 |
AIMFest
review
by
Clint Darling
Portland
Online Music Net
8/00
"...DJ Wicked and crew put on
a freakin' amazing exhibition of rapping and scratching.
" |
Whew.
It's over for another year. Gawd... I feel
like I've been beaten with a 2x4. As a day it went swimmingly,
even ahead of schedule at points. The crowd was bigger earlier
than previous years but thinned out toward the end probably due
to loss of the headliner, Pinehurst Kids. For those who stayed
or arrived, DJ Wicked and crew put on a freakin' amazing exhibition
of rapping and scratching. The most amazing thing was the number
of people in our age group or younger who wandered down the waterfront,
kinda looked as they walked past but evidenced absolutely no interest
in the concert occurring a few feet from their path. A lot of
them seemed to be of the "must get to mall" variety but still...
Let's see...start distilling reviews of
the day. SEAN CROGHAN delivered a great solo performance, traffic
overhead on the Hawthorne Bridge serving as a distant ocean roar
and giving the set the feel of a beach concert with Elvis Costello
sitting in for Frankie Valli. Manager and rah-rah man ALEX STEINIGER
prostrated himself before the deity and soaked it all in, probably
getting his karmic payback for all the work he put into the day
in one glorious moment. Fresh from a night with Chan Marshall
(CAT POWER), Sean seemed even more open and relaxed than usual
playing to the biggest kickoff crowd in AIMFest history.
From there the day just got better and better. THE DAYLIGHTS kicked
the crap out of the Waterfront to give the day an electric jumpstart
with a tight, energetic set that had the alterna-scenesters hurrying
the hipsters of 2020 along to find out what they were missing
-- with the memories these kids are going to have there may be
a huge Pat Boone resurgence as they come of age and search for
something to piss off the folks! HIGH VIOLETS were a wonderful
surprise to me and a nice change of pace as KAITLYN NI DONOVAN
put her absolutely gorgeous voice to use with her most muscular
and rocking project to date. Kaitlyn is one of the greatest treasures
this city offers and High Violets are a great rock band -- along
the lines of Belly or "Copacetic"-era Velocity Girl. I want to
be on their mailing list and I want to have a CD so I can wake
up to them every day for a month
The coolest part of the day was not only that every act flat out
rocked but that every act was totally different. HELIO SEQUENCE
is a band that I didn't go gaga over the first time I caught them
but that have either really grown on me or keep getting better
because they wowed a great crowd with their Beatle-esque noise
collages. The guitar seemed more focused and under control than
in the past, allowing the music to rise and fall better. Definitely
a crowd pleaser and definitely "a
band to watch." You heard it here after about thirty people told
me. TELEVISION EYE was the goofy glam stepchild of the show, benefitting
from an assembly of DANDY WARHOL members and groupies. I'm sorry,
guys, it's not a reflection on what you do, really. The resemblance
to the Warhol's is unfortunate but they made up for it by having
a really really good time onstage. The band has a great attitude
(like, they're happy people having a lot of fun playing in a rock'n'roll
band!) and likes to put their-punk-tongue-in-your-cheek (which
is about the best description of their humor I can come up with).
You go, girl.
Y'know, it ought to be unrelated to AIMFest
but it comes up again later so let me say it here -- the Dandy
Warhols are a much better band than they were five years ago and
I give them total credit for flogging this horse as far and as
long as they have BUT while they have the showmanship and talent
to be a really fun band, they are not a creative band. Soapbox
alert: the reason a lot of people in Portland are contemptuous
of the Dandy's is because they are doing the rock star "thing"
-- clothing and attitude; drugs, sex and rock'n'roll; damn the
critics and full speed ahead! The bands they came out of had that
attitude long before the Dandy's decided to retread the British
and have a bit of fun with it so there is lineage and history
to the attitude. A big part of the Portland scene is that there
isn't a sense of competition (or even much determination to succeed)--it's
just you and your friends making the music you want to make. But
if you want to make a living, as in earn money, you may need the
attitude and determination that the Dandy's have shown. So, hey,
I wouldn't pay to see them, personally, but they've done something
that not many people in this town manage to do and for that they
do deserve kudos.
Now back to our original programming....
