in later but right now there’s a mostly
acoustic jam/improv going on between R. Keenan
Lawlor, Mike Tamburo, Jesse of Tanakh, Sharron Kraus
and most of United Bible Studies. And it’s great!
Bardo Pond — Kawabata guests again! Right from the
start this time. Like Kinski, Bardo Pond pretty much
refuse to suck, and so another stellar set of
heavily stoned zone drones that are as ever agog
with their own majesty.
Grails — another ‘well I’ve certainly heard a lot
about them’ band. But where Wooden Shjips were quite
good, these guys hit the spot for me more. Their own
signifiers are just as familiar — layers of sitar
drones, blasting drums, a soupçon of murky lyrics
and feedback, not to mention plenty of ratchet-it-up
further arrangements that take for granted that
there is no such thing as too loud. Thrilling at its
best, and it is damned hard to follow Bardo. Good
work!
Motorpsycho — and again, another band that will not
suck, period. On go the fog machines, out come the
black shirts and once more, space biker oblivion,
but with tunes! And some slippery way around
melodies in general. I just let myself go with it at
this point.
Sapat — an agglomeration of a band. Very much a
positive. There are eight million instruments
onstage and half as many people. Puts me in equal
mind of the Starving Weirdos and the Gone Orchestra.
Twisted blues, singing saws as voices and vice
versa. Hordes of screaming fans! They’re local
heroes and play like it. Even a dirge that’s a
triumph.
Mono — so great but at this point my brain was full.
Epic shoegaze Mogwai beauty. And there you go.
Kohoutek — only saw a quick snippet, was great, and
goodnight.
Terrrastock Sunday — live reports in retrospect
June 24, 2008 — Ned Raggett
Sex
Fist — replacing Team Brick at the last minute, this
improv group was just that, with the attendant ups
and downs that can happen in situations like that,
but at its best turned out quite well. Joe Turner,
most of Thought Forms, Jon from the Lothars, Anthony
from Paik and a few other folks who are not sitting
in my memory at present jammed away on this, that
and the other, from free-floating haze to driving
attacks and back again. Started out the day rather
well.
Rob
Sharples — I admit, this set wasn’t one for me —
fairly straightforward singer/songwriter stuff that
was accomplished but not entirely my thing. After a
bit I snuck over to the third stage to catch what
turned out to be the end of R. Keenan Lawlor’s set —
wish I had seen more! But most of it was during Sex
Fist so what can you do?
Thee American Revolution — RAWK. Okay, this one
turned out to be a treat — a couple of days
beforehand Chris B. and I had randomly made the
acquaintance of Robert Schneider of Apples in
Stereo, and a more friendly and upbeat fellow I’ve
rarely had the chance of meeting. Through him I met
his lovely wife Marnie (I hope I have that right!),
her brother Craig (again, hope I have that right!)
and his wife in turn. All of them plus a couple of
others made up Thee American Revolution, Rob’s new
band. A fine combination of sensibilities,
sartorially and sonically, brought together Rob’s
ear for tunes with full-on end-of-sixties
biker-freak-flag-rock and scored a bulls-eye. Very
stylish, very fun! Looking forward to hearing the
album.
The
Kentucky Watercolor Society — this third stage
performance by this hitherto unknown act was, in
fact, Windy from Windy and Carl doing what I gather
was a solo debut. Her new album I Hate People is
quite wonderful, BTW, and this short but fascinating
performance — Windy, two guitars, a lot of
amplifiers and obsessive focus — was well-attended
and received, bringing out the edge of that solo
album in a slightly different form. Definitely NOT a
typical Windy and Carl sound, for sure.
Insect Factory — happily I was able to catch most of
this and while my impressions of it are not as clear
as they should be, massive feedback sculptures and
entrancing zone and more all made it catnip for
everyone. Need to investigate more! Mike Tamburo,
who had been doing a wonderful journeyman’s job on
the third stage on his own and with others all
weekend, popped in to help on dulcimer on the final
number and it was a wonderful combination.
Pelt — after a delay in Simply Saucer’s set due to
the rain, Pelt settled in for what we all expected
would be a heck of a show. This understates. An
AMAZING set which rivals their exquisite Terrastock
2 show from ten years back, equally dedicated to
performing one long extensive performance centered
around gongs at the start and finish and various
accordion/antique squeezeboxes for the extended
midsection, not to mention violin, sitar (I think)
and a variety of other instruments. A massive
rhythmic drone piece that intertwined, expanded, and
settled in indescribable fashion. The highlight of
the day up to that point, rapturously received.
Simply Saucer — thanks to the way the schedule
worked as well as the weather, Simply Saucer were
able to reappear and complete their set. I admit I
only dipped in and out of this, but you could see
that the band were loving life nicely and there was
exuberance a-plenty. I ended up ducking in to see
the MV+EE-led jam on the third stage, quite honestly
the best thing I’ve yet heard from them!
