Ready for a new month? I am. February brings my birthday and Anna C.'s as well, plus beloved holidays such as Valentine's Day, Groundhog Day, and Presidents' Day. It's a heck of a month. Start it off right with some local shows.
TUESDAY The Deerhoof afterparty at Mohawk is for serious: Sunset, Cartright, and Zorch will light it up inside after the headliners do their thing outside. I'm on the record as saying Zorch are my favorite band in Austin right now and this is your last chance to see them before the festival in March. Cartright are a band I am curious to learn more about. I saw them for the first time playing with Zorch on New Year's Eve. Zorch's full keyboard array wasn't working, so it was a bit of an experiment, but it still left me wanting to find out what the band Cartright sounded like in their own right. They also make really beautiful flyers.
WEDNESDAY One-man show Eagle Eye Williamson is at Club Deville. Haven't seen him live yet but I know from recordings that he does blues at its most primitive, one guy playing drums and guitar and howling. If you like unique performers, might be a good option. Anna recommends the punk band Teenage News who are at Beerland.
THURSDAY Just saw The Zoltars for the first time at a house party yesterday. I liked them. If you like the honesty and directness of the Moldy Peaches, this band might be for you. Loved the way their drummer kicked a tambourine with his foot instead of using a big loud bass drum. Kept the focus on the lyrics and melodies.
FRIDAY SuperLiteBike and Bali Yaaah are at Red 7. Haven't seen the latter yet, though their songs online have a certain hypnotic quality to them. Remains to be seen whether the effect their bass, guitar, and keyboards have through headphones translates to the stage. But SuperLiteBike are legit... one of my favorite modern rock-arena acts in Austin. The last time I saw them I was impressed by how their set flew by like clockwork, no pauses in between songs and changes sharply choreographed. They stand out from the norm here. The Girls Rock benefit at Beerland is worth a look too: Flesh Lights, Planets, and Bottle Service are appearing among others. We saw Planets last night and they were forceful. Wouldn't have expected that from the first few shows of theirs we went to. But Anna and I are all about ladies who love it loud and that's the spirit for this show.
SATURDAY Haven't seen them live yet but I really dig the Serious Tracers seven-inch. They're at Ruta Maya Saturday with a Huey Lewis tribute band. No, really. Yes, I know. That is awesome.
SUNDAY OBN III's and The Millipede at Beerland. I'm getting a lot more punk as I assimilate in Austin. Why? Because watching bands have a really fun time when they play shows is way preferable to watching them be miserable. The garage scene here is all about having a good time with your friends, I'm learning, and that's a really hard objective to be critical about.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Show Picks Now!
I'm still dazed and confused from Free Week, when I worked myself so hard to write about every band that I had opinion on that I ended up in the hospital. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to do a music blog that takes advantage of my close listening skills without discouraging every band I come across from ever playing again. It's tricky. Here's some shows you might go to this week, if you like local music.
MONDAY Ringo Deathstarr at Emo's. The trouble I have with "shoegaze" music is that the musicians often take the name literally. Just because some late-80's British bands thought it was cool to be completely motionless doesn't mean every current band influenced by that style has to stand still as well. The last time Anna and I saw Ringo they invited up some other local music friends to jam and then knock stuff over on their last song. It looked like they were having so much fun! That makes a big difference.
WEDNESDAY A late update! Atmospheric instrumental space rock band Landing Station play Headhunters. Should be a free show. I have the Landing Station CD and it's pretty compelling for minimalist music. I wonder how loud they are live.
THURSDAY I hear people say that Austin has no good punk bands. Not true! It's just that there are so many bad punk bands that finding the good ones involves a lot of legwork. Let me save you some time and recommend The Creationists and Bang Bang Theodores, who play together 1/27 at Scoot Inn. Good arrangements, strong vocals, and big melodies from bass and guitar separate these two bands from the pack.
FRIDAY I discovered Transmography because their Michael Frazier doubles as the drummer in La Snacks; the bands toured together last year. Transmography is another one of those video game music/indie rock hybrids that are so prevalent nowadays. I haven't seen them live yet, but I hope to check them out Friday. They're releasing the first in a series of color-coded EP's and are asking fans to come attired this weekend in bright yellow. The show is at Beerland. Anna C. says she is interested in this concert because Awesome Death is playing it. Their combination of punk rock and theremin is more than she can resist. Also, at Beauty Bar art rockers paperthreat are having a release party for their new single. Can't wait to find out more about that; they're one of my favorite new bands in Austin. I've been listening to John Vinyard quite a bit for the next Demo Sweat column. If you're into the minimal, lyric-driven Iron & Wine neo-folk style, perhaps go check him out Friday at the Central Presbyterian Church (200 East 8th).
