Making Tracks
Solid Sound told through tracks by artists we love
Everyone’s going to get their fill of Wilco at Solid Sound (fest preview) from June 28-30. It’s probably more than half the reason you bought the ticket! But this lineup is stacked with quality from top to bottom, big names and small.
Check out some Hump Day News favorites from the rest of the lineup…
Horse LordsThe lead track off Interventions by Horse Lords toys with you for about three seconds, then blasts off. It’s a cascade of sub-Saharan guitar licks that fall in waves over your ears, accumulating a queer momentum akin to a skipping record. But there’s method in the madness, and a sense of transcendence is all pervasive when the runaway train of guitars, percussion, and mathematical chutzpah hits its crescendo.
Playing Friday (11:15PM to 12:15AM) at Courtyard D
Mary Halvorson’s first name is buried within the title of her album Amaryllis. Coincidence? Or a little wink to the listener on an album full of winks, nods, bobs, weaves, and roundhouses. The instruments supplied by this sextet playing six songs is standard contemporary jazz, but the instrumentation makes chock-a-block, maximalist use of the instruments. There’s a symphony squirreled away somewhere in that song suite. Watch for the vibraphone-forward gyrations of our highlighted track “Night Shift.”
Playing Sunday (3:30PM to 4:30PM) at Hunter Center
Not a song about smoking dope. Nope! Joanna Sternberg brings us a piano-driven folk ditty about putting to bed regrets about the past and having the courage to face the future. Outcome uncertain. There’s a little bit of Daniel Johnston and a touch of cabaret in the world of heartache Sternberg conjures, starring herself as the antithesis of the world-conquering hero. A canny tune with pithy lyrics that will stick in your craw. Off the full-length LP I’ve Got Me.
Playing Saturday (1:30PM to 2:15PM) at Courtyard C
Asheville, North Carolina’s Wednesday builds intensity throughout our highlighted track “Turkey Vultures” by gradually upping the tempo. It’s not rocket science. But the best pop music always sounds slap-your-forehead simple. The Appalachian folk manque vocals of fronter Karly Hartzman lifts the chorus into the upper atmosphere, high above any wafting clouds of wildfires. Shades of Big Thief with Arcade Fire-style energetics and grunge fury. It’ll get you out of your seat.
Playing Sunday (4:00PM to 5:00PM) at Courtyard D
Sweet keys build up to a sonorous and salty country twang from Iowa’s Iris DeMent. What’s the country song about? Heartbreak, of course. But more to the point: Mahalia Jackson, the famed gospel and soul singer. The dividing line between country and soul hardly divides at all. Shout out to Iris DeMent’s shout out of Mahalia Jackson’s “How I Got Over.”
Playing Sunday (2:30PM to 3:30PM) at Joe’s Field
More Solid Sound
Day 1 of Solid Sound at Mass MoCA in North Adams.