Even though it’s certainly flawed and easy enough to pick apart if you so desire (overlong, poorly paced, visually uninspired), I found V For Vendetta to be quite riveting. Though the graphic novel was originally intended to be a scathing commentrary on Thatcher’s England in the 1980s, the cinematic version is disturbing timely and topical twenty years later, with only minor tweaks to the story.

Quick synopsis – England is a totalitarian state, V is a freedom fighter/terrorist (isn’t that a sticky wicket) who tromps about in a Guy Fawkes mask blowing up buildings, Evey is a latent freedom fighter/terrorist who inadvertently falls in with V’s cause. There’s a lot of vengeance, pontificating, flashbacks (excessively so), some gruesome deaths and The Wachowski Brothers’ new gimmick – knife time. It’s like bullet time, but bloodier and with streaks. As I mentioned before, the film’s flaws are legion, but that it even exists – I distinctly remember someone saying shortly after 9/11 that there was now no way that this film, which champions a terrorist as hero, could ever be made – is something of a triumph and that it was the #1 film at the box office last week even more so. There are people out there who are expecting to see a sci-fi action flick and instead are going to be hit over the head with none-too-subtle political commentary (and some action, yes). If Michael Moore really wants to get his message across, he’ll stop making documentaries and start producing Vin Diesel flicks.

It’s interesting that Hugo Weaving gets a top billing even though you never actually see him. Which isn’t to say that he doesn’t deserve it – anyone who has to recite all his lines twice, once during filming and once for his voice overs – definitely gets props in my book. But that really could have been anyone in that outfit and doing the voice. In fact, my memory has now replaced V’s voice with Darth Vader’s. Awesome. Also odd – the fact that V’s jukebox would have Cat Power and Antony & The Johnsons on it. But not as odd as the fact that they went with The Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man” over the closing credits. Whuh?

MTV has an article about V creator Alan Moore and his long-standing battle against film adaptations of his work, covering all the celluloid travesties based on his creations to date. His formal disavowal of V For Vendetta notwithstanding, it’s certainly head and shoulders above League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen or From Hell. Purists will still surely be outraged but purists exist to be outraged. It’s their thing. It’s what they do.

Another artist who had something to say about Margaret Thatcher back in the day – Billy Bragg – tells The AV Club about how the state of England in the 80s politicized him, answers some questions from Salon and talks to NOW about his new box set, Volume 1. I’ve just realized that the reason he didn’t play much/anything from Worker’s Playtime at his recent show is that it’s not covered in the box set releases – which means that I won’t be able to give away my copy of Victim Of Geography (which collects Talking With The Taxman About Poetry and Worker’s Playtime one one convenient disc) just yet.

Patterson Hood gives Billboard some insight into Drive-By Truckers’ promotional plans for A Blessing And A Curse, out April 18 – “We’re gonna tour a whole lot”. Sounds good.

The National’s Bryce Dessner talks to Chart about meeting big fan Bruce Springsteen, sibling rivalry and plans for the new album. They’re recording from June through August and are probably looking at a 2007 release for the follow-up to Alligator.

Chart has some info on Feist’s cupboard-cleaning collection Open Season, which now appears to be due out April 25 and not the 18th as I’d originally speculated.

When is the umpteenth SxSW recap worth reading? When it comes courtesy of The Onion’s AV Club. Most exciting to see that they were also floored by Eric Bachmann’s set but that he’ll be putting out a solo album later this year. I thought maybe I was the only online reporting-type person who was at his show – everyone else was seeing the Flaming Arctic Tapes or something.

CokeMachineGlow has part one of an interview with The Mendoza Line’s Tim Bracy.

Metric’s Emily Haines eulogizes Spin magazine, courtesy of Tripwire.

…and we’re back on a plane this morning! Huzzah.

np – Luna / Penthouse

Even with all the show-going madness of last week, nothing in Austin measured up to the anticipation I had for The National’s return to Toronto last night. You may or may not recall I missed their Toronto debut last September when I was in Europe – well I caught this one just by the skin of my teeth. I got back into town on Monday and am leaving for a fortnight this afternoon. Anyway, no one cares about that. To the show!

