On Saturday night, all eyes (and ears, of course) turned to the festival’s big-name headliner: Yo La Tengo. Unlike the intimate shows and venues that marked Pygmalion up to this point, the spacious, two-tiered Krannert Art Center theater provided the stage for one of indie music’s most enduring groups.

As someone encountering the band’s music for the first time (I know, I know – but I liked that rock I was living under too much to leave), I filed out of the auditorium feeling impressed with the musicianship, but not in a mad rush to listen to their past albums.

Easing into the show with the gentle love song “Our Way To Fall,” the trio quickly accelerated the pace with “I Should Have Known Better,” off its acclaimed 2006 record I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass.

This sort of slow-fast, quiet-loud progression was a hallmark of the show – one that featured the group showcasing its ability to transition effortlessly from garage rock (“Watch Out For Me Ronnie”) to piano jazz + falsetto (“Mr. Tough”) to unrelenting groove-outs (“The Room Got Heavy”).

In addition, while I sat in one of the most comfortable theater seats I’ve ever occupied, the members of Yo La Tengo continually scurried around from instrument to instrument – changing on-stage locations almost as often as they shifted genres. At one point, drummer Georgia Hubley even came out from being the kits to sing and play keyboard on the ballad “I Feel Like Going Home.”

The group seemed pleased to be back in the twin cities before such a large crowd, as guitarist Ira Kaplan reminisced about playing at the Blind Pig and the Highdive almost a decade ago. And I, for one, was happy to have Kaplan back in town because he was hands-down the best guitar player I have ever seen perform. For me, his extended solos on “Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind” and “The Story of Yo La Tango” were the unquestionable highlights of the evening.

As the concert drew to a close, the band played a few covers as its encore before Kaplan led audience members in a growing conga line up to the doors at the back of the theater – his location identifiable at all times by the maracas rattling in his hand.

Our Way To Fall
I Should Have Known Better
Autumn Sweater
Deeper Into Movies (?)
Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind
The Room Got Heavy
Bean Bag Chair
Mr. Tough
I Feel Like Going Home
Tom Courtenay
?
Watch Out For Me Ronnie
The Story of Yo La Tango
—–
Speeding Motorcycle
Come On, Come On (Cheap Trick)
Nuclear War (Sun Ra)

After leaving Krannert, I headed down the street to take in the three-band Polyvinyl showcase at Canopy Club. Opening the bill were The M’s, a four-piece rock band from Chicago. Channeling the likes of The Kinks and T. Rex, the group played a competent, no-frills set that catered to fans both old and new.

After beginning with a few older selections, the set concluded with a string of songs from Real Close Ones (released this past June), including “Don’t Be Late,” “Get Your Shit Together,” and “Ultraviolent Men,” before finishing with catchy psych-pop single “Big Sound.”

Because the evening’s crowd was still wandering in and most people chose to hang out toward the back (except for Headlights’ Erin Fein and Nick Sanborn, both of whom occupied a spot right in front to watch their labelmates), the band might not have been exposed to as many new faces as it would have liked, but those who were there looked to be bobbing their heads in approval.

Sandwiched in the middle, everyone’s favorite hometown band gone national, Headlights, was clearly the main attraction. Judging from the fact that every nook and cranny in the area around the stage was filled with people, a C-U performance from the lady and gents is definitely still a noteworthy event.

Because I’ve already written about the group (in my first post, no less), I’ll suffice it to say that the quintet sounds more “rock” every time I hear them. Even “Cherry Tulips” shed its original sugary-sweet complexion for a louder, more muscular feel. No matter how many times the band swings through town, it’s always worth it to see them because each tour sees them getting that much better at their craft.

The last act to take the stage – Asobi Seksu – is also the most recent addition to the Polyvinyl roster. Hailing from New York City, the group is anchored by vocalist/keyboardist Yuki Chikudate and guitarist James Hanna. Notably, on this particular night their for-hire backing band also included drummer Larry Gorman (formerly of influential post-hardcore rockers Glassjaw).

For those who are only familiar with the group’s albums, don’t let the sound found therein fool you – this band rocks out. Hard. Easily beating out The M’s and Headlights for loudest performer, furious guitar rhythms and pounding drums duked it out all night in a battle royale. (I’ll declare the contest a tie.)

Canopy’s speakers were ill-suited to handle the force of Chikudate’s half-Japanese, half-English singing – her diminuitive figure (which barely rose above her icicle light-strewn keyboard) disguising the powerful vocal cords within. Her small stature also made it all the more suprising when, on the last song of the night, she took over behind the drum kit and banged away with as much furor as she had taken out on her keyboard previously.

