The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Monday, October 8, 2018 — 5A
By Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke
©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
10/08/18
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
10/08/18
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Monday, October 8, 2018
ACROSS
1 Stand watch for,
say
5 Oompah
instrument
9 Think-on-your-
feet tests
14 Greiner of “Shark
Tank”
15 Sister of Osiris
16 Fabled wish
granter
17 Time-consuming
18 With “of” and
71-Across,
Steinbeck
classic
19 Swim cap
material
20 Soon
23 Hulu service
24 __ about:
roughly
25 Eyelid bump
29 Onetime Leno
announcer Hall
31 Prefix with mount
or charge
33 Head-butting
beast
34 Scoop in a cone
39 Katmandu native
41 Soon
43 Make an error
44 Pedals on
antique sewing
machines
45 Right-angled
piece
46 Gp. with Vikings
48 Bearded beast
49 Fraction of a min.
51 Hindu princess
53 Andean pack
animal
58 Soon
61 Pentagon, for
one
64 Med. readouts
65 Molecule part
66 Usual bus.
address for
sending in
payments
67 Cheer (for)
68 Vaccine fluids
69 Hollywood
go-between
70 Actress Gunn of
“Breaking Bad”
71 See 18-Across
DOWN
1 Dead tired
2 Trailblazer Daniel
3 Surrealist Max
4 Tied snugly
5 Wedding cake
layer
6 Gannett’s
flagship
newspaper
7 Badlands bovine
8 Texas team that
won the 2017
World Series
9 Look like a wolf?
10 Brings up, as kids
11 Industrious insect
12 Tell it like it isn’t
13 “__ sells”: ad biz
mantra
21 Exceed, as a
budget
22 Like an
intoxicated spree
26 Fish with a net
27 New Haven Ivy
Leaguer
28 Radiates
30 Cook, as onion
rings
32 Le Car maker
34 “Peer Gynt”
playwright
35 Honeycomb
units
36 Paperless tax
return option
37 “Blue Bloods”
extra
38 Bon __: witticism
40 Pea container
42 Encouraging
47 Picture taker
50 Roasting bird
52 47-Down brand
54 Tenant’s contract
55 Tossed in a chip
56 Bond portrayer
Roger
57 “Seriously, bro!”
59 “I’m __!”: “My
turn!”
60 Davis Cup org.
61 Place for a mud
bath
62 Biker’s wheels
63 Springfield
presidential
library nickname
MUSIC FESTIVAL COVERAGE
“Wait, is that Diet Cig?” Sean
said, pointing at a duo as we
walked past a mineral water booth.
Over the course of one weekend at
Audiotree Music Festival, each
of us asked a variation on this
question about a dozen times.
Although it’s common to see
musicians hanging out at festivals,
something about being in a small
crowd in Kalamazoo’s Arcadia
Creek Park made these encounters
feel even more unique.
2018 marks the sixth year of
Chicago-based Audiotree’s annual
music
festival.
Taking
place
in Kalamazoo, Mich. — which
Audiotree’s two founders, Adam
Thurston and Michael Johnston,
call home — the mid-sized festival
brings in a wide range of indie
acts, many of them featured at
one point or another in one of
Audiotree’s
various
sessions.
This year, in addition to the main
stage, Audiotree introduced a
smaller stage that featured a
variety of local bands from Mich.
and Chicago. Named the WIDR
stage, after Western Michigan
University’s (WMU) student radio,
the additional performance space
ensured that there was never a dull
moment in between sets on the
main stage.
It seemed like an amazing
opportunity for a lot of local bands.
Every group on the WIDR stage
was either from Mich. or one of
its neighboring states. Because the
festival takes place in an arguable
mecca for DIY alternative music,
it is uniquely positioned to choose
from a slew of talented bands that
just haven’t yet had their moment,
despite an abundance of talent.
The WIDR stage was also
a result of WMU’s increasing
involvement with the festival.
Starting last year, Audiotree also
partnered with WMU students
studying visual arts, organizing
a competition in which students
could
submit
art
meant
to
represent an artist playing at
the festival. The winners of the
competition got to see their work
printed on quality 24” by 36”
cardstock and sold over the course
of the weekend.
