Mixtape: Bending
Some favorite moments from Furnace Fest, in no particular order:
Witnessing a teen girl's first stage dive. I couldn't help but notice that she plotted the course with her dad during Training for Utopia's set and, at the right moment, ran, lept, twisted mid-air and stuck the landing. One of us.
The smoove-jam improv nestled in the middle of Zulu's powerviolence set. A sweet and necessary reset to the day.
Mindforce vocalist: [In the most New York accent possible] This song goes out to my wife who I’d f***in die for! [band plays hardest song ever]
Mindforce vocalist: This next song goes out to my enemies! I hope you f***in die!
Late-night beers with new friends.
An extremely satisfying stack of pancakes from The Original Pancake House.
I don't remember during which set it happened, but the snarky stage dive judges (with cards numbering 1-10) gave someone who backflipped from centerstage and, this is important, didn't crowdkill feet first, a 15. Well deserved; it was amazing.
Biggest surprise: Ghoti Hook. These goofballs have written tightly-wound pop-punk songs that have held up better than most. Bonus: a kid in a banana costume in the circle pit.
Scowl's Kat Moss, in a shock of green hair, pogoing in a purple figure skating outfit, lookin' like The Joker on ice. (An incredible look and the most fun set of all fest.)
Bob Nanna from Braid is… fit as hell? Honestly, good for you, dude.
Zao, a metal band I never tire of seeing live, closing with "To Think of You is Treasure an Absent Memory," which I haven't seen performed since 1998. (Unable to scream myself, I sang Brett Detar's emo part among the throng.)
A gray hair, perhaps in his 60s, just dancin' and smilin' his heart out in the pit for Silly Goose, a rap-rock band that can only be described as P.O.D., but dumber.
Ryan Clark, the weekend's ubiquitous featured guest, jumping on a Pantera cover with Living Sacrifice.
I’ve seen Turnstile in small- and mid-sized clubs, but not since its blow out. They are so ready for what’s next.
MxPx, far and away, was my favorite set of the weekend. It’s ridiculous how many great songs MxPx has written. And still writes. Both 12- and 40-year-old me were beaming the whole dang time.
A sticker from the Ninety Pound Wuss merch table — New Testament in the streets. Old Testament in the sheets — sorta summing up the band's whole antagonistic avant-garde crust-punk vibe. (Jeff Bettger guesting on a couple MxPx songs felt full circle, too.)
Having an emotional eureka moment during HolyName and, unable to find a quiet place to process, laying down on the grass as an aural clash of Youth of Today and some shoegaze band soundtracked my staring up at the night sky.
Already have plans to rent a ridiculous house with homies for Furnace Fest 2024. See y'all next year. —Lars Gotrich
P.S.: I've written the liner notes to the 10th anniversary edition of Major Arcana by Speedy Ortiz! The album's got a fresh remaster, Sadie dug up some disposable camera photos for the layout and I went down memory lane thinking about the band that made rock music fun again. The reissue is out Nov. 17, but I think Speedy Ortiz has copies on its current tour.
Stream the Viking's Choice mixtape via BNDCMPR. Follow my Bandcamp collection. Tracklist below:
Pidgins, "Data Driven"
Linda Smith, "In Between Days (The Cure cover)"
Salamanda, "Homemade Jam"
TNG, "eve"
Suishou No Fune, "鳥のように飛んで Flying like a bird"
Elisapie, "Sinnatuumait (Dreams) (Fleetwood Mac cover)"
Scream, "DC Special Sha La La"
JJJJJerome Ellis, "Movement II"
Dave Easley, "Fleurette Africaine (Duke Ellington cover)"
Ghost Marrow, "mother of the end"
Speedy Ortiz, "Tiger Tank"
CLASS, "Behind the Ball"
Pylon Reenactment Society, "3 x 3"
Stress Positions, "How to Get Ahead"
Rainy Miller x Space Afrika (feat. Mica Levi), "Maybe It's Time to Lay Down the Arms"
Sun Araw, "Super Coracle"
Gates of Hopeless, "Other Side of the Truth"
Derecho Rhythm Section, "Want It Back"
Taffy, "Passion"
katie dey, "dawn service"
Steven R. Smith, "Ioras"
Lau Nau, "Nukahtamislaulu"
Sarah Davachi & Quatuor Bozzini, "Long Gradus (strings): Part IV"
PoiL Ueda, "Yoshino 吉野(静の和歌)"
Hopesfall, "The Bending"
One Master, "The Forbidden Names"
Siddhattha Gotama, "अकाल मृत्यु हो जाने पर।"
Corrupted, "Mushikeras"