Entering undetected during the middle of Owen’s set Friday night at Krannert Art Museum was no easy feat – as the large crowd filling the lobby sat hushed on the floor giving rapt attention to the man sitting alone on stage with his acoustic guitar. The silence was such that even the sound of Mike Kinsella tapping his foot to the beat of the music was clearly distinguishable along with the plucking of strings and the subtle fluctuations of his voice.

With a set list scribbled on the inside of his hand, Kinsella treated the audience to obscure cuts (such as “Top Shelf” and “Good Friends Bad Habits” from his split 7″ with City on Film) in addition to newer (or at least, unrecorded) offerings – “Ugly on the Inside,” “The Anthropology Song,” “Bag of Bones” – that followed his formula for writing sparse, incisive vignettes.

To fill time during his 45-minute set Kinsella asked the crowd several times what they wanted to talk about, a conversation that at one point led to which came first – David Duchovny’s TV show or his sex addiction – and a clever brush-off to a request for “I’m Not Seventeen” (“I don’t know that one”). With just a couple minutes to spare, Owen again asked the crowd for topics to discuss before deciding to play one last tune when a girl announced she had driven two hours to see him – and had just arrived.

After Owen, a friend convinced me to stay and watch Thao with The Get Down Stay Down instead of hustling over to the Red Herring to see Gentlemen Auction House (the argument being that the St. Louis natives will be back in town soon enough). Although I guess I’ll never know which show was better, I definitely don’t regret my decision to stick around Krannert.

With its infectious blending of smooth female vocals and a heartily strummed acoustic lead guitar, the group entertained the crowd with floor-stomping indie rock jams. Recounting the story of seeing several shirtless Delta Chi members playing on a Slip ‘n Slide (with no girls in sight) earlier in the day provided the material for humorous between song banter, but the set’s real enjoyment came from the feel-good rhythms streaming out of the amplifiers.

In stark contrast to the stripped-down stillness of Owen, Chicago’s own Dr. Manhattan had spastic energy oozing out of every corner of the Red Herring’s basement stage. In particular, it was impossible to pin down the location of keyboardist (and part-time percussionist) Andrew Morrison from one second to the next – as he divided his time among roaming around his tiny section of the platform, dragging his drum out into the crowd and standing on top of his keyboard.

The set began in surprising fashion, as Tracey Morrison and Tricia Scully, who had performed just prior with their band Tall Tale, shared the stage to perform a couple of original songs –along with TT guitarist Justin Tanaka, whose job was to run his hand across the seat of a mic’d-up chair. (Actually, I guess the pairing wouldn’t have been too unexpected if I had taken a hint from “Tracey’s Buns” off Dr. Manhattan’s debut full-length)

The raucous set was filled with songs from this 2008 Vagrant release, including “Big Chomper, Big Chomper,” “Gunpowder: A Ballet” and “Minds Like Ours.” After the chaos had concluded, Morrison (of the Andrew variety) thanked the crowd for being there and indicated how much the band loves performing. But after seeing them in person, this clearly went without saying.

And oh yeah, bassist Adam Engers sported the best moustache this side of Borat.

Next on the night’s agenda was the appearance of Titus Andronicus in the Canopy Void Room. The band’s name was certainly appropriate for the festival, as both its namesake Shakespeare play and the story of Pygmalion derive from Ovid’s Metamorphoses (who said English degrees are useless?). Also befitting of their moniker was the threat that things could get bloody during the first (and only) instance of moshing I witnessed at the festival.

As anticipated, the New Jersey group showcased the deceptively raw and unpolished sound found on this spring’s The Airing of Grievances. Playing a mixture of shoegaze, indie and punk shrouded in lo-fi aesthetics and peppered with harmonica, the concert was fast, crass and sweaty through and through.

To close out the evening, I stepped through the doors into Canopy’s main hall to watch the midnight set from Canadian rockers Black Mountain. After a few minutes, it became apparent that the band revels in its “black” image – complete with minor key tuning, classic rock guitar riffs and throbbing bass. A sonically riveting performance to be sure, but visually much less so.

Standing in place to watch the band members do the same up on stage soon became boring so I ended the night in the same fashion as I started – sitting down with music soaring overhead.

Because The Brother Whys ended up cancelling its afternoon set, the first band I ventured out to see on Thursday was Sub Pop recording act Oxford Collapse. Performing with all the lights still on inside Krannert Art Museum, the group made an immediate connection with the crowd during the opening song when lead vocalist/guitarist Michael Pace played part of his solo amidst the people standing in front of the stage.

