FYF Fest 2014: It’s bigger (and smaller) than ever

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Not unlike that first F*ck Yeah Fest show I attended (The Willowz, 2006, Jensen Rec Center, ears still ringing), this year’s FYF Fest will feel like that raging basement party hosted by the loveable neighborhood nerd with polypolar tastes in music. Only now that guy, having done pretty well for himself, has some famous friends and dialed-in connections. It’s not only no longer BYOB, but there’s a guy at the door with a cash box and a hand-stamp.

FYF Fest [above, in 2011] is bigger than ever, but it’s also smaller. That it is still a reliable purveyor of the underground – even with 16 corporate logos appended to its page – is testament to founder Sean Carlson’s curatorial sense. He still knows whom to play, and to whom he’s playing. And, notably, what to ask.

The festival, which this year moves from north of downtown at Los Angeles State Historic Park to south of downtown at the L.A. Sports Arena & Exposition Park, is sold out. And that’s even with an increase in capacity from 30,000 at its old locale to 40,000 in its new digs.

Those devotees will get less for their money than at any previous FYF. In 2011,
the last of the one-day FYFs, the festival hosted 37 bands for 40 bucks. In 2012, it was 71 plus a comedy stage for $79. In 2013, it was 65 plus a comedy stage for $99. This year, there are 58 bands for $129, with no comedy, unless you count Chet Faker.

The lineup is eclectic to the point of vertiginous. You have your reliable headliners, even if a couple (yes, the ones who wear black) are arguably past their expiration date. You have a smattering of side projects destined to be footnotes by 2020. You have 10-plus artists who have played FYF before (shouts to the house band, Joyce Manor). Yet FYF boasts two notable reunionists (Slowdive and the Blood Brothers), some incredible hip-hop and a cadre of cutting edge electronica. If you don’t want to see any of the bands whose best work came out over a decade ago, you don’t have to.

So while raising a glass to comrades who will be seeing the Strokes and Interpol for the first time, here are five sets I don’t want to miss:

‣ Slowdive: One of the forerunners of the shoegazer/dream-pop movement that has leaked into so many aesthetics, and creators of one of Top 3 albums ever in that genre, 1993’s “Souvlaki.”

The Bronx: Doing double-duty as Mariachi El Bronx on Saturday and as their original punk persona on Sunday, the L.A.-five piece is still doing it right.

Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks: The Animal Collective member born David Portner has mashed a lot of genres into something I’ll call creepy-core and I’m curious to see it.

‣ Blood Orange: Dev Hynes and gang were so good at Coachella, and again at the El Rey, they bear a repeat visit. Because Prince ain’t playing this festival.

Slint: Genuflect to the post-rock torchbearers, whose “Spiderland” (1991) deserves all the belated acclaim it has received.

And here’s my FYF “Mixed-Up” Tape: