Capitol Hill Block Party 2016

DAY ONE

Rumor has it Dilly Dally’s performance at Capitol Hill Block Party’s 20^th Year was the show to see by local record A&R’s. Their record Sore has been tearing through my speakers since it came out last year, so it was a good show to kick off this neighborhood’s summer festival with. Katie Monks, Liz Ball, and band wasted no time ripping into their albums worth of songs, which is centered around the idiosyncrasies of Monks painfully beautiful voice and Ball’s head down rockin’ guitar riffs.  

As the sun set over Seattle I made my way into Neumo’s for local hip hop maven Do Normaal’s set of head in the clouds hip hop. With a DJ playing her beats from a laptop and MPC Do Normaal rapped clearly and accurately from her two Eps. She paced the stage bursting with flow of consciousness raps and already had the people dancing before she left the stage herself and entered the crowd for “Let That Thing (Go)”.

Wild Powwers took the stage next, and set up the city’s best drummer Lupe Flores center stage. Bouyed by a thundering rhythm section including Jordan Gomes on bass, singer Lara Hilgemann caused the crowd to gasp audibly as she tore into six and twelve string electric. Her voice now runs the gamut from spirited high harmonies with Flores, to feral growl.  Not even a lengthy break to repair a broken bass string halfway through the set, and the myriad of music in every bar on the street could get the crowd to break their gaze with the stage.

Security had a heavy presence at CHBP, from stage hands, to local police and sheriffs, and entry points blockaded with cop cars. The festival retained a peaceful feeling despite being one of the most heavily gentrified areas in the city. Known as Seattle’s prime gay-borhood, and arts district Capitol Hill has seen homophobic violence rising consistently with rent prices, but aside from a drunk earlier in the day being tossed from Neumo’s for homophobic slurs towards bartenders people seemed to be caring for each other pretty well.

DAY TWO

Day two began for me with a rousing set from Thunderpussy. Their bare bones rock n’ roll had the day crowd rushing towards the main stage. Their cover of early Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well”, and the party starting tom-tom beat of the song “Thunderpussy were crowd pleasers. Thunderpussy has become a formidable live presence with shows full of, dance numbers, badass custom costumes, and power trio rock that recalls classic rock’s riotous inception.

Up and coming local act Carseat Head Rest was already in command of a huge crowd with his full band. Playing from his latest album Teens Of Denial, Will Toledo fit the part, singing confidently, either fooling a crowd into loving experimental rock, or turning them into tasteful fans on the spot. As with Teens Of Denial, the massive sound system and full band helped his music take on a full, loud sound that was pleasing and punishing at once. As I left the show I found myself thinking, “Wilco, with naiveté”. I thought it in the best possible way.

I have to admit when I ditched the building crowd and escaped to Barboza, Nuemo’s basement bar to see Jus Moni, I thought I was catching a show not many people would know about. I was wrong. The place was packed back to the door and as I entered her band included Porter Ray, Taysean (Kingdom Crumbs), and Stas The Boss (Thee Satisfaction). She sang like a bird through her debut EP –mood-setting, uplifting R&B set to afro-futurist beats, to the delight of the entire crowd.

Outside on the mainstage british electronic producer TOURIST had a mass of bodies the size of two city blocks bounding under his earworm hooks, buzzy synths, electronic bloops, and inevitable, hotly anticipated bass drop.  I was surprised to see him playing mini moog and synth keys live.

After an early evening break at the food truck ranch for frybread tacos, I descended once again into Barboza in time to catch the enigmatic Scott Yoder. Yoder’s latest permutation shows off his classic songwriting skills, ranging in sound from doomed love lounge numbers to dusty road folk Another sexy Seattle crooner with songwriting chops.

Upstairs at Neumo’s Grizzled Mighty rocked out a set of distorted, De Stijl blues. Drummer Faustine Hudson and guitarist Ryan Granger whipped the raucous crowd with slide licks into a beer flinging mosh pit.

DAY THREE

Day three saw pop maven Maiah Manser belting out songs from her forthcoming EP to a growing crowd. Backed by a full band that included wildly entertaining electric cello, her crystal clear singing and artistic compositions set the tone for the day: gorgeous vocal vibes.

Up at Vera Stage SassyBlack performed songs from her latest EP No More Weak Dates. Sassyblack’s DIY songs are vocal runs over polyrhythms that fill a void in pop music where young gay women, who maybe like Star Trek and comic books more than you, can express themselves safely.

My Capitol Hill Block Party ended with a vibrant set from The Joy Formidable. They came all the way from Wales and rocked the hell out of the mainstage.

Words and photos by Sean Jewell