Monday, March 22nd, 2010
Man Man, Memory Tapes, The Drums and more at SxSW
Frank YangSo where were we? Oh, yes, a somewhat artificial break between the afternoon and the evening. Immediately after leaving the Johnny Flynn hotel gig on Friday evening, I headed out towards the east side of downtown to the Mess With Texas grounds (which the day before had been the Eastbound & Found grounds) for what, of all the unofficial day parties running alongside/against SxSW, had become one of the largest and most must-see.
The three main stage closing acts for day one of the mini-fest included two very familiar faces and one that I hadn’t seen or heard before, but wouldn’t be forgetting. It was an interesting thing to be walking along 6th St and hear quietly at first, but increasingly loudly, the voice of one Billy Bragg exhorting the crowds to call their representatives and urge them to support the impending health care bill and resist giving in to cynicism. Not quite the usual, “hey Austin how ya doing!” you usually hear at these sorts of things, but it was exciting to hear the crowds responding positively to his message. I’d obviously heard him play (and preach) in Canada on numerous occasions, but to witness it in Texas – even in liberal Austin – was pretty cool. The portion of his set I caught was pretty standard Billy but tracks like “NPWA” and “I Keep Faith” tied in pretty well with his message of the evening and set closer “A New England” will always be welcome, anytime, anywhere.
I had said I felt lucky to have seen Frightened Rabbit play a somewhat stripped down set on Wednesday afternoon, and I do/did, but I was just as happy that they had sorted out their equipment issues in time for their next-to-closing set at Mess With Texas, because the rocking Rabbit is also pretty great. Fully plugged in and ready to give the crowd what for, Frightened Rabbit played a similar set to the one at the Paste party, split fairly evenly between the new The Winter Of Mixed Drinks and the older Midnight Organ Fight, all delivered with a fervor that it seemed Scott Hutchison was so pleased to have his electric guitar working again that he was going to strangle it in gratitude. Hearing Frightened Rabbit writ large, my reservations about the extroverted nature of Mixed Drinks is decidedly lessened, and I’m glad I was able to see them again in Austin so I don’t feel any regrets about missing their May 4 show in Toronto at the Opera House.
I am at a loss for how to describe Philadelphia’s Man Man. I’d never seen them before Friday night, and now that I think about it, those I know who are fans have never been able to describe them either beyond, “they’re fun to photograph”. Which they certainly are. The five-piece (or was it six?) are like a circus sideshow making their own soundtrack to wacky-ass antics AND shenanigans, all lurching rhythms, gutteral vocals and insane musicianship on keys and percussion and instruments that may or may not be proper instruments. It’s really something you have to see, and while I don’t know that I’d ever listen to their recorded works, the live spectacle is something to behold. I hadn’t really understood how they were large enough to headline something as large as MWTX (not major festival large but still reasonably large) but they did indeed pack the parking lot with people clearly in the know and stoked to be seeing them again. It was… something to behold.
By rights, that should have been the end of the night since chances of seeing anything top their show were slim to none, but it was still early. En route back to downtown, I got a text saying I needed to be at the Music Gym for Turbo Fruits and I was just across the street and with nothing better to do. So I went. I’d never had an interest in seeing said Nashville trio before, assuming they’d be all snotty and raggedy punk and while they certainly weren’t especially tight or polite, they were more melodic and enjoyable than expected. And points for moving their mics into the crowd with the second song to be closer to their people, though I did feel bad for the drummer stuck way back on the stage.
After a failed attempt to see Gemma Ray and instead catching part of a solo set from the guy from Cutting Crew – the part with “I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight” so not a total loss – I was surprised to see no lineup for Klub Krucial, where a couple acts I thought would be much hotter draws were playing. New Jersey’s Real Estate impressed with a set of jangly pop that was simultaneously peppy and laid back and certainly put them on my list of bands to check out further.
I didn’t need to put Memory Tapes on any such list since I’d been enjoying his Seek Magic mini-album for a few months now. Where the surprise came with them is how entertaining they were live. While much of the beats and arrangements were pre-recorded backing tracks, Dayve Hawk augmented them with a live drummer and his guitar playing had some serious big rock attitude to it. Whereas the recorded works have a hazy, daydreamy feel to them, live they were much more aggressive and dancey. And there was dancing. It may have even involved me. Maybe.