All weekend long the sun shone
brightly and spirits were kept high
by a seemingly limitless supply of
free bottles of Topo Chico. Once
the sun set each day, temperatures
dipped to a chilly 55 degrees or so,
but headliners Local Natives on
Saturday and Father John Misty on
Sunday kept us just warm enough.
Khruangbin and Real Estate were
featured as sub-headliners, and
many of the smaller acts managed
to draw their own crowds. The
Chicago-based
Post
Animal
garnered
a
healthy
audience
despite
their
mid-afternoon
time slot on Sunday, and English
rock group Basement certainly
benefited from being the only pop
punk-inclined group to play the
fest.
In addition to seeing every band
on the main stage, we also got to
speak with Common Holly, Diet
Cig and Palm. Each interview
proved to be unique in its own
right: We engaged in some serious
astrological philosophizing with
Diet Cig, pondered memory and
uncertainty with Common Holly
and tried to discover how Palm
pulls off sounding like Palm.
— Ryan Cox, Daily Arts Writer
Melkbelly
Chicago’s Melkbelly was the
first act I remember being excited
to see. The band, led by guitarist/
vocalist Miranda Winter, embodies
a unique sound that brings in the
perfect ratio of pop to noise. Their
debut album, Nothing Valley, plays
with strange tonalities, noisy
guitars and some catchy yet almost
dystopian-sounding vocal lines.
The band played one of my
favorite tracks, “Middle Of,” early
on in their set, and I found myself
becoming seemingly hypnotized
by the animalistic drums and the
aggressive-sounding guitars in the
descending, chaotic pre-chorus.
They were absolutely bringing
it. However, after a few songs,
the band lost a bit of their initial
energy. The metaphorical space
between the band and the audience
grew larger from the beginning of
the set. In their defense, they were
playing pretty early on in the day,
and I overheard that they did play
a different setlist than at Pitchfork,
so either one of these things
might explain the decline in the
performance. Although they had
an incredible opening, it seemed
that
Melkbelly
couldn’t
quite
satisfy
the
appetite for noise-
rock I had that
day.
— Ryan Cox,
Daily Arts Writer
Diet Cig
Last semester,
I took ENGR 101,
my first coding
class.
And
as
much as I liked
that
class
(sort
of),
I
resented
the final project
because it kept
me from seeing
Palm and Diet Cig
play the Union. So
when Diet Cig was
announced on the
Audiotree lineup,
I was incredibly
excited to right
the
wrongs
of
ENGR 101.
And
what
a
wrong that was.
Diet
Cig
not
only
had
an
incredible
amount of energy
on-stage, but they
had an incredible
connection
with
the
audience.
Despite
wearing
a leg brace caused
by a torn ACL,
Alex Luciano, the
band’s
guitarist
and vocalist, was
dancing around on
the stage, kicking
her leg up to the
stars to show off
her
seemingly
robotic leg. The
now-three-piece
had a huge live
sound,
despite
their
limited
instrumentation,
and, in some cases,
sounded as good as their recorded
material, if not better. Hearing
Alex’s voice belt out her choruses
with Noah Bowman pounding the
skins of the drums felt earnestly
powerful live.
Before the music even started,
Alex addressed the audience,
ensuring
that
everyone
was
comfortable and the environment
was kept positive and safe. She
also took some time to emphasize
how important it was for everyone
to register to vote and actually go
out to the polls, an issue that she
believes, especially in this political
climate,
is
overwhelmingly
important.
I
found
myself
dancing
throughout
the
entire
performance,
but
more
importantly,
I
found
myself
listening to every single element
intently. Although the group may
have an uncaring DIY look, their
sound is extremely intentional. For
a group with only three people,
Diet Cig produces an enormously
huge sound, aided significantly
by
Luciano’s
powerful
vocal
performances.
— Ryan Cox, Daily Arts Writer
Palm
This might have been my
favorite
performance
at
this
festival.
