Day two rolls over San Francisco in a wave of hazy clouds and sputtering rain.  We arrived at Treasure Island right as Ra Ra Riot was closing out their set.  They finished rambunctiously with  a mash up of high energy dancing and choppy staccato strings.  For some reason – once again – I had the sudden urge to get garlic crab fries, but I resisted and made my way over to catch Superchunk.

Superchunk (above)

Their lo-fi sound layed over the grey day fit rather well, but Mac McCaughan’s wavering tenor made the set a little too chill for me.  I contemplate scoring a fresh pressed espresso, but the line is ridiculously long, so I duck into the Silent Disco and dance myself awake to Moldover’s ecletic jams.  Now that I am awake, I drop my headphones off and run over to catch the last half of Papercuts’ set.   The sun begins to peek out from behind the clouds as I wander over, but it is not enough to excite me about Papercuts.  They felt like a farely standard indie pop band.  This suprised me – everyone had been gabbing about how the band’s sound and style related to the sci-fi fun of The Zombies.  Their set was quick, and people began to fade away to score a good spot to catch She & Him.

She & Him (above)

She & Him opened with an upbeat collection of songs.  Zooey’s voice faded in and out throughout the whimsical set, while M. Ward shot line-drive guitar riffs at the crowd with an intensity that made you shiver.  The definite highlight of their set was when M. Ward walked forward and played a serious catchy, quick cover of “Roll Over Beethoven.”  After their set concluded, I jumped over to the craft tent to rest my legs on its wonderful collection of couches.  Monotonix went on not to far from us. My back was to them for the first fifteen minutes of their set, so I thought they had technical difficulties – all I was hearing was nothing but an occasional muted drum and random snatch of lyrics.  When we got up to go score a cup of coffee (the line had vanished, something about garlic crab fries…), I realized there were no tech problems.  Monotonix’s singer had been tossing trash around the crowd and rearranging the band after every song so they were playing in the audience.  Their set was terrible, and it received little response.  Thankfully Broken Social Scene was on next.

Broken Social Scene (above)

Broken Social Scene sheer number of band members took up much of the main stage.   Their full sound seemed to spread perfectly over the crowd, which danced and bopped their heads to BSS’ clear instrumentals and unique song structures.  I got to hear Lisa Lobsinger sing my favorite song “Anthem for a Seventeen Year Old Girl” for the first time live – that was sweet.  The band closed with a bang and some crowd surfing from lead singer Kevin Drew.  Surfer Blood was next – they must have been excited to begin, because they started even before the applause for Broken Social Scene ended.  Surfer Blood was a lot of fun, as their power pop choruses created pockets of dancing throughout the crowd.  I stole out half way through the set to score a good spot for The National.  Singer Matt Berninger was in good form that night.  He balanced joking and singing painfully beautiful songs so well that it felt good to hurt.  The National had the best set of the festival, in my opinion.

Belle & Sebastian (above)

I broke away to grab a drink and a bite to eat before heading back to catch Belle & Sebastian.  San Francisco was ready for Stuart Murdoch’s return, and as he bounced onto stage full of energy, the audience erupted in applause.  The band opened with “I Didn’t See it Coming,” the first song from their new album, and its bubbly energy moved like pop carbonation through the crowd.  The rest of the set was a ‘best of’ Belle and Sebastian set, drawing hit songs from their discography.  They closed with “Sleep Around the Clock” and everyone went back to the mainland for drinks, bringing an awesome end to a wonderful two days on Treasure Island.

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“I totally wiped out for you, St Louis!” : Loufest Day 1

By: Nathan Moore, Titus Andronicus and Broken Social Scene Photos By: Gale Whitehead

Flashback, 9 months:  I’m at a watch party for the Texas – Nebraska football game.  See my old summer camp counselor across the room.  Go say hi.  Turns out it’s not my old camp counselor, but a cool guy nonetheless. We get to talking and get to this point of the conversation:

Brian: Yeah, I’m going to put on an ACL in St Louis (ACL = the Austin City Limits music festival, a massive annual bash with headliners like Bob Dylan, Pearl Jam and Coldplay) next year.

Me (out loud): Yeah, sounds awesome.

Me (inside): Yeah, and I’m going to put on an Al Sharpton rally in Ladue. Shit, I’ve said some really out there things at a bar in my day, but at least they were believable.

