Slept on a hardwood floor for the first night but woke up feeling a little more comfortable with the subway and sans hangover. The first panel of the week I went to was on Miles Davis. Miles' son Erin, one of later drummers Vincent Wilburn, journalist Ashley Kahn, Wax Poetics Editor Andre Torres, DJ Logic, and Q-Tip 'rapped' about what was perhaps Americas most pivotal year 1959.
Many things were invented, turning points in history faced, and jazz music reached a Milestone. Now at the 50th anniversary of Miles' groundbreakingly solemn Kind of Blue and his technical masterpiece Sketches of Spain, the panel took many different looks at it. They discussed Miles' attidtude on and off the stage, DJ Logic conjured up feelings of dancing with girls and drinking wine in Spain, how Miles' work influenced the work of east coast hip-hop, and the album's concept of the anti-single. Kind of Blue is one of the first cohesive albums, and since the late 50s music as a whole has turned to not just concept albums, but cohesive albums which maintain a sound. When asked to choose a favorite cut, Erin Davis had trouble remembering the name Freddie Freeloader, perfering to choose "Kind of Blue" as his favorite cut, because he prefers to listen to it as an entire experience. This was the general consensus about Sketches of Spain.
The Silent Barn rules. Its a perfect venue for whatever you call this new brand of regular, slacker rock. Scum-fuck music seems to be everywhere at the festival. it purely for partying, shitty speakers, and dark smelly spaces. Borrowing equally from Beat Happening, the Misfits, and Pavement, these guys put on a great show. Uzi Rash "took the stage" first, and played two songs which combined Pere Ubu with JAMC drumming while doning dinosaur masks.
German Measles sounded like incredibly heavy, perfectly off-kilter. Happy Birthday, who headlined are
supposedly signed to Sub Pop, but they sounded a little too refined for the show.
Please watch out for
Male Bonding because they are the best. Hailing from England, they should come with a surgeon general's warning for insane house parties...or perhaps something less lame.
