I’ve been a fan of the Chemical Brothers for a very long time, and when I heard they were producing a concert movie that was going to be screened in 500 or so theatres around the world, I put it on my to-do list.  A very few theatres held premiere screenings on January 26, and other theatres were doing screenings Feb 1, 2, and 3.  It was promoted as a “one night only” showing, similar to how theatres do screenings of opera performances and events like UFC fights.

In January, I checked cineplex.com and noticed that Don’t Think was listed.  I started looking for show times, but while it appeared that Toronto was the site of one of the premiere screenings, no other theatres showed up no matter how I searched.  I was disappointed, but hope was not lost.

A week or so later, I learned that it was being shown at Chinook on Feb 1 at 7:00pm.  This single screening was to be my only chance at seeing the film in a theatre.

I’m very glad I went.

It isn’t like any other concert movie I’ve seen before, and I’m not sure my description will come close to doing it justice.  The show blends concert footage with other imagery in a very immersive fashion.  The audio is well done, but given the style of music it seemed unusual to me that the bass wasn’t cranked up to 11 and I didn’t need earplugs to enjoy the show.  As a bit of a bonus, some of the crowd reaction shots are highly amusing.

I completely lost myself in the show, and it was very hard to sit still.  There are a few sections I found very strange, that seemed to be intended to put you in one of the concert-goer’s shoes while said concert-goer was high on drugs.  This mood in these sequences changed dramatically from the rest of the show, and the flow in and out was a little jarring.  I really wasn’t sure what I was watching at times, and was always felt somewhat relieved when the concert portions of the show resumed.

Overall, the music and visuals are better than I expected they could be, and I was grinning almost the entire time I was watching it.  The film does an incredible job of capturing the live Chemical Brothers experience, and if any fans out there missed seeing it at the theatre, be sure to track it down when it’s released on disc.

Everyone I went with agreed it was the best $13 we had spent recently.

To kick this off, I’d like to present Tourist by St. Germain.

The one line summary of Tourist is that it’s jazz music for electronic music fans. If you like electronic music  and even remotely enjoy jazz music, you need to give this a listen if you haven’t already.

When it came out in 2000 I remember the press being quite positive everywhere I looked, and yet when I listened to it, I just didn’t get it.

Fast forward about 5 years, when I started getting a lot more into jazz music, I gave it another listen, and almost immediately bought it after that. I don’t have any favorite songs per se, but enjoy the album as a musical whole. The electronic portions are structured like jazz music, and while the solos certainly pop out, they feel like they belong. It’s very carefully arranged, and I think you’d be hard-pressed to perform this live and pull it off like was possible in the studio.

I often play the album as background music during dinner parties and a lot of people really like it even though few can name the artist or album. It sounds enough like jazz music that people tend to think of it that way, although it’s a little more funky and up-tempo than a lot of instrumental jazz.

Once again, this album gets a strong recommendation from me, but with the caveat that if you don’t enjoy jazz music, you probably won’t like this either.

Most of the tracks feel like their origins were on the electronic side of the spectrum, though the classical portions never feel bolted on.  This is exactly the opposite of what Daft Punk did with the Tron: Legacy soundtrack, which was clearly a classical endeavour with a few electronic bets that felt bolted on (except for Derezzed).  Like all artists that combine things traditionally from very different ends of the musical spectrum, it’s not always 100% successful, but generally I enjoy their music and they get it right more often than not.

Their sound is different enough that it’s not for everyone. It isn’t the sort of stuff you’d expect to hear on a night out at the club, and I listen to it pretty much exclusively at home as I find it a bit distracting / challenging to listen to at work.

Unfortunately, their music can be a bit tough to track down on this side of the pond (well, in Canada at least, maybe it’s easier to find in the US). I had to special-order a couple of the CDs I own, and their older stuff seems more problematic than their latest releases to find over here. iTunes does appear to have it all now, but if you want CDs or Vinyl, happy hunting…

Their most recent album, Disappear Here has been criticized as being too vocal as compared to their older stuff. Some people may prefer this, but I prefer the sound of I Choose Noise more.

