Tracklist:
01. Laughing Hieroglyphic
02. 3 Umbrellas
03. Oliver Twist
04. Glass Bottom Boat
05. Ghost of Books
06. Cemeteries
07. Heads Hammock
08. Heather in the Hospital
09. Lucky

Miles Bonny

While listening to the second track on Miles Bonny’s latest release, Incense and Wine, entitled simply enough, ‘Do You’, I was lulled into a false sense of security. The opening track ‘Spiritual Nutrition’ is a consistent, unchanging, and unwavering piece of instrumental relaxation; an appropriate preface that serves as a microcosm for a record that never loses its cool or composure. However, the opener did not prepare me for entering the middle of ‘Do You’. Initially, the bare-boned drum loop serves as the spine of the song, with nothing else save for Bonny’s soulful croon, which is rather apposite considering just how effective the downtempo beat of the preceding track was, but without warning, the comfort of the drum loop is eliminated, and the song relies entirely on Bonny’s voice.

This is an uncomfortable turn of events following a decade that saw R&B all but removed from pop airwaves, and in a 10-year-plus span that saw hip-hop conventions turned to grandiose studio art. 10 years of being conditioned to believe that R&B’s soul was to be replaced with Daft Punk samples and glitch effects; a decade of watching economy and space corrode in favor of autotune and blips and bloops, and all of a sudden, I’m thrust into an R&B song that takes off what little, casual wear layers it had on to begin with. It’s just you and Bonny — no studio magic, no gimmicks, no tricks. His voice is naked in this song-space and I’m there with him and it’s both uncomfortable and revealing. Though he remains guarded through the shield of absurdity his words hold (“once knew a girl named Brie/then I just a ate a lot of it”), it’s the actual moment where he sheds the sounds that create the recording musician mystique and just makes man-made noises. And in this intimate moment, he boastfully promulgates “learned my lessons a long time ago/so now I’m drinking wine.”

Bonny has, in fact, learned his lessons. Born of father Francis Bonny — a renowned trumpeter and jazz musician who lead orchestral sessions for various Broadway plays and recorded with the likes of Max Roach and Tito Puente — musicianship was heredity, and Miles became a student of the game. Exposed to a steady diet of mostly pre-hard bop and 70s soul, the prodigy was indoctrinated into a timeless sound and template for crafting music, one that valued a certain amount of free space and strategic shifting of instruments and influences. These are values deeply ingrained in Miles, as evidenced by his latest release.

Because of his upbringing, it would appear that Bonny is a man out of time. Incense and Wine is comprised of such an eclectic, assorted hodgepodge of influences; none of them being particularly trendy. The Merengue-esque keyboards of the (fittingly titled) ‘Something I Can Dance To’, for instance, would almost haphazardly appear on any of the LaFace roster’s tracks circa the mid-90s, while being drenched in a series of L.A.-Reid-esque production techniques. However, the days when any kid with a great voice getting a deal at the label that made TLC and Toni Braxton is gone, as is a mainstream integration of indigenous Dominican Republic influences, but here, Bonny couples the sound with a thin, blinking electronic beat. ‘Words (I Love You)’ is merely a whirling synth line with the second-generation musician singing “I love you” repeatedly. Though synthesizers are far from a dying instrument, the almost late-70s disco layers of the synth he uses for the song is disarmingly retro, but it becomes instantly contemporary in the hands of Bonny and his use of restraint. ‘Endless Possibilities’ goes straight for the Stevie-Wonder-in-his-prime vein with the soaring “do-do-do” vocals that open and bookend the track along with the Curtis-Mayfield-ian funk rhythm guitar lick, and injects a bit of modernism into the fold with a modified Amen Break loop.

As previously mentioned, Bonny is a product of musicians of a different day and his values reflect that. Miles’ sparse arrangements are placed within large rooms of nothing, which allow what is actually presented to resonate. There is no wasted movement or noise in a song like ‘Number 5′, which is among the most modern-sounding cuts on the album. A hard, bass-y drum beat is accentuated by subtle glitch elements that start and stop abruptly in an instrumental track that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Free the Robots LP, save for the fact that it only introduces a striking portion of synth just as the drum backbeat subsides with only a momentary overlap, much like a trumpet solo would start as the rest of the brass instruments fell silent in his father’s work.

This exercise in economy is seen in the lyrics as well. As discussed previously, ‘Words (I Love You)’ spares the listener from the histrionics of sticky, sentimental, and extremely unsubtle (i.e. leaving no crevice unlicked and no position unmentioned) R&B of its 90s prime. There is tact employed, and though it may seem like a lazy songwriting move to simply repeat “I love you, yes I do, do do do” throughout the duration of the song, in actuality, Bonny realizes that the Babyface method of overwrought poetry mostly obfuscates sentiment and sound.

As the title suggests, Incense and Wine is relaxed, at ease with the lack of clutter and enjoys lounging in a place without distractions, just as some of the best jazz arrangements of yesteryear. Soul and R&B have returned to being a niche (who other than vibe covered the last Rahsaan Patterson release) genre, and revival doo-wop/soul acts like Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings come across as disingenuous at best. Bonny may be the last bastion for R&B, at least, in 2010.

Todd Kearns

Miles Bonny on Bandcamp

Allá:

One way to translate the name of Chicago’s Allá is “out there”, and that certainly applies to their noisy, wandering jamming. A four-piece featuring vocals from Lupe Martinez, their sound is a combination of the Cocteau Twins’ celestial vocals and the relentless eardrum attack of, say, Sonic Youth. Pitchfork Sunday began with a torrential downpour that lasted all of 15 or 20 minutes, so the crowd at the main stage was a little sparse. Mainly folks already camping for Pavement, they were still appreciative, applauding Jorge Ledezma’s solo’s and brother Angel’s ferocious drumming. The frequent jams at times resulted in some miscommunication on stage, but they made do, and they are good enough musicians to recover, putting on a rocking, heavy performance worthy of some of the bigger names who would take the stage later. – Paul Bulow

Best Coast:
Just like Real Estate’s inclusion in the festival on Saturday, Best Coast’s fuzzy surf rock proved the perfect complement to the Chicago summer heat that hovered around 90º the entire weekend. Playing a set starting at 1:50 on the shady Balance stage, it was unclear whether the droves of listeners were there for the music or for the relief from the unforgiving sun, but Bethany Cosentino and Co. put on a show either way, wafting 50s lo-fi vibes through the crowd like a welcome breeze. Playing most of the songs from their two releases this year, Crazy For You and Something In The Way EP, the trio were entertaining and nonchalant, with Cosentino singing at a nearly album-quality level while providing playful banter with the crowd, introducing ‘Sun Was High (So Was I)’ with the declaration “this one’s about weeeeeeeeed” and jokingly berating an audience member for requesting a Wavves song, while Bobb Bruno was his usual dependable self, laying down song after song of infectiously sunny guitar licks without so much as a peep. The crowd wasn’t very into it, which was probably for the best; with constant references to marijuana and a life of leisure, the cloudless blue sky above and beach balls lazily bouncing through the audience, Best Coast offered a laid back oasis to a hectic weekend that kicked off the last day of the festival better than anyone could have expected. – Brian Riewer

Beach House:
There are few concerts you go to where the band’s sound quality is as good as their recorded material, but Beach House managed to pull off this rare feat on Sunday. This accomplishment was certainly aided by the band’s usage of some prerecorded material, but still Victoria Legrand provided near perfect vocal work while sporting a look one could describe as “Carles Puyol’s long lost twin sister”, while guitarist Alex Scally, the lynchpin to the entire operation, performed his usual duty of taking the band from ordinary to extraordinary with his irreplaceable guitar work. Recordings of their set of Teen Dream standards like ‘Silver Soul’, ‘10 Mile Stereo’, and ‘Zebra’ could replace the studio versions on my iTunes and I probably wouldn’t even notice, while their rendition of ‘Gila’ was even better than the version they made for Devotion. Despite leading into Lightning Bolt and falling victim to the weirdest transition of acts for the entire weekend (the second strangest, going from St. Vincent’s female empowerment to Major Lazer’s female degradation, wasn’t even close), and having to fight back the terror of Mordor brewing over at the Aluminum stage and in my mind, Beach House still put on a very good show. Not as good as Lightning Bolt but still, very good. – Brian Riewer

Local Natives:

Local Natives seem to have already locked down the title of hype band for 2010. Their self-funded-and-produced debut has garnered rave reviews (from us included), and their live reputation propelled them into their set Sunday. Relentlessly touring in support of Gorilla Manor has paid off, their trademark harmonies and percussion spot on from track to track. With only one album to draw from, they supplement it with various additions, none of which feel gimmicky: the auxiliary percussion, timely pause on ‘Sun Hands’, and the mid-song freak-out on ‘Shape Shifter’. But what is most striking is their poise. Granted, the Balance stage on Sunday was stacked, with fellow up-and-comers Surfer Blood and Here We Go Magic following, but their crowd was packed. And singing along. That part in ‘Sun Hands’ where everybody explodes? Yeah, that was something else. Rare is a band that on their first release can define their own unique sound with instantly recognizable traits that they seem like they’ve been doing this for years. Local Natives is one of those bands. – Paul Bulow

