While SXSW wrapped up a week ago, the images and sounds are still in the minds of attendees. The festival, to the uninitiated, combines one week of interactive, film, and music components. Breakout bands like the Fiery Furnaces play alongside up-and-coming ones like the Noisettes. It's a splendid place to be, with barbeque experts diligently slicing brisket while live and energetic music wades in and out. The streets are filled with a cacophony of nearly every genre of music, and Swishahouse and SUC cliques mingle with My Chemical Romance emo nerds and Fiery Furnaces-loving mp3 bloggers. All is washed down with beer and 80 degree weather. Splendiferous! Here is a photo journal of the festivities. [ed note - Click on the SXSW marquee for full SXSW coverage from Keith O'Brien, starr reporter.]

Eleanor Friedberg, Fiery Furnaces, playing version #542 of “Asthma Attack”.

Those of you who have been to a Mates of State show – or read any Mates of State fan fiction online – know the lore of how the married duo look longingly in each other’s eyes when they’re doing a drum or keyboard fill (or otherwise not singing). It’s definitely true and more endearing then you might think.

365-750, depend on Annie Hardy of Giant Drag to combine great musicianship and a stellar voice with puerile banter between songs. Call me a skeptic, but when someone ever so delicately sips from a water bottle, but talks so shamelessly dirty, I think, VISAGE!

The Islands show, while horrendously hot and long-delayed, was spectacular, save for Nick Diamond’s childish rants of calling people assholes and complaining about the ads that invariably allowed the band to be compensated while drawing a free audience of likely influential people who would report how fantastic the band sounds. Excuse me for being Starchy McStarch, but you have a new album coming out and are still (relatively) under the radar. Just play and leave your capitalism commentary for the glowing Spin profile.

Austin, TX darlings Voxtrot trotted out "Start of Something" to an adoring base. Austin dudes, take note: If you need to get your weight up with a chick, just coo, "If I die clutching your photograph, don't call me boring, it's just because I like you."

No, it's not a Steve Nicks impersonator. It's Serena Maneesh, and it is what killed (non-fatally) SXSW.

The Boy Least Likely To is flat-out fun to watch. Band members have this nervous air that makes you think amateur band playing their first show until they actually play and you hear the cleanness of songs, no doubt complicated by the many musicians involved.

Photo (unfortunately) missing:

Look, I've never played a rock show. I played a saxamaphone in elementary school because my parents made me pursue some sort of musical endeavor until I entered high school. However, my antipathy towards it impelled me to pretend I was actually playing at recitals during the last year of our "contract". I have no idea about how the energy of performance produces juices that causes people to freak out and act all weird. Maybe its involuntary. But, from the spectator POV, it looks ridiculous. And the chief practitioners of this "craft" at SXSW were Thunderbirds Are Now, at the Stereogum party. Re: TAN, like some other bands I saw, it's not my cup of tea. TAN is technically proficient, energetic, and displayed some good hooks. But the band’s thrashing around, assembling mics in weird positions, and over-emoting looked silly. Sorry, it did. And to the keyboardist, who decided to climb a ladder in the back of stage to presumably propelling himself onto a rafter or something, man was that crazy uninteresting. I wonder if I was the only one who was patiently waiting until the stagehand came to tell him, "No, you lack the star power to get away with such chicanery." Perhaps some were hoping that he'd reach the beam (or whatever) and be forced down, rather than stopped before he could do it. A little more dignity in the former, I think. No such luck for the keyboardist. Oh well, back to thrashing the keyboard like it was a chocking victim.

Fin.

Tags: SXSW, Fiery Furnaces, Voxtrot, Voxtrot, Serena Maneesh

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 02:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Quick post before I board the plane. Currently, I am at Jazz (thanks Jeff) on Sixth Avenue, enjoying a penultimate Shiner Bock.

The last show I officially saw (officially, meaning enjoying and not praying that my relatively old age would impel me to take a cab home. Long story, shortened, I ended Austin the same way I began it: wandering the highways when I didn't do proper bus research and got off too early) was Giant Drag at Emo's Jr. While the Emo's designation was perhaps not literal, there were children at the show. Parents, have fun explaining the song, You F--- Like My Father. [correspondent's note: I'm being incredibly prude here. Apologies].

Jeff, let your tenative embracement go. Heed the words of a certain feline, cartoon pitchit. And yes, Giant Drag played its cover of Wicked Game, and it was brill.

It was great. I have to admit I slept on that album last year (oh, such a noble concession from an amateurrock critic!). Every song was immediately accessible and, while not necessarily complex chord-wise, had layers of intrigue. The between song banter from Annie Hardy was kind of dirty childish -- like when 11 year-olds start learning slang for genital organs -- but what do you expect when you see a band whose video includes simulated urination on persons.

So, pictures and posts to come (including my attendance at the Insound event (bonus points: achieved not by connections but sure will power of standing in line)) once I get NYC-side where people don't blanch if you're talking about walking more than four blocks. Out!

Tags: SXSW, Giant Drag, Shiner Bock, Insound, Jazz restaurant

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 02:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's hard getting home from a night at the SXSW festival. For one, my hotel is on a highway. Also: cabs don't work the same way here. Most people are driving, and those cabs that do run, do so infrequently and are usually hailed by calling a phone number.

But that is not what I'm talking about. The complicated journey home is often impeded by an excellent surprise. I left the Islands show half-way through because I was dead tired (this was 1:30). For those of you mocking, try to get up at 8 or 9 every day, be on your feet or in meetings all day, and return home at midnight or later every night. Rinse, lather, and repeat for 8 days.

So, I left the show at Emo's IV; greeting me outside was the guitar loop from Standing in the Way of Control. After seeing a few Gossip songs, I left to take a cab. On the way to the highway entrance, I stumbled (metaphorically) on a Peaches show replete with Burlesque dancers.

Last night I showed how many bands one can see if you lack an aversion to walking: Film School, Noisettes, Fiery Furnaces, Rogers Sisters, Mates of State, Islands, Gossip. I did not see one show in its entirety, but that's fine with me.

Reviews forthcoming. Pictures too.

Tags: SXSW, Fiery Furnaces, Peaches, Islands, The Gossip

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I covered three venues yesterday and last night: the Canadian consulate, The Fader/Levi’s Dry Goods store, and Emo’s showcase.

The music never stops here... The placid "geeky" calm that pervaded the interactive and film festival has been replaced with guitar squeals, much more open consumption of the "spirits", and celebrity look-alike spotting.

Even the sports bar that I relied on showing the NCAA games had an Irish music showcase (the nerve!) and only the UWM-OK game.

First
Oh, Canada? North by Southwest Tent: 3-7

I caught the first two acts of the showcase.

The Trews
It played a lighter version of Southern rock. Faux-Southern, Northern rock? If I were a Venn Diagramming man, I would say that they stood in the middle of Kings of Leon and Black Crowes, if both were Canadian.

Overall grade: B+

Song of merit: Tired of Waiting, a multi-tempo plaint

The High Dolls
Favoring a Secret Machines form of spaced-jam rock. They also mixed a little Music, The-crunchy guitar loops. One song seemed much influenced by fellow Canadian’s Broken Social Scene’s Cause-Time.

Overall grade: C

Song of merit: These days mean nothing to me

Onto to the Fader/Levi’s show.

I got in at the last song by La Rocca. What I heard sounded very promising – a more up-tempo Elvis Costello.

Overall grade: N/A

Song of merit: N/A

Tapes N’ Tapes
I know this is the buzzed about band, but, to be honest, I didn’t dig their set. Lead singer’s mic wasn’t loud enough, or he didn’t sing loud enough. The band sound wasn’t crisp. I would love to give them another shot, even here, but not something to write home about.

Overall grade: B-

Rumble Strips
Band is a three-piece set consisting of a sax and a trumpet. Now wait, don’t gloss over the rest. They were good. Not necessarily my cup of tea, but definitely a decent band. They played like more generic CYHSY, to be honest.

Overall grade: C

Cities
Here was the first band that made me take notice. They played like the Rapture if they weren’t all that interested in making you dance. The song structure was pretty tight, and the crowd seemed to get into them more than any other band I saw. They have an album coming out, and I could see it doing some damage to those who like the Killers or Rapture or otherwise Cure-like emotive braying.

Overall grade: B

After the jump, Emo’s showcase

Continue reading "SXSW Dispatch, Wednesday's shows" »

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 01:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Walking 6th Street last night, you got a sense that the bands playing were the types that were catching the pre-ethers of the all-out explosion that is the SXSW music festival, which officially begins today. But now that the badge pickup lines have swelled and talk turns to the Beastie Boys appearance, there shall be no complaining about bad music.

There's one minor skirmish, that seems to play out on a larger scale each year. Unaffiliated, corporate- and (and, in the case of Stereogum) blog-sponsored day events vie for attendees' attention against the SXSW-endorsed panels. In theory, music fans that are crashing Austin for the free shows would be unlikely to buy badges to attend the conferences, but it causes some enmity inside the Austin Convention Center. I’m not in the business of advocating sides; I just report.

One staffer derisively referred to “those parties.”

One attendee said he planned to do both (unregistered parties and panel events).

One party sponsor said “no one buys badges anymore.”

So: everything is gray.

One thing that I am very excited for is the Canadian Consulate party (SXSW-endorsed) at 3 pm. Free Canadian food and frosty beverages? Uh, okay. But the opportunity to talk to the people behind it (for my real job) and the potential of seeing the next great Canadian hype (or the Guinness-record holding Arts & Crafts' artists’ 713th confluence band of BSS, Stars, and Wolf Parade members)? Priceless.

Other stops on the tour: Fader party, Team Clermont Party, and, perhaps, a 5:00 showing of Danielson: a Family Movie. Onwards and upwards.

Tags: SXSW, The Fader, Canadians

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 01:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm currently in the "platinum lounge" for the interactive and film part of the festival (music portion does not start until Wednesday), and there's plenty of kids here who wouldn't look out of place in WillieBurg.

And the DJ just segeued from M.I.A.'s Pull Up the People to Can's I Want More.

Good times.

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 04:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This post is called fortuity because my brother has given up on his fading, old 40-gig, non-video (gasp) iPod, which I have coaxed, at least temporarily, into operation.

While I initially set out to parse the 713 tracks made available by the SxSW organizing committee, I am comfortable in fearing I fell dramatically short of that goal.

I can list the bands that impressed me: The Capitol Years, Piney Gir, The Like, Mascott, 1986, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Andy Pratt, Black Lipstick, Born in the Flood, The Eighteenth Day of May, The Grates, The Love Experts, The Meligrove Band, and The Owls.

If you are a member of one of these bands – and are Technorati’ing yourself, congratulations for showing up on shuffle and bringing you’re A game.

Seven-hundred and thirteen! And, to boot, SxSW appears to be akin to a protest guaranteed to garner media coverage, even the uninvited are nobly bringing their vans down to play places to fill in the cracks, a la “free Mumia” in the midst of a anti-capitalism march.

This post comes from the air, Tennessee, according to the pilot. My Thirty Boxes calendar is quite full, and I haven’t even started thinking about how to spend the three precious nights (Wed, Thurs, Fri) of the music festival. Obviously, it makes sense, in a vacuum, to shoot for the Matador showcase, but the thorny issue of the entirety of Austin flocking to that showcase coupled with the disparity of admittance levels between my likely concert mate (me: badge, he: armed solely with charm) evokes the imagery of seeing a defeated Sisyphus (wearing a Cat Power t-shirt) nursing a beer three bars down.

As previously alluded, I will be focusing a large portion of my energies on work-related activities (this is the part in which I thank those Full-House-holding stars that I’m paid to take down the thoughts of interesting people and tell their narrative story (even in the age of blogs!) rather than salaried as, well, nearly anything else)). But, luckily those duties coincide with going out and meeting brands, bands, and the aforementioned people.

I shall hope to have some reviews and thoughts. I promise I won’t delve into food reviews (or March Madness-ledes) unless it is what you, the mighty MS.com readers, urge.

Too tired for Technorati tags.

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 05:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Flaming Lips tour dates are trickling out. Their website is not up to date, though the disclaimer, "we sometimes space out or forget when things get 'really' confirmed" accurately warns of it's unreliability.

Many of these shows are already sold out. As crafty as the MS slaves,..er volunteer researchers are, the Internets do not have a comprehensive list of the many dates floating around.

Merry Swankster to the rescue:

3.11 – Sunrise, FL - Langerado Music Festival
3.15 – Austin, TX – Fox & Hound
3.27 – San Francisco – Bimbo’s 365 Club, Noise Pop Festival^
3.31 – New York, NY – Webster Hall*
4.01 – New York, NY – Webster Hall*
4.04 – Toronto, ON – Phoenix Concert Theatre
4.19 – Edinburgh, Scotland – Usher Hall
4.22 – London, UK – Royal Albert Hall
4.24 – Birmingham, UK – Carling Academy
4.25 – Manchester, UK – Carling Apollo
5.05 – Hamburg, Germany - Markthalle
5.27 – George, WA – The Gorge, Sasquatch! Festival
6.23 – London, UK – Hyde Park, Wireless Festival
6.25 – Leeds, UK – Wireless Festival
7.23 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl%

^ W/ Stardeath, White Dwarfs, Midlake
* w/ Pink Mountaintops
% w/ Thievery Corporation

Drunk on their plans, they lifted up the sun. Happy weekend, here is a sample of live Lips, from Bonnaroo 2003.

Flaming Lips - A Spoonful Weighs a Ton

//The new album, "At War With the Mystics" will be out on April 4 - Preorder

Previously: Flaming Lips - Tour UK, release "The W.A.N.D.", Flaming Lips Set Release Date for "At War With the Mystics", Single Details

Tags: Flaming Lips, SxSW, Noise Pop, Sasquatch, Langerado

Posted by Merry Swankster at 08:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In a move that would have seemed completely [and erroneously] suicidal five years ago, all 713 [or so] musicians heading down to SxSW have made available one track to SxSW to promote, via a BitTorrent file. The tracks are available here.

While I'm only 50 songs in [and have yet to find something truly super fantastic], it becomes obvious that there are haves and have nots, and it's likely that there are hundreds if not thousands of others plowing through all before the show takes place. Thus, showcases with good, undiscovered bands will likely be packed. Oh well...

A quick take on contrasts.

I'm digging this 1986 song - the lead singer sounds like Thurston Moore and, perhaps, the band sounds like Sonic Youth if the band members spent their lives on Valium.

1986 - Holiday

Another song that made an instant impression.

Black Lipstick - Bob Fosse

And the nadir?

Andy Dick (channelling B-52s) - Comsic Dust

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 08:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tonight, fellow MS.com'er Jeff and I see the YYYs perform live in NYC. We are angling to pick up at least half of the Blood on the Wall set.

And, tomorrow, I finally get internet delivered to my apt (no more spotty wife piggybacking for me, neighbors), and I will make some long-overdue postings about SxSW, specifically what showcases and day shows I will attempt to push my way into. Perhaps you don't care; but I do. That's dedication, Holmes.

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Keith O'Brien, MS contributor extraordinaire, PRWEEK writer, and inventor of the flux capacitor, will be in Austin for the SxSW music festival filing reports and scouting albums for his mother. Keep abreast of his activities by clicking on the attractive festival marquee on the right hand side of this page. It's the first prominent graphical link in Merry Swankster history. We are very proud.

Last I checked he was looking for partners with a history of non-violence to run around with in Austin. To keep him honest and share a beer (or ten) with. He can be reached via email.

Previously: The road to Austin begins

Tags: SXSW

Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Stereogum is hosting a HIGH-LARIOUS video they dubbed "Indie Clerk Assholes." Check it out (link). It'll remind you of the annoying snobbery experienced at independent record stores.

Which kind of makes this drudgetastic headline from Pitchfork so damn laughable. Yes, cheap CDs at big box stores like Best Buy are hurting independent music stores that cannot compete. Also hurting sales are the mohawked twenty-five year old clerks desperately clinging on to their indie-ness who would rather donate a kidney instead of providing valuable assistance. I love these record stores, but curb the woe is me complaining.

I commented on Best Buy's "Outside the Mainstream" $7.99 CD promotion last month. Check out the MS take here.

Tags: Best Buy, Independent Record Store Clerks, Pitchfork

Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Count Keith O'Brien as one of music-hungry masses at South by Southwest. Fortuitously, I will be attending the interactive festival (before the music festival) for my employer, and have taken vacation days off for the music part.

I will likely try to meet up with PR professionals at the music fest for work-related matters, but will otherwise spend my time drinking beers, eating Tex-Mex, watching March Madness, and, oh yes, seeing bands.

Just skimming the night shows, my wish list is the Matador Showcase (MS 2005 pick New Pornographers and 2006 front runners Cat Power and Belle & Sebastian), Serena Maneesh, The Gossip, Field Music, Pink Mountaintops, The Boy Least Likely To, Love is All, Clor, The Go! Team, and many, many others.

I started listening to some singles from bands previously unknown to me the weekend past, and found some early favorites: The Dead Science, Sound Team, and The Capitol Years. I also found some bad ones. So bad that when I explained to my fellow car passengers who accompanied me on a trip to DC that it was a SXSW CD hastily created without any editorial purview, they sighed.

So, you may notice the newly-created SXSW category on MS.com. This will be where I place my musings, reviews, and so on. Alternatively, you can also check out how I’m getting my folksonomies on via my del.icio.us page.

I am going Solo, Hans, so, if you don’t already have your chaperoned bus set up and wish to uncomfortably try to prove the social networkability of blogs, shout either via comments or at keithobrien@merryswankster.com.

Tags: SXSW, SWSXi, Austin, Clor, Sound Team

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 05:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)