Tuesday, March 20th, 2007

SxSW XXI Review

Okay, final SxSW post for a while. Well, almost final – my photos should be up in the next week or so. I know you’re probably all Sx-ed out – the online coverage has been relentless – but I want/need to do one last wrap of my own before moving on with other things.

This was my third time doing SxSW and it was far and away the best time I’ve had. I attribute this both to the fact that I had a cell phone for the first time, thus enabling me to contact and meet up with people, and to the fact that I had people to meet up with. Be they other bloggers, label people, PR people, artists, whoever, in the four and a half years I’ve been running this site I’ve gotten to know a lot of people online and the opportunity to meet and talk with them in person was a real treat. Of course, I didn’t get to talk to ANY of them for as long as I’d have liked, but it was still great to put face to email address and shake a hand. It’s also interesting that while I rarely turn my cellphone on while at home, I was a total mobile junkie in Austin, particularly the joys of text messaging. Because trying to actually call someone from in front of the stage at the Mohawk is the very definition of futility (though my voice mail greeting was recorded there – you can hear me screaming “I’m not here! Leave a message!” over top the din).

Musically, I saw a total of 46 bands, eclipsing my previous mark by around a dozen or so. Granted, some were abbreviated – one or two songs – but if I have a photo set of them, I’m counting them. Despite this highwater mark, however, only 18 of them were in the evening at proper SxSW showcases. It seemed that this was the year that “I was able to get into everything I wanted to see with a wristband” was no longer a truism. Clubs with hot or even semi-hot acts were full or badge-only by 8 or 9PM, making finding something worth seeing later in the evening exceedingly difficult. Mind you, by that time of night I was usually already whipped and it didn’t take much to convince me to just head back to the hotel, but the fact remains that the crowds seemed that much denser this year than in the past. Wednesday was no longer the slow night and Saturday night on 6th St, with the hordes of St Patrick’s Day revelers, was simply hellish.

But for me, as for many, the salvation of SxSW was the day shows. I was able to see so many of the bands I wanted to see at the unofficial afternoon parties that getting shut out of the night showcases wasn’t such a big deal. Of course, the fact that I was presenting a couple of shows kept me from doing much hopping around in the days, but that was okay with me – the lineups were more than solid enough to hold my attention in one spot. In particular, the two-day Hot Freaks event – which I’ve gone on at length about – turned out to not only be a success, but one of the best things I’ve ever had the pleasure of being a part of. Working with David, Dodge, Chris, Matt and Jax as well as John and Loren in Austin to get it all together and then see it, quite frankly, exceed all my expectations was gratifying beyond words. Can’t wait to do it again next year.

And I’m already planning next year. Though I say it every year, in 2008 I am definitely staying downtown. The combined cost of the farther hotel and rental car turned out to be more than I’d anticipated, and certainly not much cheaper than staying right downtown if at all. I’m also thinking I’m going to splurge for a badge next year – see how the other half lives. But that’s next year – I’m not going to start seriously planning that out for, oh, another couple weeks at least. For now I’m happy to be back home, with my cat, and will be back to regular-style blogging tomorrow.

And there’s simply too many Sx reports to link to, so I’m not going to try. That’s why we have Elbows, Technorati and Google News. But I will point you to The Rich Girls Are Weeping, who have SxSW reports from Howard and Jonathan of Shearwater, who were the only band I saw twice last week and who absolutely killed both times.

Monday, March 19th, 2007

The Terminal

So in brief – yesterday morning, after maybe three hours of sleep, I got to the Austin airport and found out my flight was delayed by exactly the length of my layover in Chicago, thus ensuring that I would be landing at pretty much the very moment I was supposed to be departing.

Got to Chicago, was told that all remaining flights to Toronto were full and while I could go on the standby list, it was more likely that I’d not be getting out of O’Hare till 11:30AM this morning, meaning that I would be spending the next 19 hours or so hanging out in the departure lounge. Of all the Tom Hanks movies I’d have liked to be living out, this was not the one. Better than Castaway, I guess, but not by much. I seem to get stuck in O’Hare a lot. I should really stop flying through there.