The final stop of the night was Latitude 30 for The Drums, whom besides hearing people talk about them, I hadn’t actually heard before. And if they weren’t playing en route to my hotel with room still available in the venue – at least when I got there, such was not the case around 10 minutes later – that’d have remained the case. In addition to the buzz, I was curious how and why an American band – they hail from New York – was closing out one of the nights at the SxSW British Music Embassy. Until they actually took the stage, at which point it became clear that Americans they may be, but their musical hearts lay squarely in the UK. The quartet, whose singer Jonathan Pierce has clearly spent many hours in front of the mirror practicing his arch and preening frontman poses, struck the right balance of dancey beats and jangly hooks to win the hearts of Anglophiles everywhere, or at least in the room. I wasn’t as swoony as some of those bearing witness, but I could definitely see the appeal – it held my attention for almost their entire set which, considering how wiped I was, was no mean feat.
And… scene.
Sunday, March 21st, 2010
She & Him cover Neil Young
DominoSeeing as how their career started with a cover – a recording of Richard & Linda Thompson’s “When I Get To The Border” for the independent film The Go-Getter – which M Ward scored and Zooey Deschanel starred in – it’s not surprising that She & Him have a yen for reinterpreting classic tunes. And when your sound is devoted to the recreation of the golden age of pop music, there’s lots of material to draw on.
For the b-side of their first single in the UK, “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” from 2008’s Volume One, they turned their attention to Neil Young’s “Lotta Love”, which appeared on his 1978 album Comes A Time, as well as Nicolette Larson’s Nicolette. Larson’s version would become a top ten single; Young’s would only come out as a b-side.
She & Him will release their second album Volume Two this week and play the Phoenix on June 9. Neil Young continues to release material from his Archives and is working on a new album. And is awesome.
MP3: She & Him – “Lotta Love”
Video: Neil Young – “Lotta Love” (live)
Saturday, March 20th, 2010
Nicole Atkins, Holly Miranda, Johnny Flynn and more at SxSW
Frank YangOh, the best laid schemes of mice and men. Thanks to having gotten a most satisfactory Superchunk experience on Thursday night, I no longer had to devote my Friday afternoon to lining up at La Zona Rosa to see them there at three. The world – or Red River at least – was my oyster. Unfortunately, oysters can sometimes be closed up and hard to pry open, and such was the case on Friday.
Things certainly started out alright with one of BrooklynVegan’s umpteen official and unofficial showcases, this one at Club DeVille. An early arrival on my part and late start on theirs meant that I caught New York’s Twin Sister to kick off the day. They had a nice, airy sort of indie-pop, all jangly guitars, sweet vocals and burbling synths. A time-tested recipe that doesn’t get stale.
I was really there to see Nicole Atkins, though – since touring the hell out of her 2007 debut Neptune City, Atkins has lain low, parting with both her label and her band; The Sea has been replaced with The Black Sea, but they weren’t on hand for her SxSW appearances. Instead, she conscripted Austin’s Future Clouds & Radar to back her up and it’s pretty fair to say they were up to the task. Her set was comprised mainly of new material which confirmed not only that she was backing away from the stylistic ranginess of her debut in favour of a leaner, more focused classic rock-derived sound, but that she was damn good at it. Interestingly, she didn’t play guitar at all during the set, leaving six-string duties to two of Future Clouds – time will tell if this was just for these shows or if she’s put down the guitar for good. For a set closer, she dedicated a beautifully torchy cover of Sparkehorse’s “It’s A Wonderful Life” to the late Mark Linkous. Two years since seeing her last is far too long; news of a new record is anxiously awaited.