In addition to playing shoegaze-y songs infused with energy of DIY punk, the group was highly visually entertaining – with Pace breaking off a few karate kicks and bassist Adam Rizer (who eerily played most of the set with his eyes closed) stomping the ground and plucking his instrument like he was being controlled solely by the music surging through him. (Not to mention the fact that with his cutoff jean shorts, drummer Dan Fetherston slightly resembled David Cross in Arrested Development. Never-nude, anyone?)

Although equipment troubles ate up a fair amount of time, the malfunctioning bass amp did produce the rare opportunity to hear Pace (who admitted he had been waiting for a moment like this) serenade the crowd with a solo version of “The Boys Go Home.”

Not much has changed with regard to Oklahoma’s Evangelicals since they last passed through town during a co-headlining stint with Headlights. The fog machine I wrote about previously was still present (but used to a much lesser extent) and the group’s obsession with reverb was still in full effect – an aspect that lent a touch of unintentional humor to their between-song banter.

Granted, some songs (such as “Paperback Suicide”) succeeded in getting a small contingent to shuffle their feet – which is about the most movement any indie rock band can ask for, even one as theatrical as Evangelicals. It’s just that for the most part, the spooky harmonizing/keyboard sounds throughout “Bellawood” and the cackling (along with a brief use of strobe lighting) featured in “Skeleton Man” seemed better suited for a run-down building at Halloween than a sparse museum lobby with the lights (now) turned off.

Having missed seeing Murder By Death the past two times the group has appeared on campus, I was determined not to make the same mistake again. And it seems I was not the only one to place the Indiana-based alt-country/rock quartet at the top of their most anticipated list. Appropriately occupying the headlining slot, the band easily drew the venue’s largest and most enthusiastic crowd of the night.

Distinguished by vocalist Adam Turla’s bone-chillingly deep baritone and Sarah Balliet’s haunting cello accompaniments, the band delivered a solid set that featured songs spread evenly throughout its previous three albums: Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left of Them (“The Devil in Mexico,” “Until Morale Improves, The Beatings Will Continue,” “Masters in Reverse Psychology), In Bocca Al Lupo (“Brother,” “Dynamite Mine”) and Red of Tooth and Claw (“Ball & Chain,” “Fuego,” “‘52 Ford”).

Highlights of the performance included the lyrical and musical aggression of “Sometimes the Line Walks You” and the ominous mood cultivated in “Coming Home” – both of which transformed the museum lobby from the aforementioned haunted house into a Wild West saloon tinged with the faint musk of gunpowder and an aftertaste of whiskey.

Pausing to purchase a CD after Murder By Death’s set ended left me with precious little time to trek over to the Courtyard Café to watch student group Butterfly Assassins. Recently signed to upstart NY label Old Flame Records, the band has previously made waves on this campus (as well as at all the others its members attend) with unique songwriting that blends classical influences and gothic rock overtones.

Although I was too late to catch the entire concert, I arrived just in time to hear the stilted and pounding (both good qualities, in this case) “Hypocratocracy” and a slower new offering that featured the quintet’s (actually, a four-piece on this night due to the absence of cellist Kate Wakefield) signature crescendoing progression. The always entertaining Bryan Trahan (on lead vocals and keyboard) was true to form – writhing on the ground during the last strains of the closing song.

The crowd, however, was not ready for the show to end and demanded (and received) an encore in the form of “Prelude in D Minor” (not the one listed as such on their Myspace) – a track with a swirling piano build-up that gradually picks up support from other instruments and ultimately crashes into a genuine pop masterpiece.

For those expecting something close to a repeat of the 2007 Pitchfork performance that was shut down by a Chicago fire marshall, the biggest disappointment of the festival was Dan Deacon. Come to think of it, even if you weren’t anticipating a show that wild, you might have been let down. Perhaps Deacon, himself, said it best when, in the process of organizing a dance contest, he declared the event would draw a psychological line between those who were participating and ones who weren’t.

This analysis proved particularly apt, as those crowded around Deacon (who had set up shop at ground level and marked his position with a glowing neon skull) tried their best to turn the concert into an all-out dance party – with a large group even accepting his invitation to occupy the vacated stage area (until this idea was nixed and the house lights were turned back on about three songs in due to safety concerns).