Lightning Bolt:
If you’ve seen the movie Inception (if you haven’t it’s not a big deal, the reference I’m using won’t spoil the whole movie for you), you probably remember the line Leonardo DiCaprio’s character uses to voice his confidence that Ellen Page’s character will eventually come back: “Reality won’t be enough for her anymore.” In the same way do I look at the music of Lightning Bolt. There are bands out there that make heavy music, that push boundaries, that try to render your eardrums useless with every live show, and then there is Lightning Bolt, a band that supersedes such qualifiers in much the same way the sun does descriptors like “bright” and “hot”. Though simultaneous acts Local Natives and Surfer Blood playing on the Balance stage were a bit of a temptation, there was no way I was going to miss my first chance to see the Providence, RI duo, and sweet zombie Jesus did I make the right choice. When serious publications review a set with “Ah, Lightning Bolt! You’re drilling a hole in my head!” or “HOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHIT”, you know something pretty insane probably went down, and it did with Brian Gibson raining down hellfire from the sky with his demented bass attack and Brian Chippendale tearing up the ground underneath the crowd with his unrelenting drumming. It was quite possibly the loudest concert I’ve ever been to — in an outdoor venue, no less — and though I did watch and enjoy quite a few acts from the rest of Sunday’s lineup, it just wasn’t the same. Other bands just weren’t enough for me anymore. I need more Lightning Bolt. – Brian Riewer

St. Vincent:
I was scared for Annie Clark for a minute on Sunday. The woman looks like she has never once been outside, and I thought for sure that she would just go up in flames as soon as the sun hit her (her bright orange dress didn’t help). But, she made it, and even said that we “deserved a medal” for braving the heat. Hers was a different sort of set, bringing a subtlety and a sheer musicianship that few, if any, other bands on the lineup have. Her band featured a woodwind player, brass, strings, and traditional rock instrumentation, but all with the same six or so performers. What happened, for the most part, was more like a chamber performance, with the crowd in respectful awe, hanging on every smooth and wispy note from Clark. Then there’s ‘Marrow’. On record, it is a standout power number from her recent Actor, but live, it takes on a whole new purpose, with Clark twitching around on stage, beating her guitar, and that unbeatably funky sax riff just taking over. Seriously, there does not exist a proper word to accurately describe that lick. The crowd exploded. St. Vincent (mostly) quietly displayed the most versatility of any band at the fest, and graciously left. It was perfect Annie Clark. – Paul Bulow

Major Lazer:
I don’t think anyone who stood around me had any idea what to expect from Major Lazer. I knew it was going to be dance music but no one could probably have predicted what took place on that stage. The music performed by DJ Diplo was a side note to the spectacle. On the previous evening, Panda Bear sucked much of the life from the crowd before LCD Soundsystem woke them back up. There was no danger of that here with Major Lazer invigorating a willing crowd perfectly setting them up for Big Boi and Pavement. Chinese dragons, ballerinas, an energetic hype man, and two booty-shaking dancers kept things more than interesting. Incorporate a ladder, a bottle of Hennessy, and countless popped bottles of champagne and it still doesn’t tell the whole story. Dance moves that would have made a whore blush were aplenty on the stage as were treks into the crowd via the ladder. This was more about the visual than the aural but it was without doubt one of the most entertaining shows of the weekend and not one that is likely to be forgotten anytime soon by those who saw it. – Matthew James

Big Boi:

By far my most anticipated set of the weekend, Atlanta’s own did not disappoint. Opening with ‘Rosa Parks’ was brilliant as the crowd went absolutely nuts. With Big Boi, the hits never really stop coming and it seemed like he did them all: ‘B.O.B.’, ‘So Fresh, So Clean’, ‘Ghetto Musick’, and he nailed all of them. His new material is great, too, and the fans reacted just as well. When the beat for ‘General Patton’ dropped, with horns and everything, everybody was jumping up and down, hands waving in the air, rapping along. Even though he used a track for some of the new stuff (‘Shutterbug’ included), it was clear he didn’t need it. Just like Raekwon, he found time to bring out the breakers, who hammed it up even more, getting the crowd to yell their heads off for a seven-year-old’s shirt. Most importantly, it was a great set from one of the most creative emcees out there. He even dug deep for a couple of verses from southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. Even an appearance from Vonnegutt to deliver possibly the worst chorus we’ll hear in hip hop this year on ‘Follow Us’ wasn’t that bad. One of the guys almost tripped Big Boi, but he deftly sidestepped and kept going. After seeing Freddie Gibbs straight destroy on Saturday night, it was that much better to see a veteran step up and take back the “set of the weekend” belt. He earned it. – Paul Bulow

Sleigh Bells:
I mentioned in my review of Sleigh Bell’s debut album that “if you don’t have Treats bumping at the next party you host, you’ve fucked up. Horribly.” As anyone who attended their set on Sunday can attest, there’s an addendum to that truism: if you don’t attend a party that Sleigh Bells is hosting, you’ve really fucked up. Though the overriding opinion is that their sound was off, with Alexis Krauss’ vocals buried too deeply in the mix (personally I didn’t hear anything wrong with it, though I was about ten feet from a gigantic stack of speakers so it’s possible my perspective was skewed), it changed nothing about a set that was the most entertaining, interactive, and energetic of the entire weekend. Krauss and guitarist Derek Miller did their part splendidly, melding his ridiculous, soaring hair metal hooks with her alternately sassy and cutesy vocal work in the same manner that has made their debut and collection of demos such a hit. But the most impressive aspect was the crowd, who were ready to lose their shit once the shindig started, a phenomenon you’re not privy to very often in this subculture (just ask Major Lazer, who for many in the crowd had the unfortunate distinction of being “the band playing on the Aluminum stage right before Pavement”). Krauss and Miller were more than willing to give, the crowd ready to give back twofold, and when songs like ‘Kids’, ‘A/B Machines’, ‘Rill Rill’, and the fantastic closer ‘Crown On The Ground’ were thrown down, the combination was electric. The only disappointment was that, as Krauss couldn’t take five steps towards the end of the stage before being showered with a roar of “one more song!”, it was revealed that the relatively green duo had ended their set due not to lack of momentum, but of material. Pity. – Brian Riewer

Pavement:
This was the big reason for many to quickly snap up their tickets to this year’s festival. Pavement didn’t disappoint. Performing a set that covered their original 10 years together, it was like the band had never been away. Bob Nastanovich has always been a figure that came over as a huge fan of Pavement as well as a member of the group and the joy of being back on stage with his friends was clear. If anyone was in doubt as to whether Pavement would perform their “hits”, then any fears were quickly dispelled as they went right out of the gate with arguably their best known song, ‘Cut Your Hair’. Over the course of the 90 minutes, they played all of their gems and it would be a very bitter person to complain about the set list. ‘Silence Kit’, ‘Shady Lane’, ‘Range Life’, ‘Stereo’, ‘Spit On A Stranger’, ‘Gold Soundz’…I could go on. Stephen Malkmus complained of his voice going but he persevered and likely had he not said anything, no one would have noticed anyway. The importance of a band like Pavement didn’t really register until they were gone. Their legacy and aura has grown in the indie world since they went away and even though Malkmus has forged an enjoyable and successful solo career, it doesn’t come close to the magic of Pavement. It has been a long wait to see Pavement back on stage together but it lived up to all expectations. – Matthew James

Allá on Myspace
Best Coast on Myspace
Beach House on Myspace
Local Natives on Myspace
Lightning Bolt on Myspace
St. Vincent on Myspace
Major Lazer on Myspace
Big Boi on Myspace
Sleigh Bells on Myspace
Pavement on Myspace

LCD Soundsystem

07/29 – Melbourne, AU @ Festival Hall *
07/30 – Queensland, AU @ Spendour in the Grass
08/01 – Nigata Prefecture, JP @ Fuji Rock Festival
08/12 – Oslo, NO @ Oya Festival
08/13 – Gothenburg, SE @ Way Out West Festival
08/14 – Copenhagen, DK @ Koncerthuset
08/17 – Ibiza @ Ibiza Rocks
08/27 – Reading, UK @ Reading Festival
08/29 – Leeds, UK @ Leeds Festival
08/31 – Tel Aviv, IR @ Heineken Music Festival
09/04 – Stradbally, IE @ Electric Picnic
09/10 – Berlin, DE @ Berlin Festival
09/12 – Isle of Wight, UK @ Bestival
09/24 – Philadelphia, PA @ Philadelphia Naval Shipyard Pier #1
09/25 – Columbia, MD @ Virgin Mobile FreeFest
09/28 – Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre
10/09 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits
10/15 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl *
10/16 – San Francisco, CA @ Treasure Island Festival
10/19 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex *
10/22 – Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave *
11/10 – London, UK @ Alexandra Palace *
11/12 – Cardiff, UK @ Cardiff Arena *
11/13 – Sheffield, UK @ Arena *
11/15 – Manchester, UK @ Apollo *

* = w/ Hot Chip