HONK! Festival in Boston

Last weekend I inadvertently ran into the HONK! Festival not once, but twice. The first occasion was in Davis Square on Saturday afternoon on my way to a friend’s place, and I was entertained by the raucous, mostly-brass-and-percussion music and colorful characters with their intentionally playful costumes but didn’t have time to stop and watch. Then on Sunday afternoon in my typical Sunday fashion I was headed out for lunch/brunch, in Harvard Square as it happens, and was met with the annual OktoberFest and the HONK! Festival, this time parading through the square, their route on both sides full of stalls of local vendors selling the usual knickknacks for women and a wide variety of hot ethnic food.

There are several things I’ve learned since then, once I was able to get my hands on an internet connection. One is that this is actually the third annual HONK! Festival, and also apparently “honking” is a fairly new trend. According to the HONK! Festival website:

Across the country and around the world, a new type of street band is emerging …

First and foremost, they honk their horns – or beat their drums, or wave their flags – to enliven and embolden their audience. Members vary widely in age, class, ethnicity and background, and although they often wear some kind of uniform, there is also always an emphasis on individuality and a “DIY” (do-it-yourself) sensibility to their instrumentation and attire. These bands play music that is by, for, and of “the people.” …

Just as important, they honk their horns because it’s the best way they know to protest a world of violence and oppression.

At the parade the political side of the groups took a back seat to the music and the spectacle, but the whole concept is interesting, and apparently the groups present were from different parts of the country as well as other countries.

Here’s a bit more info:
- Harvard Square has its own website. Who knew? The info on Oktoberfest 2008 can be found here.
- Boston Globe preview

Dosh and the Notwist at the Roxy

For some unknown reason I thought The Notwist wasn’t going to have an opening band for their show this past Sunday at the Roxy. I guess I was thinking the Roxy was more of a dance club and I was assuming they’d have an early concert and have a club night afterwards, but anyway luckily the opening band was someone I wanted to see, namely Dosh . Dosh is this guy named Martin Dosh who does very loop-based, ambient-type instrumental electronica, reminescent of The Album Leaf. Live he spent most of his time on the keyboard and mixer, although he’d also jump onto his drum set every so often, oftentimes at the climax of a song. He was joined by Mike Lewis who apparently he’s been playing with for a while. Lewis provided saxophone loops and bass. Although I’m not a fan of saxophone in general, it wasn’t obtrusive, and I definitely enjoyed their set. The songs generally seemed to develop in the same kind of way, but I think this was probably more due to the limitations of live mixing than anything else, and I’ll definitely be checking out more of their recordings. You can download some live recordings from last year on his official website along with quite a few other live recordings.

As for The Notwist, I definitely enjoyed them as well. It’s easy for me to be unimpressed by albums, but I’m much more accepting of live music. I knew The Notwist’s latest album, The Devil, You + Me, fairly well, and they played a fair amount from that album. I definitely preferred the songs live, although I still can’t quite reconcile their almost-sentimental guitar-based songs with their noisy electronic-based rock (although the crowd seemed a bit more responsive to the former). The band also played quite a bit off of their previous album, Neon Golden, including “Pick Up The Phone”, “This Room”, “One With The Freaks”, and a really great version of “Pilot” that was the highlight of the show for me and I suspect many others. The song began with an extended section repeating the sample “different cars and trains” and then made its way through various sections, hitting the chorus several times including one final time for good measure as a surprise coda. Like Dosh the songs tended to climax in the same way, but otherwise there was a fair amount of variety in the setlist. The setup included the totally crazy drummer, the typically laconic bassist, the lead singer also on guitar, a guitarist/keyboardist, and a keyboardist/mixer guy who at various points was playing with hacked Wii remotes. Sweet.

BrooklynVegan has some really great photos from the NYC show that was the following night.

Don’t think I have much up next until the M83 show at the Middle East. I need some suggestions!

Certainly, Sir at T.T.’s

I was feeling really ill at Certainly, Sir’s show at at T.T.’s this past Thursday, so I didn’t stick around for the following bands. Certainly, Sir played a fairly short set, probably clocking in under 40 minutes, and featured almost all entirely new stuff. I was a bit disappointed that they seem to have traded their poppier sound for a crunchier sound and moodier textures with tracks that are much less song based (emphasized by the rather too-low volume of the vocals). Regardless, I’m a sucker for the synths and I still enjoyed it, although live instruments (particularly drums) would’ve been nice.

Next up: the Notwist tonight at the Roxy. Not a big fan of them, but still interested in seeing how they are live.

Upcoming show: Certainly, Sir at T.T.’s

Been a casual fan of Certainly, Sir for a while now, and saw them at the Enormous Room a couple of years ago and enjoyed them despite the less-than-ideal setting. At that performance it was just the singer and the drummer plus backing tracks, but both were entertaining enough that it was worthwhile. They’re going to be playing at T.T.’s this Thursday from 10-11, along with Coralcola (at 9), Triangle Forest (at 11), and Matters & Dunaway (at midnight). I’m particularly curious about their note on their MySpace page which reads: “Change is afoot in C,SirLand: New faces, new voices, a table of stuff, a will and a prayer.” Checked out the other three bands online who I wasn’t familiar with. Of the three Matters & Dunaway caught my interest the most, but as it’s a school night I doubt I’ll hang around until midnight unless the third band is particularly good. Hoping the show means C,Sir is putting out some new music soon!

Cut Copy and the Presets at the Paradise

Getting a bit behind. Saw Australian bands Cut Copy and the Presets at the Paradise last Tuesday. I’d randomly gotten a promo copy of Cut Copy’s In Ghost Colours and immediately liked their 80’s new wave sound, enough to pick up their second album, Bright Like Neon Love. I’d also heard and quite liked the Presets’ song “This Boy’s in Love” (I’m a sucker for falsetto), so I was rather looking forward to them as well.

Because my concert buddy was busy and had our tickets (the jerk, haha) I missed the first band, Heartbreak, who I couldn’t really find anything about beforehand but seems to have a similar 80’s sound. I probably would’ve checked them out otherwise, but as it was we got in just as the Presets were starting. The Presets were actually slightly more subdued than I thought they would be. The songs could’ve easily withstood a more jump around sort of delivery, but for the most part the singer/keyboardist Julian Hamilton (dressed in a neon pink jacket) didn’t move too far away from his array of fiddly knobs. Which is not to say that he wasn’t energetic; the crowd was actually very responsive. The drums were a bit routine and some songs got a bit long, but otherwise their set was enjoyable. The highlight was definitely their extended, shimmering intro to “This Boy’s in Love”, of which I happened to find a clip of on YouTube (the same poster has a couple of other short clips from the show as well).

As for Cut Copy, it was pretty clear the crowd was there for them. Neither the Presets nor Cut Copy’s performances strayed too far from the album versions (although there was a great, much faster version of the latter’s song “Time Stands Still”, from their first album), although the Presets’ sparser texture was a nice contrast to Cut Copy’s more orchestrated sound. Both of them had their fair share of cheesy “work the crowd” type moments, although the rest of the fairly young-ish crowd ate it up. All in all both were definitely worth seeing and worth seeing again. It seems that Cut Copy were in Boston only a few months back, in May, but I’ll be keeping my eye out for when they’re next in town.

Didn’t find anything online in terms of reviews of the show, but in this preview of the show at Boston.com the writer mentions how unusually rowdy (for Boston) the crowd got at their previous show. This show was indeed surprisingly rowdy for Boston, helped no doubt by the number of young ‘uns, which was a nice change. Makes me feel a bit less like the old-timer I am.