It’s hard to pick a long list favorite tracks as I’m not as familiar with their entire discography as I am with many other artists. Here’s a short list of tracks (albums) I particularly enjoy of those I’m familiar with:

• Finished Symphony (Wide Angle)
• Dogstar (I Choose Noise)
• Until Tomorrow (I Choose Noise) <– Easily my favorite song of theirs overall
• Break My Soul (Disappear Here)
• Can you Hear Me (Disappear Here)

And for those deadmau5 fans out there, his remix of Finished Symphony is actually pretty decent.

His studio album experience is hit and miss for me; by contrast, the In Search of Sunrise series is a series of DJ mix CDs that don’t necessarily feature his own work, and they’re generally solid. The original In Search Of Sunrise album was my introduction to Tiësto.  He does have about a half dozen studio albums available and while I enjoy them as background music when I’m working or driving, I generally prefer the material on his DJ mix albums. If you’re exploring Tiësto’s stuff, and you enjoy it, he’s consistent enough that it’s worth continuing to explore.

Favorite remixes on his (albums):

• Delerium / Silence / Tiësto’s in search of sunrise mix (In Search of Sunrise) <– all time #1 favorite, probably 70% nostalgia and 30% musical merit though
• Cass & Slide / Perception / New Vocal Mix (In Search of Sunrise 2)
• Fortress / An Angel Saved my Life / Mark Shimmon & Third Degree Burn mix (In Search of Sunrise 2)
• Way Out West / Mindcircus Gabriel and Dresden remix (In Search of Sunrise 3)

Favorite Tracks (studio albums)

• Adagio for Strings (Just Be)
• Love Comes Again (Just Be)
• Break my Fall (Elements of Life)
• Feel it in my Bones (Kaleidoscope)

And for those keeping score at home, it’s no coincidence that 2 of these tracks are ones where he collaborated with BT. My love of BT colours my interpretation of other work where he collaborates.  Hey, at least I admit my biases.

One of my few musical regrets (if you can call it that) of 2011 is not going to Coachella and seeing the Chemical Brothers perform live.  Simply put, The Chemical Brothers are one of the powerhouses of electronic music for a reason. They’re awesome, both live and recorded.

One of the things I find interesting about their recorded work is that their albums follow a particular structure that will feel oddly familiar to fans of rock / pop / alternative music. They all start off somewhat middle-of-the-road in terms of tempo, and quickly ramp up to some hard-banging big-beat tracks to get you moving. You get a bit of a break in the middle, a brief return to booty-shaking madness, then end on a very spatial / mind-expanding note.  This structure isn’t the same as a pop album, but fans of that genre will feel right at home after listening to an album or two.

The fact that the Brothers can consistently turn out solid albums is a testament to their staying power as an electronic music act. They just won’t die, and I wouldn’t want them to.  I’m going to buck the trend of listing favorite tracks in this blog entry, because the list can be summed up like this, more or less:

All of them

If you’re new to the genre, you owe it to yourself to listen to The Chemical Brothers. You can literally pick any of their albums and you won’t go far wrong; if you want a recommendation,  I would suggest the following three albums to start with:

1. Surrender
2. Push the Button
3. Further

For me, these three typify the Chemical Brothers album experience. And for you skeptics in the crowd, know this: The Chemical Brothers, unlike many electronic music artists, produce albums that are meant to be enjoyed as an album, not a collection of singles bought individually a la iTunes. This is a rare and unique thing in the electronic music world where the single is king, followed by the EP, and it’s something that should be savoured.

As a closing note, even if Daft Punk headlines Coachella 2012 and I get to enjoy their robotic madness in person, I will never be able to forget the fact that I missed the Chemical Brothers at Coachella 2011.

When deadmau5 remixed his track “The Longest Road”, it was nominated for a grammy.  That track wound up being equal parts Morgan Page and deadmau5.  Need I say more?

Morgan Page doesn’t have a lot of his own material out there; his albums are usually a combination of his own work and remixes he’s done of other artists.  Here are a few tracks (albums) I particularly enjoy:

Tell me Why (Believe)
The Longest Road (deadmau5 remix) (Elevate)
Dirty Laundry (Morgan Page Remix) (Elevate)
Fight for You (Believe)
Call My Name (Elevate)

He also recently released a single titled “In the Air” where he collaborated with a few other artists including BT.  It’s a great track and it stands out well as a single, but I’m curious if there is more oomph coming for his next album.