It was at this point that things went slightly off the tracks. Despite being told by Spin that I was on their list for their big show at Stubb’s, I was not so plans to see Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings had to be scotched. The listing I had for Serena-Maneesh at Red-Eyed Fly didn’t appear to be reflected in the venue’s schedule or anywhere else in reality, so obviously that wasn’t happening. The TapeOp party was a real private, RSVP-required show and not just a nudge-nudge “private” show so attempts to see Quasi were all for naught. And the lineup to get into Emo’s for Pitchfork’s presentation of Memory Tapes was well down the street, far longer than I was prepared to wait. It was, as the kids say, an afternoon made of fail.
Tail slightly between my legs, I headed back to DeVille which wasn’t quite full yet, but getting there, in time to see Holly Miranda. I’d seen her on this very stage a couple SxSW’s ago as part of Hot Freaks, but that was when she was still with The Jealous Girlfriends and things were very different now, what with her solo debut The Magician’s Private Library garnering more attention than her old band ever did. The record itself hasn’t completely won me over yet but her live show certainly made an immediate impression. In performance, the material sounds louder and punchier than the recorded versions, which feel a bit overwhelmed by David Sitek’s production, and put the focus squarely on Miranda’s sandpaper-and-velveteen voice and equally expressive guitarwork. It was a pretty marvelous showing that rekindled my interest in giving the album time to impress.
Having had enough rejection for one day, I tromped back to the hotel to evaluate the evening’s plans, which were shaping up to look nothing like I’d intended just 24 hours earlier. One change – and a pleasant one – was a gig by Johnny Flynn at the Hilton across the street from the Austin Convention Center. I’d skipped his official show on Wednesday night so getting the chance to make that up was a silver lining on the day. Flynn might not have thought so, looking a bit mortified as he got on the makeshift stage in the corner of the hotel lobby accompanied by a cellist, but he made a go of it in belting out his olden-days sounding, very English folk tunes. Even if the surroundings didn’t offer the best vibe, it was a good way of getting the attention of passers-by as more and more people stopped to watch and listen. I’m hoping that Flynn’s presence at SxSW implies more time spent in North America for his forthcoming second album – both of his tourmates the last time he visited are making some serious inroads over here, and he’s certainly good enough to do the same.
So day three – a bit of a letdown from one perspective but certainly not a bad day. And in hindsight, taking it easy and saving energy for the night’s programming would prove to be a really good idea.
Friday, March 19th, 2010
Superchunk, She & Him, Marina & The Diamonds and more at SxSW
Frank YangFunny thing about plans you’ve had etched in stone for weeks – they seem to be the ones that are the most fun to jettison. Leading up to SxSW, I had assumed I would stick around at Eastbound & Down through GZA’s set, which meant that my only opportunity to see Superchunk would be their Friday afternoon Village Voice show at La Zona Rosa. Easy. And yet instead of getting my Wu Tang on Thursday evening, I found myself back at the hotel staring at my schedule and contemplating a world of opportunities with that scenario out the window. And it was decided that this evening would be a Merge kind of evening.
That Superchunk were the “special guests” kicking things off there at 7:30 PM was a pretty poorly kept secret, but even without them it was sure to be a full house with the first of several SxSW appearances from Matt Ward and Zooey Deschanel, aka She & Him. I wanted to see both and not tromp all around Austin, so sitting in Cedar Street for a few hours seemed a good plan. But first there’d be some standing in line outside the courtyard waiting for doors to open at 7. And more standing. And more. Apparently, a late-running day show had mucked up the Merge schedule such that doors didn’t open until 7:50, obviously throwing the official schedule – which only would have allowed for a 15-20 minute Superchunk set – out the window. When wristbands were finally let in, I pulled a Cedar Street Slide (instead of fighting through the crowd in the courtyard, ducking into the restaurant that runs the length of the venue and bypassing them via the entrance at the front of the stage) and snagged a perfect spot at the foot of the stage as Superchunk were tuning up. Superchunk!
And man, was it worth the wait. The Chapel Hill quartet may not be on full active duty after a long hiatus, but they played like they hadn’t taken a day off. Pogoing around the stage like the kids do (or did), they played a much longer than expected set – eight songs – including a couple new ones which will appear on their just-completed new record (!!!). Those sounded great but I was of course stoked to hear the likes of “Hello Hawk” and “Hyper Enough”, as well as getting to tell Jim Wilbur that no one heard his last solo because he’d accidentally unplugged his guitar from a pedal mid-song. I had worried that going off schedule would make for a shorter Superchunk set, but it probably allowed for an even longer one and my night had hit it’s high point just as soon as it had begun. This, kids, is how it’s done.
