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Coachella Day 3: Kamasi Washington, Autolux and Death Grips

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Kamasi Washington (center) plays Coachella 2016.
Chad Wadsworth/Getty Images for Coachella

On Sunday, my search for music that sounds nothing like Major Lazer led me to …

1. Kamasi Washington. The jazzman played the Smith Center last September, in conjunction with Lula Washington Dance Theatre’s performance (the best booking in Reynolds Hall history, by the way). This one was all Kamasi—well, the 35-year-old saxophonist plus his crack nine-piece band, which swelled to 10 when his father Rickey joined in.

The hour-long, six-song set reminded me of some footage I’ve seen of the Sun Ra Arkestra playing festivals in the ’70s and ’80s (minus the Arkestra’s costumes and dancers), in that Washington’s music felt as out of place in a rock festival (albeit one dominated by DJs these days) as Sun Ra and his experimental sounds must have seemed among more traditional jazz acts back then. In my mind’s eye, Washington would play pied piper Sunday, his soaring sax luring thousands to the Outdoor Theatre, driving them to dance madly and changing the world forever. In reality, a modestly sized audience turned out (solid for a 3 p.m. slot under the scorching sun, though) and happily soaked up one of the weekend’s most uplifting performances.

Highlights included opener “Change of the Guard,“ also the leadoff cut on Washington’s vaunted 2015 triple-LP, The Epic; “Abraham,” a new song off bassist Miles Mosley’s upcoming album; and a remade version of “The Rhythm Changes,” sped up considerably since its Smith Center appearance. Through it all, Washington projected a warm personality, at one point explaining that his bandmates are friends he’s known his whole life (“You might see we have two drummers. That’s because I had two homies who play drums.”). And vocalist Patrice Quinn, playing the part of June Tyson from the aforementioned Arkestra, helped the group reach a crowd that might have had trouble connecting with purely instrumental jazz.

Autolux plays Coachella 2016.

Autolux plays Coachella 2016.

2. Autolux. I needed some noisy guitar as the sun began to set on the three-day festival, and the LA trio provided just the right jolt. The band’s Gobi Tent crowd was a sliver of its big 2005 Mojave Tent draw, but that spoke more of Coachella’s changing audience than of new third album Pussy’s Dead, which is actually quite strong.

Autolux played five cuts from that disc, which finds the band continuing to blur styles like space, shoegaze and more traditional alt-rock, and added five older numbers, including “Turnstile Blues” from 2004, the band’s most enduring single moment. Drummer Carla Azar and bassist Eugene Goreshter split lead vocals roughly down the middle, and the threesome closed out a high-quality set with a thunderous version of “Blanket” off debut album Future Perfect.

Death Grips play Coachella 2016.

Death Grips play Coachella 2016.

3. Death Grips. Every time I catch these guys at a festival it’s the highlight of my weekend, and this was no exception (the only close competition coming from Sufjan Stevens’ wild Friday-night ride). Whatever you might think of Death Grips’ antics or studio albums, there’s no denying the sheer sonic assault that is their live show, powered by Zach Hill’s absurdly propulsive drumming. Place over that MC Ride’s combative vocals and Andy Morin’s chilling synths and effects and you arrive at a place that’s absolutely brutal, in the best sense of the word.

A Death Grips set is intense and intensely hypnotic, and the closer it pulls you to the stage, the more dangerous it feels. Not because you’re moving nearer to the swirling moshpit, but because the sound is drenched in despair—Ride’s lyrics, his furious delivery and Hill’s relentlessly pounding beat. There’s nothing else like it, and for me, it made for a perfect back-to-reality brain cleanse to cap off Coachella 2016.

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