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Laminated Cat/ Ham1/ My Teenage Stride/ A. Armada, PopFest 2008, Caledonia, 8/15/08

by Doug Holschuh
08.16.2008

This year at PopFest, the Caledonia hosted (for the first time, I believe) shows that ran during the same time as the main night shows at the 40 Watt. I went over Friday night to see what it was like.

The first band of the night was Laminated Cat, and I kept wondering whether their name was a partial homage to the song "Phenomenal Cat" by the Kinks, who were an obvious influence on their music, or if it was in reference to the high vocal styles of their front man, Tanner Olin (turns out it's a reference to a Jeff Tweedy song and the Kinks are not listed as one of their influences -- go figure). Geddy Lee (of course) comes to mind when hearing Olin's voice, but that's missing the mark. He does, however, have the sort of voice that, as I was walking into the club, made me wonder whether a guy or a girl was singing. But I like odd voices, and Olin's quickly grew on me. By the end of the set, I finally figured out that I liked it, because despite the highness of his voice, there's an Olivia Tremor Control quality to his voice. But the Kinks influence (acknowledged or not) is there (I kept hearing "Shangri-La" in their first song), as well as the Beatles and Pink Floyd. Even though it's all all filtered through the indie rock blender, they definitely seem to be influenced by some of the classic bands. This is Laminated Cat's second PopFest in a row, and Athens has charmed the band enough to move here. (Is that an ulterior motive of PopFest, to import rock bands?). I think they'll make a good addition to the town's music scene. I like their influences. I like what they're doing with them. Fun stuff. If I run into them, I'll have to pass them some Kinks.

Next up was one of my PopFest picks: Ham1. One of the major advantages of PopFest over AthFest, in my opinion, is the out-of-town bands that PopFest brings in. While it's great to showcase Athens bands, I don't need a festival to get me out to see them. Nevertheless, it's nice that one of my finds of this PopFest was a local act, one that I've been hearing about for some time, but haven't made it out to see. Ham1 began their set by having singer Jim Willingham (who is a school teacher by day; he made us raise our hands!) quiz the audience with the prizes being "select" vinyl LPs. I was one of the lucky winners (Q: When was the television invented? A: 1923. Prize: Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits. Lucky me!). After the give-away, the rest of Ham1 came on stage, and they really nailed it. To me they sound somewhere in between Vic Chesnutt (who they backed up on his last tour) and the neo-psychedelia of Neutral Milk Hotel (and doesn't that sound like a great place to be?). With trombone and cello, they also sound a bit like Lampchop (more Vic connections). But I don't know; it's my first time hearing them, and I'm looking for connections. The final verdict: I loved it -- definitely in my Top 5 of PopFest 2008.

Third band of the evening was My Teenage Stride, from Brooklyn. These guys had a tough day with their van breaking down in Commerce as they were driving into Athens. (But at least they made it to Commerce, so PopFest folks could drive out to pick them up.) My Teenage Stride had some fans in the audience who knew their material, and they really seemed to be enjoying it. I'll have to beg off on a fully fleshed-out opinion of the band. The sound was sort of mid-80s jangly pop, well-done but not my thing (at least not any more), and I didn't really get it after hearing their show. I don't want to write them off completely, however: While writing this, I went to their MySpace page and listened to some album tracks, and I think this band warrants some further investigation on my part.

The fourth and final band of the night was another revelation (and another for my Top 5 list), and oddly enough (or perhaps part of a pattern) another Athens band I hadn't heard before: A. Armada. Two guitars, bass, drums, no vocals; they themselves classify as shoegaze, but that's a lousy name for it. Their set was noisy and epic (ear plugs in) with wall-of-sound guitars/bass/drums alternating with sweet guitar-only melodies. The drums where the lead instrument here, and they led the charge through the changes upon changes that each song was built on. By the last song, I was thinking to myself, What's the name of this song? Ragnorak? Not to say it was Heavy Metal cheese; just to say that it was downright Wagnerian. This isn't anything I would listen to in my car, but you can bet I'll be there the next time they play live.

So that was it for the Friday Caledonia show. Well, not really -- DJ Other Voices, Other Rooms was going to be there for late-night disco, but that really wasn't my thing, so I headed over to the 40 Watt to catch the last few acts.

I wasn't sure what to make of it when the AE folks exiled me to the Caledonia to cover PopFest's "2nd Stage" while they went over to the 40 Watt for the big show, but I have to say it was a great night of music that was well attended, and Mike Turner and Gordon Lamb deserve a lot of credit for expanding PopFest to the point where it can support a second stage. Bravo!

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