Sasquatch 2014 In Review: Saturday, May 24th

After one long day in the van and three obligatory days of rest Kevin Vanstone is back to review the best of the 2014 Sasquatch Music Festival. From Deap Vally to Tyler, The Creator day two of the festival offered a ferocious follow up to Friday’s opening day

The Bright Light Social Hour Explore The Final Fronteir

Saturday started off with another brutal concert conflict pitting The Bright Light Social Hour against the fast and furious duo of Deap Vally forcing me to split my time carefully. While I would have loved to see Willy Mason, the start to the afternoon was simply too stacked.

The opening to The Bright Light Social Hour’s set was indicative of their sonic direction beginning with “Sweet Madeline” a space-inspired jam that will be on their upcoming album tentatively titled Space Is Still The Place. Incorporating more spatial and atmospheric sounds the quartet from Austin, Texas teased new material that covered new ground while remaining true to the sonic foundation that first caught the ears of listeners.

New band member Edward Braillif gives TBLSH a new dynamic unheard in the previous arrangement of the band, and Saturday’s live preview at Sasquatch was a promising first taste of what is to come on their upcoming record.

Deap Vally Destroy

After capturing as much of The Bright Light Social Hour as I could I bolted over to Deap Vally next door at the Yeti Stage. As I turned the corner past the media room I could hear the lush sounds of Austin, Texas fade away as the raucous duo of Lindsey Troy and Julie Edwards took over my auditory canal.

The duo thrashed through songs from their debut release Sistrionix including “New Material” and the slow-marching “Six Feet Under to the bewilderment of listeners.” As the set burned on two things became increasingly clear. One: looks can be deceiving. Two: the number of musicians in a band has no correlation with their ability to melt faces.

Band Of Skulls Bring It

Later in the afternoon Deap Vally touring partners Band Of Skulls took to the Bigfoot stage to roar through songs from their latest release Himalayan. Just as Outkast did the night before Band Of Skulls managed to blend in crowd favourites of old with new material in a diverse and effective festival set. Full marks for the hard-rocking trio from Southampton, England.

Chet Faker’s Beautiful Flow

In the El Chupacabra tent another talented act from across the pond took center stage as Chet Faker serenaded the crowd with songs from the recently released Built On Glass as well as his clame-to-fame cover of “No Diggity” which catapulted his career.

Crooning into a trio of microphones Chet Faker built up and broken down beautiful melodies while incorporating his signature blend of diverse loops into a robust collage of sounds. To Faker’s delight the dance tent was ecstatic, grooving along with the soulful singer as he sang through track after track, each one with a deeper groove that the last.

Tyler, The Creator Entertains, As Always

Arguably one of the most intriguing sets this year at Sasquatch was none other than Tyler, The Creator. The abrasive but talented rapper brought his usual off-the-rails energy to the Bigfoot stage interacting with the crowd early and often while delivering tracks from throughout his catalogue. Rather than hitting the crowd with the more aggressive and notorious songs at his disposal Tyler, The Creator chose a more festival-friendly set keeping the crowd lively with bangers like “Tamale” as they gorged from his metaphorical palm. While I enjoyed the Jason Derulo gag at the time, I can confidently say I never want to hear his name shouted at me ever again.

Online Editor