I was exposed to Palm last
summer with the release of their
Shadow Expert EP. I had no idea
what to think. Blending elements of
so many different genres, sticking
one label on this band would be a
huge mistake. I was worried about
how their sound would translate
to a live environment, but to
slightly surprisingly, they sounded
extraordinarily clean and almost
exactly like their records. Whether
it was the timbre of the guitars, the
rhythmic complexity of the rhythm
section,
or
the
mesmerizing,
chorus-heavy vocal lines, every
nuance was present. There were a
few times where I caught myself
marveling at how the performance
was actually happening. I felt like I
was slipping in and out of a trance.
The band was extraordinarily
tight, despite the chaos present in
their performance. I frequently
caught myself noticing elements of
the performance at a micro level,
like how drummer Hugo Stanley
seamlessly transitioned from live
electronic drum samples to the
acoustic kit, or how guitarists
Eve Alpert and Kasra Kurt subtly
played off of each other’s guitar
riffs and vocal harmonies.
As the art-rock group finished
their six-song set with a track from
their new album “Dog Milk,” I
finally started to realize that what
felt like five minutes to me had
turned into a 30-minute set. As
the band concluded their extended
jam-like outro to the song, I found
myself turning to Sean and simply
mouthing the word: “Wow.”
— Ryan Cox, Daily Arts Writer
Father John Misty
I’ve missed seeing Father John
Misty more times than I can
count, despite being a massive fan
of not only Josh Tillman’s music
and lyrics, but his personality as
well. I had a friend see him shortly
after the release of I Love You,
Honeybear and show me a video of
him picking up her phone from the
stage, recording a video of himself
making snarky comments to the
audience before finally returning
her phone. His weird fascination
with Taylor Swift, whether it be
through a quick name drop or
covering her songs in the style of
Lou Reed, is a weird quirk that I
find absolutely hysterical. I used
to really love this man, despite his
disappointing third studio album
Pure Comedy.
And while I’ve heard of all
these crazy things Tillman has
done at shows, he really didn’t
do anything out of the ordinary
at Audiotree. Aside from a few
sarcastic comments about how
annoying the beach balls at
festivals are, a sentiment I agree
with
wholeheartedly,
there
wasn’t a huge amount of audience
interaction. But what was so
amazing about the performance
was how good it was despite Josh
failing to go into some long rant
about nothing or cover some crazy
Def Leppard song following a
slightly more vulgar “Screw you”
to the audience.
While he did have a rather
large
ensemble
behind
him,
certain songs featured differing
instrumentations: The trumpet
solo at the end of “Chateau Lobby
#4 (in C for Two Virgins)” was
replaced with a slightly more
aggressive guitar solo. Tillman’s
voice sounds fantastic live, and
with the release of his fourth
studio
album
God’s
Favorite
Customer, he had an abundance of
songs to pick from, both new and
old.
For me, the highlight of the
festival as a whole was hearing
Tillman yell the lines, “Maybe
love is just an economy based on
resource scarcity, but I fail to see
is what that’s gotta do with you
and me” right before the weekend
ended. I could feel my high school
self sneak out and remember, even
if for just a few seconds, a time
when that album accompanied
a
very
transformative
period
in my life. It made traveling to
Kalamazoo a pilgrimage of sorts;
it felt like returning to a childhood
home.
— Ryan Cox, Daily Arts Writer
NE-HI
The
Chicago-based
NE-HI
have been on my radar for some
time and, despite having been
disappointed by them at Pitchfork
Music Fest back in 2017, I was
impressed by their performance.
More or less led by the illustrious
guitarist-vocalist Jason Balla, the
four-piece plays good ’ol fashioned
modern rock ‘n’ roll. By the time
Audiotree weekend rolled around,
though, I was a biased audience —
over the course of the past year,
I’ve come to love a good handful of
NE-HI’s Chicago contemporaries.
Balla actually plays in another
group called Dehd, a group
whose bassist also plays in Lala
Lala (who just came out with an
excellent record). He also released
a solo album, Blue Tape, under his
Accessory moniker at the end of
this past summer.
Either way, you’d be forgiven
for thinking Balla were truly
possessed on stage. When he’s
not busy providing vocals, he’s
like a miniature version of one of
those wacky waving inflatable arm
flailing tube men, with one key
distinction: He’s not stuck in one
place. I spent almost the entirety of
NE-HI’s set captivated by Balla’s
antics, but that’s not to dismiss
the rest of the NE-HI crew.
Bassist James Weir, drummer
Alex Otake and guitarist-vocalist
Mikey Wells’s more-than-solid
musicianship is the only reason
Balla can afford to be so free.
Leaving the stage after NE-HI’s
far-too-short half hour set had
me wondering what had put me
off just over a year earlier. I never
quite figured it out, but I knew I’d
never go back.
— Sean Lang, Daily Arts Writer
Local Natives
For better or worse, I’ve long
adored the Los Angeles-based
Local Natives. Pandora radio led
me to Gorilla Manor back in high
school, and I eventually became
enamored with its boisterous
energy
and
instrumental
intricacies. I latched onto the
band’s oh-so-sweet harmonies and
followed them right into 2013’s
Hummingbird, where they were,
yeah, sadder, but again so good.
When the group’s third album
Sunlit Youth came in 2016, I lost
no small amount of faith. Their
sound became “more full” in the
way indie outfits typically do when
they reach for wider crowds. It also
seemed as though they decided
they were going to be a Socially
Conscious
Alternative
Rock
Band,™ with clunkers like “How
can we quit drugs if you’re gonna
watch like that?” or the poorly
aged “I have waited so long, Mrs.
President,” a line their vocalist-
guitarist Taylor Rice insisted on
singing as written during the
band’s Audiotree performance.
All this being said, the five-
piece reliably delivered on all of
their material. Now that it’s been
over two years since Sunlit Youth
first saw the light of day, they
worked pretty deep into the back
catalog. Local Natives played an
18-song set, but only five of them
came from Sunlit Youth. With
their extra time, they treated the
audience to six Gorilla Manor
tracks — including longstanding
show-closer “Sun Hands” and
deep cut “World News” — five
Hummingbird cuts — including a
longer breakdown of “Colombia,”
vocalist-multi-instrumentalist
Kelcey Ayer’s ode to his departed
grandmother, and the deep deep
cut “Mt. Washington” — the one-
off single “I Saw You Close Your
Eyes” and a new song, “When Am
I Gonna Lose You?”
— Sean Lang, Daily Arts Writer
Common Holly
Although she was the first act
up on the second day of Audiotree,
the act I was most excited to see all
weekend was probably Montreal-
native Brigitte Naggar’s Common
Holly project. After hearing her
first single “If After All” on NPR’s
All Songs Considered last year,
I was entranced. Her publicist
likens her to Angel Olsen or a
female Leonard Cohen, but I prefer
a less pretentious resemblance
— her music reminded me of
Daughter’s first album, When You
Leave, which has soundtracked
my every autumn for the past
six years. Either way, Naggar’s
songwriting is uniquely fresh and
unpredictably eclectic.
Five minutes before she and
her band took to the stage, there
were about 11 of us in the crowd.
Thankfully, this number swelled
to about 25-30 by noon, when the
band walked out. Every note was
carefully played, every melody
tenderly sung and the songs,
whose studio versions are imbued
with a sense of restlessness, of
life, became even more so played
live. At one point during her set,
Naggar turned to the VIP section
of the audience — off to the left
and on the other side of a fence —
and asked them if they felt special.
Her tone wasn’t incriminating,
nor do I think it was meant to
make them feel uncomfortable.
It was humanizing to see her sort
of nervously, accidentally call out
the VIP crowd. Before being cut
off early by the festival crew —
and I will never forgive them for
this, as she clearly had three more
minutes left to play — she debuted
a new song, leaving me more
excited than ever for the future of
this up-and-coming group.
— Sean Lang, Daily Arts Writer
Daily Arts takes on the Audiotree Music Festival
RYAN COX
Daily Arts Writer
&
SEAN LANG
Daily Arts Writer
SEAN LANG
RYAN COX