The dust settles now. There musta' been nine photographers for every stage I shuffled toward, not counting the iPhone-videographers. Doug Coombe and Trever Long did their best to wedge in amongst the more recreational shutter-bugs who weren't on-assignment, but you can bet this thing was documented as best as could be... My own words will be subjective nonsense, fueled by the echo (ec-ho! eck-OH!) of last night - and you can take 'em or leave 'em, as there's three or four other bloggers who'll probably be wanting to tell you something different, something cooler...
DJ Eric Allen and I found forty-three seconds of calm inside the whirlpool of the National Alliance Hall, right before the Hentchmen went on and we raved with fanboy fervor over a band that both of us knew we weren't likley going to get a chance to see last night - The Frustrations - who closed out the Baker's Street Car at 1 a.m.
"The last set I saw them...it made me even ashamed to be in a band, like: what am I doing...It was like hearing the Mothers of Invention circa '69..." And I contribute that the beauty of the Frustrations is that you can't call them a psychedelic band. "Exactly...I don't know what you'd call them..."
And so, Allen set to spinning a series of old dusty soul grooves via his lonely, borrowed turntable, to sound-track an insane evening where, earlier, gathered attendees jittered and juked to the keyed-up punk-punched blues of Jeecy & the Jungle.
Find the Frustrations' sounds on their label - X! Records - and dig this track, from yet another of many bands begrudgingly missed from last night's mayhem - Listen: Fake Surfers - "Nonsense"
What's up? Scott Sanford of Pewter Cub asks me this as he squeezes by, this, just moments after Carnies' bassist Joe Bertoletti lunged his shoulder into me, mid-groove, sending me back onto the root-like toes of the tree-like Matt Jones.
Everything, I shout back.
This was it, there was no tomorrow, I was going to see as many bands as physically possible - and still only topped out at 10. Would have been 11, but I just couldn't walk away from Illy Mack's set, it wound up being the only set of the whole blurry weekend where I stayed for all, what was it, eight songs? All 35-ish minutes.
Listen: Illy Mack - "Squirrels"
Their New Dodge set was, more or less, the uncontested magic moment;-and I can't choose between their pulling a prank by having musical-doubles come up and perform the first song-and-a-half of the set (quite impressively, note for note, with the "real" pair's own drum-tipped, iron-boarded instruments), or if it was them stumbling through another of their charming and cuss-curtained instrumental out-takes only to have the crowd assist them by amplifying their sing-along-voices and looping one of their indelible choruses for them, Hey-Judeian--almost, while they re-adjusted.
"Damn, Steve, you sound just like a girl..." Illy's Jen David blurts at him as he's one-verse into what would become a substantially poignant cover of "I Will Always Love You," (a not quite belated tribute to Whitney). With rappers up in the balcony, bloggers in the back, photographers crouched at the edge and the band's longtime friends swaying with gleeful accentuation, it seemed to say something... Still not sure what...
But of course, Jeecy & the Jungel is likewise impossible to walk away from... One had to plant oneself there only because they barely play out around town - at least compared to most bands, though maybe that will change soon.
Listen: Jeecy & the Jungle -"Crawl On My Floor"
The Beggars tapped into the neurotic/excited musical-trick-or-treater inside me when they opened with "Rock Around The Clock..."
Black Jake & the Carnies brought some Ypsilanti-insanity...
Listen: Black Jake & the Carnies - "All The Difference"
GLOSSIES are still golden... And I'll reiterate finding their record online and just spending the rest of your afternoon spinning it through twice. But ONLY with headphones. Don't waste your time. Listen: Glossies - "Let's Get Awkward"
And Dutch Pink are dangerous now that they've got two formidable voices up front via their two female lead singers.**But this set was captured after making it over to echo-heavy, drone-digging, glitch-glittered odysseys of Robin Goodfellow, at least in time for the final 94 seconds of their last song (or movement/experiment). Listen: Robin Goodfellow - a pair of EPS...here
How could I miss the Hentchmen?
Did Mick Bassett reunite/resurrect The Marthas last night?
Listen: Mick Bassett - "Scoundrels"
These two had the time of their lives last night... ^The considerate thing is: they made sure that the same went for anyone looking-and-listening...
Photos (except Mick) by Mike Milo
All this and no Dirtbombs? And what spooky psychedelic glories did Kim Fowley conjure with his swirled seances? And will Phantasmagoria record the Illy Mack cover they performed last night to go with the EP's worth of covers they already have out? Will next year's weather be as warm? Warmer? Will the apocalypse come before then?
I missed everything you probably caught - and that's the best part.
Let's get some sleep.
