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Festival Coverage

Hopscotch Must-Sees: Big Black Delta

This is a personal artist spotlight on Big Black Delta by Walter-Ego for Hopscotch.

Like many others right now, I’m a little obsessed with the neo-80’s aesthetic. You can blame stylized Ryan Gosling movies or retro video games with thumping electro soundtracks, but there’s nothing quite like the sound of a cheesy John Carpenter synth. Luckily, Big Black Delta is in the Hopscotch lineup to scratch that itch.

Channeling the same kind of 80’s synthpop that Com Truise and Makup & Vanity Set do, Big Black Delta is the project of Mellowdrone frontman Jonathan Bates. Having worked with artists like M83, Bates isn’t afraid to make his own brand of space rock loud and violent. The samples and beats are bombastic enough to fill a cathedral of Robocops. The characteristics of his music translate perfectly into his vibrant live show, sporting multiple drummers and Bates’ own moves syncing with each dark pulsing thump. Look no further than the video for Side of the Road, as Bates’ dances across a cyber landscape and his band takes turns derezzing.

When Big Black Delta takes the stage of Memorial Auditorium on September 6th, it’s definitely going to be one of my highlights of an already excellent lineup.

Favorite Track: “Side of the Road” on Big Black Delta

Playing: Memorial Auditorium, September 6th, 10:00PM

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Festival Coverage

Hopscotch Must-See: Earl Sweatshirt

This is a personal artist spotlight on Earl Sweatshirt by Muta for Hopscotch.

These bitches keep screaming “Odd Future is back!” or at least that is what I’ve been screaming since the Hopscotch lineup was first released. Earl Sweatshirt has often been sited as the best lyricist from the hip-hop group Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (OFWGKTA), which features other prominent artist such as Tyler the Creator and Frank Ocean.

It has been three years since the first self-made music video from Odd Future dropped for Earl Sweatshirt’s song “Earl” as well as Earl’s first mixtape by the same name was released. Since then, Earl has worked with The Alchemist, Action Bronson, Mac Miller, Riff Raff, and Flying Lotus to bring a style of hip-hop that I have heard no where else. Recently, Earl has been mixing the fun rowdiness from his youth (“Whoa” and “Rusty”) with the darker and more personal songs that really illustrate his artistry (“Chum” and “Between Friends”).

After a pretty full 2013 that has brought Earl all across the country to festivals like SXSW, I expect Earl has probably really found his stage presence and will bring an awesome show following up Action Bronson at Lincoln Theater.

Favorite Track: Flying Lotus – “Between Friends” ft. Earl Sweatshirt & Captain Murphy

Lincoln Theater, Saturday, September 6th, 12:30am

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Festival Coverage

Hopscotch Must-Sees: ADULT.

This is a personal artist spotlight on ADULT. by Mason for Hopscotch.

If there’s one thing I most look forward to each year at Hopscotch, it’s getting freaky-deaky. I’m not always this way. On an average day, I’m that relatively reserved college student who just likes to keep his head down and keep to himself. But some bands manage to rile up the inner beast within me and make me do interesting things things. Future Islands in 2011 managed to leave me with a broken iPhone screen after a rousing performance of “Tin Man” moved me to slam what I was holding on the ground. After Danny Brown last year, I received a bloody nose after being kicked in the face by a stage diver… and for some reason, I kept dancing. I think I may have even screamed a genuine “THANK YOU!” at the face-kick perpetrator as he gracelessly thrashed overhead.

Yes, Hopscotch is the time of the year when I completely lose myself and awkwardly hobble up and down, and I know this September will be no exception thanks to ADULT.

The husband wife duo of Adam Miller and Nicola Kuperus got their start in Detroit, Michigan in the late 90s under the retired name “Plasma Co.” Since their premiere, they’ve released five albums.

Their most recent 2013 release of album “The Way Things Fall” comes after a five year hiatus, and it’s filled with beats that are going to make you move. The duo brings a mix of chaotic electronic clash and aggressive female vocals reminiscent of The Knife, Moderat, and Die Antwoord, and I can’t help but move when I hear it. If you want to take a walk on the wild side and dance your ass off, you must see this band.

Favorite Track: “Heartbreak”

RIYL: The Knife, Deerhoof, Gang Gang Dance

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Weekly Charts

Top 10 Afterhours Albums for 8/05

1 Pretty Lights    ”Color Map of the Sun”    (8 Minutes 20 Seconds)

2  GOLD PANDA    ”Half Of Where You Live”    (Ghostly)

3 BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS    ”Legend Remixed”    (Tuff Gong-UME-Island)

4 RUXPIN    ”This Time We All Go Together”    (n5MD)

5  MAJOR LAZER    ”Free The Universe”    (Secretly Canadian)

6 HERMITUDE    ”HyperParadise”    (Elefant Traks)

7 GAUDI    ”In Between Times”    (Six Degrees)

8 JON HOPKINS    ”Immunity”    (Domino)

9  HECTIC ZENITHS    ”Hectic Zeniths”    (Self-Released)

10  QUENTIN QUATRO       “Disco Quatro” [EP]      (Insect Queen)

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Festival Coverage

Hopscotch Must-Sees: Purling Hiss

This is a personal artist spotlight on Purling Hiss by Toast for Hopscotch.

The Philadelphia-based troupe made themselves known opening for the likes of Kurt Vile, Woods, and Wilco, but their hard-hitting approach to psych-rock has earned them outsider status in the world of swamp and churn. They screech, they grind, and they muck in the grit of noisy crescendos and dense sound. This crew is not completely devoid of approachability, as through the years the band has released several tracks which could tip a hat to three-chord 90s classic rock, even pop.

The latest album from Purling Hiss, On Water On Mars, gives a good dose of both sides of the band’s repertoire, a little something for every swimmer in the psychedelic ocean of sound. Their ability to maintain this polar attitude is what makes the band really enjoyable and unique. The album engulfs you in its lo-fi murk, gives you a good dose of the blues then puts you back up on a wave of shiny solo riffs, which happens to be exactly the right formula for a killer live show. Look forward to total immersion and a blisteringly rad ride.

Favorite Track: “Lolita” on On Water on Mars
CAM Contemporary Art Museum, Thursday Sept. 5, 11:30PM

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Festival Coverage

Hopscotch Must-Sees: Ahleuchatistas

This is a personal artist spotlight on Ahleuchatistas by DJ Acorn for Hopscotch.

I had the pleasure of being introduced to Ahleuchatistas last winter, out of total happenstance.
I tagged along with my friend who had organized an event at Apothecary, a relatively new DIY venue in downtown Asheville, for later in the week but we made the trek up a few days early. Incidentally, the night we arrived Apothecary was hosting “Osfest,” a weekend-long farewell to the Ahleuchatistas’ percussionist, Ryan Oslance, who was moving to California from his native Asheville. I had no idea who Oslance or Ahleuchatistas was at the time, but throughout the evening I was definitely picking up on some cult-like vibes surrounding the act. Some kid even cited it as his “favorite band ever.” We’ve all heard that before, but rarely in reference to a couple of local art rock musicians.

That night I kept noticing a man with long shaggy blond hair walking around with no shoes on jumping from group to group, who struck me as an interesting character from the start, but I realized I was about to witness something truly amazing once he– the honorary Oslance– put bells around his ankles and neck as he sat in front of a drum kit. Another man, Shane Perlowin, with a guitar was carefully arranging a score of effects pedals in his own corner of the stage.

The performance was a display of pure mastery of each member’s respective instrument. They both seemed to have surpassed any interest in making songs that people can dance to or whistle in the shower, but rather more concerned with expanding the technical horizons of their instruments. For instance: Oslance, draped in sleigh bells, transforms his own body into an instrument. Their music, however frantic and complicated, never comes off as a mess of noise. Instead, it is almost dizzyingly meticulous that two people can sync with each other to conjure such busy precision out of a guitar and a drum kit.

These men are more than math rock musicians; they are certainly avant-garde in their understanding of how sounds interact with each other with pings and bangs and whispering, lingering chords. I cannot wait to see them again this Hopscotch and have my mind blown with the technical and artistic mastery of Ahleuchatistas.

