Wanderlust Music Festival

A brand new festival that just finished it's first year on Sunday, the Wanderlust Music Festival took place in Squaw Valley in Tahoe over the course of three days, Friday to Sunday. I had the pleasure of attending Sunday, during which I saw The Honey Brothers, Amanda Palmer, Mates of State, Broken Social Scene, Andrew Bird, and Spoon.

The festival is a brand new idea arranged by three friends who wanted to create a new kind of festival. Indeed Wanderlust is very unique in many ways. Perhaps the main way that it differs from other festivals is the fact that it aims to combine music, yoga, nature, and enviromentalism; during the entire festival, there is music and yoga at the same time. You can go to the music stage and dance or head to the yoga stage and do some Sun Salutations. In addition to this harmonic mixture of activities, the festival takes place at the very top of a gorgeous mountain in California's Tahoe State Park. In fact you have to take a gondola to get up to where the music is, just as if you were skiing. The stage is positioned on a ski slope (the ski lifts in the summer make for an interesting atmosphere), and because of this, the back drop for all the artists playing is a gorgeous and vast veranda of mountainous valleys.

As Amanda Palmer said when she walked onstage: "What the fuck. We're on a mountain."

Probably the only festival to be located at 7000 feet, Wanderlust did an amazing job in it's first year. While the crowds were reasonably small, it was a strong turn out, and those who did come were dedicated to the cause Wanderlust presents. The bands seemed skeptical at first, but by the middle of their sets, all of them gave into the fabulous atmosphere of the crowd.

And really this crowd was fantastic. Ranging from teenagers, to college students, to old hippies, new hippies, young moms, and yuppie yoga fans, the crowd was receptive of each and every music act that came onstage, even if they didn't recognize them at all. I of course knew them all and had come for the sole purpose of hearing some fantastic music; but whether they were there for yoga or music or just the insanely beautiful scenery, all the people danced and cheered and yelled for the band onstage.

And I have to say, this was the most solid festival I have ever been to. The bands all palyed great sets. Amanda Palmer was witty and wry and even did an emotional cover of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean", rendering it ballad style. Mates of State played a dancey and catchy set that got everyone into a good mood despite the 85 degree weather and high altitude. The entire crowd was jumping up and down for all their tunes, including "Get Better" and "Now", off of their new record.

Broken Social Scene might have been the best of the day. I heard from a source that they had been the most skeptical of playing the festival, and who can blame them? It sounds like a nutty idea. But once they were onstage, hitting songs like "Fire Eye'd Boy" and "KC Accidental", they were all into it (all eight of them that were present). They smiled when people cheered and really got into it. They even came back for an encore, exclaiming "I'm loving the vibe here."

Andrew Bird, solo onstage with nothing but a guitar, keyboard, loop pad, and violin, played a gorgeous set, despite the fact that most of his equipment had not arrived and he was borrowing from other bands that played the festival. He covered a few songs, played some of his old favorites, and generally had such a strong presence on stage that the crowd stayed silent and transfixed for the whole hour until between songs when they would scream as loudly as they could for the solo troubadour. Near the middle, Bird looked happily into the crowd of people on top of the mountain and said "This may be one of the best festivals I have ever played."

Lastly, Spoon brought the house down with a set of all their biggest hits and a Paul Simon cover thrown in. The entire crowd was moving the whole time they were playing: I was shocked at how responsive and into it the crowd was. No one was shy to show off their moves or throw their hands in the air with joy. Britt Daniel was really on top of his game as he syncopated some of the lyrics, jumped around, and joked with other band members. All seemed in the highest spirits possible. When they clapped, the whole crowd clapped. When the jumped, everyone jumped. I have never seen a better crowd in my life at a festival. Spoon played two encore songs, thanking everyone profusively and cracking a couple subtle jokes about the yoga part of the festival: "A lot of healthy people out there today!" Britt exclaimed with a great smile. "I'm thinking of changing my lifestyle."

