03.25.07
Posted in muzak at 10:58 am by shawnz
The amateur rock photography i have promised has finally arrived on day 2. I started my first full day at SXSW by going to some of the panels. After getting some corporate conference calls out of the way (boooo overlords!), I caught the tail end of David Byrne’s talk entitled “Record Companies: Who Needs Them?” The hall was packed to overflow capacity, and David appeared to be winding up his thoughts when I got there. It seemed slightly disjointed, as he occasionally played with his macbook on the podium in the middle of a thought.
First things first, I had to get my BBQ fix out of the way. A buddy of mine, a local Austinite, took me to the Ironworks on 1st street where I had delicious ribs and was introduced to the concept of serving a slice of white, Wonder bread with meat. It turned out to be an essential side dish to dull the burning spicy BBQ that I lathered my ribs with.
For my first evening showcase, I went to La Zona Rosa, on the Western side of the city. This large venue was playing host to the Attic Jam, a showcase by Pete Townshend (pictured above) and his girlfriend, Rachel Fuller. The Attic Jam is headlined by Fuller and Townshend, who perform their own songs, but who also make appearances in the bands opening for them. These are bands that Rachel and Pete are really into, and included Willy Mason, Mika, Alexi Murdoch, Sean Lennon, Martha Wainright, and a bunch of others. Pete came out first and rocked the acoustic guitar with really complex rhythms and blew the audience away. This performance came after his SXSW keynote speech, which I missed, about his new venture into user-generated music.
Later in the evening, I went to the various Emo’s showcases (which featured 4 stages.) First I caught Dengue Fever, a Cambodian pop/psychedelic rock band from Los Angeles. The 6 piece band plays covers of 60’s and 70’s Cambodian pop songs and also originals in the same style. The Cambodian vocals and vocal styles are hard to get used to because of the strange melodies and overall high pitched tone, not to mention that all the songs were sung in Cambodian. The band was very tight, and the catchy guitar licks and good stage presence brought the crowd into the show. Their basist, Senon Williams, almost stole the show from the lead singer with his huge frame and manic dancing. By a huge margin, the band won the award for Best Facial Hair at SXSW.
After this set, I wandered over to another Emo’s stage and caught Datarock, a Norway synthpop band. The foursome entered the stage in matching tracksuits and sunglasses, with a breakbeat, and proceeded to perform the Datarock Rap. Then they picked up their instruments and played fun, dance rock and got the indie rock audience to shake their asses, for at least a few songs.
At the main stage, the Gossip started their set at the same time as Datarock’s, so I only caught the last few songs. This loud, rocking threesome from Arkansas had filled the venue. I saw them last at a KWUR show 3 or 4 years ago and I thought they were fun but somewhat forgettable. At Emo’s, they were fucking massive, and Beth, their large, lesbian lead singer was channeling Patty Labelle. The guitarist and drummer made a louder sound than some of the 4 pieces I saw at SXSW. At the end of the set, Beth stripped down to her underwear, a bold move given her physique. She owned the show and her confidence as a singer and a woman were evident. I wish I saw the whole set!
Its 12:30 in the morning, we’re on fumes and have had some to drink, but 10 blocks west, at Opal’s Firehouse, The Bird and the Bee from LA are set to play in a half hour. We make the long, cold walk to watch the Blue Note signed The Bird and the Bee perform a 20 minute sound check. That wasn’t long enough, as when they finally started at 1:20 AM, the feedback and low hum ruined the otherwise classy performance. Inara George had a cute outfit with a much too short skirt, and was backed by 2 singers. They performed their poppy/electronic/jazzy songs and thanked the sparsely attended audience for making the late show.
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03.19.07
Posted in muzak at 9:48 pm by shawnz
Arriving late in the evening, I missed most of the opening festivities, but I did catch the start of the night shows. Emo’s Main Room was too crowded, so we hit up the sister bar, Emo’s IV Lounge. I apparently saw Tiny Vipers from Seattle, but I don’t remember anything about this set and didn’t take any notes or pictures. I’m sorry Tiny Vipers, my complete ambivalence must mean that you aren’t very good, but I especially remember the bad shows, so you were just.. neutral?
The next act was Lonely, Dear from Sweden, and they were highly recommended by Alex, a graphic designer/IT professional from Arkansas. A lengthy sound check, including the set-up of a glockenspiel, was not terribly inspiring. And their lead singer, looking like a 15 year old boy, ambled up to the mic. His choir-boy style of vocals had us heading for the door after the first song.
We ventured over to Stubb’s, the largest venue at the event. Stubb’s looked more like a traditional amphitheater than the club settings for the other bands, so the bigger bills were usually booked here. We saw Razorlight, a British four piece who channeled Queen and 70’s rock glam. Their lead singer a pure, rock ‘n roll star, whom my buddy likened to Mic Jagger. He owned the stage and the audience with his flamboyant presence and vocals. True to form, he ripped off his shirt half way through the set, exposing his waif like hairless chest. With their epic riffs and driving percussion, Razorlight rocked the audience, who appeared to be quite familiar with their songs.
Following Razorlight, the Bravery took the stage and played a decent set. I am only familiar with their one hit from a few years ago (with the video of the rube goldberg machine), but apparently they are huge and from New York. I mention this last part because a music writer in line behind me insisted that they are British, but the lead singer’s banter between the songs disproved that argument.
The amateur rock photography did not make an appearance this night, but stayed tuned for blurry, wide shots of musicians taken from very bad angles!
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03.18.07
Posted in muzak at 7:44 pm by shawnz
I just arrived back from SXSW and I am physically wasted. I attempted to squeeze every band in that I could possibly see, and I paid the toll Saturday night, after alternating meals of BBQ and pizza by the slice, I could no longer focus on the band on stage for more than 5 minutes. I finally called an early night and prepared to actually get 8 hours of sleep, and then hang out all day at the SXSW hangover party at Opal’s Firehouse. I thought my flight out of Austin was at 7 PM and I was looking forward to sitting at one place all day in the beautiful spring skies of Austin. Unfortunately, after I woke up at 11:30 AM and realized my flight was leaving at 1 PM, I scrambled and was lucky enough to find a cab to the airport.
Which brings me to lesson 1 and 1A of South by Southwest. When a cab finally picks you up at your hotel, try to get their personal number. At 3 AM, there are apparently no cab drivers in the greater Austin area, and any cab you try to call to your location will pick up the first fare they see, and that will not be you. Lesson 1A is to know your flight times, though this might be a universal lesson and not so specific to SXSW.
I was most impressed with the organization of the event. Everything went smoothly, most bands performed on time, or within 10 minutes of their start time, which made it easy to hop between venues. Not a single band I planned on seeing canceled or even changed their time slots, and this with a schedule made several months in advance. Just amazing! I foolishly went to the panels the first full day i was in town; every talk, no matter what the title, degenerated into a discussion of how the internet is changing how fans find artists, and how to make money via the internet without music labels. Seriously, I went to a talk about Net Neutrality, and business models for music stores dominates the discussion. After this experiment with panels, I just went to some of the sponsored parties during the day and had much more fun.
I will be posting amateur concert pics with brief reviews over the next week. As you can see, the streets really filled up on Saturday night, coinciding with St. pat’s day. The St. Pat’s crowd kind of got in the way, but I guess 6th street can be exclusively for music fans for 6 days out of the week, and then we shared the 7th day.
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