But as fortune would have it, another plane coming into Chicago looking to hook up with the next flight to T.O. was also delayed, meaning my problems were now some other schmuck’s and that I’d still be getting into Toronto last night, albeit several hours later and much more tired-er.

And when I got home, I found I had over a cubic foot of mail to go through. I josh you not. And don’t even talk to me about my email inbox.

Back tomorrow.

Sunday, March 18th, 2007

SxSW XXI IV

And that’s a wrap. I was actually back at the hotel a good two hours earlier than I’d originally planned, on account of a) being bloody tired and b) being pretty sure there was no way I was getting into any more shows. And that suited me fine. My day – my festival – peaked around 4:00 yesterday afternoon when the audience leapt onstage at Club DeVille with The Rosebuds and danced through the end of their set. Witnessing a moment like that of pure musical joy at a party that I’d helped put together… seriously, one of the best feelings ever and a moment that’ll stick with me a long time.

I’ll get more into the whole Hot Freaks experience in my proper SxSW wrap-up in a couple days, but I will say that though it was a lot more work and stress than I’d anticipated when I signed up, it was totally worth it. But for now, the post-mortem from the fourth and final day at SxSW 2007.

The Broken West (Los Angeles, CA) @ The Mohawk Patio – It was as much a testament to the strength of our lineup as it was the fact that The Broken West had to be elsewhere in the afternoon that they opened up day two with their top-notch power pop, delivered with great energy. I can’t wait to see them at the ElMo next week (the 27th) when I’m able to pay a little more attention to their set.

MP3: The Broken West – “Down In The Valley”
MySpace: The Broken West

The Hylozoists (Toronto, ON) @ Club DeVille – Though there were more people onstage than in the audience, the Hylos still gave their all and sounded huge and magnificent. I’d seen a compact version of the band perform before but with a full lineup, their widescreen cinematic sound was just stunning. A welcome punctuation of orchestrated calm and beauty in a sea of guitar rock. Looking forward to seeing them again at the Tranzac on May 3.

MP3: The Hylozoists – “Smiley Smiley”
MySpace: The Hylozoists

The Early Years (London, England) @ The Mohawk Patio – And then it was from The Hylozoists’ vibraphone orchestra to The Early Years’ blisteringly loud guitar rock. While it was obvious that they were a bit unaccustomed to playing in the bright Texas noonday sun, they still turned in a monumental display of space rock the way only the English know how to do. The gentler and more atmospheric numbers from their album were left on the shelf in favour of the goes-to-11 eardrum attackers. Absolutely scorching and a very welcome dose of Britannia to the lineup.

MP3: The Early Years – “All Ones And Zeros”
MySpace: The Early Years

Prototypes (Paris, France) @ Club DeVille – I only popped over to see Prototypes and their Gallic synth rock for a few minutes. Just took some pictures, shook some ass and went on my way.

MySpace: Prototypes

Frog Eyes (Victoria, BC) @ The Mohawk Patio – Frog Eyes continued an epidemic of string-breakage amongst all the bands, likely thanks to the past three days of heavy gigging. Carey Mercer’s D-string gave up the ghost only a few songs in but he carried on and simply played the other five that much harder. I’ve never really been a fan of the band but I was impressed with their show, which was definitely equal parts rocking and weird, but all wonderful. I may have to revisit their stuff.

MP3: Frog Eyes – “The Oscillator’s Hum”
MySpace: Frog Eyes

Land Of Talk (Montreal, QC) @ Club DeVille – Having played five shows in the previous three days, Land Of Talk were about as honed to razor-sharpness as any band could be. Taut and awesome despite some technical speed bumps along the way (more broken strings!), their performance was as good as I’ve seen them. You can bet I was happy to see the size of the crowd grow steadily and more enthusiastic as their show went on.

MP3: Land Of Talk – “Speak To Me Bones”
MySpace: Land Of Talk

The Ponys (Chicago, IL) @ The Mohawk Patio – It was about now that the staggered times of the three stages were drifting further apart and closer together, so as a result I was only able to catch the last song of The Ponys’ set. But it was explosive and made me think that it’s a shame I’ll probably still be asleep, recovering from SxSW, when they play Lee’s Palace on March 29.

MP3: The Ponys – “Double Vision”
MySpace: The Ponys

Asobi Seksu (Brooklyn, NY) @ The Mohawk Patio – Almost every time I’ve seen Asobi Seksu, they ask that the stage lights keep getting turned lower and lower so I admit a sense of satisfaction in seeing them onstage in the bright afternoon sun, having to suck it up. They were typically loud and excellent and capped their set with a good old fashioned stage invasion by the audience, though as I mentioned above it wouldn’t be the last of the day.

MP3: Asobi Seksu – “Thursday”
MySpace: Asobi Seksu

The Rosebuds (Raleigh, NC) @ Club DeVille – I saw the Rosebuds open for Teenage Fanclub a couple years ago but don’t remember them being nearly as funky or dance-friendly as they were yesterday. Sure, they’re still a power pop band at heart but the angles from which they approach it are pretty fresh and, as evidenced by the aforementioned audience participation dance party on stage to close their set, effective. Overflowing buckets of fun.

MP3: The Rosebuds – “Get Up Get Out”
MySpace: The Rosebuds

Margot & The Nuclear So & So’s (Indianapolis, IN) @ The Mohawk Patio – The intention had been to have all the other stages finish up before the main one so that everyone could partake in the headliners. Unfortunately, it didn’t shake out that way and a choice had to be made between the Polyphonic Spree’s sunshiney feel-good finale or Margot’s downbeat denoument. Naturally, I selected the latter. Margot and the Spree had to trade stages since the former’s 20+ members wouldn’t have fit on the Mohawk stage but the So & Sos, being no slouches in the band personnel department either, had to cram pretty hard to get everyone up there. With both Richard Edwards and Emily Watkins sporting goth-approved dyed black hair, the band previewed some new material and aired out some old, much to the delight of the nearly packed audience (and myself, this being my first opportunity to see them since Sx last year). It was hard to tell what kind of mood they were in, but the set was rather fiercer than I’d expected and the finale suitably cacophonous. I’m sorry I missed seeing The Spree but not sorry at all that I chose to watch Margot’s set as the grand finale.

MP3: Margot & The Nuclear So & So’s – “Skeleton Key”
MySpace: Margot & The Nuclear So & So’s

If it seems that I’m saying every band that played our show was excellent, it’s because it was true. Amazingly, every act seemed to bring their A-game, even for a day show. Maybe it was because it was the last day of SxSW and for most of the bands, their last shows so there was no reason not to leave everything out there. But whatever the reason, the net result was collectively one of the best days of music I’ve ever had the pleasure to experience. That was the high point of the day. The low point was when I accidentally sat in gum.

But after the headiness of the day, the official evening showcases seemed like a bit of a let down. I had stuff I wanted to see at 8PM and 12:45AM, but in-between was stuff I was only mildly enthusiastic about and unlikely to be able to get into anyway. As it happened, I bailed on trying to see The Tragically Hip at Antone’s, as novel as that’d have been, because the value of the extra two hours of sleep I got for not staying out that late far outweighed any nostalgia points I’d get for hearing “At The Hundredth Meridian” again, if I even got into the club. So instead I saw whatever I could, which wasn’t much, and called it a year.

My Latest Novel (Glasgow, Scotland) @ Buffalo Billiards – I skipped some three or four of their shows in Toronto last weekend during Canadian Music Week, so I felt a bit obliged to see them here. I found their set strangely solemn, starting out slowly and only building to any sort of a climax after three or four songs. Granted, Wolves isn’t exactly a dance party record but for a band that looks (and is) so young, it’s strange to see such seriousness on display. It didn’t detract at all from the loveliness of the songs but did make for a strange presentation.

MP3: My Latest Novel – “The Reputation of Ross Francis”
MySpace: My Latest Novel

The Electric Soft Parade (Brighton, England) @ Cedar Street Courtyard – I had meant to see ESP the previous night but didn’t, so thanks to their double booking I got a second chance. This show was part of an extremely odd lineup that started with The Watson Twins and ended with Redman. I used to have their debut album Holes In The Wall and while I enjoyed their songcraft, I was put off by the overly-slick and fiddly production. Happily, perhaps as a result of their off-the-cuff aesthetic in Brakes or maybe simply because that’s how they are live, they sounded a good deal looser and more energetic than listening to the record might have suggested. Playing loud, punchy guitar rock with a distinct British accent, they were obviously happy to be capping an intense week at SxSW. My interest in the band has been re-piqued so I’m looking forward to hearing their new one No Need To Be Downhearted when it comes out April 30. Here’s hoping they forgot how to (over)use ProTools.