SURFACE CREEPER turned the whole barreling AIMFest caravan 90º
to head off in a darker direction. Sounding in places like Radiohead
doing CODEINE covers and in others like JEREMY ENIGK sitting in
with AFGHAN WHIGS, frontman and AIMFest honcho Chris Herring led
the audience on the days only perilous journey. Surface Creepers'
spooky lyrics and disturbed textures (plus go-go dancer rythms!)
make them THE ultimate band for your Halloween party. NO. 2 was
the other lyric heavyweight of the day, summoning the glitterati
and literati to hear a really solid presentation. Is that really
Jim Talstra on bass? Shit, Jim, the fuzzy face thing....wow. Another
Alex Steiniger favorite, No. 2 suffers only from a lack of outrageousness.
This is a band that your mom will like...a lot. That kind of backhanded
compliment is liable to dog them for awhile. They are "The Boys
Next Door" who suddenly have this great rock and roll band and
want to know if you can come see them play the Big Concert downtown
tonight. In the "I Swear I Didn't Know" category, ALIEN CRIME
SYNDICATE turns out to be a Seattle band (gasp!) although they
seem to play in Portland every other night. That I-5 drive must
be etched on their retinas by now.
Despite some mechanical trouble with their noise-maker machine,
ACS did their Ramones-meets-"Tommy"/Replacements schtick with
verve and vigor, sweating through a great pogoing sing-a-long
set. Once you know, it's easy to tell that these lads are not
Portland material -- none of the obvious introspective, experimental
or out-of-tune behavior that we've come to expect from our rising
locals. Chris Herring had talked about options for making AIMFest
more inclusive of the NW (the way, for example, NxNW should be
but isn't) and ACS was an excellent first representation of the
Outside World.
And then there's RICK BAIN AND THE GENIUS
POSITION who had a mind-blowing 25-minute set that stretched out
to almost a full hour, the excess mainly consisting of "spacey"
mood jams and "slowing things down." Another Dandy favorite
and it showed in attitude and presentation -- theatrics over substance,
lots of showmanship but light on content. Their set was marred
by a call over the PA for alcohol for the band which was answered
by a smug-looking young girl who paraded four bottles of FULL
SALE AMBER to the stage. Soapbox: this move totally pissed me
off. A lot of my friends have worked damned hard on this concert
all year long and these absolute dumbshits placed all that work
at risk. My bet is that the girl was underage, everyone knows
that glass is prohibited in Waterfront Park as is alcohol and
the band was very aware that we had City of Portland officials
present because I had asked them to delay starting their set five
minutes while we reviewed permits with some bureaucratic flunky.
Making an appeal for beer was totally inappropriate and may come
back to haunt this event as we try to get permits for next year.
Thanks, guys. Have the foresight to drink at McCalls or bring
a coffee cup and pour them in your van but this was just stupid.
And then to leave the bottles onstage while we tried to do a changeover
for the next act AND to be dickless rock stars when asked to pick
up your garbage is totally bush-league. In places they were great
but I found it difficult to enjoy watching them burn bridges.
Building bridges and bringing a lot of positive
energy, DJ WICKED AND CREW were the
coolest band I saw all day. Pitching
to a supposedly indifferent crowd, they threw down a gauntlet
for open-mindedness and drew everybody in for a wild ride down
a very musical lane. I've seen a lot of DJ's that I did not respect
in the morning, but DJ Wicked, a
quiet man behind the turntables, laid down a storm of scratching
that opened my eyes to the possibilities in vinyl. His
rappers spit out a quick sampling of a variety of styles with
aggressive aplomb, stopping on a dime or coming down heavy as
needed. Wicked cool, dude. Missing headliners, PINEHURST KIDS
just weren't missed by those who gathered in close to watch this
posse lay it down. This performance opened a door in a lot of
peoples minds and it's a sure bet that a DJ will make the short
list for next years event thanks to the enthusiasm, professionalism
and talent brought to the stage by this crew. I'll be checking
the papers to see where he's playing next--they made a fan out
of me.
Since we have an informal only-play-it-once
policy for AIMFest, emo-rock mavericks MANDARIN weren't on any
shortlist but they're back at Lola's Room at the Crystal on August
11. No word yet as to who else is on the bill but it shouldn't
really matter--Lola's is a great place to see a band in an intimate
setting. And mark your calendars now because SURFACE CREEPER will
be at the Ash Street on August 25th with CAPTAIN VS CREW and HERKIMER.
Good things are said about Captain Vs Crew and I'm eager to enjoy
the night. See you there!