Overall, Wanderlust was a great success. The presenters came out to talk to the crowd just before Spoon and promised to continue doing it if people were supportive. "This festival has no fences around it!" Jeff Krasno, the main presenter, exclaimed. "You can listen to music, do yoga, go hiking, go swimming..." Indeed, looking around from the stage, the landscape continued for miles and miles without any fence. The possibilities felt endless. What an amazing sensation, to be witnessing some of my favorite music in this atmosphere and scenery. Next year, I am totally swimming in the giant pond by the main stage, gazing at the sloping Tahoe mountains, while some up and coming indie band plays in the background.

Where else can you do that?

Other bands that appeared that I did not get the chance to see: Common, Kaki King, Rogue Wave, Girl Talk, Jenny Lewis, Gillian Welch, William Fitzsimmons, Rachel Godrich, Wendy Darling, Big Light, and a plethora of DJs for night sets.

Note: Michael Franti was set to headaline Saturday night, but his appendix exploded (jeez!) the day before and Common replaced him last minute.

A sound-off: the best albums of '07

You’re probably wondering why you should even bother to read yet another “Best of 2007” list, and why an adolescent, urban girl’s list at that. Well, I really have no good concrete reason or life altering fact that will make you want to read this any more than you do now at this moment, but I can vouch for myself. I believe that it’s important to search for more opinions than the ones that are handed to us by the media and general pop culture scene. Obviously, being on blogger.com, you have already taken the initiative to search for an alternative music source than the big companies of bloggers or mp3 downloading corporations. So you’re a step in the right direction. And now you’re reading my list…so you’re even closer.

Alright, yes. You came here for the list, right? Not for my rants about capitalism and the rising influence of media on news and the population of the United States. So I’ll give you the list. Read on, enjoy. Sorry there is no little blurb for each album, but time is precious, my fingers are aching, and quite frankly, the music all speaks for itself.

Next post, look for a zoom in on the ten albums I know the best of 2007, with a free download from each and a closer review. I wish I had time to do that right now for all of these, but alas, the post could be very long and I'm out the door to do some CD shopping.

[These are in no particular order. Thank you]

1) Sunset Rubdown - “Random Spirit Lover”
2) Animal Collective - “Strawberry Jam”
3) Radiohead - “In Rainbows”
4) Beirut - “The Flying Club Cup”
5) M.I.A. - “Kala”
6) Deerhunter - “Cryptograms”
7) Panda Bear - “Person Pitch”
8) Kanye West - “Graduation”
9) The National - “Boxer”
10) Modest Mouse - “We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank”
11) of Montreal - “Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?”
12) Spoon - “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga”
13) Okkervil River - “The Stage Names”
14) The Arcade Fire - “Neon Bible”
15) Battles - “Mirrored”
16) LCD Soundsystem - “Sound of Silver”
17) Kevin Drew - “Spirit If…”
18) Menomena - “Friend and Foe”
19) The Klaxons - “Myths of the Near Future”
20) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - “Some Loud Thunder”
21) The Besnard Lakes - “The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse”
22) The White Stripes - “Icky Thump”
23) Feist - “The Reminder”
24) Caribou - “Andorra”
25) Band of Horses - “Cease to Begin”
26) Jens Lekman - “Night Falls Over Kortedala”
27) Les Savy Fav – “Let’s Stay Friends”
28) Blonde Redhead – “23”
28) Elliott Smith – “New Moon”
29) Bat For Lashes – “Fur and Gold”
30) Justice – “Cross"
31) Iron & Wine – “Shepherd’s Dog”
32) Grizzly Bear – “Friend EP”
33) Black Lips – “Good Bad Not Evil”
34) Dan Deacon – “Spiderman of the Rings”
35) Liars – “Liars”
36) Jay-Z – “American Gangster”

Disclaimer: Obviously, because I am writing this list, these selections are my personal opinion. They are what I listen to and what I think. If I left out your favorite bands new album or didn’t include enough (insert obscure genre here), I am deeply sorry and hope I can make it up to you. Don’t know how, but, we’ll work something out.

Also, I did the obscure number of 36 albums because I am tired of the typical 50. Break from normality people! (Yeah you want the real reason, but you’re not going to get it. Thanks for reading!)

