03.16.08
Posted in SXSW at 4:18 pm by Alix
This morning I woke up still dressed with one leg out of a half-zipped sleeping bag. My feet are twice their normal size and alley dirty. Wristband adhesive is caked to my arms. Tan lines zig and zag across my body. My ears are ringing and my head is cinched in at the seams. There have been several battles between South By Southwest and I — mostly exhaustion battles — and I think South By may have won the war. But, I tell you once if I tell you a thousand times, having an all access wristband to see more than 1700 bands in a borderline tropical, cutting-edge town, fed the audiophile in me until I just couldn’t take any more. I think I will drive home in silence. Thank you to everyone who kept up with this vicarious adventure, and thanks Jennifer for putting together this forum, and thanks SXSW for the wristband and the good times. And thanks Cory and Marshall for the couch. And thanks Austin for hosting my revelries again.
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Posted in SXSW at 4:09 pm by Alix
The last real day of the festival I oggled my way around the city, soaking up the sights and sounds of hipsters, hoopla, and 85 degree weather. I felt like a whirling dervish just spinning around with my eyes wide open in a city at capacity. If there was a gatekeeper for Austin he would be sitting on a bar stool somewhere outside of town with a yellow sign marked with fat sharpie marker: VENUE FULL. The streets are stuffed with advertisements and circulars either soaked with beer and stuffed in the pavement’s crevices or flipping around in the wind. My week couldn’t have ended with any better music. Chromeo in the afternoon at Stubb’s, a valleyed BBQ venue that’s always packed with Miller Tall Boys and dancing crowds. The pair orchestrated a thumping dance party with a synthesizer and electric bass. The shone with all of their LA might, treated the crowd, already over-stimulated by afternoon Austin sun, to a frantic light show and electronic sound tricks. I ambled out of Stubb’s and into a random wine tasting venue to catch a chair and some AC. I ended up watching a cooking demonstration put on by a chef from Central Market grocery who cooked up risotto race cakes, grilled shrimp, and beef flautas, to pair with Robert Mondavi wines. As random as it gets. On and on I went to South Congress to Guero’s taco joint* and saw some acoustic acts, met up with some friends, and then headed back downtown. I missed M. Ward. Apparently everyone else at the festival was just as excited as I was to see him perform, but they were perhaps a bit more excited and arrived in time to make it happen. I caught up with a friend, and then, appropriately enough, caught a show at Mohawk on Red River: Best Friends Forever. They were priceless. I bought one of their cds and will hopefully be reviewing their concert in full at a later time, when my brain is firing on all cylinders again.
After that show, I raced across town to go see Digitalism. In other words, I went to a rave. But I had no idea I was going to a rave. Promise. You see, at the beginning of the festival, we were handed a tall, skinny booklet with every artist and every venue. Oh, except for all of the free shows, and all of the free venues, and all of the tents outside of the convention center, and all of the street performers. There are 1700 bands, all of whom are seeking to be “discovered,” and damned if I knew more than 50 of the artists before this week. So you have to go on pure recommendation, and Digitalism came highly recommended. So, I dragged three friends to a club with pricey drinks, a DJ, and about three hundred other people who are very well-versed with the drum and bass scene. So we danced hard, mostly ironically, and watched the group from Hamburg jam out on a string of turntables. When our heades were about to explode my friends left and I went to an after party where I spent the wee hours of the morning with my kyteTV star before wandering home through the quiet streets of the tired city.
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03.15.08
Posted in SXSW at 5:48 pm by Alix
I took the early afternoon off on Friday to let my ear drums and feet rest for a bit and enjoy Austin sans the barrage of music. Later in the day I checked out the Tradeshow at the convention center which turned out to be rife with free stuff, new technologies and media synergies, and more business cards than God could pass out in a year. I wondered around the show with Ian Hiebert, a friend from college and kyteTV’s new mini-celebrity. He likens himself to the Dell Kid of the new millennium. The convention center is plastered with plasma screen tv’s that host the kyteTV’s SXSW channel. How it works: Ian walks around the convention center and finds someone to interview, be it a musician or trade show exhibitor, or stranded nine year old, or me, he flips kyte phone up, asks them a few questions, and then, voila, the interview is on the big screen and enters the cycle of video already uploaded. The goal is to have individuals, especially artists and musicians, host and maintain their own channel that can then be imbedded in things like facebook, myspace, or other websites. Their biggest kyte host and channel owner? 50 Cent. But Ian might argue that it he is personally way more influential than any rapper. After the tradeshow I went down to South Austin to meet up with some friends at Guero’s a taco joint on South Congress and saw the last song of a group called Gliss and then the entire set of Mar Mar Superstar. Mar Mar was frickin’ hilarious. With raucous seventies beats bubbling in the background a compact, overweight, long haired, balding lead singer jammed out singing songs that Britney Spears could have made a name for herself with. In a crowd packed with families and the middle-aged, hybrid SUV, Teva-wearing south Austinite, the lead singer ran up to a picnic table, leapt atop it, and began dancing and singing invoking great disco dance party gods who were most likely much taller and fitter than he. The showmanship almost made up for the fact that the music sucked, but the crowd was so into it that it would have been hard to not have a good time.
It was then back downtown for a variety of shows, many nameless and faceless. At 1am I was headed to see Tilly and the Wall, and after winding down a few alleys finally found the tent and waited for the group to set up. After 20 minutes, they were set. I was almost blown back to the far end of the tent by the crappy garage rock even though I had earplugs firmly ticked into my drums. Oops. This group was Story of the Year. My first truly bad concert in Austin. Tilly was playing on a patio across the street and by the time I got there, the venue was full complete with a SXSW volunteer holding a “venue full” sign. So I stood up above the venue and watched the show from afar. They have a nice indie pop sound with creative percussion and, as with any good indie pop band, some instruments I didn’t recognize. All in all a great evening, onto the music conference today.
*Friday Night Lights, the series is actually filmed at the Texas School for the Deaf which is two blocks from Guero’s Tacos on South Congress. So. Um. This is an appropriate title for this blog.
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03.14.08
Posted in SXSW at 4:03 pm by Alix
I crossed the pedestrian bridge as the sun set over town lake and hiked to Jo’s coffee shop on South Congress to see Bobby Bare Jr. Accompanied by two of his avid fans, I headed into a collection of what I would assume were locals enjoying the famous Jo’s and its overhauled parking lot. The show was great, the weather holding true to its perfect Austin form and the band put on a great show. The bass player injected enormous amounts of energy into a mostly family crowd and after the set was over we headed back up South Congress to Auditorium Shores to check out where the other half (those without wristbands) go to see music. And here was the first disappointment of the festival: Spoon. I was so stoked to see the Austin-based badasses playing for a massive crowd in their hometown, but, in the words of my friend Eric, “they looked flat and bored.” The massive flat screen hanging in the foreground of the stage made it possible to see the band members, but there were so many people and the sound system was so under juiced that I felt like I was watching the band play on a low volume television before the camera man swoops in to get a shot of the stage. Boo. And then Britt Daniel even screwed up the beginning of his most popular song of late “Don’t Make Me A Target” from GaGaGaGa and had to start it over three times. His excuse: “Sorry, we haven’t played a show in two weeks.”
After the show, we headed downtown and wandered around a bit before stumbling across Nylon Magazine’s garage party. After five fights of back stairs, we walked out onto an incredible open air floor of a parking garage and were treated to a mass party with two stages, free booze, (yes you heard right) and a nice sized crowd. After another set of stairs hidden in the back of the party, we found the band Phosphorescent who played pool side on the roof top of the garage. Guess sponsored the party and massive white letters spelling UESS floated in the pool(s) which seemed designed mostly for aesthetic effect. Phosphorescent was fantastic. The group played under a tiny tent with maybe thirty people there watching. Four members: piano, lead acoustic, bass, and drums. The lead singer lit up the patio by entering the audience several times with a corded microphone to wail choruses of several covers, one of which was the beautifully rendered “Memories” by Leonard Cohen. As the drummer and piano player maintained the lingering death rattles of the bands last song, the lead singer and bass player stripped down into boxers on the stage and dove head first into the UESS pool, soon after, the USS pool. Amazing performance.
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03.13.08
Posted in SXSW at 9:50 pm by Alix
A conglomerate of San Francisco artists took the stage at Beauty Bar on E. 7th and I had the chance to see Music for Animals and 60 Watt Kid. I only caught the last two songs of the MFA, but they are definitely worth checking out: the group gave me a copy of their latest album, so I will be reviewing it in full soon. 60 Watt Kid synthesized reverbed conversations using a telephone plugged into a mixing board and mikes climaxing in echoed loops of the led singers voice and spatterings of other sounds. Not sure its something that could be reproduced but the show was high high energy and the band members definitely displayed a mastery of creative reverbage.
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Posted in SXSW at 7:08 pm by Alix
So my Wednesday night started slow with Hoop and picked up the pace when I met Danny, the lead singer of Long Live Logos, an indie pop band out of San Diego; we went to the Camel party at Emo’s where I saw New Roman TImes, and I hung out with several other band members and met the guitar player for Music For Animals another group out of California. So now, I’m off to Beauty Bar on Red River to go see both groups. I’ll check in later before going to see Spoon tonight at Shore Auditorium. Below are some thoughts on the acts I had the pleasure of seeing last night.
Kimya Dawson
My goodness. Listening to Kimya Dawson via recording she comes across as a soft-spoken, earnest, creative, and innocuous singer. Her stage presence was the physical manifestation of all of these things, and her performance was stellar. She sat alone on the stage at Emo’s IV Lounge and sheepishly stared at the ground as she quietly broke into her first song, “Tireswing” from the Juno Soundtrack. A few audience members offered feedback, she coyly looked around, avoiding “eye contact” with the crowd, and in an endearing voice said
“You people are crazy.” Pause. “This next song is about the bad old days when my friend who owned a bar used to pay me in wine to punch people in the face that he didn’t like.”
After a few more songs, she made a few comments about the prevalent producers at South By Southwest. “So we’re thinking its time for a greatest hits record Dawson,” she mimicked. “And I said, No thanks. I think I’ll make a kids’ record.”
Her new album slated for release in August will be titled Alphabutt, and judging from the few songs she played, it is a precocious, potty-humored, tribute to the socially aware six year old. Fitting, as she seems to channel just such an attitude.
The Blow
One lady, one mike, some sick dance moves, and a narrative thread that wove her songs together like spoken word. Lay down some beats, a few props, a badass voice with impressive range, and voila: The Blow. Great show, really lively expression of her records.
New Roman Times
A sleek and sexy group rocking a tight sound with a chick bass player and dude lead guitarist combining for vocals. Not my type of music, but packaged well, and a good listen.
Unknown…
It’s the quality of accidental encounters that matter the most because they happen them most. While cruising down 6th Street, I stepped in to a pretty typical bar. At the far end, crammed against the wall sat a stage and a 5 man band setting up. The lead singer and acoustic guitar player was warming up, playing despite a broken arm in a dingy blue cast. The sound was made up of a banjo, a mandolin, a stand-up bass, the lead guitar, and a rabid drummer, and as far as frantic country bluegrass with all its loud crescendos, unified pauses, and organic lyrics goes the band was spectacular. Not really my kind of music, but for an accidental encounter the group was perfect. I didn’t catch their name, but you know who you are. And I’ll try my damndest to find out who.
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Posted in SXSW at 3:46 pm by Alix
For all of you festival throwdowners, I just got word of a festival in SF featuring Radiohead, Tom Petty, and Jack Johnson for the weekend of August 22-24. And I have answers to only one of your two questions. 1) I don’t know why Jack Johnson counts as a headliner amidst a bill like this 2) Prices haven’t been released yet. I’ll touch base later today with the SXSW lowdown last night.
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Posted in SXSW at 2:52 am by Alix
The hypnotic and elegant Jesca Hoop played at Buffalo Billiards proving that the well-produced Kismet wasn’t a magic act. Wearing a sparkling jacket and long elbow height gloves, Hoop performed with precise focus and intent and her fluid enchantment really did hypnotise the crowd. Rarely do I feel that a live performance is as crisp as a meticulously crafted album, but by god, Hoop managed to stun a crowd of people, most of whom had never heard of her music. And that is the advantage of the showcase: the performance is in a vacuum. You either like them or you don’t. You either google them after the show or you don’t. Artists have 45 minutes to knock your socks off and Hoop did just that.
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03.12.08
Posted in SXSW at 6:40 pm by Alix
8 pm
Buffalo Billiards
(201 E 6th St) (21+ )
Jesca Hoop
A singer/songwriter with range, explosively creative instrumentals, and an epic voice, Hoop is your gal if you like an artist that sketches transcendental sonic landscapes. Her debut album, Kismet, carries the powerhouse songs as “Seeds of Wonder” and “Money” both of which underline her fluid and Tim Burton-esque stylized textures.
10:00 pm - 2:00 am
Emo’s IV Lounge
(601 Red River St) (All Ages)
Mahjongg 10:00 p.m.
Dance party to the max, Mahjongg cleverly compounds electronic beats with cross-genre mixing to create a fluid and purely jamming good time.
Saturday Looks Good to Me 11:00 p.m.
I don’t know them that well but I dig what I’ve heard so far. Give “Make A Plan” and “Whitey Hand” on their 2007 album Fill Up The Room a soundcheck.
Kimya Dawson 12:00 a.m.
Headliner for the Juno soundtrack and co-founder of the Moldy Peaches, Kimya Dawson captures light and goofy acoustics of pure indie without entering the realm of trite. For a soundcheck listen to “Loose Lips,” her song that was on both the Juno Soundtrack and her 2006 album Remember That I Love You.
The Blow 1:00 a.m.
Pop-punk with synthesized beats and the occasional French chorus, The Blow from Portland, OR promises a great and hopefully sassy performance. For a soundcheck listen to “Pile of Gold” on their album Paper Television.
Check back in tomorrow for pictures and reviews of the shows!
Good luck and Godspeed.
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Posted in SXSW at 6:38 pm by Alix
The sun is shining and people are coursing though the streets of downtown Austin with Converses attached to their feet, messenger bags attached to their lumbars, and SXSW badges hanging low on their chests. Its midafternoon and live performances dot the city, festival goers pump out of hotels, and indie bands with sights set on exposure and Papa Warbucks who like their sound lug equipment across streets and through traffic. The racial make up is almost solidly white hipster, but that’s not much different from Austin normally. All in all the city is abuzz with musicians, production bigwigs, gamers, local audiophiles, and the journalists to talk and write about them. I’ve been here for a day and have been mapping the lay of the land and gearing up for shows that start tonight: on my next post you’ll find my Wednesday night schedule. For all of you north of the Mason-Dixon, please ignore reports of 90 degree weather on Friday. I feel for all of you.
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