SATURDAY I haven't seen Amplified Heat in a few months and I feel like it's time to go check them out again. The last I checked in with them they were finding an original voice by blending in hardcore punk with their Jimi Hendrix-Clapton-Zeppelin classic rock center. White Ghost Shivers are playing with them, and that's a band I've been recommended several times. I recommend World Racketeering Squad shows all the time because I'm a big nerd and those guys are proof positive that being a nerd is no handicap to rocking triumphantly. They've been talking up this band Conquistador Incorporated for weeks. I've only listened to Conquistador's CD a little bit so far, but they are intriguing... kind of a mixture of Ween-ish genre shifts and Tool-like heavy guitar. Some of the tracks on their Ballads CD are awkwardly political, but when they hit the mark they're something new and substantive. Going to try and see them really soon.
SUNDAY My friends Justin, formerly of Sissy Face, and Andrea, currently of Bubbleface, have joined forces to start some sort of face-related supergroup. (That would be a good band name, Facial Supergroup. I can see it on t-shirts even now). They will mix Justin's guitar pop background with Andrea's interest in pure experimental noise and you can see them for the first time 7 Sunday at Blue Velvet (vintage store at 2100 Guadalupe).
MONDAY Ringo Deathstarr at Emo's. The trouble I have with "shoegaze" music is that the musicians often take the name literally. Just because some late-80's British bands thought it was cool to be completely motionless doesn't mean every current band influenced by that style has to stand still as well. The last time Anna and I saw Ringo they invited up some other local music friends to jam and then knock stuff over on their last song. It looked like they were having so much fun! That makes a big difference.
WEDNESDAY A late update! Atmospheric instrumental space rock band Landing Station play Headhunters. Should be a free show. I have the Landing Station CD and it's pretty compelling for minimalist music. I wonder how loud they are live.
THURSDAY I hear people say that Austin has no good punk bands. Not true! It's just that there are so many bad punk bands that finding the good ones involves a lot of legwork. Let me save you some time and recommend The Creationists and Bang Bang Theodores, who play together 1/27 at Scoot Inn. Good arrangements, strong vocals, and big melodies from bass and guitar separate these two bands from the pack.
FRIDAY I discovered Transmography because their Michael Frazier doubles as the drummer in La Snacks; the bands toured together last year. Transmography is another one of those video game music/indie rock hybrids that are so prevalent nowadays. I haven't seen them live yet, but I hope to check them out Friday. They're releasing the first in a series of color-coded EP's and are asking fans to come attired this weekend in bright yellow. The show is at Beerland. Anna C. says she is interested in this concert because Awesome Death is playing it. Their combination of punk rock and theremin is more than she can resist. Also, at Beauty Bar art rockers paperthreat are having a release party for their new single. Can't wait to find out more about that; they're one of my favorite new bands in Austin. I've been listening to John Vinyard quite a bit for the next Demo Sweat column. If you're into the minimal, lyric-driven Iron & Wine neo-folk style, perhaps go check him out Friday at the Central Presbyterian Church (200 East 8th).
SATURDAY I haven't seen Amplified Heat in a few months and I feel like it's time to go check them out again. The last I checked in with them they were finding an original voice by blending in hardcore punk with their Jimi Hendrix-Clapton-Zeppelin classic rock center. White Ghost Shivers are playing with them, and that's a band I've been recommended several times. I recommend World Racketeering Squad shows all the time because I'm a big nerd and those guys are proof positive that being a nerd is no handicap to rocking triumphantly. They've been talking up this band Conquistador Incorporated for weeks. I've only listened to Conquistador's CD a little bit so far, but they are intriguing... kind of a mixture of Ween-ish genre shifts and Tool-like heavy guitar. Some of the tracks on their Ballads CD are awkwardly political, but when they hit the mark they're something new and substantive. Going to try and see them really soon.
SUNDAY My friends Justin, formerly of Sissy Face, and Andrea, currently of Bubbleface, have joined forces to start some sort of face-related supergroup. (That would be a good band name, Facial Supergroup. I can see it on t-shirts even now). They will mix Justin's guitar pop background with Andrea's interest in pure experimental noise and you can see them for the first time 7 Sunday at Blue Velvet (vintage store at 2100 Guadalupe).
