To check out pictures of other bands I was able to catch at the festival, CLICK HERE.
Members of MGMTA member of MGMT ran by me during their set back at Coachella 2008.
The last time I saw MGMT was when they played a tent at Coachella back in 2008 supporting their debut album Oracular Spectacular. The buzz around them was huge at the time, and their singles “Kids“, “Time to Pretend” and “Electric Feel” were getting tons of radio play. I remember their set being energetic and raucous, with the band members jumping off stage to run through the packed crowd. One of the guys ran right by me.
My interest in the band tapered off a bit with their follow up album, Congratulations, probably because it wasn’t as youthful and fun as its predecessor, but having looked at the festival schedule, I decided that I would at least catch the first half of their set before heading to the tent that was supposed to host Omar Souleyman’s performance (which in hindsight, was a bad idea as Omar’s set was delayed by about 30 minutes, meaning I could have stayed for the entire MGMT set).
The trippy visuals during MGMT’s set
Taking to the main stage, MGMT’s psychedelic video images and lighting was a far cry from what I remembered about them back in 2008. I sensed that they weren’t as carefree as they were 5 years ago, but I guess that’s just something that comes with age.
In a bit of a light moment, they called to the stage Henry Winkler (aka “The Fonz”) to play a huge cowbell for a song. Gimmick or not, it was a fun moment that indicated to me that the band still had it’s youthful playfulness that made them jump off the stage, and run through, the crowd at Coachella.
The Fonz (Henry Winkler) on Cowbell. More Cowbell!!!
Keeping an eye on the time, I was simply hoping that they would play some of the songs that I knew and loved and having played “Time To Pretend” and “Electric Feel”, I left their set with a smile on my face and skip to my step.
To check out pictures of other bands I was able to catch at the festival, CLICK HERE.
Shlohmo amidst the mist.
Earlier in the day I had watched Tom Krell p/k/a How To Dress Well perform, and having done some research before the festival about different projects he had worked on, I found a video on youtube of a track How To Dress Well performed on produced by Henry Laufer p/k/a Shlohmo called “Don’t Say No”.
Intrigued by the sound and the fact that he was apparently working with Tom Krell, I decided to buy his latest LP “Bad Vibes” and after a couple spins on my record player, I decided that I’d put him on the list of acts I wanted to check out at the Festival. I’m not a big fan of DJ sets- I’m more of a live band kinda guy- but having enjoyed Flying Lotus in the past year at the Hollywood Bowl, I decided to swing by the tent where he was performing to check out a bit of his set.
As the “house lights” dimmed, and the smoke machines started pumping out a thick mist over the stage, Shlohmo came up to his DJ console and started his set. His live set was a little different than I had expected. “Don’t Say No” and “Bad Vibes” are very moody records, extremely ambient in there overall approach . The live set still carried the eerie mysticism of the music that I had purchased and watched before the festival, but during the fifteen minutes that I watched, it didn’t feel as lo-fi as maybe I had wanted. Missing was the interstitial feedback and ambient hisses that gave “Bad Vibes” its unique sound. The live show was almost too “clean.”
Don’t get me wrong. The music was good … the filled tent of bobbing heads was proof of that, and I love “Bad Vibes” (which sounds amazing on vinyl) …. but like I said, I’m more of a live band kind of guy.
To check out pictures of other bands I was able to catch at the festival, CLICK HERE.
No Age rocking the FYF Festival for the 7th time.
No Age is a two-person, lo-fi punk band based in Los Angeles. They performed earlier in the summer as part of Santa Monica Pier’s Twilight Concert series, but I wasn’t able to attend the free concert, so I figured I swing by their set at FYF to check them out.
No Age have the distinct honor of being the band who’s played the festival the most-seven times, with the festival being in its 10th year- and they played like it. I don’t have any of their albums, but they definitely played songs that I’ve heard before (a video snippet below of “Fever Dreaming” is a song that I’m sure you’ve heard before too).
Dean Allen Spunt of No Age.
They shred through their set with a vigor that translated well with the audience, as the crowd became of rolling mosh pit of raucous teens with bodies surfing left and right. I could see the security guards catching bodies falling from the railing up front. Lots of fun and a lot of energy. If you were looking for a nice little post-punk pick me up during the day, these guys were it.
To check out pictures of other bands I was able to catch at the festival, CLICK HERE.
Mario Cuomo of The Orwells.
I wasn’t planning on catching their set, but I got to the festival grounds early enough to catch the tail end of a rock band from Elmhurst, Illinois: The Orwells. They are a young band … literally … the oldest member- lead singer Mario Cuomo- is 18, and the rest of the band members are 17, and their music, loud and energetic, seemed to be the soundtrack for a new, young, wave of punk fans.