Flash forward, today:  Brian Cohen, LouFest principle organizer, pulled it off.  Forest Park has been converted into a St. Louis music lover’s mini-paradise.  Everything is here:  a stage for kid’s music, a climbing wall, a dozen of St Louis’s finest restauarants, selling cheap food (aka the “Nosh Pit”), an EcoVillage featuring environmental groups, a market for local businesses, a Euclid Records festival store, a graffiti wall, friendly volunteers, beer tents, a VIP lounge, a jumbotron, and, oh yeah, two massive stages ready to host the best in local and national talent for two blissful summer days.

My day started with a scramble to find a pen (top notch journalist here) which ended with Debbie at Fun in the Sun, a local sunglasses merchant set up in the market.   Debbie’s been selling sunglasses at local events for years, and she claims that she can tell from the event what style of glasses will sell. So, I ask her: “what’s going to sell at LouFest?”  ”Well,” she says, “what type of people are coming?” “Skinny white people,” I respond.  Without hesitation – “Aviators.”  I didn’t question her judgement.

An energetic crowd of around 100 braved the midday heat to check out the first band in LouFest history, local group  the Bottle Rockets.  The band responded with a pitch-perfect set of southern rock, country and rockabilly, kicking things off with a rousing version of “Lucky Break.”  The band was clearly piqued to be the first band in Loufest history; lead singer Brian Henneman remarked “I’ve been up since sic in the morning getting ready for this.”  As the crowd continued to slowly grow throughout the hour, the band kicked out fine versions of several songs from their latest record, Lean Forward, including “Way It Used to Be” and “The Long Way,” which started everyone’s day off right.

The best thing about music festivals is stumbling onto a brand new, kick ass band that you’ve never heard of before.  Saturday’s was Stephaniesid, a three-piece from Asheville, North Carolina, playing their first-ever show in St. Louis.  Stephanie Morgan, the lead singer, was already turning lots of heads during soundcheck with her ethereal, powerful Bjork-meets-Alanis Morissette voice. From the breathy vocals and slinky grooves of “Hey Hey Hey” to the more rock-y “Mission from God,” the show was not a disappointment.  The band had the crowd won over early and kept them along for the ride; breaking out the Stevie Nicks-esque scarf for the aptly-titled “Warm People” sealed the deal.  Needless to say Stephaniesid has about 2200% more fans in St Louis today than they did yesterday. Afterwards, Morgan told Eleven, “We’re honored to play at the first LouFest of many – I hope it explodes!”

Titus Andronicus (above)

Ever have have a bad stomach bug?  Can’t keep anything down and you don’t want to do anything but lay in your bed, throw up and watch Jerry Springer?  That ever happen to you on your way to play a show in front of a few hundred people?  No?  Well, then you’ve had a better day than Ben Nichols of Lucero.  The band opened with (perhaps trying to convince themselves) “Can’t Feel a Thing;” I think the virus may have made Nichols’s voice even more ragged and heartfelt.  The man was obviously struggling, exclaiming after the first song, not quite convincingly, “One song down; no puking, I feel great!”  The band trooped through a few more (kick ass) songs, directly under the mid-afternoon sun.  After forty minutes and a hell of a rendition of, appropriately enough, “Drink ‘Till We’re Gone,” Nichols was done, explaining “I’ve got a date with an IV.”  I caught up with him backstage later, still sporting the bandage from the IV infusion, and all he wanted to do was apologize for not playing the full hour.  On behalf of the fans, shut the fuck up.  Like the guy who was standing next to me said, “that was some real rock and roll shit.”  Hopefully they’ll have a chance to play a full set at LouFest next year.

Broken Social Scene (above)

At 8:30 PM, the main stage was converted to a small Canadian neighborhood when Toronto indie rock collective Broken Social Scene descended en masse.  A rotating cast of 15ish musicians lit up the beautiful St. Louis night with layers of melody, rhythm, brass and tons of energy.  Singer Kevin Drew was already off the stage and into the crowd by the ten minute mark, and the stretch of high energy “Texico Bitches,” “7/4 (Shoreline),” and “Fire Eye’d Boy” had the sizeable crowd moving.  A solid one hundred and ten minute show of new and old favorites  clearly impressed the audience, especially the weird yet awesome combination of Cyndi Lauper’s “Money Changes Everything” with BSS’s “Superconnected,” and the grooving finale featuring two members of the band Airborne Toxic Event.  By the time the ten minute encore “It’s all Gonna Break” was wrapping up, the crowd couldn’t have asked for anything more.

