I'm excited about the CHBP lineup so far. There's definitely some names I didn't recognize though. I decided, just now, to quickly and randomly try to find out more about one of these unknowns. Like NUDE, all caps. Who is NUDE [ALL CAPS]?!

NUDE is actually "nude" or "Nude" it seems. And here's how the band is described on Facebook:

Nude - Fearless Generation
Decades removed from the Punk ethos of its own Blank Generation rebellion, Nude’s new recording, “Fearless Generation”, brings the stark reality of today’s burning youth to the forefront by way of stark minimalist, and overdriven synthesized melodies, that are fused with an addictive proto-organic rhythm section. This is done without the whiney doom & gloom overkill themes of the previous post punk generation‘s town criers (ie. Depeche Mode, OMD, etc,). The best example of their survivalist generation’s focal point is that this stunning release was written, arranged, produced, mixed and finally mastered by the group itself. The group’s founders and mainstays, swedish Tony Karlsson and his american counterpart Bobby Amaro have been touring all around the US, Europe, and Latin America. now ready to do it all over. They are accompanied here by Dave Mattera on the bassguitar. The primary influence of Nude is one of Alternative Rock, but one that has been progressively integrated with the remnants of Electronica , Indie Rock, Sonic Metal and a hint of neo- classic punk left from those generations gone past (think The Stranglers with their arpeggiated keyboards). In challenging the industry with backs against the wall, the band has garnered street credibility by way of their culturally diverse fan support in countries all over the world with much success as in: +4.2 million Myspace hits along with +150,000 Myspace Friends, not to forget the additional +5,000 friends on their new Facebook page. With each pass of a “Fearless Generation”, at least one of every previous generation’s listeners will find more than one of the varying themes relevant to their own. And, there lies the beauty, pathos and determination of Nude and their own generation in exploring and defining their own destiny.

Listen to song "Hero" after the jump...

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It's hard to keep up on the hundreds of photos we gather at a weekend-long music festival. It's especially hard when the photographers are as kick-ass talented as Keith Johnson (hey look!), Lauren Max (mmm-hmm!), and Jake Clifford (super-squatch!). Super special thanks to Keith, Lauren, and Jake for all their hard work and sharp-shooting.

• Keith Johnson
• Block Party ends here. Right here in the singer from Dead Kill's wet crotch.

Yesterday I finally saw Battles live FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER! I had heard them live before—while trying to watch Flight of the Conchords at Sasquatch in 2008, Battles' sound was so loud that it floated across the field at the Gorge and drowned out most of the Conchords' set for anyone sitting towards the top of the hill. At the time, it was rather annoying. Had I known they were so fucking fun to watch, I'd have skipped FotC (who I only find sorta funny anyway) and watched Battles instead. They were awesome, as Segal and Kirby have both noted.

Here's what I liked:

1) Watching their drummer, John Stanier. He looks like a cooler Shooter McGavin.

2) The photos of melting ice cream they flashed on their not-so-jumbotrons. Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry—it looked delicious! So many instrumental/mostly instrumental band have images of weird, creepy, and/or sad shit flashing while they play. But Battles? Nope. They're not sad sacks. Battles show us pictures of ice cream.

3) Getting "rained on" with a garden hose. Every 10 or 15 minutes, a security guard to the left of the stage sprayed the crowd down with a gloriously cooling blast of water. It was over 80 degrees. It was very much appreciated.

And here's what I did not like:

1) I GOT SNEEZED ON. The man standing next to me, in an effort to not sneeze on the person in front of him, I suppose, turned his head towards me and WITHOUT COVERING HIS MOUTH, let out a huge ahhh-chooo! Spit flew all over my ear and shoulder and cheek. It was so gross.

Is it just me, or were TV On The Radio kind of a drag at the Block Party? I mean, I was bored. Really bored. My photos are boring too. Am I missing something with these guys?

• Kelly O

• Keith Johnson
• Battles

When Battles played the Crocodile a few months back, their set included only material off their new record, Gloss Drop. I spoke with Guitarist Ian Williams after the show, and he explained that they hadn't quite figured out yet how to play the songs off of their previous album, Mirrored, without departed singer/instrumentalist Tyondai Braxton. Now that they're out on the summer festival circuit, the band has configured their new setlist perfectly for big crowds and maximum accessibility, playing only their most upbeat and danceable tracks. They've figured out how to keep a stripped-down version of "Atlas" in their set, using pre-recorded vocals like they do on all the songs with guest singers from Gloss Drop. They've definitely lost some of the intricacies and interplay without Braxton, but the end result is just as satisfying as ever. Other than "Atlas" and a "Tonto" interlude, the band stuck with the upbeat, sunny jams from their new record, with two large screens playing videos of the guest vocalists behind the band.

