Frank YangSo – did I mention that I won a ticket to see Bruce Springsteen for the Thursday night of SXSW? I did? Okay then, just checking. The show was held in conjunction with The Boss’ appearance as the keynote speaker at this year’s conference and admission being doled out via lottery open to badgeholders. The actual location of it was kept secret, but minimal sleuthing pretty much guaranteed that it would be at the almost-brand new (opened last year) Moody Theater, where they held the tapings for Austin City Limits.

The old studio on the University Of Texas campus – where I’d been fortunate enough to see a Wilco taping in 2007 – was nice enough, but very much a soundstage/studio. The new facility, located right in downtown Austin, was easily one of the nicest modern concert venues I’ve ever been to, with stadium sightlines, comfy padded seating and an amazing sound and light system yet still relatively cozy with a capacity around 2800 people. Which by Springsteen standards may as well have been a tiny hole-in-the-wall bar. Yeah, this would be pretty special.

Openers came in the form of Rhode Island’s The Low Anthem, whose last release was 2011’s Smart Flesh. I’d seen them way back in December 2008, just before their star began to rise, and recall being impressed with their musicianship and intricate folk-pop songcraft, though apparently not quite enough to keep up with their career. Now a five-piece rather than a trio, they had even more musical options and I think each song in their set featured a different instrumental configuration than the last. A bit showy, perhaps, but they were quick about it and the focus remained on their elegant and ornate Americana sound that explored and maintained the trails blazed by Bob Dylan over the course of his career, but with smoother vocals and harmonies. It was a charming set but if we’re being honest, I doubt I’ll be following them any closer than I did after the last time I saw them.

Next up was Austin roots-rock mainstay Alejandro Escovedo backed by The Sensitive Boys & Girls, and those in the audience who were complaining about The Low Anthem putting them to sleep – and there were a few within earshot – certainly would have had the cobwebs blown out of their ears by Escovedo and company. Their lean, no-frills rock’n’roll was slick yet raucous and filled with evocative songwriting and ripping guitar solos. That the man is regarded as a legend in a city that’s turned out more than its share of musical legends is saying something.

But if we’re talking legends, then Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band would have to be at the top of anyone’s list. Now I think it’s important to note that though I fancy myself appreciative of Springsteen and reasonably familiar with his work, I would not file myself as a huge fan nor have I ever seen him live; tickets for his shows are pretty damned expensive and even then, sell out about immediately. I’ve just never gone to the extra effort to secure some, and so to have this one fall into my lap – or onto my arm, as the admission wristband did – was pretty exciting. There was a bit of a wait between the end of Escovedo’s set and the start of Bruce’s but then setting up a 16-piece band is no small task, even for pros. But a little past nine, the lights went down, a roar went up and they got underway.

The show started not with any of Springsteen’s own classics, but a solemn, gospel-tinged reading of Woody Guthrie’s “I Ain’t Got No Home”, gussied up with brass and chorus to mark the centenary of the original protest singer’s birth. From there, the lights went up, the Telecaster went on and the band tore into the anthemic “We Take Care Of Our Own” and the title track of their just-released new record Wrecking Ball; I haven’t paid attention to how the album has been received but damn if these two songs didn’t sound like fiery classics in the making. They pulled out one I did know – “Badlands” – next before returning to the new material and bringing Tom Morello out to guest on “Death To My Hometown”; Morello would return a few more times through the night, including an utterly incendiary jaw-dropping duet with Springsteen and solo on “The Ghost Of Tom Joad”.

And you know what? Billboard has the set list with their writeup of the show, and running through things song by song is pointless. Hell, reviewing a Springsteen show seems pointless – its been done thousands of times and its probably safe to say that there’s rarely if ever a bad Bruce show, and if there were it wouldn’t be this one. I just stood there marvelling at the charisma of the man and the power of the band; they were really the epitome of a rock band, of which all others were just reflections and shadows, with moves and routines that would have been hokey coming from anyone else but coming from Springsteen, totally genuine and uplifting. One couldn’t help thinking back to his keynote address earlier in the day where he named off dozens of subgenres of rock and it was easy to see why he found it all so amusing – the man only dealt in the original article.

