Capitol Hill Block Party: Sunday

On Sunday at the Capitol Hill Block Party I took my Flip video recorder; since I wasn't allowed to take my nice digital SLR I only got videos. Not that videos are a bad thing!

Land of Pines put on a good musical set, I enjoy their sound.


Lisa Dank at Neumos was fascinating, I'm not sure how to characterize or describe it but it was a perfect Capitol Hill experience somehow, odd possible connotations and subtexts. The performance dropping to the floor and nearly out of sight, classic stuff.


My Goodness had an excellent sound for just 2 bandmembers, wish I got some more of them:


I caught a little bit of both Dunes and Cold Showers but didn't get any video. Dang.

Spaceneedles had an interesting spacey driving groove going in this song, and I love the name too!


Figuring out which bands were which was a little challenging, luckily for me Virgin Islands had their name on their bass drum. I liked the sound and repeated riffs, good energy for an early set during the bright sunlight.


I only got a tiny bit of the Posies, basically an extended end to a song. I wish I had more from them, the Posies are an iconic local band that has been around for an amazingly long time. Talented performers, I need to catch a full show by them some day.


Campfire OK put on a good show, I like how tight they are on the emphasis beats, the excellent control of dynamics, and how they blend the vocals and horn into the overall sound, makes me want to hear more from these guys.


I finally got to see TacocaT - any band with a palindromic name is worth checking out in my book. Fast post-punk with occasional nearly shouted harmonies, loved the sound and enjoyed the heck out of their set. This is one of those examples where I liked it too much and started enjoying the show and bouncing around - the camera work goes to heck. Dave's inverse concert fun rule: the more fun the show, the poorer the video. Sorry!


Battles doing Atlas on the mainstage, excellent sound, really like how the vocals fit in. Another case of too short a video. I finally decided to get a second Flip, this one holds 2 hours, so in the future I should be able to catch more material from each band if I manage it right.


I think this is Lake but I'm not sure. I couldn't find Lake on youtube, and they played the Vera Stage around the right time, so my best guess is that this is Lake.

Loch Lomond played pleasant well arranged pop, the song Blood Bank was outstanding: good harmonies and vocals, the song progression especially the build in intensity without over-amplifying everything, very appealing, excellent performance.


The Cave Singers had a nice sound, the vocals were more up front and easier to make out. The sun totally washes out the band so you can't see much.


Grand Hallway was in good form playing beautiful aching music:


Federation X played guitar oriented rock, nicely distorted guitars, thumping beat, good vocals, well put together. I liked these guys:


I think this may be The First Times, but I'm not sure. I like the sound, the keyboards fit in very nicely and the vocals are excellent. Whoever they are, they are kicking some butt.


Grynch closed out the Block Party at Neumos in fine form. My kids took me to see Grynch a long time ago when I wasn't into hip hop all that much, his brilliant word play was a key part of changing my mind and eventually getting into hip hop.


I caught a couple of the bands at the after show, here's Metal Chocolates:


I also saw Mash Hall, but my Flip was out of memory so I didn't get any video. I would've liked to hear Mad Rad again, but I ran out of energy and headed home. Too bad, they always put on a good show. Still, I managed to catch 20 bands. Not bad for a days work.