Best of SXSW '06
I still need to post summaries for the rest of Friday and all of Saturday. That's coming. For now, I just want to list all the bands I saw in order from worst to best.
34. Black Heart Procession -- I left this show to watch another band set up. That's how bad it was
33. Brightblack Morning Light -- They sounded OK when I first walked into Stubb's, but they could only keep my interest for about a minute.
31. Dashboard Confessional -- Chris's voice was shot and wasn't singing more than about 5 notes per song. I don't even know why he had a mic in front of him, he should have just handed it to the audience.
31. Best Fwends -- Their set was only 10 minutes long . . . thank God for that.
30. Head of Femur -- They just weren't very interesting.
29. Bluebottle Kiss -- I may not have given them enough of a chance, and they played a terrible venue. I might give them a second chance if they come back into town.
28. Fiery Furnaces -- They started off great but couldn't keep me interested. All their stuff just sounded the same, and none of it was all that good.
27. Tartufi -- I think a better name for this three piece from San Francisco would be "Pat: the Band". It took me about 10 minutes to realize that one of the singers was actually a girl, and not a young boy. The other singer, I think is a girl, but I'm still not sure.
26. Soft -- They weren't as good as I expected them to be, so they lost some points there. Still pretty decent though. I think we are entering the 'they were worth seeing' section of the list now.
25. Rahim -- not awesome, but not bad
24. Dirty On Purpose -- I don't really remember them that well, but I remember thinking they were pretty good.
23. The Velvet Teen -- way too early, bad venue (Crown and Anchor), didn't play their hit song, but still pretty good
22. Snow Patrol -- I love this band, but their music is just terrible live. The band sounds fine, it just doesn't translate well to a concert environment.
21. The New Pornographers -- Disappointing. I still like their music, but they didn't convince me to buy any CDs.
21. Rogue Wave -- I only caught the end of their in store performance at Waterloo, but their music is perfect for the acoustic set they did.
19. The Forecast -- I don't think they made me a big fan, but their show was a lot of fun. The female singer/bassist rocks, but I've already discussed how awesome she was.
18. Mohair -- They were a lot of fun and did a cover with Nickel Creek that I will never forget.
17. Great Lake Swimmers -- This is the type of show that you have to be in the right mood for. I wasn't in the right mood, but I still enjoyed the show. That says a lot.
16. Elliot Brood -- I ended SXSW with this performance and it was perfect fit.
15. Of Montreal -- They are way overhyped. I think that knocked them down a little on this list. Still, decent performance and I may check them out again next time they swing through town.
14. HelloGoodbye -- Probably the most energetic band I saw.
13. Pompeii -- I'm still not getting sick of them and they seem to sound better every time I see them.
12. (+/-) -- Just as good as I remember them.
11. Earlimart -- They played mostly new music, and it sounded great.
10. Straylight Run -- Before, my only real complaint about this band was that the singer's voice wasn't very good. I was shocked to find out that this is no longer a problem. I don't know what they're up to right now, but I hope a second full length release is in the near future.
9. Nickel Creek -- Not my bag, really, but still awesome.
8. Rainer Maria -- In the right venue, like where they were last year, they might have broken the top 5. I'm really upset I missed their acoustic set.
7. New Amsterdams -- Most of this show was interrupted by some jerk from Detroit that was trying really hard to get my goat. I was thrilled when he walked away and I got to give this band the respect they deserve.
6. Maritime -- I heard the first few samples from this band when they were formed. I didn't like it much. The stuff I heard at SXSW was awesome though.
5. The Dresdon Dolls -- If you've seen this band and didn't enjoy it, I don't think I want to be your friend.
4. Moneen -- I think I may have pissed off the lead singer before the performance when I mentioned the neck cramp episode he had at Emo's a few years ago. It doesn't really matter though. They were awesome and I will be buying their new CD when it comes out in April, no questions asked.
3. Editors -- Their first US release comes out tomorrow. Everyone reading this
needs to buy it.
2. Silversun Pickups -- This was the biggest surprise of my SXSW. I never heard of this band before the SXSW MP3s were released. I'm now a
huge fan.