If you’re willing to move beyond this and give Groove Armada’s discography a browse, you’ll find quite a bit worth listening to. Their albums generally include a fair number of downtempo and triphop tracks and at least a few that will get your ass(ets) shaking.

My first Groove Armada experience was with Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub), and while I still really enjoy it, I prefer the sounds of their previous album (Vertigo) and subsequent album (Love Box) on the whole.

Soundboy Rock took things in a bit of a different direction with more pop influence, and while the result is good, it seems to have lost some the sound I associate with Groove Armada and so it doesn’t get as much love from me as their older stuff. I haven’t given Black Light much of a listen yet, so I can’t really comment on it. I don’t own it yet, if that means anything.

Favorite up-tempo tracks (albums):
Superstylin’ (Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub))
The Final Shakedown (Love Box)
In My Bones (Vertigo)
Love Sweet Sound (Soundboy Rock)

Favorite down-tempo tracks (albums):
Edge Hill (Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub))
Think Twice… (Love Box)
Tuning In (Rewritten) (Love Box)
Pre 63 (Vertigo)

First up, an electronic music show at Flames Central: Steve Aoki and Datsik.

I bought the ticket more to see Datsik than Aoki, as I’m not really an Aoki fan, but I knew I was in trouble when the venue switched to Flames Central from the Big 4 where it was originally scheduled.  Flames Central is a much smaller venue, and it was packed to capacity.

The line-up to get in was the first sign of trouble.   I still don’t understand why a line about 100 people long took over an hour to get through.  It’s not that difficult to put wristbands on people after checking their tickets.

That mess negotiated, I thankfully didn’t need to head to coat check where it sounds like another hour long line awaited.  I did manage to get a reasonable spot on the dance floor, but I was forced to abandon it after I got tired of people shoving and pushing their way past me (where they were going I have no idea, the dance floor was pretty dense).

Which led to another problem.  As a result of the venue change, Flames Central was so close to capacity they ticketed the balcony separately from the main floor.  My usual escape plan (to the balcony) wasn’t available.  I stuck it out for Datsik’s set, which I enjoyed (but most of the crowd seemed to dislike), and left 1/2 hour into Aoki’s set (which was as much of his music as I could stand).

Next up was Ronnie Burkett’s play Penny Plain.  I have seen many of his plays in the past, but this one was my least favorite.  It wasn’t bad by any stretch, but it seemed like he kind of lost his mojo with this one.  It was an interesting premise, but the characters were just too bizarre and the ending a little too predictable in some ways, and way too weird in others.

I still maintain that everyone should see a Ronnie Burkett play once in their life, as he is a true master of the art of marionettes, but this play isn’t the one.

On a more positive note, Bassnectar’s show at the Big 4 last night was pretty good.  The crowd was less college-bro-ish than a lot of other shows I’ve been to lately, and generally a lot more respectful.  The music was loud as expected (PK provided the setup), and it was fun to dance for the evening.  Earplugs were a requirement, and I handed out a number of them to nearby revelers who didn’t bring their own.  Lorin has also stepped up his light show since I saw him at Sasquatch, and that was pretty neat to see.  Really the only negative was a long line at coat check, but that was predictable given the weather.

As a bonus, one of the opening acts for Bassnectar was Bonobo, who I missed seeing at Sasquatch back in May, so I was glad to get the chance to see him DJ.  His set was refreshing, something a little different than what I usually listen to.  And the dance floor hadn’t yet packed in so I had lots of room to dance.

I don’t have tickets to any other plays or concerts coming up, although there are a few which are tempting. I think I may start to see more smaller shows / smaller venues and skip out on the bigger acts playing places like Flames Central as I tend to not enjoy those as much.

Some of what’s in there I could have easily guessed:

• Bob Seger
• The Rolling Stones
• Rod Stewart
• The Guess Who
• The Who
• Bachman Turner Overdrive
• Bob Dylan
• Dr. Hook
• Janis Joplin
• Led Zeppelin
• Supertramp
• Steppenwolf
• CCR

The next step is to start exploring the collection more, cleaning some of the records that need it (like Let It Bleed), and ripping a few to digital form.  I’m also going to get a copy of the MusicBrainz database and write an application to query it in the hopes of automating the process of obtaining track listings, at least for the majority of the records.

