BODIES ADJUST TO THE TEMPERATURE

Let's just jump back into Intonation coverage. I have some actual blog-type things to post, so I might do that later.

1:00 pm - Thunderbirds Are Now!

Sunday morning we trekked back to wherever this place was for more rock. Due to transportation issues, my friends Dave, Steve and I were dropped off at a CTA station and took the el down to the festival. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my dear friend Sara for graciously giving us her CTA pass, seeing as how we would have had to wait in what looked like an hour-long line of clueless suburbanites buying train tickets (damn you Cubs games), and we surely would have missed more acts than we did.

We did unfortunately miss Detroit new-new-new wave rockers Thunderbirds Are Now!, whose excellent record Justamustache, on French Kiss, I have not gotten sick of since getting my hands on it a few months ago. It has an almost assured place in my top 10 for this year. I was bummed about missing them, especially since I heard they put on an exceptionally rocking show, but I will just have to wait to see them at the Triple Rock on Thursday, September 15, with some other bands I really don't want to see. They're also great guys, but that was not until later that day.

1:30 pm - Dungen

We did, however, get to the grounds in time to catch Gustav Ejtes and the other Swedish boys in Dungen ("Doon-gehn" or "in the grove"), which I was really happy about. I ran to the check-in point to the sounds of "Panda", the opener on Ejtes's third album Ta Det Lungt ("take it easy") and a favorite song of mine (obvs). The band is on a U.S. tour in support of that album's rerelease on hot NYC label Kemado, with a bonus disc of five extra tracks, which are pretty nifty. Gotta love the psych flute playing.

DUNGEN PHOTOS

I don't have any extra special notes about Dungen's set. I wish I was there for all of "Panda", and I wish I had seen them do "Ta Det Lungt" or "Du E...", my favorite tracks on the album, but they appeased me with "Festival". It sounded fantastic, minus the guitar player's sound problems, which eventually led him to storm off the stage at the end of the set. Aw, don't be mad Dungen. We still lub you.

2:00 pm - Xiu Xiu

I'm not a particularly big Jamie Stewart fan, although I think some of his work is interesting. I've never taken the time to listen to Xiu Xiu in much depth. At Intonation, the sound of his voice warbled across the entire festival, and it was not pleasant. Instead of suffering through his bad-vocals-day, I headed over to find Thunderbirds Are Now! for an interview.

The TAN! dudes are great and the interview went extremely well. We talked about their music and the prespective that their lyrics are written in, their relationship with Les Savy Fav and French Kiss, and boobs. I look forward to their show immensely.

2:45 pm - Out Hud

Out Hud was definitely in the top 3 list of bands I was looking forward to, and boyoboy did the bicoastal quintet deliver. It was similar to the Go! Team situation, in that everybody was getting down like krazee. Nic Offer took center stage (not literally) with his wicked white boy dance moves - you know, the ones he learned while fronting that other band. The ladies vocals went over exceptionally well, and the guy in the back at the mixer was fucking on the ball, tweaking the crowd into a frenzy. By the end, everyone on and off stage was grooving to the drum machines and synths, despite the absolutely oppresive heat, and people clamored for more (they were not obliged - festivals run a tight ship). Offer's stage exit was through the crowd while the beat was till going.

OUT HUD PHOTOS

I'm not even sure why Out Hud went over so well. They basically recreated the record almost note-for-note, which is extremely easy with synths and that giant mixing board with samples. Well... the album is fantastic and they played exceptionally well, so I guess it shouldn't really be a surprise.

3:30 pm - The Hold Steady

It seems like everybody either loves or hates the Hold Steady. I know people in Minneapolis (half the band's former hometown while in Lifter Puller blah blah read the press release) who swear by them, and people who have absolutely no interest in them, or even can't stand them. I go to both extremes (excluding "The Swish" from their first album, which amazes me every time I hear it). I had already seen the band at Grand Old Days or whatever in St. Paul ("seen" being the questionable word due to the crowds and my lack of a wristband), and I wanted to save my energy for the rest of the day, so I took a break. I heard it was good but not their best. I did catch their performance of "Little Hoodrat Friend" on Conan a couple of weeks ago, and thought it was really good.

4:30 pm - Andrew Bird

Oh my god, this set could not have ended fast enough. What's the deal with this guy?

5:30 pm - Deerhoof

Deerhoof is another band I go back and forth with on record. When the track "Milk Man" was in rotation at Radio K, I absolutely could not get enough of it. On the other hand, "Bjun" or whatever was recently on our playlist and it made me want to die (wow, guess what just came on the radio). My curiosity got the best of me and I eventually wandered over to the stage.

DEERHOOF PHOTOS

Deerhoof's show ended up being one of the festival's tightest and most thought-provoking performances. The front-woman is a kind of anti-performer, short and sometimes bass-wielding in odd patterned clothes. She hardly moved, except for strange, seemingly choreographed hand motions and hops. With her minimalist approach to rockstardom, every move becomes that much more important, and the audience ends up putting a lot of weight on seemingly nonsensical motions. Her routine during the "bunny bunny bunny" song was highly memorable.

The best part of Deerhoof was the music (which is good because, um, they're like, a band). Generally, I would say that explicit experimentalism in rock music and performance can be a pretty hit or miss thing (often miss). Here, Deerhoof pulled it off masterfully. The well-rehearsed, extra tight band played interweaving guitar parts while the rhythm section pounded jaggedly in different time signatures, much of which I assume was improvised, while the whole band could stop on a dime or explode without warning. While it took at least a song or two to get in the right state of mind, it ended up being worth my time.

Okay, wow, almost done. The final Intonation post (with guitar acrobatics, Craig Finn, and Les Savy Fav insanity) to come. (I'm on some kind of parentheses kick today.)