After fighting through heat wave after heat wave, the weather relented a bit for KCRW Festival’s latest installment at the Hollywood Bowl — Khruangbin with an opening set from Unknown Mortal Orchestra. The vibe was just as cool as the shaded canyon weather, with the opener’s soulful indie pop and the headliner’s eclectic, blissed-out psych jams.
Truth be told, Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s set felt a bit short. Sure, Ruban Nielson’s band isn’t quite at the same buzzy levels of its early heyday. But they’ve steadily released strong albums over the last decade and a half, giving them material enough for a strong “greatest hits” setlist for the Hollywood Bowl. Despite the festival-esque brevity of their set (which, to be fair, is common for Bowl opening acts), UMO’s setlist touched on much of their catalog and featured some of their best songs. As the audience shuffled into their seats, they opened with “From the Sun,” which is the opening track of their second album, II. Next up was another highlight of that album, and arguably one of the band’s best songs, “Swim and Sleep (Like a Shark).”
“Necessary Evil” was a crunchy but mellow setup to another standout of the set, “Multi-Love.” The title track from the band’s third LP, it caught a lot of attention for its polyamorous subject matter. Either way, it’s a great jam with killer drum fills (courtesy of Ruban’s brother Kody Neilson). Other highlights of Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s set include “Honeybee,” “So Good at Being in Trouble” and “That Life.”
If there’s a band that personifies KCRW’s vibe, it’s Khruangbin. They mix indie rock, psychedelia, funk and world music (and really, so much more) and don’t sound like many bands. For such a small lineup, the Texas trio creates a huge sound, punctuated by Mark Speer’s Eastern-inspired guitar leads, Laura Lee Ochoa’s buoyant low end (and sparkling body suits, and classic dance moves) and DJ Johnson’s reliable and versatile drumming. The stage was dressed in a minimalist style, featuring three ceiling-height, arched window panes that mirrored the atmosphere of any given song. It was a unique touch for what is usually a bit of a maximalist venue, but made sense considering there were only three members. The side monitors skewed the picture with motion blur to enhance the psychedelic atmosphere of their music.
Khruangbin opened on a mellow note with “Fifteen Fifty-Three,” the opening track from their new album A LA SALA. After opening with an instrumental (which constitutes the majority of their discography), they moved into more pop-accessible territory with “May Ninth,” which is also from their new album. Next was the organ-based “Ada Jean,” — yet another track from the new record. Sense a trend here? You’d be right because the first half of the set was a song-by-song run through of A LA SALA, which came out in April.
The second set from Khruangbin opened with the funky, wah-inflected “Cómo Me Quieres” from their second album Con Todo el Mundo. Just one song later, they returned to the album for the very-chill “Lady and Man.” “Pelota” added some Spanish influence as one of the few songs in their set to feature vocals, though “So We Won’t Forget” was easily the most pop-oriented song in their repertoire tonight.
And then, just when it seemed like the show might be over, we got what was easily one of the night’s highlights. The Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles took the stage with Khruangbin, providing a homegrown flourish to their performance. The band teamed up with the orchestra for three more songs, “August 10th,” “Shida” and what is one of the band’s most iconic tracks “Time (You and I).” They ended the night with an encore of one of their most well-known songs, “People Everywhere (Still Alive).”
KCRW Festival may have had some bigger names grace the stage this year with Beck and Jason Isbell, but few hit that sweet spot like tonight’s lineup. It was the perfect mix of eclectic world music and rock and roll, ideal for a night at the breezy and cool Hollywood Bowl.
Setlist
Fifteen Fifty‐Three
May Ninth
Ada Jean
Farolim de Felgueiras
Pon Pón
Todavía Viva
Juegos y Nubes
Hold Me Up (Thank You)
Caja de la Sala
Three From Two
A Love International
Les Petits Gris
Cómo me quieres
The Recital That Never Happened
Lady and Man
The Infamous Bill
Pelota
So We Won’t Forget
Zionsville August 10 (With Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles)
Shida (With Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles)
Time (You and I) (With Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles)
Encore
People Everywhere (Still Alive)
File photo by Nicole Ditt
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