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Big Fresh/ Thee American Revolution/ Pipes You See Pipes You Don't/ Andy from Denver/ Casper and the Cookies, PopFest, 40 Watt, 8/16/08
08/19/2008 I left my apartment Saturday night, expecting to get downtown with plenty of time to spare. I forgot one small detail. Thousands of college students had returned from summer break, and it seemed they had all ventured downtown for the evening. With traffic galore and no where to park, I reluctantly pulled my car into the College Ave. deck, handed over my fee and raced to 40 Watt. I made it, much to my dismay, just in time to have missed The Smittens entire set. What I saw instead was a man clad in a silver cape and sunglasses, convulsing on stage. Undeniably influenced by The Flaming Lips, Big Fresh combined Beach Boys-esque harmonization, synthesized beats, a horn, and a superhero-from-space getup in ways that can only be fully appreciated at a music festival. Hailing from Kentucky, the psychedelic pop fusion group took purposeful confusion to a whole new level, and the crowd responded well. Even the throngs of cigarette smokers trailing down to Flicker slowly began to trickle inside. The rest of the night followed suit. By 9 p.m. the PBR was flowing steadily as Thee American Revolution took the stage. The lovechild of brother-in-laws Apples in Stereo’s Robert Schneider and Ideal Free Distribution’s Craig Morris, this band delivered what Schneider later described to me as “sludgy psychedelia” and “loose rock.” With familiar riffs and heavy bass reminiscent of decades past, the crowd was given an intermission from the avant-garde acts which both preceded and followed the set, and handed instead a healthy portion of good old rock n’ roll. “The point of Thee American Revolution is for us just to have fun,” Schneider said after the set. “And of course to knock out a bunch of hits as quickly and as shoddily as possible,” he added with a laugh. Pipes You See Pipes You Don’t continued the night’s parade of well seasoned musicians. Sgt. Pepper’s era Beatles meets present day indie rock for an E6 gem nearly ten years in the making. A full stage and an array of instruments, the set was slightly different from the rest of the PopFest experience in that there was less poppy handclaps and more fine-tuned folksy guitar work. The crowd was then allowed a short taste of Andy From Denver. The duo’s performance included a voice over of Andy Gonzales’s subconscious, a chugged beer, and an electronic syncopated bass line. Excited to see what former Marshmallow Coast and Of Montreal member would do next, I was deeply disappointed when time restrictions cut the set short. Feeling that I didn’t experience enough to truly do the set any justice, I turned my attentions to the next act. After a clever Olympic intro by Happy Happy Birthday to Me artist and BBC correspondent Keith John Adams, beloved locals Casper and the Cookies revived the audience. Donned with glittering costumes and false eyelashes, the band delivered their usual upbeat experimental pop with extra gusto and finished the set after 11 p.m. to a now full house. Backstage Jason NeSmith and Kay Stanton share that while all four members have diverse and unique influences, NeSmith mentions that they have included neo-Dadaism and Simon and Garfunkel as some of their own. Halfway through the conversation, NeSmith’s dad cracks open the door to hand out 24 oz PBR’s. The Circulatory System strikes up, and the night continues. Comments [post a comment]Comments are closed |
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