Review: Capitol Hill Block Party 2015 (Day Two)

Following Yin’s hard-to-top set, I decided to wander about the festival for a little bit, sampling a little from the two stages I was allowed access to as a minor. In the process, I wound up catching little bits and pieces of both Meatbodies on the Vera and Wye Oak on the Main. Meatbodies were this crazy post-punk band where all the members dressed like drag-queen-hair-metal-WWF-rejects and played loud, in-your-face rock music, where Wye Oak was a significantly lower-key indie folk-rock duo that I was already familiar with, have never been a fan of and still wasn’t a fan of after leaving their somewhat uneventful live set. Meatbodies, on the other hand, were a pretty entertaining live band with tonnes of energy, stage banter and humour. While I’m not sure I would’ve sought them out by myself, I’m glad I caught the small portion of their set that I did.

Really, though, for me, this was all filler until 8:30p.m. on the Vera Stage, when Kodak to Graph came on, one of my current favourite rising stars in the world of underground electronic music. I enjoy him immensely for his very otherworldly and heady approach to instrumental hip-hop and trap music, and was really looking forward to see what he would bring to a live setting. I was expecting an upbeat, albeit not ridiculously aggressive live set with a lot of subtle moments that contrasted well with the more hard-hitting sections of his songs, which was exactly what I and the sizeable crowd got.

Kodak to Graph’s set was a well-assembled assortment of bass-heavy monsters, mid-paced beat-driven numbers, and pleasant-on-the-ears ambient passages which gave the crowd some nice time to breathe after the pieces that gave the crowd a nigh-incurable case of Saturday Night Fever. DJing on occasion, Kodak to Graph was more than willing to play a couple hip-hop bangers for added energy, much to the audience’s delight. Not too long into his set, it started to rain, not too mildly at first, but absolutely pouring by the end of his set. I couldn’t think of a more fitting enhancer for what was a very moody live set. While many left a while in to catch Toro y Moi on the Main Stage, I stayed for his whole set, because I wanted to see everything he had up his sleeves. It was a really good set.

In a hurry, I rushed through the crowd to the Main Stage to catch as much of Toro y Moi’s set as I could. I managed to catch a couple songs of his performance, all of which were newer songs from Anything in Return and his latest LP What For?. I was surprised to see that mastermind Chaz Bundick had brought a full band with him this time around, all of which held their own and helped the songs along tremendously. Bundick has a lot of charm on stage, and was visibly enjoying himself throughout the whole performance. His 2013 single “Say That” was the closer, a pretty capable cap to the performance that left the audience on a high note.

Somehow, I was able to pass through the clogged crowd to make it back to the Vera to catch a band that I think should be on everyone’s radar, Atlanta-based rock band The Coathangers. A band that, in my CHBP 2015 recommendations list, I said will “punch your face out through your asshole”, that you’re doing yourself no favours by not checking out, and I’m endlessly grateful I checked out their live performance. Giraffage may have taken the cake for the best live set all day, but The Coathangers came pretty damn close to taking that cake, then throwing it on the ground and jumping all over it while shouting out the lyrics to songs that have titles like “Nestle in My Boobies”.

Ask anyone who was fortunate enough to attend it and they’ll tell you, their live performance was nothing short of orgasmic. The three members are God-given performers, with jealousy-inducing amounts of personality, passion and urgency. Their songs are visceral enough in studio, but in person, they feel like getting smacked in the head with a comically-oversized hammer until you’ve forgotten what words mean and can only communicate through moshing and furious head-banging. All throughout the set, the trio would alternate between playing different instruments, rotating in and out between songs, as all of the members of the band provide vocals. All three members were perfect at working the stage and the crowd, constantly capering around the stage and being infectiously fun and playful. See this band live next time they roll through your area. I order you.

Due to a lack of interest in seeing post-punk revival afterthoughts The Kills close out the Main Stage, my night ended with Ghostly synthwave producer Com Truise capping off the Vera Stage, the last of the progressive, forward-thinking beat music producers wave that made the second day such a delight for those in attendance that are subscribed to the /r/FutureBeats Subreddit. Com Truise’s style is a loving hybrid of nostalgic 80s synth worship and modern-day alternative beat music. It’s the sort of thing that I figured would be perfect for a late-night performance, in the dark, with glowing lights everywhere, and with a large crowd where the pavement was turned into an impromptu dance floor.

At the crack of 11:00 at night, Seth “Com Truise” Haley came out, gave a friendly wave to the crowd, and immediately went into a seamless set of nostalgic, warm and groovy electronic music. It was pretty packed from the very beginning, and more only packed in to shake it like a Polaroid picture as the set progressed. The performance itself was pretty minimal, but the surprisingly blunt-force music much than made up for it. The beats felt way harder in the live setting than they do on record, and the synthesizer work was also to be applauded. Many of the performed tracks were recognisable songs off of his two full-length LPs, mainly his debut Galactic Melt.

About halfway into his set, the raining continued, though it was more of a faint drizzle this time around; the type of downpour that feels blissful when standing in a crowd of many other sweaty, super-charged individuals. There’s a certain feeling you get, standing next to the railing, listening to Com Truise heavier-hitting than you’ve ever heard him before, feeling a faint, welcome drizzle coating your body, breathing in more cigarette smoke than oxygen, that just makes you happy to be alive in that very moment.

Your friend,
Jess Casebeer

(To be continued again. Until then, you can see some photo galleries from day two below. Photo credit is all mine.) 

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