Saturday, July 27, 2013
“Nashville Skylines” Workshop (Lake Stage, 11:00AM)
We started Day 2 at the Lake Stage for the “Nashville Skylines” workshop, featuring Escondido and Lindi Ortega. Bringing their Nashville-flavoured alt-country to Guelph, both acts actually have Canadian roots – Escondido front woman Jessica Maros is originally from Vancouver, while Ortega hails from Toronto – however it was Hillside that brought them together for the first time.
Alternating back and forth, the two powerfully distinct female voices gelled really well together. With band members still yet to arrive for each of their later sets on the Main Stage, there was an off-the-cuff feel to the workshop, with the girls mentioning that “sometimes it’s fun just to jam.”
With Ortega at the helm for a couple of covers, highlights included Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” and Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.” They seemed to embody the very essence of southern spirit.
“Meanwhile, Back in This Nebula” Workshop (Island Stage, 12:00PM)
A “nebula” is defined as “a cloud of interstellar gas and dust” and are often regions where stars form. Playing together for the first time, workshop participants Akron/Family from LA and locals King Cobb Steelie proclaimed we should be prepared for “a beautiful mess.” While most workshops see the bands alternate songs back and forth, these two rhythmic collectives meshed and combined to form one interwoven group. They set the nebula in motion with the hum of drums, maracas, guitars, and even a melodica.
Primarily instrumental, it was a slightly mind-altering experience, their expansive and wordlessly ambient nature providing a backdrop to allow your thoughts to wander out into the vast unknown. Until too soon they announced that it was over. Thanking everyone for being a part of the experience, they set us on our way, still scratching our heads pondering whether that actually just happened.
The Weather Station (Island Stage, 1:00PM)
Singing under the moniker The Weather Station, Tamara Lindeman was joined by many friends on stage – Misha Bower and Ivy Mairi (Bruce Peninsula), Ian Kehoe (Marine Dreams), and Adrian Cook (Great Bloomers). At first backed solely by a group of female voices, the band then came out. Playing an electric guitar rather than her typical acoustic or ukulele, Lindeman requested they stop mid-song, timidly admitting that it felt “too loud,” she being used to playing alone rather than having so many people on stage with her.
After this brief hiccup, Lindeman’s faint whisper of a voice held its own, buoyed by, rather than getting lost in the addition of a backing band, especially on low-key and quiet classic bluegrass folk songs such as “Came So Easy” and “Traveller.” With a storm approaching Lindeman expressed her hope that the audience would “get struck by music or by someone you meet or something you see – not by lightning” over the course of the weekend. Stumbling over her words only added to her overall genuine charm.
Yamantaka // Sonic Titan (Island Stage, 2:00PM)
Based on what we had seen from their performance at the Polaris Prize gala last year, we approached the Yamantaka // Sonic Titan set with a heightened sense of curiosity. From the duo’s painted faces to their stoic personas, it was obvious from the start that just as much emphasis was placed on the visual experience as on the music. Sonically, the band thrust at us a psychedelic onslaught of clashing cultures. While some was too experimentally “out there” for me, the Montreal influences lent quite a melodic tone at times, especially in some of the vocals. The remainder of the time, the cacophony of vocalist Ruby Kato Attwood’s shrieks was luckily tempered through a buffering set of earplugs. Looking around, many others in the audience were doing the same.
Their set came to a climax as Ange Loft stepped down from the stage, and slowly paced backwards, tambourine in hand. Turning, she then, possessed-like, proceeded to make her way back to the stage, picking up speed and zigzagging in all directions, stepping on whatever and whomever came into her way – that’s one way to get a bit of a mosh pit started I suppose. Still unsure what to make of the band, at least we can now say that we have experienced Yamantaka // Sonic Titan live!
Red Wanting Blue (Island Stage, 3:00PM)
A large following in the US, Ohio band Red Wanting Blue released their latest album From the Vanishing Point – the first on a record label – last year. We first got ear of them when Toronto band Poor Young Things played a few dates with them throughout the States and were looking forward to checking them out.
Playing straight-up bar-like rock and roll that could easily get lost in the shuffle, what set them apart was the tenacity – and at times, hilarity – of their lyrics depicting tales from the years they’ve spent on the road. While few people likely knew them prior to their set, the enthusiasm expressed through frontman Scott Terry’s country-twanged baritone for being a part of the festival seemed to extend to the crowd. It also didn’t hurt that they even pulled out a washboard towards the end!
Akron/Family (Island Stage, 4:00PM)
A band I had relatively little exposure to prior to this weekend, Akron/Family started their set by proclaiming, “if you are sitting, you should stand – it’s good for your body.” Their first song laden down with heavy voice effects, this soon gave way to some experimentally funkalicious folk flavours. Their epically lengthy percussion-driven tunes often meandered in different directions, their ambient nature growing and expanding and taking full control of your attention. While vocals didn’t make a prominent appearance in their set, they encouraged the crowd to get right into it, singing along. Their set ended with one “last chance to dance” as the band embarked on the controlled chaos that was the tribal-chanting of “Ed is a Portal.”
Not at all what I expected, turns out Akron/Family is good for your soul.
Snowblink (Lake Stage, 5:00PM)
With both Hillside and Arts & Crafts celebrating important milestones this year – 30th anniversary for Hillside and 10th for A&C – the Toronto record label curated the Lake Stage programming for much of the rest of the day.
