This past weekend, fellow blogger David Ray and I traveled the three hours to Champaign-Urbana, Ill to see as many bands as we could within a two day period at The Pygmalion Music Festival.
This was the fifth year the festival had taken place and it ran from Wed Sept 16 to Sat Sept 19. We couldn't go until Friday evening because of classes, but we still tried to cram in as much music as possible. This year proved to be the largest yet with 109 bands performing at 14 different locations.
When we first arrived at the festival, I was a bit disheartened because it didn't quite have that festival feel to it. It was mid-September and the night was cool, there weren't any vendors selling food or art, and the campus felt like a ghost town.
Once I realized that it was more of a musical showcase than a festival and that it featured a lot of amazing venues, I started to enjoy myself more.
The first band we saw was the raw and artful, South African quartet, Blk Jks who took the stage at The Canopy Club, which is a medium sized venue and bar. They played songs off their debut album After Robot as well as their debut EP, Mystery. The band, which mixes traditional African music with the more accessible pop sounds of today, resides on local label Secretly Canadian. I had seen them perform in Bloomington twice before; in a dirty basement and at Jake's nightclub. It was nice to see a band that was familiar, but I still enjoyed seeing them more in the house show setting.
Next we saw the minimalist band Low play a set that slowed down concert attendee's senses at the Channing-Murray Chapel. It was so perfect to see such a quiet and beautiful band play at a chapel. Things took a darker twist however, when they performed "Monkey", a song that was saturated in heavy bass and drumming. It was incredibly eerie when lead singer and guitarist, Alan Sparkaw made a cutting motion with his fingers when he sang the lyric, "tonight the monkey dies."
We left Low a bit early to check out Maps & Atlases who were playing at The Canopy Club. They were energetic and funky, but I was distracted by the fact that my latest love, The Antlers were going to be playing in a couple of hours.
This past summer my fellow WTTS employee, Craig Shank interviewed them at the Pitchfork Music Festival and I was lucky enough to get to film it. After listening to the sincere answers they gave him, I realized how honest and passionate they were and decided I had to give them a listen. And I'm glad that I did because I've been constantly spinning their latest album, Hospice ever since.
The zeal that I recognized in them this summer was still apparent at the club, as I watched the sweat drip down the temples of Peter Silberman, the brainchild of the band. He seemed pained with emotion as he belted out the lyrics of "Bear", the first song of the night. They had a lot more feedback at their live show and it was sometimes difficult to hear what Peter was singing, but the feeling was still there. The crowd went crazy for "Two", which is the most upbeat song on the album, despite its dark undertones.
On Saturday afternoon we headed to Parasol Records, a small and personable record store that featured performances by local artists, refreshments, and 10 percent off all merchandise. According to owner Geoff Merritt, this was the store's first year of involvement in the festival and he seemed to be very happy to do it. We caught local folk duo, You & Yourn's last couple of songs and then browsed the store. I was really tempted to buy an old magazine that featured Joy Division and The Smiths to add to my magazine collection, but I was trying to spend the least amount of money as possible.
As the day wore on, people began to line up inside The Krannert Art Center to wait for the sold-out Iron and Wine show to begin. As soon as the doors opened, eager attendees ran down the long, carpeted aisles of the theater, grabbing seats as close to the stage as they could.
It wasn't long before the opening act The Books, took the stage. As flashing images of talking heads appeared on the screen behind them, the band explained that they had recently been picking up hypnotherapy tapes at small thrift stores. Their performance was centered on the films that they played, making it seem like less of a concert and more of an avant-garde art show.
With just an acoustic guitar and two stools on which to sit and put his set list, Samuel Beam of Iron and Wine finally took the stage, opening with a The Postal Service cover of "Such Great Heights". When his delicate voice rang out and hardly anyone followed his cue to sing along, he paused and asked, "doesn't anyone know this song?" The audience then began to sing and Beam continued playing his guitar deftly and crisply.
Beam had a good sense of humor and interacted with the crowd frequently between and during songs. When he asked the crowd if they went to school in Urbana and an attendee said he was from Florida, he jokingly told the crowd, "watch out for that guy."
After playing a full, rich set Beam came back on stage for an encore. Someone in the crowd yelled out, "Wolves," but Beam wasn't taking requests.
"You guys are weird," Beam paused. "But awesome."
He then began strumming the first chords of "Flightless Bird, American Mouth." I was really hoping he would play this song even before the show began, so I was thrilled when he chose to play it for his encore. The way he sings this song is so incredible, it's hard to put into words. I'll just say that goosebumps slowly creep up my skin every time I hear it, so listening to it live just made that bone-chilling feeling even more intense. The crowd went silent until the song was completely over and then stood up and broke out into an applause that was ear piercing. When it was over, I instantly knew that it was my favorite performance of the weekend, even though the night was not yet over.
Gears were shifted when we headed over to The Canopy Club, where Physical Challenge DJs, Porno Glactica and YACHT had transformed the atmosphere of the club into that of a rave. Brightly colored glow sticks swung in the air and people danced on the floor and on top of the bars. YACHT's performance was highly energetic and the crowd seemed to be having a lot of fun dancing. If I wasn't such a terrible dancer, I might have joined in on the action. After YACHT's performance, Chicago natives The Hood Internet did mash-ups in a Girl Talk-esque style.
I think the best kind of DJs have the ability to make the audience so absorbed in the feeling of a set that they don't even notice what they're hearing. This rang true when the entire crowd went crazy men when The Hood Internet spun Cyndi Lauper's "Girl's Just Wanna Have Fun" it into their set.
As The Hood Internet ended their set, I became really excited about RJD2 ending the night. I used to listen to his album Deadringer in high school and thought it was really fantastic, but unfortunately his live set just didn't translate in the same way. He had four turntables, but they were often off beat. It was nice to see a DJ use actual vinyl as opposed to a laptop, but the spark that makes his music so incredible just wasn't there.
The Pygmalion Festival was a really great way to see a lot of new and old talent over a period of a few days, and I really hope that someone puts on a similar set of big shows in Bloomington sometime.
-Katie
P.S: More pics coming later.
