After an amazing first day at Seattle’s Bumbershoot Music and Arts festival, expectations were set quite highly. Dylan, Edward Sharpe, HEALTH and Solomon Burke were some of the first days highlights and so topping or matching the Saturday line ups wouldn’t be easy.

MVRemix’ Bumbershoot exploration for Day 2 began with checking out the Comedy North Stage. Dave Benson began the stand up session with an array of amusing marijuana related jokes on the substance’s benefits and negatives. He kicked off the hour long session, quickly followed by twenty minutes from Kumail Nanjiani, who stole the show. Racist jokes, movie references and an assortment of childhood memories had some audience members near tears, Kumail set the comedy standard extremely highly. John Mulaney (of SNL and Comedy Central fame) was up next and although he had his moments, Nanjiani was too good to top.

The rap highlight of the day came from Jay Electronica who began his side with an ode to J. Dilla, shortly followed by the stereotypical “Real Hip Hop” chant which has become almost formulaic in live rap shows. Electronica however managed to keep the crowd entertained performing songs from his EP and forthcoming album, and as his set wrapped getting everyone on stage.

Rise Against were the first to grace the Bumbershoot Mainstage for Day 2. The hard-rock group brought their music to life with their live renditions and despite the very visible signage, mosh pits were inevitable.

Unsurprisingly, Motion City Soundtrack had an audience unlike anything previously seen for the Center Stage. Their crowd wrapped around the attractions surrounding their little pocket, wildly surpassing their allocated space.

The Broad Street Stage saw a beautiful ensemble with it’s performance by Ra Ra Riot. The music was performed perfectly, but the chemistry between the group, despite fantastic, wasn’t as mesmerizing as the cellist’s skeleton of a cello. A marvel to stare at. Not trying to take away from their music though, but I couldn’t keep my eyes of the cellist, and he cello, of course.

James Cotton “Superharp” Blues Band had the audience at the Starbucks Stage bopping away as the afternoon wound towards it’s end. After a warm up from the Blues Band, the aged Cotton inched his way across the stage, harmonica in mouth, and sat before his audience. The blues sound left all ages grinning and swaying. Later in the night Billy Bragg graced the same stage with the night sky being the perfect canvas for Bragg’s set. The cockney told interesting stories in between his one man band performances, he managed to charm hundreds just with his personality and guitar. His audience nearly quadrupled previous shows at the same stage on Day 2.

Clearly there was a huge amount of hype surrounded Hole’s return performance at Bumbershoot, and Courtney Love definitely didn’t disappoint. Coming out in her signature look and donning a tiara, after a monarch like introductory theme preceded her entrance, the lead singer seemed as confident as ever and performed in a manner to justify that. Touching on new album material and performing “Honey,” “Violet” and her much loathed song to perform, “Celebrity Skin,” her voice remained powerful and her crowd controlling skills excellent. She was at her best. Not to mention her Pearl Jam “Jeremy” cover which she decided to perform for the last time in Seattle.

Mosh pits began and ended shortly afterwards in the Hole audience. It was amusing to watch the angry lesbian rivalries though, as girls tried to push in front of others and were met with violent threats. Nothing materialized, but there was clear tension.

Following her set, Courtney Love proceeded to shake hands with those in the front row of her audience. When met with a copy of “Seattle Weekly” to sign for a fan (a weekly paper which at the time of handing it to be signed depicted Love as a whore putting on make up) she declined the request with a clear, “Fuck no, I hate that shit.”

I was astounded to find Weezer’s set to steal the second Bumbershoot day. The group are far from one of my favourites, but after viewing them perform live, my perspective has quite drastically changed. Their catchy songs appeal to a certain demographic, but seeing Rivers Cuomo run about, jump onto speakers and physically run through his massive audience wasn’t something I’d expected.

Their set kicked off with “Hash Pipe,” continued on to “Undone – The Sweater Song” and moved into other hits, as well as newer material. The group looked like they were having fun, smiling and joking with one another as the set went on. Cuomo often spun the mic stand around like it were a twirling batton, the man just couldn’t remain still. Weezer’s songs had a new dimension added when live. They surprised audiences even more with their encore; a mash up of Lady Gaga and MGMT.

Weezer mentioned midway through the set their love for Seattle, and that it really was the city where in 1994 everything started. There’s truth to that, their “Undone – The Sweater Song” single was picked up by DJ Marco Collins of Seattle’s “The End” radio station and their career went from there.