Fast forward several years… Having loved Vegas for a couple of years, I picked up Tweekend within a month of its release, unlistened, and was surprised to discover a very different sound than on Vegas, and which I enjoyed but in a completely different way.  It’s much heavier, and incorporates a fair bit of electric guitar and other rock/metal elements, which were absent from Vegas.

I also did enjoy their first “mix” album, Community Service, although it’s not nearly as enjoyable as their first two studio albums.

For whatever reason, Legion of Boom didn’t really click with me, and I find Divided by Night to be hit and miss although I do enjoy some of it.  Vegas is a total musical joyride, while their later stuff feels a little more chopped up to me.

if you can own one and only one Crystal Method album, it’s Vegas. Hands down. And if you’ve never heard Vegas, do yourself a favour and listen to it sometime soon.

Favorite Songs (Albums):

• Busy Child (Vegas)
• Keep Hope Alive (Vegas)
• Name of the Game (Tweekend)
• Ten Miles Back (Tweekend)
• Come Back Clean (Divided by Night) – Also, if you’re a Kaskade fan, his remix of this track is great.

My first encounter with Way Out West was due to Tiesto’s inclusion of a remix of the song Mindcircus on In Search of Sunrise 3. I thoroughly enjoyed the remix (although I have to give more credit to the remixers, Gabriel & Dresden, than to Nick and Jody for that particular track). Although I didn’t much care for the orignal recorded version of Mindcircus, I bought Way Out West’s second album, Intensify, anyways.

Intensify as an album sounded different from what I would have expected from Nick Warren, and I really enjoyed it. Up to that point, I really wasn’t familiar with Jody’s work.  In any event, I listened to Intensify at least once per week for the first few months I had it, usually while studying or doing homework in university.

Their next two albums, Don’t Look Now and We Love Machine, are also good, and somehow feel different than either of their solo efforts. I still listen to all 3 of these albums with some frequency.

I have yet to track down their original self-titled release, and I think I’ll skip the We Love Machine remixes to be honest.

My favorite Way out West tracks (albums):

• Everyday (Don’t Look Now)
• Pulse of Life (Don’t Look Now / B Side)
• The Fall (Intensify)
• Call Me (Intensify)
• Survival (We Love Machine)
• One Bright Night (We Love Machine)

The reason I first checked out Basement Jaxx was that I read an interview back in 1998 of another EDM producer (I don’t even recall who it was now), and the response to the interview question of “so who are you listening to lately” included Basement Jaxx.

Thus I purchased Remedy, which is probably still my favorite Basement Jaxx album if I had to pick one.

Rooty had a bit more of an edge to it, but was still a lot of fun. There were a few duds on the album, and they went a bit too far with “Get Me Off” which could have been fun in the same way that Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” is fun, had it been better executed.

Kish Kash was heading further into hit-or-miss territory for me, and subsequent Basement Jaxx albums haven’t interested me enough to actually justify the purchase cost.

A brief list of tracks that still make me want to get up and dance, even a decade later (albums in parentheses):

• Rendez-Vu (Remedy)
• Red Alert (Remedy)
• Romeo (Rooty)
• Where’s Your Head At (Rooty)
• Good Luck (Kish Kash)

So this is the first in what will probably become a series of posts about electronic music artists.  I’ve been a fan of electronic music for a long time, and It seems the genre is neglected by many, and with the trend today of pop music edging into dance music edging into electronic music, many people are missing the depth that electronic music has to offer.  Yes, there’s more to it than the latest LMFAO single or Lady Gaga remix.

BT (also known as Brian Transeau) is an American-born electronic artist, but his background might surprise you.  He’s classically trained, and so has a very critical ear.  He time-corrects samples with an uncompromising exactness, and he does things with sound on a near-genetic level that nobody else does, which gives his music a very distinctive signature sound.

He started out doing what we would call experimental trance and techno.  So experimental that at the time, he couldn’t find an audience in North America and thus he moved to Europe where he was discovered (in a sense) by well-known DJ and producer Sasha.  And the rest is history.

His more recent work still contains a lot of trance music, but his style often incorporates other non-electronic instruments as well, leading to a sound closer to rock or metal in some cases and classical in others.  He has composed and performed movie soundtracks as well, which was always one of his career goals.  Notably, his soundtrack for Monster is at once stark, depressing, beautiful, and delightful.  Even in his diversions from his usual sound (notably This Binary Universe) he’s brilliant in a way that can’t be described unless you give him a listen.

