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 Photo: Justin Edwards
With The Lost Weekend festival well and truly lost, it’s fortunate that we have some fast-thinking promoters who are able to salvage most of the acts from the festival. One of them is Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard, who regale the early attendees with quaint, witty pop songs. Of particular note is an educational ode to Sitting Bull complete with projector presentation and the mindblowing Mosquito Rap. Though the words ‘novelty act’ come to mind it’s a fun set.
Japan’s Tenniscoats split the audience into the curious listeners sitting in the front half of the room and the noisy back half drowning out the sweet, sedate pop being made by vocalist Saya Ueno and guitarist Takashi Ueno. Amazingly, it’s not until both musicians step away from their microphones and play at the front of the stage, unamplified, that the audience grows quiet.
Four-piece Wooden Shjips excel at propulsive, hypnotic psych-rock on record, but there’s something about their performance that fails to excite, as if they’re rehearsing rather than playing a live show. The connection between band and audience feels minimal, unless you count those dancing drunkenly. It’s an enjoyable set, but it never quite ascends to the level I was hoping it would.
As the curtains draw open for Deerhoof, guitarist John Dieterich is alone on stage, plucking out a spasmodic riff. He’s joined by fellow guitarist Ed Rodriguez and the incomparable Greg Saunier on drums, a tight instrumental passage becoming Panda Panda Panda when vocalist/bassist Satomi Matsuzaki shows up. Their unique avant-indie pop is kinetic but very precise, and the musicianship on display – especially Saunier’s eye-popping performance on drums – couldn’t be of a higher quality. The tiny Satomi endearingly prances around the stage after handing her bass off to Rodriguez, and takes over drumming temporarily too. Finishing with Basket Ball Get Your Groove Back, the punters are left feeling very grateful that this part of the Lost Weekend was found again.
MICHAEL PINCOTT
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