You can’t really go anywhere in Austin during the fest without taking in a show. Friday we got up and had brunch at the semi-famous local eatery, Threadgills. With my King Chicken casserole, okra, and grits, the restaurant also served up a tasty blues performance that was being recorded for live broadcast somewhere on the Web (22).The blissful afternoon began at French Legation, sort of a consulate for the French during the short days of the Republic of Texas. What remains is a gorgeous grassy expanse far removed from the bustle of the festival that is a delight for both shows and relaxing.
HERE WE GO MAGIC (23) – The first revelatory band of the weekend. We came in on a long jangly instrumental with a great Feelies vibe (and you know I like me some Feelies). What followed were more airy and bright sonic landscapes that motivated me to download their music as soon as I got home. The recordings are a bit different from the live show, but I like both.
Asa (24) - Airy acoustic pop from a lovely French singer with a tight backing band.
BLK JKS (25) – This South African group was very high on my list of bands to see and were a bit disappointing---after all, some of the hyperbole in the reviews for their music have them creating their own genre. I did not hear that at all, in fact their mix of jazz, soka, metal, reggae and more was so full of unmet aspirations and convoluted sound that I was reminded of Living Colour (and not just because they are black). Both bands were stacked with talented players trying to do something heavy and transcendent. It is early for the young guys; they could grow to be great.
Micah P. Hinson (26) – Chill singer songwriter. Nice atmosphere.
From there we shifted to Aunt Bea’s, a tired little shack on the other side of the highway with a tiny lean-to stage but an intriguing bill, brimming with uber-hyped east coast indie artists. The most hyped of the crew were New Yorkers (Brooklyn, top of the food chain!) and they, by and large, sucked---interestingly showing the danger of a "scene" these days. Big difference between NYC and elsewhere. The crowd looked as awkward and music nerdy as it could get---which was also reflected in the performers:
These Are Powers (27) – This is the sound of suck. This is the opposite of the sound of power…like Kryptonite. New York has some splainin’ to do exporting this crap outside Metropolis.
Deertick (28) – They sucked playing electric last year. They sucked acoustic this year.
Vivian Girls (29) – Goodness…what is going on in NYC? This is a perfect example of why the music industry is so unfair. Pitchfork faves and critical darlings who sound like the Juno soundtrack singer, Kimia Dawson, playing blah blah punk. Whatever.
TITUS ANDRONICUS (30) – They sound like The Pogues minus Irish folk veneer. Great fun. I hope Vivian Girls were watching and felt bad...maybe they should move to Jersey with these guys.
PONYTAIL (31) – They were my favorite new act last year. And despite a crushingly bad mix that made me want to strangle the sound guy for just completely botching things, it was still a great show. Check out the tiny lead singer bouncing in her Ray Lewis jersey (they are from Baltimore after all).We bounced around throughout the evening and caught:
The Drones (32) – Australian power pop. They started late and seemed furious with the sound guy (threw a glass at somebody). Pretty intense show, lots of energy, but in the end, I thought just OK
Warmer Milks (33) - It only took 30ish seconds to see that it was not my...or anyone's judging by the crowd...scene.
Keys N Crates (34) – Toronto hip hop rules! No. Actually, if this is all they have, they do not really have any hip hop at all… This was a band playing the musical accompaniment to samples from Talib Kwali and Tribe Called Quest… WTF?
Kurt Vile (35) - Really disappointing, because I like his new album a lot. But the show was boring…we left early.
Wolves in the Throne Room (36) – Our friend Scott, the intelligent metal king, texted to say he was jealous that we were witnessing the dawning of avant-garde black metal at this show. They had the smoke machines, the double bass drum crunch and the candelabras that said, “something interesting might happen here.” Unfortunately they also had the stereotypical screaming vocals and over amplified guitar onslaught. We made it through a song...barely.
The Willowz (37) – OK skater pop-rock, sounded like Red Cross.
From there we attempted to get into a few shows, eventually getting in for Asobi Seksu. However the delays were insanely long and age was catching up with the group…so we slunk out before the set started.
In the grand scheme this might have been wise. The battle for a cab back to the squished apartment was long and hard, taking us at least a mile away before we could track down a driver and crash.
6 comments:
well don't mention that they are black! ever wonder why Living Colour is listed in wiki as "A prominent all-African American band ..." whereas there is NO mention of race w/ Fishbone and Bad Brains(except in their "history" - [The band developed an early reputation in Washington D.C., due in part to the relative novelty of an entirely African-American band playing punk rock]
you don't hear "radiohead and U2, the caucasian band from..."
Hey anonymous---I hope you check back as I'd love to talk about this in depth with you. My point was to NOTE that the comparison was about the type of music and aspirations NOT racial identity. I felt that ignoring the obvious issue would therefore undercut that point.
You raise an interesting question though---why is that distinction made differently between Living Colour and BB/Fishbone (perhaps my all-time favorite band, btw)?
My guess is because Living Colour crossed over to mainstream heavy metal radio, whereas Bad Brains and Fishbone never did. For better or worse, mainstream -- particularly the heavy metal mainstream -- = white, therefore the contrast was noteworthy to an audience that had never seen such a thing.
Same reason that Vanilla Ice is known as the white rapper but Lyrics Born isn't the Japanese rapper.
You barely made it thru a WITTR song - you have to give it a chance my friend.....
Username: SEXY ON THE DANCE FLOOR - (Kyle)For the record, I did like the music of Wolves, but like Josh said, we struggled with the vocals. Regardless, Black Cobra was pretty awesome during the same showcase. Also, I checked out Eagle Claw the day after at Headhunters and my testicals were successfully swinging by the end of the show.
SEXY ON THE DANCE FLOOR:
Based on the photo, the chick singer from Ponytail looks retarted? I wasn't able to see this at the show as I bolted to the parking lot with hands on my ears just 9 seconds into the first song. With that, I strongly dissagree with Josh's assessment of their performance, I would have stuck around given mental disability seems like a logical excuse for shreeking in a made-up language. They're overrated (maybe only by Josh) and completely awful. I'll take Deer Tick over Ponytail any day. - Sexy
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