Welcome to our coverage of Capitol Hill Block Party. Below are our thoughts on Day 2 (Day 1 here). More pieces coming daily and look for a photo recap soon!

La Luz

La Luz burst onto the Seattle music scene shortly after their genesis in late 2012, and since then have been riding a wave of instant fame.  Not having heard them, I was excited to see what all the hubbub was about.  For the very first chord, I was hooked.  Ray Manzerek-like organs mixed with swaying three and four part vocal harmonies make for a haunting, gypsy like feel, which I love. They’re definitely that surf rock thing that’s happening, but it’s inventive. La Luz is good but they’re also immediately likeable. The way they laugh and joke with each other while they’re playing makes you want nothing more to be in on the joke Every time they start a song you’re right there with them. They’re endearing in a way the industry hasn’t seen in decades, in a way that hooks an audience and makes them putty in your hands. In the middle of the set, drummer, Marian Li Pino, parts the crowd an simply demanded that a Soul Train style dance line begin, and their takeover of the day was complete. Mark my words, La Luz is not going away.

Chastity Belt

Refreshed and reinvigorated from the La Luz set, I hurried over to catch one of the bands I looked forward to most at this year’s Block Party, Chastity Belt.  The all-female foursome from the thriving metropolis of Walla Walla recently relocated to Seattle, and the move has done them well, The sound is mellow rock with a splash of saltwater for flavor, and I love it.  It’s the jangly, simple guitars, and the laid back groove that make this group undeniable.  Julia Shapiro’s haunting, floating vocal style fold perfectly into her rhythm guitars, with Lydia Lund’s lead punctuates only when and where it’s needed.  With a relaxed, gently rolling rhythm section of Annie Truscott’s soft-attack bass and Gretchen.

Grimm’s airy, open drums, Chastity Belt is actually one of the rare examples of all the great parts coming together as a whole.  Then they sing an entire song about their collective hatred of ponytails sported by the male of the species, and I realize that, to my great relief, these women are not only incredibly talented, but equally fun and humble.  With an album coming out on Aug 13, I’m so glad I wont have to wait too long to hear more from Chasty Belt.

Rose Windows

This is the second time in the last two days that I will reference Jefferson Airplane, but Rose Windows reminds me of Jefferson Airplane.  They also remind me of almost every other band from the 70s at some point during their set. There’s the Doors in the trance-like organ , the early-metal chugs, the jazzy, syncopation of  Jethro Tull, and then four part harmonies of Fleetwood Mac, and then there’s Rabia Shaheen.  The lead vocalist for Rose Windows is not to be messed with, she has incredible control, a warbling, enrapturing vibrato, and as much soul as anyone I’ve ever seen.  They’re not my favorite band, but Rose Windows are talented, tight, and loud, and they’re perfect for the middle of the day at a festival.

Country Lips

I walked into Neumo’s to get a taste of the 4-foot fan they had just inside the door, and was suddenly transported to my childhood in Montana.  On stage, in the most legendary rock venue in Seattle, were 38 cowboys. There weren’t actually 38, but there were 8, and that was plenty. Country Lips refer to themselves as”outlaw country,” and boy howdy do they mean it.  This is “old-timey, good ol’ boys drinkin’ moonshine at the honky-tonk” music.  It’s fast, full, and multi-textured, thanks to (at least) 3 guitars, a bass, a mandolin, and a fiddle, not to mention keys and several thousand other things. It’s a big, full, joyful sound skillfully done, and, where I drunk(er) I may have gotten my line dance on.  As it stood, however, I was  in possession of at least most of my faculties, and resisted the temptation.  It was time for Big Freedia.