My first introduction to BT was when I special-ordered ESCM in 1998 after hearing Flaming June on the Digital Empire compilation.  The diversity of sounds on ESCM made me realize there was a lot more to him than just trance music, and I became a fan pretty quickly.  I think my only real regret at this point is I have never seen BT perform live, something I hope to rectify in the future.

If you’ve never listened to BT, you should really check him out.  As a “starter” album I would suggest either These Hopeful Machines or Emotional Technology.

My favorite BT tracks (albums), in no particular order aside from being grouped by album:

• Rose of Jericho (These Hopeful Machines)
• The Emergency (These Hopeful Machines)
• Paris (Emotional Technology)
• Force of Gravity (Emotional Technology)
• Mercury and Solace (Movement in Still Life)
• Fibonacci Sequence (Rare & Remixed)
• The Antikythera Mechanism (This Binary Universe)
• Flaming June (ESCM)
• Solar Plexus (ESCM)
• Firewater (ESCM)
• Quark (Ima)
• Blue Skies (Ima)
• Ferris Wheel (Monster Original Soundtrack)

Saturday was mostly just spent getting settled and getting my bearings.  I had a good seared tuna sandwich for supper in Andersonville before heading down to Lakeview.  I decided to skip Market Days and do a bit of wandering down Clark and Broadway instead.

Sunday morning I met a friend at the Metra station downtown and we ended up having lunch at a pub whose name I can’t recall.  I do remember the veal was really tasty and that I tried a local craft beer of some sort that was also tasty.  From there we headed to Lakeview to take in Market Days.  My general impression was that it was a larger and somewhat more fun version of the Lilac Festival in Calgary.  Lots of people but because the street is reasonably broad, it never felt crowded the way Calgary street festivals always seem to.

It was fun, but only for so long, and afterwards we did a bit of shopping on Broadway and Clark streets.  Specifically, I wanted to hit a couple of record stores.  I managed to pick up the following:

• Brian Eno / David Byrne: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (original 1981 release)
• LCD Soundsystem: This is Happening
• And a couple of misc 7″ singles.

But before the CD, and before the cassette, there was the LP.  And it reigned supreme for a very long time before it was supplanted by digital formats.  DJs still spin vinyl to this day, even when the source material is digital, thanks to the magic of time-coded vinyl and the software it interfaces with.

Analogue vinyl is beginning to finally show its age, though; production of the venerable Technics SL-1200 turntable was discontinued in 2010.  There are still other turntables on the market, but the workhorse turntable DJs have loved for several decades is no longer being manufactured.

For numerous reasons, I recently decided to purchase a turntable.  And since the Technics is no more, why not own a piece of history as well?  I found a used Technics SL-1200MK5 on Kijiji for a reasonable price, and bought it. In addition to being a beautiful, high-quality turntable, it’s engineered well enough to last me the rest of my life.  Based on the serial number, it rolled out of the factory in February 2010, so it’s about as new as possible (the MK5 ended its run in April 2010).  I also picked up a new cartridge for it (an Ortofon 2M Blue), although the Shure M44-7 I bought with it is certainly no slouch and may come in handy when I run into vinyl that hasn’t been well-cared-for.

To celebrate, I bought 2 used albums from one of the record stores in my neighbourhood: Fables of the Reconstruction by R.E.M. and Exit Planet Dust by the Chemical Brothers.  I had heard both before, but didn’t own either, so figured this was a good time.

I also now have custody of all of my parents’ (mostly my dad’s) old vinyl which is quite exciting.  There are definitely a number of gems in the collection, although I’ll be a while even just cataloging the 200+ albums let alone listening to all of them.  It’s a fascinating way to learn about your parents; some of the albums I knew were there, and head heard as a child, but there are some I don’t ever remember hearing and yet they’re in there.

This is a new adventure, and in a way it’s a window into the past and my parents’ history, so it’s especially cool.  When the weather worsens (and it inevitably will), I’ll have something else to keep me busy.

First off, a rant. I paid to see Nero perform, not 1/2 of Nero perform. WTF.

OK, enough of that. When it was all said and done I thought the opening acts all outshone Nero, with the possible exception of Gnarcotics, although I was at least able to dance and enjoy their set without hundreds of sweaty EDM kiddies bashing into me every 30 seconds. I had to flee to the balcony for Nero, and although I enjoyed it more from up there, it still felt like a lacklustre performance.

