Sunday, June 11, 2006

Todd's outdoor acoustic fest @ tip of Roosevelt Island 6/4/06

This was such an amazing day, i was really glad i made it out to this thing even if i was late and missed out on matt and kim. After quite a bike trip down the island, i had never ridden onto it before, you approach a large fence, and on one side there is a small gate with a little piece of paper that says todds show and has an arrow pointing ahead, after riding past a creepy ruined castle you come across about 200 kids sitting on a huge patch of grass, and all around you are huge buildings that are only 100 yards away on either side. The first band i got to watch was Tiagaa! they were really beautiful rhythmic chant style songs, a really nice trible feel that went well with the setting.

Pterodactyl played after that, they played two really nice acoustic jams that they claimed to have written that morning they were som good songs, and thier drummer used this cool contraption that kim made for a drum, it was a bass pedal taped to a cardboard box and on top was a little cowbell and a tin full of change, all to beat on to make it sound right, and that it did.
Up next was the ever infectious puttin on the ritz. who weve all seen hundreds of times, and sometimes the novelty seems to wear off and then they give a performance like this and you remember why you stick around. there were water whistles, magazines, and some running all the way to the edge of the island and back.

Im pretty sure this nxt guy was Dylan Ewing, he played very sweet singersongwriter type stuff, kinda put me to sleep.

Lidia Stone played next, i thought it was gonna be another lady singing witha guitar but it is in fact just a clever name for a great noise duo. one guy played a cheapo keyboard with some droning synth noise, while the other banged away on a snare drum while singing, i really liked these guys alot.

Zeke Healy played his crazy guitar after that, this guy is a really gifted guitar player he just riffs like crazy on his steel beast and it sounds really great, innovative maybe? hes good times.

Dirty Projectors played so quietly i had to crane my neck even though i was mere feet away, i really love that guys voice, it really has its own sound altogether, i could pick it out of a lineup easily. he played a few songs with a buddy helping out on second guitar.

Dirty Beauty Shop were some really cute hippie ladies singing some soft somber relationship songs, guitar and tambourine, and the singer had mono on top of it all, she still sounded very elligant.

The main event, Aa played a megamazing set, maybe the best ive ever seen, i love Aa very much and love how thier show is always taking on different forms and an acoustic set isnt even a challenge for them, its just so intensly awesome, definately my favorite set of the day.


It was a mistake putting drummers corpse on right after Aa because sadly it is kind of a poor mans version, especially when its right after. These guys seem like they are trying to hard to do what comes so naturally to Aa, they even include a member of Aa with the same drum equiptment setup. the worst part of thier performance was this acid casualty they had rolling around in a white dress while they performed.

Warren Ng was my other favorite of the day, very sweet finger plucked ballads that were only paid attention to, sadly, by about 10 people. Very beautiful performance, that included one of the best covers ive maybe ever heard of nico's these days. breathtaking maybe?

Miguel Mendez rocked through some jams next, theres something about miguel that has a really heavy 90s feel to me, like he himself embodies this decade gone past without being touched in any way by the new century, but i guess thats kind of a weird feeling.

Stars Like Fleas had a n incredibly huge elaborate set up for themselves, they sounded really great, they wondered through a few songs as dust came closer and closer, a really good collective of people who work well together.

The Wowz were my third favorite these guys had a woodie guthrie type feeling to them, really folky down home of the people sort of thing, it was all covers and the best one had to be "this land is my land."

In Mountains In Stars were really beutiful to, some light acoustic string work, i couldnt really hear the words to well but the music was nice enough.

and to seal the deal Meneguar came out and played some very delicate versions of thier usually balls out rock awesomenss. After they got a few songs out it started to sprinkle and then a deluge of rain came down and every one had to run for the hills, but hey it didnt really matter after such a great day of beautiful music to sooth the soul.

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