Three of those kids were up next in the form of one of the label’s latest signings, London’s Let’s Wrestle. I’m a fan of their debut In the Court of the Wrestling Let’s, due out next week, and had been looking for an opportunity to catch them at SxSW before their April 18 show at the Horseshoe but while their songwriting and persona would appear to be of shambolic abandon, their show was decidedly more polite than expected. It sounded great and Wesley Patrick Gonzalez’s guitar had a pleasant self-destructing tone throughout, but their delivery was more of intensity than shenanigans, save for the final, instrumental title track of the album in which strings began breaking on his SG en masse, forcing him to mangle/wrangle them off whilst trying to play. Finally – some wrestling!
The last time I saw Radar Bros was also here in Austin, also at a Merge showcase in 2008. And like that time, their set was slow and leisurely, almost to a fault. I like a lot of the sounds and influences that Jim Putnam and company draw on, but delivered as they are in such a languorous fashion, it can be a bit maddening. Their new record The Illustrated Garden is out next week. I’m betting it sounds a lot like the one before it.
They may be called She & Him, but it’s really She & Him & Lots Of Backing Players – Matt and Zooey’s band is a big one, and as such, their soundcheck took an exceeding long time to get through. Any gains in time made up by compressing sets leading up to theirs were pretty much lost as they tried to get mics and monitors working. Not that anyone seemed to care, anticipation for the duo was high and hundreds of cameras at the ready… until they essentially turned off all the lights and a show official came on the mic and said that the band politely requested that no one take any photos during their show. Of course, few listened and when they finally strode out on stage, it was to a barrage of flashes and shutters. This performance had a markedly different feel from their SxSW debut two years ago, which was maybe their third-ever live performance. Despite being a seasoned actress, at that show Deschanel seemed very nervous and uncomfortable being in the spotlight, frequently looking to Ward for cues or confidence. This time out, she was far, far more at ease, chatting with the crowd, cracking jokes, jumping up and down and generally being adorable. Musically, things weren’t quite so polished as some sound issues persisted despite the elongated soundcheck and they were both working without a set list and against a shortened set time. Not that that seemed to matter to most in attendance, who were thrilled to be seeing the pair – or at least their silhouettes – and take in their timeless-sounding, AM radio-styled pop tunes. And as soon as they were done, the venue cleared out.
Which is a shame because Wye Oak were up next. I’d have liked to have stuck around and if they were remotely on schedule, I would have but still needing to grab some dinner at 11PM and with a few blocks to traverse to Lamberts for my last stop of the night, I needed to be on my way. Lamberts was where current UK it girl Marina & The Diamonds was set to hold court and, having a thing for UK it girls, I wanted to see what this was all about. Again, the start time was delayed massively by technical issues – seeing six guys huddled around a rack case with a flashlight and shrugging is never a good sign – but unlike most SxSW showcases thus afflicted, this one would hardly be cut short. When they were finally ready to go, Marina Diamandis bounded onstage clad in Planet Hollywood overalls and a giant woolen shawl with animal ears… clearly, she was not going to be your conventional diva. And not being able to quite put my finger on what she was about was kind of the overarching theme for her set. Her voice is powerful, but with enough quirks and tics to not be too cookie cutter mainstream. the musical backing is synth-heavy, but it’s not made for the dancefloor. The lyrics are dense and pop-culture referencing, but not ironic. She’s beautiful, but not conventionally glammy (see above outfit). Whatever she’s doing, it’s been a hit in the UK and if the couple hundred people crammed into the club are a representative sample of North America (which they’re not), then when her debut The Family Jewels is released over here on May 25, it’ll do just as well. For my part, I remain intrigued if not yet completely won over.