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Easing Back In
So I have been waiting for the universe, or at least some of my readers, to tell me what to do. I don't feel at all in the same critical space I was all last year, when I was angry and embittered towards most bands. My time with Anna C. in Austin has taught me that the whole point of making music is to have a good time with your friends, and part of me wants to delete every review I've ever written. A couple of days in a mental institution can fill you up with impulsive thoughts about dramatic gestures. But Austin does need good music writing, and bands do need to hear from time to time that they're not perfect. So I guess I can't quit the blog. And I guess I have to keep being honest about who I am, because otherwise how is anyone going to relate to my point of view?
Went to see Good Lazy System last night at the Parlor. There were some other shows this week I was more excited about going to. Literature and A Giant Dog were at Beerland on Wednesday and I really like both of those bands. Their seven-inch singles have been in regular rotation at our house. But I'm on some new medications, very strong ones, and I chose to sleep instead. Anna went and reports that those bands are still excellent, and she also liked the punk band Teenage News who were sharing the bill. Wanted to see Isle of White on Thursday since I quite like their songs and they were one of the first Austin bands I ever wrote about. But again I was out like a light by 9:30. So much for my rock and roll lifestyle. I guess I will have to work out how to stay up a little later.
I like Good Lazy System a bunch. I think they're on their way, and they were a lot tighter last night than the first time I saw them. They also chopped down a lot of the waiting between songs, which was their major hangup before. I listened more for their style than their individual parts this time, which is what I usually do when revisiting a new band. They have a good group sound and I particularly like the interplay between three different singers. They remind me of a Lookout! Records punk band, like Screeching Weasel or NOFX. Ben Gibbs contrasts Ariel Sauceda's more melodic singing with a rap-like bark. Guitarist Adam Antonacci sings a bit of lead too, and my favorite parts of Good Lazy System's songs have all three shouting together. I love multiple vocalists in bands of any type. I think drummer Aaron Bromberg should sing too, if he could hear himself through his heavy-duty ear protection.
My new strategy is to write about bands after talking to them, so I don't make any goofy mistakes. Some of the stuff I wrote during Free Week, when I was in a hurry and losing my sanity, presupposes that a writer can tell what a band's story is simply by listening to them and observing them from a distance. That's wrong. I always justified writing negative reviews based on the principle that you can learn something from every band, good or bad. I still think that's true, but I think for my part that if I'm going to learn anything and get better at whatever it is I do, I have to let bands tell me their stories themselves. Everybody is seeking something different out of their music.
So I'm going to keep telling you what I think, but I'm going to try and get the voices of as many Austin bands as I can represented on Big Western Flavor as well. It's what I need to do, personally and professionally. I bought a new phone and everything!
Went to see Good Lazy System last night at the Parlor. There were some other shows this week I was more excited about going to. Literature and A Giant Dog were at Beerland on Wednesday and I really like both of those bands. Their seven-inch singles have been in regular rotation at our house. But I'm on some new medications, very strong ones, and I chose to sleep instead. Anna went and reports that those bands are still excellent, and she also liked the punk band Teenage News who were sharing the bill. Wanted to see Isle of White on Thursday since I quite like their songs and they were one of the first Austin bands I ever wrote about. But again I was out like a light by 9:30. So much for my rock and roll lifestyle. I guess I will have to work out how to stay up a little later.
I like Good Lazy System a bunch. I think they're on their way, and they were a lot tighter last night than the first time I saw them. They also chopped down a lot of the waiting between songs, which was their major hangup before. I listened more for their style than their individual parts this time, which is what I usually do when revisiting a new band. They have a good group sound and I particularly like the interplay between three different singers. They remind me of a Lookout! Records punk band, like Screeching Weasel or NOFX. Ben Gibbs contrasts Ariel Sauceda's more melodic singing with a rap-like bark. Guitarist Adam Antonacci sings a bit of lead too, and my favorite parts of Good Lazy System's songs have all three shouting together. I love multiple vocalists in bands of any type. I think drummer Aaron Bromberg should sing too, if he could hear himself through his heavy-duty ear protection.
My new strategy is to write about bands after talking to them, so I don't make any goofy mistakes. Some of the stuff I wrote during Free Week, when I was in a hurry and losing my sanity, presupposes that a writer can tell what a band's story is simply by listening to them and observing them from a distance. That's wrong. I always justified writing negative reviews based on the principle that you can learn something from every band, good or bad. I still think that's true, but I think for my part that if I'm going to learn anything and get better at whatever it is I do, I have to let bands tell me their stories themselves. Everybody is seeking something different out of their music.
So I'm going to keep telling you what I think, but I'm going to try and get the voices of as many Austin bands as I can represented on Big Western Flavor as well. It's what I need to do, personally and professionally. I bought a new phone and everything!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Show Picks 2020
So I'm still not sure what the plan is for the blog in the new year. I got way too focused on being a know-it-all and sort of lost the plot the last few weeks. Now I'm seeing things from a different perspective. I could use some feedback from regular readers. I think I'm going to stick to doing show picks and maybe some interviews until I shake the nagging feeling that I've been devoting all my energies to ripping apart something I don't fully understand. Anyway, hopefully I'll see you out at some shows this week.
TUESDAY I haven't seen them live yet, but I really liked the hypnotic quality of Bali Yaaah's recordings. I hear some Clinic, some 60's psychedelia, and some Depeche-modern electronic coming from the three-piece (guitars, bass, organ). I'm curious to see them do it on stage and Tuesday the 18th at Beauty Bar they're playing with Ode to Oscillator, Knifight, and Mass Rituals.
WEDNESDAY I traded in some old LP's for a clutch of local seven-inch singles at Trailer Space last weekend. Along with some cool stuff from the Flesh Lights and Serious Tracers, I picked up "The Grand" b/w "Qyjara" by A Giant Dog. Anna spent most of last night watching YouTube videos of the five-piece, who have a live show you need to see to appreciate -- a frontwoman with no fear, Motown bass with muscles, rowdy crowds. They're at Beerland with In Beds and Literature. Literature are a band my friend Sean likes to describe as "the Strokes fronted by Daniel Johnston." I think that's a bit glib but as good a description as any. Anna C. likes the way their lead guitar player dances lightly on his feet like Michael Jackson. For me, what's winning about Literature is the way the two guitar players interact instead of play on top of one another.
THURSDAY We've also been jamming the "Hot Pink Flares" 45 by The Sour Notes on a day-to-day basis. I'm a huge fan of bands and songs with multiple lead vocalists, and the tradeoff on the A-side of the single from Jared to Kelly is sweet. The Sour Notes are playing the Cactus Cafe, which is still alive! I believe the cover is six dollars which is a good deal for the Cactus. Saw The Eastern Sea there playing to a packed room and they sounded great. Little Lo open for the Sour Notes Thursday.
FRIDAY Flesh Lights and Bike Problems at Red 7. The "Jaye" single by Flesh Lights is nice. Bike Problems are nerdy punk of the highest order. Or, to go in the another direction entirely, Opposite Day and Megafauna at Flamingo Cantina. I love Opposite Day! Their songs and playing are unique. I wrote about them during Free Week, but it turned out that they weren't playing due to their bassist Greg being in Australia. I said then I'd reprint my praise of them when they were playing a show, so here it is: "I'm glad Opposite Day are playing... because I always feel like I should be doing more to spread the word about them. I think a lot of other writers have faced the same problem before me: How do you make a compelling argument for a band that really has no single obvious comparison point? Elvis Costello meets Primus? No... Richard Thompson meets Oingo Boingo? I'm stumped. They change meters and play bewildering figures like a prog band, but have many hooks and harmonies you don't need a calculator to appreciate. No matter what your tastes are, I defy you to watch Opposite Day and not come away astounded by their musicianship. Not only that, they've never let their ridiculous technical ability get in the way of songwriting -- 'Safety First' is unforgettable -- and despite their long years of high effort and low rewards, they still maintain a palpable enthusiasm and good spirit when they're on stage."
Megafauna, like The Sour Notes, are right off a tour. Will, Cameron, and Dani were tight already, and they bring a heck of a lot of force as a trio. I like sitting and listening to their CD Larger Than Human closely and trying to count through all the time signature changes.
I hated everything and now I like everything! The power of Austin music has brainwashed me.
TUESDAY I haven't seen them live yet, but I really liked the hypnotic quality of Bali Yaaah's recordings. I hear some Clinic, some 60's psychedelia, and some Depeche-modern electronic coming from the three-piece (guitars, bass, organ). I'm curious to see them do it on stage and Tuesday the 18th at Beauty Bar they're playing with Ode to Oscillator, Knifight, and Mass Rituals.
