Cumulus 2010: Part 1

The instrumental music festival two years running opened up last night, with each successive band seemingly one-upping each other with tightness and virtuosity. A young fellow with his pony tail bunned up, named Paintings For Animals, did a 20-minute textural piece using only effects pedals and his voice. It was a performance that evoked the classic "nice try" response.
Cumulus Festival organizers The Luna Moth kicked out the drop-D drone rock jams, with creative touches provided by Levi, the bassist, who did some nice harmonic and upper register looping at times. A plod overall, to be sure. Steve and I can thank Levi and Mark (and Kenny) for hooking us up with entry and all the information we needed to cover this event.
Local heroes Joy Wants Eternity crawled out from a 7-month show hiatus and worked through a bunch of the material they still have yet to release. Despite a bunch of sour notes, no one flinched and JWE clearly are professional post-rockers, no doubt. The new material is certainly refreshing, but similar to their work on the albums they've released.
After the show the fellows talked to us and drummer Emery mentioned how they wanted to piss off all post-rock fans by taking a completely unexpected new direction in music writing. They have recordings on the shelf that they can't decide to release, and the craving for something new seems very strong. Their set was enjoyable, though, and they busted out an old song they had never played before in a live setting, not that I can name it.
Scriptures was bumped up to headline, and wow, they were tight. Formerly This Is A Process Of A Still Life (from Montana), this Seattle version has a new name and a completely new direction, which bassist Jason referred to as "desert psych metal." While the "metal" aspect was seldom, the rest of the description is apt, and the list of styles they would tackle in just one song was awesome.

This band is close to finishing their new record, and wow, I can't wait. It's a gem in the works, people. Lap steel, melodica, slide, thick synth drones, western guitars, arpeggios, and an absolutely stunning drummer make this band very good.