1. Saves The Day -- Silversun may deserve the number one spot because they were such a big surprise, but I simply had more fun at this show than anything else I saw. The new stuff they played was great. Their new CD comes out the same day as Moneen's. For this reason, April 11th should be a national holiday.
xenophile
i actually spent day 2 of sxsw resting up. turns out, i should've dragged my tired ass out. i ended up missing an incredible show with the dresden dolls, so McP keeps telling me. looking back, i also missed morrissey, headphones, xiu xiu, the crystal skulls, chinup chinup, the gossip, goldfrapp, the lovemakers, new ams and pong. :) dammit.
so, st. paddy's day, drinking starts at 2 for me, 12:30 for McP, who's whole team took the day off to watch basketball. dave'n'busters, then ringers. i parked in the scariest parking lot and drove up the exit ramp trying to figure out what was going on. :) we thought we were gonna die. next time, i'd gladly pay the $10 to park in a garage with lights and stairs. i had my first green beer ever, budlight with food coloring...yeh. i didn't have another.
then brian met us at the driskill for an acoustic showcase. the line up: little things (a little like the doors, a little good) raina maria (McP was blown away, it seemed) mohair (brit-rock, very beatles sounding to me, better than average) nicklecreek (haunting singer-songwriter sound with nonconventional instruments that only brian knows about. really good, but i didn't like when all three singers would sing together. they're great live though, moves you across the spectrum.) this showcase ended with mohair and nicklecreek doing a radiohead cover. i don't know the name of the song they did, but it was un-fucking-believable. the funky bass-cellist for nicklecreek even did a hambone solo. :) the crowd went wild. even brian was impressed, and THAT'S impressive!
i've been told to eat at the driskill cafe before, because of my fetish with beautiful buildings. it indeed was a very beautiful building. the bartender in the cafe turned out to be from houston and was a big deep-sea fisherman. he kept me company while i ate my turkey blt and gave me a hot tip on where to go for big bass. being an asian girl is the best.
brian, McP and i went to the sidebar for some drinks and then spilt ways. brian went to silver sun something. i wanted to see okgo (yes, again.) and nightmare of you. McP wanted to see an irish showcase at the SoHo lounge. i was hoping to see some cute irish boys, so i went with him. we heard Butterfly Explosion from a downstairs couch (that was AWESOME) and started checking out the ladies. :) i saw one of the hottest asses i'd seen....maybe ever. McP pointed out that the singer kinda sounded like brian. after that, neither of us could hear anything
but brian singing. :) he was alright.
:) i'm an ass-man myself. McP claims he's a "total package" kinda guy.
who isn't? objective: find the perfect ass. this went on for the rest of the night, except when we were joined with two ladies interested in okgo. we all waited at the wrong place til we got to the front of the line, went to the right place, waited in a herd there (herd=non-structured "lines" that don't moove), got to the front of
that line and then they reached capacity. so we stopped at the troubador nextdoor for a beer and got to catch some garage sounding band, fronted by a guy who thought he was kurt cobain.
the girls left. we checkedout more honies and headed to exodus for nightmare of you. :) the doorman let me sneak in. score! we celebrated with shots, got to watch some basketball and seinfeld while Duels played. i really liked them a lot. music, voice, beat, all great. then nightmare of you came on. they're fucking crazy live. the guitarist, who i once thought looked like jason case, was so hot! :) he now looks a little like a cross between donnie darko and pee-wee herman. :) m'hmm....anyway, they're very energetic live, the singer did his pterodactyl screeches and the rest of the band was jumping around, sweating, cutting themselves and kept it rockin' the whole time. :) i found a lollapalooza coozie for my beer.
we bumped into brian and gus on the way somewhere. brian got jumped and took off for hellogoodbye. then we stood in line for the best wurst before heading home. i had been drinking a little and couldn't take smelling the awesomeness any more. it was pretty good. i dropped my last bite, but didn't cry about it. best wurst is now my food of choice on 6th street.
it was strange to see families with little children walking around downtown. i don't know if they were going to shows or if they were just out to see the parade of freaks. there were tons of older people wandering about, a few blind people, people with crutches (they must've gotten really good parking), religious fanatics, party people, street bums and ofcourse, the imported indie scensters. the streets were packed. every trash canister, corner and gutter was brimming with stickers, postcards and debris of the like. i generally hate large crowds of people and i can't stand waiting in line for longer than it takes to drink a can of sodapop!, but there was something really fun on the streets that night. and i felt very inlove with austin, tx.
