SXSW 2008 Day 2: Thursday

Yesterday I started my day at Emo's, but it was so crowded and I wasn't really digging the bands I heard so, I dipped out across the street to the Brooklyn Vegan party at Emo's Annex (there are about 700 different Emo's venues) because the BV party the night before was so much fun. I caught a band called WHY? that was pretty good.



After that, I decided to just walk up and down the main strip and listen to the music coming from each bar and try to discover some bands I hadn't heard of. Outside some Irish pub I heard a really intriguing band, so I went inside to check them out. It was a band from Dublin, Ireland called Delorentos. They were total dance-rock, like Bloc Party before they started getting all soft and lame. I got a live video, but Google video is acting hella lame today, so I can't post the plethora of vids i took yesterday until a later date. But I did manage to find their official video(although I don't think it is their best song):





After some more walking around I heard another band that sounded promising from a dive called Agave. The Brooklyn, New York trio Appomattox rocked really hard, doing loud post-punky rock.



After that it was time to head back to the Annex, where I caught Men, members of Le Tigre doing the laptop DJ thing. The day before, me and Biggie C were discussing this new trend where bands go DJ and how most of the time they aren't that good at it, but this was an exception as they rocked the dance floor hard.



After that, it was time for Phosphorescent, one of the artists I was most excited about seeing at SXSW. He put on a great performance, doing much heavier versions of his stuff than I would have guessed considering how soft and low-key the album is.







Near the end of the show, I noticed Matthew Houck kept looking at someone in the crowd and cracking up laughing. I finally heard someone screaming stuff at him and turned around. It turned out to be Miles Seaton of Akron/Family acting like he was an obsessed fan. For the Phosphorescent finale, he came down into the audience and sang to the Akron/Family boys:



After that, we stuck around and caught Holy Fuck. I'm not much of a dancer and these days it takes something really special to get me to throw down, but Holy Fuck is just the perfect combination of dance music and noise for me to get really into it. You ATLiens who will be around town on Monday really need to go down to The Drunken Unicorn and catch them playing with A Place To Bury Strangers and Atlanta's badasses All The Saints.





After a short break in the onslaught of great shows, I went and caught Islands. They played almost nothing but new material, and it sounds great. I took a ton of videos, so expect those to show up here sometime in the next few weeks.











After that, it was on to Mohawk's patio to catch one of then night's best line-ups. I got there just in time to catch the end of another Phosphorescent set, where he closed with a 10 minute vocal looping jam. After that, I discovered another great act from California called Bodies Of Water. Really cool stuff with lots of vocal harmonizations. They will be at The Earl Monday night with Sons And Daughters so there is another hot Atlanta St. Patty's Day show you can catch.





Then it was time for Evangelicals. I have been in total love with their new album, so I had been really hyped up for this show. They did not disappoint. They came out with massive blacklights and a fog machine, dressed in a style that was half goth, half candy-raver, and went through songs off the new record. Again, expect many live videos to pop up around here in the near future.



Next up on the outdoor stage was Bon Iver. They went through a handful of the beautiful songs on For Emma, Forever Ago, and wow did they sound good. If you have yet to pick up this album, you are missing out.





After that, we switched up things entirely by seeing Indian Jewelry. I would describe their sound as Liars meets Atlanta's Subliminator. It was a spectacle of strobe lights and minimalist percussionists that were there more to dance than to make music. Very interesting show.



We closed out the night at Emo's Outside stage. I got there just in time for the end of Islands' set, but this time they closed with the amazing "Swans (Life After Death)". Unfortunately, the one dark moment of the entire festival came as some sound guy walked out on stage with a few minutes left in the song right and the PA shut off. They actually cut off their last song. Nick Thorburn found a microphone that was still hooked into the PA and yelled "Fuck SXSW!" Everyone started booing, it was a crazy scene.

After that debacle, We ended our night with an awesome set from Austin's The Octopus Project.



It's on to more music, so I'll holla at you later.

Humpnight Randomnimity

Three interesting shows this week i didn't mention earlier are:







I can't decide which Saturday night show to hit up after Joanna Newsom, so I'll probably coin flip or something. With the Thursday night show, I guess I'm going to offer the dissenting opinion relative to all the other blogs in town that I would recommend going to Smashing Pumpkins and Explosions in The Sky over the free Star Bar thing. I know Black Kids are somewhat local and blowing up thanks to the 'fork, but I've listened to that EP a few times and it just doesn't stand out to me that much. It's not bad or anything, but it sounds like a dancier ripoff of the whole Swan Lake spectrum of indie-rock and its just not exciting me that much relative to all the other stuff I've been listening to lately. Also, I caught Judi Chicago last month, and as much as I hate ripping on locals, I have to call it like it is, and I think they just pretty much suck. Just because you perform crappy music in your underwear doesn't make up for the crappy music you are performing. I mean, the show is free so it's probably worth going if you don't have the cash for the other show, but I just wanted to get my opinion out there.

Now I'll cool off the haterade and give you a nice PJ Harvey vid:



Back to the haterade, Band of Horses are doing 3 New Years shows at the Earl and tickets go on sale Friday. BOH, or "Fisher Price, My First My Morning Jacket" as I like to call them, are another band that I think receive a little too much praise relative to what every other band on Earth is doing right now. Cease To Begin isn't a bad album or anything, but it's not a great one either.

Someone who is worthy of the hype is coming to Eyedrum in January:



The onslaught of My Bloody Valentine reunion rumors continue.

Want to see what Dethklok look and sound like live? Here you go:



Here's a The Octopus Project vid:



In case you had forgotten how awesome Marnie Stern is or you are a new ohmpark reader, here's a vid:



Between The Buried And Me are an awesome metal band that i've recently been jamming alot:



In case you don't know, Radiohead did some crazy webcast stuff last week. I've got a huge-ass article planned as i haven't really talked about the new album much and i'm still listening to it like crazy. Until i get a chance to go on an In Rainbows lovefest, here's my favourite song from it done live on the webcast:

It's Echo Project Week!

For me, this is gonna be a killer week. Wednesday I'm heading up to Asheville to catch Porcupine Tree. Thursday I come back and head a little OTP for Echo Project. Then on Monday I'm heading to Birmingham to catch Earlimart. A few Echo Project details I forgot to cover is that Common got added and that Dubconscious will be playing at the campgrounds Thursday night. As excited as I am about the festival, there happens to be a ridiculous amount of great shows in the Atlanta area this weekend, so if you can't go to Echo, there's still plenty of great tunes to be absorbed:

Tuesday night The Brunettes and The Preakness will be at The Earl.

Wednesday night Ghostface Killah will be at Georgia Tech.

Thursday night Octopus Project and Morning State will be at the Drunken Unicorn.

Friday night offers many great options: Caribou at the Earl, Minus The Bear at the Variety Playhouse, and Portugal. The Man at The Loft.

Subtle and Sunset Rubdown at the Drunken Unicorn Saturday night is pretty sweet.

Sunday is packed out too with Ryan Adams at the Fox, Band of Horses at Park Tavern, and my pick for best show of the week, Earlimart at the Earl.

Minus The Bear : Menos El Oso : Drilling


Portugal. The Man : Church Mouth : Shade


Earlimart : Mentor Tormentor : Happy Alone


The Octopus Project : Hello, Avalanche : I Saw The Bright Shinies


Caribou : Andorra : Eli


Sunset Rubdown : Random Spirit Lover : For The Pier (And Dead Shimmering)