Mario Cuomo, dressed in a Chicago Bulls jersey- and only a Chicago Bulls jersey- kept the audience of his peers moving to the music, encouraging them to get the party started in the midday sun, which they happily obliged. Before you knew it, kids started crowd surfing.
Crowd surfing during The Orwells.Crowd surfing during The Orwells set.
The youth and punk music. There really isn’t a better pairing. As long as they keep on writing catchy tunes like “Mallrats (La La La)” (a sample video is below), they could very well be performing on main-stages at music festivals in the near future.
Grant Brinner of The Orwells.Mario Cuomo of The Orwells.
Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.My favorite pic that I took of Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.Confetti released towards the end of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs set.
To check out pictures of other bands I was able to catch at the festival, CLICK HERE.
Tunde Adepimpe of TV on the Radio.
TV on the Radio is a critically acclaimed, Brooklyn based rock group which formed in 2001. I’ll be honest with you, I wasn’t too familiar with the band’s repertoire. It probably has something to do with the fact that their first album came out while I was in law school. I was pretty much out touch with everything for those three years of my life.
Playing catch up before the festival, I spent time with their 4th studio album “Dear Science” and watched some of the videos (“Wolf Like Me” and “Will Do”) that popped up on the top of the list when I googled them. It was hard rocking, complex music. It’s very hard to describe. Their music is an amalgam of styles that seems to mesh together seamlessly. Having worked with members of Yeah Yeah Yeahs on other projects, it was actually quite fitting to have them in the slot right before YYYs.
Their crowd at the FYF Festival was impressive and they played a confident set of songs, old and new. They’ve released five albums and five Eps. I’m going to have to do some more listening and pick up some of their albums. Any suggestions?
To check out pictures of other bands I was able to catch at the festival, CLICK HERE.
Devendra Banhart
I’d heard a lot about Devendra Banhart, but I’ve never taken the time to really listen to the music in his 9 album catalog. I figured I’d use his set at the festival to get acclimated to his music.
By the time I got to the stage where he was performing, I noticed two things: (1) most of the audience, at least where I was at, were girls (and if you were a guy, you were there with your arms wrapped around your girlfriend) and (ii) there were very few people (again, at least where I was at) wearing drinking bracelets. Being a single dude who can legally purchase alcoholic beverages, I seemed to be the fish out of water.
The crowd for Devendra BAnhart
When Devendra came on stage, the sounds of high pitched squeals permeated the early evening dusk. A girl behind me sounded off to her friend, “Oh, wow, he cut his hair.” Her friend replied, “He’s still hot.”
His looks aside, I was particularly curious to see what kind of impression his music would have on me. I knew that he had worked with Beck, members of The Strokes and Little Joy, and was nominated for a Grammy a few years ago, so my expectations were a bit high.
The music he played was quite good, sublime, in fact. People have categorized his music at alternative folk, even hipster-folk, but it seemed that his music covered multiple styles and genres, and even languages. While singing a song in Spanish, I asked a guy next to me- who had his arms wrapped around his girlfriend by the way- if he knew where Devendra was from. A good looking girl with her crew of girlfriends turned to me and said, “Venezuela.”
I enjoyed the music, and I’m more willing to delve further into his catalog of music, but at the time, the mood was a little too romantic for me. Maybe if I had my arms wrapped around a girlfriend (applications currently being accepted by the way), it probably would have been a different story, but rather than join the throngs of girls swaying side to side to Devendra’s soulful crooning, I decided to go find myself a beer after 30 minutes.
Devendra Banhart and guitaristDevendra BanhartDevendra Banhart
To check out pictures of other bands I was able to catch at the festival, CLICK HERE.
Charles Bradley’s mic.
They call him the “screaming eagle of soul”, and Charles Bradley was one of the reasons I was so pumped for FYF Fest this year. I’m a big fan of the funk the soul music Daptone Records puts out. Even though I’m a fan of all music, if you were to make me choose one genre of music to live with for the rest of my life, I’d probably pick soul music. From Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings to Lee Fields, Daptone’s catalog is a soul music lover’s wet-dream.
Even though he released a highly regarded album, “No Time for Dreaming”, in 2011, I really didn’t know about his music until someone saw my Lee Fields LP and asked, have you ever heard Charles Bradley sing? My friend mentioned in passing that there was a documentary about him released in 2012, but I apparently didn’t pay attention. More to come on that point later. I googled some videos on YouTube and I was hooked.
There was something about the way he sang. He seemed to be able to communicate so much pain and life through his music. I read up on some small articles online about his upbringing, and from what I read, he had led a hard life. When I found out that Mr. Bradley was doing an artist signing session at 3:00pm, I made it a point to get to the festival grounds early. I’m so glad I did.