SXSW 2006 - Day 3
Today's surprise highlights:
The Saturday Knights. Find me another rap group that sings over "Where is my Mind" by the Pixies and I'll probably like them too. They aren't even playing the festival, they were just here for the day show.
Quintron and Miss Pussycat - they're badasses. Yelling "you're awesome" at Wayne Coyne as I saw him walking down sixth street. I'm an obnoxious drunk.
I actually saw a surprisingly large number of shows today. Some were completely forgettable. Others were not. The girl from
The Forecast rocks harder than any other girl I've ever seen live. If you wish Rainer Maria were more punk, they're for you.
Silversun Pickups show was dampered by the terrible sound, but they are still really good. And the lead singer is hilarious. They were good enough that I actually went to Spiro's to see them. No foam machine running though, so I guess I didn't
really experience Spiro's. I'll save that for another time when I've had too much to drink.
SXSW 2006 - Day 2?
Oh yeah, Day 2. It's too much work to look up all the names of the bands that I saw, so I'll stick with the stuff I remember off the top of my head:
Victory Grill is within walking distance of downtown. It's not worth waiting 15 minutes for a $4 cab ride. The
Vice Kills Texas day party was awesome. Particularly the part where they had free beer and free whiskey. The music was pretty good too.
Tarantula AD shreds the cello. I'm not jello, but I thought they were good.
Rahim were good, as expected.
From there back to Emo's Annex to see Helmet. They are still one of the tightest bands I've ever seen. Got there just in time to catch the last few songs, including Milktoast. They're still really loud.
Cabbed it up to ACL Studios to see the
Silversun Pickups perform for live
KEXP. Un-fucking-believable. They're good. For real.
Cabbed it back downtown to catch
Rahim again. They're still good. As expected. I got their new cd, which is going on sale April 4th. I even had to manually put in the track names it's so fucking new. I'm an insider.
Film School - saw them last year. They're still good. Even better this year I think. At Club Deville I made my favorite mistaken statement of the night, "I'd like a glassful of
head, please." Definition 16 people, get your minds out of the gutter.
Passed on catching any 10pm shows because I had to make sure I saw
The Gathering. Rock the goth music. They're awesome, even if they are foreign.
The Sound Team and
The Cloud Room - the best way to end my Thursday night.
Just one more day to go
This was a day of pleasant suprises.
I woke up at 10:30 and realized that I'm still way too tired. At 11:30, I finally got out of bed and took a shower. I got down to Crown and Anchor as fast as I could to catch The Velvet Teen and Pompeii. While neither performance blew me away . . .
Pleasant Surprise #1 -- I saw The Velvet Teen in the parking lot of a college pub. How frickin' cool is that? I love SXSW!
I should have gone downtown after that show, but I was too tired. So I went home to rest for a few hours. If you wondering, I already regret that decision.
I finally headed downtown around 4:30. I didn't know where I was going, but Xuan hinted at a Rainer Maria show at The Driskill. By the time I was parked, Rainer Maria had finished their acoustic set( boo / hoo ) . I had nowhere else to go, so I hung out. Mohair played . . . I thought about making this #2, but they really weren't that good. That brings me to . . .
Pleasant Surprise #2 -- nickel Creek at the Driskill.
and . . .
Pleasant Surprise #3 -- The impromptu cover that Nickel Creek did with Mohair was one of the best single performances I have seen this weekend.
Still tired, I went to the Sidebar with Dan and Xuan. We all bitched to each other about how worn out we were before I left to go to see Dirty on Purpose (who are not deserving of #4). After dealing with the confusion of where the Silversun Pickups were really playing, I finally saw them. And they were awesome.
Pleasant Surprise #4 -- While Silversun Pickups were awesome musicly, but the real suprise was how funny the lead singer was.
From there, we went off to Redrum to see The Forecast . . .
Plasant Surprise #5 -- The Forecast female singer rocks harder than anyone I have ever met.
more to come . . .
Night #2
I have learned many things tonight. For instance, I had no idea that I was a closet homosexual in love with Amanda. In fact, I still don't know that, but some dude told Amanda that, so it must be true. I'll just have to come to terms with that. Also, I learned that violins in rock are now cliche. While waiting for Of Montreal to play at Emo's today and listening to an opening band, I wrote the following:
I just heard someone say 'this band sucks'. You know what? I can't think of a single argument against that. I thought that they might have potential since there was a violin, but I was wrong. I'm here alone, with no one to talk to. So, what else am I supposed to look at? Should I just whip my wang out and stare at that? I'd probably get thrown out for that. Well, unless I had a Prince Albert. In that case, I would be revered as a saint in this place. OH! Son of a bitch! I just remembered that there is a second stage here . . . and it's air conditioned! They are setting up for another band in here, but it is still more interesting than the crap on the outside stage . . . What?!? Is it fucking violin day here? Violins in a rock band are now officially too cliche. That sucks hard since I used to think it was a good idea. . . The girl on stage has serious hot potential. If she cut her bangs and ditched the punk, blondie look, she would . . . well, she'd still have too much eye makeup on. But still, she could be a lot more hot. OK, enough of this, Of Montreal is about to come on.
In my world, which includes just me, we call that 'blogging
gold'. And now, on to the evening . . .
Tonight rocked, and I have the bloody sock to prove it. You see, last night I had trouble walking down a hallway and stubbed my toe so bad that I split it wide open. It still hasn't completely stopped bleeding, but I'm still
trying to walk. It's SXSW, dammit, and I ain't missing this shit!
I will summarize the rest as such:
new Earlimart=great
fiery furnaces=repetitive
dresdon dolls=oh my god I'm glad I saw them
friends staff=how dare they tell me that I won't get in since I came back later for
new ams=awesome
not bad
at the last minute, McP and i headed downtown for The Ark at red7. my logic: when was i gonna get to see them again for practically free? (they just toured with The Darkness.) so, 5:30, show at 6, i'm headed to pick up McP and isaac calls. he's in austin for sxsw and playing tonight at 7. :) awesome.
so, we made it downtown in record time, but i missed the beginning of The Ark (and what i can only guess were the songs i wanted to hear, but didn't) because the three blocks of red river took as long as all of mopac. "the roads aren't closed off yet people!" anyway, we scored rockstar parking and the doorman at red7 let me sneak in with the wristbanded McP. free show! :) and it was awesome. i had no idea the guy was gay, but man, was he! he spoke with the kind of swedish accent you'd hear on SNL and he would put on some black studded thing or other to take off during the next song. it was a feelgood show. everyone was dancing or laughing. :) who doesn't love a happy fag? The Ark live: highly reccomended.
then, off to snake eyes vinyl to see isaac play. mr.derrington calls to let me know he'd be meeting us there and having dinner with us afterwards. McP and i are hoofing it east, asking for directions and trying to beat the rain. it was also poor planning on my part that i was in work clothes and therefore, wearing work shoes while trotting about downtown.
isaac's band is call Oversea and Understoned. live? not so recommended. their new ensemble consists of a male lead singer (his other bands could never settle on a singer), female backup/keys/xylophone, drummer JD, cellist, and saxoboomist. their problem, everyone wants to do a solo all the time all at once. plus, it was an awful place to hear a band live. and, they didn't have beer. luckily, i met a tallboy who had a tallboy and wasn't afraid of cooties. :) McP was waiting for a bag of money to hit me before the night was through.
mr.derrington came. after a few laughs about isaac, we had dinner at Las Palmas. not highly recommended. they didn't have ceviche and i was disappointed by the sauce on my enchiladas. that didn't keep me from gorging though. after good food and conversation, McP and i went to the sidebar for a few drinks while we decided what to do. neither of us had done any research on what's playing and whatnot. i was beat from a rough week and getting sleepy from the grub. the owner remembered me. he had given me a long schpeal about love a few days before. he told McP he was "bellah!" but need a shave. brian called. he was around the corner at stubb's. if he couldn't get in, he'd meet us at the sidebar. after trying really hard to finish my guinness all bellyful, we decided to call it a night.
belle and sebastian and mogwai were playing at stubb's. the line wrapped around the building. the end of it was a few feet from my car. so, yeh, we didn't go to that show.
