In Bloom Fest 2018 Rundown, Pt. 2: Son Little + Ganja White Night + Grizzly Bear + Velveteen Echo + Wolf Alice + T-Pain + Lil Uzi Vert + Explosions in the Sky + Jerk

And here we are, back again, with Round Two of our inaugural bunch of previews/rundowns/whatevers for the musicians & bands playing at In Bloom Fest this coming weekend (Sat., March 24th, & Sun., March 25th).

Before we get into it, though, I wanted to point to one thing that I saw in the FAQ for In Bloom that kind of surprised me: if you want to bring a bag to the festival, it has to be pretty damn small. The festival is restricting attendees to “small purses and draw string bags,” which can’t be any larger than 14″ x 11″ x 5″…which means my own trusty backpack that I’ve used to haul stuff around festivals for years is totally out the window.

I’m not really sure what the rationale for this particular restriction is, honestly. I get some of the festival restrictions, no question — no drones, no firearms, no drugs, yadda, yadda — but this one I’m confused by, and I’d bet that a lot of attendees who don’t necessarily read everything real closely could run into problems when they try to bring their big-ass handbags and backpacks in to Eleanor Tinsley. Also? While I applaud their attempt to ban e-cigs and vaping…I don’t think there’s a hope in hell that won’t be happening. (Okay, and that probably goes for the drugs, as well, but anyway…)

And with that, let’s do this:

Son Little
When I hear Son Little‘s New Magic, a whole bunch of things — influences, sounds, kindred spirits — pop into my head. First and foremost, I can’t help but think of Ben Harper; he and Son Little (born Aaron Livingston) share a blues-drenched soul sound that’s as informed by jangly roots-rock as it is more traditional soul touchstones, and there’s a similar kinship to retro-R&B performer Leon Bridges, and even a little bit of a laidback, lounging-on-the-beach Jack Johnson vibe.

Beyond that, though I find myself thinking of Stevie Wonder at times and Nina Simone at others; Philly-bred real-live son of a preacher man Son Little’s sound is almost a throwback from the current era of soul and R&B to a time when the “blues” part of R&B was far more of an accurate descriptor. Hell, it’s even right there in the man’s stage name, which sounds like a nod to blues legend Son House. There’s a whole lot of old-school jazz and blues infused into this music, and in a way that’s far more genuine than a lot of what I’ve heard lately.

All that said, Son Little isn’t so easily pigeonholed. For one thing, there are weird little electronic touches that bubble up in unexpected places — which makes sense, given his past collaborations with producer RJD2. Then there’re little chunks of more indie-sounding stuff in evidence, as well, although they’re subtle enough to blend in most of the time, and similarly subtle hip-hop references (is that him namechecking A Tribe Called Quest’s “Bonita Applebum” on one track?) — the latter of which, again, make sense, as what I’ve heard from Little’s previous self-titled album has a lot more of a hip-hop influence going on.

Oh, and he wrote all the songs for New Magic while chilling in the Australian Outback on a guitar borrowed from legendary blind Aboriginal musician Gurrumul, who passed away last year. New Magic, indeed. (Jeremy Hart)
[Son Little plays at 1:40PM on Sun., March 25th, at the Flora Stage.]

Ganja White Night
There was a time when I would’ve cringed at the thought of electronic music in general; I was one of those “that’s not real music” folks who sneered at the whole damn genre just on principle. Over time, mind you, I’ve had to modify that view. Underworld’s Second Toughest in the Infants first cracked through my defenses, followed up by Leftfield and Basement Jaxx and Bentley Rhythm Ace, among others.

With all that, though, it’s really my kid who fully drew me in to EDM as a whole. By that time the shell had actually started to re-form, with my Grumpy Old Man defenses raising against the onslaught of dubstep and brostep and bass drops and crunching electronic sounds; she’s pushed past that, insisting that I listen to things she loved, like Galantis or Skrillex or Madeon or Kaskade or Getter or Slushii.

And in that forced listening, I realized not only that I actually did like it — some of it, anyway — but that my initial “real music” stance had zero merit. An Ableton controller/sampler/etc.’s just an instrument like any other, and it’s all in what you do with it. Sure, a guitar takes talent to play, but you can be supremely talented and still play music that’s utter shit; on the flipside, you can have no real skill or training whatsoever and still make music that’s new and original and amazing. That applies for all types of music, including EDM. Do I love all EDM being made out there? Nah. But by the same token, I sure as hell don’t love all guitar-based rock music I’ve listened to, either.