FAVORITE TRACK: “Requiem for the Sea” off Heads Full of Poison and “A Little Effort Goes a Long Way” off Location Location

PLAYING:  Contemporary Art Museum, Saturday September 7th at 9:30-10:30 PM

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Festival Coverage

Hopscotch Must-Sees: Angel Olsen

This is a personal artist spotlight on Angel Olsen by Anastassia/Alternate Reality. 

In my mind, Angel Olsen is a beautiful goddess angel with a killer voice that covers all the different ranges of beautiful. Unfortunately my musical taste didn’t come around to Angel Olsen until her album, Half Way Home, had been out for about a year. I knew of her and listened to that album very briefly however I couldn’t get past the strangeness of her voice. At times, Olsen hits notes that are a deep tenor while immediately bringing her voice back to the sweetness of a Joan Baez. Strangely enough Olsen’s sound was not at all influenced by early folk music, yet Angel Olsen would fit perfectly in between Loretta Lynn, Tony Caro and John and Vashti Bunyan.

Olsen is a unique singer-songwriter and Half Way Home captures a magical moment, a moment of being alone and completely vulnerable to all the emotions that may take you over. After initially listening to Angel Olsen, I didn’t think too much of it however one random night while I was in my apartment alone, I decided to give her another chance. My music taste is a little brat sometimes, disregarding an artist after a brief encounter without giving them a significant chance. Sometimes, though, it comes around and opens up to artists like Angel Olsen, embracing her sincere voice and the bizarrely beautiful range of notes within her vocals. Her show at Hopscotch is highly recommended and you will probably see me there weeping

Favorite Track: “Acrobat” on Half Way Home.

Playing: Fletcher Opera House, Friday September 5th 9:30-11 pm

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Festival Coverage

Hopscotch Must-Sees: Waxahatchee

This is a personal artist spotlight on Waxahatchee by Virginia Werewoolf.

It was just this past summer that I was able to coerce Alabama singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield into trading her Don Giovanni released lo-fi debut “American Weekend” for a ten dollar Starbucks gift card after a stripped down set in a Richmond basement. A short year after that with fellow late arrivals, I shared a cigarette and a window sized view of Crutchfield singing to a little restaurant bursting at the seams during Harrisonburg Virginia’s MACRoCK festival.

Since then Crutchfield’s once solo project, Waxahatchee has grown to include electric instrumentation and high quality recording, while remaining incredibly mercurial and intimate. March marked the finish of the band’s sophomore album “Cerulean Salt,” which served as a transition from volatile bedroom wails to minimalist punk hymns that earned Waxahatchee some of its most positive critical acclaim yet. The receptive response also landed her a spot at Chicago’s ultra-popular Pitchfork Fest.

The most singular thing that should add to the very deserving bubble of hype surrounding Waxahatchee is the fact that after touring almost relentlessly, in the most low maintenance way imaginable for a musician—using only voice and an acoustic guitar—Crutchfield will take the stage at The Kennedy Theater with amps and all. Their set that Friday may not be the cozy and accustomed, acoustic performance the act is known for, but it will bring the same personal and powerful delivery with a much anticipated little-bit-extra.

Favorite Tracks: Be Good off “American Weekend,” and Swan Dive off “Cerulean Salt”

Playing: The Kennedy Theater, Friday from 12:00 a.m. – 1:00 a.m.

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Festival Coverage

Hopscotch Must-Sees: Speedy Ortiz

Major Arcana by Speedy Ortiz
Major Arcana

This is a personal artist spotlight on Speedy Ortiz by DJ DiGiorno for Hopscotch.

