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REVIEW: Lobsterfest 2012, Day Three
By: Emily Votaw
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South Beach may be notorious for volleyball and sunbathing undergraduates, but on Saturday, the Ohio University-maintained space hosted the third and final performance of Lobsterfest 2012.
A sparse crowd gathered to catch Fat History Month's early afternoon set, collectively garbed in various shades and weights of flannel due to the unseasonably cool temperatures.
Fat History Month is a Boston-based drone-rock duo with a fuzzy lo-fi sound that would make Thurston Moore proud.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the outfit was the band’s interaction with the audience, because as the two musicians worked through their often bizarre setlist, they seemed vaguely nervous.
"Did you guys hear the joke about Usher?" Sean "History Month" asked the crowd, only to dismiss the joke and fling himself straight back into the performance.
Towards the end of their set, the band played "Nature," a meandering, strange song about bodies collapsing into themselves and the cannibalistic tendencies of nature.
Fat History Month certainly enjoys odd subject matter and song titles: The final track on their latest release is entitled "You Can Pick Your Nose, You Can Pick Your Friend’s Nose, But You Can’t Escape Your Horrible Family."
Drums and bass duo Morgan Garrett and Evan Kennedy, aka SIGN OFF, took the stage immediately after Fat History Month. This band, which has roots in Portsmouth, Ohio, was nothing if not emotive.
Even if the audience couldn’t quite get into the incredibly noisy set, they couldn’t help but be moved by Garrett's animated stage antics. Like a long-limbed wind-up doll, the bassist bounced around, screaming over fast-paced distorted riffs and Barrett's pounding rhythms.
Kentucky natives Reading Group were up next. With pint-sized singer Lacey Guthrie, the band nobly pulsed through their Superchunk-influenced set.
The spunky, pretty and unpretentious Guthrie was backed up by a group of guys who looked as if they would be more suited to a hardcore outfit than a indie rock group. Sartorial choices aside, Guthrie and company managed to deliver a solid set for the slowly growing crowd.
Although many of the tunes sounded similar to one another, and a reccurring theme throughout the set seemed to be "white person angst," Reading Group still managed to excite a certain portion of the crowd.
In fact, much to the delight of the band, one fan made a request for a song that the band wrote.
"Well, we have to do it then!" exclaimed Guthrie.
Like many of this year's Lobsterfest acts, Reading Group resembled many regional and national indie band. However, Saturday's next act was truly original.
However one would describe Evolve (perhaps a mix of hip-hop, psychedelia and hardcore punk) this one-man band was mesmerizing to watch.
Evolve (aka Colin Murray), decked out in a pink dress and poisonous looking bleach-blond locks, introduced himself to the crowd as "Nancy, a substitute teacher from Cincinnati. But my passion is music."
With a grin, Murray launched into an outrageous set complete with copious amounts of sampling.
Much of Murray’s rapping was highly political in nature. Not in a "Democrats vs. Republicans" sort of way, but in a general "government is evil" kind of a way.
True or not, Murray later leavened the mood by announcing that he had been named Cincinnati's Substitute Teacher of the Year. Following his set, he sold copies of his latest release, appropriately titled Breaking Down the Barriers.
Although initially thwarted by a missing cymbal, XRay Eyeballs took the stage next, expertly moving through a series of garage rock tunes that carried the influence of Shonen Knife and maybe a bit of The Cramps.
The band did have a refreshing sound, and fast-paced songs like "Sundae" and "New York Strip" were sonically brutal in the best imaginable way.
By the time XRay Eyeballs wrapped up their set and Nashville's Pujol took the stage, the day took on a bluish hue as the sun set, and Lobsterfest 2012 drew to a close.