I say all that to explain why I find myself enjoying the hell out of Belgian EDM duo Ganja White Night, especially new release The Origins. The pair are mostly dubstep, at least to my ears, with all the trademark robotic-sex beats, massive bass drops, squelchy keys, and general air of implied threat, but there’re also some cool almost-poppy touches in there, too, with sweet, melodic vocals, and a nice leaning towards old-school UK dubstep, with its reggae origins intact, rather than the heavier, rawer, American-style variation on the sound. And then, hey, there’s this whole quasi-Gorillaz thing they’ve got going with their character Mr. Wobble, around whom they’ve apparently built a fictional universe of sorts; I can’t help but like that, too. (Jeremy Hart)
[Ganja White Night plays at 8:50PM on Sat., March 24th, at the Ostara Stage.]

Grizzly Bear
Of all the artists playing at In Bloom, I’m most interested in seeing Grizzly Bear. I last saw them at House of Blues almost five years ago, on tour for the cinematic and enigmatic Shields album, and since then, they released Painted Ruins in 2017, an album which I didn’t quite connect with as emotionally or musically.

Maybe I didn’t give it enough of a chance. 2017 was one of those kinds of years where I spent months on end listening to The Beatles, jazz, and very little new music. That said, I’m confident that seeing them play again will help me connect more with the new material, and I’ll look forward to enjoying the old songs too. (Jason Smith)

[Grizzly Bear plays at 6:30PM on Sat., March 24th, at the Bud Light Stage.]

Velveteen Echo
A local Houston band, but one that’s kept a pretty low profile until recently, at least as far as I can tell — hopefully, though, that won’t continue to be the case for Velveteen Echo, because yeah, they’re really freaking good. I say that, by the way, on the strength of exactly two songs and one bizarro-yet-sweet-yet-creepy music video (which I swear would’ve fit perfectly on 120 Minutes back in MTV’s heyday).

Of those two songs, new single “Do You” is definitely the more persuasive (don’t get me wrong, “Grey” is good, too, but it’s pretty clearly a demo, and the band’s still working out the kinks). It’s gorgeously hazy and warm, with bubbling, burbling keys, guitarist/singer/songwriter Lauren Warthen‘s sly-winking, Hope Sandoval-esque voice, understated, echoey guitars, and a ticking, surprisingly complicated rhythm. Put all together, it’s stellar, a pitch-perfect reimagining of the janglier end of the whole dreampop sound.

Oddly, despite the Mazzy Star resemblance, the band I find myself thinking of most is Yale-bred indie-pop band Holiday; Velveteen Echo’s languid-but-bouncy sound reminds me of that band’s 1996 release, Ready, Steady, Go, and that’s a damn cool thing in my book. I seriously need to hear more from this band. (Jeremy Hart)
[Velveteen Echo plays at 12:20PM on Sat., March 24th, at the Flora Stage.]

Wolf Alice
London’s Wolf Alice has been on my “need to see” list for awhile now. They have a shoegaze-meets-punk feel to them that harkens back to my
early 20s. More and more young acts seem to be influenced by my favorites of 25 years ago — Ride, Lush, My Bloody Valentine, and Echobelly, to name a few.

Wolf Alice also fit in well with current acts like The Joy Formidable, Ume, and Sunflower Bean, who have all been in my Napster heavy rotation for several years. I’m looking forward to hearing them as well as photographing them at In Bloom. (Jason Smith)
[Wolf Alice plays at 5:10PM on Sat., March 24th, at the Fauna Stage.]

T-Pain
I can’t figure out a good way to say this, so I’m just going to say it: I really, really feel like I should hate T-Pain. Fair or not, I hold him largely responsible for the evil that is Auto-Tune — no, I know full well that he didn’t invent the damn thing, but he’s one of the people most guilty of the craze of a few years back, where it seemed like every goddamn song on the radio used the hell out of it. I can appreciate the use of the tool in a small handful of cases (Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek” is the only one that comes to mind), sure, but it turned into a music-industry crutch really quick.

