{Hotels photo by Jason Tang}

The above photo from TIG's awesome photographer Jason Tang makes me wish I caught Hotels set (which is one I knew I'd regret missing throughout the weekend).

After my mid-day check-in yesterday, I saw two more acts: UH HUH HER and De La Soul.

UH HUH HER was a mostly entertaining set, but there was a lot of MOR filler thrown in. At their best, their a sexy, synth pop dance band. With two female harmonies, they can recall Ladytron (they are on the same label, Nettwerk). Still during the middle of their set, they put the electronics and hooks on the back burner. This was their first time in Seattle, which I didn't know. They said their shows kept getting canceled for a lot of "weird shit" like their bus "driver getting lost in a blizzard". I'm glad I saw them and did like when they played their singles like "Explode" and "Not a Love Song", but I was also wondering what I was missing elsewhere.

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De La Soul's single "Me, Myself and I" was a hit in 1989 and all over MTV at the time. That was a time when I was just discovering music videos (I was ten years old then) and didn't know what to make of it. It didn't sound like what I knew to be rap at the time (which was basically Public Enemy and Run DMC). It was a lot funkier and while unusual to my ten year old self, the hook was undeniable.

Twenty years later, the album that came from, Three Feet High and Rising, remains one of my favorite hip hop albums. I didn't know it at the time but it was very progressive with beats and sampling, as well as with rhyming. It was also the first album I heard that had sketches in between songs. The follow-up, De La Soul is Dead was also a great hip hop album, with some of my favorite De La Soul songs like "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)" and "Kicked Out of the House". It was a significant departure from Three Feet High... as it didn't seem as playful and was certainly a departure from their "hip hop hippies" tag that was bestowed on them for their debut (the same insult would soon be thrown at Wu-Tang Clan's RZA several years later).

What's truly impressive about De La Soul is not just how innovative they were twenty years ago but that they continue to be relevant today. This is one of the sets I'm most excited for at Bumbershoot this year.

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I doubt this is an April Fool's joke so I'll put it out there, Bumbershoot announced the first list of acts to play this year. There are certainly some that I'm really excited to see (some again) and others I'll pass on.

I know there'll be a lot of people bitching about Katy Perry but remember that booking her sells tickets that pay for other acts and you can choose to do something else while she plays.

Here's the roster so far:

Sheryl Crow / Modest Mouse / Katy Perry / Michael Franti & Spearhead / De La Soul / Raphael Saadiq / Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan / The Long Winters / Sly & Robbie & the Taxi Gang / World Party / MSTRKRFT / Roy Ayers / Common Market / UH HUH HER / Dave Alvin and The Guilty Women / Eric Hutchinson / No Age / Matt & Kim / Dead Confederate / The Cave Singers / Swollen Members / Vieux Farka Touré / Lenka / Gang Gang Dance / Todd Snider / Holy F**k / DJ Spooky / Iglu & Hartly / Low vs Diamond / Sera Cahoone / Eleni Mandell / Carrie Rodriguez / The Honey Brothers / Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head / Extra Golden / Cordero / Forgive Durden / Hey Marseilles / Adrian Xavier, and much, much more to be announced.

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