Their tourmates on this jaunt were New York’s Cloud Room, who you may recall from Pitchfork’s recent cautionary tale. It must be an odd position for the band to be in – they’re like a hypothetical one-hit wonder without actually having the one hit (or revenues associated with). And that’s rather too bad – while the song in question, “Hey Now Now”, is definitely a catchy slice of something something, it’s not really indicative of their other stuff at all, which sounded to be a fair bit more unconventional and eclectic-sounding. If they could borrow some of the hookiness of the one song and graft it onto the bentness of the rest of their stuff, they could really be onto something. But not quite yet.

The National’s set opened with “Secret Meeting” (and no, still couldn’t make out the backing vox) and continued at a very deliberate, controlled pace, not getting too fast or slow. It was a few songs in at the brooding, hypnotic “Cherry Tree” that you began to feel the energy onstage begin to crackle. Then, when Matt Berninger howled “My mind’s not right!” in the chorus of “Abel”, it was like the floor gave out and the audience was plunged into the dark little rooms of Berninger’s psyche. He’s a mesmerizing frontman, pacing and roaming the stage as though searching for something that won’t be found, clutching the microphone like it’s a weapon one moment, life preserver the next. All the while the band churns out driving delicacy and aggression in equal measures. Not surprisingly, the most explosive moment came with the penultimate number of the set, “Mr November” as Berninger lurched around the stage, screaming “I won’t fuck us over, I’m Mr November”, as much a cue for an audience singalong if I’ve ever heard one. Which the packed house did.

Rather than go through the typical encore motions, Berninger left after finale “About Today” in the midst of a an extended outro, then returned a short bit later for another three songs. Unaware that they had already received their encore, the crowd called them back for one more even after the house lights and music had come back on. For me, the show was worth the wait and could have been near perfect if not for the asshats who seemed to think Berninger’s Cincincatti Bengals shirt created some sort of deep, emotional connection between them that gave them carte blanche to talk loudly about football through the whole set, and not even anything insightful. That’s two shows in a row now that have been marred by people who seem to have nothing better to do than pay cover to hear themselves spout inanities. If this keeps up I will almost certainly be getting into my first fistfights since high school before the year is out. But I digress. Photos here.

John Stirratt talks about life in Wilco with The Des Moines Register.

Chart finds out what Nina Persson of The Cardigans has been listening to.

Radiohead are touring North America in June.

eye and NOW offer up their SxSW post-mortems.

Okay, gotta go pack now. Again. Boy oh boy do I love getting on planes.

np – Centro-Matic / Fort Recovery

Well DAMN that took a long time, but here you go – the best of my photos from SxSW 2006 and my final SxSW post for the year. I managed to shoot at least a bit of every show I saw, 50, if you’re keeping track. They’re divided into galleries for day and evening shows for each of the four days for ease of viewing and organization.

March 15, 2006 day shows
March 15, 2006 night shows
March 16, 2006 day shows
March 16, 2006 night shows
March 17, 2006 day shows
March 17, 2006 night shows
March 18, 2006 day shows
March 18, 2006 night shows

I had thought I was pretty well equipped, camera-wise, but man – after seeing some of the rigs the professional photographers were running with I feel like I’ve got a toy. But I think I still came out with some great shots, including the one above of Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater and Okkervil River. The stage lights in some of the clubs were beyond awful and to have gotten any results whatsoever should be considered a triumph. It was interesting working in so many different clubs and environments in such a short amount of time. Not really a lot of time to analyze and adjust for the new situation, just set to what seems most appropriate and go. I think I was the only one in Austin working with only ambient light – most others had an arsenal of flashes, gels, etc – but I’m pretty satisfied with the results and am happy to share them with you. And for more superb (professional) shots from the fest, go here.

Adam Radwanski kept a blog whilst in Austin as well as filing reports for The National Post.

The Grand Rapids Press discusses the difficulty of Googling The National with singer Matt Berninger and The Daily Northwestern profiles the band. I’ve selected my winners for my National contest in which I asked entrants to give their best interpretation of what the backing vocals in “Secret Meeting” are saying (hear the clip). The prize for funniest goes to Steve, who offered “Don’t chocolate ice it for us, No chocolate icing for it, don’t chocolate ice it, don’t chocolate ice it”. Most accurate guess (?) to Ron with “Don’t chalk an ace in for it,” and my random pick prize goes to Seth, who went with “don’t drop the dice (roll it)”, also entirely plausible. Congrats, guys. See you guys at the Horseshoe tomorrow night tonight.