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As the summer chugs on, LouFest comes closer and closer.  The end of August will bring a variety of outstanding artists to Forest Park, and each week we will highlight one of our favorites.  This week, it’s Broken Social Scene.

Canada sure knows how to put together an indie rock supergroup.  Hot off the heels of releasing acclaimed album Forgiveness Rock Record, the members of Broken Social Scene have come back together to bring their mix of layered guitar and male and female vocal harmonies to St. Louis (and the rest of the world!).  For our interview with the band, dust off your May issue of Eleven.  Also, check out the band’s material on their MySpace.

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Pitchfork 2010 came armed with a stellar line-up and added a comedy stage into the mix for the first time ever. More than just music, there was even a bazaar and free Cliff bars! With so many shows and so little time, our team split up to cover as many shows as possible and report back to you.

Day 1:

Due to a few untimely circumstances upon arriving in Chicago, we arrived at Pitchfork on Friday later in the day than planned, and ended up missing all but the headlining sets. On the bright side, however, we were fortunate enough to run into our good STL comrades Evan and Paige of Sleepy Kitty in our mad dash to the festival site.

After a few mishaps here and there, including taking the bus in the wrong direction, we arrived at Pitchfork just in time for Broken Social Scene’s headlining set. John McEntire of Tortoise (who also produced their latest album) even made an appearance on drums for one song. Perhaps it was the heat, but whatever it was, the crowd didn’t seem overly enthusiastic to see BSS. Though the band delivered another solid performance, which was no surprise for such a consistently great live band, the mellow crowd seemed content to sit back and passively take it in. Though their recent release Forgiveness Rock Record has an epic quality, the Broken Social Scene didn’t seem to be taking the risks that their fans craved.  I’m not suggesting that the group take the dramatic, gimmicky route of many buzz bands these days, but pushing the envelope beyond their safe and steady reputation might have made for a better Pitchfork delivery.

Modest Mouse headlined next. The crowd up front danced until their golden headbands slipped off their sweaty foreheads, and glowsticks were also in abundance, much to our chagrin. “Float On” was noticeably lacking from the set list, but the band delivered a solid show that left even Float-y fans happy. We managed to snag a nice grassy spot to lounge while listening to the set and enjoying libations aplenty.

Overall, the crowd was sparser than expected, but knowing that Friday had the lowest ticket sales, we held hope that the next two days would bring a more rousing audience to the fest. Unfortunately, there were still enough throngs of hipsters to make transportation home from Union Park damn near impossible. What to do but gallivant home by foot with a BSS roadie by our side? C’est la vie.

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Hey Everyone,

Issue 6.8 is on the streets.  Go pick one up at your favorite mom & pop shop.  If you want to sneak a peek at the table of contents, or leave us your thoughts on an article, head over to the Issue 6.8 page (conveniently located in the navigation area to your right).  Enjoy!

Yours Truly,
Eleven Staff

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LouFest, an ambitious 2-day music festival in Forest Park, has for months been the speculation of anxious music-goers both in St. Louis and throughout the country. But wonder no more, dear readers, for Eleven is here to dispel any lingering doubts as to the festival’s ability to live up to the hype. Without further ado, here it is: the 2010 LouFest lineup!

Saturday, August 28
Broken Social Scene
Built to Spill
The Airborne Toxic Event
Lucero
Titus Andronicus
Adam Reichmann
So Many Dynamos
sephaniesid
The Northwoods

Sunday, August 29
She & Him
Jeff Tweedy
Alejandro Escovedo
Fruit Bats
Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons
Gentleman Auction House
Carolina Chocolate Drops
Magnolia Summer
Kim Massie (special Sunday-morning gospel set)

Eleven has a lot planned for the months leading up to the festival; be on the lookout for upcoming previews, interviews, and music from the bands playing LouFest!

Go to loufest.com for more info, and to buy tickets.

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All hail and rejoice! Everybody’s favorite canadian posé, Broken Social Scene, has arrived in a golden chariot of a free mp3, to pass judgement on the waiting masses. “World Sick,” the latest rustling from the BSS moniker, is a good study of the band’s varied aural history. Pulling atmospheric sounds from Feel Good Lost, warm production from You Forgot it in People, and wide-open spaces from their self-titled album, “World Sick” promises a familiar but exciting future for their upcoming Forgiveness Rock Record.

Go here to download it. You’ll have to enter your email address, but in my case, Leslie Feist already emails me every other day*, so it wasn’t a big deal.

*Sorry Ms. Feist. I hope you don’t mind me appropriating my monster crush on you for a bit of good humor.

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