SOUNDING
now-crowded festival circuit, plenty of them have been criticized for a lack of female-centered acts.
But not Neon Reverb, which boasted an abundance of them.
On Friday, surf rockers La Luz filled the night air with layered harmonies at Beauty Bar, where some enterprising and/or broke fans watched from atop a white van parked in the alleyway.
An hour or so later, U.S. Girls stole the show at The Bunkhouse ahead of headliners No Age. The recording handle of Canadian singer-songwriter Meghan Remy, U.S. Girls swells to stage-crowding proportions on tour, where the act’s funk-heavy noise pop was brought to roaring life by a big-lunged saxophonist who sparred with lithe bass lines and a bed of wah-wah guitar. Flanked by a backing singer, Remy celebrated menstrual cycles (“28 Days”) critiqued some of the policies of the Obama administration (“Mad as Hell”) and let everyone know that, “It’s not your time, it’s my time,” backing up those words with a performance as righteously audacious as her brilliant gold dress.
Oh, the boys had their fun too. Vegas MC Ekoh performed in front of a crowded Backstage Bar & Billiards on Friday, his tongue-spraining rhymes buoyed by unlikely cinematic call-outs (“I’m the only rapper you know who’s dropping ‘Princess Bride’ references in a rap song,” he boasted. Yup.).
On Thursday, the festivities began with an excellent bill curated by
Bad Moon Booking, where Vegas indie rockers Dark Black brought swells of volume and dissonance before Arizona doomsayers Burning Palms crafted grand, slow-building crescendos of sound, their frontwoman Simone Stopford’s voice poised somewhere beauteous and foreboding. Then came Seattle’s Monsterwatch, whose Northwestern garage punk was delivered with such vehemence that it left some of them winded.
“I’m way out of breath,” their singer John Spinney acknowledged at one point. “Sorry.”
No apologies necessary, guy. Outside, the streets were closed for Mint 400 festivities, off-road vehicles idling everywhere.
At first this seemed like a culture clash, but maybe not: Knobby tires and indie rock, both forever durable.
Contact Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow @Jasonbracelin on Twitter.