Just as I finished work on my recap of day two crisp, slick DJ beats began pouring from the south main stage, adjacent to the press area. The club hip-hop that the set developed into sounded fun and fresh and i quickly rushed to the fence, schedule in hand, to see who was playing.
Chicago’s own Kid Sister (Myspace) tore up her opening slot on the south stage inspiring immediate dancing from the crowd to match that from her corps of brightly costumed back-up dancers. The trade off/call and response she occasionally slipped into with her DJ increased the party vibe as they debuted a full set of new songs for the festival.
The well connected up-and-comer (she’s dating DJ A-Trak, is the elder sister of Flosstradamus’ J2K, and is reportedly somewhat of a protoge of Kanye West) certainly has a bright future in front of her.
As Kid Sister finished up I made my way across the vast expanse of the park to the north stages to see one of my favorite bands, The Weakerthans (Web site, Myspace). The sun was already beating down and the burn I’d picked up yesterday started to itch but onward I marched into the breach.
Upon reaching the stage, instead of finding the band Rolling Stone dubbed “Canada’s poet laureates” I found rockers White Lies (Myspace) finishing up a set. The Weakerthans have apparently won this year’s Cansei de Ser Sexy, Couldn’t Make It To Lolla award. From what I could find out the group had not yet arrived at the festival when their time slot came up and it’s rumored they had problems with their tour bus. White Lies stepped in admirably, however, and their Killers-esque sound was bolstered by driving drum beats and uber catchy lyrics, propelled by fuzzy, raucous guitar riffs. Though I only caught a bit of their show they are definitely a group I plan on looking into.
Trudging back, grumbling slightly at taking the long walk for just a couple of songs, and pointedly hiding in shade when I could find it, I hit the south main stage in time to catch Brooklyn, New York’s Brazilian Girls (Myspace). The quartet were much the same as they were last year when I saw them at New York’s McCarren Park; that is mesmerizing and absolutely fantastic. The opened with an airy, spacey number before launching into several songs blurring the lines between house and trance. They meandered through an electronic waltz and a new tune that was straight up party titled “Good Time” before returning to their trancy bread and butter.
As always, singer Sabina Sciubba was the center of attention sporting an odd all-white fluffy half toga-half puffy pirate shirt while grooving - sometimes to beats existing in her head as opposed to those coming from the speakers - and looking stunning while doing it.
From there it was off to one of the middle stages to see Black Kids (Web site, Myspace). They immediately hooked the crowd launching into the title track of their new album Partie Traumatic, immediately following it up with the first track from their EP Wizard of Ahhs, “Hit the Heartbreaks”. Both established fans and those tuning in to check out the increasing buzz surrounding the group were treated to set of Cure-cum-soul tunes delivered with earnest energy backed by lush and quirky backing vocals. Other fan favorites included “Hurricane Jane”, “I’ve Lost All My Charm Again”, and of course the single “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You.”
The most interesting thing about the band is the interaction between the Youngblood siblings, Reggie on guitar and lead vocals and Ali on keys and backing vocals. From Reggie the group gains a vocal presence and guitar solos that evoke more Cure than an 80s prom, whereas (judging by her dance moves on stage) it’s from Ali that the group gets a bit of old motown in the backups and rhythms.
As clouds thickened a bit I felt safe ventured out from under the cover of the trees to meet up with Leah M again, this time at the north stage for Iron and Wine (Web site, Myspace). After a few (several) text messages we finally found each other (“Where are you?” “Near the big dome.” “Where?” “By the handicapped seating.” “There’s handicapped seating?“) just as the set was starting.
For the festival Samuel Beam put together a full band including a steel guitar, some african drums, and a violin. He created new arrangements for each song, giving them a new life for Lollapalooza, and creating one of the most relaxing sets of the weekend. The set included touches of jam and reggae, along with fuller, more lush translations of the intimate sounds he laid down on his records. The set spanned both new and old songs with my personal favorite coming with his almost operatic rendition of “Love and Some Verses.” Laying on the north grass and listening to Beam’s careful, delicate arrangements (with a fun fellow Newsviner, let’s not forget) was one hell of a way to spend an afternoon.
As Iron and Wine finished up, the sun began to once again break through the clouds. This, of course, sent me scurrying back to the shade like a cockroach after the lights turn on. Walking through to some stages with skyward greenery I noticed a rather large crowd built up around the stage the Black Kids had vacated earlier. Working my way closer I found Saul Williams (Web site, Myspace) delivering his brand of heavy duty electric/electronic hip-hop. Williams is a firebrand and his intense (largely political) lyricry, along with the occasional break for slam poetry, had the crowds fists pumping and minds racing.
Following Williams and crew was mash-up artist Girl Talk (Myspace), backed by several “dancing” festival-goers and two police-uniformed assistants armed with leaf blowers set to quickly launch rolls of toilet paper into the crowd.
DJ Greg Gillis has made a career out of sampling notable rock, pop, and hip-hop songs and blending them into one (more or less) seamless whole. While his career began in glitch, his last two efforts, especially his latest Feed the Animals, have been party pop of the highest order.
Here at Lolla, instead of playing full songs from his records (which would probably have entailed simply pressing Play in iTunes) he used those same samples and created new mixes from them. Gillis is a competent live DJ but his strength really lies in his carefully crafted recorded work, and though it was an interesting move, but let me to this train of thought:
-This stage is super crowded with hipsters.
-This is turning out to be a pretty straightforward DJ set.
-Why am I standing here listening to Gillis DJ while Flosstradamus is spinning 5 minutes away?
Five minutes later I was at Perry’s stage listening to duo Flosstradamus (Myspace) turn a pavilion amidst a copse of trees into the hottest club in Chicago. All weekend Perry’s existed as a testament to the fact that, no matter what genre people primarily listen to (hip-hop, pop, metal, jam, etc) everybody likes to get down and dance. Floss mixed various dance, pop, and hip-hop to get the wildly eclectic crowd moving, frequently pulling in random passersby as well.
By the time I was making my way back to the bandshell for The National (Web site, Myspace) the temperature had cooled considerably and blanket of light cloud cover was shielding the wide open concert spaces. Immediately it seemed lead singer Matt Berninger was a bit out of sorts but the opening duo of “Start a War” and “Secret Meetings” allayed any fears this might affect his performance. Gripping the microphone tightly, he poured himself into his singing as the guitars and keys worked back and forth between restraint and uncontrollable release.
Berninger’s vocal followed suit as his deep, soothing tones on “Baby We’ll be Fine” and “Slow Show” occasionally gave way to a tremulous, tight throated croon, and exploded into full-on scream during “Abel”. The lyrics he belted on “Apartment Story” seemed to explain the tiredness and near-anguish on his face throughout the set as he sang:
Tired and wired we ruin too easy,
Sleep in our clothes and wait for winter to leave.
The set was one of many this weekend that ended all too quickly as the Brooklyn 5-piece delivered one of the better performances of the weekend.
The buzz in the press tent before Kanye West’s performance (other than, of course, swirling Obama rumors) was whether or not West would repeat his past festival tendencies of showing up hours late, sometimes ending his performances with the rising of the sun. These rumors were also the likely cause of the gigantic crowd near the south stage, seemingly outdrawing Nine Inch Nails at the north end of the park.
Happily, he (and his light show) started exactly on time and though there was no Obama sighting perhaps not standing in front of the stage for hours was consolation enough for fans.
© Eric Atienza 2008 for Listen In. Some rights reserved.
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