The Radio Dept released their new single The Worst Taste In Music last week and while it’s great to have some new music from them, and the title track is superb, the fact that two of the three b-sides are remixes is more than a little disappointing. All their previous EPs had boasted terrific bonus tracks making them well worth owning on their own. This one? Not so much. Especially not since you can grab the title track from Labrador. Their new album Pet Grief is out April 12.

MP3: The Radio Dept – “The Worst Taste In Music”

The Boston Phoenix goes Q&A with Billy Bragg.

np – Film School / Film School

As the multitude of journalists and writers who were in Austin slowly get their heads back together, more SxSW wrap ups are trickling out. Check out pieces from the world of print – The Toronto Sun, the Associated Press, New York Magazine, NOW and The Washington Post, The Seattle Times, while Chart updates with not one, not two but but three more reports from Austin. If you want more, Google News is your friend.

The online community also continues to report back – here’s stuff from PopMatters, Pitchfork (and with photos) and MTV while bloggers in attendance are checking in. Largehearted Boy has also been collating recordings of the festival for your perusal.

I’ve only skimmed most of the above so I haven’t quite gotten a feel for who the concensus breakout acts of the festival were, save to say that I almost guarantee I didn’t see them. The photo above doesn’t nearly capture the chaos that was E 6th St on Friday and Saturday nights when the UT spring break kids were starting to filter back into town. Just one more day of SxSW recaps tomorrow and then that’s it. For a year, anyway.

DIW sits down and talks creative process with both John Darnielle and John Vanderslice. Two Johns. Two of them.

Bradley’s Almanac has MP3s of Serena Maneesh’s recent show in Boston. Brad also finds out that the reason they’ve cancelled all their Canadian dates isn’t our immigration, but Americas – if the noisenik Norwegians leave the land of the free, they stand a good chance of not getting back in. Alas and alack, but they plan to be back in the Fall and make it up to the Canucks.

The long-rumoured Feist compilation of remixes and rarities will see the light of day next month as Open Season, tracklisting available here. Release date is a little sketchy right now – it looks to be out April 17 in the UK, but no info as to whether we’ll have it domestically the next day.

Mojave 3’s Puzzles Of You has been given yet another release date – third time the charm? Look for it on June 19, and the first single Breaking The Ice on May 29. Artwork here, more info here.

Idlewild frontman Roddy Woomble is putting out a solo record. I, for one, would be delighted to be able to see “Roddy Woomble” in my iTunes playlist – it’d just look so funny. I mean, look at it. Woomble.

The Washington Post thinks the Rabbit Fur Coat looks good on Jenny Lewis. For The Records reports back from her show in Toronto last Thursday.

Synthesis asks the same questions of Isobel Campbell as every other publication.

24: Subtle hints at giving him something he wants, longing glances, offering a “wet list”… is Jack coming on to the German agent? But Jack will rue crossing the Germans, you know it… but how exactly do you program a flash memory card to self destruct? Man, Collette is such a disappointment. You know Mandy wouldn’t have been caught so easily. You know, I’m not sure how much I’m buying this Julian Sands as the big bad thing. He’s practically a Eurotrash villain cliche these days. It would be much better if Peter Weller was higher up the food chain than he, and above him? John Lithgow… as Dr Emilio Lizardo! BUCKAROO BANZAI, PEOPLE. BUCKAROO BANZAI. But seriously, I didn’t see that Audrey twist coming and I’m not sure I buy it. They better have a damn good explanation for it one way or the other. I will once again be abroad for the next two weeks, so more than likely no 24 commentary. Be strong. Carry on my wayward son.

np – Mogwai / Mr Beast

4 days, 50 shows, around 1000 photos, loads of BBQ and one pair of sorry sore feet. SxSW 2006 in the bag.

