Austinist Festival Recap: 2007 Wall Of Sound

Tacks, The Boy Disaster were arguably the "find" of the afternoon for non-Austinites and Austinites alike, generating wonderful keyboard driven melodies while The Sword were another to draw the now growing crowd with their shout-outs to the fore-fathers of all things metal. We did also make our way to the Third Stage, located outside the "field" although within the confines of the complex. Sound issues marred a disappointingly short set by Denton's Ghosthustler. (Seems like we never get to witness them in full glory.)

For what it’s worth, Spune did send out an apology on the 24th, addressing the various sound difficulties artists and fans might have experienced at the festival. Anyway, after 10 minutes of ghosthustling, we, like many others, utilized the kind policy of in's and out's and joined others in a pseudo tailgate in the parking lot.

As the sun finally faded and the spectators continually increased, we watched Micah P. Hinson fluctuate between soft country sounds and unexpected noise-rock before Brothers and Sisters serenaded us with folk tales and wonderful harmonies. San Francisco's OM supplied long jams of drone and noise at 7 p.m.

Towards (what we thought) was the end of their somewhat repetitive set, the singer even found time to reprimand the Bobby Bare Jr. crew setting up next door to "not soundcheck during our set." As far as we know, the Bare Jr. folk kindly obliged although there were unconfirmed rumors of a middle finger. Regardless, team Bare Jr. waited their turn, and after what turned out to be an excruciatingly long final OM song, the Nashville outfit were able to play their brand of Americana for the patient public.

The Stage One/Two (a-k-a Main Stage) combo hadn't been on track ever since The Sword were "forced" to play an extra song past their allotted time, while the troublesome Stage Three seemed to have lost track of its schedule as well. After a delayed but fine performance by Doug Burr, White Denim provided cacaphonous brilliance amidst moments of precise clarity to fire up the crowd. The band continues to win over fans and critics alike with their inventive garage-rock. We spent most of the Pinback set on our backs, watching the stars over Fort Worth and its skyline. The band's shifting, soothing melodies set to the cooling evening air was replenishing in its own unique way and made for one of the choice moments of our day.

The schedule was nearly an hour off-track now, but fine acts were coming hard and fast in quick succession. Further evening highlights included an eclectic performance by The Books and a thunderous tribute to all things rock n' roll by Lions.

Perhaps the biggest draw of the festival was meant to be Ghostland Observatory, and they were bumped up ahead of Midlake on the schedule, possibly due to their short "set-up" time. We only lasted two songs at that set, instead utilizing the opportunity to go see Sonic Boom and his project Spectrum on the Third Stage. We joined the unsurprisingly small crowd ("C'mon! Ghostland Observatory is playing" is what our friends told us!) and gathered around the Spacemen 3 legend for an performance that was both intimate and inspiring (despite the bleeding GLO sound coming from Main Stage Area.) Sonic and his ally prodded through a variety of noise and beats to produce down-tempo and upbeat soundscapes alike, and found time to cover Kraftwerk's "The Hall Of Mirrors." Score!

Midlake has truly been one of the success stories coming out of Texas of late -- their last album (The Trials Of Van Occupanther) has been hailed on both sides of the pond, and the Denton act's Fleetwood Mac-esque pop-folk blanketed the field for short set of blissful serenades. Each band was requested to drop a song off their set and Midlake gave way to Explosions In The Sky after a brief stint.

The Austin instrumental outfit immediately went to work, creating their traditional soundscapes and fittingly ending the festival best named for acts like them. Unfortunately, time ran out on their epic compositions too soon, and the set ended abruptly but promptly at 12:30 a.m. with apologies from the band, and a mix of discontent and annoyance for the fans.

So a full day of a versatile line-up of Texan and non-Texan acts was over. The verdict? The Wall Of Sound festival is a good thing. As simple as that. Sure there's no need for early bird pre-sales and yes, the crowd at times was smaller than what the artists and promoters warranted, but Lance Yocom and the Wall Of Sound crew deserve full credit for bringing together a segment of Texas' creative community and allowing them to indulge in their own day out. As our town's Fun Fun Fun Fest grows in stature, and with festivals like Wall Of Sound continuing to try, the true believers in the cause can find solace.

Naturally, the shortened sets of the main headliners and sound issues at different times disappointed, even angered some. But as far as we're concerned, a collection of exciting musical talent on display, despite occasional technical difficulties, usually has more pros than cons.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@austinist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By adi anand in Arts & Entertainment on September 27, 2007 10:17 AM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

Jros

If there is somebody from Austinist monitoring these posts, tell your web guy that SlideshowPro is somehow creating an automatic anchor link to the Wall of Sound post every time a new photo loads in the player. It's super annoying as noted above by kenneth1. Not sure why this is happening as I use SlideshowPro all the time as you at Austinist do on a regular basis. But it is totally f@#king annoying and should be sussed out soon.

guest

ha!

guest

as a matter f fact...every photo labeleled pinback is Om, and vice versa. way to BLOW IT.

guest

oh and #38 is credited as OM, but is actually pinback.

guest

photo #29 is credited as pinback, but it's actually al cisneros of OM

guest

#12, you are absolutely right. Why in the world would I go to a music festival to see the three "headliners" who are among my favorite bands? My first priority should be those bands who play two or three times a month in both Dallas and Austin. I mean, I'd have to be a moron to prefer the awesome bands who play only every so often in my city as opposed to the mediocre bands who play every week, right? I guess I don't get my hipster badge after all.

misssteak

Guest #2, there's nothing wrong with hating a band because they suck musically, but being heteronormative and homophobic about it is just ridiculous.