And to top it all off, I suffered a hat malfunction. I was theoretically debuting the new light blue version of my glowing cowboy hat, which decided to die on me at about 10:30. I can fix the issue, but I spent the rest of the evening with a severe lack of glow. Sigh.  The yellow hat is still OK, as is another hat I have yet to wear publicly.

I am getting excited about Chromeo though. It’s at the same venue as Nero was, but I’m hoping the crowd isn’t full of the same people who were at Nero. Ick.

I picked up 100 Days 100 Nights and I Learned the Hard Way, and I enjoy them both about equally thus far.  I don’t really have any other soul music in my collection, but she fits in quite well with any number of jazz divas of yore, so she’s got a permanent spot in the iTunes rotation.  It still amazes me that I found so many great artists I’d never really heard before at Sasquatch.  I’m already looking forward to Coachella 2012; who knows who I will discover there.

The first batch of shiny plastic-coated aluminum discs arrived yesterday, hand-packed by those Tall Brazilian Women.

I’ve listened to all of these once through, and I’m quite pleased with all of them:

1. Chromeo / Business Casual. I had a great time dancing at Chromeo’s show at Sasquatch, and the album brings back that memory very vividly.  The music doesn’t take itself very seriously, which is a good thing for electro-pop in general.  Overall a pretty solid album, and one that will probably get a lot of airtime both at home and in the car.  It’s probably a little too distracting for work though.
2. Local Natives / Gorilla Manor.  This one is more indie / rock than usual for me, and while I enjoy it, they were more fun live than the album would suggest.  It’s still enjoyable, but a little offbeat for my taste.  Perhaps it will grow on me (it wouldn’t surprise me).
3. Fitz and the Tantrums / Pickin’ Up the Pieces.  This is a great album and it does a good job of capturing their sound and mood.  Of the three albums I mentioned here, this one transports me back to the front of the stage at Sasquatch the fastest.  Moneygrabber is incredibly catchy, and it’s hard not to bop along.

There’s more on the way as well from 2 other artists.

If you asked a bunch of random Sasquatch-goers what the most memorable events were for them, you’d find quite a few who had Bassnectar‘s set on their list.  I was pretty excited before the set, and I had an inkling of what was coming, but even so I was completely unprepared.

Bassnectar opened with Teleport Massive, and something truly magical happened at the first bass drop.

This is the best video I’ve found so far (no, I didn’t take the video) of the start of his set.  If you look you’ll see me off to the right from time to time (I’m wearing the glowing yellow cowboy hat).

Literally thousands of glow sticks were thrown during the hour-long set, with I’d guess about 50% of them during the span of that video.  It was indescribable.

And I know there were thousands of glow sticks because I brought 1,000 on my own, and in the area around me I saw another 6,000 or so between a number of different people.  Of course, we were all handing them out prior to the start of the set to anyone who wanted them.  Sheer madness.  And I can’t possibly forget being there.

Old 97′s
Which I had problems getting into, but really they weren’t that bad.  Despite being quite tired physically, I downed some more water and headed into the fray for

Chromeo
Which was far and away the sexiest dance party of the entire weekend.  Such a blast, and a good way to get energized for the rest of the day.  The inflatables were fun too.  For the next while there wasn’t a lot that interested me so I caught my first and only comedy act of the weekend,

The Scott Aukerman & Paul F. Tompkins Show
which was the Worst. Comedy. Act. Ever.  Guided by Voices would have been infinitely more fun.  But It was a good excuse to lie in the shade for an hour and rest before

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
Which were the most surprising act of the weekend for me, and my favorite “never heard them before” artist.  Sharon is a total diva, and she knows exactly what she’s doing on stage.  At one point, a guy managed to slip over the barrier and start to climb the stage.  Security pulled him down, but Sharon told them to let him go, and he got up on stage.  She totally rocked out with the guy who was clearly having the time of his life.  Such an awesome performer.  I’ve never really given soul / funk much of a thought until now.  Stand up and take notice, ladies and gentlemen.  This is how it’s done.

