OK. I have good news and bad news here. The good news is that I really, really enjoyed The Answering Machine’s set. They were a great addition to the fest and as one of the European groups on the bill, one that I’m not likely to see any other way. The bad news is that [...]

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The Pains of Being Pure at Heart were my first convenience/scheduling casualty of Monolith. I arrived too late to photograph them — and by that I mean that I walked into the photo pit, took six pictures (including the two you see here) and was politely asked by a security guard if I would mind [...]

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Man, I always get Frightened Rabbit and White Rabbit switched around. So for that reason, it wasn’t until the day of their Monolith show that I realized I’d been mentally preparing for White Rabbit the whole time. And even though I’m familiar with Frightened Rabbit’s rexord, I really dig White Rabbits. Unfortunately that led to [...]

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Having spent more time with These United States this year than I have with my own family (sorry, mom!), I’ve gotten a feel for the direction their live show usually goes. But like a favorite film or a running gag, they’re an experience that grows in fondness as it grows in familiarity. Their show at [...]

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Doom’s DJ Dr Who Dat let us in on a secret while waiting for him to take the stage on Saturday. He said the he, Doom and Dave Sitek from TV on the Radio would be releasing an album together. I don’t know if this will be his next release or where it’ll fall in [...]

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I’d always heard that Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down were a really good live act (something you might not immediately know just from hearing their last record, though it was very good). Turns out that rumor is completely and absolutely true. Not only do live songs like “Bag of Hammers” sounds way [...]

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As the rain set in, everyone sought out any covered areas they could. Luckily for the Antlers, that included the WOXY stage, which was conveniently located inside of the mountain. But no, this wasn’t a case of people having nowhere else to turn and being forced to watch a band. The Antlers’ crowd came there [...]

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I thought I arrived at Monolith too late catch Roadside Graves’ set, but was thrilled to be wrong. They were playing the smaller stage at the bottom of everything (which I nicknamed the “Inconvenient Stage”) but had assembled a good sized crowd. Everyone standing around seemed to really enjoy their set, and you can definitely [...]

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Got in late last night so I was only able to catch a few minutes of Chromeo before the Cool Kids. They were DJing in the crowded side area of Moe’s BBQ and Bowling, faced with a large and sweaty crowd. It was one of those (many) times where I wished I didn’t have my [...]

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