Friday, March 19th, 2010
Slow Club, The Morning Benders, Ume and more at SxSW
Frank YangBeyond the pleasure of being able to attach one’s name to a lineup of great acts that you can (mostly) whole-heartedly endorse, one of the big perks of presenting a day show at SxSW is that it gives you an excuse to NOT run around the city all day from showcase to showcase. If you’ve done your job in curating well enough, there’s no real reason you’d want to be anywhere but your own show. And so most all of yesterday afternoon was spent at a parking lot just on the wrong side of I35 where Eastbound & Found, the party put together by myself and esteemed bloggers and sponsors.
Freelance Whales were generous enough to take one of the earliest spots, their peppy co-ed indie-pop almost the perfect thing to rouse the keeners who were on site at the break of noon. At times I find them almost a bit too chirpy but there’s usually a hook or melody waiting just around to corner to get me back onside. Their show at the El Mocambo with Cymbals Eat Guitars on April 6 is probably a bit too soon for me to need to see them again, but I’m perfectly happy to have them opening for Shout Out Louds at the Mod Club on May 8.
Down the hill at the south stage, Toronto’s Diamond Rings was letting his unicorn flag unfurl, dishing out electro beats perfectly suited to the bright, sunny weather – same songs but somehow different vibe from his Canadian Musicfest gig last week. The crowd was pretty sparse to begin with but as Freelance Whales’ set ended and people discovered there was a second stage (not the easiest to locate without signage), they filled in and danced. And there was even some celeb-spotting, as Little Boots – who’s even littler in person/off stage than you’d think – was in attendance and tweeted her approval.
Back at the mainstage, Austin’s own Ume were setting up to shred some faces – they were one of my top discoveries of last year’s fest so I was very pleased to have them playing our show, and not just because a daytime performance meant I’d have enough light to try and capture Lauren Larsen’s guitar heroics on film (well, digital sensor). As they’ve done every time I’ve seen them, they played a demolishing set of pure rock drawn from their Sunshower EP as well as new material that will hopefully be out sooner rather than later. The only difference from past shows was that Larsen’s axe-mangling didn’t end with her on her knees, strangling notes out of her Fender – the painful-looking skin marks on her legs made it clear that there’d already been a little too much of that before this show.
Next up were Los Angeles’ Warpaint, who despite taking a kind of meandering approach to their set – were they soundchecking? Jamming? Playing songs? – walked a very appealing line of musical experimentation and pop sensibilities. I was only able to stick around for a couple of songs, but was intrigued enough that their remaining shows for the week – and there were a lot of them still – all stayed on my schedule so I could hear some more. Odds are I won’t, but it won’t be for lack of trying. Or wanting to try.
Back down at the second stage was one of my picks for the party, Sheffield’s Slow Club, whose debut Yeah, So? has been one of my favourite debuts of the year (in North America, anyways – it came out in the UK last Summer). Evidently I wasn’t the only one won over by the drum-and-guitar duo, as there was a small but very enthused audience gathered for their set of wonderfully hepped-up folk-pop. Charles and Rebecca are maybe the most adorable pairing since Matt & Kim, and after simultaneously destroying their guitar amp and kick pedal respectively, took to the edge of the stage with acoustic guitars to sing out to their fans unamplified. Giddy and glorious.
I’d seen The Morning Benders back in February of last year and while I found their indie-pop stylings pleasant, with the requisite jangles and hooks, but not especially distinctive. With their new one Big Echo, however, they’ve not only raised the ante but bet the house – it’s a much more massive and interesting record; noisier and moodier than I’d have thought them capable of but still immensely pop at its core. Correspondingly, the live show was much more intense and volume-abusing than I’d expected. Most impressive. They are at the Drake on April 14.
As Here We Go Magic got started on the main stage, I could feel myself hitting a wall in terms of being able to concentrate on new music, or even stand up for any period of time. Their stuff required a little too much attention to properly appreciate, so after a few songs I wandered back down to the south stage where Spain’s Delorean were kicking up a mostly-instrumental electro-pop dance party. That held my interest for a little while, but the need to not be where I was became overwhelming and I had to hoof it back to the hotel to get my head together. Which, sadly, meant missing our headlining set with GZA AND the fact that Bill Murray apparently accepted my invitation and showed up. For serious, people.
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