Quick Gonerfest wrap-up

I've been in Memphis for the past few days checking out the premier Southern garage rock festival. Either you went or you didn't and I can't see why my asshole opinions would be of value either way, so I'll keep this quick and we'll get to ripping some more vinyl as soon as I get the chance

Friday

Cococoma: I have their LP with the flaming groovies-inspired album cover. Punchy, fun, pop garage. Nothing to write home about but as the first band I saw I still had fun

Magnetix: Coolest band of Friday. French duo with a dark and noisy sound. Stripped down and fun.

Ty Segall: The crowd loved him but I thought his live show was just about as boring as his newest LP. Go fig.

The Reatards: firecrackers, stage-peeing, general fuck you's to the audience (including "this guy is from vice magazine" (pointing to the guy with the camera) "he's co-opting your culture. That's not garage") I thought the music was a blast but the crowd was full of morons and, yeah, I couldn't really go along with all the shit that the festival's biggest indie-rock celebrity said. Somebody likened it to pro wrestling, and that seems about right. The same person left when Jay fought his bandmate, saying "this is all too Samuel Beckett for me". Still, at some point he took out a wad of ones and made it rain, so I made $3 from the show.

Saturday

Shitty Beach Boys: While not performing quite as apathetically as their youtube videos would suggest, it's a pretty fun gimmick to hear shitty beach boys covers. They were selling airbrushed T-shirts and sloppily painted skateboard decks after the show. That was really all that grabbed me during the day, except for cheap and tasty hot dogs.

The Intelligence: I heard these guys on a recommendation from a friend, bought their album and half-listened to it once with no desire to listen again. I actually didn't realize they were the same band as that album until day of. Seeing them live, I get the recommendation a little more. Nothing too great, but a little fat synthesizer under your garage rock with, god forbid, some legit syncopation worked out OK. Their cover of an Oh Sees song sorta made them feel like Oh Sees lite...

Davila 666: YES. Puerto Rican band on in the red was the first band to really  get me moving. Meaningless, party-oriented, first pounding punk at its best. I keep trying to think of a band that captures the sort of feeling I'm talking about (it's not rare), but if I said turbonegro you'd think jokey and cheesy. 

Thee Oh Sees: Big fan already and they didn't disappoint. I kind of feel like their sound on the albums is a little more restrained than it could be, but it wasn't the case for this show. Big percussive drums for some vicious stomping. Thanks to them and Davila I was wearing a wet rag by the end of the night

Compulsive Gamblers: it's hard to top an Oblivians reunion like last year and they didn't, but the (thinned out) crowd was still very appreciative. I gotta admit, I found myself mostly enjoying the songs I knew, but I think this is a band better committed to record.

Sunday

Gentleman Jesse: People were pouring out of the place with their record and I don't really blame them. They certainly weren't the roughest band at the show but they played some top-notch hook-laden pop punk.

Girls of the Gravitron: hipster shitgaze whatever, but that loud mess of noise was working pretty well for me. Looks like they only have a mostly sold out 7" though.

River City Tanlines: great straightforward rock & roll. I guess my review is as generic as everything else written about them, but I promise it was great.

Tirefire: New Orleans metal band closes the show for some reason. Sure enough,there were Tires and a lot of firecrackers. The whole thing definitely felt like a high school backyard festival full of high school idiots. In the best way.

Magic Kids: sing-songy rock that I had a bit of a soft spot for. I only got to see two songs though

Box Elders: I think their new LP Alice and Friends is all sorts of fun but in a surprising way. They didn't surprise me live too much but it was fun enough. They sealed the deal with a great cover of Teenage Kicks right at the end.

Nobunny: the whole gimmick is that the guy wears a bunny mask. Not a good gimmick to overcome the long and unfunny banter inbetween the songs. But when there was music is was loud, tight and fun.

Cheater Slicks: Maybe everybody was too tired? The place was emptier than it was for the first bands despite Cheater Slicks playing some of the dirtiest, most powerful rock & roll of the night. Those of us still there universally dug it I think. A Great closer