Dance, you $#%* hipsters! (Treasure Island Music Festival)

It turned out much better than I had anticipated. I saw lucky to get the tickets from an independent supplier for $15, otherwise I would’ve missed out. The attire worn by the mob was big sunglasses, pastel skirts and pointy shoes. Thrift store galore. Carefully crafted exteriors. Kids that traded their fire to leech at the teet of the widow of “cool.” And dancing was sparse. But that is something that I needn’t be worried about. After all, I was there for the glory.

Day 1 was primarily dance music. Some was great and some had too much of that disco feel. Aesop Rock wandered aimlessly on stage before his set, knowing that he would be a stranger to the crowd. Most of the backpackers wouldn’t spend $65 to see him. It became even more apparent that he was an outsider when the English announcer introduced him as Aesop Rocks. He was great. The deadpan delivery went hand in hand with his reptilian movements. He looked high as a mother…Antibalas was a stream of ethnicity and grooves. I loved how they had each member step out and become band leader. Goldfrapp’s singer had a voice from the heavens but I couldn’t really get into it. Mike Relm, the mash-up master, had lots of personality and some awesome pairings of songs. My favorite: A drum and bass beat with the Peanuts theme and the Pee Wee Herman theme. I tried to see TV on the Radio living up to their elite indie reputation but I still think they are overrated. Still good though. Kinda like Superbad…It is refreshing to see some brothers in an indie band. Justice, who has a bigger buzz than TV on the Radio was groovetastic. Awesome, non-disco, non-cheesy rhythmically unique… What a party that was…

Day 2 was more about rock, and I enjoyed it more. A couple bands got a little bit Morrissey on me but I guess that was to be expected. Tokyo Police Club had their own thing going. Hard to describe. Short bursts of indie pop with a helping of punk rock. Nah, that’s not right. I guess you’ll just have to see for yourself! Morning Benders were awesome. Great sense of melody making and some really cool use of the delay pedal. They tried to remind the audience that they were alive. Okkervil River was from Austin, which made them great multi-instrumentalists. Spiritualized was a deep breath of fresh air. They were from England and had two soulful backup singers. They didn’t rush along simple ideas like sun and god, they stayed inside of them until you could really feel them. Vampire Weekend ruled. Happy, happy, joy, joy. I feel in love with Tegan and Sara. Well actually, Tegan. Girls that rock automatically receive my heart, whether they are gay or not. Oh, and that band Paramore owes everything to Tegan and Sara’s style of singing. Seeing two indentical twins sing the same phrase with the same note, same voice, etc. at the same time sounded great. The Raconteurs were the surprise of the day. I wasn’t expecting much but wow. The songs reminded me of Led Zeppelin songs that have that drunken, sloppy grove that just feels so great (Ex: “Fool in the Rain”). Jack White is way more talented than I gave him credit for. He pulls white-boy soul out of nowhere! Gets all into it like Janis Joplin did. Not to mention the rest of the band, from Nashville, back him up way better than Meg White does. In closing, my faith in indie music is restored. Now if we could just take all the hipsters and put them on an island…oh, wait…