Rodrigo y Gabriela
Were another act I hadn’t really heard much about, but I knew I had to see them.  It was just 2 people and 2 acoustic guitars, but they managed such a display of musical prowess that I was once again blown away.  They reminded me somewhat of Jesse Cook, and that’s not a bad thing at all.  I think I danced for about 1/2 of their set up on the hill which probably made me look pretty silly, but I was definitely enjoying myself.  Which is maybe part of why

Skrillex
was such a huge disappoinment (second only to the Flaming Lips).  I enjoy his recorded music, but he just isn’t very good live.  Lots of people in the dance tent were having a good time, but I quite honestly wasn’t.  Maybe it’s because I was surrounded by sweaty, smelly kids who were obviously extremely high and dancing like they were being attacked by a pack of rabid wolves.  Skrillex’ poor performance live coupled with the crowd completely ruined it.  I gave it 20 minutes before heading back to the hill for

The Decemberists
Who I enjoyed immensely.  I did not however stick around to see

Wilco
as a storm was rolling in and I was completely exhausted.  I simply left, and slept hard.

I arrived in time to catch most of

The Drums
Which was better than I expected, but the real reason I was down in the pit was for

Fitz and the Tantrums
who I was really looking forward to seeing.  They definitely didn’t disappoint, and it was a pretty good dance party right up front.  At this point in my day, things started to go a bit astray though: I got an ear plug stuck in my right ear such that I wasn’t able to remove it.  So instead of sticking around to see

Tokyo Police Club
I went to the medical tent to get the earplug removed.  Astonishingly, the medical tent didn’t have any tweezers (!), so they ended up digging the earplug out with a needle.  With that taken care of, I went to see the last half of

Sam Roberts Band
They played the only song of theirs I know during the part I caught, which was nice.  The rest of their stuff was so-so.

City and Color
Was interesting.  I wasn’t super impressed by the music, but the lead singer has an incredible voice.  Additionally, I had an ice cream bar special delivered (long story) which totally made my afternoon.  After that I got situated up on the hill to watch

Flogging Molly
and the insane dance party I knew that would result.  I didn’t want to be in the dance party in this case, just wanted to watch from afar.  It was quite a lot of fun, even as a spectator.  I then moved to a different spot on the hill to watch the sunset and

The Flaming Lips
Which turned out to be my biggest disappointment of the weekend.  They started out strong, but Wayne kept blabbing on and on at random in between songs, and even in between verses of songs, which completely ruined the flow of the show.  I wish he would have just shut up and played some music.  I think they managed only 8 songs in a 90 minute set.  Yuck.  The sunset was pretty though.

Modest Mouse
Prompted a trip down to the floor to get somewhere warmer as well as some flat space to dance.  They completely made up for the Flaming Lips and I had a fantastic time at the show.  Another highlight of the weekend for sure.  I was tired, so didn’t stick around for any of the late night stuff.

Saturday was the first full day at the festival, and I learned a few important lessons from the previous day:

1. Pack your bag for the festival early and carefully.  Don’t bring too much, but bring at least 2 or 3 layers.
2. Plan on the walk and security / admission taking at least 30-40 minutes if not longer, assuming you are already close to the edge of the campground.
3. The lines for filling water bottles can get long, so bring a couple of empties to reduce the number of times you have to fill up

Throughout the day I saw numerous fun costumes, and they got better as the weekend went on.  I also saw lots of guys wearing neon baseball caps, and I realize I need to get one before the next festival I do – it’s so hard to find people even when you know where they are.

With no further ado… my day started off with

Local Natives
Which really surprised me by how good they were.  I really enjoyed the set, and the completely random dance party on the hill was fun to watch.

Wolf Parade
Came on next, and they were solid too.  I left a few minutes early to head to another stage to watch

Jenny & Johnny
Who totally rocked it.  Jenny was wearing a sassy red number which you could have seen from miles away.  On my way to get more water and catch part of

Pink Martini
I hit a wall of people and realized that

Wye Oak
were causing quite a stir.  I stayed and watched them and had a blast, although I do regret missing Pink Martini completely.   I grabbed a bite and chilled for part of

Iron & Wine
who I just couldn’t get into really.  They had a few moments, but I left partway through to go see

Matt & Kim
Who had me up and dancing for most of their set.  They blew me away. I also got the cowboy hat prepared before I went to

The Glitch Mob
where the hat made its official debut near the front of the dance tent.  I enjoyed their set but it lacked the energy of some of the later stuff in the weekend, like

Robyn
who had a late start, but she was easily one of the highlights of the weekend.  I danced for her entire set, start to finish.  Because her set ended late, I missed

Sleigh Bells
who would have been fun but I am still glad I saw all of Robyn.