Up first was Snowblink. We arrived arrived partway through their set, in time to hear Daniela Gesundheit ask the crowd if they would like the band to cover Bruce Springsteen now or Whitney Houston later, joking that it would be their “only song not about death.” Cheers being pretty equal for the two options, Gesundheit chose Whitney later. Having recently expanded into a trio, Gesundheit and Dan Goldman’s sound was amplified with the addition of drums. However, it was still Gesundheit’s unique voice that remained at centre stage. Her trembling warble was manipulated like an instrument, adding an additional layer of otherworldly beauty to their summery folk tunes and making the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. Eventually deciding that the crowd had earned their Whitney, she encouraged the audience to slow dance to “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” despite it still being broad daylight. It was difficult though to do anything other than stand transfixed as she expertly performed a song that would have broken weaker voices.
Eight and a Half (Lake Stage, 6:00PM)
Comprised of Justin Peroff (drums) of Broken Social Scene and Dave Hamelin (vocals, guitar) and Liam O’Neil (synths) of The Stills, there was a buzz of anticipation in the air surrounding Eight and a Half. Unfortunately their set was significantly delayed by technical difficulties encountered while setting up.
Playing a shortened set, Hamelin appeared visually distraught over the delay, voicing his frustration that he would try and make it work. This was sadly only compounded by the fact that from our vantage point at least, the instruments were barely audible, with only the vocals coming through. Luckily Hamelin’s vocals were lusciously smooth against the layered spaced-out synthy effects, especially as their set traversed into the haunting single “Scissors” – enough to leave the impression that they need to be experienced again.
Reuben and the Dark (Lake Stage, 7:00PM)
Introduced as some of Alberta’s best Western candy came Reuben and the Dark, one of Arts & Craft’s newest signings. Originally the solo act of Reuben Bullock, the frontman has now expanded to include Shea Alain (guitar), Scott Munro (bass, keys), and his brother, Distance Bullock (drums). Heralding some Western flair, the depths of Reuben’s vocals staunchly tread into the darkness, trumpeting a sense of sorrow, which was broken only when the band exploded into four-part harmonies on songs such as “Bow and Arrow.” The strength and power in the mandolin on “Burial” could not be contained, the strap breaking in the process – though this did little to slow down the song. This was paired with Distance’s aggressive passion on drums that was made all the more impressive by the fact that he stood the entire time!
Based on what we’ve seen from them live, we eagerly await the band’s (as-of-yet unscheduled) A&C release.
The Darcys (Lake Stage, 8:00PM)
Described as “simply bad ass” in their introduction, up next was Toronto’s prog art-rock darlings The Darcys. The warbled synthetic effects in set opener “Don’t Bleed Me” faded the colours of the setting sun into black and white, leading the audience into the band’s meticulously created cinematic dreamscape. The set’s sometimes shadowy, sometimes frenetic guitars seemed to build and build until they reached the powerfully soul-gripping “Shaking Down the Old Bones.”
Having seen the band multiple times, the face-to-face keys/synth set-up between Jason Couse and Michael le Riche provided a new dimension to the overall atmosphere of their stage performance. With a new record – their third on Arts & Crafts – on the way, the band treated the audience to some well-received new material. Being in Guelph, they also fittingly inserted a few lines of “Nighttime Anytime (It’s Alright)” into their last song as an homage to their favourite band, the Constantines.
July Talk (Island Stage, 9:00PM)
There was feverous excitement in the air of the packed Island Stage for Toronto’s July Talk. Led by the grizzled drawl of Peter Dreimanis that could easily be Tom Waits and the demure innocence of Leah Fay’s girlish lilt, the band came out for their first ever performance in Guelph – Fay making her entrance in a bear skin headdress. The pair’s voices were the guns, but it was the over-the-top personae, theatrical interaction and cheeky exchanges between them that were the ammunition to make their set a true spectacle.
When they weren’t being playful with one another, the two were baiting on the crowd who ate out of the palms of their hands. At one point Fay stood on a monitor holding hand of someone up front. At another, she kicked off one of her shoes into the crowd, impressively balancing the other shoe on her head for much of the remainder of their set. Taking it down to free up her concentration, their set came to a close as Fay taped up Dreimanis during “Paper Girl.” If the rock star treatment they received from Hillside is any indication, there are big things to come for these rising stars.
Yukon Blonde (Island Stage, 10:00PM)
Saturday night’s festivities came to a party hardy close with Vancouver’s Yukon Blonde. The band emerged sporting some eccentric thrifted suits and their energy during 60’s throwback summer favourites “My Girl” and “Radio” matched the loudness of the colours. Adding to the frivolities, Brandon Scott (guitar) crowd surfed almost immediately and tiring of the extra layers, Jeff Innes (vocals, guitar) soon removed his jacket and tossed it as far as it would go out into the crowd. There may have also been some blown-up prophylactics floating through the air.
Citing his love for the city of Guelph and the Hillside Festival in particular – according to Innes, “this festival [was] the reason [he] started to like touring” – he wished the crowd well and urged them to “be good to one another.”
While we had to duck out before their set finished, we carried these warm thoughts and memories with us as we stepped outside and got caught in a torrential downpour. Even the rain couldn’t dampen our elated mood at having spent another day in paradise. | CD
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