MP3: The Electric Soft Parade – “If That’s The Case, Then I Don’t Know”
MySpace: The Electric Soft Parade

Palomar (New York, NY) @ Habana Calle 6 Patio – Ideally I’d have been able to wrap up my SxSW experience with something grand and finale-worthy, but instead I stood in line at Habana Called 6 for fifteen minutes at the Absolutely Kosher/Misra showcase to try and see New York’s Palomar. The three-girl, one-guy outfit offer up punchy guitar pop that jangles and riffs in all the right places and combined with their four-part vocals and sharp wit are a real indie-pop treat. Their new album All Things Forest is out on Tuesday.

MP3: Palomar – “Our Haunt”
MySpace: Palomar

And then I went home. As I mentioned before, I’ve got random thoughts and observations about this year’s Sx as a whole, but will save that for later. But for now, I’m signing off from Austin. See you from back in the Big Smoke. Thanks for reading.

Saturday, March 17th, 2007

SxSW XXI III

And so after some two months plus of planning, the (first) big day finally arrived – Hot Freaks was here. I was equally excited and nervous about it for obvious reasons, but now that it’s half in the bag, I can say quite honestly that I’m really pleased with how it went off. Let’s recap.

Small Sins (Toronto, ON) @ The Mohawk Patio – Small Sins had the rather unenviable task of kicking things off bright and early to an audience made up mainly of people working the show. But they didn’t phone it in and as the set wore on, their audience grew. Their sound has changed quite a bit since I first listened to their debut album from which they took their name (not technically self-titled since they were called The Ladies & Gentlemen at the time), as the low-key bedroom pop gems have dressed themselves up in rock’n’roll clothes. They wear them well.

MP3: Small Sins – “Stay”
MySpace: Small Sins

Catfish Haven (Chicago, IL) @ The Mohawk Patio – These guys have likewise undergone a transformation since I saw them last, mainly in the addition of more members to the cast. While I think the core remains a trio, their soul power was augmented by an electric lead guitarist and a pair of backing singers. Together, they quite plainly rocked the house large and blew out any remaining cobwebs of sleep that may have remained. Game on.

MP3: Catfish Haven – “Crazy For Leaving”
MySpace: Catfish Haven

Briertone (Atlanta, GA) @ Club DeVille – These guys were a total unknown quantity but sounded like a mash-up between SoCal emo-punk and old-school Bakersfield country. If that sounds like something you’d like, then check them out. If not, then don’t. I didn’t care for it and was more preoccupied with how much they looked exactly like they sounded.

MySpace: Briertone

Thunderbirds Are Now! (Detroit, MI) @ The Mohawk Patio – Every time someone talks to me about Thunderbirds Are Now!, they say how great their live show is. And their live show is great. Absurdly high energy though I have to say the songs themselves didn’t make much of an impression. But fun to watch.

MySpace: Thunderbirds Are Now!

Sea Wolf (Los Angeles, CA) @ The Mohawk – Before their set, Matt from You Ain’t No Picasso bet me a nickel that I’d like this band. I didn’t bet him that I wouldn’t, but afterwards I gave him the nickel. They played some great-sounding pop that evidenced an equal appreciation for plain-spun roots music and shimmery 80s UK pop. Definitely intending to hear more from this outfit, who I think are the first “wolf” band I actually like. About time.

MP3: Sea Wolf – “You’re A Wolf”
MySpace: Sea Wolf

Apostle Of Hustle (Toronto, ON) @ The Mohawk Patio – Everyone’s been talking about how good the new Apostle Of Hustle is and how amazing the live show is. I wasn’t a big fan beforehand and remain unconverted. The new stuff does sound more appealing – more song-y and less jammy – and Andrew Whiteman is a charismatic frontman, but still no road to Damascus moment for me with them.

