Kevin Bronson on August 25th, 2013

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Dan Deacon, Devendra Banhart, Toro Y Moi, Ty Segall, Metz, Crystal Antlers

• ||| Photos by Carl Pocket

After the jump, more photos and capsule reviews:

DEVENDRA BANHART

You Should Have Been Here Because: He’s more than just a pretty face. Sure, there were plenty of girls who shoved their way to the front – “Oh my god. Look at how beautiful he is,” times a million – but Devendra Banhart didn’t find his way to the forefront of the folk music scene because of his looks. It was his eccentric wit and flair for combining the psychedelia, folk and Venezuelan flavor that keeps both his and his fan’s hips shaking. Contrary to those who believe Banhart’s sets are sleepy, fans couldn’t wait for him to start as they chanted his name over and over until he graced the stage and worked both that distinct quiver in his voice in songs like “Daniel” as well as the stern vocals he projects on some heavier folk-rock tunes. It was a lovely evening set, but it was it far from a snooze fest. Closing with upbeat tunes like “Carmensita” only left fans shouting for an encore.

Downside: There wasn’t an encore.

Postscript: Not understanding anything besides “Gracias,” when he sometimes spoke to his fans in Spanish, was starting to make me wonder if I should start learning some more Spanish.
– Seraphina Lotkhamnga

TORO Y MOI

You Should Have Been Here Because: “No one from South Carolina makes it big other than Hootie & the Blowfish,” said a South Carolina native, who was hanging with me for Toro Y Moi. But the massive adoring crowd, who refused to believe this was the last month of summer, proved otherwise. Far removed from his bedroom days making bedroom chillwave music, Toro Y Moi is one of the few to thank for giving the sub-genre’s staying power. From old songs like “Low Shoulder” to newer tunes such as “Harm In Change” Toro Y Moi’s sonic soundscape has gone beyond the synths and evolved into stylings that ricochet from ’80s funk to disco to electro-pop – and each shift still had fans dancing like maniacs. For those who needed something more lax than Horse Meat Disco but more dance-floor friendly than the Breeders set, Toro Y Moi served as pretty great set to soundtrack the sunset.

Downside: Twenty minutes into his set, the Breeders started.
– Seraphina Lotkhamnga

TY SEGALL

You Should’ve Been Here Because: Mid-afternoon on a beautiful day was the perfect place to schedule Ty Segall, more restrained on acoustic guitar than previous electric-driven sets. With the band parked in chairs for the duration, they wouldn’t have been out of place jamming in a San Francisco backyard, relaxed and intimate with the feeling they were sharing a few songs. Many of them were from his new album “Sleeper,” a more stripped-down affair, but that didn’t slow Ty from thrashing his hair around while seated on “She Don’t Care,” hijacking the drum kit for a bangarang percussion solo, or droning out distorted outros of fuzz. As the set progressed, so did the energy. When they launched into the new song “The West,” the relatively mild mosh pit perked into more of a dance party, with a few concert-goers riding the adolescent conveyor belt of arms, surfing above the masses. And by the second-to-last song, when they kicked off “Caesar” from 2010’s “Melted,” the guitar strumming and the bass soaring, the horde had caught up, with the crowd jumping and their arms pumping.

Downside: The adolescent conveyor belt stopped far short of the beer garden.

Postscript: This set seemed to bring out the ginger-haired gentlemen and the lavender-haired ladies in droves.
– Andrew Veeder

METZ

You Should Have Been Here Because: Metz did as much in the first three minutes to earn its paycheck as some bands did their whole sets. The hard-touring Canadian trio, with whom we first risked ear damage at SXSW, pummeled through a too-short set of hardcore punk – can we just coin “Metzcore” here? – seemingly on the brink of annihilation, either of themselves or their gear. “We’ve been on tour for a year,” Alex Edkins told the overheated afternoon crowd. “We’re gonna pray that shit keeps on working.” It did and the band did, with Edkins noting, “We only have 35 minutes with you … which is OK, since the album is shorter than that.” That album, a self-titled affair released last October on Sub Pop, was highlighted by “Wet Blanket” and “Headache,” and the threesome appended the single it did for Adult Swim, “Can’t Understand.”

Downside: This set seemed to have attracted an inordinate number of moshpit first-timers, judging from the awkward quotient.

Postscript: Bonus points to FYF Fest for laying down rubber mats in the areas directly in front of the stage – in past years, moshpits kicked up such an unholy amount of dust you were breathing the festival for three days afterwards.
– Kevin Bronson

CRYSTAL ANTLERS

You Should Have Been Here Because: You’d think two-time FYF veterans Crystal Antlers (2008 and ’09) would have graduated further up the bill by now instead of being first of seven bands on the festival’s second stage. The Long Beach quartet certainly made a case for higher billing, delivering a powerful 30-minute set that sounded as concise and focused as they ever have. Their indie-psych-blues was at times face-melting, though never quite soul-stirring, and their new single “Rattlesnake” adroitly played the soft-loud dynamic that highlights the band’s instrumental prowess. Maybe the short set prevented Crystal Antlers from engaging in many of the indulgences that have sabotaged previous encounters, or maybe it was just nice to hear a hometown band start things off with “Welcome to the Fuck Yeah Fest,” but on this day they provided an afternoon delight.

Postscript: New album coming in October in Innovative Leisure.
– Kevin Bronson