South by Southwest in six words or less

At 01:10pm Mar 20, 2008

We’re still recovering from last week’s SXSW festivities. Too much beer, too much sun, too much beer in the sun. The one thing we didn’t get too much of was all the music happening in Austin. But with thousands of bands performing over four days at hundreds of clubs, there were only so many places we could be at one time.

Thankfully, some guy from The Morning News listened to more than 750 bands that played the music fest and wrote six-word reviews on all of them. We’re still regretting we didn’t make it to Vampire Weekend’s Friday-night showcase – we were at the Merge Records showcase or, more accurately, we were stalking Zooey Deschanel – but thanks to The Morning News recap, we’re so glad we skipped the Paul White Quintet’s concert: “My old jazz teacher’d love this.” -- Michael Gallucci

Tags: SXSW, Music

Meet Paul Ford, the 763 mp3 Guy: He Covered the Waterfront like No Other, from Over 1,000 Miles Away

At 06:06am Mar 20, 2008

It’s probably safe to say that nobody’s South By Southwest experience this year was as comprehensive as that of Paul Ford, an editor at Harper’s and a blogger at the Themorningnews.org.

And here’s the thing – Ford never left New York City. Instead, he downloaded the SXSW 2008 Torrent File, which included single mp3s from 763 of the bands that went to Austin. (Just under half the total acts that appeared there.) And then he listened to every single one of them and wrote a six-word review of and assigned a rating to each one.

Here are a few Houston examples:

The JonBenet’s “Black Lion”: “One admires such remarkably vigorous stupidity.” (Two stars.)

Fatal Flying Guilloteens “Reveal the Rats”: “Should people from Houston sound British?” (One star.)

Chingo Bling’s “Do It”: “Chingo’s shit here is utterly ridiculous.” (Four stars.)

My mind boggled at this towering achievement, as did many others. I had to talk to this guy. – John Nova Lomax

Houstoned Rocks: So your piece is the talk of my little [rock critic] world.

Paul Ford: (Laughs) I, uh, you know, I guess that’s good.

HR: So you didn’t even go to South By?

Read more "Meet Paul Ford,..." >>

Tags: Music

Okkervil River, Roky Erickson, Minipop, Soundtrack of Our Lives at SXSW

At 12:45am Mar 19, 2008

(I lied; here's the last SXSW post, by Roy Kasten. Find more of his musings at Living In Stereo.)

Let’s do the math: Start with four days, or 96 hours. Subtract 6 hours a day for sleeping, maybe 2 hours a day for eating, another 1 hour a day for blogging and hangover nursing, another hour (roughly) a day standing in line not seeing bands or standing in line to get Red Bulls and Vodka, maybe an hour a day going from one venue to the next. That leaves you with, what, 52 hours for bands at SXSW?

I feel gypped. I also feel like I’ve been hit by some band’s van, repeatedly.

But three nights ago I was getting hit by Okkervil River. I rolled with it along with the rest of a good-sized crowd at Stubb's -- better, at least, than the disappointing turnout for the Old 97s the day before -- and realized that Okkervil is that rare thing: a hand-clapping, indie uber-darling that doesn’t annoy the crap out of me. I'm guessing that owes to Will Sheff's unscripted exuberance, his IQ, his heart and his band's understanding of trad-rock forms even as they shred them as surely as Sheff ripped the strings from his Martin guitar on the final number. This wasn’t the same band I saw at the Way Out Club three years ago. This was rock.

Okkervil River:


And three nights ago I was smiling as Roky Erickson followed Okkervil; I didn't even care that the Great Gabardined Satan, Beatle Bob, introduced him. If you don’t know Erickson’s story, stop reading this blog and go order I Have Always Been Here Before and You’re Gonna Miss Me, the former containing some of the crown jewels of psychedelic and garage rock and the latter being one of the best rock & roll documentaries ever made. That Erickson was standing on stage at all is a miracle, given years of institutionalization and very bad drug trips; that he can still sing with a force that sends all demons, devils and two-headed dogs back down into the pit is a miracle x 666.

Roky Erickson:


With a Papa Noel beard, a hugely unironic mullet and a sparkle in his eyes, he was alert, focused and ass kicking -- as was his band, the Explosives, who recorded with Roky back in the day. He played most of his hits, leaving out only “I Walked With a Zombie,” but including a crunchy “Starry Eyes” (the definitive power pop song not written by a power popper), a fast “Don’t Shake Me Lucifer” (the definitive metal boogie) and a furious and melodic “You’re Gonna Miss Me” (the definitive Nuggets track). Erickson is planning a new album with ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. If the producer stays out of the way, Roky will deliver.

Soundtrack of Our Lives:


Afterward, a stroll up to Club Deville made clear that '70s funk icon Darondo was sold-out, so I went for more psyche in the form of Soundtrack of Our Lives, who were rumored to be performing new songs from the forthcoming Origins Vol. 2 (album is essentially finished; release date not set) and who came through. The new songs are thicker on the groovy and lighter on the trippy, if a jammed-out, amps-at-eleven set at a comedy club on Sixth Street is any indication. Singer Ebbot Lundberg stalked about the stage in Dungeon master robe, jumping down into the crowd a few times, letting some dude shout, “Free Tibet! Free Tibet!” into the microphone. (I hadn't read the news, but apparently dude had and was right.) I would have gladly spent the rest of night with Lundberg, but wanted to catch one last band elsewhere. I don’t know if a video will surface of the Swedes' set, but if it does, the idiot nearly tripping over Lundberg's mic cable -- he had taken a seat in the dark of the club -- would be me.

Minipop:

That one last band elsewhere was San Francisco’s Minipop, by name and style – indie-groove pop -- a low-key end to the night. While I’m not sure they’re doing anything Mazzy Star or Bettie Serveert haven’t done much better, waifish singer Tricia Kanne and unruly guitarist Matthew Swanson have a weird chemistry that nearly makes up for a tepid drummer. If they keep sharpening their songs and focusing their rock bursts, they’ll deserve another South By slot -- and I’ll save half an hour, but no more, for them next year.

Tags: music, roky erickson, minipop, the soundtrack of our lives, okkervil river, old 97s, live reviews

SXSW Local News: The Aftermath, featuring Ludo, So Many Dynamos, Magnolia Summer, Earthworms, Gentleman Auction House

At 05:00pm Mar 18, 2008

Guess what? This is the last SXSW post. I promise. Here's a quick run-down of future happenings/SXSW positives for some of the locals hanging in Austin.

*Pitchfork wrote up So Many Dynamos' show at the Twangfest/KDHX party (with pictures!) Here's also a video stream of the Jovita's set.

*The Undertow showcase was markedly better-attended than last year's edition. (I'm saving observations for a story, so stay tuned for more in the future!) Magnolia Summer enlisted the help of a violin player for the set, and it added beautiful, haunting dimensions to songs such as "These Days." The band will play a rare gig in town on Saturday, March 22, at Off Broadway with the Cush.

*Mathias of Earthworms met both Fab 5 Freddy and Perry Farrell. He was ecstatic (even via text message). The 'Worms will be playing the Bluebird on April 12 with their full band; Nato Caliph (who was also at SXSW) will also be there.

*I ran into three-fifths of Ludo, thanks to Dave Grelle of the Feed (who also played). Although I missed Ludo's showcase because of other conflicts, Tim Convy tells me the band's video for "Love Me Dead" is going to be played on TRL on MTV tomorrow. The show airs at 3:30 p.m. here in St. Louis; via MySpace, the band says you can tell MTV to play it again by clicking here.

*Gentleman Auction House found a booking agent -- which should equal more tours.

-- Annie Zaleski

Tags: so many dynamos, gentleman auction house, music, ludo, the feed, earthworms, bluebird, off broadway, st. louis, magnolia summer, undertow

Jon Hardy & the Public, Tim Easton, Sarah Borges, Tommy Womack and more at SXSW

At 04:22pm Mar 18, 2008

RFT freelancer Roy Kasten helped us blog from SXSW. For more coverage visit Living In Stereo. All photos by Roy Kasten.

In their eighth year, the Twangfest day parties (now co-presented by KDHX) have built their own momentum and following. (Full disclosure: I’m a Twangfest volunteer and KDHX programmer.) They’re always a South By highlight, and this year drew label reps from Anti-, No Depression honcho Grant Alden and NPR critic Ed Ward. It really is true you can go to Austin every March, skip the wristband or badge expense, hit the free shows all day long, and still see and hear more bands than ought to be humanly possible.

Down at Jovita’s Mexican restaurant on Thursday the line-up included Amy Lavere, Th * Legendary Shack Shakers, Deer Tick and St. Louis’ own So Many Dynamos and Gentleman Auction house; Saturday was the better-attended day, however, with the Waco Bros., Chuck Prophet, Kevin Gordon and Blue Mountain drawing ridiculous crowds inside.

Tim Easton:


I hung and “stage-managed” outside, where unknown-to-me alt-country band the Whipsaws (from Anchorage, Alaska) kicked off the afternoon with pure Bad Co. and Skynrd southern rock, then backed up Joshua Tree-based troubadour Tim Easton, who looked weathered in shades and graying hair. It’s hard to think of Easton becoming one of the wise old veterans of alt-country, but such is time, and Easton can still churn through Dylanesque blues as well as anyone of his generation.

Tommy Womack:


Tommy Womack followed, looking even more grizzled and more spaced-out than usual, and seemed just a little bit tired as he led his band through a 40-minute set in the sunshine. (As the weekend progressed, the climate in Austin just got sweeter and sweeter.)

Sacramento’s Christian Kiefer and band took their time setting up (apparently he couldn’t see his tuner in the sunlight), and though Kiefer’s Undertow debut Dogs and Donkeys gets by on poetic ambition, the meandering tunes don’t really translate live. Kiefer lost the crowd after about 10 minutes.

Jon Hardy and the Public:


But St. Louis’ Jon Hardy and Public, in their usual sharp suits, pulled the audience back just as quickly. This was the band’s first Austin gig, and they didn’t mess around. Even without the horn section so vital to last year’s Working In Love, Hardy delivered every song like it would be last time he’d sing them in the sun.

Sarah Borges:


After a quick back-line changeover, Boston’s Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles quadrupled the crowd on the patio, churning through their slightly twangy pub-rock until a speaker cable blew in mid-set. After a failed attempt at an instrumental, Borges stepped into the crowd and sang-out sans microphone. The frazzled sound guy finally fixed the PA and she wound up her set with a smart Tommy Womack cover and a version of the Reigning Sound’s “Stop and Think It Over.” If the crowd had its way, she would have played til sunset.

From Nashville, Aaron Robinson (another Undertow artist; if you’re sensing a pattern here, thank Chris Grabau) followed as a last-minute add. Although only a handful of folks stuck around for his folk-pop set, he played with both wit and grace, even if it was rather late to get much, if anything, out of the tip bucket.

Tags: sxsw, music, jon hardy and the public, sarah borges, tim easton, tommy womack, christian kiefer, jovita's, twangfest, kdhx, aaron robinson

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