The Weezer set to wind up Bumbershoot’s Sunday was a great triump, topping that of Dylan’s comparatively mellow/downbeat mainstage finale the night before. Their energy kept everyone captivated for the entire show.

It is impossible to see all that Bumbershoot has to offer. Point blank. Now this is both a great and awful problem. With so many pieces of art on display, hundreds of food and market stalls, comedy stages, film showcases and several stages of concerts (usually with four going or more occurring simultaneously), it just isn’t reasonable to believe you can view everything. And so, you prioritize.

You take a look at the schedule of performances and highlight who you cannot avoid seeing, who you’re interested in and who you can reluctantly go without watching perform. The task is actually harder than you’d expect to narrow down.

The MVRemix agenda for Bumbershoot began with Plants and Animals performing at the Broad Street stage. The group performed to a covered lawn ranging in viewer’s ages. The audience was half stood and half seated as they saw what the emerging group had to offer. Plants and Animals belted out “New Kind Of Love” and “I Want To Dance” so for those unfamiliar with their material, the names were noted.

HEALTH came up next on the Center Square Stage, and after a clearly frustrating sound check for the lead singer at their scheduled time the group’s set kicked off. The Los Angeles band mesmerized the audience, especially a group of teenagers who couldn’t control their head banging, seeming constricted by the “no-moshing” signage. Of course the group had to perform “Triceratops” and “Die Slow.” The stage was located opposite a female trapeze artist riding on a trapeze beneath a female motorcycle rider along a wire. Quite an entertaining display.

Atlas Sound performed later in the afternoon on the Broad Stage. Pushing his vocal chords to the limits and appearing a little intimidated to his audience, the thin man performed his melancholy songs. A huge crowd by the sat watching beneath the view of the Seattle Space Needle with the age old outdoor festival ignorance as people seated on blankets or just spread out on the grass extended their fingers enough to be stood upon and “accidentally” crushed. Clever. Definitely a wise move when thousands are constantly moving.

KEXP put on a special Raveonettes performance that we were lucky enough to attend as the Danish group performed in a small hall live on the radio. It was entertaining to view the KEXP DJ’s getting into the group’s set and the girls’ passion for the music they were selecting beforehand to air.

The State Farm stage was consistently crowded with an eclectic range of performers and an audience that included many middle aged hippies. The Budos Band had a great clique of them swaying, as did the extremely engaging and energetic Balkan Beat Box’ set. The grass was almost eclipsed by dancers whilst both groups performed, and this was definitely the case later in the night when Ozomatli’s Latin Hip Hop fused energy took over.

The 1 Reel Film Festival was also a sight which you had to try and take in. MVRemix caught Love, Marriage and More, a collection of short films on that subject matter. “Dear Roommate” kicked off the short films, a tale about opposite sex roommate rivalry. It was followed by “Fancy,” an unspectacular and short dance number film and then the awkward “Non-Love Song,” a suggestive black and white film about a friendship that to one friend meant quite a lot more than to the other.

Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros stole the festival as far as I’m concerned. The group took the stage about ten minutes late, but from the minute they entered, the crowd (which went on further than the eye could see) were mesmerized. The energy and performance was phenomenal. Lead singer Alex Ebert began the set by jumping into the front of the crowd to sing. He then proceeded to sit at the front and almost serenade the audience with his material. But the man couldn’t stay still, from seated, to running and dancing, the energy was extremely strong. What was one of the most impressive portions of the set was the fact that Alex had to ask how long they had left to perform, suggesting the set wasn’t set in stone. I’d seen him perform earlier and the group seemed quite adaptable and ready to perform any of their songs on request.

As the night was wrapping, we aimed to watch Bob Dylan’s mainstage performance. As the sold out area waited for the rock legend to emerge, line ups formed to get in. We were unable to pass a section because he was walking around the area. The delay, which made the VIP and press entrances remove all pavement visibility (the lines went back quite far) shows Dylan’s celebrity power. What he says goes. Personally, I’m not a huge Bob Dylan fan, but seeing the old man perform his hits was fantastic and his audience showed that message on their faces.

