TimBRRR! 2016



After a 1 year hiatus, I made it back to the 2016 Timbrrr!Music Festival in Leavenworth, WA on January 29th - 30th, 2016. (I can’t remember why I missed the 2015 festival).  It was another fun lil’ festival. We had a crew of 6 people this year, which was great, b/c there is a law of the universe that states:  the larger the festival-crew, the more exponentially fun the festival !

The winter-wonderland of Leavenworth. 
The accommodations
We got a KOA deluxe cabin that sleeps 6 people, and I thought it was perfect for our crew.  It was an upgrade from the basic cabin from 2 years ago (which was just bunk beds in a room). This deluxe model had all the amenities: kitchenette, bathroom, table, chairs, dishes, etc.  Cheap & effective.


The crew



The activities
There was actually snow on the ground this year, which was a nice change from the 1st annual 2014 Fest. We took a little sled and a tube and did some fairly lame sledding down a little bank. It was fun, but basically not worth the effort.  Matt and Jordan put the winter sports into this winter festival by going skiing on Saturday, while the rest of us nursed hangovers and made an epic journey to the Safeway that was a field of snow away from our KOA cabin.





In the main venue they had a green-screen, which I realized rendered my green shirt invisible! I had fun with that for a while.
 


The Music






I ended up catching this band, who I think has 50% songs I like, and 50% songs I hate. I think some of the songs have an interesting “sound”, but others are just annoying droning or rambling crap.

I thought the set was awkward b/c it seemed like the lead-singer was staring directly at me the whole time and it freaked me out!  It’s probably that he is just one of those performers who kinda looks at the same general area the whole time, and his music is overall depressing, so he naturally isn’t really put on much of stage presence, but it really seemed like he was glaring at me. I turned around to see if there was something behind me worth looking at, and people behind me asked if he was staring at them or me! To which we all had a good laugh.

I also had the realization that I cannot really relate to his music at all, which is mostly about drug-addiction. And while I like a few of the songs, I couldn’t help think how absurd it is that I even try to relate. And visa-versa: how weird it is for this character to perform to a bunch of people from a completely different history and place in life. He must think we are all so lame. So all that was running through my head during this set, which was lack-luster anyway. Thanks to KEXP, and other regional influences, including this and the related festivals, this guy has risen from complete obscurity and is doing ok in the music biz (oddly enough).

This band, fronted by my apparent doppelganger, is like mix of Bob Dylan and the Velvet Underground. The music is decent but I don’t know if I buy the whole act. I’m torn whether or not I appreciate the similarities between these bands or if I think they are too similar. Is it homage or rip-off? They have 1 song that is a very good Bob Dylan emulation.  This is the 2nd time I have seen this band, as I saw them at Doe Bay Fest 2015.

Fruit Bats

Who cares. I’m sick of this band playing every single festival. I believe this band had its day. That day is in the past.


I seem to remember this being ok. He got the crowd livened up when he decided to go into the giant inflatable snowglobe and perform a few songs in there, jumping around, etc. I’ve since seen this band’s name show up at various other places: Sasquatch 2016, SXSW 2016, and Bumbershoot 2016.

This local Seattle shoe-gaze band has a solid album which I have since listened to quite a bit. This set was good, and if you like shoe-gaze, this band is definitely worth looking into.

Portland band. I remember being slightly intrigued to see them, and overall disappointed by the set.

This local Seattle electro-pop band has some catchy tunes, and festival listening-prep had me excited to see this band. Their set was fun and I have since kept their very few available tunes in rotation. They have a song , Jamais Vu, about the Doe Bay Music festival which I think is cool and captures the vibe fairly well. It is a fun adventurous jaunt of someone trying to go get some water, but instead becomes lost in an intoxicating haze of the surrounding excitement. The thing about this band that I cannot stand, is my perception of the annoying wholesomeness of this band. Admittedly I know nothing of the people in this band, but based on their lyrics I picture them as the squarest, straight-edge, boring people on the planet. Like they were the house-band at a new-wave church and then released an EP. But several of those songs are catchy and fun.


The rest of the sets I either missed completely, or just wasn’t paying attention too.


And I’m happy to say that they have figured out the coat situation! They had a cumbersome coat check system on the 1st day (lines, lines, lines), and moved to just plain-ole coat racks on the 2nd day (Ding! Ding! Ding!: they finally got the system figured-out: simple free-for-all system. Yay!)

In Summary
Overall another good festival. A great winter festival! But the line-up wasn't as fun as TimBRRR! 2014.