MySpace: Apostle Of Hustle

De Novo Dahl (Nashville, TN) @ The Mohawk – De Novo Dahl were getting the most pre-show buzz around the Mohawk on account of the brightly-coloured nudie suits they had pulled from the band wardrobe for the day. But as it turns out, the outfits were misleading because they delivered a set of straightforward, scrappy pop – not a cosmic country twang to be found. Still alright but somehow a bit disappointing in that.

MySpace: De Novo Dahl

Imperial Teen (San Francisco, CA) @ The Mohawk Patio – When I saw Imperial Teen on the lineup, my first reaction was, “they’re still around?” Well yes they are and though they’re definitely not teens, they’re still a deft hand at breezy Cali-pop with great vocal arrangements. The old-timers in the audience were thrilled to see them and they looked thrilled to be back.

MySpace: Imperial Teen

Midnight Movies (Los Angeles, CA) @ The Mohawk – One of the sets I was most looking forward to in the day and I wasn’t disappointed. Gena Olivier and her band previewed songs from their forthcoming album Lion The Girl but the delivery was considerably more muscular and psychedelic than on record. The combined vocals of Olivier and drummer Sandra Vu sounded terrific and it was nice to see them swap places midway through the set and have Olivier take her former place behind the kit for a while. Gotta keep those singing drummer fans mollified.

MP3: Midnight Movies – “Patient Eye”
MySpace: Midnight Movies

Shearwater (Austin, TX) @ The Mohawk Patio – “Sometimes we’re a quiet band, sometimes we’re a loud band” – so said Jonathan Meiburg in introducing Shearwater to the audience. Not even a day after their dazzling show at the Central Presbyterian Church, they did it again with a show completely different in vibe – the plastic tent above the stage at the Mohawk didn’t have quite the same acoustic properties as the church – but somehow just as impressive. I’d just like to say that I’m so proud to have been involved in putting this performance on.

MP3: Shearwater – “Red Sea Black Sea”
MySpace: Shearwater

I’m also really excited about day two, going down today. And if you hadn’t puzzled out the mystery headliner yet, let’s just say their name rhymes with Mollyphonic Flea. Now onto the evening portion of the day.

Nellie McKay (New York, NY) @ Exodus – I’d almost forgotten how much I hate this venue. I was here two years ago and it was awful, with a sizable capacity but also with sightlines that suck for about 90% of the audience. So as such, I didn’t stick around long for Ms McKay’s set which was quite late in starting anyways. But while I couldn’t see anything, she did sound great and as loopy as ever. Even a short visit to Nellie-land is a trip.

MP3: Nellie McKay – “Food”
MySpace: Nellie McKay

Buffalo Tom (Boston, MA) @ The Parish – This was a band I never thought I’d see live, what with their extended hiatus beginning before my concert-going days began. But they were huge for me in high school so I was pretty stoked that Bill Janovitz has elected to take a break from real estate to return to rock. They weren’t tight by any means – Bill seemed to be having some trouble navigating his pedals cleanly – but the sheer enthusiasm more than made up for it. The set list was composed mainly of old favourites but there were a smattering of new tracks taken from their new record, due out in July. They’re lucky the BT ongwriting formula isn’t terribly complex so the new stuff sounded pretty good or at least just like Buffalo Tom. But hearing “Velvet Roof”? And “Soda Jerk”? Ace. So ace.

MySpace: Buffalo Tom

It was at this point that I elected to bail on my original club-hopping game plan and stay at the New West showcase because I would have a golden opportunity to shoot Steve Earle from about four feet away. This is not the sort of thing you turn down to go see anonymous indie-pop elsewhere. I stayed put.

The Drams (Denton, TX) @ The Parish – I saw the Drams open up for Drive-By Truckers last Fall so I knew that the time wait for Steve would be ably filled by their brand of ripping roots rock. It’s the sort of thing that always goes down well at these things.