Note: This post was also posted on my mog.com account. Yes, I am aware it's there. Thanks!

Not So Silent Night 2007: unholy night.

Lets dumb this down a bit. Lets bring this down a first grade level, and mask it in the form of a question your teacher might ask while pointing to a brightly colored groups of objects in the book you are using:
Which one of these do not belong?
Modest Mouse, Jimmy Eat World, Angels & Airwaves, Spoon, and Paramore.

My friends, there are two correct answers, and I'm sure a good amount of you who feel the same way I do (and you do) know what I am talking about.

In my opinion, the lineup for Not So Silent Night has been getting progressively worse each year. And I have only attended three years of this concert. Each time I went, it was fun to be there in the atmosphere and hear all these bands together. They mixed well, and the crowd was a good medley of different types of people. But I began to notice that there was always one major let down every year. Who can forget The White Stripe's bomb performance? Or the, er, shall we call them "sound issues" for Modest Mouse? I began to believe that this was what happened at NSSN: every year something bad just had to happen.

But this year, I never expected it to occur before I could even buy a ticket.

Upon hearing this lineup from my friend, I was infuriated. I was even angrier when they announced the order the bands would be playing in. I mean, lets be real people. They put Spoon second. Second. That gives them, what? A forty-five minute set? Hello Live 105. That is Britt Daniel. You are giving Britt Daniel a forty-five minute set. Spoon co-headlined Treasure Island Music Festival with Modest Mouse. And now you're throwing them into second place.

On top of this, they have managed to enclose Isaac Brock and Tom Delonge into the same backstage area. Enter Tom Delonge: whiney voice, cute face, pop-punk ruler of the universe of the former maniac fan band blink 182, who sported lyrics as "'I said I was the cops, and your husband's in jail. This state looks down on sodomy!' And that's about the time that bitch hung up on me." Since these frantic post-post-post teen days have passed, Tom has sacrificed himself to his new project, Angels & Airwaves, growing bangs over his eyes and dying his hair black.

Now enter Isaac Brock: Modest Mouse front man, grew up all over the North West, and lived in a shack for a good part of his adolescence. He has been accused for DUI, drug abuse, and has served jail time. Songs like "Shit Luck" demonstrate his immediate need for a bit of stirring up in his world, and not the prank phone call kind, with the opening being him yelling "This plane is definitely crashing!".

Now place these two in a glass box together and what is going to happen? Conduct the experiement yourself. Or attend NSSN this Friday night and watch.

To make matters worse, this so-called evening of celebration of independent music and the holidays is none of the above. Okay, so I made up the holidays part. But there is obviously some sort of correlation, what with it being December and the name of the freakin' gig. But the independent, anti-mainstream music? This sentiment has dissapeared.

I lost hope in Live 105 a long time ago, but I thought maybe this once a year outreach to the music community might still be their chance to demonstrate their real desires. Alas, no. Once again, I ask you to study the lineup. Modest Mouse have strong connections to the independent music scene, as they worked their way up through it, and Brock used to be at Sub-Pop (he signed Wolf Parade). Spoon have always been considered to be an American indie band. But Jimmy Eat World have been signed to a major label since day one. As have Angels & Airwaves, since Tom coming over from probably one of the most commerically successful bands of the past ten years aided that. Paramore, although more unknown than the previous two aforementioned, still have strong ties with MTV (their videos are constantly played) and VH1. You name the "music" channel, they are there.

Look, NSSN: I don't wanna totally bring you down. Because I think this show is a great idea! The three years I went, I had a great time. I'm not going to pretend I didn't. I loved it, Meg's drunken escapades and all! Because I loved it, I care about it's future. And by caring I am giving my opinion. That is all.

This Friday night, expect to see me in a cafe with some friends, having our first non-NSSN ever. It hurts, Live 105. It really does.

For your listening pleasure:
Modest Mouse - Shit Luck
Modest Mouse - Gravity Rides Everything

Spoon - The Infinite Pet
Spoon - Back To The Life

Angels & Airwaves - The Adventure