Speedy Ortiz’s first foray into the scene was the release of The Death of Speedy Ortiz in 2011. Then a solo project of songwriter and vocalist/guitarist Sadie Dupuis, the lo-fi pop album began to make its way around. Dupois then decided to enlist the help of her friends Matt Robidoux (guitar), Darl Ferm (bass) and Mike Falcone (drums) in early 2012 to turn Speedy Ortiz into the full band it needed to become. This noisy band quickly found its home in the Boston DIY scene playing basements and house shows left and right. In the summer of 2012, Speedy Ortiz released a 7" as well as an EP. Now that they were a quartet, this gave them the ability to flesh out the sound of the first album. Their songs were praised for their pop-sense vocals atop the ambitious noise. The aggressive, thundering drums bottomed out by hefty bass riffs complete with frenetic, dissonant guitar parts fronted by soothing vocals helped complete their signature abrasive yet beautiful style of noise-pop.

After some success with their first releases, Speedy Ortiz made their way around the nation playing mainly house shows and DIY spaces. Their low key shows were delivered spot on to very welcoming audiences around the nation. After touring extensively, they embarked on their first truly collaborative effort. In July 2013, they released their proper debut album Major Arcana to major critical acclaim including Best New Music from Pitchfork. This album saw them perfecting their craft. Dupuis’ carefully crafted vocals soaring over discord. In addition to meaningful lyrics, she also provides another layer to the record with her cunning wordplay and perfectly articulated annunciations. Her lyrical delivery rivals the best in indie music these days. This can be dangerous in most cases as it can draw closer attention to the words, but they end up holding their own in a time when lyrical prowess seems to be of a bygone era. This praise is not to say that Dupois outshines the rest of the band. Her fellow band mates’ skills are well on par with hers. The thunderous drums and bass lay the groundwork for the melodic driven noisy guitars that echo and compliment the melody lines. Altogether, this is a very tight band that is an absolute must-see for Hopscotch Music Festival.

Favorite Tracks: Tiger Tank, No Below, Fun, Pioneer Spine

RIYL: Yuck, Polvo, Dinosaur Jr., Pavement

Playing: Kennedy Theater, Friday September 6th 11:00 PM-12:00 A.M.

Categories
Festival Coverage

Hopscotch Must-Sees: Grouper

This is a personal artist spotlight on Grouper by Prism.

When asked in 2012 by Dazed Digital about why she rarely does interviews, Liz Harris, b.k.a. the Portland, OR resident behind enigmatic one-woman ambient project Grouper, responded “I just feel nervous getting direct focused attention."  This reclusiveness seems natural for a woman who makes the type of music Grouper does: her melancholy, spacious ambient folk music seems to deny the group listen and prefer the personal.

I should mention that I’m a bit nervous to see Grouper at Hopscotch this year. This is because, like to many, her music carries a lot of history for me. During my freshman year of college a few years ago (a great and complicated time for love and music in anyone’s life), I discovered her 2008 record Dragging a Dead Deer Up A Hill on the music website Gorilla Vs. Bear shortly after a breakup, one that probably seemed much more dramatic to me at the time. And while it took me a few listens to "get it,"  I was soon enamored with this record. I walked around every day just lost in it, not paying to most track titles or song changes, just keeping the entire record playing on repeat from "Disengaged” on, lost in the world that Liz Harris creates. And while “Dragging” is far from what I would call a breakup record, I think Anthony Fantano of The Needle Drop was correct when he described the style as “soothing” music that would appeal to someone who needs to go “through a process.” Grouper’s music is intensely personal music and hits emotional cues, in the same way that big-name titans of instrumental post-rock such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Sigur Ros rely on emotional bombast to draw a response from their audience.

Her discography is sizable at this point, with a slew of solo albums and collaborations to her name, some of which are easier to track down than others (such is the nature of Pacific Northwest ambient projects). Her most recent record, 2013’s The Man Who Died In His Boat, is a collection of songs recorded around the same time as “Dragging,” and to my ears, they follow much of the same ground as that album, meaning we have vast, scarred, yet somewhat accessible expanses of dirty tape hiss and synth washes that swirl while Harris’ plaintive vocals and acoustic guitar float through them.

Although I’ve definitely gotten a little bit happier since a few years ago I discovered her, I’m still going to do my best to watch Grouper’s set with the same emotional openness that I found her with. I’m very excited for this set.

Favorite Track: Heavy Water/I’d Rather Be Sleeping, off Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill

Playing: Fletcher Opera Theater, Thursday 11:00 PM-12:00 A.M.
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