Wednesday, 18 March 2009

8:00PM Bogart & the Addictives (The Parish Downstairs)

John considered this band somewhat "generic sounding," but I really liked them and considered them a fantastic start to the festival. Their showmanship and their upbeat, aggressive sound was fantastic. I loved it and bought their CD on the way out. John has seen more live Rock over the past two decades, so I can appreciate how he thought the sound was generic, but I was impressed.

9:00PM We Are Standard (Karma Lounge)

We rushed over to catch the start of this band, and made it with 2 minutes to spare: amazing pit crew work locking and unlocking the bikes. Unfortunately, we actually ended up about 22 minutes early. After a 20 minute delay, the band finally started. We had already planned to go to a 9:30 show, and their late start threw a wrench in all our plans: not only in our "hurry up and wait" frustration, but also by throwing off the remaining schedule.

I don't understand bands that start their SXSW showcases late, especially for the early time slots. First, it is rude to the next band, which likely will have their show cut short because of your delays. Second, it is rude to your fans. Time is at a premium at SXSW, and the people at your show chose your band out of the dozens and dozens of other alternatives in your time slot. Don't thank them by saying little meaningless "Thank You's" at the end of a song; at a minimum, show your appreciation by not wasting their frickin' time.

Yes, it often is also the fault of the sound crew, and the decent Austin-based sound engineers are stretched rather thin at SXSW. However, this festival is about trying to get a big (or even a small) break. Bands should already know the importance of making the most of the short time they have in each showcase slot. To the extent that these bands practice their music in the weeks coming up to SXSW, they should also practice setting up and breaking down their equipment quickly. I also don't understand how they don't visit the venue beforehand to figure out the connections so as to smooth out the set-up, especially when they have laptops and synthesizers in the mix that complicate the set-up process. The more complex the set-up, the more prepared a band should be to speed it up and make the most of the short time they have. Finally, bands do not need to rely on a sound engineer. Many if not most of the controls can be adjusted onstage instead of relying on a complete stranger who does not know you sound or your setup. Take control, just plug your instruments in a ready-to go format, and start playing. "Ready, shoot, aim" is a much better principle than "Wait a minute... hold on... uh, sorry... just a sec... well, maybe 1,527 secs." This is your profession, treat it that way.

9:30PM Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer (Maggie Mae's)

After we dealt with the delays at We Are Standard, we high-tailed it back to Maggie Maes to catch Zolof. We got there five minutes late, but still fifteen minutes too soon. I also saw a girl in the crowd I had dated but who blew me off, and interestingly enough, she did not look as good and was with a guy who made me look... rather good. ;-)

Nonetheless, this blog is about SXSW, not my dating life. We had looked forward to this band if only because of the theme line from the chorus of one of their best songs: "Let's hold hands and listen to shitty bands." Unfortunately, they turned out to be one of those bands.... O.K., they were not shitty, but the joke was right there for the taking.... O.K., o.k., maybe that was too easy and just plain lazy.

Truthfully, they were nifty, and the lead singer was pretty and somewhat charming--not that "charming" is what you particularly want from a Rock and Roll singer, but she was charming, nonetheless. I would have enjoyed them in a non-SXSW environment. But I have about five bands in each times slot that I wanted to see, and I progressively felt more impatient to see the other bands on my list. That is the thin-sliced test: does a band grab me? If not, there is no reason to stick around during a SXSW showcase. The guys wanted to stay, so I left and flew solo to make the 10:00 shows. (They later told me that the pop song was just as ordinary as I feared, after all.)

10:00PM The Electric Diorama (Cedar Door)

This band promised to be one of the better offerings of the night. Cool, Electronic Rave-sorta music with a Euro (Italian) flair. However, Euro bands, please take note. If you have no ass, do NOT let your pants slip below the bottom of your non-existent ass. It might be sexy in Europe or in South Central L.A., but it looks absolutely ridiculous onstage. Iggy Pop can get away with it because he already earned his stripes and that ridiculousness is part of his schtick. You can't.

