The Thing (Part I)

It's been over two weeks...why have I not yet written about The Thing In The Spring?  Life's been busy, and now that some time has passed it's pretty tough to figure out where to begin.  This year's Thing was epic, in both the traditional and annoying new-school context of the word; we saw bigger names than in the past, and overall a more organized and professional-feeling environment.

The Thing In The Spring is a four-year strong, weekend-long music festival in Peterborough, NH that focuses mostly on local artists - from New England and just beyond.  This year the festival kicked off on Friday, May 13th, at the Peterborough Historical Society with Bunny's A Swine - a fun, energetic, and quirky rock band from Northampton, MA.

"Whisky Lotto" by Bunny's A Swine - uploaded by Sameermo

The sound was a bit rough during their set but it fortunately smoothed out for the following acts.  The room in which the shows were held was quite pretty and well-sized for the event, though its acoustic properties presented a challenge to find the right balance of elements within the mix - blending electrically amplified signals with the unprocessed, natural sound coming from the stage.  Up next was Stephen Brodsky from Arlington, MA.  Stephen is a current member of Cave In and former member of Converge (amongst others).  I rather enjoyed his set of processed, slightly distorted, and sampled Guild F-65 acoustic/electric ditties - a unique approach and very well done.  Here's a track from the show...

Stephen Brodsky

The final performance of Friday evening was Flowers & Cream's first ever live set.  Flowers & Cream is a group put together by Thurston Moore, best known for one of alternative rock's most influential bands - Sonic Youth.  Flowers & Cream alternated between performing several tracks from Thurston's new record, Demolished Thoughts, and a mash-up of spoken-word free-form jams.  I know I am the odd man out when I say that Thurston's material doesn't blow me away, but I certainly appreciate his lyrics and what he does.  Some songs resonate deeper with me than others...here's one of my favoites from the evening...

Flowers & Cream

It was a bit surprising, and perhaps ironic, that someone like Thurston Moore, out of all the talent that were to perform during the weekend, would be fighting with a faulty amplifier.  It did, however, set a mood; this is real and raw stuff - there's no primping and pretending, and no rockstar attitudes.

Saturday was a vey busy day.  *Broke: The Affordable Arts Fair was magnificent, with artists from all over the region showing and selling peices of various formats/media - paintings, drawings, knitting, photography, textiles, clothing, jewelry, and much more.  To top it off nearly everything was priced under $50...and if that wasn't enough, across the common you could enjoy some delicious soup alongside a student art exhiibit at the Empty Bowls fundraiser at the teen center.  In the afternoon, Omoo Omoo, a spacey ambient/atmospheric group from Baltimore, MD, performed from the lower rooftop of The Toadstool bookshop, befitting the greying overcast sky.  Their music - droning backdrops supporting various acoustic-style ramblings.


Perfomances in the evening were split between three bands playing early sets at the Historical Society, and two more playing at Harlow's Pub.  I'll cover the first show in this post, and save the second to kick of Part II.  Things got rolling at the Historical Society around 6pm with Dan Ireton from Vermont, aka Dredd Foole.  While what Dan was doing wasn't really my thing, his comfort and presence on stage begged one to listen to his particular blend of folky americana.  Dan uses his voice as an instrument, not only singing words, but to create sounds and accent movements in his music. Following Mr. Foole, was 200 Years - a male/female duo: Ben Chasny & Elisa Ambrogio.  Ben can normally be seen in Six Organs of Admittance, Comets on Fire, and Rangda, and Elisa in Magik Markers.  A big thank you to Eric Gagne for providing this information as I could not find anything about 200 Years elsewhere.  I highly recommend checking out all of their projects.  Megan Roy spun some Comets On Fire for me one day in The Toadstool, and I very much liked what I heard,  At The Thing, Ben & Elisa played a stripped-down, poppy, and interesting set.  Instrumentation included acoustic guitar, electric guitar, voice, and keyboards.

Photograph by Angus MacPherson

Last up was J Mascis, of Dinosaur Jr fame.  J's "acoustic" set was loud and filled with life; he tumbled through several songs without speaking much to us, letting his six strings and voice do most of the work.  We received a healthy variety of melodies and vocal styles, and at times J would employ heavy distortion to belt out a solo.  The difference in volume and harshness of tone was a bit much, though bearable.  Here's one of my favorite tracks from his performance...

J Mascis

J recently released a solo record, Several Shades of Why, on Sub Pop records, and is currently on tour with Dinosaur Jr. You can catch him in Northampton, MA on Summer Solstice - June 21st.

...Hmmm...not my best work, but I'm glad to have Part I finished.  In Part II I'll be focusing on the Mmoss/Coke Weed show at Harlow's Pub, the final show at the Historical Society, and my thoughts on The Thing 2010 versus 2011.  Cheers.