Preamble — The Unbearable Tedium of Waiting
A festival weekend couched at the end of an already crammed stretch of the usual work and school week is a certain recipe for, at best, a rolling synaptic blackout, sensory overload if you will.
Coming into this weekend, I hadn’t even made the level of plans many of the other journalists attending had the last few months to set. Having never covered a festival of this size, I had no previous knowledge of how to go about scoring the required credentials to catch the festivities, and so I made a blind grasp and waited. Simply put, on a wing and a prayer, a press pass materialized at the last minute, as I breathed a sigh of relief and apprehension. From there, Captain Pabst and constant improvisation made this possible, so read on with caution.
With that caveat, let’s dispense with the fussy preamble and get down to business.
‘The classiest, most diverse festival in the country’
In its sophomore incarnation, Ashley Capps’s eclectic, if esoteric Big Ears Festival proved that while it certainly draws the artistic clout of big brother Bonnaroo, thanks in no small part to this year’s co-curator Bryce Dessner, the lack of a laid-back summer setting, isolated on a rolling farm, can make suspension of reality a bit of a stretch.
Instead, single ticket holders, curious locals and purveyors of the coveted Inner Ears pass fought pounding rain, cold and sweltering heat in turn. For the uninitiated, it was a crash course in Knoxville weather. For the Marble City natives, it was just another weekend in March.
Though a day shorter and roughly a third of the size of AC Entertainment’s flagship festival, show selection at Big Ears requires more soul-searching and contemplation. One is faced with the headline shows, whose names read like a who’s who of 2009’s indie elite, or numerous smaller concerts slightly further left of the dial fare. The best compromise lay in dodging in and out of both, though still there seemed to be few hours in the day.
Dutch punk and party drugs: A Cautionary Tale
After partaking in a snatch of noise pop in a parking lot behind the First Presbyterian Church, the first official Big Ears event came in the form of Dutch anarcho-punks the Ex, not to be confused with British dream poppers the xx. Noted for frequent lineup changes and an unwavering dedication to their roots, they proved to be an unexpected gem in the gold mine that the Big Ears Annex, formerly Blue Cats, proved itself to be over the weekend. Often revolving around a three guitar and drums combo, muscular riffs whose constant repetition bordered on drone metal levels proved an explosive immersion into the weekend’s festivities. Needless to say, they were not an easy act to follow.
The majority of Friday night, however, revolved around the much-hyped triple bill at the Bijou Theatre consisting of Nosaj Thing, j.j. and the xx. One of Big Ears’s greatest achievements is seamless transitioning from one culture to another. In an idyllic society, that wouldn’t be so remarkable, but in a setting where chaos flourishes, harmony on cultural level is nothing short of extraordinary.
Opening L.A. breakstepper Nosaj Thing, nee Jason Chung, tore through his second Knoxville show in as many months, winning over the crowd with a scratch pad, nonstop knob-twisting and frequent disintegration of sound painting an ambient wave. Silhouetted in a lone spotlight and eschewing the typical rave-ups of many DJs, Chung let his chopped samples and loops speak for him.
Following Nosaj, much-blogged pharmaceutical enthusiasts-come-electronic-pop jj brought an enigmatic and frequently baffling mix of club-ready numbers and acoustic ballads. Labeled a duo, the majority of the show focused on singer Elin Kastlander singing to pre-recorded tracks. While hardly unprecedented, the set begged the question of whether or not backing beats with live vocals can be considered legitimate art or simply karaoke without a convenient teleprompter.
Kastlander deserves her props, though she dropped key more than a handful of times, but her collaborator Joakim Benon rarely made his way to the stage. After about half an hour, Benon stumbled out and proceeded to stand in front of the stage projector, superimposing a gigantic shadow on the mind-numbing video tracks. Benon picked up an acoustic guitar and gave several off-time, abortive strums, finally seeming to pick up a rough rhythm after a few songs but neglecting the instrument to anything but appearance after a few bars. His main role, one might assume, was to distract Kastlander and make drunken passes while she sang.
Their frequent displays of affection lent a more explicit, Nordic-bent take on the White Stripes’ patent cryptic sibling romance. Regardless of their shortcomings, which likely resulted from over-indulgence in the substances they laud, jj exuded a youthful charm which at its best recalls the Vaselines’ innocent odes to love, albeit on ecstasy.
Finally came the band of the moment, London’s The xx. Emerging from a white curtain that fell after their first few moments on stage, the trio took their crowd with no contest, with more noodle dancing than a Widespread Panic show and barely-muffled iPhones snapping and recording every moment. Regrettably the show began near midnight, which meant only a few songs worth of blissed-out madness before the festival’s sole low-point.
Partying hard with a string quartet
A few blocks down at the Square Room, the oddest pairing of the weekend took so many left-turns that the audience often seemed to be wondering if they were missing the joke.
Andrew W.K., the “party metal” screamer know for his white T-shirt and denim and near-constant level of perspiration, took a seat behind a grand piano with the Calder Quartet. Known for their masterful performances of modern classical music, the string quartet seemed out of their element in the mostly teenage room.
The battle was long, and it would be nice to report that the good fight prevailed, but after 45 minutes, the strings and occasional piano meanderings of Andrew W.K. became. Bed sounded like much more rewarding and after all, there were still two full days to take in the mystery in wonder that rang through the downtown streets during this year’s festivities.
