My Treefort 2022 Review

Built To Spill’s always magical Treefort sunset

Every year, Treefort Music Fest bores itself deeper into my heart. This time, it set up a permanent little fortress there. I left feeling more fulfilled and inspired by music and community than in ages, and I believe many other artists and attendees did, too. For me, it was driven by discovering new music, feeling safer celebrating in crowds, and reconnecting with my Esthetic Evolution crew for our showcase. We danced, ate, partied, celebrated recoveries and milestones, and grieved a little over our own festival’s cancellation and other struggles over the last years. I observed tons of other folks experiencing similar relief, elation and catharsis over the week. Maybe they could have happened anywhere, but I’m glad Treefort provided the perfect cocoon for people around the Northwest and beyond to explore them together.

This was Treefort’s tenth year, which is huge in its own right. It also added to my own nostalgia, given that Esthetic went ten years (2005-2014) and we planned a rescheduled reunion this summer. But 2022 offered many milestones. This was the final year for Treefort’s original main stage, which is to be moved due to a pending commercial development. It was the first featuring several new spaces -including a teaser of Treefort’s new permanent venue- and it was the first time back in March in three years, after a 2020 cancellation and 2021’s COVID-based reschedule to September. The sense of transition was everywhere and always felt positive. Treefort is growing up to be a thriving fixture in the culture of downtown Boise and in the US festival circuit. Maybe that’s why Thrillest called it one of the “coolest festivals in North America.”

The Main Stage

This year’s main stage bookings felt by far the most diverse, and were chock full of both experimental and international artists. Most were new to me but arguably legends in their own right. Admittedly, I’m getting older and my finger is not on the pulse of new non-electronic music, but I also got the sense that many of them have been around forever and were seminal in certain sounds, but don’t have big draws in the mainstream US music scene. Treefort deciding to take such a booking tact is both reflective of their commitment to being a “Festival of Discovery” and an ideal space to be in for a festival of their size and scale. Sure, some of it is because they fall right after South By Southwest and pick up touring artists, but they also had Deerhoof play a mid afternoon Sunday main stage set. Pretty out there, but also…awesome?

My standout international artists were We Intend To Cause Havoc (W.I.T.C.H.) and Ata Kak, both of whom I knew nothing of until leading up to Treefort, and had to research more after their sets. W.I.T.C.H played psychedelic African rock with serious wah pedal action, gorgeous costumes, and infectious stage presence. They were huge in the golden era of Zambian “Zamrock” post-independence in the 1970s, but faded under authoritarian rule, only to be rediscovered after reissues in the 2010s. They were touring with a documentary on their early years. I missed it, but friends said it was inspiring.

Similarly, Ata Kak is a Canadian-based, Ghana born artist who raps over highlife hip hop and electro. He self produced a LoFi album with what sounds like only an 808 and vocals recorded to cassette in 1994, only to be discovered and released on Awesome Tapes From Africa in 2006, and reach international acclaim much later. I went excited for LoFi vibes, but instead caught a full, absolutely stellar band, with keys, sick live bass lines and a producer/percussionist bangning out rich sounds on what may have very well been an old 808. It was amazing and my crappy phone video doesn’t even do the original recordings justice.

W.I.T.C.H rocking out at the main stage Saturday

Ata Kak leading the crowd at the main stage Friday

The Pink Runway Parade at the main stage Saturday made we wish I’d caught some of Dragfort

Most of the other main stage music was great, even when it was artists I’m not normally that into. Osees (The Oh Sees, OCS, ETC.) played a loud-as-fuck and raucus closing set on Thursday, with lead guitarist John Dwyer at one point dragging his guitar’s ¼” across a crash symbol for some nuts feedback. Men I Trust went full-on Fleetwood Mac Sunday afternoon (and were better-timed than Deerhoof – but again, I respect the audacity). Sinkane played sexy, party rockin’ cuts influenced by R&B, funk, house music and the vibes of the universe on Saturday (and apparently a killer closing DJ set at Neurolux that I missed). Fruit Bats definitely jammed it out on Friday, even if I wasn’t in the right headspace. And I missed what I’m sure were awesome sets by Pachyman, Wazumbians, Durand Jones and Treefort headliner (and Sonic Youth cofounder) Kim Gordon. In fact… I DJ’d the artist lounge during Kim Gordon’s set. I’m sure she was great, but you can’t do everything and I don’t regret it one bit.

