What a blast! The Gladtree Festival was held April 9th & 10th, 2004 at Hampshire College in Amherst Massachusetts in a theatre called “The Red Barn”. A wide variety of music happened, ranging from introspective folk to extreme electronic chaos. For the 150 people who were lucky enough to attend, it was quite the event. The cream of the northeast folk & experimental scene played for two days to a rapturous audience that was wide open to the many varied sounds that were being played. I could tell the bands seriously enjoyed having an audience that ‘actually paid attention’ as the lead singer of "The Cherry Blossoms" so aptly said…
The show literally traded off with a folk band, then a noisy band for the entire two daze which really added to the whole brain warping effect of the weekend. There was such an amazing variety of sounds…I enjoyed every band, and ended up buying quite the cd & vinyl pile!
After driving down from Maine, I had gotten a hotel room in Amherst, so I unpacked, and headed for the show. I arrived Friday nite at 5:45, so that I’d be there for the 6PM start. The Red Barn had a beautiful view of the mountains behind it, and was an amazing place for the show…I found myself a tree that I ended up sitting under between many of the sets. It was so cool to have a beautiful view between the bands so that we could all enjoy the beauty of the place and get some down time during the breaks.
People were still arriving when I got there, and the show didn’t start until around 6:30. People were just hanging out, and were definitely ready for some wild sounds…and I don’t think anyone was disappointed!!! (Well, maybe the security guards…don’t think they were too impressed with the sounds or the crowd!!!).
MONOTRACT
First up was Monotract, a duo from NYC, which played electronic sounds created mostly by their laptops. I liked their set, although the sound was screwed up for the first song and a half…they reminded me a lot of the noise Merzbow made when I saw him back in 1989 in DC…Good chaotic noise that had a hint of structure to it…a good if not intense way to start off the festival!!!
VALLEY OF ASHES
The second band was from Louisville, Kentucky and was called “Valley of Ashes” (after the F. Scott Fitzgerald book that also took place in Louisville). They were a large band, perhaps 8 members if my brain cells can be trusted…They played a truly beautiful set…quiet folk that went over the edge a few times. The female vocalist was transfixing, and I also highly enjoyed the bass. My only complaint: they didn’t bring any CD’s for sale! Oh, well!
FAT WORM OF ERROR
Next was “Fat Worm of Error” which featured a few of the people that helped put on this glorious festival. Holy Shit! Great anarchic noise with a bunch of heavily WEIRD people…the lead singer came out on one roller skate, and she had many costume & mask changes throughout the set. The drummer and guitarist were also complete spazzes…I couldn’t really see the bass player, but it sure sounded like he was intense! They went over great with the crowd, and easily won the “Weirdest Band of the Night” award.
SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE
“Six Organs of Admittance” came up next. The sound of one man playing and sounding like many...his fingers just FLEW across the guitar…("Six Organs" is just one person, guitarist Ben Chasny). I am so glad I was so close to him during his set…seeing this close up was trancifying…This was the first set that really sent me out into the stratosphere…the four pieces he played were all incredibly intricate & jaw droppingly beautiful. He played so HARD! I swear it seems the set was only five minutes as it transported me that far out…My favorite set of the night I think…
METALUX
From New York City, “Metalux” was next. What a presentation! 2 women dressed in older clothing, that had a bunch of hand made STRANGE instruments and they put up quite a knockout blast of electronic sound. One played sounds out of a large piece of blue luggage (?!), and the other played this electronic noisemaker that had like 100’s of wires hanging from it…They kept a good rhythmic noise going through their set…I liked them a LOT! I also talked to a few other people who were also blown away…I don’t think they were too well known to a lot of people before the show, but everyone who attended Friday night will remember them fine, as we all enjoyed their set immensely.
JOSHUA
Continuing with the weird format of noise-folk-noise-folk, up next was “Joshua”, a psychedelic folk artist from Vermont. He had an amazingly relaxing show that started to put me out (and not because I was bored, but because the sounds relaxed me so much). The set was instrumental other than one song, and went over really well with the crowd (and myself). He seemed to be very shy and kind of leapt up at the end of the set. BTW: His CD, “The Gold Cosmos” that I picked up is incredible! Highly recommended!
SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN
Finishing up Friday night was a band I was heavily looking forward to, Boston’s “Sunburned Hand of the Man”. They didn’t disappoint either…eight intense freaks all synched into a serious trance-fest. There were so many different sounds bouncing off my head…An amazing set…I have heard them on CD & LP, but this is one band that has to be seen live to truly appreciate the ‘thickness’ of their sound. A great way to end day one...
What an intense day! I went to my hotel and crashed out pretty quickly afterwards…between the drive, and the intensity of the show, I didn’t have a heckuva lotta gray matter left, so I was glad to be able to recharge...
Originally published 4/2/2004