Music Tastes Good 2018 By the Minute Review

1:10 Forest of Tongue is wrapping up their set and starts … revolving out of frame! IT’S THE REVOLVING STAGE! Country-tinged indie band Neighbor Lady is starting up as Forest of Tongues disappears from view. It’s the greatest of all festival tricks cause you can KEEP. THE. PARTY. GOING!! (NP)

1:13 Following a brief rock’n’roll blooper during their second song, Emily Braden–the lead singer/guitarist of Neighbor Lady–finally puts her strap on…wait, that didn’t sound right. (NJ)

1:54 We’re waiting for RADIOLISTENER: A Tribute to Ikey Owens at the Gold Stage when a roaring snarl is heard all the way across the festival grounds from the Franklin Stage, the main one. Looks like we’re missing something great from L.A. psych rockers FEELS, because frontwoman Laena Geronimo sure seems gnarly/awesome from way over here. (NP)

2:15 What’s with all these head crowns I’m seeing, you ain’t no Beyoncé. (CR)

2:20 Local record stores including Third Eye and Fingerprints are selling vinyls at the festival. I pick up the last two Parquet Courts albums; a consolation prize considering I’ll miss their sure-to-be excellent Sunday set. (NP)

2:25 Someone’s wearing a t-shirt with what I think is the America Online logo on it. “Excuse me, is that an AOL t-shirt?” I ask in semi-disbelief. “Yup,” he replies. “They send you a disc with a 100 free hours of internet on it.” (NP)

2:36 Turns out the TASTE portion of Music Tastes Good is pretty solid too. Local food trucks and restaurant vendors are placed throughout MTG, while the centerpiece of the whole thing is the TASTE TENT—located in the middle of everything. Here, chefs from different port cities (Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle, Vancouver) are sending out impeccably-constructed small plates while an array of food-related professionals (chefs, photographers, etc.) give panel discussions on one side of the large space. As the event grows, they’d benefit from utilizing even more of the extra space to add 3 or 4 more chefs, really upping the variety presented. Shout outs to Roe Seafood’s ceviche and No Anchor’s Shrimp Roll on a Pretzel Bun for being our favorite bites. (NP)

3:04 Quintron & Miss Pussycat is a New Orleans duo of longtime musicians, yet they’ve somehow escaped my ears until now. The duo starts, as they do every show—with a puppet show. This one is themed around a Music Tastes Good bake sale. From there Q&MP reveal themselves; Quintron playing synthesizers with a “Drum Buddy” drum machine he made himself and Miss Pussycat on the maracas. They play songs that sound kinda like Arcade Fire sped up twice as fast and run through a bayou. At one point Quintron’s banging away on a guitar with a drumstick while Miss Pussycat smacks the drums with her maracas. It’s way better than what I’m explaining, so Google it. Basically, I’m hooked for life. Curious after watching the band as to who’s booking this festival, I ask around and find out that it’s none other than Jon Halperin, who I remember as the guy behind the glass for all of the best shows at Chain Reaction. He’s still booking great shows, and still introducing me to new bands all these years later. Thanks Jon! (NP)

3:55 Highlight of the day so far is watching Los Master Plus doing a banda-style cover of Dr. Dre’s “Next Episode.” This song is GANGSTA in any language. (NJ)

4:01 (The talented) @CopelandHolt is traversing the grounds with canvases and paint, capturing the different scenes of MTG with a vibrant take on the festivities. He says you can check them out (and buy them) on his Instagram. (NP)

4:15 Fortune smiles upon me as I follow a trail of smoke that leads me to Robert Earl’s BBQ booth. Pro-tip: When you order at one of these festival food eateries, try to scope out what the people working there are eating. The woman taking money at the front of the line hipped me to a divine creation: A hot-link topped with brisket and jalapenos…killer! (NJ)

4:15 Knob Creek came through with the cocktail and ribeye, VIP perks. (CR)

4:40 The Knob Creek tent just ran out of ribeye and people aren’t happy because all they have left are smores- smore, do I look like a 5th grader?! (CR)

4:47  Oliver Tree and his band are dressed like they’re going to Aspen on a ski trip sponsored by Lisa Frank. They flutter between ambient and not-so-ambient EDM, vibey drum fills, raging hip-hop and grooves that nestle somewhere between King Krule and the late, great Mac Miller. I don’t know what this is exactly, but it’s everything at once in mostly a good way. (NP)

4:50 These guys dressed like water cups. Based on the style, I’d say they’re Oliver Tree fans. (NP)

5:01 I live a few minutes from Panxa Cocina but never got a chance to try their food until now. The white fish ceviche is fresh, light and perfectly acidic. (NJ)

