menomena-pioneer-square-mfnw

Photos of Gardens & Villa, Menomena, Aan, Radiation City, and Helio Sequence from Friday of MusicFestNW 2012 in Portland, Oregon. And check out our video of Helio Sequence’s “Harmonica Song” from last night as well. Wednesday and Thursday coverage also online.

Gardens and Villa: It’s remarkable to look how far Santa Barbara’s Gardens & Villa have come since releasing their latest album. Just this spring, talking to G&V’s Dusty Ineman and watching them perform at the SXSW 2012 Jagjaguwar/Secretly Canadian showcase, they’ve rode those waves to play major spots at a number of festivals. They had no problem filling their MFNW Pioneer Square spot, plus they’re flute-filled, shimmery songs felt right at home in the afternoon sun.

Menomena: Portland’s own Menomena has drawn quite a bit of attention in the past two years, as founding member Brent Knopf left the band and remaining members Justin Harris and Danny Seim decided to forge on afterwards. They were on our own “to see” list. I caught them in Portland in May of 2011 for an excellent show. Many at Pioneer Square on Saturday were curious to see how the new Menomena material–written without Knopf–would fare. Menomena dropped four tracks from their upcoming Moms album, three of which we’ve heard online and another we haven’t. Simply put, I think they’ve retained the “Menomena sound”, maintaining the complexity, switches, dynamism and lurking melancholy in terms of songwriting. But it’s hard not to feel Knopf’s absence. As pointed out, it took three new band members to cover Knopf’s live performance roles. Regardless, the new Moms material is quality and I’m further excited to hear it next week.

Aan: Portland’s Aan joined us  for the Apes on Tape 100K party just a week earlier in downtown PDX, only a few blocks away actually. Obviously, I’m going to be a bit biased on that show, but objectively speaking, I believe this MFNW show was much better. That’s not a dig on aan’s earlier performance or the Kelly’s Olympian sound guy, but Star Theater just has phenomenal acoustics and aan tightened things up for the hometown festival. Overall, as I’ve said before, I just love how aan can balance complex, intriguing song writing with high replay value and songs that just feel really good. Watch for their new album out “sometime this fall”.

Radiation City: I’ve said quite a few things about Portland’s “Best New Band” and they were included on our “Bands To See at MFNW 2012 List“. Their Crystal Ballroom spot on Friday night only proved all that was correct, for me personally. Whilst a big fan of their material, I’d never seen Radiation City live before. So their first performance at the hallowed Ballroom made for an excellent first. For those familiar with their records, Rad City crafts intricate, layered, harmonic tracks that meet the ear as lovely, simple songs yet are anything but. Live, I was curious how those complexities would play out. Ultimately, Rad City had no problems pulling the songs off live. Their layering came across hitchless, the vibe was still very danceable and Lizzy Ellison’s soaring vocals sounded incredible with the Ballroom’s acoustics.

Helio Sequence: Following a theme here, Friday brought the third of our “bands to see at Musicfest”. And with the Crystal Ballroom scene set by Radiation City and Unknown Mortal Orchestra, eager expectations were further heightened. After seeing Helio Sequence at Sasquatch 2012 and learning they’ve got a new record, Negotiations, on the way, admittedly, those expectations were quite high. But Helio has taken the slow road to indie fame and probably has little trouble managing “hype” at this point. Anyhow, their set felt wonderful inside the Crystal. They delivered well-worn “hits” as well as new album material, which sounded fantastic. Hats off to Mr Summers and Mr Weikel for demonstrating how well two dudes can fill the Crystal with sound (which warranted at least one Black Keys reference, btw). And watch our video of Helio performing “Harmonica Song“.

[nggallery id=32]

2 thoughts on “PHOTOS & REVIEW: MusicFestNW 2012 | Friday September 7

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *