Category Archives: SXSW

SXSW 2009 Saturday Highlights

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The day started out in a haze trying to find who I thought was Gentleman Reg, only to find out halfway through the set that I ended up at Gentleman Jesse and His Men, which was okay by me.  It was a nice outdoor venue with shade and seating, which I really needed at that moment.

Listen to Gentleman Jesse and His Men, “I Don’t Wanna Know“:

Luckily, the same venue was hosting another band I was dead set on seeing, Dead Confederate.  No pun intended. Thankfully my Gentleman Reg blunder got me to the venue in enough time so that we weren’t shut out from seeing them.  The venue was small and there was a loooong line at the door.  Waiting for the band to start, I was interrogated by a man named Walker as to whether or not a fair maiden like myself was in the right place and if I indeed liked the Dead Confederate.  After assuring him that I was and did, he replied “cool” then walked up to the stage and started playing guitar.  

Listen to Dead Confederate, “The Rat”:

The Phenomenal Hand Clap Band at Home Slice Pizza

The Phenomenal Hand Clap Band

After a quick pit stop at Starf**ker (I couldn’t resist), we headed South of Congress to chill out at Home Slice Pizza and catch up with The Phenomenal Handclap Band – again.

Listen to Starf**ker, “Florida”

Listen to The Phenomenal Handclap Band, “You’ll Disappear”:

Iran frontman Aaron Aites

Iran Frontman Aaron Aites

After refueling, it was off to Club Deville to catch Iran – Kyp Malone (TV On The Radio’s) side project with friend and filmmaker Aaron Aites.  I’m really liking their new album, Dissolver, right now. 

Listen to Iran, “Buddy“:

harlem

Harlem

Then it was off to The Beauty Bar to catch a little Jana Hunter, Harlem and – finally – Gentleman Reg. Harlem was a hoot and I was completely to surprised to learn they were local.  They were all one big hot mess and looked like they’ve been living out of a van for months.  

Listen to Jana Hunter, “Babies“:

Listen to Harlem, “South of France”:

Listen to Gentleman Reg, “How We Exit”:

Black Joe Lewis

Black Joe Lewis

 Wrapping up the evening was Halifax Nova Scotia favorites, Wintersleep, followed by Austin’s answer to Little Richard,  Black Joe Lewis.

Listen to Wintersleep, “Drunk on Aluminum” 

Listen to Black Joe Lewis, “Bitch, I Love You”

SXSW 2009 Friday Highlights

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Friday at SXSW kicked off in style with a great day party hosted by Insound at Club De Ville.  Obits opened the day with an impressively scorching set, followed by one of my favorite bands, The Handsome Furs, who’s energy and chemistry did not disappoint.  I had yet to see them live so was thrilled to get up close and personal with them at such a great venue. (Loved Alexei Perry’s leopard print jumpsuit too.)  American Analog Set followed but they were a bit too quiet to be appreciated with a crowd in the full throws of an all you can drink PBR pint party, so off I headed to the Spin private event at Stubbs.

At the Spin party, which was a blast, I caught The Black Lips – who lived up to their infamous stage performance reputation — Glasvegas and the seminal band of the 80s Echo and The Bunnymen.  Ian McCulloch’s voice was amazing and the band’s performance was one of my highlights of the festival for me. Between sets we were entertained by the likes of The Crystal Method and NASA.  A great show all around! Thanks Spin!

Without missing a beat, we headed to the TopSpin party to see White Denim crush it. If you don’t know this band already, you are missing out.  Exposion is my favorite album of 2008 and they are absolutely incredible live.  Whew, okay.  I’m a good nine bands in and we haven’t even gotten to the official SXSW schedule yet!

The evening kicked off with Alberta Cross.  Man, these guys are good.  Really, really good.  One of the SXSW sleepers, in my opinion.  Loney Dear was up next with a lackluster performance, but all was redeemed when we made it to Emo’s Jr. for King Kahn & The Shrines.  Holy crap!  I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like them. Absolutely and completely crazy live performers.  People were hanging from the rafters, taking off their pants, moshing and giving puja to the holy Hindu, King Kahn. I didn’t think the night could get any better until we ended up at the mother of all after parties to see Starf**ker.  My new favorite band.  I loooovve them!

Listen to Obits, “Pine On“:

Listen to Handsome Furs “I’m Confused”

Listen to The Black Lips, “O Katrina”

Listen to Echo & The Bunnymen, “Killing Moon” 

Listen to Glasvegas, “Geraldine”  

Listen to White Denim, “Shake Shake Shake” 

Listen to Alberta Cross, “The Thief and The Heartbreaker”

Listen to King Khan & The Shrines, “No Regrets”

Listen to Starf**ker, “Iaadeedaa”

 

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The Handsome Furs at Club De Ville
Glasvegas at Stubbs

Glasvegas at Stubbs

The Black Lips at Stubbs

The Black Lips at Stubbs

At the Spin party. Music, hipsters and free beer - oh my!

At the Spin party. Music, hipsters and free beer - oh my!

Echo & The Bunnymen at Stubbs

Echo & The Bunnymen at Stubbs

Alberta Cross at Rusty Spurs

Alberta Cross at Rusty Spurs

The Legendary King Kahn enjoying a well deserved drink after his performance at Emos Jr.

The Legendary King Kahn enjoying a well deserved drink after his performance at Emos Jr.

Starf**ker Rules!

Starf**ker Rules!

Me with The Black Lips frontman.

Hanging with The Black Lips frontman.

SXSW Thursday Highlights

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phemonenal

The day couldn’t have kicked off better than with The Phenomenal Handclap Band.  With 10 members deep, it was one of the better dance rock bands I’ve seen in a while.  Truly infections.  Especially with San Francisco’s Bart Davenport joined them in his 70s attire on stage.  Everyone one who was anyone in the indie rock world seemed to be there.

Other highlights of the night were definitely Girls and Grizzly Bear at Central Presbyterian Church.  I had goosebumps for the entire Grizzly Bear performance.  Sitting in pews and hearing them perform in a beautiful stone church was one of the better music experiences I’ve had of late.  Truly awesome and transcendental.  My religion!

Listen to Phenomenal Handclap Band “Testify” 

Mixtape: SXSW Picks, Part 1

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swswpics

My rock-n-roll vacation is just days, hours away.  I’ve been combing the line up of 1400 bands for weeks now. My list is made, I’m checking it twice and trying to keep the panic at bay as I struggle to find a way to fit it all in. 

SXSW is the equivalent of Mecca for the indie music junkie, like me. It’s the place you go to discover the best new artists everyone else will be listening 6 months or a year from now, depending on where you fall on the music curve.  And already I’ve found some gems.  Here’s a sample of a few bands I’m particularly excited to see. Believe me, there are many, many more.  Some of them are classics reunited – like Echo and The Bunneymen and Red Red Meat – others somewhat establish, but most are new to the scene and trying to break out.  Enjoy!

the OCMD SXSW Playlist #1

1. Benjy Ferree – “Pisstopher Christoper”
2. Obits – “Pine On”
3. Abe Vigoda – “Don’t Lie”
4. New Villager – “Rich Doors”
5. Foreign Born – “Vacationing People”
6. Iran – “Buddy”
7. Red Red Meat – “Gauze”
8. Wheat – “El Sincero”
9. Echo & The Bunnymen – “Killing Moon”
10. Handsome Furs – “Dumb Animals”
11. Wintersleep – “Drunk on Aluminum”
12. White Lies – “Death”
13. Let’s Wrestle – “I Won’t Lie to You”
14. The Transpersonals – “Twenty Twelve”
15. White Denim – “Mess Up Your Hair”

AT&T Fails SXSW iPhone Test

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Hey all you iPhone users heading to SXSW this week: good luck Twittering, texting and making phone calls. The annual SXSW geekfest has been well underway and already reports for iPhone reception is dismal.  This is likely the first year thousands of iPhone users have descended on Austin and AT&T is unprepared.  A recent update says the company is adding capacity but it may be a good idea to buddy up with a friend on a different network just in case.

Dan Auerbach @ Bimbos

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Rock and roll hoochie coo! Man, my musical stars were aligned last week. There’ve been so many good shows and so many more to come with SXSW merely days away, I think my head’s going to explode.  Dan Auerbach‘s show at San Francisco’s Bimbos last Friday was just another display of rock-n-roll awesomeness.  

Better known as half of The Black Keys, Auerbach’s solo endeavor is more of the same swampy, blues-tinged rock but, dare I say, even bigger and more dynamic. Whereas The Black Keys have that stripped down two-man band vibe, Dan has a 5 piece band supporting him (mostly comprised of musicians from the project he produced, Hacienda): two drummers, keyboardist/organist, rhythm guitar and bass player.  Wow!  I lost my socks somewhere at Bimbos.

If you’re going to SXSW and don’t have Dan Auerbach on your agenda, you’re a bona fide fool.  Pencil it in and make sure you pick up his new album, Keep it Hid.

Mar 18 2009 10:45P
SXSW – The Parish Austin, Texas
Mar 20 2009 8:00P
SXSW – Bill’s Place Austin, Texas
Mar 21 2009 1:30P
SXSW – The Mean Eyed Cat Austin, Texas

 

 

 

Listen to “I Want Some More”:

Say Hi @ Bottom of the Hill

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sayhi

Listen to: “Oh oh oh oh oh oh”:
I’m in full on training mode for SXSW.  Last night’s Say Hi show was my third this week and I’ve got two more to go. And that’s still not going to hold a candle to what’s in store for me in Austin.  But it’s definitely getting me in the right frame of mind.

As I mentioned last week, I’m in love with Say Hi’s latest effort Oohs & Aahs.  Eric Elbogen is basically the band, so it was interesting to see how his laptop rock concoctions would translate live.  And it sounded great!  They kicked off their tour last night in San Francisco and played the new album in it’s entirety before launching into the old stuff.  A truly enjoyable singalong show.  If you’re going to SXSW, I highly recommend catching them at one of their following scheduled performances:

March 19, 1PM: Room 710 (SXSW Day Party Show)
March 20, 6PM: Home Slice Pizza (SXSW Day Party Show)
March 21, 1PM: SXSW Daystage
March 22, 8PM: The Parish (Barsuk & Merge SXSW Showcase)

Video: Bishop Allen – “Dimmer”

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The new video for Bishop Allen‘s “Dimmer” off their Grrr album released this week. Sounds like this album is going to be a Judah favorite!  They’ll be making the rounds at SXSW and recommend them live.  Their Broken Strings tour was one of my surprise favorite live performances of 2008!

Bishop Allen SXSW Schedule:

  1. March 19, 2009 – 1:30 PM:  Radio Room (Brooklyn Vegan)
  2. March 19, 2009 – 8:30 PM: Mohawk (Dead Oceans Showcase)
  3. March 20, 2009 – 1:00 PM: Mohawk (Hot Freaks Party)

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