Flaming Lips present the Disneyfication of psychedelia™. But damn, it looks good though.
Flaming Lips present the Disneyfication of psychedelia™. But damn, it looks good, right? Travis Trautt

We posted Sean's uniquely insightful overview of this past weekend's Upstream Music Festival + Summit (spoiler alert: there was alot of data mining without a seeming purpose, again). Now, read more about the fest's most noteworthy element: the music.

FRIDAY JUNE 1

RULER at Elysian Fields, 9:15-10 pm
Seattle singer/songwriter Matt Batey's Ruler play classic white-guy indie-rock that's destined for medium rotation on KEXP. They dispatch their punchy, yearning, and catchy songs with an earnest amiability and a hint of melancholy. It's solid bob-your-head-with-arms-crossed music. DAVE SEGAL

EQUIKNOXX at Comedy Underground, 11 pm-12:30 am
Imagine coming all the way from Kingston, Jamaica to perform at a big music festival in Seattle and drawing maybe 40 people. That's what the three members of Equiknoxx experienced in the bunker of Comedy Underground. These sad circumstances didn't dim the enthusiasm of tiny dynamo MC Shanique Marie, who implored the sparse crowd, “I want to see everybody let loose right now!” Her vibrancy contrasted with the stoic machinations of Equiknoxx's two producers, who bent over their gear and generated vital, haunted dancehall mutations and ruptured dubstep that would appeal to fans of the Bug and Rhythm & Sound. Equiknoxx's music is sure enough spooky, yet not without a certain party-starting thrust and boom. A young man on crutches was dancing to it, so there you go. DS

DJ FIRMEZA at Comedy Underground, 12:30-1:30 am
Peço disculpas, DJ Firmeza. A technically flawless exponent of Lisbon's blazing Afro-electronic scene, DJ Firmeza deserved more than the handful of diehards that stuck around for the waning hours of Friday night. But ever the gracious DJ, he indulged with an hourlong set. It started off a bit strangely with a few Bob Marley tracks that were an incongruous segue from Equiknoxx, who are about as far as one can get from One Love and still be considered in the reggae/dancehall universe, but Firmeza eventually hit his stride as he finessed the mixer for tight cuts and perfectly timed adjustments to tweak everything from a kuduro remix of Michael Jackson to the latest club bangers out of Angola-via-Lisbon's immigrant rich suburbs. The Portuguese capital's Príncipe Records is one of the most exciting labels in electronic music, not that enough Seattleites seem hip to that fact. But a big obrigado to Orphan for the curatorial prowess to bring a talent like Firmeza to town. GREG SCRUGGS

SATURDAY JUNE 2

NOEL BRASS JR. at Buttnick Stage, 7:45-8:30 pm
Afrocop and Select Level keyboardist Noel Brass Jr. provided perhaps the most un-music-festival-like music of Upstream with his ambient Nord meditations that evoked fusion's spaciest inclinations—and that's partially why it's so special. His fluorescent fibrillations, oneiric swirls, crystalline smears, and holy warbles are fit for sermons at the Church of Herbie Hancock and Joe Zawinul, or perhaps the Mosque of Jimmy McGriff and Tangerine Dream. The crowd was rapt. DS

TINY VIPERS at Buttnick Stage, 10:15-11 pm
Tiny Vipers (Seattle's Jesy Fortino) continues her transformation into a synth-drone-based troubadour, as evidenced by her outstanding Laughter album on Ba Da Bing! Records. Using her trusty Roland, she produced intense chord clusters in the vein of German cosmic courier Peter Michael Hamel, while also composing art songs of morose gravity. Closing her eyes and entering her own private universe, Tiny Vipers summoned music that was pregnant with poignancy, even when it approached a stern jolliness. And here's some news: Today Fortino leaves for Berlin to record an album with renowned German neo-classical/electronic-music composer Nils Frahm. Whoa... DS

VISIBLE CLOAKS at Buttnick Stage, 11:30 pm-12:30 am
Portland duo Visible Cloaks make music for airports whose planes take you to places not found on any map. Their sound is a species of originless, Cubist exotica that glints like op-art mobiles in a CGI-generated rainforest. Using what sounds like bamboo vibes and an electronic wind instrument along with computers, Visible Cloaks magicked a set full of fragmented wonder and glassy weirdness before about 30 reverent punters. One doesn't expect lulling mellifluity at a sprawling music festival, but one will take it with gusto if it's there. DS

SUNDAY JUNE 3

ALCORDO, at 13 Coins, 8-8:45 pm
This is what Upstream is all about: During a break between shows I knew I wanted to see, popping into a venue with zero knowledge about the artist on stage, but placing my trust in the curator because I know they book good shit. Enter International Girl Gang, which brought in alcordo, a 22-year-old R&B singer from Toronto whose everyday voice gives zero indication she possesses such a powerful set of vocal chords for soulful renditions of love-and-loss with lines like "stop bullshitting me baby." With a sparse setup—just a laptop offering backing beats and a solo guitarist to flavor the sound—alcordo's voice more than carried the room. The Filipina-Canadian up-and-comer got a coveted nod from LA tastemaker's Soulection, the same label that put out an early release by Seattle's very own Sango and helped rocket his career. With the neo-soul/R&B sound that seems to thrive in 21st century Seattle—witness SassyBlack, Taylar Elizza Beth—alcordo would fit right in. If Amazon HQ2 ends up in Toronto and destroys the city, somehow magically restoring Seattle to its older, cheaper ways, she could come on over. We've got mad Filipino heritage to boot. GS