WEDNESDAY I traded in some old LP's for a clutch of local seven-inch singles at Trailer Space last weekend. Along with some cool stuff from the Flesh Lights and Serious Tracers, I picked up "The Grand" b/w "Qyjara" by A Giant Dog. Anna spent most of last night watching YouTube videos of the five-piece, who have a live show you need to see to appreciate -- a frontwoman with no fear, Motown bass with muscles, rowdy crowds. They're at Beerland with In Beds and Literature. Literature are a band my friend Sean likes to describe as "the Strokes fronted by Daniel Johnston." I think that's a bit glib but as good a description as any. Anna C. likes the way their lead guitar player dances lightly on his feet like Michael Jackson. For me, what's winning about Literature is the way the two guitar players interact instead of play on top of one another.
THURSDAY We've also been jamming the "Hot Pink Flares" 45 by The Sour Notes on a day-to-day basis. I'm a huge fan of bands and songs with multiple lead vocalists, and the tradeoff on the A-side of the single from Jared to Kelly is sweet. The Sour Notes are playing the Cactus Cafe, which is still alive! I believe the cover is six dollars which is a good deal for the Cactus. Saw The Eastern Sea there playing to a packed room and they sounded great. Little Lo open for the Sour Notes Thursday.
FRIDAY Flesh Lights and Bike Problems at Red 7. The "Jaye" single by Flesh Lights is nice. Bike Problems are nerdy punk of the highest order. Or, to go in the another direction entirely, Opposite Day and Megafauna at Flamingo Cantina. I love Opposite Day! Their songs and playing are unique. I wrote about them during Free Week, but it turned out that they weren't playing due to their bassist Greg being in Australia. I said then I'd reprint my praise of them when they were playing a show, so here it is: "I'm glad Opposite Day are playing... because I always feel like I should be doing more to spread the word about them. I think a lot of other writers have faced the same problem before me: How do you make a compelling argument for a band that really has no single obvious comparison point? Elvis Costello meets Primus? No... Richard Thompson meets Oingo Boingo? I'm stumped. They change meters and play bewildering figures like a prog band, but have many hooks and harmonies you don't need a calculator to appreciate. No matter what your tastes are, I defy you to watch Opposite Day and not come away astounded by their musicianship. Not only that, they've never let their ridiculous technical ability get in the way of songwriting -- 'Safety First' is unforgettable -- and despite their long years of high effort and low rewards, they still maintain a palpable enthusiasm and good spirit when they're on stage."
Megafauna, like The Sour Notes, are right off a tour. Will, Cameron, and Dani were tight already, and they bring a heck of a lot of force as a trio. I like sitting and listening to their CD Larger Than Human closely and trying to count through all the time signature changes.
I hated everything and now I like everything! The power of Austin music has brainwashed me.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Yikes
So, I bit off more than I could chew trying to cover every show going on in Austin during Free Week. I'm glad of it... last year around this time there were only three or four venues participating, but in 2011 the idea really took off and extended beyond downtown. Very cool. Best time of the year, except of course for the weather.
But doing work, writing, going to shows, and other stuff, I didn't leave myself enough personal time. I stopped talking to my friends. I was mean to my cat. And mostly I took out my frustrations on Anna C., who deserves a lot better. Long story short, I needed a little vacation in the mental illness ward. Confinement, being presented with many new faces at once, and feeling threatened by the many schizophrenics and aggressively manic people that habit these sorts of wards (of which I have seen the insides of too many) all make the hospital a place I associate with sheer terror. This visit wasn't a cakewalk, but it went by more smoothly than the earlier ones. Belief in myself, and faith in the Austin community at large, made for less of an alienating effect than some of the other mental health clinics I've passed through.
So what made me work so hard I went crazy? Guilt, I guess... I started writing under the assumption that people in bands, especially bands in Austin, know that there's no such thing as bad press. But a whole generation has grown up living in a world of interconnectivity such that you don't think about what you like; you merely follow the consensus. Why try and make up your own interpretation of Black Swan when you can go read thousands of them online until you find the one that most closely resembles what you yourself was going to say?
So, for a few days I thought I had to kill the blog. Now I think I'm just going to use it for interviews and Demo Sweats. What I really want to do is move into writing press materials for bands. And continue to play music, but in as low-key and nondescript roles as possible. I'm going to learn the triangle and the maracas.
Again, I'm sorry if I hurt you or made your band break up because of a bad review. It's only one perspective, but I feel worn out trying to make this clear each and every time I make a negative comment. So I'm knocking it off with the live reviews and concentrating on doing interviews with the Austin bands that I think best fit my ideas about originality, style, command of the stage, and so forth. And if you want me to write a bio for your band, I can do that too. Find "Western Homes" on Facebook, send me a message, we'll work out a rate.
And Demo Sweat? People keep sending me CD's. I hope they will keep doing it. Getting obscure music for free almost every day is terrific. If I could just get some more acts to give me 45's, life would be grand.
Speaking of grand... we've been spinning a bunch of singles I got at Trailer Space on Saturday. A Giant Dog have an A-side called "The Grand" that's a boogie-woogie with X harmony vocals. The Fleshlights sound exactly what you would expect a band called the Fleshlights to sound like, with a sneaky good singer. And the Wesley Coleman Minor Threat tribute is pretty fun, oddly fun medleys of old humorless Dischord straightedge hardcore deconstructed by Austin's own drunkcore overlord. Buy local singles!
UPDATE: I forgot about show picks. I'm going to keep doing show picks too. Every Monday. If you're in a band and want me to recommend a show, same e-mail address as before.
But doing work, writing, going to shows, and other stuff, I didn't leave myself enough personal time. I stopped talking to my friends. I was mean to my cat. And mostly I took out my frustrations on Anna C., who deserves a lot better. Long story short, I needed a little vacation in the mental illness ward. Confinement, being presented with many new faces at once, and feeling threatened by the many schizophrenics and aggressively manic people that habit these sorts of wards (of which I have seen the insides of too many) all make the hospital a place I associate with sheer terror. This visit wasn't a cakewalk, but it went by more smoothly than the earlier ones. Belief in myself, and faith in the Austin community at large, made for less of an alienating effect than some of the other mental health clinics I've passed through.
So what made me work so hard I went crazy? Guilt, I guess... I started writing under the assumption that people in bands, especially bands in Austin, know that there's no such thing as bad press. But a whole generation has grown up living in a world of interconnectivity such that you don't think about what you like; you merely follow the consensus. Why try and make up your own interpretation of Black Swan when you can go read thousands of them online until you find the one that most closely resembles what you yourself was going to say?
So, for a few days I thought I had to kill the blog. Now I think I'm just going to use it for interviews and Demo Sweats. What I really want to do is move into writing press materials for bands. And continue to play music, but in as low-key and nondescript roles as possible. I'm going to learn the triangle and the maracas.
Again, I'm sorry if I hurt you or made your band break up because of a bad review. It's only one perspective, but I feel worn out trying to make this clear each and every time I make a negative comment. So I'm knocking it off with the live reviews and concentrating on doing interviews with the Austin bands that I think best fit my ideas about originality, style, command of the stage, and so forth. And if you want me to write a bio for your band, I can do that too. Find "Western Homes" on Facebook, send me a message, we'll work out a rate.
And Demo Sweat? People keep sending me CD's. I hope they will keep doing it. Getting obscure music for free almost every day is terrific. If I could just get some more acts to give me 45's, life would be grand.
Speaking of grand... we've been spinning a bunch of singles I got at Trailer Space on Saturday. A Giant Dog have an A-side called "The Grand" that's a boogie-woogie with X harmony vocals. The Fleshlights sound exactly what you would expect a band called the Fleshlights to sound like, with a sneaky good singer. And the Wesley Coleman Minor Threat tribute is pretty fun, oddly fun medleys of old humorless Dischord straightedge hardcore deconstructed by Austin's own drunkcore overlord. Buy local singles!
UPDATE: I forgot about show picks. I'm going to keep doing show picks too. Every Monday. If you're in a band and want me to recommend a show, same e-mail address as before.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Free City, Part Four
I am learning new things about myself every day this week, it seems. A lot of them are so obvious I feel self-conscious now. I think that the disconnect between my emotional difficulties and my wealth of music knowledge is keeping my blog from finding any regular readers besides those who agree with me most firmly. It's nice to know I'm not totally alone, but at the same time, there are a lot of Austin bands I love and my recommendations of them would carry a lot more weight if more than a handful of people read them. Trying to figure this out is going to be bumpy. You can already see it in action. I got a nice e-mail from Matthew Grusha from She Sir asking me to go see his band. I did. From my point of view, they sucked. I tried to explain why I thought so, once in a review that was written in such an awful equivocating style that a few regular readers AND a couple of first-time ones wrote in to tell me to knock it off. Then I tried to explain even more an in e-mail to the poor guy. I tried to point out how I'm a bass player, and I listen really closely to how bass and drums fit together, and I felt like their rhythm section was just no good at all in combination. He wrote back that lots of people had told him he was really good at bass and now he was so sad he was thinking about quitting music. Well, I give up. But please don't quit music because of me; I just really geek out on bass playing.