Unlike most people’s Bumbershoot experience, I managed to be fortunate enough to find an acquaintance being dragged out of Bob Dylan’s set. A paramedic under one arm, and someone I assumed was his friend under the other, he was brought outside the Mainstage area. Now, believing that this was his friend accompanying him, I asked the guy what had happened. He laughed, and quipped “Od’ed on LSD.” He proceeded to then use his iPhone to take a couple of photos of my acquaintance before the paramedic placed him against a tree. The next hour would involve trying to get this person that I’d only been introduced to in passing earlier in the day home to safety.

It’s hard to believe that this has been a 40 year running tradition in Seattle, but after experiencing the first day, it’s clear why. The annual event is a fantastic adventure.

One of the best feelings in the music world is a pleasant surprise. Whether it’s a good opening band or a classic track you haven’t heard in a while, the joy that comes from the unexpected seems to resonate more than most. And at the pinnacle of that feeling, is the moment you discover a band that’s more than meets the eye.

Enter DVAS with Society.

My typical method for testing out an album is to give it the “chore” test. If you’ve read some of my other blogs, then you may be familiar with my affinity for listening to music in the shower. For albums, a shower isn’t quite long enough, so I’ll find some time to do the dishes or clean my room.

Why?

Well, I have two reasons.

1) I might actually do something productive this way.

2) If these songs can catch my attention during a mindless task, then it’s probably worth investing some time into. Any record can be enjoyed if you try enough, but find an album that demands attention and suddenly it’s a whole different story.

So with all that said, I downloaded the music onto my iPod, set up my speakers and set to tackle the pots and pans from last night’s chicken.

Here is where I made my first mistake. DVAS will make you dance.

With elements of disco, funk and a splash of 8 bit, you’d be forgiven if you thought you wound up back in the 80′s. Thankfully, this 3-piece based in Toronto keeps a modern feel to it, sounding somewhere in between Daft Punk and Chromeo.

So, before I could even put the soap in the water, I was dropped right into the intensity that is DVAS at its best. The title track that opens the album is instantly catchy, undeniably fun and had me shaking and moving while I scrubbed along. The second track didn’t let up either, or the third. Or the fourth.

But, even though Society had tickled my subconscious, I mentally played it down. With a stream of dance hits right out of the gate, it was just another shallow album right? It’ll be fun to spin for a while but it’ll no doubt lack any depth to remain important.

I was wrong again; the midpoint is just the beginning. After the band has got you worked up and sweaty on the first half, DVAS use the second to show you that they’re more than that. An instrumental like Telegraph takes the upbeat feel of the dance floor and captures it as a blissful, floating feeling. Meanwhile, Back 2 Basix delivers soft ballad love like Marvin Gaye with a keytar.

And what’s truly magical about this album is how hard pressed I am to find a lack-lustre tune. Each song has been carefully pieced together to form a cohesive unit.

Ambient Room is a great example of this. One moment the song is as bare as a vocal track, and the next you’ve got a layered and complex work of art. No hook seems tacked on, no bridge seems unnatural; the song just blossoms before our very ears. The whole process is wonderfully fluid and that’s a tough skill to bring to a track, let alone the whole album.

But that’s part of the beauty with a debut record. Expectations are generally low enough that you can really make an impact with some quality work. I know that it has with me, and I’ll be pulling for DVAS to take this to the next album when surprise isn’t on their side.

Catch DVAS in your town by checking their tour schedule here.

So, when I have one of those days where I bolt out of bed, feeling on top of the world, I know that I have to savour this moment for as long as possible.

And that’s where Planet Telex comes in.

At first it seems like an unlikely choice and, well, I guess it is. Very rarely do we associate “ href="http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/" >Radiohead” with “feel-goodery”.

But this ain’t your average song, and the moment that music kicks in you know you’re in for something epic.

First, the opening keys give you a sense of something big, and the drums flesh it and give it a shape. A wicked moving beat that gets paired with an equally incredible bass line guarantees to get your head nodding.

Then the jittery guitars of the verse and haunting keys in the chorus wrap you into a wall of sound, like a suit of thick smoky armor.

And, to complete that unstoppable feeling, lead singer Thom Yorke gives us a blank slate to play in. He sets up a world where everything we knew is gone and we alone can start fresh; recreate everything.

So, in essence, this song makes you feel like title="It's similar anyways..." href="http://www.google.ca/images?q=mr+stay+puft&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=kbd2TPPRJpG1ngfA76SdCw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CDEQsAQwAw&biw=1275&bih=646" >a giant with ghost armor who has the power to do anything and everything.