The show seemed to mostly be made up of selections from Wrecking Ball and The Rising, which might not have been ideal for one like me who really only knew the hits – or at least the 20th century material – but it was understandable. Despite having a career spanning four decades, Springsteen remains creative and vital and the furthest thing from a nostalgia act – I didn’t expect to hear many or even any of the hits, so there was no sense of disappointment. And how could I be? I was finally seeing one of the great artists and entertainers in the history of rock music and in a setting that others would give their eye teeth for. It was amazing.

And so of course I left early.

Well actually I stayed for almost the entirety of the two-hour main set, though I kick myself for missing “Thunder Road”, but I also really wanted to catch the Jesus & Mary Chain and at that point it seemed like I was allowing enough time for that to happen. Of course it didn’t. I ended up standing in a line outside The Belmont for almost 90 minutes, eventually ceasing to move with 40 or so people ahead of me, while Bruce played on and was joined by Jimmy Cliff and Eric Burdon for the encore and Arcade Fire (and a slew of others) for the show-closing reading of “This Land Is Your Land”. But hey, I heard “Head Down” from the street, so not a total loss…

And maybe things really did land butter-side up considering that I managed to get over to St. David’s Historic Sanctuary for a good portion of Patrick Watson’s set. Now I’ve never been much of a Watson fan, but have slowly been warming to him over time and based on this performance, his new one Adventures In Your Own Backyard may be the one to get me fully onboard. Beyond the songs, which sounded great, and the setting, which with shifting and pulsing strings of lights draped around the church was rather magical if a nightmare photographically, there was the fact that I think I finally begin to get what Watson is about. The same way that band treated the stage more like a playground than a performance space, Watson’s compositions are lovely little things that exist simply from the desire to create something beautiful. It sounds a bit silly but it was a real mental shift for me with respect to him – hey, not every artist has to be exorcising demons in their work – and sent me back into the night feeling pretty damn good. And needing a hot dog.

Rolling Stone reports that a new Neil Young & Crazy Horse record not only exists, as rumoured, but that it will be called Americana, consist of reinterpretations of classic folk and protest songs and be coming out on June 5.

The Victoria Times Colonist, The Province, and Jambands profile Plants & Animals, in town at Lee’s Palace on April 21.

NOW, The Toronto Star, Boston Phoenix, The Telegraph, and Loud & Quiet talk to Grimes, whose show at The Horseshoe Monday night was cancelled due to illness and rescheduled for next Tuesday, but is still sold the fuck out.

Rolling Stone is streaming the new Zeus record Busting Visions ahead of its release next week; they play The Horseshoe March 23 for Canadian Musicfest and The Phoenix on June 9.

MP3: Zeus – “Anything You Want Dear”
Stream: Zeus / Busting Visions

On that bill with Zeus at The Horseshoe will be Snowblink, who are officially labelmates as of their second album, due out later this year. To mark the occasion, the band have uploaded a bunch of covers of dead artists – well, Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse – to Soundcloud. Don’t worry, they’re respectful.

DIY chats with Kathleen Edwards, who has been announced as one of the performers at this year’s LuminaTO arts festival in June.

Rae Spoon has put out a new video from I Can’t Keep All Of Our Secrets.

Video: Rae Spoon – “Ocean Blue”

The Waterloo Record talks to Al Spx of Cold Specks, who has made a track from her debut album I Predict A Graceful Explosion available to stream; it’s out May 22 and she plays The Music Gallery for Canadian Musicfest on Thursday, followed by an appearance opening for Great Lake Swimmers at The Music Hall on June 2.

Stream: Cold Specks – “Winter Solstice”

An unexpected but wholly welcome entrant in the ’90s Can-rock reunion ring? Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet. Exclaim reports that the instrumental and influential surf-rock legends are getting back together for a couple shows to mark the reissue of their catalog on vinyl; 1988’s Savvy Show Stoppers comes out in June and the other two will follow at approximately six month intervals. As for those shows, the Toronto date is July 14 at Lee’s Palace and as for the fact that bassist Reid Diamond passed away in 2001, they’ve got a pretty good ringer lined up – Dallas Good of The Sadies. Fun fact – my band in high school would cover “Having An Average Weekend” in our sets. It did not make us popular.

Stream: Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet – “Having An Average Weekend”

And here’s your Osheaga 2012 lineup. Not. Bad. At. All.

Frank YangKnow what makes it a bit difficult to concentrate on covering stuff in the afternoon? Finding out in the morning that you’ve won a ticket to see Bruce Springsteen in an intimate theatre show that night. Not bragging – okay, a little – just adding some context. And bragging. Yeah.

Anyways, after doing my victory dance (don’t pretend you don’t have a victory dance) I did get out into the world to check out a day show at Jackalope run by fellow blogger Rawkblog that featured one of the bands I was set on catching this week, trans-Atlantic duo Big Deal, whose debut Lights Out I enjoyed back in January. And as much as their combo of loud and soft was a nice way to start the day, they were a bit of a case study in what works well on record doesn’t necessarily work live. As on record, Kacey Underwood and Alice Costelloe strummed their guitars and sang their songs but what came across as intimate in the headphones was just underwhelming on stage, not helped by the duo’s general lack of charisma. Underwood tried to engage the audience by making some drummer jokes – the meta-joke perhaps being that they didn’t have a drummer – but considering how much their cover of Big Star’s “Thirteen” sped up and slowed down, maybe they should have considered getting one.

You’ll have to fast-forward a couple hours for the day’s next act as I spent some time catching up with friends and just hanging out, but things pick up at Stubb’s for Alabama Shakes. They were one of the festival’s busiest and buzziest bands and based on the half of their set I caught, all the attention was deserved and they were seizing the moment with two hands. Brittany Howard was a dynamic frontwoman and with her cohorts, turned out big, brassy southern-fried rock richly informed by gospel, soul and attitude. Their debut Boys & Girls is out April 10 and they’re at Lee’s Palace on April 17.

Since missing their NXNE show in June of 2010, I’ve been patiently waiting for New York’s Savior Adore to come back to town; that hasn’t happened so seeing them in Texas was the next best thing. Showing up a little late to their set at Red Eyed Fly, the band – ostensibly the duo of Deirdre Muro and Paul Hammer but operating as a five-piece – were already in top gear and quite surprised me with how big and polished their performance was. I expected something a little more studio-y based on the sheen of their debut In The Wooded Forest, but they were like a full-on power pop band up there, complete with dance moves echoed by the audience. Good times all around, and I can’t wait for a second album, local show or ideally both.

I can’t exactly say why I decided to see London’s Charli XCX – probably a combination of her only other show being at the sure-to-be-jammed Pitchfork showcase, her having just signed to Los Angeles label IAMSOUND, who’d incubated the likes of Florence & The Machine and Little Boots, or simply the fact that I was already there. Probably mostly that last one but definitely some of the first two as well. Having not had much time to do my homework on her, I didn’t really know what to expect and after her short set was done, I wasn’t really sure what I just saw. Her gothy/glammy electro pop didn’t necessarily have enough charisma, voice, songs or creativity alone to propel her to stardom but a savvy combination of all of the above could well do it… and then I could say I saw her when. Until then, though, it was just something random to keep me busy until my date with Bruce later that night.

So hey that new Shins record Port Of Morrow is out today and it’s up to stream at Spinner. To mark the occasion, James Mercer has been chatting with a media outlet or two as evidenced by features at The New York Times, NPR (who also have a World Cafe session), Clash, The Sydney Morning Herald, The National Post, and Spinner. The Shins are at The Molson Amphitheatre on August 4.

Stream: The Shins / Port Of Morrow

The new Margot & The Nuclear So & So’s album Rot Gut, Domestic is out today and available to stream at Spinner, who’ve also premiered the new video from said record. They’re at The Garrison on April 5.