See, I never point out stuff like this. I just say "this is bad" or "this needs work" and I don't talk about the basis for it, because as a journalist I was taught to take myself out of my writing and as a human nothing makes me feel more awful than looking at a person I've just met and realizing I've been doing nothing but talk about myself at them for half an hour. I'm a good writer, but I'm a horrible communicator. I just can't express myself succinctly to save my life. In the sound-bite, 140-characters-or-less era, I'm an anachronism. I have the refined music tastes of somebody who's been writing or playing for 20 years (because I have indeed been doing so), but I have the social skills of somebody just out of college. Nearly all my friends, and Anna, are way younger than I am. I think the reason I love The Gary so deeply is because my two biggest hangups in life are becoming a grown-up and being in a good band and those guys do both so well.
FRIDAY
Mohawk inside: Motel Aviv, Attak (In)Formation, Zorch, Look Mexico
The Parish: The Frontier Brothers, The Eastern Sea, MaryAnn and the Revival Band
Red 7 inside: Golden Boys, Broken Gold, A Giant Dog, Air Traffic Controllers, The Dead Space
Red 7 outside: Power Trip, Rat King, Black Congress, One Against Many, Tow the Line, Venomous Maximus
Red 7 early show: Thieves, The Stampede, Fingers Crossed, A New Hope
Scoot Inn: Thunderosa, Squidbucket, Rust
Stubb's: Art vs. Industry, The Pulse Electric, Lauren Burton
U.S. Art Authority: Low Victor Echo, Grand Child
Wow, what a night. Where to begin? Well, how about the band whose demo cracked my year-end top ten list.... sliding in right at #1. Holy gee, Zorch are an amazing band. They might not be quite for everybody -- I've played it for a few singer-songwriter types, like my former bandmate Dana, and they were bored up until the vocals came in. But if you're interested in the collision of modern genres, and like seeing the sort of band that leaves most listeners fumbling for meaningful comparisons, get into this band. The prodigiously talented and hilarious drummer Shmu plays live dubstep with one half of his body and skronky jazz-fusion with the other, all while singing in a voice that you almost have to step away and listen to his fine solo stuff to appreciate the pure beauty of. More than anything I like experimental music that isn't afraid to be pop when the mood calls for it, and Zorch are so good at that it's scary. The Gary are my favorite band in Austin, but Zorch are the best band in Austin the way I see it. I was talking to Evan Kleinecke, who records them, and apparently Zac Traeger has so many different crazy sounds coming from his keyboards and Omnichord that it's going to take literally dozens of amplifiers to make their in-progress album come out the way they want. Zorch are playing with the elusive Attak (In)Formation, who may or may not be the same band that made this CD We Are All Alive in Tune Butcher Bear dropped off here a few weeks ago. I've been jamming that stuff, man... it sounds like the missing link that led to Haunting Oboe Music, the first Austin band I really got excited about to immediately break up as soon as I realized I liked them. The other side of the coin -- pop music that's not afraid to get in there with bare hands and mess stuff up.
Squidbucket are a band I admire the heck out of, but they're such quiet guys that I don't know if they're going to be able to locate the progressive metal fans that would eat up their chops-intensive blend of Primus finger-popping bass, Tool-like guitar that has some southern rock in it, and the long-running epic structures of Mastodon and their ilk. How can we bring the hipsters to the hipster metal? If you like heavy stuff and/or guys who can play their instruments really well, go check it. Drummer Eric Brown barely breaks a sweat. Jason Erwin is a virtuoso guitarist with taste -- unlike a lot of guys with his chops, I can actually imagine myself learning to play a few of his parts by myself. Although not most of them. And Kurt Rightler is a gentle beast. His bass playing also drives the rising, Volta-esque jazz-jam-metal Tornahdo.
The Eastern Sea are a band whose It Factor is almost terrifying. When I first moved here, I listened to about a million different local bands on MySpace, just picking links at random from Austin blogs. There was one song by The Eastern Sea -- "The Box," I believe it was called -- that was one of those songs that I had almost memorized from the first time I heard it. ("Tupac's Herpes" by Explosion Horse is another one, although not for the same reason.) At the time it was recorded, The Eastern Sea was one guy, Matt Hines. I don't think very much of solo singer-songwriters, which is exactly what you would expect from somebody who played bass his whole life and just started playing the drums. The only two guys I feel can pull it off? Bob Dylan and Nick Drake. (Sorry, Iron & Wine, overdubbed harmonies are cheating.) But wow this song by The Eastern Sea before they were a band... it had a subject (working in a movie theater), a point of view, and a melody that put you right on the narrator's shoulder. Songs like this got Hines hooked up with Tomas Olano, a friendly bass player with amazing stage presence and a DJ-like ability to have a huge effect in songs by not playing, and Zach Duran, a drummer whose enthusiasm for playing quietly suits the band's naturally gentle approach. They've worked for a while on getting the rest of the lineup together, but that core trio is pretty golden. Matt would die in peace if nobody ever compared them to Death Cab for Cutie again... yeah, he has a high voice, but his fingerpicking style on the electric guitar and Duran's often orchestral drumming make them original. You know how I know they're legit? Because they can perform a song that totally diverges from their basic style, like the sorta Smashing Pumpkins raver "The Name," and totally maintain their personality while doing it.