Bring on the gender-bending and bo(y/i)s in tight pants.

guest

Two bands worth seeing at Wall of Sound:

Om

Spectrum

The end.

guest

Wow, so Om sucked, but you went there to see Midlake and Ghostland?

Your opinion isn't worth the virtual paper its printed on, obviously.

guest

Yeah i agree with guest #2 i would rather watch the midgetmen... NOT!!!

Elvis Costello.

kenneth1

Someone pull this goddam post down! It's screwing with the rest of the site & I can't read anything else.

guest

Man, that ghetto picture application that will not work is ANNOYING. From the main page it keeps resetting, centering on the picture app. which is showing a whole lot of nothing right now. Between the jumps when it won't work and the CLICK! CLICK! when it will, I don't see how you guys can live with that thing.

guest

the pAper chAse are new to you? they played austin every week for awhile and are awesome in general.

guest

Exactly the kind of review you'd expect from one of the sponsors of that misbegotten abortion of a music festival. Not only did Om suck, they were ten minutes late taking the stage and then played waaayyy over their set time even though people were yelling at them to get off the stage. Where were the stage manager and festival "staff"? It is inexcusable that the three main reasons for going (Midlake, GLO & EITS) had to cut their sets short. Don't even get me started on the absurdly high prices for crappy concessions, the constant sound problems (including noise levels exceeding the AMD stage at ACL), the absence of visible staff/security or the lack of printed schedules (not that it would have mattered).

guest

"the fans were treated to show worthy of the praise that is bestowed upon them from people who obviously have good taste in music."

Not obvious! Not obvious!

guest

"Can anybody explain to me why Ghostland Observatory has any sort of popularity whatsoever, much less enough stature to deserve a almost-headliner spot at ACLFest?" - Why yes I can. GLO is 2 talented, hard working guys who play an amazing brand of dance electro-rock that was quite popular with the THOUSANDS of people that were dancing and singing along to every word at their ACL 2007 performance. The guys from C3, who put the festival together, saw fit to put them on stage on Sunday after the great Wilco, and the fans were treated to show worthy of the praise that is bestowed upon them from people who obviously have good taste in music. There show was a "sick spectacle" you say? Why don't you try the more toned down Christian sounds of John Tesh. He might be right up your alley...ponce.

GLO Fan

soneal

Confirmed: The Paper Chase drummer really did throw up during their set.

guest

YES!

I have yet to hear GLO but I am sure they suck now.

guest

Can anybody explain to me why Ghostland Observatory has any sort of popularity whatsoever, much less enough stature to deserve a almost-headliner spot at ACLFest?

Their sets consist of a screeching, gibbering man-woman, wailing cacophonically in front of a poncy porkchop-sideburned sidekick in a cape, who is doing apparently not much if anything behind him/her. The mystique of such a vacuous and insipid set is beyond the ability of this rational person to understand.

I remember the first time I saw them, at ACLFest '06, someone in the crowd next to me said: "That chick isn't bad looking, a little masculine though". Indeed, throughout most of the set (to which my friends pulled me. Little did I know the horror that would befall my ears) I was trying to figure that out myself. "Hmm, are those small breasts, or medium pecs under a tight shirt? Do I detect birthing hips?"

The lead singer is apparently the product of a culture where masculinity is eschewed in favor of poncy, delicate men who stuff their emaciated figures into women's jeans, blurring the line between gender.

The entire set was a sick spectacle; It was like looking at a car wreck, repulsive yet transfixing the viewer with its sick spectacles. For three seconds after the first song began, I actually got excited, because I thought they were a cover band for Atari 2600 game music. Now that, my friends, I could actually get behind.

Ghostland Observatory is one of those bands where people simply can't stop talking about their "energy" and "stage presence". Apparently, this is because it's impossible to talk about their "talent" or "artistry", both of which this band is utterly devoid.

No real skill or training in music? That's OK, just dress up in tight girl jeans, scream louder, and have a lackey in a superhero costume twiddle the knobs on some electronics to provide some white noise. Apparently the extra noise and the spectacle of your androgynity more than makes up for any shortcomings you might have in passion or ability.

There is one reason and one reason only that Ghostland Observatory is so loud; It's to cover up the silence and void that is their talent.

Disgusting, zero out of a possible five stars.

guest

I'm glad I didn't drive up to Dallas for this after reading this review and the more scathing review by Austin Powell in the Chronicle.

20 minutes of the headliner?! That's shitty, especially since that's about 1.5 EITS songs.

I did hear that the word "sparse" would be a generous way to describe the crowd. That is surprising to me.