Fuck Yeah Fest IV (Continued)

What more is there to say aside from what Abe has discussed? (I wrote this when I began the article. I can apparently say quite a bit) The four of us were, for the most part, in agreement with what happened.

The only act I was interested in seeing beforehand was The Mae Shi. It would have been wise of me, however, to listen to some of their songs beforehand.
The Mae Shi's music is far from impenetrable, but to go to one of their shows without knowing any of their music can be a very confusing experience. I was pleased with their stage appearance and energy. Lots of L.A. bands can be very stoic and boring when performing, but they were jumping around like toddlers. Unfortunately, the Echo's difficult acoustics make it hard to hear anything and unless you have some sort of idea of what their songs sound like on a recording, it's difficult to catch on. In short: their live concerts are esoteric in the sense that if you haven't heard them before, you probably won't enjoy it as much as someone who has. I am all for seeing them again, however, but only after I've had a better sampling of their repertoire.

As Abe mentioned, the Taix (a very nice restaurant if you can afford it) was a 21+ area, so comedy was out of the question (a shame, because had I gone Sunday I would have wanted to see Bob Odenkirk). Brother Reade was nothing special, and no words can express the degree of fury I had towards Lavender Diamond. Becky Stark was absolutely obnoxious. Her band, however, was quite good. Once Ms. Stark took the stage, though, it became some sort of recreation of a beauty pageant rehearsal (or a twisted version of My Super Sweet 16), with a glittery princess barking demands at everyone while others tended to her every whim. I can only hope that Becky Stark is a better performer than she is a brat, because there was certainly no performing on her part last Saturday. But you've heard two people bitch about Lavender Diamond now, what's the fun in that? Let's get to the meat and potatoes of Saturday night (and I'm not talking about the Brite Spot's food).

Busdriver made up for any sort of disappointment I experienced that evening. I have seen few performances as dynamic as the one Regan Farquhar gave the audience at the Echo that night. If some of you were confused by my description of The Mae Shi's performance, this may put it into better perspective. The Mae Shi and Busdriver played the exact same venue only two and a half hours apart from each other, but Busdriver were completely accessible. It was impossible to hear what Regan was saying because of the body-shaking bass and lousy acoustics, but it didn't matter. Regan's rapping is so great that you don't need to know.
Unlike most rappers that only follow the beat, Regan elevates the style by following the melody (he keeps up with the flute part of Bach's "Badinerie" in Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor perfectly when the song is sampled in "Imaginary Places") and sometimes modifying the timbre of his voice with synth pedals and his own formidable voice talents. Backed by three turntablists/musicians, Busdriver was the combination of talent, energy and ability to relate to the audience without words that the night had desperately needed. You could have showed up to the door of the Echo without even knowing what music was and Busdriver would have sounded fantastic to you. I'm sure Regan's lyrical abilities are nothing short of great (I haven't heard any recordings yet, but I plan to), but he could be rapping in Klingon and I wouldn't give a shit. He's just that good.

Perhaps it was our lack of research of the bands playing that night that reduced our experience. Or, maybe the bands that night sucked and on Sunday there were better ones (I saw xBxRx and The Muslims on the bill for that day). I have confidence in L.A.'s music scene and, with this year's turnout (it was pretty full), I'm sure that there will be many Fuck Yeah Fests to come. I'm look forward to next year and hope the 2008 curators will bring together some great acts.