High Sierra 2010: Nels Cline Singers

I’m finally moving onto my second day of roaming around High Sierra and revisiting the memories I have from this year’s amazing festival. Hands down, the best surprise of the weekend for me was the Nels Cline Singers rocking on Friday morning at High Sierra. It’s not often you see me get too excited about live music before noon, but this stood out big time. The music was a frantic bit of space rock/jazz to me, and when it got mellow for a while it always seemed to crescendo it’s way into something larger. A few of my crew complained that whenever the band started to lock in on something good, they were fizzle that out into some space jazz. For me, I loved what I saw and gained a whole new appreciation for Scott Amendola. Plus, the rockstar of the band was the chick rocking the fruit shakers.

Side note: this now marks the second time I’ve seen a member of Wilco play a music festival with a weird-ass side project that resembles nothing close to their work in their more-famous band. The first was Glenn Kotche back at Summer Camp ’06.

Seriously, though — Nels Cline Singers was a treat and something I was glad to have caught with my friends Aaron and Sarah. I felt like we were witnessing one of the better kept secrets of the festival and I was fortunate to have snuck in a few decent photos as well. Check out my set below…