And isn’t that what mornings are about?

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I get shit for it all the time with my friends but I have my reasons.

Far too often do I get people telling me “Check out this song, the lyrics are so good.” Usually in these cases I do, only to be less than impressed. Why? Because they don’t make any sense to me.

I know that a lot of times that’s half the point. Lyrics are supposed to be subtle or open to interpretation but I, for the most part, just can’t care. I might be inclined to dig a little deeper if the song is good, but writing is never my primary incentive to listen to a song. If you think that everyone’s going to listen to your song because you have some great lyrics, you’re an idiot. Or possibly Neil Young.

So what I really like to look for in a song is an emotion. I want the singer and the rest of the band to make me feel; to make me care enough to keep listening. The inflection of the words and the way they are sung definitely play into this, but bottom line is always the sound.

That being said, every once in a while a song will get through to me and blow my mind.

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Even though it’s a bit of an older track, I got back into listening to “Do The Right Thing” by band called href="http://www.thedudes.ca/" >The Dudes. Four guys from Alberta who have a great summer rock ‘n’ roll sort of sound. Their stuff is easy to pick up and listen to and it’s no surprise I fell back into the habit during some of the nicer days this month.

This song in particular is especially great in the sense that it’s a quick and catchy. An upbeat sound with some crashing guitars, a little call and answer breakdown; a solid tune all around.

And so it remained in that sense to me, until just the other day when I was showering (ladies, calm yourselves).

I always bring my iPod dock into the shower with me so I can listen to some of my favourite songs while I suds up. Naturally, “Do The Right Thing” came on and, as I am wont to do, I started singing along. Maybe it was the echo of my tiny bathroom or maybe I was just a little more enlightened that day, but I started paying attention to the lyrics bit by bit.

My bedroom’s worse than the Catholic Church /> I let anyone in

And I’ve made time for girls /> From every walk of life and line of work /> It’s nice I’m sure /> There must be something more />

And that’s when I started putting the pieces together. This song that sounded so upbeat really carries the message of a torn heart. A conflicted man between his carnal habits and what he really wants.

My heart’s wide open and I sure was hoping /> You could close it down

It seems I’m finding out /> That loving you girl can be so frightening />

Suddenly the guitars didn’t have quite the same defiant crash as they did before. Sure they’re rocking, but there’s something else to it. It’s almost like a false sense of bravado over an insecure lick.

And by the time the call and answer part came around, it was no longer just a nice breakdown but almost a pleading voice from a drowning soul.

Say my name /> And I will give you anything

Kiss my face /> And I will kiss yours anywhere

Love don’t go /> And watch me lose control />

Now maybe I’m being a little over dramatic, but to effortlessly give a song such a unified feeling in sound and lyrics shows great skill from these boys.

And, most importantly, it doesn’t use lyrics as a crutch. It’s already an excellent track that becomes even greater when the meaning is accounted for.

If all songs function by that principle maybe I’ll come around to paying more attention to the work put into words.

Check out the Dudes Myspace href="http://www.myspace.com/wearethedudes" >here.

At this point in our generation where everyone can and should be treated as equal and therefore live freely making their own decisions, there is still this lingering idea what each race is expected to listen to, way that they should dress, along with speak and so on. Therefore when people who are for example black don’t fit into those boundaries it is sometimes shocking for others to see.

This means that when one of us are seen singing along to a song by the incredible artist Yeasayer people are so taken a back that they find the need to ask about it as if this person is unaware of who they are singing along to. This also means that buying a ticket to a Bring Me The Horizon concert makes the employee at Ticketmaster laugh. It also means that when I buy a certain album such as The Black Keys, or MGMT, the person working at the store has to take a double take from my face to the album as if I’m crazy. It needs to be understood that there is still some ignorance out there to a certain extent. Ignorance that allows me to be looked at as if I possess a third arm when trying to enjoy myself, singing along to Pierce The Veil.

Not everyone knows that occurrences like these happen all the time, and the people who don’t realize it are the ones who probably have accepted that not all black people are glued to watching Black Entertainment Television 24/7 and that many are exposed to different genres of music that we enjoy.

The thing is, there might not even be a specific way in order to open up other peoples narrow minds but hopefully if they keep witnessing more fans like me in the audience for artists that in their little world is unknown to black people it will become more easy for them to comprehend that Hip Hop and R&B aren’t the only genres on our ipod.