The performance was hardly perfect - the band noticeably messed up their loops in "Wall Street," causing them to circle the block a few times until they could get back on track, and the video of Gary Numan for "My Machines" got offbeat leaving Williams to blankly stare at the control booth while he futilely pressed a button again and again - but these were merely small hiccups in an another otherwise exceptional live Battles show. They will perhaps always be a band most revered by other musicians, but their newest material is so simultaneously catchy and intricate it's hard to imagine their set not leaving a positive impression on first time listeners.

Setlist:
Africastle / Sweetie & Shag / Atlas / Wall Street / Tonto interlude / Ice Cream / Sundome interlude / My Machines / Futura

• Jeff Kirby
• Lake

I've been on a huge Lake kick for the last month or so, really digging their new record Giving and Receiving, so I was especially excited to catch their set on Sunday. They are a band that skillfully juggles being adorable without ever seeming gimmicky or shallow, writing good song after good song with some great ones peppered in. The members traded instruments after every song and all chimed in on backup vocal duties, giving their set a full, ensemble appeal with an undeniable Fleetwood Mac vibe. If you missed their performance, you can catch them at Bumbershoot "opening for Hall and Oates." Here is my favorite song they played at Block Party, "Roger Miller."

LAKE / Roger Miller by 7e.p.

Grant covered Federation X dutifully, but I must add how sad it made me to see such a sparse crowd inside Neumos while they played. It seemed like such a good time slot, but everyone was outside watching Explosions in the Sky. Then both bands ended, and everyone came inside Neumos to see Pink Mountaintops, who were about 5% as entertaining as Fed X was. Someday Federation X will enjoy the crowds they deserve. That day was not Sunday.

Sunday started well. Walking to the Block Party grounds, I heard from the Vera Stage a big, outdoorsy, rootsy strain of rock ascending to the sun. I picked up the pace to find out who was kicking so much ass before 2:30 pm. It turned out to be Land of Pines. I heard one more song by them, a beautiful, upward spiral of sound conveying strength and joy in familiar yet unhokey ways. Based on those 1.3 songs, Land of Pines merit further serious exploration.

Over to Neumos to see what infamous canine-lover Lisa Dank was up to, and… whoa, the club was spirit-saggingly underpopulated for an artist I thought had a large local following. Maybe most of the controversial dance-pop singer’s fans were still sleeping off their hangovers. Anyway, she and her two female dancers gamely soldiered on with their C89ish club-diva-zak, even as the beats and bass badly distorted. Toward the end, five males joined the ladies onstage and tried to raise the roof, but nobody really got floored. To be fair, this music is better suited for 1 am, not 2:30 pm.

• Lauren Max
• Lumerians

Lumerians, I’m happy to report, totally lived up to my hype. As great as their debut album, Transmalinnia, is, the songs from it become so much more powerful and wilder live. Tracks like “Hashashin,” “Burning Mirrors,” “Black Tusk,” “Xulux,” and “Atlanta Brook” burst into ultra-vivid life at Neumos, sowing alien vibes and kicking out serpentine rhythms. Non-LP track “Tawazula” featured a staunch dub rhythm under an array of frazzle-nerved analog-synth radiation, and the set-closing, vinyl-only cut “Shortwavefields” sounded like late-’80s British trance rockers Loop covering Steely Dan’s “Do It Again." Therefore it ruled hard—especially for its extended eerie vocal chants and dense guitar-bass-keyboard drones. Lumerians make some of today’s most potent psychedelic music—for mind and body. Only bummer was no “Calalini Rises.”

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• Suzi Pratt

And the masked man is... Steve Manning, Block Party publicist. Manning says: "I think it was my duty as the Block Party publicist to make sure everyone respected freedom. And freedom means being the "bottom" during the Les Savy Fav set. Plus, I almost died!" When asked how he was feeling, Manning said: "I'm actually fine, I was a little sore yesterday but just fine." Did anyone catch you? "No, they parted like the red sea, Tim chastised them after and said something like "You almost killed Freedom!" All I remember was hitting the barrier, getting flipped straight down on my head and looking up at all these faces with lots of concern on them." Steve Manning: Guardian of Freedom.

UPDATE:

• h/t: laviddichterman!

• Kelly O

The highlight for Day Three of Block Party for me was by all means Federation X, and it's not just because I've known the dudes for years. They're still incredibly tight and brutally powerful, even though their members are spread across our great nation (drummer Beau Boyd still lives in Bellingham, while guitarist Ben Wildenhaus and guitarist/singer Bill Badgley have moved to New York, although both of them are planning on moving back to the Seattle area). "We've played six shows in the last five days, and I have two job interviews tomorrow," Badgley tells me just before their set last night in front of a small but dedicated crowd. "I'm glad they haven't talked to me in person yet, because my voice is shot. At least it will seem normal." They start into their set, and it's loud (as I type this, thunder rolls out through the sky above the office). Boyd's drumming is inhuman, and Badgley and Wildenhaus's guitars wind off each other with groaning distortion. The crowd seems to be made up of mostly people who are still swilling beer at 8 pm on Sunday. A bald dude is flailing around with extra glee and violence. The whole audience sings along to "Charlie Jackie Freedom Pride," a cut off the band's classic American Folk Horror, and they play a few new ones I haven't heard, which are more straight ahead and less dynamic than their past work, but also faster. Good luck today, Bill!