For the rest of us, however, the performance was closer to trainwreck than insane spectacle. Despite the fact that Deacon berated the in-house sound engineer for more than ten minutes until the levels were finally to his satisfaction, the end result was nothing more than a muddle of vaguely electronic noise. In addition, what should have been one long, non-stop celebration was frequently interrupted by Deacon’s instructions to the crowd and the already alluded to dance competition.

Toward the end, the show finally started to become interesting, as Dark Meat (who played directly before Deacon) appeared on stage to provide additional musical support and crowd surfing ensued (led by Evangelicals’ singer Josh Jones). Unfortunately, just then the set came to an abrupt halt as the curtains flanking the stage began to buckle, the lights came on once again and people awkwardly stumbled away.

As it has each year since 2005, Pygmalion Music Festival put a stranglehold on the Champaign-Urbana music scene with its four-night, three-day celebration of local, regional and (inter)national indie musicians.

One of the qualities that contributes to making the event so unique is its commitment to providing C-U bands the opportunity to shine alongside acts that have already broken through on the national radar. In fact, about half of this year’s 80 scheduled performers hail from the twin cities.

For actual proof of this geographical diversity, concertgoers had to search no further than the five-band bill that kicked off the festival at Canopy Club Wednesday night.

As the opening act, local duo Common Loon jumpstarted the show with a hard-hitting indie rock tune that was more assertive than the majority of its other offerings. Unfortunately, the teasing promise held in this (and one other) uptempo song probably clouded my appreciation for what I’ll label as the group’s more “beautiful” arrangements – those marked by a jangling, melancholy sound and mellow vocal harmonies.

Throughout the set, drummer Matt Campbell and guitarist Robert Hirschfeld contributed equally (both musically and vocally) toward constructing their sun-soaked psychedelia-infused pop songs. All in all, Common Loon did an admirable job of warming up the crowd, but was soon lost in the shuffle of the tremendous acts that followed.

A cancellation by the Minneapolis-based Mute Era bumped Coco Coca up to the second slot. To gain a much needed reprieve from the heat (Canopy’s AC was broken), I went to stand outside during the set – which was just as well, because judging from the thumping beats, things were only heating up in the Void Room.

A move to Seattle has transformed the once-local noise rocker into something more resembling a dancehall DJ. Although electronics always figured heavily into his act, this set seemed more aimed at getting the body’s lower half dancing than assaulting the upper part’s ears and eyes (remember the huge inflatable spider at the 2007 LMAs?).

Without a doubt, the hometown heroes in Elsinore drew the largest crowd on opening night. For the first time, curtains sealed off the small stage from the rest of the room and Ryan Groff was dead on to remark that it felt like the band was playing inside of a TV set. (One that, I’ll add, everyone in the crowd had tuned to their favorite channel.)

The set list was predictable, yet pleasing – as before you knew it, the group had breezed through “Wooden Houses,” “The General,” “Chemicals” and its outstanding cover of The Postal Service’s “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight.” In a finish that would have shattered the glass screen had there been one, the closing moments of “Landlocked” dissolved into a frenzy of noise, through which a final burst of melody briefly emerged before it was consumed by more chaos and sound.

In its direct supporting role, Milwaukee’s Decibully turned in what post-show chatter indicated was the evening’s most surprising performance. From the overheard comments of those oozing praise afterwards, it seems that an ear-piercing squeal during soundcheck was about the only false note the band hit.

Squeezing seven people into the tiny stage area, the folk-tinged indie rock collective showed off its agility (a few members still found room to rock out with abundant energy in the crowded confines) and versatility (as evidenced by the multiple instruments played by some in the group). Seamlessly meshing a few guitars, a couple of keyboards and even two drummers at one point, the band produced a smooth, unified sound that was never as cluttered as the on-stage setup would lead one to expect.

While some bands (such as the one just discussed) are adept at playing soaring, atmospheric music that would translate just as well in an outdoor setting as inside a club, Times New Viking is not one such act. Instead, the Ohio-based trio plays songs that are loud and grimy – music that is meant for dingy basements and late night listening. It was just as well then that equipment difficulties added to the show’s already late beginning and pushed back the headliner’s start time well into the seedy early morning hours.

Although I wasn’t too impressed with Times New Viking’s recent Pitchfork performance, in this smaller setting its songs resonated much better – the indistinct vocals mixing with lo-fi guitar lines to bounce off the walls and back and forth between by ears. Throwing in a lyrically repetitive new offering and longer cuts from its previous albums, TNV ended Pygmalion’s opening night on a clamorous, if not always intelligible, note.