While covering Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010, Chelsea Sutton was able to snap some photos. Click either picture below to check out the album.
fun fun fun fest: the photos
Wavves
fun fun fun fest: orange and black
Special to Mixtapes|Heartbreaks, Chelsea Sutton reports on the fest.
Taking the stage in sweatpants, cutoff flannel shirts, and sunglasses on Saturday afternoon, Wavves had a slow start to their 3:30 spot. While the band worked on getting a replacement pedal and tweaking the tuning of a Telecaster Thinline, a restless crowd eagerly waited for the surf-inspired noise punk band to deliver. When they did, it was a sound different than one would expect from the highly lo-fi release that put them on hipster radar. Their live show was a youthful punk approach to the beachy indie pop dominating music lately.
Best Coast took the same stage the following evening. Frontwoman Bethany Cosentino, throwing sunglasses into the crowd as the sun set on Austin, took the stage as a confident woman in charge and filled the air with strong vocals that could give Emily Haines a run for her money. But instead of delivering the biting songs one might expect from a west-coast, mostly female band, Best Coast brought to the table stripped down songs about longing and boys, reminding us that we’re not so removed from those rudimentary emotions and core experiences. In a state that celebrates rich, early pop roots that run through Lubbock, these themes are dear to our hearts. Before wishing the front woman of Cults, who played dreamy throwback pop directly before Best Coast, a happy birthday, Cosentino told the crowd that their bass player was eager to see the bands on the metal-heavy Black Stage later that night and continued, “Poor guy has to play in a girlie band.” Also celebrating a birthday at Fun Fun Fun Fest was Chazwick Bundick of southeastern act Toro Y Moi, whose chillwave sounds were an excellent complement to the previous night’s headliner MGMT.
Highlights of the Black Stage included Mastodon, Suicidal Tendencies, Bad Religion, GWAR, and Floor. Japanese band and local favorites Peelander-Z were a huge draw, entertaining with a stage show that extended into the crowd and included props, costumes, and audience participation. Rock fans were forced to choose between gruff Municipal Waste, whose anthems “The Thrashin’ of Christ,” “Bangover,” and “Beer Pressure” always warrant pause for respect, and Israel’s Monotonix, who have set the performance bar high by continuing to perform after their frontman broke his leg earlier this year. Both bands played at the same time on neighboring stages.
august mp3 roundup
Here are the mp3s we posted via Twitter for the month of August.
Deer Tick – Piece By Piece, Frame by Frame
Dominant Legs – About My Girls
Lazertag – Buildings of a Former Century
Lazertag – Bring Us Back to Life
Tiger! Shit! Tiger! Tiger! – Whispers
Filligar – Gray Area
Light Pollution – Magic Kingdoms Kick My Teeth In
Wild Nothing – Golden Haze
Cloud Nothings – Hey Cool Kid
Avi Buffalo – What’s It In For?
Blitzen Trapper – Dragon’s Song
Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore – Dear Companion
Jaill – The Stroller
Male Bonding – Year’s Not Long
Kelley Stoltz – I Don’t Get That
Superchunk – Skip Steps 1 & 3
Ducktails – Hamilton Road
Woods – I Was Gone
Dominant Legs – Clawing Out at the Walls
Lower Dens – Hospice Gates
Lower Dens – Tealights
Screaming Females – I Don’t Mind It
Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms (Apache Beat Remix)
Paleo – World’s Smallest Violin
Wavves – Post Acid
Woven Bones – I’ve Gotta Get
Mixtapes|Heartbreaks 