Kevin Bronson on October 6th, 2012

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Random encounters of the festival kind from the second evening of Filter magazine’s Culture Collide in Echo Park:

Highlight of the night

It was hard to find a tigher, more exuberant band than New Orleans’ Royal Teeth. The six-member crew enveloped the Echoplex in its bright indie rock with boy/girl vocals, triple percussion, anthemic pop choruses and at least one bass line nicked from U2. It was easy to see why the sextet is currently booked for several festivals this month (including Austin City Limits and Voodoo Fest). Their set which included songs like “Wild,” “My Donna” and the stellar cover of the Knife’s “Heartbeats” was fun, smart and alluring. A headliner-quality performing, in the middle of the evening.

A wolf, two dragons and other broadcast items:

Some rather impolite feedback screeched out of sound system as Patrick Wolf started his set (20 minutes late) at the echo Park United Methodist Church, but the U.K. singer-songwriter took it in stride, joking “This is how I start every show.” Although some people left even before his set started, the acoustic performance from Wolf and another supporting musician (who played the saw and piano) was downright beautiful. Wolf played the harp while he sang on half the songs, but at one point he did get up to get personal with a mandolin. Showcasing his gangly figure and unique fashion sense (which included golden laurel leaves on his head), Wolf’s baritone rang out beautifully in the church, even as the crowd thinned. “I guess,” he said, “a lot of people have to go to the toilet right now.”

Wolf’s playful serenity was in stark contrast to the fare earlier at Taix.

Maybe it was the small room (the restaurant’s lounge), but the set from Canadian indie-rockers Huddle felt like getting hit over the head with an earnestness hammer. Their song “Sirens” [cool video alert], with its nifty horns, recalls at little bit of Matt Pond PA and it would have grand to hear it without the bustle of post-happy hour conversations.

The Moog, too, seemed to be trying awfully hard. The Hungarians rockers, now stationed in L.A., bring a lot of swagger to the table, frontman Tonyo Szabo [pictured] channeling his inner (and outer) Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, but the Hives they ain’t. The Moog’s chunky, danceable rock is equal parts heavy rhythms, punk riffage and New Wave bounce, especially on the songs that include toots from the quartet’s itty-bitty synth. All pretty in-your-face, right down to the propulsive new single “I Wanna Take You to Paris.”

The tone for the evening’s strong Echo lineup was set by Terminal, Danish dance rockers of the male model caliber, who doled out just enough sonic glam to get bodies moving. It’s not rocket science, but Terminal’s music has enough electro weight,  rock quality (as if Muse were their part-time muse) and vocal air to make you bob your head. Worth a look at their next Culture Collide appearance (Sunday at Taix). The mood changed quite a bit for Iceland’s Sudden Weather Change, who did their best make their old-school indie-rock stick (their song “The Whaler” made the strongest impression), and then Estonia’s Ewert and the Two Dragons, whose largely keyboard-and-acoustic anthems were strikingly beautiful, in a Travis sort of way. The Estonia contingent – and there was one – roared when they name-checked their homeland. And their song “Sailor Man” cast quite a spell on the crowd that had gathered for the headliner.

That headliner, L.A.’s Zola Jesus, blew the roof off the place. There’s hardly any other way to say it.

Amid many bands’ barrage of laptops, backing tracks, click tracks and percussion gimmickry, Voxhaul Broadcast seemed almost an anachronism at Culture Collide, and frontman David Dennis seemed to sense this. “Are you into rock ’n’ roll music?” he asked the crowd in the Champagne Room impishly. They roared. Then the L.A. quartet did did, delivering a too-short set of galloping indie blues that was tight and explosive.

Electro popgazers Magic Wands followed with a set that was almost diametrically opposite. The trio’s effects- and reverb-soaked songs, abetted by an array of high-tech devices, suffered from the mix, their oldest and hookiest tune “Black Magic” leaving the strongest impression. Love their album “Aloha Moon,” but this set-up didn’t do it justice.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra were billed as a New Zealand/U.S. entry to the festival – frontman Ruben Nielsen is originally from New Zealand, but the band is based out of Portland. They wound up the fare in the Champagne Room with really great nuggets of psych-rock played with heavy reverb – which almost got a little proggy. Nielsen’s vocals were as playful as the arrangements.

The night ended with U.K. electronic shoegazers the Big Pink dispensing layers of melody and effects to an Echoplex crowd that had just gotten the same, with more ambient textures, from School of Seven Bells. It was not as strong a showing as the Big Pink’s April show at the Echo, but for a festival-weary crowd well into their drinks, it was not a bad way to fade into the night.

Updates: Bonde do Role canceled Sunday’s apperance because they had visa problems. Poolside replaces them at 5:30 on the outdoor stage. Optic Yellow Felt also canceled. Tapioca & the Flea replaces them at 6:30 in the Champagne Room.

Gallery by Carl Pocket. Voxhaul Broadcast and the Moog photos by Bronson.

Contributing: Kevin Bronson, Seraphina Lotkhamnga, Joe Giuliano and Trina Green.