That said…alright, I can’t hate the guy. I still involuntarily twitch whenever I hear an obviously-Auto-Tuned vocal bit, yes, but I’ll grant that T-Pain himself doesn’t misuse the sound nearly as egregiously as a lot of the folks who came after him. In a T-Pain track, the Auto-Tune is just like a condiment layered on top of the actual meal, like steak sauce on a good steak, and yeah, last year’s Oblivion really does fit that analogy; I can’t help but like it. The producer/rapper/singer blends R&B, hip-hop, and flat-out pop so seamlessly it’s like magic, and beyond that, it feels like he doesn’t take himself too seriously, which is something I can always appreciate. (Jeremy Hart)
[T-Pain plays at 3PM on Sun., March 25th, at the Bud Light Stage.]

Lil Uzi Vert
Next up, we come to rapper Lil Uzi Vert, who was actually supposed to play FPSF last summer but cancelled just a few days beforehand, giving the reason as “unforeseen circumstances.” No idea what the hell that meant, but I know a lot of FPSF-goers were pretty upset about the last-minute change.

As for me, well…yeah, no, I don’t really get it. Take a look at all the stuff I said above about T-Pain popularizing Auto-Tune and apply it right damn here, because this is what I mean when I’m talking about overusing that particular gimmick. Damn near every track I’ve heard off Luv Is Rage 2 slathers every single thing Uzi says with Auto-Tune, smearing it all into a robotic half-sung, half-rapped mess that repeats the same handful of lines over and over and over again.

The only bright light on LIR2 is “Skir Skirr,” which incorporates some neat old-school video game sounds that I feel like I should be able to identify by sound alone (is that Q-Bert I’m hearing? or is it Dig Dug, maybe?). I’m still not liking Uzi’s rapping, no, but I can definitely appreciate the backing track, at least… (Jeremy Hart)
[Lil Uzi Vert plays at 8PM on Sat., March 24th, at the Bud Light Stage.]

Explosions in the Sky
Out of all of the various incarnations of FPSF/Free Press Music Fest, there’s a special spot in my soul for the now-departed festival’s inaugural year, and Austin’s Explosions in the Sky are a large part of the reason for that. One of the best damn memories I have of that festival (or any festival, honestly) is of crashing out on the hill at the end of the day, exhausted and sunburned and dehydrated and exhilarated, laying on my back in the grass while the crashing, swooping guitars washed over me and echoed off the Downtown Houston skyscrapers. Holy shit was that amazing; it was a capital-M Moment, no lie.

Of course, it helps that I’ve loved the band for years besides — even now, they’re one of a small, select handful of bands I tend to use as a benchmark for epic, majestic rock, with words or without. I can listen to anything off 2003’s The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place, 2000’s How Strange, Innocence, or the band’s incredible soundtrack to Friday Night Lights and immediately feel the world expand out around me, walls pushed out into the distance and stars coming down close enough to touch. Not many bands can do that. (Jeremy Hart)
[Explosions in the Sky plays at 6:30PM on Sun., March 25th, at the Flora Stage.]

Jerk
We’ll close out with another band I absolutely love, albeit one from right here in H-town: cool, strange, bumping-and-crooning pop trio Jerk (or JERK; not sure about the capitalization). I happened to listen a while back to the band’s self-titled EP and was utterly bowled over by their chilled-out, languid, bouncing breed of oddball pop; they’re like the love children of Gorillaz and the Talking Heads, with sneaky, irresistible rhythms, bizarre production tricks like downshifted, ocean-bottom vocals, and a playful vibe throughout.

Sadly, that one EP appears to still be the only thing the band’s released, and that bums me the hell out, because I have to hear more from this band. They’re just too unique, too addictively weird to just be a one-and-done kind of thing, y’know? Oh, and don’t forget about their awesome video for “Accidents,” which I swear is like something Amy Sedaris should’ve done but didn’t… (Jeremy Hart)
[Jerk plays at 11:10AM on Sun., March 25th, at the Ostara Stage.]

That’s all we’ve got right now, but don’t worry, there’s more to come, so keep checking back…

(Photos: Son Little photo by Marc Lemoine; Velveteen Echo photo by Jonathan Mazaltov.)