Jack Rose and the Black Twig Pickers — the proximity
of the Jack Rose set to the Pelt one led to natural
assumptions that Jack would be sitting in with Pelt
but such was not the case; however, two of Pelt are
said Pickers, so there you go. Very much a spirited
bluegrass-folk set straight up, with Rose’s guitar
work and the fiddling (and fiddlesticks!) of the
others, not to mention the singing, a lovely
combination and good contrast to the sonic reach of
the Pelt set.
The
Entrance Band — now this I admit I skipped a bit.
Last year I saw the Entrance Band at an Arthur
benefit and I enjoyed it well enough but wasn’t
fully sold, but it was clear that the group’s
messiah/rock guru/sixties-into-seventies approach
was going to fit in perfectly for a festival where
bands like Plastic Crimewave and Thee American
Revolution had already made a mark. And it did, but
I spent my time making some initial goodbyes since I
knew the rest of the night was going to be full as
heck. And was it ever.
Windy and Carl — well, what to say. I consider them
friends of long standing now, and that could account
for some personal bias. But to my mind, it’s not
bias — they’re just THAT good. And in combination
with Christy Romanek’s lovely visuals, which led to
me taking heaven knows how many photographs from my
position up front, the result was a festival
highlight. Playing individual songs rather than a
full extended piece as they’ve recently done at
Terrastocks, thus previewing the new album a bit, it
was one serene and sublime song after another,
underscoring huge depths every step of the way. The
concluding song “Champion,” with its extended ending
comparable to Windy’s solo album’s focused
aggression, knocked everyone for a further loop. All
that and I was briefly namechecked on the stage,
even if only as a reference to an in-joke! It was a
pleasure and a privilege regardless.
Paik — I almost can’t say anything. I was chatting
with the dudes a bit beforehand — my MBV shirt was
the cause for a bit of conversation, we’d all seen
the tours back in 1992 — and past experience taught
me that it would be the loudest set of the day by a
long shot, as well as the thickest-sounding and one
of the most beautiful sounding. It was all that and
more. Lights, fog machine, Ryan on drums looking
possessed…where to start, where to end! At one point
I leaned over to Jesse from Tanakh and said “It’s
the Motorhead principle — everything louder than
everything else.” And yet it still wasn’t the
loudest set of the day — that honor went to…
Makoto Kawabata — six years back Acid Mothers Temple
had concluded an insanely memorable final day at
Terrastock 5 with a monster of a set and this time
around Kawabata did that same thing solo. But
anybody who thought this would be a gentle comedown
from Paik was rapidly disabused — this included me.
Having guested on many sets throughout the weekend,
Kawabata wrapped it all up on his own, with two main
parts to his performance: a solo guitar piece that
became a near Stravinsky-like composition (I almost
can’t describe it any other way) that then led into
the second part in a quick two second change, “Pink
Lady Lemonade.” This piece is one of the core parts
of nearly every Acid Mothers Temple show, but on the
solo front he rapidly turned the gentle core melody
into a blistering, near-literally ear-piercing
cascade of noise, feedback and further distortion
that had a number of people seeking the best
possible listening position by going outside and
leaning against the wall. As Chris said to me after
the set, “That one separated the living from the
dead.” And as Phil McMullen said when he took the
stage after the set to wrap everything up, “How can
you follow that?”
You
really couldn’t. And what a way to end.
Mono
was the band that a huge portion of the crowd showed up
for. From the time they started, until they ended, I was
unable to breathe. Literally, after the show had ended, I
had to sit down and just breathe. Takaakira “Taka” Goto,
the brainchild behind Mono, led the epic instru-metal
post-rock massacre, shredding his guitar, while Yoda
(pictured above) constructed wall after wall of sound.
Together, and along with Tamaki Kunishi and Yasunori Takada,
they weaved epic sagas that never really quit building
upwards to the climax, they only suffered small ruptures
intermittenly of frenzied sonic blasts, to reease the
tension. I felt as though years of my life could have
passed by during that set…not because it was slow moving,
but rather each progression seemed to truly tell such a
fully developed story, transplanting me to another place in
time, that my own life seemed to progress in a nonlinear
format, and my reference point was lost. I’ve never
experienced anything like this before, and although pictures
are supposedly worth a thousand words, no number of words
could do justice to describe this performance…no such words
exist…
from BackseatSandbar
http://backseatsandbar.wordpress.com/2008/06/27/photos-terrastock-day-3-mono/
|
great fest. great music. great vibe. great location.
phil is a saint, makoto made my ears bleed and windy could have a second career as a stand up comic.
lets also not forget how awesome united bible studies, grails, mono, paik and pelt were.
and nashville represented proper. especially, in the campground.
oh yeah, and thanks to everybody who checked out my solo set on the third stage. i was stupid nervous playing after windy.
Posted 06/25/2008 at 12:00:06 PM