Though only my second year attending and the first for all four days, I still felt like something of a grizzled veteran heading down to Austin. I knew where the clubs were, which showcases would be worth hitting and which to not bother with. More than anything, logistics are the name of the game at SxSW. How far point A is from point B, how thick a sea of punters you’ll have to cross to get there and if you have a snowball’s hope in hell of getting in when you finally arrive. Is there anywhere to get food nearby and how clean their washrooms are. This is a big one – in a nutshell, Red 7 good, Emo’s bad. So very bad.

The day shows are also a crucial component of the fest, with most labels and magazines in attendance holding parties that offer bills as good as, if not better than the official showcases. Add in a much more relaxed vibe, less lineups and often free beer and/or food, and you’ve got a crucial means to maximizing your show intake. Absolutely necessary. And if you get into the private parties, which many increasingly were, you also get to feel cooler than the hoi polloi. Of course, if you – like me – had confirmed RSVPs in advance and yet somehow still didn’t appear on the list (hi Stereogum!), then you feel like a total knob.

I have a general “nuts to the buzz band” modus operendi – being able to say I saw such and such rock their nuts off in Austin before they got on the cover of Fader really isn’t that appealing. I prefer to pick out my personal must-sees and just keep an open mind when wandering around and filling in the gaps. You never know what you’ll come across when waiting for someone else’s set to start and my tastes don’t usually step too closely with the hyped acts. That said, I did try to see Tapes’N’Tapes and was denied with extreme prejudice. Ouchie. That’ll learn me.

But that said, I didn’t have as many of the revelatory new band moments at this year’s fest as last year. The artists I was most impressed by were the ones that I’d expected to be – there wasn’t really any backing into anything blind and lucking out into a life-altering experience. From the veteran end of things, Eric Bachmann, Rainer Maria and Centro-Matic provided some truly memorable highlights while Decoder Ring, Headlights, Band Of Horses, Serena Maneesh and Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s were tops in the rookie class.

Random observations – there seemed to be far more badges on display than wristbands this year – I still can’t imagine I’d get an extra $400 of value out of one of those, but will admit that when standing in the wristband line outside a venue and watching the delegates wander in and out at their leisure, it doesn’t seem like too dear a premium to pay.

This was also my first opportunity to interact with other music bloggers en masse, and it was an interesting experience to actually put a face to a URL. It was quite cool to actually run into people I knew on the street or in a club as well as talk shop (or whatever) with people who don’t think what I do is weird or freaky.

I mentioned in last year’s wrap up that I would have to travel to Austin this year with a cellphone. Which I did. Now I resolve that for next year, I will travel to Austin with a cellphone that has coverage in the United States. Rather sad that it will have taken me two years to perfect this whole “telecommunications” thing.

Another 2005 resolution that I didn’t address quite right was the accommodations one. My hotel was a ways out of downtown, and while it did cost me a fraction of what something in the heart of things would have, it was also a bit of a pain to not have a convenient homebase for the inevitable lulls in the schedule. Travelling in and out of downtown really wasn’t a problem with ye olde rental car, but parking could be a real bear, even with something as pocket-sized as a Chevy Aveo. Next year, maybe I’ll try to go in on a downtown hotel with some folks.

My only real regret of SxSW? I think I’m the only person who was in Austin that didn’t see The Flaming Lips in some capacity, whether it was one of their two “secret shows”, listening parties or just seeing Wayne Coyne roll down E 6th St in a giant plastic ball. Did that really happen? But otherwise I would call the experience a success. I tried to be smart about things and am thankfully not nearly as tired as I could have been. Still quite tired and achey, but not as. Last year it took me some months to want to do it all over again. This time I’m already plotting 2007. See y’all down there.

The Toronto Star has a few more dispatches from Austin as does The Globe & Mail. Popmatters also has two more. I actually haven’t had time to read any of the other reports I’ve been linking – no time. Maybe this week I’ll get the chance to compare notes with other attendees.

I am actually posting this from somewhere in the boondocks of Chicago – not sure exactly where. I took American Airlines up on their offer to stay overnight in Chicago in exchange for $500 in travel vouchers, so I’m hanging out in the U S of A for one more day. It turned into a bit of a fiasco getting to the hotel and whatever, and naturally my overnight stuff was all in the suitcase that still continued on to Toronto (making for a rather gross-feeling morning) but all’s well etc etc.

np – My 4:30 AM wake-up call.