CitySol Rewind

So.....I gathered myself Saturday morning and arrived at CitySol by around 1 o'clock, so i wouldn't miss Frankpollis. They put on a good show with solid vocals, beats, and guitar licks. I was disappointed, however, with the lack of a turn-out for the opening bands. What can one really expect from New York hipster-environmentalists though? Frankpollis was at its best playing "Malk" which ended with a fantastic and almost 8 minute long jam, and "No Name," a pop song. They're great. I wanted the FP set to be longer, but it was stellar nonetheless. :)

Following FP was The Budos Band, who ended their set with an odd rendition of Sugarpie Honeybunch, where the chords were a step higher or lower or something and the beat remained the same. The excessive horns and up and down bobbing of the band members was kind of charming at first, (they're from Staten Island,) but after a while the songs molded into each other and became a blob of [dare I say substance-less] "afro-soul" in the words of the one of the brass players describing the group's genre.

These Are Powers came next, and they seemed to be, in the words of my mother, "a lot of show with no play." Comprised of ex-Liars members, we all expected a possibly innovative and exciting set, but the lead singer, a very pretty Anna Barie mimicked that type of Yoko Ono rock art in the 1970s, but...no dice. I left the CitySol stage at this point to go walk along the East River with some friends.

When I returned, I missed OCDJ, but I made sure to be back for O'Death who were fantastic. Their music style is primitive in that it is old-fashioned in a folky sense, but also in that it maintains a haphazard and chaotic flow in all of the songs.
best part: When the audience and the band sang along to Down to Rest:"Baby...Lay Me...Down to Rest..." Everyone was just having a good time.

Sadly, I missed most of the rest of the show. I didn't see Les Savy Fav or Land of Talk. And I saw the beginning of the Besnard Lakes' set which sounded awesome. CitySol was pretty good except for the crazy environmental aspect I think. Charging a dollar for a plastic cup for conservation purposes I found irritating. BUT the music was fun fun fun. Siren's up next!

mp3s:

OCDJ - Pls Stp Th Hstl

O'Death - Down To Rest

The Besnard Lakes - And You Lied To Me

...and if you were lucky enough to receive the Frankpollis 2-track CD, then you'd have those tracks. For now though: www.myspace.com/frankpollis