Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 17:23:10 -0700 From: Michael Scholtz Subject: terrastock west part 1 i've been meaning to post some sort of commentary ever since we got back from san francisco, but other matters have intervened ... and truth be told, it's a daunting task to try to encapsulate three very full days of music with dozens of great bands. but since no one else on either 4ad-l or impure-l has jumped into the fray, here goes ... the fest was moved at the last minute to the custer ave. stages, a complex of rehearsal stages built into an aging warehouse located just north of hunter's point and west of a no-man's-land industrial district. although the surrounding neighborhood was dangerous, the venue itself was fine, and there weren't any major mishaps so far as i know. security was outstanding, keeping an eye on everyone's safety, but staying low-key throughout and avoiding hassles with the attendees. (although, curiously, there seemed to be a lot less open drug use than i would have expected at such an event.) the food was tasty and inexpensive, with lots of vegetarian options. people were polite and friendly, with the musicians mingling and chatting with the fans or checking out their peers. (i would estimate that the band members made up 25 or 30% of those in attendance). there were no major delays in the performances, and at most the schedule drifted 45 minutes or so off the mark. and the video projection light show was the most amazing i have ever seen. in short, an exceptionally well run event, particularly in light of the last-minute relocation. as for the music: Brother JT (Solo): skipped this one -- never liked the vibrolux stuff 50 Foot Hose: not bad, though a bit short on melody, this band was at its best in the instrumental passages, which featured some very odd-looking homemade electronic instruments. Azusa Plane: rescheduled to an earlier timeslot, these kids opened with more than five minutes of exhausting, high-volume, guitar bashing noise, completely devoid of pitch, melody or beat. not an auspicious start, but the remainder of their short set mixed in more musical elements with the racket and dissonance to fine effect. Roy Montgomery: I rather enjoyed roy's set of longish solo guitar instrumentals and short whispery vocal numbers, although my companions thought the opening strum-epic was a bit dull. and the man was extremely congenial when i introduced myself afterwards. those of you up in davis may yet bump into him in the university library, where he's doing some research for his dissertation before returning to ch-ch. Grimble Grumble: one of the unexpected highlights of the festival, this is a band to watch. beautiful, dense, swirling guitar noise that brought slowdive, fsa and 'meddle'-era pink floyd to mind, grounded by a solid rhythm section, and just the right combination of chaos and melody for my taste. their records are pretty fine, but don't miss these kids live. and very, very nice people to boot. Kendra Smith: somehow the organizers lured her down from her rural hideaway for a rare public performance. unfortunately, ms. smith appeared uncomfortable in the spotlight, and her guitar skills have grown a bit rusty. what she offered us was a half-set of pump organ numbers, the bulk of them instrumental; a handful of songs accompanied by some sort of odd balkan stringed instrument; and a few abortive numbers on acoustic guitar. only one track from the opal days, very little banter. all in all, not up to the level of her avam shows. Major Stars: i liked magic hour more than most, but this struck me as undernourished, undistinguished heavy rock. i bailed after the first couple of songs to go chat with some of the musicians and grab some food. Mountain Goats: mr. goat was in rare form, mixing lots of laughs amidst his cogent, literate folk songs. last time i saw him live, he was opening for chris knox on the final night of a long tour, and looking exhausted and a bit worse for wear. this time, a bundle of energy, humor and warmth. great entertainment. i won't miss him next time he comes to town. Alastair Galbraith: alastair sounded like an xpressway cassette come to life, interspersing odd electronic noises, looped and delayed violin, and heavily distorted electric guitar with spoken and sung vocals. i was mesmerized, but my wife (whose taste in nz avant stuff extends about as far as the 3ds) thought it way too pretentious. a highlight for me nonetheless. Mick Farren & the Deviants: actually, there was only one deviant accompanying mick on guitar. aging rock and rollers playing aging rock and roll. more power to 'em, but it had been a long week and so we called it a night and split after a couple of songs. as a result we missed Bevis Frond and Medicine Ball. stay tuned for reviews of days 2 and 3. mike Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 17:42:00 -0700 From: Michael Scholtz Subject: terrastock part 2 to my surprise, none of the other listmembers who attended the event have stepped forward with their two cents ... well, damn the torpedoes. day two: V. Majestic: skipped this act in favor of a leisurely brunch and a walk on ocean beach. arrived at the hall just in time for ... Windy & Carl: magnificent. how can two people generate such gorgeous, mammoth washes of sound? windy has a fine voice and the songs suggested a percussionless slowdive (no mean feat), but the peak of their set was a long instrumental crescendo that could have gone on forever as far as i was concerned. how shall i put it? ... the early russian modernist composer scriabin believed that if a certain chord was played in the right musical context, time would stop and the listener would be transported into an ecstatic spiritual realm. this was better. Young Fresh Fellows: back to earth! a brief dose of good-timey goofball rock and roll provided a drastic contrast to the expansive otherworldliness of w&c. no, mssrs. buck and eitzel didn't show up, but mccaughey, bloch and co. offered up an irresistably amiable and energetic set. no arty pretension, just straightahead fun. Damon and Naomi/Masaki Batoh and Kurihara (of Ghost): another festival highlight. damon and naomi offered a half dozen or so of their warm and beautiful guitars and voice duets, then brought up the two guys from ghost for a brilliant full-band set. although i've enjoyed ghost's somnolent eastern mysticism in the past, i was totally unprepared for what these guys could do in a semi-conventional rock band context. kurihara's fiery and elegant guitar was just perfect, and batoh's voice was calm and earnest. all four musicians were clearly at home with one another, probably a result of the extensive touring that ghost and d&n have done together. they closed the set with dylan's "baby blue", which seemed to me a thoroughly appropriate gesture. d&n then left, and the japanese kids cranked up the weirdness factor quite a few notches, mixing wild improvised instrumental passages with a few quieter songs. the whole shebang just went from strength to strength. amazing. Tom Rapp: one of a handful of 60s folkies in attendance, rapp delivered charming asides between numbers, invited players from many of the other bands to join him on stage, and created the warmest and friendliest atmosphere of any of the acts at the fest. unfortunately, to my ear there wasn't much to get excited about in the music itself -- undistinguished folk songs built around an acoustic guitar and rapp's rather ordinary voice. perhaps if i'd been more familiar with rapp's 60's band, pearls before swine, the performance might have been more satisfying. but on this evidence, i'm at a loss to explain the reverence for this guy expressed by fsa et al. not bad, but a mild disappointment. Stone Breath: slow-to-medium paced acoustic folk-psych for forest dwellers. well-played, well-written tunes, notwithstanding a few technical glitches in the sound system. maybe i'm still too young to really appreciate this (yeah, that's wishful thinking). Neutral Milk Hotel: at this point, the crowd was ready for something good and loud, and nmh happily obliged. quite pumped-up and punked-up, by comparison to the 'avery island' record. sparks were flying, horns were blaring, some dude was going nuts with various odd electronic boxes ... and nothing but smiles in the room for the better part of an hour. wwwhhhhhoooooooooooooooooo! Olivia Tremor Control: nmh was a tough act to follow. for the most part, otc declined to rock, opting instead for a careless and sloppy set that meandered frequently into unstructured noise. it was hard to tell if they were incapable of pulling the songs from their excellent 'dusk at cubist castle' album into coherent shape, or just disinclined to do so, but the end result fell well short of brilliance. i couldn't shake the feeling that these guys are capable of more than they gave us in this show. still, the set had its moments, and the musicians crowding the stage looked like they were having fun. all in all, a really great day of music. and there was still one to go ... Date: Wed, 20 May 1998 17:16:34 -0700 From: Michael Scholtz Subject: terrastock pt. 3 (climactic conclusion) time has passed, but the memories live on. day three: Elf Power/Loud Family/Primordial Undermind/Alva: sensory exhaustion had set in, and we decided to pass up the early part of the day's schedule in favor of a few of san francisco's other attractions. for what it's worth, i can heartily recommend loud family, since i've seen them (and their predecessor, game theory) on a number of occasions and never been disappointed by leader scott miller's strangely-turned paisley rock. i picked up the elf power cd a week ago, and found it to be in the same leage as their better-known elephant 6 cohorts' 'fun trick noisemaker' and 'cubist castle', so i've been regretting that