Big Freedia

I’m not really sure Seattle was ready for Big Freedia.  A figurehead in the Sissy bounce scene in Louisiana, Freedia stormed the stage and immediately owned the whole damn thing.  With thundering anthems with titles such as “Azz Everywhere” and “Gin In My System” pounding through them, the crowd at the Main Stage was whipped into a frenzy, with audience members following the cues of three uniquely skilled dancers, which resulted in some of the most fun I’ve had at a block party in years.. I cannot twerk (for those of you who don’t know what twerking is, I invite you to our friend YouTube). This no secret.  Big Freedia can twerk, and so can the three dancers she brought with her.  She’s also a master at working the audience, orchestrating call-and-response, grabbing audience members onstage to dance with her, and demanding that everyone dance and let loose, lest she come down here  and show us how it’s done.  It was incredible to see, entertaining to hear, and definitely an experience I will not soon forget.

Land of Pines

I had some time to kill before seeing Killer Mike and El-P so I rushed over to catch the end of Land of Pines at the Vera Stage.  I’ve known these guys for a while, so I’ll not offer a subjective  review of their set,, but I can tell you this: these Sound Off! veterans keep getting tighter and tighter, and their sound has matured a great deal over the last couple years.  Now that Kessiah has returned from New York, I predict that they only get better, and I look forward to seeing them next time they play.

Killer Mike and El-P

“I am so high right now, I want to lie down and call my mommy.”  ⁃ Killer Mike

I love Killer Mike.  I love me some El-P.  This year, I got the best thing ever.  I got to see El-P and Killer Mike join forces as Run the Jewels.  The two are incredible separately, and even better when they join forces.  The sound is straightforward hip hop with no frills to speak of, which works out great, as neither Killer Mike nor El-P need any frills to help them.  The two are master performers, harnessing all the best parts of classic hip-hop and carrying the art form in its most basic state forward.  They don’t rely on hooks or fancy production (though the 3-piece backing them is not to be fussed with either.  At the beginning of the set, Mike shared that he had “eaten a whopper of a weed cookie about 8 hours earlier,” and would need our help to get through it.  This is why I love Killer Mike.  He’s honest with his audience.  He doesn’t need to insult us, or lie to us, or hit us with some fake banter, it’s real, and audiences love that.  El-P is the same (though instead of being “too high” he instead promised to help Mike through the performance, which featured many of the tracks from their freely download-able album, Run The Jewels.  I will give these guys my money as often as they ask for it, and you should too.

Purity Ring

After making an appearance at a friend’s birthday party at Garage, I was able to make it back to Block Party in time for Purity Ring. Having seen the Edmonton-based duo at Sasquatch 2012, I was eager to see what they had learned in the year since we’ve met.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Purity Ring is Corin Roddick, the instrumentalist, who “plays” a tree-like instrument that also controls the lighting.  Purity Ring is also Megan James, whose haunting vocal style gives originally private lyrics wings.  It was easy, dancy and mellow, and it was the perfect transition from Run the Jewels to Saturday’s headliner and Seattle natives, Pickwick.

Wild Cub

While the Main stage was being set up for Pickwick, I ran over to Vera again to catch Wild Cub, a Nashville band that came highly recommended by friend.  These five guys from Tennessee are no joke.  With an upbeat, highly digitized sound based from midi-triggered drums and meandering synths, it reeked of the early 80s pop scene, when bands like Genesis held sway.  Fast, towering pop is easy to dance to, and it was a great soundtrack to a cool, clear night in Seattle.

Pickwick

I love to see a Seattle band do well.  I love to watch them step up the strata from stage to stage at festivals like Block Party, Folklife, Bumbershoot, and sometimes, but not as often, Sasquatch.  It was with a happy heart that I saw the lights swell as Pickwick took the stage among Klieg lights and hanging bulbs.  As they tore into their first track, Myths, from their newest offering, ‘Can’t Talk Medicine,’ the blues influences are very apparent, not just in mood and tempo, but in Galen Disston’s vocals.  It seems to be the feature of this group, and rightly so.  His vocal control is very impressive, and he uses the full range of possibility vocally to articulate the heartfelt lyrics. This does not that the instrumentalists and backup vocalists are phoning it in.  They play together with the soul-joined quality that betrays months and hours and years of practice in small rooms with little to no immediate result. It’s upbeat at times, mellow at times, and even but always powerful, and always drum-tight and perfect.  Pickwick is one of those bands that one could listen to for hours on end, and perfect  to close Day 2 of Block Party.