By Brady Lavin
Most music journalists meticulously pore over recordings both live and studio of each band at an upcoming festival, making note of which bands will likely put on a good live show that warrants coverage. They will learn what the members of the bands look like and will know the history of each band well enough for an impromptu interview in the press area. But not this guy. This guy likes to go in blind, guns a-blazin’ with little to no idea what he’s in for musically. Call it lazy, that’s OK. I just have a more exciting time at festivals. Here’s who excited and surprised me at Lollapalooza 2012.
Heartfelt, painful, down-to-earth acoustic folksy songs. With huge peaks rivaling the Foo Fighters in intensity. They drew me in, made me pay attention really closely so I could pick up on the subtleties in the music and the metaphors in the lyrics and then blasted me in the face with aggressive guitars. Don’t ask me how it works, I just know that it does and that it made me stay at the BMI stage for their whole set, despite planning on passing through.
It turns out that the 5 members used to be in hardcore emo bands, which explains how and why they insert unhinged rock-outs in their slow, contemplative modern folk. And the tattoos. Check out their artist page at Lollapalooza’s website here and their website here.
Don’t ask me how I’ve gone my entire life up to Lollapalooza 2012 not listening to Sigur Ros. I just don’t know. I’ve had so many friends and colleagues try to turn me onto this oddity of a band, but for whatever reasons I never got around to giving them a fair shake. Well, Lolla turned me around on that one.
Sigur Ros make music that is dreamy and dark, but never in the frightening, nightmarish way that Aphex Twin is dreamy and dark. It has a mystery to it that probably comes from my unfamiliarity with the band, but must have something to do with the strange melodic lines and rolling textures created by the Icelandic four-piece. It was a welcome respite from the heavily dance-oriented Lollapalooza 2012 lineup.
All I want to do now is hear a Sigur Ros/Radiohead collaboration and my chill indie side will be forever sated.
Another welcome respite from the mm chk mm chk wowowowowwwoooow was The Devil Makes Three. Although I was expecting a duo from the name, they are actually a trio of two guitars and a bass with three harmonizing voices playing a mixture of bluegrass/country/blues. They have an old-timey sound but plenty of modern swagger. Especially Lucia Turino, the female upright bass player. She was diggin’ in so hard I could swear I heard her hand smacking the strings over the loudspeakers.
With throw-back bands like this, and this one throws WAY back to ragtime and such, the question always arises in my mind, “Why are they popular now, when the music they play was popular decades and decades ago?” Well they play danceable music with impressive intensity for not having a pure percussive instrument, they have attitude to match their intensity, and you just can’t say no to their melodies and harmonies. Having both male and female singers in a band is becoming a very popular thing for bands to do, and here’s to the trend continuing!
And here’s to laziness leading to musical discovery! Toro Y Moi was the one band playing the south side of Lollapalooza on Sunday afternoon I hadn’t heard of, surrounded by a bunch of awesome bands I couldn’t pass up (At the Drive-In, Sigur Ros, Miike Snow, Jack White). So instead of making the trek to Of Monsters and Men or Florence and the Machine, I sat tight at the Sony stage for a weird band called some French words that mean nothing.
Good thing I did, because it was the most interesting electronic music I heard all three days, played by a live band with bass and guitar, no less. They kicked M83’s ass, in my opinion, and I was excited to see M83.
What really got me was their innocence and nerdiness. Toro Y Moi had little to no swagger, but they were into their music as deep as you can go and that really comes through in a performance. I just pray that they don’t get a dance music following and start pandering to that audience. Keep up the creative work and you’ll see me and all the people I can drag along at every Chicago show you play, Toro Y Moi!
Check out Toro Y Moi at Lollapalooza 2012 debuting a new song called “Rose Quartz” below:
