One down, three to go. Okay kids, you’re getting quick capsule reviews of everything I saw yesterday, in order. As you’ll see, I spent pretty much the whole day and night at Emo’s. Thank Kork and Polyvinyl for that. But anyway, let’s begin.

The Herms (San Francisco, California) @ Emo’s Annex – First band of the fest! Caught just a few songs since I actually showed up early for the next set. Rather jaunty indie rock, decent if undistinctive sound. Jangle and bleeps.

Phosphorescent (Athens, GA) @ Emo’s Annex – A 10-piece, cracked country gospel jamboree loaded down with horns, toy percussion, duelling drummers and a singer with Christmas lights sewn into his jacket. Big and glorious-sounding, and I’m not just saying that because I got my wristband from them.

Magneta Lane (Toronto, ON) @ Emo’s Annex – Hogtown represent! The power-punk-pop trio was a little sloppy and looked like they’d just woken up, and by the time they started getting the energy levels up the bass amp blew up. An inauspicious Texas debut, but they’ll have many more opportunities over the week to make up for it and try and impress.

Skeletons & The Girl-Faced Boys (Brooklyn, NY) @ Emo’s Jr – Crazy psychedelic hippies.

Bright Channel (Denver, CO) @ Red Eyed Fly – Good old fashioned space rock. Jazzmasters and pedals ahoy!

The Octopus Project (Austin, TX) @ Red Eyed Fly – One of the buzz bands of this festival and apparently winners of a MySpace contest, they absolutely packed Red Eyed Fly with local supporters. Throngs of them! Imagine Boards Of Canada, Stereolab and, uh, Trail Of Dead all mashed together. Intense instrumental tunes that graft bleepy, organic electronica melodies and sounds over top punishing guitars, bass and drums. Definitely interesting and unique.

Shearwater (Austin, TX) @ Emo’s – Shearwater played the first of many shows this week with a stripped-down, 4-piece lineup that still managed to recreate their beautifully ghostly, gothic folk. Really, it’s all in Jonathan Meiburg’s voice – it alone can give you chills. Probably not the last time I’ll be seeing them before I leave town.

Charles Bissell (Teaneck, NJ) @ The Lair Upstairs – Flying solo from The Wrens, Bissell used loopers and his guitar to build dense, layers of sounds and backing tracks. Not an uncommon trick these days, but still sounded impressive and distinctly Wrens-ish. The exact context of the material he played was unclear – old material? New material? Solo material?

Page France (Baltimore, MD) @ Emo’s Annex – The blogosphere favourites opened up the official portion of the festivale (read: night shows) with a set of bouncy, happy, clappy pop tunes. I missed the first bit looking for parking.

Headlights (Champaign, IL) @ Emo’s Jr – Much love for Headlights. So much energy onstage and they looked to be having such a great time. Noise and melody, living happily together. Everything from The Enemies EP sounded terrific and the new material, though a little less poppy and heavier, also impressed.

Field Music (Sunderland, England) @ Emo’s – I don’t know if these guys get tired of having Maximo Park and The Futureheads namechecked in every writeup, but if so, they have no one to blame but themselves. Definitely working with the Northern England sound (you know the one), they’re a little less manic and hooky than their compatriots, they didn’t do much for me at first but by the end of their set I was beginning to come around.

Serena Maneesh (Oslo, Norway) @ Emo’s – Serena Maneesh came out, destroyed their gear, destroyed our eardrums, destroyed the stage and left the audience stupefied. And that was just the first song. Amped up beyond all reasoning, the Norwegians were a thunderstorm of bandanas, eyeshadow, flailing guitars and psychotic sound. You really couldn’t hear anything but the drums and bass and a wall of guitars, but that’s okay. It really was. Whoo.

Of Montreal (Athens, GA) @ Emo’s – This was the band the kids came to see. I had no idea Of Montreal were so popular, but there you go – the audience was crying, screaming, gnashing teeth, rending clothes… okay, actually it was Kevin Barnes who was rending his clothes, coming out on stage dressed as a bride and then attacked and stripped by his bandmates before they launched into a thoroughly entertaining set of discoesque pop. Barnes’ has made his mission in life to teach the indie kids to dance again, and judging from the rapturous response, he’s succeeded.

Saturday Looks Good To Me (Ann Arbor, MI) @ Emo’s Jr – Fred Thomas has made good on his promise to completely overhaul his band, as the outfit he took the stage with last night was a far cry from the mini orchestra that so impressed at SxSW last year. They’re now a stripped-down four-piece and he has assumed all vocal duties. Most of the material they played was from the forthcoming new album and it was decidedly noisier, rawer and less obviously retro than Summer Songs or Every Night, but still hook-tacular. A fine way to close out the night.

All my concertation about getting a photo pass seems to have been unnecessary, because no one seems to care this year. Which suits me fine. Many pics are forthcoming, but probably not till I get home. Simply no time to get through them right now – as you can see, I’m barely getting these writeups done before the next day’s madness begins… speaking of which Prefix has Thursday recommendations for SxSW. I have to go over my sched again. No idea where I’m supposed to be today.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, The Toronto Star previews Jenny Lewis’ show at the Opera House tonight and NOW talks to The National about getting The Boss’ seal of approval. The National are at the ‘Shoe next Wednesday.

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np – Film School / Film School

So I, in my infinite wisdom, went with a huge post yesterday in anticipation of having nothing but SxSW goodness to share with you for the rest of the week… but forgot that I won’t actually be seeing anything till later today, meaning there’s… nothing to write about right now.

Yeah.

Flight went well. Got a little lost driving out of the airport but got that sorted. Made it to the hotel, was pleasantly surprised to find that my room did indeed have free high-speed internet (thus making my life whilst in Tejas MUCH simpler). And one nice thing about having a car that I hadn’t anticipated? TEXAS TALK RADIO. Awesome. Some of these call-in shows are insane.

Went to the “Kreate Cookies With Kevin” dinner, a traditional finale thingie for the interactive portion of SxSW which wrapped yesterday. Met up with Neil from Beatnik Pad and James Consolation Champs from Toronto and also met Kathryn of KathyrnYu.com fame. Had some good eatin’, wandered around downtown for a bit to remind myself of what club was which and where, then went back to the hotel and just crashed, hard.

My Wednesday is pretty well planned out, but for those with a little more indecision with their itinerary, Prefix has some suggestions of bands to see – mostly the obvious ones, though. And The Toronto Star and Montreal Gazette have some festival POV’s from Canadian delegates to the festival.

And some non-festival related linkage:

Joey Burns of Calexico gives a song-by-song breakdown of Garden Ruin, out April 11, to SoundsLike. There’s now an e-card for the album with an exclusive, non-album download of an acoustic “All Systems Red” and making-of videos. Filter has another MP3 from the album up for grabs.

MP3: Calexico – “Cruel”

I dosed up on some Neko Case on the trip down here… There’s quick pieces on Ms Case at Chart, The London Free Press and The LA Times (Bugmenot). Via For The Records.

np – Mogwai / Mr Beast

I’m on a plane to Austin this morning, and one of the bands I’m likely to see an awful lot of whilst there are locals Shearwater. In addition to their slot in the Misra showcase at Maggie Mae’s on the 17th, they’re playing three other day shows over the course of the week. This is all to build up excitement for their new album Palo Santo, which is out May 9 and if it’s a patch on Winged Life, will be excellent. They’ve released the first MP3 from the album below and there’s more to listen to on their MySpace. 2005 was the year of Okkervil River – 2006 may well see Jonathan Meiburg and Will Sheff again put out one of the best albums of the year.

MP3: Shearwater – “Seventy Four Seventy Five”

As the festival draws nigh, there’s lots of tips, guides, suggestions, etc for the SxSW punter, newbie and veteran. Pitchfork and Drowned In Sound have some suggestions of hot acts worth the attendee’s attention (and all of those showcases just got 200% harder to get into… thanks…) and The Star-Telegram rates the buzz bands of SxSWs past. Central Village has some excellent day party suggestions including hard-to-find set times, Crackers United has some festival-going tips, (via BrooklynVegan, whom I probably won’t be running into around ye olde BBQ pit) as do Depraved Fangirls (re: band t-shirts… but I don’t have any other clothes!).

Festival sponsor Yaris (as in the Toyota) has set up a really nice guide with maps, schedules, music and tips and for those of us who didn’t have the foresight to book a hotel with free internet access, here’s a map of free wifi points around Austin. And WhereAustin has a terrific Google Maps app for finding all the night showcases.

For my part, here’s an idealized list of where I’ll be during the evening shows. Probably won’t shake out that way, but I’m avoiding a lot of the bigger shows so maybe I’ll get lucky and make everything I want to.

Wednesday, March 15:
Page France @ Emo’s Annex, 8PM
Luminous Orange @ Habana Calle 6 @ 8PM
Headlights @ Emo’s Jr, 9PM
Voxtrot @ Emo’s, 9PM
Field Music @ Emo’s, 10PM
The Czars @ Fox & Hound, 10PM
Serena Maneesh @ Emo’s, 11PM
The Octopus Project @ Emo’s Jr, 12AM
Monsters Are Waiting @ Nuno’s Upstairs, 1AM
Saturday Looks Good To Me @ Emo’s Jr, 1AM

Thursday March 16:
Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s @ Nuno’s Upstairs, 8PM
Belaire @ Emo’s IV, 8:30PM
Film School @ Club DeVille, 9PM
Mazarin @ Buffalo Billiards, 10PM
Some By Sea @ Redrum, 11PM
The Hidden Cameras @ Molotov Lounge, 12AM
Levy @ Nuno’s Upstairs, 1AM

Friday, March 17:
Ambulette @ Red 7, 7:30PM
Dirty On Purpose @ Spiro’s, 8PM
The Mendoza Line @ Maggie Mae’s, 8PM
Isobel Campbell @ Dirty Dog Bar, 9PM
Eric Bachmann @ 18th Floor At Capital Place, 10PM
Gemma Hayes @ Soho Lounge, 10PM
Sarah Hepburn @ The Drink, 10PM
The High Violets @ Molotov Lounge, 11PM
Hopewell @ Bourbon Rocks, 11PM
Shearwater @ Maggie Mae’s, 12AM
Centro-Matic @ Maggie Mae’s, 1AM

Saturday, March 18
Decoder Ring @ Red 7, 8PM
Bedroom Walls @ Habana Calle 6 Patio, 8:30 PM
Rainer Maria @ Karma Lounge, 9:30PM
Superchunk @ Antone’s, 11PM
I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness @ Emo’s Annex, 11:15PM
Camera Obscura @ Antone’s, 12AM
Okkervil River @ Emo’s Annex, 12:15AM

So you can see there are heavy periods and light periods. Saturday, in particular, is rather barren – I don’t even have a 1AM show picked! I can’t close out the festival sitting on a street corner narfing down pizza… though I bet that’ll sound like a pretty damn good idea by that point. But suggestions for filling in the gaps are welcome. Also, I will be photoblogging this week for Scene From My Life. One photo a day from Toronto and Austin. Hopefully I will manage to document something worth seeing.

Glide puts the spotlight on Centro-Matic, who will be playing the Misra evening showcase at Maggie May’s on the 17th and their day party at Red Eyed Fly on the 18th.

Notes from the UK – Doves will release a live, e-EP on April 10 consisting of five songs recorded during their 2005 Some Cities tours and Primal Scream tell NME about their new album, still untitled but due out June 5 across the pond.

Shows news – the Death Cab/Franz Ferdinand has been moved from The Docks to the Ricoh Coliseum. This may be the first time anyone has celebrated a show being moved into a bigger arena. The Strokes will also be at the Ricoh on May 6, presale starts today, and Architecture In Helsinki will make up their cancelled Fall date with a show May 20 at the Horseshoe.

The Asheville Citizen-Times stands up for vinyl (via Coolfer).

Oh look, I lost at the Bloggies again. 0-for-4. I rule. Congratulations to Photojunkie on the win.

24: The lifeboat episode! Chloe sheds a single tear! Lynn gets dressed down by an anonymous security guard. Jack plays Macgyver and holds his breath! But really, wouldn’t any nerve gas worth its salt affect any mucous membranes, like his eyes or his nose? Not that I wish severe hemmorhaging on Jack, but come on. Don’t know why the security guy was so upset about dying, surely he knew when he put on that red shirt he was a goner? Hasn’t he ever seen Star Trek? Poor Bill, he’ll never get to stay in charge. Collette? Who’s Collette? WE WANT MANDY. Oh, and who wants to bet that Kim gets caught in the martial law crackdown? No one? Smart. Not like Tony. Tony is stupid. Stuid and dead. And as a chaser – The Toronto Star has a requiem for dear, departed Edgar.

Hey, question – yesterday afternoon my MSN crapped out. Like the application itself crashed, and would do so any time I tried to log in. I uninstalled and reinstalled, same thing. I can login via web and through Windows Messenger fine, but MSN Messenger? No dice. Now this wouldn’t normally alarm me that much, but the exact same thing happened on my laptop install as well – the program crashes the exact same way. So, uh, WTF? Anyone having this happen to them?

np – Okkervil River / Black Sheep Boy

This past weekend the city of Toronto was blessed with a healthy dose of Billy Bragg, who was in town doing interviews, shows and generally just being man about town before heading down to Austin this week to be a keynote speaker at SxSW and kick off a compact US tour. All this activity was to celebrate the release of his new Volume 1 box set, but I’d like to think that it’s also Billy finally making good on his promise back in July 2003 to come back and play some of his own songs for us. It probably wasn’t, but I like to think it was.

The show at the Opera House was quite thoroughly sold out and there was more excitement in the air than at a usual gig, but a Billy Bragg show isn’t just a concert – it’s as much a socialist rally and public speaking engagement as it is a musical performance and having been absent from our shores for so long, Torontonians were understandably anxious for him to come out and grace us with his wry commentary on the politics of state, society and the heart. But first the opener, who hadn’t been announced in advance and whose existance wasn’t entirely certain until she showed up, was one Simon Wilcox. She killed some time with some generally unimpressive affected folk grunge, name-dropping, (unsuccessful) guitar tuning and uninteresting banter. It seemed that she talked to the audience more than she played, assuming incorrectly that anyone was at all interested in hearing her talk about herself. Thankfully, she was over and out after half an hour – and then it was Billy’s time.

Though he apologized for bringing his English cold across the Atlantic, there was no sign of any ill effect in his performance or energy levels. He’s one of those rare artists who is just as entertaining and engaging no matter if he’s playing or not. His rapid fire wit didn’t miss a beat whether he was offering support for the Ontario college staff currently on strike, confessing his fears of being eaten by a polar bear or debating the Incredible Hulk-repellant properties of his guitar with a young (like 7 or 8 years old) concert-goer. He was also quick to quip during the outro for “Greetings To The New Brunette” where he quipped (paraphrased), “Makes me look around and wonder where Johnny Marr is… I bet Morrissey thinks the same thing”. But he also showed his respect for The Smiths during an acoustic “busker” portion of the set with his cover of their “Jeanne”, as well as a rather nice if bumpy cover of The Verve’s “The Drugs Don’t Work”.

And then, of course, there were his own songs. With the exception of some Mermaid Avenue songs, he drew almost exclusively from the four early albums that comprise the new box set. It’s just as well that he was touring solo, just him and an electric guitar – I don’t think those stripped down, early songs wouldn’t have sounded nearly as vital and visceral had the Blokes been along for the ride. All in all, we got an hour and forty-five minutes of classic Bragg though I certainly wouldn’t have minded hearing a little more from Worker’s Playtime, but have no complaints with the material that was played. Hell, I finally got to hear “Levi’s Stubbs Tears” played live and even figure out the chords for the bridge, something that’s been plagueing me for many years now (G-D-F#5-G5 and then A5 at the end, if you were wondering). Interestingly, the encore, which contained all the old “hits” that most of the audience was clamoring for, was pretty much exactly the set he played at his instore at the HMV flagship location on Yonge St earlier that afternoon. Still great, but kind of anticlimactic to have the finale be a set of songs you heard just eight hours ago. But hey – there was better lighting.

Only black mark on the show? I had the misfortune to be standing beside the five most obnoxious people on the face of the earth. At first there were three who wouldn’t shut up through the opener (I didn’t really care to hear her, but would have rather heard her than them) and then before Billy came on, they were joined by a pair of girls who made them seem like choirboys by example. They actually talked – nay, YELLED – through almost the whole of Billy’s set. It was unbelievable. It was like together, they’d formed some giant Voltron of obnoxiousness. Eventually the security guard came by and told them to shut the hell up, but that was an hour too late. Still, despite this, it was a great great show. And for those who missed the show or just can’t get enough, keep in mind that he will be back in September.

I have photos up from both the in-store and the gig proper and The Globe & Mail poses some questions to the Barking Bard. I can’t imagine that given the opportunity to sit down and talk with Bragg, El Zoilus only asked seven questions – maybe Carl will let us in on the rest of the interview (assuming there is more)? And Billy has compiled a list of recommended listening for Amazon UK.

Michigan Live! talks to Jenny Lewis and So Much Silence has MP3-ified part of her recent performance on KCRW. Also, winners have been selected for passes to her show at the Opera House this Wednesday – thanks to everyone who entered. And now for the results of my unscientific Jenny Lewis, child star poll. While Foxfire and Pleasantville had their supporters, the most overwhelmingly popular film of her ouvre is, not surprisingly, The Wizard. As one entrant put it, “Lewis + Fred Savage + Nintendo’s Powerglove = totally awesome”. So as a treat to all you NES freaks, here’s a Jenny Lewis Wizard soundboard for you to play to your heart’s content. In a dark room. Wearing your power glove.

The Airfields will be holding a CD release party for their new Laneways EP on March 25 at Sneaky Dee’s. They played the same venue just last Sunday as part of Wavelength, for whom they did a short interview.

The Chicago Sun-Times has a Q&A with head New Pornographer Carl Newman, who will be appearing at the Matador Records SxSW showcase on Sunday, while The Independent talks to Cat Power, who will not.

np – I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness / Fear Is On Our Side

Raising The Fawn / The Maginot Line (Sonic Unyon) John Crossingham’s Raising The Fawn seems to be the dark horse of the Broken Social Scene extended family, rarely getting the love or lip service of most/any of the other bands. It could be because they’re not on Arts & Crafts or it could be because their sweeping, dramatic, hyper-emotional prog rock was a little too removed from the BSS house sound, maybe their irregular performance/recording schedule made it harder to stay on peoples’ radar or maybe being 12th live guitar in the BSS cosmos just doesn’t carry that much weight, but the popularity proximity effect of the mothership collective hasn’t seemed to have trickled down to RTF. Which is good in its own way, in that the project is able to stand (or fall) on its own merits. The Maginot Line starts very strongly, the double-shot of “Pyotr” and “Carbon Paper” being as strong an opener as you may be likely to hear all year. The album nearly reaches these peaks again at a few points, but also suffers from a bit of meander that makes the album, at the least, a bit of a challenging listen but one that could prove rewarding in the long term. The Maginot Line was released last week and they play the Horseshoe April 29. MP3: Raising The Fawn – “Carbon Paper” Raising The Fawn @ MySpace.

Dead Heart Bloom / Dead Heart Bloom (KEI Records) Dead Heart Bloom is the new nom de plume for Boris Skalsky, who may be known to you as the former bassist in DC space-rock outfit Phaser. With this new project, he’s made a rather hard left from his old outfit’s sound, choosing instead to wander out in a field for a while. The bulk of Dead Heart Bloom is in a folky, countryish vein – comparisons to Iron & Wine are valid – but there are also some heavier, Calla-esuqe moments and some more gothic numbers with a Nick Cave feel. If this sounds like it’d make for an eclectic mix, it certainly does but not all the ingredients sit comfortably together. Individually, some of the tracks are standouts but as a whole, it’s not that cohesive. If Skalsky can blend everything together better the next time around, he could well be creating something really worth hearing. But don’t take my word for it – the whole of the Dead Heart Bloom is available to download, complete, legal and free of charge, here. Listen for yourself. MP3: Dead Heart Bloom – “Sodom” Dead Heart Bloom @ MySpace

(The Sounds Of) Kaleidoscope / From Where You Were to How You Got There (Hackshop) How often does a band’s name perfectly reflect the noises they make? Washington DC’s The Sounds Of) Kaleidoscope’s name is a truly appropriate description of their sound, as their debut full-length is a fascinating aural melange, the end product sounding like Barrett-era Pink Floyd produced by Kevin Shields – an acid trip with an ecstasy and wine chaser. A classic and contemporary slice of psychedelia… or maybe it’s just a flashback? Either way, good listening. (The Sounds Of) Kaleidoscope @ MySpace

np – The Wedding Present / Take Fountain