Badass Femmes and Melancholic Partying

As is seemingly always the case, my favorite shows were female expressing artists I’d previously been unfamiliar with, but whose music was both hooky and  political or powerful enough to make me jump right in. Prior year standouts were Kae Tempest (formerly Kate Tempest, who played 2017) and Prism Bitch (who also destroyed it at Boise Brewing this year in matching “League of Their Own”-inspired outfits). Both became some of my favorite artists as of late. This year’s standout was Penelope Scott at the Linen Building Friday. Her adorably dark Kimya Dawson meets chiptune cutecore vibes were only matched by surprising guitar and piano chops, something I was not aware of going into the show. She stole Treefort and my heart.

Penelope Scott at the Linen Building Friday. The guitar songs were a pleasant surprise.

Penelope Scott hates Elon Musk, too!

Genesis Owusu at El Korah Thursday, wrapping up an evocative set

Pearl and the Oysters at the Linen Thursday. The lead singer is also on modular synths

Penelope falls into what my wife calls my “sad but beautiful” taste; art that is gorgeous and at times disturbing. She belts out heartfelt wordplay about misogyny, Capitalism, liberal elitism and so much more in short, powerful songs whose ridiculous beats and gorgeous melodies give the best earworms a run for their money. She’s also the perfect example of my own out-of-touchness around music. I’d never heard of her prior. It turns out she has tens of millions of Spotify listens. My friends and I were also among the oldest people there for her set and some of the only ones not yelling her tortured lyrics with her. The kids are alright. She’s awesome. I hope she continues to shine in this fucked up world. But seriously, I feel like we bonded over our shared hate of Elon Musk.

I’m not sure if it’s due to late stage Capitalism, post-pandemic realism, or maybe just my taste. But I caught similar emotional vibes from others, most notably Australian rapper and performance artist Genesis Owusu and tropicali-influenced, modular synth-based Pearl and the Oysters. Genesis owned Thursday night with his closing set at El Korah. He moved deftly through comedic cutesiness, heartfelt reflections on race and sexuality, and getting Idaho music fans slam dancing to ad-libbed critique of Neo-Nazis. Pearl and the Oysters weren’t overtly political but had a lush, almost melancholic sound derived from a boundary-expanding interplay of styles that at once sounded like Air, Os Mutantes, improvisational ambient and 70s organ jams. Theirs was the first vinyl I bought since Arcade Fire’s Reflector, and I’m a DJ who owns turntables.

Multi-venue, multi-genre festivals create lots of chances for exposure, often with just a glimpse into an artist’s music or form. When done right, they also inspire artists to stick around and check each other out. Some of my favorite moments are observing artists loving each other’s craft, and a big highlight this year was the woman in line for Pie Hole who was playing Treefort four times, but seemed even more stoked about her autographed Shannon and the Clams vinyl than even her own sets. I guess I fall into this artist fanboy category, too, so I might as well note the great, brief glimpses I got of math rockers Spirit of the Beehive at El Korah Friday, Brazilian/Argentinian psych pop Atalhos at the Neurolux Friday and French Cassettes at the Olympic Friday. I was excited for Cal in Red and Husbands at the Olympic, too, although they were the only artists I caught who sounded better recorded than live. Who knows though? Maybe it was the sound, the space, or constant switch out of bands. They were still pretty good and this is an OK problem to have.

Locals keeping it on lockdown

It’s impossible to talk about Treefort without reflecting on the Boise scene. It’s the biggest city in all directions for six hours, it’s the most “progressive” hub you can find amidst a massive, empty sea of conservatism. It’s gorgeous, has immigrants, universities and a queer community, and the Neurolux is still going. There’s tons of great art and music. I unfortunately missed many local sets this year, partially due to curating my own show, and partially due to priorities. But I want to shout out some of those I missed and the few I saw. I was bummed to miss Afrosonics, who rock afrobeat / hip-hop / funk jams that I played a bunch the week leading up to the festival. I opted to pass on Pure Ivy, due to who they were up against and their energy level, but they play thoughtful, ethereal, beat-based multi-genre music dealing with trauma and healing that I highly recommend. I can’t help but think they will blow up.

Then there’s Doug Martsch. Built To Spill seemingly always plays sundown on Thursday, which is perfect for me. I generally arrive late Wednesday or early Thursday, so they’re up just after I’m settled in. This felt more pronounced last year during COVID, and this year as everyone was adjusting to being back in unmasked crowds.  Doug always shreds it, and he’s the single musician I’ve seen perform most (other than my stepdad, who played seven instruments and was a famous 60s rocker, but ya get it). Seeing him play over a gorgeous sunset for a joyful hometown crowd is always special, and this year brought back memories from some of his Hyde Park Fair sets back in the 90s. But his current band, with two tight, passionate women is something different. He has long rotated through many talented friends. Having him up there with Teresa Esquerra on drums and Melanie Radford on bass creates a special dynamic. It was so awesome that I spent 10 minutes talking about it with a random doom metal lady in line for Spirit of the Beehive. Bonus, Sharlese finally got to meet and take pictures with Doug. 🙂

I want to give an extra special shoutout to everyone from around the West Coast involved with our showcase and my other sets. It was a huge treat to have a packed dance floor for legit, live as fuck improvisational dance music. The fact that it was living legend, Dubtribe founder and inspirational speaker Sunshine Jones made it all the better. Bonus, Sunshine gave a great workshop on playing live. There was an unfortunate scheduling SNAFU with the festival, but the one non volunteer and staff person in attendance really, really loved it!

