Forward Fest from the top down: The bigger-ticket acts
If this doesn't convince you to drive to Madison this weekend, nothing will
Cameron Wittig
Will Andrew Bird's man-of-mystery gaze serve him this well in Overture Hall?
If anything's going to convince the stragglers to cough up $45 for a pass to Madison's Forward Fest this weekend, it'll likely be one or more of the bigger names on the roster. (Though there are plenty of "smaller" great bands, too.) In case you're not one of the folks who already snapped up a ticket upon noticing one of the following acts on the bill, here's The A.V. Club's concise guide to some of the big draws at this year's FMF.
Andrew Bird
His classical training and considerable technical skills aside, Andrew Bird attacks his elaborately crafted pop collages with a puckish sense of experimentalism. Live, Bird creates unique sounds via his use of stomp-box samplers, which loop and layer pizzicato and bowed violin, guitar, and his own whistling into a lush sonic tapestry—although Bird played it somewhat safe with Noble Beast, a recent collection of pleasant indie-folk ballads that seem curiously reluctant to wander outside the lines for such a masterful scribbler. But as with anything Bird, there are still some surprises nested in there. (Saturday, Overture Hall, 8pm, with Pale Young Gentlemen, tickets must be purchased separately from Overture's website.)
Low
Low's 2007 album, Drums And Guns, is a disquieting collection of suggestive anti-war songs. It's modern and electronic—more so than Low's usual slow-rock style—yet grittily raw, deriving power without an excess of noise. The "drums" part of the title proves significant in songs that throb and pound with percussion, though there's still a haunted sense of floating in the voices of Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker. Between Sparhawk and bassist Steve Garrington's more rocking jaunts with their band Retribution Gospel Choir, Low's also been working on new material. (Saturday, High Noon Saloon, 5pm, with The Antlers)
Richard Buckner
A reminder that the sneaky affair between country-folk and indie-rock has some solid history, Richard Buckner's been clearing out a dark but cozy place for melodic undertow with his subtle baritone vocals since the early '90s. He hasn’t released an album since 2006’s Meadow, but Merge Records recently reissued three older records digitally—The Hill, Impasse, and Bloomed—available on the label’s website. (Thursday, Majestic Theatre, 6pm, with Blake Thomas)
Atlas Sound
A hazier, softer-focus take on Deerhunter’s propulsive shoegaze, Bradford Cox’s Atlas Sound retains the hushed intimacy of its bedroom-pop origins. Built on chiming keyboard loops, static washes, and Cox’s own sighing vocals, the songs are often as weightless—and slow to form—as cumulus clouds, taking shape only in the imagination. If that sounds frustrating, it’s not: Cox’s creations exist in a hypnagogic state where things don’t have to make sense to be affecting. Also, few performers match Cox’s childlike enthusiasm, whether patiently stacking the lush textures of “Recent Bedroom” or gamely trying a cover of Neil Young’s “Cortez The Killer.” He appears here behind his upcoming sophomore album, Logos, which features guest turns from both Panda Bear and Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier. (Friday, Overture Center Capitol Theater, 8pm, with Cougar, Collections Of Colonies Of Bees, and El Valiente)
YACHT
YACHT is an act given to deceptively sloppy, poppy sounds that slot somewhere between art-rock and electronic dance music. Certain songs from YACHT’s 2007 album, I Believe In You. Your Magic Is Real, bear the disparate stamps of Animal Collective and LCD Soundsystem, and it’s easy to draw a timely lineage that traces the same shape as those of MGMT, High Places, and lots of other quasi-electronic acts bubbling up. The LCD link was solidified when James Murphy’s DFA label signed YACHT and released See Mystery Lights, a new album that slinks and sways in intriguing ways. (Friday, Orpheum Lobby, 6:30pm, with Rory Kane, Das Racist, Baaad Boiz, Purple Crush, French Horn Rebellion, Problem Child, Terrior Bute, The New Loud, Pezzettino)
Ra Ra Riot
Ra Ra Riot's 2008 debut full-length, The Rhumb Line, gallops to a pleasing start with "Ghost Under Rocks" and "Each Year," but before long, that pleasure grows somewhat monotonous. As an indie-rock record that meshes catchy violin and cello flourishes with fitful post-punk rhythms, it'll leave some audiences wanting (though the band has a reputation for being more fun live). Not to say that Ra Ra Riot is gutless or bland: Indie-rock bands don't usually incorporate a two-person string section, and the group bravely pressed on after the drowning death of drummer John Ryan Pike last year. (Friday, High Noon Saloon, 8pm, with Sleeping In The Aviary, Margot & The Nuclear So & So's, Flatbear, Princeton)
Iran
Iran is a New York band featuring songs written by Aaron Aites and guitar from TV On The Radio’s Kyp Malone. The two (and their bandmates) have fuzzed out parts of Brooklyn with Dissolver, a hi-fi departure from their near-decade-long legacy of subtle tape-hiss anthems that alternate between steady American rockers and instant barstool jams. (Saturday, Orpheum Stage Door, 6:30pm, with Fruit Bats, Kevin Barker, BLK JKS, Occidental Brothers Dance Band International, This Bright Apocalypse)
Fruit Bats
Fruit Bats' lo-fi approach and comfy, ingratiating melodies should be plenty at home amid Forward's lineup, but they've also spent the last decade evolving in a rock ’n’ roll direction. Heavy on harmonies and light on haughty attitude, the Portland-by-way-of-Chicago group wanders a nostalgic road led by the only its constant member, multi-instrumentalist Eric Johnson. He keeps up the balance nicely enough on The Ruminant Band, released last month.(Saturday, Orpheum Stage Door, 6:30pm, with Iran, Kevin Barker, BLK JKS, Occidental Brothers Dance Band International, This Bright Apocalypse)
Karl Denson's Tiny Universe
Perhaps one of the most surprising aspects of this year's Forward Fest is that it's welcomed some jam bands into the fold, and some of the more respected ones at that. The highlight would have to be sax-man Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, which mixes jazz, dance, and funk into sweaty jams stuck somewhere between Parliament-Funkadelic and hordes of hippie noodlers—but Denson proves more accomplished and thoughtful than most of his peers. Expect to hear a lot of new material on this tour, as Denson's new album, Brother's Keeper, dropped Sept. 15. (Friday, Majestic Theatre, 9pm)
Denison Witmer
On 2008’s Carry The Weight, Pennsylvanian crooner Denison Witmer’s acoustic guitar-driven pop tunes are colored in by off-kilter string arrangements and surprisingly ambitious song structures, further evidence of the impact Witmer’s pal and former collaborator Sufjan Stevens has had on his work. Still, Witmer’s real strengths are his own, as his delicately powerful solo performances reliably attest. While the charming orchestration found on both 2005’s Are You A Dreamer? (which features Stevens) and Carry The Weight may not be a part of this live show, Witmer’s soaring voice and shimmering chords should have no trouble standing up on their own. (Friday, The Frequency, 4:30pm, with Tyrone Wells, Brooke Wagoner)
