Live music review: FunFunFun Fest - DJ Nu-Mark | Crystal Castles | Of Montreal | Billy Perkins Art | - Austin Concerts

DJ Nu-Mark @ Fun Fun Fun Fest ~ Austin, TX
Greg Ackerman

The sophomore weather jinx is still haunting Southern music festivals and Fun Fun Fun Fest was no exception Sunday at Waterloo Park as light rain, mixed with steadier showers fell most of the day. Fans slogged through mud (sound familiar ACL and Voodoo Fest fans?) in deteriorating conditions until the rain finally ceased in the early evening. DJ Nu-Mark of Jurassic 5 got the Austin crowd rolling with an incredible solo DJ set followed by harder rain, a righteous performance by Crystal Castles and a fitting end to the FFF Fest insanity with Of Montreal's bizarre brand of music and art on full display.

Austin Concerts Examiner became familiar with DJ Nu-Mark's musical genius during Lollapalooza 2003. He was touring as a member of Jurassic 5, a gold-selling hip-hop act from Los Angeles. Mark is from LA and his West Coast roots showed clearly throughout his pumping, incredible DJ set on the Blue Stage. Even with rain failing on fans crowded near the stage and water issues threatening to drench the stage, Nu-Mark had it going on, playing Bob Marley, Beastie Boys and an audience pleasing mash-up of Violent Femmes Blister in the Sun.

Just in case the crowd was not already amazed, Nu-Mark began some turntable acrobatics, juggling beats, scratching, and dominating the rest of the park like a good DJ should. Fans quickly picked their way along the muddy paths to catch some of the great beats coming from the north end of Waterloo Park.

With the rain picking up again towards the end of Nu-Mark's set, it was a crowd again underneath the media tent where Transmission's excellent hosts made sure VIPs, artists and media representatives had whatever they needed. Not to belabor the point, but Transmission Entertainment gets it in a way most festival organizers do not. The good folks at Transmission are hell bent on producing the best live music festival possible (both for themselves & fans) and that means paying attention to each detail to ensure the fan experience is what it should be

While C3 Presents should be commended for their work in producing the Austin City Limits Festival, Transmission deserves equal or greater praise for how they handle all aspects of Fun Fun Fun Fest production and their relations with fans, artists and media. Transmission has proven themselves to be a premier (and local) live music production company.

So after enjoying a cruise through the FFF Fest shops and meeting gifted rock-art artists Billy Perkins (more on Billy later) and Bobby Dixon (Kollective Fusion) and some refueling at the bar, the Orange stage was beckoning with the infectious beats of Crystal Castles which aside from the name, brings to mind Crystal Method. In order to be in proper backstage viewing position for Of Montreal, CCs was viewed from the backstage riser reserved for OM's closing set.

Crystal Castles hail from Toronto, Canada. Ethan Kath and vocalist, Alice Glass have been making experimental electronic music since 2004. While unable to get a clear view of the stage from where Examiner was, Crystal Castles music was coming through clearly. It was evident from the crowd who seemed to care less about the mud splashing arond them, focused instead on the hypnotic beats laid down with Glass singing. The BBC (British Broadcasting) says, "Crystal Castles marks a nuanced emotional territory that dance music never covered before." While we're not so sure about that statement, the hyperbole indicates CC is a force to be reckoned with. Duly noted. Apparently their live shows are much more energetic than the recordings reviewed by BBC.

With the Orange stage VIP riser completely packed with people, Of Montreal began a set reminicent of a Flaming Lips show with costumes, theatrics and their synthesizer-heavy indie-pop sound. With a view of the happenings backstage, it quickly became apparent that this was going to be a production and not a simple rock music show. In addition, the band were dressed as though Halloween never ended. Frontman, Kevin Barnes was replete in purple leggings, and a white leather coat that looked like a bastardization of Andrew Lloyd Webber's version of Joseph's Technicolor dreamcoat. The rest of the band was similarly attired in stage regalia.

With Of Montreal's current release, Skeletal Lamping reaching number one downloaded album on eMusic's chart, the band is riding a wave of popularity as they continue to tour their Athens-based band in support of the album which is available in a variety of formats including T-shirts imprinted with the download code to the album.

As the show wore on. increasing activity from performance artists, who cued appearances onstage with pre-selected songs by the band. An entertainer in an elf-costume even crowd-surfed during a particularly raucous song. An Of Montreal show is like a circus, performance-art act, concert and party jammed into a pinata and broken open onstage. Astounding. A visual and aural overload of the senses.

Of Montreal's music is as eclectic as their stage show. The songs ranged from synth dominated tracks with no percussion played to rollicking, epic, experimental tracks. For an initial impression on Of Montreal's stage show, a bit confusing to sort through later. Weirdness factor? 10. Will we see them again? Most certainly!

Finally, Billy Perkins has been making incredible rock-art in Austin for nearly 20 years. Here is an image of his work below. Interview and profile piece coming soon.