A fairly robust and interesting lineup, a nice tranquil location for rocking and super cheap admission prices ($8!); FYF Fest, now in it’s sixth year, was primed to be an awesome experience and, based on all the above, what really could go wrong?

Well, when the fire marshal won’t let the doors open for a few extra hours and the festival organizers lose the entry list for presale ticket holders, you end up with a pretty thorny situation. Lines of people snaked around the outside of Los Angeles’ State Historic Park, baking in the sun and generally becoming disgruntled with the excruciatingly slow pace of the entry lines. A sneaky and, I must admit, underhanded cut in line got us in right quick (some people were still waiting in line 3 hours later!).

Food and bottled water shortages abounded throughout the duration of the festival but the weather cooled down with a nice afternoon breeze, creating a pleasing and relaxed atmosphere (that is, if you managed to make it past those fucking entrance lines and didn’t have your soul crushed when Dan Deacon canceled). The lineup had some pretty marquee hipster bands and the kids were definitely out in force, delivering only polite applause for even the most vaunted acts like No Age and Wavves. It was kind of a shame to see so little enthusiasm from the audience but perhaps the foibles many attendees had to go through just to gain entrance dampened some spirits.

“some truly incendiary performances lifted this relaxed and rather breezy festival above your standard LA gathering”

The festival was composed of three stages; two which were pleasantly situated in shaded, grassy areas and the third positioned in a big dirt lot, which inexplicably played host to the more aggressive bands on the bill, creating a dust bowl of doom. Overall, FYF Fest definitely had some organizational issues to sort out, but the combination of such a cheap price (Again 8 BUCKS!) and some truly incendiary performances lifted this relaxed and rather breezy festival above your standard LA gathering. Here’s a look at the bands that performed this year:

Crystal Antlers

Angular, noisy, and backed by some shrill organ playing, Crystal Antlers seemed like a bastard child between The Walkmen and Interpol, treading between woozy rhythms and the barked, strained cries of lead singer and bass player Jonny Bell. The band played valiantly to a largely unmoved crowd in the early afternoon haze and, while not the most interesting set, they injected some manic energy into the days’ proceedings. Super bonus points to band percussionist Damian Edwards for going off on his drums the ENTIRE SET!!

Wavves

Wavves always struck me as a band served a cruel twist of fate by the blogosphere and hipster elite, a band catapulted into the limelight and lavished with accolades without much in the way of material or subtance to support itself. Their set, even with the added support of Zach Hill (YES HELLA ZACH HILL!) on drums, didn’t do much but just reinforce this. Purposely lo-fi and muddled on record, Nathan Williams mewling voice and sub-standard pop refrains just lacked any sort of impact or element of being engaging. Wavves are a band served by their affectations and style over any other considerations, musical or otherwise, and that fact was very apparent throughout the set’s duration. No onstage meltdowns occurred during their performance but, man, it would have been infinitely more interesting to watch.

Har Mar Superstar

He’s still chunky, he’s still working his scuzz/douche bag lothario bit, he’s still Har Mar! And that’s what we got when he blasted onto the stage, backed by a full band, pre-recorded loops and a kid banging on a tambourine for forty minutes straight. Har Mar worked his way through the funkier numbers of his catalog, opening with “Body Request” and stripping off his shirt midway through a new track to show off the pink embroidered Medieval Times tee beneath! Yes! Moronic and dopey as it was, Har Mar still has some pretty fun songs to dance to, and even closed his set with a song he had written for the Cheetah Girls! Equal parts over-the-top and genuinely fun, Har Mar Superstar put on a danceable show that flew in the face of the hipster ethos that permeated the festival.

Times New Viking

Does any one actually like this band? I sure couldn’t tell based on the similar reaction my ears and the audience had to this lo-fi wankery. Not to be overly harsh, but these guys are just no good. Obnoxious and off key vocals gave way to simplistic and boring guitar lines segued into unintelligible keyboards. Perhaps that’s the point with these shitwave/gluewave/lo-fi groups but goddamn this shit was grating! A less than enthusiastic response from the crowd prompted drummer Adam Elliott to assuage the audience: “Don’t worry we’ll be out of your hair soon.” One couldn’t help but feel bad but again, like with Wavves, it’s a much hyped band with not much in the way of substance affecting a stylistic veneer with less than stellar results.

The Thermals

Having never listened to The Thermals previously, it was a decent surprise to see a band play such a simple, catchy form of punk infused pop so emphatically. Sing along choruses, handclaps and politically charged lyrics fired off into the crowd as The Thermals played on into the sunset, occasionally sounding a bit too cheeky for my tastes. Their sound was very crisp and clear and the bass tone Kathy Foster rung out of her amps was truly awesome sounding. The Thermals set was pleasant enough and was a welcome diversion until the heavy hitters of the festival came on.