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Music news, concert reviews, analysis and opinion by music writer Andrew Matson.
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Sasquatch! 2010 day one notables: Shabazz Palaces, Nurses, Vampire Weekend
Posted by Andrew Matson
Shabazz Palaces, L-R: Tendai Maraire, Ishmael Butler
Sasquatch! day one is over. Three notable performances I saw were by Shabazz Palaces, Nurses, and Vampire Weekend.
Shabazz Palaces
The pride of the Central District kicked off Sasquatch! on the main stage at noon with fantastic style, front-man Ishmael Butler and back-up percussion/vox man Tendai Maraire sneaking on stage with no fanfare, cat burglars in black hooded sweatshirts customized with black feather mohawks stitched into hoods outlined with green and red piping. Hoods up.
The gigantic main stage speakers did Butler's bass and drums sublime justice, booming and cracking with tectonic force. He triggered them standing behind a table, pressing pads on his MPC sampler. Maraire also controlled his mini-array of African instruments by hand, but mostly by wooden stick, generating hearty multi-toned thwoks from side-standing drums that figured prominently into the mix. The set started with an echoing rattle and Butler and Maraire chanting "everybody wake up."
For 30 minutes or so, Butler rapped razors out of the side of his mouth with a heavy dub echo effect, and simultaneously blended songs together from his table station like a DJ, manipulating microphone echoes and beat reverberations into shadowplay transitions. I noticed that on the song called "32 leaves dipped in blackness making clouds forming altered carbon," he mumbled "faggot" unintelligibly, intentionally obscuring the original lyric, perhaps rethinking the word choice.
Nurses
Sasquatch! is what it is because of bands like Nurses, a not-famous Portland act playing the biggest show of its life on the Yeti stage. The trio traded in muffled polyrhythmic grooves and lilting Fleet Foxes-ish vocals, members' shaggy manes blown back by strong winds. The songs were light breezes, though, a guitar here, a synth there, and cushiony drums from two separate kits cut with Aaron Chapman's glassy vocals. After the set, he said it was hard to focus on his songs with the Gorge's majestic cliffs in front of him. I tried to ask keys/guitar man John Bowers about the scenery, but he just turned and wordlessly exalted the expanse.
Nurses, L-R: John Bowers, Aaron Chapman
Vampire Weekend
Watching Vampire Weekend for what seemed like the 10th time in two years, I was struck by how the band never plays bad concerts. Every note was distinct through the main stage speakers, bright and staccato and separated from the others, Ezra Koenig's voice easily understandable through every shout and squeak.
Photos by me
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