Before I get into describing the these bands though, let me give you a larger context for the “Summer Breeze”….
Alongside the stage, the bemused and self-conscious student class treated themselves to the luxuries of their exorbitant tuitions: inflatable slides, life-sized Operation boards, face paint, trolley rides, and of course, deep fried Twinkies. The campus was a buzz with talks of summer internships at archaeological digs and family reunions in the Alps.
Fortunately, Laura (my girlfriend) and I took every pain to eat all the free cotton candy, fruit smoothies, and veggie burgers that we could find, laughing and coughing with our mouths full of ground peas.
Rockefeller himself would have been proud.
Ok, so to the music. Arriving without their storied live action bird painter, Bird Show, an amorphous indie instrumental collective from Seattle, took the stage near the end of the afternoon. Moving into the shadow left by some teenage punk band from Green Bay, they quietly formed a huddle of three around the microphone, and without a word, began looping their timid howls, tambourine shakes, and tea saucer symbols.
By a couple songs in I found myself asking, “is this Bird Show?” Slowly people got the idea and formed a seated tribunal before the stage.
For the few who remained, Bird Show treated us to about a half hour, half-hearted set of minimalism and echoes from the sanctuary.
When Bird Show stood up and made it clear that no encore would be attempted, the crowd was left to decide whether Bird Show had exhausted their material or was just generally offended to be playing a show for a bunch of bourgeoisie college kids.
Luckily, The Blow rolled into town and unto the stage swiftly thereafter and woke up the day with a joyous and irreverent snap of the microphone cord. Something about the hot orange sunglasses screamed, “Don’t worry about metaphysics, just have some fun.”
Like most of the artists on the Olympia, Washington-based K records, the pairing of the pop performance artist/elemental force, Khaela Maccich and the laptop beat-smith/dance marshal, Jona Bechtolt, did well to break down the third wall of the performance get everyone on their feet and reaching like new born children..
Coming off the recent success of their Poor Aim Love Songs EP, The Blow delivered their patent concoction of synthetic pop beats and melodies coupled with the thorough and naked exhumations of love. Songs ranged from the basic calculus of neglect, “Hey boy, why didn’t you call me?” to the angelic harmonies and battered wisdom of how we get to know the things we know…
“So what we live on a globe, and everyone is here on this sphere, alone. You are far away in some land out in the water where the sun can kiss you head to toe, and the air can get you hotter than I could.”
How fitting that Khaela’s clench, raised fist was held by the hollow column of a bell tower. Her eyes were turned inward, bandaged up from all the bleeding love. When she awoke, Khaela made sure to ask the crowd if she was revealing enough of her secrets.
In the glimmers of new material (off an upcoming LP) The Blow delved ever deeper into the economy of desire, pleading for fair trade between lovers. The lyrics bouncing between male and female subjects as if they were separate encampments, watching each other through the heat with jealous curiosity. A love song adaptation of Cousteau’s 20,000 leagues rang the truest, letting Khaela’s voice level and flow with grace.
For those dedicated followers, it seems that the dance hall detour that was Poor Aim Love Songs has marked a new direction in their music. What seemed just a momentary departure from the eclectic concept albums of pregnancy and adolescence seems to be a more enduring move towards pop-based confession.
Unfortunately for us, the Summer Breeze set closed up fairly short, ending on a rushed through request of Jason Anderson’s jet ski accident song as the jousting ring deflated and the ice cream truck pulled the firecracker signs inside and rode off into the sunset.
Regardless, amidst the carnival fan fair, The Blow delivered an honesty and veracity that is truly rare in music today. If anything, it is one step in the long hard work of humbling us all.
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