5:03 Found an awesome sticker vendor and bought four stickers for my vinyl crate. Walked up to the person at Fingerprints table to ask her to put the stickers in the bag of vinyls they were holding for me. Turns out I had unknowingly cut the line to an artist signing and the person I was asking for help at the record store was Ariel Engle, one of the lead vocalists for Broken Social Scene. OOPS! (NP)

5:12 The crowd is vibing hard to Chery Glazerr’s mellow, dreamy indie tunes. The farthest reaches of the lawn come the closest they will all day to capturing Coachella Outdoor Stage magic. (NP)

5:49 The look of panic on peoples faces when they stopped selling tickets for the taste tent- Sincere Justice- Tacos sincero (Oakland), Jeffrey Vance- No Anchor (Seattle) just ran out of food – there’s gonna be some hangry people. (CR)

5:50 Princess Nokia gives a royal decree that all POC (people of color) should make their way to the front of the stage. It’s a weird moment but you could tell she was using a sensitive touch following up by saying “No disrespect to our allies.” Most people seemed to get where she was coming from. (NJ)

5:53 That moment when you realize you should have ordered two instead of one, Wesley Young’s (Pidgin) Pork Belly Rice Bowl with asian pear kimchi, bamboo shoots and a perfectly cooked ramen egg was worth the wait. (CR)

6:16 Princess Nokia is both an aggressive, exciting rapper and sensitive emo rocker essentially playing two different sets in her allotted time. She flexes trap muscle and a flow to match, but also samples Panic! At the Disco and Fall Out Boy. Her ferocity as a rapper plays better than her rock star turn, but the guitar-driven stuff is emotional and does connect on a deeper level—especially when she’s dealing with weighty subjects including gender equality, sexual freedom, and depression and suicide. (NP)

6:40 As hype as Princess Nokia managed to get for this mid-day crowd, Santigold reminded us why she is the Queen of Day 1. Taking the stage in a red cape covered in dollar bills. The first lady of NYC art pop was all the way turned up during the lyrics to the aptly titled hit “Go!”: “People want my power /And they want my station/ Stormed my winter palace / But they couldn’t take it.” (NJ)

6:50 Four songs in and Santigold is slaying. She just wrapped up a perfect run through “L.E.S. Artistes” and a bunch of food-related pool floaties get thrown into the audience. A giant slice of pizza, a huge pretzel and more go flying through the air. The quintessential Music Tastes Good moment of 2018. (NP)

7:01 Santigold invites people from the crowd onto the stage. Within 2 minutes there’s more than 100 people up there dancing with the singer before security starts to block people from jumping the barrier and quickly usher everyone else off to the side of the stage and back out. (NP)

7:30 Yep, I’m eating again. This time it’s a fresh, seafood shrimp roll on a pretzel bun from No Anchor out of Seattle. It’s a tough job, folks–but someone’s gotta do it. (NJ)

7:45 There’s a handful of songs by Bay Area rapper Lil’ B that I like. I tried catching him at Coachella and wasn’t feeling it so this was Round 2. Still not feeling all of his raps live, but I do love his positivity. He encouraged people to hold each others hands, even if they didn’t know them (even if it was uncomfortable), and to share the love. There’s something to that message, and his authenticity, that keeps the Based God galvanizing—even if his flow sometimes fails to do so. (NP)

8:11 A noticeable number of dudes have adopted the same look as the lead singer of Portugal. The Man. (NP)

8:30 Broken Social Scene has people in a trance before New Order. It’s my first time encountering the indie rock collective (on stage; record stores notwithstanding) and they’re wonderful to listen to. They end their set with these words of wisdom: “Don’t beat yourself up .. Love each other.” (NP)

8:33 Two people immediately start to freaking with each other as soon as a DJ at the Gold Stage let’s the beat drop on Mark Morrison’s “Return of the Mack”. They also look young enough to have both been conceived to this song. Weird. (NJ)

8:29 Backstage in the artist area, Lil B and Joey Bad A$$ pass each other on two Kubota golf carts going opposite directions. Lil B looks tired from just finishing his set, opens his mouth full of gold fronts to yell praise to Joey, “You a legend man, keep doing yo thang!” Joey smiles back and waves. Rapper bro-mances are the best. (NJ)

8:49 Waiting for Joey Bada$$. A little girl, can’t be more than 8 years old, is busting out YouTube-worthy dance moves and knows all the words to “Goosebumps” by Travis Scott. Award for “Most Crunk” goes to this kid. (NP)

8:59 Joey Bada$$ is living up to the moniker, spitting rhymes like it’s 1995 in a New York basement. Good news for fans—he says he’s been in Cali the last 2 weeks working on a new album. (NP)

9:33 New Order plays “Blue (FUCKING!) Monday.” How does it feel? Great! Thanks for asking! (NP)