Intonation Music Festival - Day One Recaps
By Julene McCoy in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 26, 2006 6:08PM
After baking in the sun all day Saturday, we have some recaps from Intonation’s Day One where the acts ranged from funk to rap to plain old rock and beyond.
First, a shout out to the Vice Stage performers for keeping it all about the herb! From Erase Errata’s lead singer Jenny announcing her desire for some after their set to Devin the Dude’s beautiful melodies extolling weed's virtures in the songs “Mo Fa Me” and “Sticky Green”.
A tad more serious were Chromeo, who play funk and took us back to the 70s. Dave1 and Pee Thug create duets by throwing the vocals back and forth and using a talkbox to manipulate Pee Thug’s vocals. While the short set did have some technical difficulties, we were taken in by their bravado and possibility. Chromeo’s sound and live performance should only get better over time. A couple of the songs we took a shine to were “Needy Girl” and “Destination Overdrive”.
It’s impossible to compare anyone on Saturday’s line up to the legendary Roky Erickson, because no one comes close to the amount of influence or number of performances under their belt as Roky on this first day of Intonation. While listening to Roky’s set, we began thinking about how sound and genre are defined. Roky showed how at ease he is moving between genres, and within them, blurring the lines with each song. From the bluesy “White Faces” and “Before You Accuse Me” to the more psychedelic sounds of “Splash 1”, or even the straight rock of “Starry Eyes” and “Two Headed Dog”, it becomes hard to separate the feel and sound into genres when Roky has so clearly put his mark on all of them and the sound is more defined by him alone. By far, his set was the high point of Saturday, not only because he hasn’t performed outside Austin in decades, but because it reminded us that music is great when played well, not because of its label.
Our last recap of the day goes to Lady Sovereign. The shortest performer in stature, but her high energy and quick flow picked us up after a long day in the sun. Even though she’s rapping from the feminine side of things, we would not want to get on her bad side. “Tango”, a hysterical song about fake tans that proves her ability to take shots at others, and “Public Warning” which shows off her versatility and talent got us up and moving.
After slathering on the after sun products to ease our sunburn, we felt Intonation Day One was a bit slow at times due to either such disparate acts not allowing for a build up in the crowd's energy, or the acts themselves not translating well into the larger, outdoor experience at Union Park. Overall, we left feeling that we not only heard some sounds from the past, but got a glimpse into the future, too.