The only thing that topped it was knowing we had a second room where a core of folks were getting the fuck down to truly raging techno from Sharlese, a rare thing to encounter in Boise. But everyone was top notch, including mind blowing visuals by 1313 Effect and a ridiculous A/V techno set by Autonomic Pilot. We had solid dance floors all night, and it’s so fun to throw the only truly ravy feeling night at the rock festival. Thanks in particular to all the friends who stuck it out for my long afterparty set, and to the random rockers bobbing their heads to the Esthetic artist lounge takeover.

Built To Spill reminding everyone there’s nothing wrong with love at the main stage Thursday

Sunshine Jones playing live in the crowd -and also reminding them there’s nothing wrong with love – for our Esthetic Evolution showcase at the Adelmann Saturday

Sharlese killing it at the Esthetic showcase and clearly thinking of Doug Martsch

Erin O’Connor’s opening tracks over 1313 Effect visuals at our Esthetic Evolution showcase

Autonomic Pilot on the 1s, 0s, A/V and everything in between at the Esthetic Evolution showcase

Lastly, much love to all the great DJs in Boise, particularly the growing number pushing electronic music boundaries in a small community, which is no small task. This includes local legends like Bodie, Brooke Would and Justin Case, who always hold it down, and recently formed crews like Charlatan, whose own Ratheaven played a great techno set for us, threw an after hours, and ran the artist lounge all week. It’s great to see folks playing non cookie-cutter dance music and booking electro, acid, techno and all manner of weirdness. The biggest treat was Rahkeem, who my dear friend Drew (DJ Fashion Mullet) had talked up all week. He jumped on the decks at the artist lounge after we threw down midtempo disco for hours, only to close out the lounge flawlessly playing a bunch of African and other world-influenced midtempo house and breaks without functional headphones. Boise needs more music and folks like this.

My only critiques of Treefort are small and have been consistent over the years. They could do better with visuals on the main stage and most venues, particularly with electronic music and creating a vibe. Although this has improved a bit on the main stage, and while I missed shows there, it sounds like the new Sonic Temple venue was “lit.” Related, the programming and flow is jarring at times, but this is inevitable at major festivals with hundreds of performers and so much variety. Finally, they may overbook a bit, which both leads to possibly fewer “A” and “B” list headliners and higher ticket prices. I desperately want to see some truly crowd rocking live electronic/ rock fusion music there (Hot Chip, Holy Fuck, Soulwax) but those guys are expensive. I ran into a few workers in local restaurants who saw my wristband and said they wanted to go and couldn’t afford it. But this may be more about the Idaho economy and it’s shit federal minimum wage than an awesome community-based festival.

This is a small and overly verbose insight into a major force for music and arts in the Northwest US. I was only able to take in music, food and drinks this time. I can’t do justice to the other amazing “Forts,” although all signs from friends point to most being wonderful, Dragfort being especially stellar and ComedyFort needing some work. But it’s hard to be all things to all people and just means there’s room for growth. And I’m certain that for every one person disappointed by something, there are ten who loved it. I also only caught a smidgen of the musical offerings and this review doesn’t do them justice. I always say “next year, I’m gonna try to shoot for attending more stuff.” But we have ambitious plans for our showcase, I’ll hopefully have my screenplay picked up by a studio and be weaseling my way into Filmfort, and my wife and a close friend have an audacious idea they’re dubbing “FreeTorte” that may end up taking a lot of my time.

We’ll see if any of that happens. But it should be a sign for all y’all that I and many friends are already excited. If nothing else, this review helps me capture my own memories. But I hope it stirs up some for those of you who were there, and inspires others to check out Treefort in future years. If you do make it, be sure to look out for all the great international, national and local talent, and thank the hundreds of committed staff and volunteers that make Treefort thrive all year long. I’ll certainly be there and I hope to see you at our showcase, at the many venues and installations, and hopefully at all the other awesome and magical forts I never get to. Here’s hoping clone technology advances dramatically in the next year. 

Until next time, Boise!