i missed their set. the primordial undermind cd on camera obscura isn't too shabby either. but there is only so much music one can absorb in three days. Loren Mazzacane Connors: arrived about halfway through his set. although lots of folks seemed entranced, lmc's solo guitar noisescrapes really didn't do much for me. (along the same lines, anyone out there want to trade something more melodic for my keiji haino and fushitsusha cds? i've tried and tried but they don't take me anywhere either. go ahead, call me a philistine.) Green Pajamas: with a sound mixing genial 60s psych/pop/folk and 80s athens-derived jangle, the pjs were one of the least spacy acts to appear at the festival, a welcome change after the formlessness of lmc's performance. i had high expectations, and in fact the songs were good, very entertaining while they lasted, but none of the melodies lingered in my head at the conclusion of the set. time well spent, a polished job by talented musicians, but not transcendant. Spaceheads: i'd never heard of this trumpet/drums duo before, and approached them with a bit of trepidation. what i found was another unexpected festival highlight. the trumpet was heavily treated, pitch shifted and looped, yielding fairly dense and complex melodic structures. the drummer was terrifically inventive on a more-or-less standard kit. the end results were propulsive, tuneful, wild, inventive and constantly surprising in the best possible way. though large parts were clearly improvised, this was unquestionably psychedelic rock music, *not* jazz (and not, thank heavens, fusion). reminiscent of a primary industry, or some of the earlier a certain ratio cuts. even a dif juz comparison would not be totally off the mark. Silver Apples: sorry to report that the performance by the silver apples was not good. it might be stretching it a bit to say it was ok. even though i'd been warned on this list and elsewhere that their best days were several decades behind them, in my heart of hearts i was hoping that the reborn duo of electro-hippie simeon and a drummer young enough to be his son just hadn't hit their stride in performances earlier this spring. no such luck. the old songs didn't have much life in them, and the new songs were kind of inane. the new drummer approached the songs with a standard rock feel, not the odd loping tribal beat that made the 60s records seem so pleasantly alien. the audience was reverent at first, then polite, but the signs of spreading boredom were hard to mask. The Alchemysts: nasty hard rock from the southern hemisphere. most folks love it or hate it. i'm usually in the former category, and the band played with abundant energy, but i just wasn't in the mood. split halfway through the set to get dinner, and so missed ... Pelt: i didn't like their cd, so i figured i wouldn't miss much. (anyone want to trade for my copy of the vhf-label disc?) Subarachnoid Space: local s.f. space rock, rumor has it they're pretty good, i figured i'd catch them if and when they travel down to l.a. Cul De Sac: not my bag, either. so sue me. we returned just before ... The Lothars: now, some of you out there might harbor doubts that a band containing not one, not two, but THREE theremin players could produce anything much beyond weird noise. but you have to remember that in the right frame of mind, weird noise can be a perfectly acceptable end in itself. a truly unique experience. Bardo Pond: unquestionably the finest musical moments i have had the pleasure of experiencing in many, many months. three guitars of massive fuzz and feedback. shimmering tunes. headnodding bliss, as good as rock gets. it didn't matter that the flute and vocals were lodged somewhere deep under the blanket of guitars: the band clicked, and the energy level in the room just snowballed as the set went on. a cataclysmic, gargantuan, f'in BIG and POWERFUL sound. wow. run do not walk ... just superlative. (and the video projection guys really knocked themselves out -- perfect!) Clockbrains: had the misfortune to follow bardo pond. ok psych with nice touches of violin, but a serious power deficit in comparison to the monster which had just played. not a bad set by any means, and their self-titled lp from a few years back is quite nice, not unlike absolute grey, so don't let this lukewarm review discourage you from further investigation. Mudhoney: 'welcome to the bad part of your trip' -- those were mark arm's opening words, and set the tone for what followed. harshing the collective mellow, if you will. now, i usually enjoy a healthy dose of rage and contrariness in my garage rock, but this time i just wasn't in the mood. voted with my feet and so missed the last of the last (Brother JT and Vibrolux), bardo pond's monumental riffs still swirling in my head. overall a really great experience. a major debt of gratitude is owed to the bands, organizers, staff and fans for making it happen. mike