• "My eyes... the goggles, they do nothing."

This was the third year Block Party set its mainstage up on Broadway, facing east down Pike. There have been several mainstage locations over the years, but this one seems to be the best location for penning in huge crowds. One problem with this stage placement, however - a problem we've rarely had to endure so far this summer before Block Party weekend - is the glaring sun right in your face during all of the evening performances. For sets by Handsome Furs on Saturday and Battles on Sunday, the sun was positioned just above the mainstage so that it blinded you almost completely when you looked forward, forcing to you have to try and block it away with the back of your hand or some other sort of sun shield in order to see what was happening on the mainstage, and even then it was hard to make out much at all.

This experience raised an interesting question within my group. Who should be responsible to bear the burden of sunshine? For the sake of this argument, assume the mainstage has to stay on one end of Pike St, facing either east or west. On one side of the debate: “The crowd has paid good money to see the bands perform, and, for several of those acts, everyone watching is being blinded and the experience is hindered. The musicians are the ones being paid to do a job; they should have to deal with the sun in their eyes instead of the thousands who paid to watch them. The burden of sunshine should lie on the bands.” On the other side: “People come to an outdoor festival to be in the sunshine. If you’re having trouble seeing the stage because of the sun, wear a hat, block it with your hand, or go see a Goth band inside Neumos. The musicians are being paid to perform, which they may do poorly if they are being blinded by the sun like I currently am. The burden of sunshine lies on the crowd.” So:

This DIY security shirt:

• Timothy Rysdyke

This tee:

• Timothy Rysdyke

This costume:

This tank (obviously the most owned shirt from the Urban Outfitters sale rack):

• Timothy Rysdyke

People piss and moan all year about Capitol Hill, as a neighborhood, and all it's ever-changing this-and-thats... but I just gotta say: Thank You. Sure there was tons of music, but there were also so many old friends, so many NEW friends and, well, the past three days felt like real community. Also, even bigger thanks to Tawa, the Sun God, for finally making it summer.

• Keith Johnson
• Summer fuck yeeeeeeeeee-ah!

• Timothy Rysdyke

How good are you at curling?
I've never curled before.

What's the machine called that cleans the hockey rink?
Zamboni.

Have you ever touched a snow owl?
No.

Bonus shoe-related question! Have you ever been kicked in the face?
Yes. Street fight in sixth grade. In London, Ontario—in my neighborhood. There was some kid from the other grade school and we had some beef and i suspected him of fucking with my mom's house. So we got into a street fight. And he kicked me in the face. But I also kneed him in the face. That was the last fight that I was ever in.

[Identity revealed after the jump!!]

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• Timothy Rysdyke

What's your favorite Christmas carol?
"Carol of the Bells." Because the women in church do this, with gloves. [Mimics playing hand bells.] And they play it in Home Alone.

Would you rather die in an avalanche or an ice-fishing accident?
ICE FISHING ACCIDENT! Because I think you'd die really fast. I want to die really fast.

Do you have any winter skills?
I can make snow angels, and snowmen, because I grew up on Montana. I'm also into ice skating because I like Tonya Harding a lot.

Bonus shoe-related question! Have you ever been kicked in the face?
Yes. I got in this fight with this girl named Jamie in high school and the whole high school came to watch and it was in winter and you know those towns where there's an M in the mountain, like it's the town mascot? We went to that, we got into a fist fight, I gave her a black eye, I got kicked in the face, my cheek swelled up, she scratched my boob really hard. There was a wolverine wound on my boob.

[Identity revealed after the jump!!]

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• Keith Johnson

Ten minutes into Les Savy Fav's set last night, it was unclear how Tim Harrington would surmount the sizable photo pit at the mainstage, he who is known for interacting with/inside the crowd in unpredictable/hilarious ways. The pit proved no match, however, as Harrington was soon down into the crowd, and cheers erupted every 30 seconds or so. From my vantage point, with my several-years' old prescription, I couldn't tell what was up, but later someone said he thought Harrington climbed a tree and entered the open window of an apartment above Emerson Salon, and exited down the stairs of the building carrying a potted plant—which later, regardless where it came from, he sported on top of his head onstage. The band—as always—were tight and energetic, playing mostly songs from their latest two albums. When they started "Sleepless in Seattle," more kids rushed forward. Even out past Comet, everyone was shaking and getting down and looking generally please. Les Savy Fav are a staple for any festival. If anyone can confirm the tree/window story, please chime in in the comment section.

• Keith Johnson
• Tim Harrington and Phil Ek!