This is my first year blogging/tweeting festival coverage - I even registered a Twitter account yesterday, so feel free to follow me (@dmfriesen) for live coverage.

I started this year’s Sled Island by going to Tubby Dog, excited to catch sets from two of my favourite bands in Canada. First up was a set from Halifax’s Play Guitar, possibly the most aptly-named band playing the festival this year—the four-piece’s songs are packed with tuneful and interesting, often intertwined guitar lines, the likes of which I haven’t really heard since the halcyon days of guitar-based indie rock (bands like Polvo, Swirlies, maybe mix those with Television). Their set was energetic and packed with several new songs (a few set to be released on Noyes Records’ upcoming vinyl singles series, PG’s frontman Christian Simmons told me), and was a fantastic way to kick off the festival.

 Edmonton’s Sans AIDS followed, playing a solid set that featured almost all-new material and a Captain Beefheart cover. The last time I saw Sans AIDS, they were just a duo—this time, they were expanded to a four-piece. The expanded lineup allows for a more guitar-centric approach (you’ll notice a theme to what I like in my indie rock, no?), not necessarily leading to expanded instrumental arrangements but, rather, an additional layer of melody. I’ve said this before, but Peter Sagar is a fantastic songwriter—the extra instrumentation fleshed out the songs quite well and, as usual, I’m very excited to hear the next batch of recordings.

After a brief hike, my girlfriend and I then arrived at the Distillery. We arrived in time to catch the second half of The Luyas’ set. I was not familiar with The Luyas, but their performance was spirited and went over well, despite a few sound issues (where were the vocals?). The use of unconventional instrumentation (i.e., French horn, some 12-string zither type concoction) went over my head until I actually saw the band members playing instruments that weren’t guitars or synthesizers, though that’s probably just a comment on how the sound was mixed—either way, it was a welcome surprise.

Dum Dum Girls played a solid set of melodic, well-harmonized guitar pop. On record they’re not exactly my kind of band, but I enjoyed their set—up close, the guitar amps were loud enough to slightly drown out the vocals (not the two, sometimes three-part vocal harmonies, thankfully), resulting in a sort of Jesus and Mary Chain/Black Tambourine noise-pop sheen to DDG’s traditional garage-rock leanings. Additionally, I think DDG’s set went over best with the packed crowd, who responded to their lively, juuust sugary enough tom-tom rock. 

Blonde Redhead is a band I’ve never been able to fully get behind. In all respects, I should really like them, but none of their sounds have ever cut it for me—their ‘90s, noise-rock period just made me think of a watered-down version of Unwound or Sonic Youth (my favourite album of BR’s, 1997’s Fake Can be Just As Good, responds to these accusations quite cheekily). Their performance at the Distillery was fairly unengaging, with even the crowd seeming relatively nonplussed—this was probably due to the song selections, which were appropriately heavy on BR’s most recent album, Penny Sparkle. So why were so many people standing still? Well, Penny Sparkle was a pretty boring album. So what does Penny Sparkle sound like live? Yeah, pretty boring. The sound was quite poor as well, with an obnoxious bass frequency present throughout the trio’s entire set—even during the songs that have no bass. Regardless, this set did very little to sway my opinion of BR—not great, not bad, just frustratingly average. That said, my favourite Blonde Redhead song is “Vague” (1993), so perhaps their current Depeche Mode via trip-hop sound just isn’t for me. Gotta say though—there’s a reason people started cheering when Kazu Makino put on a guitar in the middle of the set, and the less the band relied on electronics, the more engaging they were. Regardless, I’m glad to have gotten the chance to see them.

My plan was initially to go check out Crocodiles at the Palomino afterwards, but without any food since noon and the resulting fatigue of working for eight hours before show-hopping, bed seemed necessary. Ridiculously excited for Lee Ranaldo tonight—my favourite member of my favourite band? Yes please!