Marina and Bonde Do Role ignite Swerve Fest on Saturday night
(Credit: Biz 3 PR)
Swerve Saturday
On Saturday, the Barnsdall Great Lawn will host a slew of sweet bands—for free!—kicking off with Illinois, those good boys from Pennsylvania. They rev up their tuneful Americana rockisms at 2 p.m., so get brunch out of the way early and step to it. Georgia cuties Snowden follow with their hypnotic dream-pop— their song “Anti Anti” is in heavy rotation here at MMX HQ. They also boast the prettiest bass player—Corinne Lee—this side of Great Northern’s Ashley Dzerigian. The next band up is one of our absolute favorite Los Angeles bands, Foreign Born. We simply haven’t raved about these fellows enough yet, but expect that to be remedied in the very near future. Their latest album, “On the Wing Now,” is aggressively lobbying for a spot on our year-end Top 10 list. Epic, well-crafted rock that embodies everything from classic Echo & The Bunnymen to U2 to Arcade Fire. See them now, see them often—just see them before they blow up like our buddies Silversun Pickups. It’s only a matter of time. Headlining Saturday’s bill is the Austin, Texas, band the Black Angels (5:45 p.m.), who conjure up a murky swirl of psychedelic grandiosity that has the good taste to reference the Verve at their most, well, Verve-ish—at least on the song “Black Grease.” They have a serious blues edge, and definitely know their way around seminal acts like the 13th Floor Elevators and Spacemen 3.
For the disco hipster who lurks within your loins, Saturday night brings a special free edition of "Check Yo Ponytail" (9 p.m.) at the Echoplex, with usual suspects like Franki Chan and DJ Paparazzi spinning the after-hours hits alongside such new-school blog-house heroes as the Toxic Avenger, Juiceboxxx, LA Riots and Brazilian party-starters Bonde Do Role. I can feel the sweat now.
Swerve Sunday
Sunday is a tad more mysterious. San Fran’s Thee More Shallows kick things off at the Great Lawn on the early side (1 p.m.), with gentle, occasionally twisted indie post-rock that’s right at home on quirky hip-hop label Anticon. They’re kind of like the Postal Service on drugs. They’re followed at 2:15 p.m. by a “secret show.” We just found out from a most reliable source that it's St. Vincent playing that slot. She's amazing, and you should totally be there for her set. She's going to be the Feist of 2008—you heard it here first! Then it’s back to Austin with Oh No! Oh My! They play charming indie pop that leans towards the acoustic singer-songwriter side of things. Very Magnetic Fields meets Belle and Sebastian in the park on a nice day. How to describe Devotchka? Clever, ornate music that’s worldly without being “world”? The Decemberists without a thesaurus hanging out with Radiohead? I don’t know. All I know is that it’s good.
Things wind up Sunday night at the Echoplex, where Brooklyn dance-commanding beat-punks We Are Scientists bring it on home at 10 p.m. with their hot-stepping rhythms and angular guitars at the official festival after-party. They're kind of like Bloc Party circa “Silent Alarm,” but with an eye on heavy rotation at KROQ—yeah, they got riffs to burn. It’s only a $5 show, and a fitting finale to this all-around-awesome festival. OK, kids: Ready, steady, go!
Scott T. Sterling is music editor for Metromix Los Angeles.