Also, even if you use electronic drumbox enhancement to your music, don't open your SXSW set with a drumbox beat while the entire band dances madly around stage, as your pants slip even further below the bottom of your ass.

Finally, the giant outdoor-tent venue was virtually empty, killing any sort of vibe that might have accidentally occurred without my noticing it.

I couldn't get over it, and the music was not that amazing. So I moved on.

10:00PM Winter Glove (Habana Calle Six Patio)

One of JT's recommendations. Decent, but it did not capture me and left me feeling even more progressively unsettled. I felt like my crack withdrawal was setting in, and I hadn't even dabbled.

10:00PM Dekadens (Prague)

My frustrations with shows starting late mounted because this show had actually started on time and, due to the other delays, I got to this show in time for just one song. They did not blow me away with that one song, but they were solid and reversed the downward trend back upwards. One odd thing was that the drummer had a drum box remote as part of his kit, and the one song I heard started with a drumbox riff: so it was odd watching the drummer sit idly through the first two minutes of their final, last-impression song. But the song was decent enough. The bass guitarist also provided a signature Rock and Roll Face for this shot. I wish I could have caught their entire show.

11:00PM Grant Hart (Aces Lounge)

John, Rob and Vinh went to this show because Grant Hat is the former drummer of Husker Du, one of John's favorite bands ever. Even John admitted that without the Husker Du obsession and sentimentality, the show would have been unremarkable, even though they all enjoyed it. Apparently Grant took requests, which is extremely unusual for a SXSW showcase.

11:00PM Miniature Tigers (Spiro's)

I took a slight risk choosing this one, and it just didn't fit my live music tastes. Good musicians, with a good and friendly crowd, jus not my style. I chatted with my neighbors about the festival and the bands they planned to see. But the rhythm didn't catch me or inspire me to stay. Instead, I sat down almost immediately and started looking for alternatives. Starting to get antsy. Although the opening band was great, nothing was really making it worthwhile.

11:00PM The Cynics (Habana Calle 6)

Solid musicianship and fun show. However, I couldn't help thinking that I'd heard this sound before, 2,357 times to be exact. A good band with a great show in a tough small venue, but the novelty has worn off, and I was feeling even more restless to find the next great thing. Still, a good trend upwards in quality and "worthwhiledness."

11:00PM Magneta Lane (Habana Calle 6 Patio)

Conveniently located right outside the Cynics show on the back patio, this addition was not just an accident. Their sample song stuck out in my reviews more than The Cynics did. Nonetheless, although they played a different sound, it was still the same review: somehow, I'd heard this sound hundreds if not thousands of times before. The bass player also had this sultry, alluring, emotionless quality in that her admirers would always wonder whether they could tap the potential volcano of passion barely hidden beneath an expressionless exterior. However, again, I'd heard that song before, too. Good stuff, but as 11:30 approached, I figured I would check out Dananananakroyd.

11:30PM Dananananaykroyd (Dirty Dog Bar)

And here the festival begins and ends.

First, they started off on the wrong foot: they started late and didn't seem to care. (See above). Second, during the meandering setup, this twig-boy singer just loitered onstage with this friendly, spacey look, looking like a prototypical hippie twerp. So I didn't expect much.

But then they started, and started with a bang! The twig-boy suddenly jumped to life with amazing showmanship. He and the rest of the band made the small stage look enormous by all their frenetic movement. The movement seemed chaotic and violent, but wasn't at all threatening or dangerous. It was just aggressive and fun.

After the first song, they bantered with the band with typical Scottish brackishness: "We'dre Scottish, and we don't geeve a dahmn!" They split the crowd in two, joked that we should do a "death wall" running into each other, but then changed it up to a "wall of Cuddle" and had us run across the dividing line and just hug whomever we hit. And everyone complied. Even I did it, albeit partly to use the opportunity to hug this hot young perky girl on the other side. It worked to break the stand-still attitude of most SXSW attendees and just give the show a friendly feeling.