MP3: Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s – “Shannon”
Video: Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s – “Shannon”
Stream: Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s / Rot Gut, Domestic

The second part of the video feature at Dirty Laundry with Eric Bachmann of Crooked Fingers is now up. And over at Austinist, Crooked Fingers drummer Jeremy Wheatley gets a chance to speak his mind.

Interview, The Portland Press Herald, am New York, and The Detroit Free Press spend some time with The Head & The Heart.

NPR has a World Cafe session with Andrew Bird as well as a stream of his set at Stubb’s at SXSW last week.

Spinner welcomes Sharon Van Etten for an Interface session and NPR is also streaming her SXSW show at Stubb’s last week.

Tiny Mix Tapes chats with Doug Martsch of Built To Spill. I walked right past Doug Martsch on Red River St last week. True story.

Titus Andronicus have assembled a mixtape consisting of live material, covers, demos and a new song from a forthcoming 7″ in “Upon Viewing Oregon’s Landscape with the Flood of Detritus”. And you can download it for free, because they’re just that generous.

Louisville’s Young Widows will be at Sneaky Dee’s on April 19 in support of last year’s In And Out Of Youth And Lightness.

MP3: Young Widows – “Future Heart”
MP3: Young Widows – “Old Skin”

Gogol Bordello return for a date at The Sound Academy on May 27, part of a North American tour. Tickets are $28.50 in advance.

Video: Gogol Bordello – “Trans-Continental Shuffle”

Frank YangThe return of Fiona Apple to the public eye may have been the story of the SXSW not nicknamed, “The Boss”. Some six plus on from the release of her last album Extraordinary Machine, it’s not been an absence of, oh, Kevin Shields proportions but the tales of shelved releases and label battles have certainly given her a mythology of similar proportions. I say this from the perspective of someone who’s never counted himself a fan of her work but who’s certainly heard the stories; despite constantly being told – or perhaps because – that I needed to get better acquainted with her work, I’d always resisted. No real reason besides that I didn’t dig debut single “Criminal” back in the day and sometimes I like being contrary. But given the opportunity to witness her festival-opening comeback show, timed to begin building anticipation for her upcoming fourth album The Idler Wheel… due out in June, the temptation to bear witness was too great even though the three-block lineup to get in was a pretty good deterrent.

Rather than position herself as a headliner for the NPR-sponsored lineup, Apple opened the evening and following her three-piece band onto the Stubb’s stage, I remembered that I really had only a vague idea of what she even looked like, and those impressions were over a decade old. The 34-year old Apple still looked similar to what my mind’s eye saw – tiny and slight of frame – but also much older, an impression reinforced by her onstage persona. To put it mildly, Apple did not seem comfortable up there, all awkward and twitchy body language and grimaced facial expressions (though not without some smiles, to be fair). Yet even with that, she emanated a certain magnetic stage presence and curious confidence, like she knew she looked uncomfortable but didn’t care if you noticed.

Her fans certainly didn’t care. Even years after her last record and tour, she clearly still commanded great loyalty from her devotees, so vocal were they about welcoming her back and hearing her sing again. And appearances aside, she did sound quite good; splitting time behind the piano and just singing, her combination of jazz and rock, possessing both smoke and fire, is still a distinctive one and capable of strained vulnerability and bold acrobatics. Other reports mentioned that she premiered some new songs in the set but I didn’t recognize most of the songs – “Criminal” closed things out – but it acknowledge that it may be time I finally gave her records a listen.

A block south of Stubb’s, it was all about the new with a couple of English acts who’d come into the festival with a good amount of buzz behind them. First was Daughter, whom you might rightly assume to be the stage name of frontwoman Elena Tonra but who succeeded by virtue of how the three-piece operated as a band. Their shadowy folk answered the question of what Laura Marling might have sounded like if she’d pursued a less traditional, more rock-friendly path, or opted to work more collaboratively than proceed as a solo artist. They possessed an appealing darkness both musically and lyrically and had impressively intricate and understated arrangements. They’ve still only the His Young Heart EP to their name but the prospect of a full-length is a tantalizing one.

Dry The River were decidedly further along the anticipation curve, having just released their long-awaited debut album in the UK and about to do so in North America (the April 17th release date helpfully shouted out by a fan). There’s so much about what the band does that could go wrong; their anthemic folk rock walks the razor’s edge of being swallowed in bombast or melodrama but they gracefully manage to stay on the right side of the equation. They’re unafraid of being dramatic, of going for the rafter-shaking choruses and led by Peter Liddle’s tremulously powerful vocals, they pull it off – it’s heart-rending rather than head-shaking and when you add in the band’s multi-part harmonies, stellar musicianship and charming banter and you’ve just about a sure thing in the post-Mumford world. I’m sure I’m not the first to make Mumford comparisons and also unsure if the band would count it as praise, but they’re a relevant reference point and I’m sure the band wouldn’t mind sharing in some of that meteoric success. They’re hardly soundalikes, mind you, being both rawer and more sophisticated than that suspender-wearing quartet and either of those factors could work against them but then those choruses… They’re in town on April 27 at The Garrison with Bowerbirds; do yourself a favour and see for yourself.

And that was Wednesday. Just three acts, yes, but I was discouraged from the remainder of my itinerary by jammed venues and barking dogs (the metaphorical kind) and hey – I had a busy day programme and saw two bands the night before. And it was going to be a long week; no need to wear myself out the first night.

The start of the month brought word of a new Hot Chip album called In Our Heads, out June 12. Now we’ve got the first sample via a video and a North American tour that includes a Toronto stop at The Sound Academy on July 15.

Video: Hot Chip – “Flutes”

Also with a new video are the dears from Slow Club, straight out of Paradise.

Video: Slow Club – “The Dog”

Lianne La Havas continues to preview her debut album Is Your Love Big Enough with another new video ahead of its July 19 release.

Video: Lianne La Havas – “Lost & Found”

DIY talks to David Gedge of The Wedding Present, whose new album Valentina is out tomorrow and who play The Horseshoe on March 25.

Pitchfork points at a live Spiritualized performance video from the BBC which previews material from Sweet Heart Sweet Light, out April 17.

Former Supergrass frontman Gaz Coombes talks to DIY about his forthcoming solo debut Here Come The Bombs, out May 21. A first free download can be had over at his Facebook.

Stream: Gaz Coombes – “Sub-Divider”

Spinner and Buzzine talk to Of Monsters & Men as they ready the April 3 release of My Head Is An Animal and subsequent tour which brings them to The Phoenix on April 16.

rateyourmusic.comI had actually intended for some time to post this cover today, but the untimely passing of Davy Jones sadly made it all the more timely.

It was going to go up because the new Wedding Present album Valentina comes out this week and the band are in town to perform it at The Horseshoe next Sunday, March 25. And though they’ll be marking the 20th anniversary of Seamonsters by playing it in its entirety at that show, it actually came out in 1991. 1992 was the year of their Hit Parade singles series, which saw them release a new 7″ every month of the year, all of which entered the UK top 30 and each of which was b-sided by a cover. For May 1992, it was “Pleasant Valley Sunday” by The Monkees.

And yes, I know that Jones didn’t sing lead on the original version of the song – that was a Mickey Dolenz tune – but as the video below shows, he included it as part of his own solo shows and did a pretty good job of it. Rest in peace, Davy Jones.

MP3: The Wedding Present – “Pleasant Valley Sunday”
Video: The Monkees – “Pleasant Valley Sunday”
Video: The Davy Jones Band – “Pleasant Valley Sunday”

Frank YangAs something of a SXSW veteran – eight years, now – one thing I try to explain to the newbs heading down to the big Texan throwdown is that there’s simply so much happening at any given time that it’s a mathematical certainty that you’re missing something great. So don’t sweat it, enjoy what you’re at and don’t try to do too much or it will cost you not far down the road. I think it’s good advice, and for the first proper day of the festival, it’s advice I probably should have taken.

But then it’s just so easy to see stuff. Wednesday started out on the east end at Shangri-La for Portland’s Blouse, even though their electro-pop was probably better suited to post-midnight moods rather than the bright noontime sun, they made it work. The four-piece actually sounded better than I’d have expected based on some live performance videos I’d seen – tighter and more precise. They were as icy as you’d want but smooth and deliberate, and seemed more comfortable live than their origins as a studio project might have led you to expect.

With Swedes Niki & The Dove being one of the hotter and busier acts going into SXSW, I thought I might have some trouble getting in to see them. But the nice thing about 1:30PM is that a lot of people are still asleep and/or hung over, which made getting into their Under The Radar showcase much easier than I expected. As was evident from the abbreviated set I saw in Iceland, the duo had star quality in spades and within the first three songs, demonstrated their command of pop, dance and balladry all while maintaining a consistent sound reminiscent of a bedazzled, electro-pop Kate Bush. Their debut album Instinct, out May 14, should be big.

I know that set times are no sure thing – particularly for day shows – but it’s always annoying when someone gets bumped on the order of hours. So upon getting to The Mohawk and seeing that Blood Orange got moved back two hours, plan B went into effect and doubled back to Red 7’s patio. Seeing La Sera wasn’t part of that plan but was a pretty good bit of luck as it turns out I like them more than Vivian Girls. Having never been a real Vivian Girls fan, I probably needed the reminding that Katy Goodman can sing and she can write and – as turned out to be necessary – she can recover from an self-immolating bass amp. Good, light-hearted pop songs and big smiles.

But they were just a warm-up for Widowspeak, whom I had come to regret missing on their visit to Toronto last Fall. The sweet shyness of their self-titled debut came across with much more coyly, even playfully, in the live setting thanks to Molly Hamilton’s magnetic presence and glowing smile. It was quite a contrast to their labelmates Blouse whom I started the day with; warmth versus detachment, honey versus ice. Both delicious in their way but Widowspeak really hit the spot.

Korallreven was on my schedule by virtue of being a Radio Dept. offshoot – they share keyboardist Daniel Tjäder on their rosters – but I didn’t really plan on making an effort to see them, they were more of a safety. But when they’re starting to play the moment you enter the room – I had to cut through the Red 7 inside room to leave – you may as well check them out. The presence of live instrumentation and a singer made me hope the live show would be more focused than their An Album By Korallreven, which I filed largely under pretty but hazy chillwave. And while it sounded alright – there was definitely more immediacy to it all – it was still pretty low key in delivery. I stuck around for a bit then headed back to re-engage plan A at The Mohawk.

When Dev Hynes – aka Blood Orange – started his set, just singing overtop pre-recorded backing tracks – I kind of hoped that there were some in the audience who were unfamiliar with him ready to dismiss him as some kind of karaoke act; that would have make their inevitable jaw drop when he picked up his guitar that much more delicious. As demonstrated when he came through Toronto last October, Hynes makes the one-man show far more dynamic and engaging than anyone could expect, ripping guitar solo after guitar solo between crooning funk-soul verses be it from the stage or in the audience. Blood Orange may have begun as a bedroom studio project, but rather than abandon that aesthetic to bring Coastal Grooves to the stage, he’s instead brought the stage into his bedroom – with sexy results.

I’d meant to save London’s Clock Opera – one of last year’s discoveries – for later in the week, but they were playing the inside room of The Mohawk right then and there so… yeah. May as well. And if there was any acts that I’d be fine with seeing multiple time over the festival, they were one. It turned out to not be quite then and there as their set was delayed with soundchecking – their electro-rock , but when they got underway it was mostly all good. Mostly, because the material they opened with – presumably new songs from Ways To Forget, out April 23 – wasn’t as immediate as the singles that had built their buzz over the past year, but by the time their set wrapped with the trio of “Once And For All”, “Belongings” and “Lesson No. 7” the energy was definitely there. Net terms, it wasn’t as anthemically triumphant as past shows I’d seen but that made a good excuse to see them again later in the week – maybe they’d have found their groove or maybe they’d be burnt out. We would see. Though with seven bands in the first afternoon, odds were that I’d be the one burnt out.