A FiPS Guide To GreatGooga Moosic

via whatupdoe.com

It's Great GoogaMooga week, bitches! To prepare you for the upcoming 2-day food, wine and music orgy FESTIVAL, we here at FiPS are going to be talking about it nonstop from now 'til Saturday.

If you haven't heard, The Great GoogaMooga, at its core, is about food. Hence the internal rhyme (I assume). But to aid in digestion, a gaggle of musical acts will gently massage your intestines via sonic wave. And, OK, let's admit: save maybe the Roots (and, I suppose, Hall & Oates), these aren't big names. It's also heavy on NYC-based groups, and shame on us for not seeing more local musical talent in a city overflowing with it. Long-story-short, you'll be in a food coma anyway, so it's probably all gonna sound great. There will be two stages, and acts will go from 11:30AM-8PM Saturday, and 11:45AM-7:30PM Sunday. Here's the FiPS rundown of the two-day fest's ear food: 

SATURDAY

* The Roots: Ok, The Roots are just fuckin' cool -- hip hop wedded to the live instrumentation of soul -- and they are unquestionably the Mooga's biggest haul. Also, they played "Lyin' Ass Bitch" for Michelle Bachman on Fallon, a stunt which will forever earn them a place in my heart. Check out the gritty "Make My" from last year's storytelling concept album Undun.

* Holy Ghost!: The two kids behind this remixing, electropop band are, would you believe it, actually FROM New York. Not transplants. They cook up poppy dance music ,drawing on four decades of influences. You may have heard their dancification of Phoenix's "Lisztomania."

The Pedrito Martinez Group

* Preservation Hall Jazz Band: A rotating cast of Louisana jazzists make up this classic New Orleans band, named for the Preservation Hall venue in the French Quarter. Last weekend's Bayou n' Brooklyn fest over at Jalopy might have given you a taste for the creole. Even if not, here's a chance to make up for it. The Band has been preserving this olde tyme music for some tyme, sorry time. Here's one of the band's previous incarnations from the '70's. 

* The Pedrito Martinez Group: Cuban-born percussionist, singer, and bandleader, Pedrito Martinez (no, not Pedro) plays Afro-Cuban rumba, which should be more rhythm than most indie-lovin' Brooklynites know how to handle. 

* Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens: Gospel, R&B voice Naomi Shelton learned to sing at family's baptist church in Midway, Alabama, but she's mostly a NYC singer. Here she is at at last year's Bonnaroo on the old standard, "A Change is Gonna Come."

* Bear Hands: A punky, indie rock band from Brooklyn (of course), they've opened for MGMT, Vampire Weekend, and The xx. The kids are all Wesleyan alums, whose self-description contains the phrase "successfully copulating with several other humans," which makes me root for them, personally. But, does EVERY INDIE BAND HAVE TO BE NAMED AFTER AN ANIMAL?? Anyway, listen to them punk out, sorta. 

Unknown Mortal Orchestra

* Unknown Mortal Orchestra: Self-described "weird" pop rock with roots in psychadelia and a bunch more (they claim), UMO (they're begging for acronymization, right?) also hit Sasquatch and Pitchfork later this summer. Ride their "Bicycle."

* Unchained "The Mighty Van Halen Tribute": So. It's a Van Halen tribute band. That's...yeah, that's what it is. "Runnin' With The Devil."

* Fort Lean: Anthemic rock, but the real grandeur here is in the lead singer's flowing blonde locks.

SUNDAY:

* Hall & Oates: Why Hall & Oates? I don't know. Perhaps the Moogas in charge of this festival sensed some nostalgia out there for '70's, '80's white-boy soul music. Honestly, it's not my thing, but I hope y'all are into it. Here's a completely unnecessary link to "You Make My Dreams Come True."

* Fitz & the Tantrums: Leading into the Hall and Oatsers are some young-gun soul men, who've played with Maroon 5 and Sharon Jones. Their keyboard-based sound began with with the discovery of an old electric organ, which inspired singer/founder Michael Fitzpatrick's first (of many) breakup songs, "Breakin' The Chains of Love."

Fitz & the Tantrums

* Charles Bradley  & His Extraordinaires: Old-school R&B/soul man in the James Brown mold, Charles Bradley, brings the funk in the '60's and '70's style. Here, he puts it down on "Lovin' You, Baby."

* Escort: Bringing disco's pop hooks into the 2010's with a shit-ton of musicians, Escort hits the stage with a 17-member "disco orchestra." Hear that wall of sound on "Makeover." 

* Lez Zeppelin: You know, with the luxurious tresses, the keening vocals, and the tight leather pants, Led Zeppelin was probably better suited to an all-female lineup all along. Lez Zeppelin makes it happen. They are golden goddesses, and here they are on "Whole Lotta Love."

* Peelander-Z: Seriously, you can name a band just whatever the fuck you want these days. Anyway, self-described as a "Japanese Action Comic Punk Band," they come shod each in a separate color, like Power Rangers or Ninja Turtles or whathaveyou. Don't call it a gimmick, it's a schtick. They have a song called "Taco Taco Tacos" obviously. Listen closely to the lyrics.

We Barbarians

* We Barbarians: Here's a newish band that wants to sound big and grand, like they did in the old days. But, of course, U2 never really went anywhere, so maybe the Barbarians want to sound big and grand like they do in the nowadays.

* Lucius: A tag-team of two singer-songwriters from Boston, their origin story takes place in a Bushwick home that turned out to be an old recording studio. Here's some of their pretty stuff.