MySpace: The Drams

Steve Earle (Schertz, TX) @ The Parish – If you didn’t know, I’m a huge Steve Earle fan so getting this chance to see him live again, and in a solo acoustic format, was pretty exciting. His set was bookended by a couple of new songs from his forthcoming debut for New West, but consisted mainly of old favourites rejigged and rearranged to fit the format of the evening. the heart of the set was dedicated to his friend and mentor Townes Van Zandt and towards the end he also brought his wife, Alison Moorer, to play “Comin’ Around”. I have to admit, I had been hoping before the show that the extra mic set up was for Emmylou Harris, who was also in Austin for SxSW and who originally recorded that song with Steve. Alas, not to be but Alison Moorer is a pretty good substitute and did help make Earle’s performance an exceptional thing to behold. Yet another highlight in what’s turning out to be a pretty terrific SxSW for me.

MySpace: Steve Earle

Bon Savants (Boston, MA) @ Buffalo Billiards – I had intended to finish the night on that high note, but as it happens I was right across the street from where Bon Savants, who were on my original schedule, there was no lineup and they were slated to start at that very minute. So I went for it. I couldn’t stop humming “Between The Moon And The Ocean” for days after just one listen from the SxSW torrent so I was interested to see if the rest of their material measured up. While I found them to have some good to great ideas, but the overall quality of what I was hearing in their mod-pop was inconsistent though promising. Of course, expecting them to follow up a Steve Earle performance is pretty unfair – I will revisit their stuff at a later date when the bar in my head isn’t set quite so high.

MP3: Bon Savants – “Between The Moon And The Ocean”
MySpace: Bon Savants

One more day. Man oh man. I miss my cat.

Friday, March 16th, 2007

SxSW XXI II

Interesting bit of trivia – with the exception of the trip back to the hotel last night, I have gotten lost every time I’ve gotten into my car. Not entirely my fault – they’re closing all different streets at different times this year than last. But for someone who sort of thinks they know their way around downtown Austin by now, it’s a bit embarrassing.

Anyway. Yesterday afternoon was spent at the famous Antone’s club (famous to blues fans, anyway) with the Spaceland/LiveDaily party that I was ostensibly co-presenting. Twelve hours on and I’m still not sure what that meant.

Monsters Are Waiting (Los Angeles, CA) @ Antone’s – Though I arrived a little late, the day also started a little late so I still caught most of MAW’s set. I saw them last year at a little club across the street and this larger space, with the fancy lights and all suited them better. Their new wavey rock and Annalee Fery’s twitchy/sexy stage persona works better when there’s a larger audience to witness it. Interestingly, this was the second time in the past 12 hours or so I’d heard someone play the bassline from “I Wanna Be Adored”. But while Minipop only soundchecked with it, Monsters gave it a proper cover. Which I think they also did last year. That’s okay.

MP3: Monsters Are Waiting – “Last Goodbye”
MySpace: Monsters Are Waiting

Dirty On Purpose (Brooklyn, NY) @ Antone’s – Dirty On Purpose have been coming to SxSW as long as I have and it doesn’t seem like Sx unless I catch the boys somewhere somewhen. Their set seemed extra short with a couple new songs mixed in with Hallelujah Sirens selections and while it may have been a little early in the day for some to appreciate their fuzz-pop (or maybe just early for the band to be playing) I enjoyed their set as I always do. I also conducted a quick interview with them afterwards for LiveDaily which I’m going to see about getting the audio for and transcribing.

MP3: Dirty On Purpose – “No Radio”
MySpace: Dirty On Purpose

DATAROCK (Bergen, Norway) @ Antone’s – What you need to know: DATAROCK are Norwegian. They wear matching red track suits and red wraparound sunglasses. They play synth rock that’s as awesome as it is ridiculous, I think it’s all a matter of perspective. I personally went with the former. Entertainment personified.

MP3: DATAROCK – “Fa-Fa-Fa”
MySpace: DATAROCK

Annuals (Raleigh, NC) @ Antone’s – These guys (and girl) have rather quickly busted out from the “blog favourite” ghetto and are building themselves quite the fanbase. Me, I don’t really get it. Their style of pop is ambitious and they’re all obviously accomplished enough musicians to pull it off but it’s all just a little too dense and (melo)dramatic to tickle my fancy. I felt that way about the album and the live show’s done nothing to convince me otherwise. Points for effort, though.

