I'm not a big fan of music festivals. They are usually too expensive, long and far away to enjoy the music.
When I heard that Talib Kweli was coming to a festival at the park around the corner from my apartment (in China, mind you), however, I had to check it out. Also headlining were L.A. based Ozomatli and British techno/trance group Faithless. I hadn't heard of either, but they apparently have a pretty large international following.
I arrived just in time to catch some of the opening acts. Some sang in English, but I found Dragon Tongue, my first exposure to Chinese rap, particularly amusing. They might be the only such group, since they clearly already picked the cleverest rap name I've ever heard of. I realized it's very easy to flow in Chinese, since most words are only one or two syllables, and it's easy to rhyme because every "word" can have up to four different meanings. The only English insertion was an occasional "everybody party," which isn't too different from most American hip hop.
Talib excelled, as expected, but the real surprise was the guy who followed - Yacht, a one-man act from Portland, Ore. He combines the shameless, raw energy of Andrew WK with the quirky beats of MIA and geeky dance moves that scream Napoleon Dynamite to form a kind of bubblegum techno anthem. I wouldn't say he's musically talented, but he manages to both freak people out and leave those who stay to watch begging for more. He's so intent on breaking down the wall between the performer and the audience that he held a question and answer session midway through his set.
Then he introduced the next song by proclaiming that it was a true story, even though the only lyrics are "I couldn't say no, but I learned how." How does he do it? Another song, "I Believe in You," asks some tough questions: "When was the last time you drew a picture/ When was the last time that you touched a leaf?"
I ended up buying his album as a joke, thinking I had just become his biggest fan by default. Later, I checked out his MySpace page, though, and he's in the middle of a two-month world tour. I think Yacht put on the best performance of the night - no joke. Sorry, Talib.
According to TimeOut Magazine, Ozomatli is the "best live band in the world." The MC introduced the band as a blend of jazz, funk and rock. Needless to say, I was confused when all I heard was an hour and a half of typical, boring Latin jazz. I guess they captured the essence of "funk" when they turned the bass guitar up a couple notches and broke out into "rock" when they added some distortion to the guitar on one song.
I think Faithless was pretty good, but it's hard to tell. By then, I was broke, sober and obsessed with writing mean things about Ozomatli to get my revenge on all that hype. Visually, the "band members" might as well be a couple of DJs. They stood on stage, expressionless, while a flurry of blue lights flashed so brightly I couldn't tell what was going on. I think the drummer probably went out back for a smoke at some point.
I learned two things today: Chinese people don't really like music festivals either and (no offense to the mimes) hype is completely worthless. Except when it comes from me, that is. Check out Yacht, he will blow your mind.
