Outside Lands is many things, but a haven for female musicians it is not. Of the top six names on the bill, there is only one woman-led act: Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent. However ridiculous this state of affairs, there's no denying that Clark is a genius who deserves to be at — or near — the very top.
If, like me, you love stage banter and audience engagement more than almost anything else about live music, then Clark is for you. Her rambling, adorkable chatter at a 2009 Noise Pop show (complete with an appeal for people's "jam hands" to clap along) is charming stagecraft — although, allegedly, as rehearsed as the pauses in a Spalding Gray monologue.
For all the conversations people have about infinitely sub-categorized genres, it's sometimes hard to find ways to classify a multi-instrumentalist with a little more finesse than the Grammy's reliance on the outdated term "alternative." Four albums into her career, "chamber pop" sounds a little too fussy and establishmentarian for Clark — someone whose hair Stephen Colbert once compared to Einstein's — but maybe winning an award from the Smithsonian nudges her in that direction. She performed Nirvana's "Lithium" at the band's 2014 Rock And Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, i.e., the moment when the greatly influential guitar rock band was officially elevated to the pantheon. Somebody just canonize Clark already.
Clark is loud, smitten with distorted guitars, and occasionally spooky. "Jesus Saves, I Spend," sounds twee as hell, and she's got a Portlandia credit on top of it, but she falls down so un-self-consciously in the "Birth in Reverse" video that even the most art-damaged scenester would nod in approval. The Dadaist axiom "paint the black hole blacker" (from "The Strangers") sounds like it could be plagiarized straight Yoko Ono's Grapefruit, but in Clark's capable hands it becomes sweet — until she rips apart whatever choral effects she's been layering with some aggressive guitar phrases. (She admitted to Guitar World that she grew up on Slayer and Pantera.)
Weird but accessible, private but given to seemingly confessional lyrics, Clark is an enigma rolled in a fun wig and wrapped in the burden of being the only woman of any stature asked to play Outside Lands' stage.
The Top 11 Acts at Outside Lands 2015
Kendrick Lamar: From Youngest Head Nigga In Charge to Outside Lands’ King (Kunta)
D'Angelo: A Resurrected Soul Finally Makes It to Outside Lands.
Leon Bridges: A Fresh Voice For Old Soul(s)
Tame Impala: Kevin Parker Doesn’t Think His Band Is Psychedelic
Natalie Prass: A Delicate Voice In the Park
WATERS: Summertime On the Water With Van Pierszalowski
Laura Marling: On Stage and In Control
Hurray for the Riff Raff: Socially Aware Music From A Well-traveled Mind
Amon Tobin: A Trip-Hop Treat Like You’ve Never Seen Before
An Outside Lands Schedule Guide For Stereotypical Music Fest Fans
Showing 1-2 of 2
Comments are closed.
