Kevin Bronson on August 25th, 2013

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Death Grips, FLAG, Thee Oh Sees, The Locust, Joyce Manor, Waxahatchee, Lemuria

• ||| Photos by Carl Pocket

After the jump, more photos and capsule reviews:

DEATH GRIPS

You Should Have Been Here Because: They actually showed up (after famously skipping Lollapalooza), and they were only seven minutes late. Proving they aren’t just publicity hounds, the Sacramento-based trio, comprised of members Stefan “MC Ride” Burnett, Zach Hill and Andy “Flatlander” Morin, came out in full force to challenge festival-goers to think outside the box. Their abrasive amalgamation of punk, industrial and hip hop caused quite the stir – as expected – with the up-front crowd pumping their fists and quickly evolving into a raging moshpit. If bones were breaking, it was encouraged by each word hurled by MC Ride, who was moving so fast the stage smoke still held his form from the second before. Aggression personified, you’d think these guys had been done wrong by the world in every possible way, and fans were down to join the cathartic chaos.

Downside: Death Grips’ physicality outweighs their musicality.

Postscript: MC Ride must have the best personal trainer, ever.
– Seraphina Lotkhamnga

FLAG

You Should Have Been Here Because: Black Flag songs were played.

Downside: It wasn’t quite Black Flag.

Postscript: I’d rather hear Keith Morris argue a case.
– Kevin Bronson

THEE OH SEES

You Should Have Been Here Because: As one prophetic guy remarked to his buddy before Thee Oh Sees took the stage, “Get ready for (John) Dwyer’s guitar solo. It is some cruel shit.” You weren’t kidding, bro. These SF rockers brought it. Even though they had a large stage, Thee Oh Sees clustered all of their instruments together like they were stockpiling for hard weather. The keyboards were practically on top of the drum kit. One can only imagine that their practice space is the size of a box and so they derive all of their energy from being on top of one another. God knows, the crowd did. The second the first song began, there was an all out stampede to get to the moshpit. With the punishing garage rock that was blasting from the stage, who could blame us? Competing with each other for head banging champion, Dwyer and bassist Petey Dammit hopped around the stage strumming fiercely, while drummer Mike Shoun tried to keep them in line. The set consisted of songs from all over their catalog, most of them devolving into freak-out jam sessions. Because the magic of Thee Oh Sees is not knowing where the songs do go, but seeing where they could go. You could know “I Come From the Mountain” backwards and forwards and not be 100% sure where it’s going to end up.

Downside: If you didn’t want to mosh, you were shit outta luck.

Postscript: Head-banging from the safety of the beer garden doesn’t count. Live a little. Put down that drink.
– Molly Bergen

THE LOCUST

You Should’ve Been Here Because: After a lengthy hiatus from the live circuit, the Locust exploded back to life at dusk on the Miranda stage. Bassist and vocalist Justin Pearson (whose other project Retox opened for Deafheaven on Friday at the Echoplex) has said of the Locusts’ sound, “I just want to change the way people look at music or maybe just destroy it in general,” and that’s precisely what they sounded like. On the heels of the Devendra Bernhardt swoonfest one stage over, the grindcore torch-bearers launched a heavy, speedy, doom-filled assault, laced with intricate mathcore drumming complexities and growling vocals. Songs felt like exercises in chaos, experimentation in bursts, and their influence can be heard in the work of HEALTH and Liars. Some songs had techno tinges amid the onslaught, and some showed Pearson’s jumping range ever-shifting between high and low tones. The vibrant and active light show added another level to the performance, as the Gold Line trains zipped by past the madness, with song breaks either shrouded in darkness or bathed in a red hue. Aside from one line of thanks at the end, there was no banter from the band, clad in their traditional faceless form-fitting jumpsuits, looking like indeterminable charcoal ninjas (less for the sleeveless drummer), and flanked from behind by a crowd of faceless backstage spectators who appeared as silhouettes.

Downside: Couldn’t understand a single word said, but that didn’t really seem to matter.

Postscript: “So this is where all the guys went,” quipped one of my female companions. Like American Nightmare last year, or Death From Above 1979 the year before, FYF has always been great at resurrecting acts that bring late 20s/early 30s dudes out of mosh retirement.
– Andrew Veeder

WAXAHATCHEE

You Should Have Been Here Because: There’s nothing like an innocent-looking girl in sunglasses and a floral skirt cutting through the thick heat with cold scalpel-sharp words and no sign of actual remorse. Enter Katie Crutchfield, who’s released sophomore album “Cerulean Salt” to follow up her highly regarded lo-fi diary “American Weekend.” She’s got the honest voice and the snarling commentary on ex-flings and friends who are getting married, but is able to mask them in darling little ditties. Sometimes they are tame and pleasantly-guised in alternative-folk melodies, and sometimes there’s a little fuzz-pop for her more fervid messages. However, her melancholic delivery doesn’t imply that Crutchfield wasn’t getting into it. After missing a cue during “Brother Bryan,” because she “was staring at someone,” lyrics like “In this place I think about you” come off as wistful and vulnerable, especially when the train goes by once before and once after the song.

Downside: It was a nice set to begin a festival day, but unless you took her words to heart, Waxahatchee may have been too chill of a set during the heat.

Postscript: If you ever get on Crutchfield’s bad side and she writes a song about you, at least you know it’ll be witty.
– Seraphina Lotkhamnga