MySpace: Annuals

Blonde Redhead (New York, NY) @ Antone’s – And here’s where things go off the tracks. To this point, things were running around 15 minutes behind. Not ideal, but about what was to be expected. Blonde Redhead, whom I’ve only recently begun listening to with their excellent new record 23, were an exciting choice to headline and I – and the packed club – were excited to see them play. But first they had to soundcheck. For half an hour. They went on and on, testing and re-testing mics, samplers, whatever, before finally starting to play at 5PM. Of course, what we didn’t know at the time (but I suspect they did) was that there was a 5:15 curfew and after four songs and 15 minutes, the band said they were done and left. It’s a good thing that the show was free otherwise things would have gotten ugly – as it was, there was lots of grumbling from the attendees as they were shooed out the door. Even though what the band did play sounded great, it was still a pretty lousy situation. I was not impressed.

MP3: Blonde Redhead – “23”
MySpace: Blonde Redhead

Shearwater (Austin, TX) @ The Central Presbyterian Church – The evening itinerary started at a little church at the north end of downtown where local heroes Shearwater played an amazing set. To hear Jonathan Meiburg’s vocals in a church’s acoustics while pounding out “Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five” on a grand piano was something to behold. Playing material from their soon-to-be revitalized Palo Santo as well as a couple of new songs, the band sounded more powerful than I’d imagined they could and their performance was simply jaw-dropping.

MP3: Shearwater – “Red Sea Black Sea”
MySpace: Shearwater

Joan As Police Woman (Brooklyn, NY) @ The Ale House – I wasn’t really familiar with JAPW before last night but went to her showcase based on the enthusiasm of some people whom I trust. Playing solo and alternating between guitar and keyboard, Joan Wasser struck me as someone you could classify as a singer-songwriter, but not much beyond that. You couldn’t call her folk, or blues, or even rock or pop – what she was was dark, acerbic, witty and a bit weird. But also quite enjoyable.

MP3: Joan As Police Woman – “The Ride”
MySpace: Joan As Police Woman

Cloud Cult (Minneapolis, MN) @ Emo’s Jr – This was another showcase attended based largely on the positive opinions of others. Objectively, they reminded me of Annuals in the complexity and ambitiousness of their pop music, but subjectively, I enjoyed their stuff much more. It’s less frantic and more elegiac-sounding, thanks in no small part to the cello and violin players’ contributions. I wasn’t blown away but it was a solid performance and positive first impression. They also get points for having the most original band merch – during their set, they had two members painting canvases onstage, and at the end they announced they would sell them via silent auction at the merch table. I don’t know how many takers they got, but the pieces were actually pretty nice. Certainly more unique than a t-shirt.

MySpace: Cloud Cult

The Dears (Montreal, QC) @ Stubb’s – I actually had no intention of seeing The Dears, but my plan of standing in line at Stubb’s for an hour was undone by the fact that there was no lineup. I walked right in, to the front and into the photo pit in under three minutes. Hey. But if there was ever a place The Dears were suited for, it’s a big festival stage with an audience ready and primed for some hyper-emotional and dramatic Brit-influenced rock. A good primer for the headliner, and Murray Lightburn had the quote of the day when he said, “Stick around for the next band and maybe you won’t have to ask me to autograph your Bloc Party CDs”. Golden.

MySpace: The Dears

Bloc Party (London, England) @ Stubb’s – Okay, sign me up for the Bloc Party fan club. I mentioned last week how much I was enjoying their new album A Weekend In The City but now that I’ve seen them live, I’m sold. Energetic, anthemic, charismatic and unbelievably tight, Bloc Party put on one hell of a show at Stubb’s that even if I had had to wait in line for an hour plus, it’d have been worth it. I can’t recall the last time I saw a band that simply owned such a large stage and still managed to make it feel intimite, though in a thoroughly rocking way? it may have been recently – I actually can’t recall. How many bands can say they got me to dance by myself in a field in Texas with 3000 strangers? Just one. A completely atypical SxSW experience in its stadium rock-osity but still sure to be one of the highlights of this week.

MySpace: Bloc Party

Hot Freaks today! If you come by the Mohawk or DeVille, find me and say hi. I’ll be the one with my feet in the epsom salts.