(Editor’s Note: See Part 2 of this post here!)
In what has now become an annual tradition, KCRW DJ Marion Hodges and myself cull together our handfuls of personal favorites from each year’s FYF Fest line-up along gender lines.
How this actually began is kind of a mystery to me, whether it was an Eli Janney reference or the product of an actual arguent between us or whether it was just the easiest way to break a list down.
Regardless, considering that this year’s line-up overall is pretty sexy (I mean, c’mon My Bloody Valentine headlining, dude) and the stages being named after the ladies from Sex And The City, it seems particularly fitting.
Weekend passes for FYF Fest, taking place August 24 and 25 at L.A. State Historic Park, are still available here.
Let’s start with the Boys.
There are a bunch of overtly dude-ish acts that I could’ve highlighted this time out…Baroness, Death Grips, FLAG, The Locust, acts with a heavy sound and a following that would probably be described as mostly dude-ish.
However, I opted to focus on some men of some distinction. Marion similarly took this road in regards to “feminism.”
Deerhunter: Never disappointing, Atlanta’s Deerhunter puts on a positivitely mesmerizing, haunting, gloriously melodic experience. I’ve seen them live 4 times and every single time the swirling guitars and echoey reverbed vocals of “Spring Hall Convert” have been like being sucked into the center of a starlight mint and being kissed on the cheek by God.
Also, Bradford Cox has been known to shake things up by wearing sundresses on stage…it takes a real man to wear a sundress in front of thousands of people while hitting them with squall after squall of white noise.
[SATURDAY at 7:55 pm — Carrie Stage]
Kurt Vile: Philly’s Kurt Vile has put out a grip of excellent lo-fi slack rock records that are equal parts Pavement and Tom Petty.
Stony cool on a plush shag van floor vibes with a pursed lip snarl, I have mad brotherly love for this dude and everything he’s doing. So does the City of Philadelphia, as on August 28, Vile is getting an official Kurt Vile Day at a ceremony at City Hall. “Puppet to The Man”? I think not, Kurt. I think maybe you’re The Man, and that’s why they’re giving you a huge Liberty Bell and your own day dude.
[SUNDAY at 5:20pm — Carrie Stage]
Omar Souleyman: As unlikely a “pop sensation” as ever there was, Syrian musician Omar Souleyman makes a jubilant and truly unique blend of traditional Syrian music with a low tech techno flair. He’s recorded more than 500 studio and live albums in the last 20 years, 80% of which are recordings of performances at weddings which end up as marketplace bootlegs.
Souleyman has made fans of everyone from Bjork to Four Tet (who has produced Souleyman’s forthcoming album) to the one and only Henry Rollins. I remember standing shoulder to shoulder with Rollins at Souleyman’s LA debut at The Echo a few years back and noticing his deeply carved, intense HeRo scowl melt into a gleeful smile…that’s gotta tell you something. (We didn’t hold hands or anything, but we could’ve and it would’ve been just fine.)
[SUNDAY at 9:45pm — Samantha’s Tent]
Horse Meat Disco: A four man bearded disco Voltron, Horse Meat Disco is the Macho Manliest outfit of DJs/editors/remixers to come out of the disco revival.
For almost a decade, James Hillard, Jim Stanton, Severino and Luke Howard have been hosting parties, travelling the world DJing and (most importantly) putting together unparalleled disco compilations that harken back to the gloriously seedy roots of 70s NYC at it’s most unbridled. This is seriously musky DISCO…I smell (sniff, sniff) partytimes!
[SATURDAY at 5:30pm — Samantha’s Tent]