They had two lead singers, and each of them traded off drumming the second kit. It usually is a very bad sign when the band switches instruments or unnecessarily doubles up on components. But it worked here. The second drum kit was used for emphasis and perhaps also to sate the aggressive ADD of the singer who wasn't singing. The music was frenetic and perhaps even chaotic, not following usual forms, but still made complete sense and was incredibly well orchestrated. They had flairs of The Arctic Monkeys and some of Paramore's more aggressive songs, but they made it all their own. True musical mastery and fantastic showmanship. This is the evolution of Rock and Roll. I can't overstate it.

The show ended abruptly after 25 minutes. At the end, I stood there absolutely amazed. And I was not the only one. Everyone around me--EV-ERY-ONE--stood there in shock looking around with a giddy smile for validation of what they just saw. They are playing again at La Zona Rosa, which is probably a more appropriate venue for them. I will be there.

 

12:00AM Kap Bambino (Elysium)

i re-joined the guys at Elysium for Kap Bambino and shared the excitement with them. And I had plenty of time to do so.

It seems like the first-day delays were contagious all through the festival. I arrived at this venue five minutes too late, but this time thirty minutes too soon. This is getting to be a frustrating theme. Then at the beginning of the show, this frumpy looking French girl with too much, too-red makeup stood on a bare stage save for a small table with a MIDI player and a laptop, behind which a silent, scruffy, lanky dude stood. It did not look good. She looked like a poser. Then, halfway through their second song, the MIDI player blew a fuse, and the venue fell silent for ten minutes as they tried to figure out the unplugged cord, blown circuit or (finally) blown fuse. Then after they got it going again, the sound silenced again after only a few bars. This was not going well.

But then the lanky guy took a step back from his machine and kicked the table hard in frustration. As if it were staged and timed carefully, the MIDI player suddenly roared back to life, and the crowd roared with it. He literally kick-started the performance.

Then the frumpy French girl with too much red lipstick and a shrilly, monotonous voice took over. She smiled maniacally, knowing that this was her moment. She danced and pranced and screached a horrible lyrical sound into her mic; but it worked. The crowd knew them, and were ready to party, as well. Mid-way through the next song, she took her first stage dive, a bit tepid but still a risk in a somewhat sparse crowd. The crowd went wild as the music got more and more all-encompassing.

After three more songs, the crowd had gone the full progression from respectful and appreciative head-bobbing to a full-out mosh pit with some friendly slamming: nothing too aggressive because half the pit were girls, but still frenetic and obsessive. The French chickey grabbed hold of the chaotic excitement and played to it. She jumped into the pit and started slamming herself around people as she continued singing, igniting the crowd. She was crazy, or she knew her act, but it was working. (The fortuitous double-exposure of the above picture was rather apt). I turned around from the front to check out the crowd, and EVERYONE was smiling and jumping around.

Great show, and in a completely different way from Dananananakroyd. As John said, it was like the punks shows of the late-80s in L.A., but without any instruments. Same attitude, same aggressive, punky excitement, same irreverence for what anyone else thinks. It was not as accessible or marketable or brilliant as Dananananakroyd was, but it was a great show and did not let down after the enthusiastic and inspiring jubilation of Dananananakroyd.

1:00AM Mother Mother (Habana Calle Six Patio)

This was one of John's top choices; and they were quite good. The lead signer/guitarist was clearly a master of his guitar in all the ordinary, everyday ways. They also committed the sin of playing a slow-paced song, yet it still did not bore because they were solid enough and the song was interesting. However, I had promised Sunday I would meet her back at Dirty Dog for Natalie Portman's Shaved Head, so I left to jot down the street.

1:00AM Natalie Portman's Shaved Head (Dirty Dog Bar)

As I rode down the street, I thought about how a band named "Natalie Portman's Shaved Head" could be brilliant and irreverent, or it could just be another band with a gimmicky name. And although they were decent, they really came off as just the latter. After three songs and not finding Sunday in the crowd, I returned to finish the night back at Mother Mother with the guys.

A great start to the festival.