DJ NHK GUY at Comedy Underground, 8-9 pm
Once again a DJ at Upstream was faced with the challenge of playing to a small gathering, and once again a DJ proceeded as if performing in a packed megaclub. DJ NHK Guy started his set with a smooth-jazz/mellow-R&B smoocher before jetting into hi-NRG offerings full of jittery snares and pneumatic kicks. His quick, exciting transitions often moved with surprising tempo changes. The helium-voiced divas singing over pre-coital, coketronic, slightly-left-of-center party jams got everybody moving... except your note-taking slogger. DS

Tres Leches
Tres Leches Travis Trautt

TRES LECHES at Central Saloon, 8:30-9:15 pm
I caught the last five songs of local trio Tres Leches, and I'm very glad I did. They reminded me of Come On Pilgrim-era Pixies with their feral, form-shattering songs that still maintain catchiness while flirting with chaos. Tacocat vocalist/ex-Stranger music editor Emily Nokes was in the crowd front and center, exuding number-one-fan vibes. DS

MONSIEUR PERINÉ, Zócalo Heineken Hacienda, 9:45-10:45 pm
The perfect storm for a perfect show. An out of town act that tours constantly and has an extremely tight live show making its Seattle debut, a passionate crowd that knows the music and is eager to support a Colombian artist on the road far from home, a sound system finely tuned not to drown out the vocals despite the makeshift setup in a restaurant, and a damn fine mezcal cocktail in my hand (if only the price weren't so salty). Monsieur Periné is a boisterous eight-piece putting a contemporary spin on Colombian folkloric music. They barely fit on the Zócalo stage, which was bursting with instruments—easy-to-recognize guitar, bass, clarinet, saxophone, and trombone, but also obscure ones like cavaquinho, ronroco, and a trumpet violin.

Cloaked in a feathery frock, Catalina Garcia kept quiet as the group began with an extended instrumental intro reminiscent of Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, then turned on the charm as she led them through nearly every track on latest release, Encanto Tropical, which varies from upbeat brass to plucky ragtime swing to polyrhythmic Afro-Caribbean fusion. Fans clad in Colombian fútbol jerseys sang along to every word and danced with their partners in front of centerstage, reminding me of the rabid Colombianos who come out to every Bomba Estéreo show in Seattle. (It may be a facile comparison of alternative Latin acts that have broken through in the U.S., but Monsieur Periné sounds like the love child of Bomba and LA Chicano band Las Cafeteras.) It was the rare live show I enjoyed better than the studio recording. GS

THE FLAMING LIPS at Sound Lot Main Stage, 9:30-11 pm
If the Flaming Lips put as much thought and effort into their music as they do their props, light show, and front man Wayne Coyne's wardrobe, this review would be much more positive. Sorry to be a minority dissenter on this point, but everything I wrote in this recap of the Lips' 2013 Capitol Hill Block Party show applies to their Upstream extravaganza. The Disneyfication of psychedelia™ continues apace in Coynelandia.

Not gonna lie: Even the grimmest curmudgeon can't not be impressed by the cascades and clouds of magentas, reds, blues, and neon greens exploding on the massive screen behind the band. And the silver FUCK YEAH SEATTLE inflatable was a classy touch. And the big-ass balloons and glitter confetti, the huge hands that shoot lasers during a talk-box-enhanced “Star Spangled Banner,” the huge robot Yoshimi battles and the transparent orb in which Coyne sings David Bowie's “Space Oddity”—all of that proved that the Lips give good photo ops. But musically, schmaltz has replaced terror, high fructose corn syrup has replaced LSD. Flaming Lips mostly ignore the songs from their first and best decade, emphasizing the maudlin bombast of their post-Zaireeka material. Anyone who wants to be hit to death in the future head by the Lips these days is shit outta luck. DS

LUSINE, Comedy Underground, 11 pm-midnight
Nothing like a hometown hero to close out the festival, as the Seattle-based Ghostly Recordings artist Lusine kept the party going for The Flaming Lips devotees who dragged their inflatable balloons, Santa Claus outfits, and other assorted shiny weirdness to the Comedy Underground basement. With barely a trace of vocals in an hourlong set, Lusine navigated through the kind of intellectual electronic music that is Ghostly's stock-in-trade—far less soulful than Detroit's techno roots, but somehow well suited to the Pacific Northwest climate and demographic. (Read: It's pasty white people music, but guilty as charged.) A live setup with a Midi controller and mixer linked to the Ableton music production/performance software gave the show an improvisational feel, abetted by a live drummer who kept time and punched up the machine drums with some human banging on the kit. Friday night's audio disappointment in the 'Underground seemed to have righted itself and the volume was full blast for a crisp serving of beats ripe for self-expression on the dance floor. GS