Kevin Bronson on October 14th, 2013

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Random encounters of the festival kind on Saturday night at Filter magazine’s Culture Collide, as reported by Kevin Bronson, Seraphina Lotkhamnga, Andrew Veeder and Mo Herms, with photos by Carl Pocket:

Highlight of the night

The Raveonettes put an exclamation point on this year’s Culture Collide. Closing out the festival in in the loudest, fuzziest manner, the Danish duo brought their noise-pop in full force. Both spastic dancing and head banging broke out in the venue as if this was the last party on earth. Never mind that Sune Woo Wagner was wearing a trucker hat; he and Sharin Foo ripped through songs such as “She Owns the Streets,” “Dead Sound,” and more to a roaring crowd and an explosive light show. Closing the show with “Aly, Walk With Me,” fans hoping for an encore stayed until the house music came back on. (– S.L.)

For some, that strong set mitigated the disappointment of not being able to get into the Church to see Rhye – apparently, unless you were Jack Black or Lana Del Rey or had a hook-up with the apparel company that sponsored the show, you didn’t stand much of a chance. Pity those who bought a weekend pass based on Rhye’s presence on the bill; many who lined up at 8 p.m. for the intimate set (the Church has 200 seats, plus standing room) didn’t get into the 10 o’clock show. (– K.B.)

Of beggars, Liars and show-stealers

Liars capped off the Taix Outdoor Stage with a fantastic and thunderous set, beginning with the 1-2 punch “Let’s Not Wrestle Mt. Heart Attack” and “A Visit from Drum” from 2006’s “Drum’s Not Dead.” They launched into recent gems “No. 1 Against The Rush” and “Brats,” sounding much bigger than the band’s trio, as well as multiple new tracks in the vein of grimy, dark dance music. The hypnotic “WIXIW” commanded a female audience member to grace the stage for an interpretive dance, and the chaotic “Scarecrows On A Killer Slant” concluded the blistering show. (– A.V.)

If you were looking for some over-the-top entertainment, King Khan and the Shrines provided this and more. The horn section (who were donning silver capes) blared loud and proud as they introduced their leader. Khan walked out to a cheering crowd who began to sing along with his doo-wop infused psych-rock. Unlike his scantily clad wardrobe days in the past, Khan flaunted a silver lamé suit while he danced around on stage and eventually stepped into the photo pit to sing with his audience. (– S.L.)

After L.A. quartet Incan Abraham issued longtime fans a progress report at the Echoplex (very good and getting better), Brooklyn-based quartet Heliotropes made a strong impression with gritty psych-rock that’s an amalgam of fuzzy girl-group noise, garage-grunge and ’90s shoegazing. The band fronted by thrashy singer-guitarist Jessica Numsuwankijkul, who released “A Constant Sea” this summer on Manimal, does loud/soft extremely well; bands like the Breeders, Hole, Veruca Salt and Warpaint came to mind during their too-short set. Our favorite moment was when Numsuwankijkul introduced one number thusly: “This song is about taking a bath with Gwyneth Paltrow.” (– K.B.)

Leading into the headlining set at the Echoplex was an appearance by L.A.’s Gliss, whose fourth album “Langsom Dans” is one of our favorites of the year but who may be retooling after the loss of guitarist David Reis. Gliss’s backing track-heavy set featured live percussion from Martin Klingman and some synths and swooning from singer Victoria Cecilia. (– K.B.)

The U.K.’s Alice Russell, a powerhouse soul singer more people should really know about, blew the roof off the Echo along with her equally as enthusiastic five-piece band. This music is not the sex kitten slow grooves that dominate most of today’s R&B, it’s a modern take of the sassy northern soul of the late ’60s, all the way down to shimmying frenzies that could compete with Tina & her Ikettes. New songs like “Heartbreaker” were both passionate and funky, while older tracks like “Got the Hunger” became testifyin’ foot stompers on the Echo stage. When girls in the crowd are singing along as unabashedly as if they were alone in their showers, you know you’ve got a singer people want to believe in.  (– M.H.)

Effortlessly charismatic Belgian duo Float Fall quickly earned a nickname at Culture Collide – “the French horn band.” The band’s minimalist pop vaguely recalls The xx, only warmed at least to room temperature. The sonic building blocks employed by Rozanne Descheemaeker and Ruben Lefever are wee things: a plucked guitar here, samples there, tinkling keys and buzzing synths everywhere. But the ah-hah moment for their Culture Collide shows (Friday in the Champagne Room and Saturday in the fast-filling Taix lounge) came when Descheemaeker busted out the French horn for a mournful solo. It wasn’t the oil-and-water mixture you’d expect. As they sang in their closer “Castle on the Hill,” “It’s not the destination / it’s being on the way.” (– K.B.)

Echo Park’s own NO and their great hair took the stage 15 minutes early, jamming out an extended intro to “Another Life” as if they were playing to an audience of thousands. Half of the set was new songs from their forthcoming debut album, all of which were richly layered with three- to five-part harmonies and dense, catchy guitars. Before their last song, singer Bradley Hanan Carter said, “We only live one street away so it’s nice to be playing in our backyard for you.” (– A.V)

Yes, Culture Collide is often a first meeting between bands and fans. Swedish trio Like Swimming made sure you remembered their name – it was spelled out in big letters on the Taix Champagne Room stage. Festival repeaters probably already knew the threesome, though; Ida Hedene, Claes Carlström and Petter Wesslander were in You Say France & I Whistle, the endearing quintet with the clunky name who won our hearts at Culture Collide 2011 and again at SXSW 2012. Their indie-pop is absent a lot of the cloying overproduction embraced by many of the countrymen. “Go Buffalo” is a nice place to start, as it was Saturday. (– K.B.)

Later in the Champagne Room, Mexico City’s four-piece Vicente Gayo exploded like a hybrid of Foals and Battles, mixing math-rock complexities and dance-punk grooves. Their album “Despierta y Vence” came out last October. (– A.V.)