Me and Charles
I got to have a chat with Mr. Bradley about his music, and about his motivation. What I asked him how he kept on pushing with music at the age of 65, all he looked me in the eyes and simply said, “The music kept calling”. He asked me if I was from Los Angeles, and when I responded yes, he told me that he once used to live on Los Angeles, but got a jaywalking ticket one day, even though there was nobody on the street, and said that that was probably a sign that he needed to move back to New York. When I asked him how it was performing with Bonnie Raitt, he told me that if I thought the day was hot, he had just arrived from Arizona and it was hotter than I could have believed. He mentioned that he loved San Francisco, and said that he was playing a small gig there soon and that if I ever had a chance to catch him at a smaller, club venue, I wouldn’t regret the decision. When I asked him why it took so long to finally get some music out there, he said that nobody had faith in him years ago, and I told him that it’s always “better late than never”. He nodded and with that the usher asked me to wrap it up as some people had just hopped in line. I asked him to sign the two LPs I had purchased (I already had one, by the way) and watched him methodically plan out what he wanted to write. He graciously thanked me for stopping by and I told him that the pleasure was all mine, and that I was eagerly looking forward to his set.
The spoils of the day.
As an aside, I was reminded after the music festival that there was a documentary about Charles titled “Soul of America”. I watched it when I got home late Sunday evening on Netflix. I may have been a little exhausted from the weekend full of music, but that movie moved me. I’ll admit, I asked some questions that easily could have been answered from watching the movie, but what moved me to tears were the little things that all made sense to me after the fact. Charles Bradley sings the truth because when he sings, he’s singing from his life. When I watched him sign my LP’s, I didn’t realize that he basically learned to read and write in the past few years. When I look at what he wrote, “Thank you Brother with Love” … I had a lump develop in my throat.
Charles’ set at FYF Festival is perhaps in my top 5, and quite possibly in my top 3, of 2013. It was all that I could have wished for and more. Hyperbole is warranted. I loved watching Charles Bradley perform. He was probably my favorite act so far this year to photograph. So much emotion. So much energy. Even at 65, he could out-perform almost all of the current pop stars under the rug. Backed by the tight sounding Menahan Street Band, his live show was truly something to behold. They call him the “screaming eagle of soul”, and he screamed that soul into the audience’s hearts and mind.
Towards the end of his set he imparted a little wisdom to his adoring fans. He said, “The Brain is a computer, you tell it what to do. Do you want to do what it wants you to do, or do you want to do what YOU want to do.” I took it as his philosophy on life. Do what your heart tells you. His heart told him to follow music. 65 years into the game, his heart proved that the little morsel of wisdom true.
Cheers, Charles. You were the first act of all the acts I wanted to see at FYF Fest, and I could have easily left right after a satisfied customer.
The “screaming eagle of soul”, Mr. Charles BradleyCharles Bradley’s horn section.Charles Bradley carrying the weigh of life on his back.Charles Bradley’s guitar section.The emotion of Charles Bradley.The key for Charles Bradley.Charles Bradley giving the audience everything he’s got.Charles Bradley’s drummer.Charles Bradely on one knee, getting dirty for us and keeping it real.You give love, you get love in return. Charles Bradley meeting the fans after his set, and getting back all the love he gave to us.
To check out pictures of other bands I was able to catch at the festival, CLICK HERE.
My day of music was originally supposed to start with Charles Bradley, but I got to the main stage a little earlier than anticipated and happened to catch the back end of Mikal Cronin‘s set. Raised in Laguna Beach, California, his music has that indie rock / garage punk / surf rock sound that is native to area. Though this was my first time seeing him perform and listening to his music, I could understand why the crowd showed up early in the day to catch his 4:00pm set. A little grunge, a little pop, and catchy hooks can put almost any rocker in happy mood. My day was off to a decent start.
Mikal CroninMikal Cronin’s DrummerMikal CroninThe obligatory rock and roll hair shot.
The line-up for the 10th annual FYF Fest was stellar. For only $99, I was able to attend the two day festival, and though I had tried my darnedest to get a press-pass to no avail, I went guerrilla-style to catch those acts I wanted to see and take the best possible pictures I could. Links to the other acts I was able to catch will be posted when the pictures have been “corrected” and selected, but it’ll take some time going through the over 400 photos I snapped. It’ll take me at least a week to post everything I want to post, so keep an eye out for updates by following my twitter or instagram accounts (both have a @methodman13 handle).
Click through the name of the act to see the pictures and read the write up for the acts I was able to catch:
#DKLPHOTOS 