Death Cab for Cutie
was an act I was going to skip entirely until the schedule got re-jigged.  As it was, the music kinda sucked, but it was good to relax on the lawn and get my glow sticks cracked and ready for

Bassnectar
who blew away every other electronic / dance music act of the weekend.   I had 1000 glow sticks with me, and others had brought similar numbers.  I’ve never seen that many glow sticks all thrown in the air at once (we dubbed it the glowpocalypse for a reason), and it was pretty amazing.  The cowboy hat was rocking the entire set.  And if you were there, you’ll understand exactly what I mean by “pink elephants”.  Holy crap.

I arrived at the gorge about 12:00pm on Friday after getting a bit of a later start than I had hoped from Seattle.  The line getting into the campground took about 30 minutes, and I wound up camping relatively close to the entrance to the festival (just over the fence from premier camping) next to a whole bunch of really awesome strangers.  I managed to score enough space for my tent and the 14′ by 14′ shelter which everyone nearby wound up sharing.

By chance, two other Calgary groups I knew were camped relatively close as well (within a 5 minute walk).  Given how big the campground is, I was quite surprised.

After getting the lay of the land and getting set up, I headed in for what I thought was 4:45 to catch the start of Biffy Clyro.  I underestimated the walk, wait at security, etc and arrived promptly at… 5:10.

Biffy Clyro
Sucked pretty bad, but I was able to wander around and get my bearings (and a beer) before things got super crowded.

Bob Mould
Caught the last part of the set, enjoyed it a fair bit.  This is what got me into the Sasquatch mood.

After this, I wandered around and got some sort of chili covered hotdog thing that looked about as awful as it tasted, but I was starving so I ate it anyways.  Man can’t live on beer alone.  I caught a bit of

The Bronx
which didn’t do much for me.

Death From Above 1979
I watched from the hill and it was a great warm up for…

Foo Fighters
Totally rocked.  This was the highlight of the night for sure. I took many photos and almost none of them turned out.  It’s hard to hold a camera steady when you’re dancing.

I wasn’t ready to go to sleep yet, so I found a random dance party in the campground for a bit, then froze my butt off walking back to my tent.

I’m also bringing my golf discs and ultimate discs so I can play golf and have something to toss around at the campground.

I’m halfway tempted to travel with no cooler and buy one in the US.  The cooler I have fits in the trunk of the car, but it’s larger than I might like, especially for a trip like this.  I’m thinking I should just swing by TarJayOfTheDesert and/or WallyWorld in Seattle and pick up something a little smaller, and see if they have any other camping gear I want (like a collapsible shelter/canopy) for a reasonable price.

I’ll have to do a “practice pack” and see what I can fit.  Based on how I packed last year I have a pretty good idea, but I should probably try a couple of things to be sure.

Edit: I did a quick check.  I can fit everything with my 50L cooler, but I think I’d rather pick up a slightly smaller cooler (say 35L or so).

Also, I was having trouble choosing a theme song for the trip this time.  Given that I’m heading to a music festival, I’m pretty much obligated to choose a song from one of the bands playing there.  Luckily, Adam Zacks came to my rescue and added The Glitch Mob to the bill this year, and so Drive it Like you Stole it shall be the theme song for the road trip this year.

While I was driving from Victoria, TX back to Houston, I happened to catch a live set performed by Skrillex as part of the Ultra Music Festival 2011.  I had never really paid attention to Skrillex before, but I knew he was on the lineup to play Sasquatch.

Now I’m quite excited to see him live.  I realize he won’t have a big light show or anything, but I expect it will be a fun Monday night in the dance tent.

I’m also getting generally more excited about Sasquatch, as it’s only about 2 months away.  I’ve also started figuring out what I’m going to do in the 6 days prior while I’m in Seattle.  There are quite a few things I didn’t get to last time I was there, and I hope to do a bunch of them this time.  If the weather cooperates it would be great to get a hike in somewhere, but we’ll see as the trip gets closer.  I already have a bunch of hikes picked out as well.