:) we ended up with a case of natty BOTTLES (yup, they make 'em fancy) and staying up quite late. this was the beginning of my drinking/smoking rampage in honor of sxsw.
SXSW 2006 - Day 1
Mobile blogger totally screwed up my live blogging updates, so we'll see if I can piece them together now.
3:00 pm - It's go time!
I got a ridiculously late start because I'm a jackass and stayed up way too late the night
before SXSW drinking. When will I ever learn?
5:45 pm -
Red Eyed Fly - Watching Calla. It isn't even dark yet and I've already seen puke in a urinal. It's going to be a good night.
7:20 pm - Calla is over. Time for food. And a quick stop at Mugshots for a shot. First slice of Hoake's pizza.
8:22 pm - Oklahoma bands represent!
Stardeath and White Dwarfs were surprisingly good, despite the long name. I need to listen to them some more.
9:14 pm -
Pela were alright. My buzz is starting to go away and the Fox and Hound is starting to get packed.
10:30 pm - My buzz is really gone now and
the Czars aren't my favorite. To make it even worse their sound is totally fucked.
11:02 pm - The Flaming Lips finally come on.
Wayne Coyne motherfucker
Amazing is all I can say. This is what I love about South by Southwest, seeing bands up close and personal. Having the opportunity to see the Flaming Lips in a venue where I am literally touching the stage is icing on the cake. I'm covered in confetti. They brought the rock. I don't have the words to describe it now.
12:15 am - Hungry again, hit the Best Wurst for...well, the best wurst.
12:30 am - Catch the end of the
Talkdemonic set. They sounded interesting before and catching the end of their set was worthwhile. It's a drummer and a violin player (no vocals), so it's not for everyone, but I can imagine myself doing a lot of work (or poker playing) with this stuff on.
1:20 am -
The Velvet Teen had the last set of the night. We were tired, they were loud. Not a good combination. Time to head home to get some sleep (yeah, right).
Now I'm going to sleep for real. There's nothing on tv anyway.
Night #1
Last year, my SXSW cherry was popped by Nazlopi, who turned out to be an unbelievable surprise. Today, I watched Editors play a set at the ACL studios as my first SXSW experience of '06. Last year was one of the best experiences of my life, this year has the chance to top it.
Editors have an album coming out in the US on 3.21 and I suggest everyone picks it up. If you don't, you're pee-pee might fall off. I swear. I read it on the Internet.
And now, the top 5 things I heard at SXSW tonight:
5. "Who are you here with?"
Heard from the least attractive girl I saw all night. I responded "nobody", smiled, then walked off . . . out the front door and to another bar.
4. "Is that Wayne?"
So, this is actually something that Gus heard all night, not me. Apparently, the "special guest" that may have been a front man of a lip that is flaming couldn't stay away from the crowd.
3. "Look at me, I'm Neko Case."
Oh Neko. Why must you flash your blue blouse at everyone around me while you are standing just three feet away? Who do you think you are fooling?
2. "Can we play one more? He said we can play one more! That guy, right here said we could keep playing!"
Rainer Maria was trying to beat the rain. These words came from the guitarist's mouth. Please note, this is more of a paraphrase than verbatim; unlike the Neko Case quote, which is totally what she (might have) said!
1. "Can I have a little more . . . " (while pointing towards self and then up in the air)
Some things never die (like vocals that happen to be missing from the monitor).
Where you might see me tomorrow
I'd like to see the Editor's play at the ACL studio. (If it's full, I'll catch The Ark.) After that, it'll be off to see Pompeii. From there I'll try to get into the Austinist party to see Rainer Maria at 8. If all goes well, I'll then be going to grab a bite to eat before heading to Stubb's to catch the New Pornographers. I have no plan B here, so I hope Stubb's is as easy to get into as it normally is during SXSW. Don't worry Belle and Sebastian fans, I'll be leaving Stubb's to go catch Bluebottle Kiss at The Drink or 1986 at Red 7. If I'm lucky, I'll get into Friends to see +/-, but I'm not counting on it. There's also the
tiny, tiny chance that Of Montreal will still have room. Instead, I'll likely be at Emo's Annex to check out WHY? or Redrum to catch Pompeii (again) and Cruiserweight. I'll finish my night with either Maritime at Lava Lounge or The Velvet Teen at Latitude 30.
I don't know where half of these venues are. I need to do some research.
Diamonds in the Rough
I've listened to about a third of the SXSW MP3's so far. It's been a pretty rough listen with all the country, bluegrass, heavy metal, terrible punk, and unoriginal rap, but I did find a few good ones in there.
- Ever We Fall -- reminds me of Early November
- Great Lake Swimmers -- Banjo minus bluegrass plus indie style equals awesome.
- HelloGoodbye -- Fun, poppy, guilty pleasure
- June -- I'm a sucker for whiny emo, what can I say.
- Silversun Pickups -- Please, please, please go listen to "Kissing Families". Why is this song not in heavy rotation on college indie radio?
Rainer Maria day show news
According to the CMJ update I just received, Rainer Maria will be playing at the
CMJ Texas Tea Party at
Room 710 at 2pm. I won't be able to make it, but everyone else should go.
Great SXSW/Maps mashup
Here's a great tool. In addition to showing the listings of every club for ever day, they have a link to the official song's mp3. Great tool for determining if you want to check out a band or not in a dead time slot.
Austinist Day Show Announced
. . . and it barely deserves mentioning. Rainer Maria is no longer in the line-up and it's at Red 7, not Sidebar. At least The Ark is still playing. I think my time will be better spent with the Editors and my favorite local band, Pompeii.
Edit - After a little research, I found that Rainer Maria is playing at 8pm in a "special guest" slot. This may actually work out quite well, assuming I can walk right in at 8.
SXSW 2006 Recommendations
Use the recommendations at your own risk. I've never seen any of these people play live and I'm just going on samples I've heard online and reviews.
Rahim (
SXSW link) (
myspace link): I first heard of these guys when I was listening to my
Minus the Bear radio station on
pandora (
which everyone should be listening to). Their bio actually does them some justice. I can definitely hear the DC/
Dischord influences. So if you have a crazy infatuation with Fugazi and Jawbox like I do, then you're probably going to like Rahim. Check out the songs on the myspace page.
I will likely be attending their Thursday afternoon show at Victory Grill,
Vice Kills Texas. I just RSVP'ed on the Vice Kills website, though I have no idea what that's supposed to do for me. Check out the rest of the line up on Thursday and let me know if you plan on going.
The obvious choices - bands I've seen before
Starting with bands I've seen before, here's my recommendations:
Rainer Maria (
SXSW link) - I've now seen them twice - first at SXSW 2005 and then later when they opened for Copeland. Their performance is awesome. They have a ton of material out there, but I swear it's better live than on their albums. Their show is at
Karma this year which sucks because it's so far away from 6th and far from every other club, but I guess I'm going to have to make the journey. Maybe they'll play a day show.
Best Fwends (
SXSW Link) - These guys cracked my shit up last year. Listening to their newer songs in myspace only makes me want to see them more.
Minus the Bear (
SXSW Link) - Minus the Bear is one of my favorite bands. I've seen them twice now and I'm still in awe at the lead guitarists tapping skills. I wouldn't doubt it if he knew every "...And Justice for All" solo by heart. They're playing an awesome day show on Saturday (as Brian
mentioned previously), unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) I'm going to be playing the
Austin WPBT II so I won't be able to catch them.
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead (
SXSW Link) - I'm not sure how many times I've seen these guys, but I know I was ripped every time I saw them. If you've never seen Trail of Dead before, I'd recommend seeing them once. I'm going to have to pass on this one though because I've seen them a number of times and I'm sure it's going to be insanely crowded.
There are a lot of other bands I've seen before that will be playing and that I would recommend, but I'm feeling a bit lazy at the moment and I really need to get to sleep.