However... The Golden Boys are representative of a billion garage bands I saw last year that I totally misunderstood. I get garage music in theory, but you have to understand about me that I just don't pick up on how people are trying to be perceived. I keep seeing garage bands, not having any idea what they're supposed to be and writing about the instrumentation, and then realizing I'm stupid. Hey, if you're in a band that is about attitude, please let me know that when you ask me to come to see you. Unless you have so much attitude that even an autistic person can tell, like ELVIS or Pataphysics or A Giant Dog. I like to flatter myself thinking my witless reviews are useful to people in bands because, hey, now at least they know what would happen if a Vulcan came to their shows. Live long and prosper, Golden Boys.
See, I never point out stuff like this. I just say "this is bad" or "this needs work" and I don't talk about the basis for it, because as a journalist I was taught to take myself out of my writing and as a human nothing makes me feel more awful than looking at a person I've just met and realizing I've been doing nothing but talk about myself at them for half an hour. I'm a good writer, but I'm a horrible communicator. I just can't express myself succinctly to save my life. In the sound-bite, 140-characters-or-less era, I'm an anachronism. I have the refined music tastes of somebody who's been writing or playing for 20 years (because I have indeed been doing so), but I have the social skills of somebody just out of college. Nearly all my friends, and Anna, are way younger than I am. I think the reason I love The Gary so deeply is because my two biggest hangups in life are becoming a grown-up and being in a good band and those guys do both so well.
FRIDAY
Beauty Bar: Brownout, Maneja Beto, Roxy Roca, Este Vato
Beerland: Hex Dispensers, Damn Times, Manikin
Club Deville (Mind of Adi): uLOVEi, DJ I Wanna Be Her, One Hundred Flowers, STEREO IS A LIE, Monarchs, Erin Ivey, Eagle Eye Williamson, BK & Mr. E
Emo's outside: What Made Milwaukee Famous, The Lemurs, Ovenbirds, Salesman, The Authors
Emo's inside: Los Skarnales, Nick Curran & The Lowlifes, Jungle Rockers, El Pathos
Mohawk outside: Indian Jewelry, The Laughing, Astronaut SuitMohawk inside: Motel Aviv, Attak (In)Formation, Zorch, Look Mexico
The Parish: The Frontier Brothers, The Eastern Sea, MaryAnn and the Revival Band
Red 7 inside: Golden Boys, Broken Gold, A Giant Dog, Air Traffic Controllers, The Dead Space
Red 7 outside: Power Trip, Rat King, Black Congress, One Against Many, Tow the Line, Venomous Maximus
Red 7 early show: Thieves, The Stampede, Fingers Crossed, A New Hope
Scoot Inn: Thunderosa, Squidbucket, Rust
Stubb's: Art vs. Industry, The Pulse Electric, Lauren Burton
U.S. Art Authority: Low Victor Echo, Grand Child
Wow, what a night. Where to begin? Well, how about the band whose demo cracked my year-end top ten list.... sliding in right at #1. Holy gee, Zorch are an amazing band. They might not be quite for everybody -- I've played it for a few singer-songwriter types, like my former bandmate Dana, and they were bored up until the vocals came in. But if you're interested in the collision of modern genres, and like seeing the sort of band that leaves most listeners fumbling for meaningful comparisons, get into this band. The prodigiously talented and hilarious drummer Shmu plays live dubstep with one half of his body and skronky jazz-fusion with the other, all while singing in a voice that you almost have to step away and listen to his fine solo stuff to appreciate the pure beauty of. More than anything I like experimental music that isn't afraid to be pop when the mood calls for it, and Zorch are so good at that it's scary. The Gary are my favorite band in Austin, but Zorch are the best band in Austin the way I see it. I was talking to Evan Kleinecke, who records them, and apparently Zac Traeger has so many different crazy sounds coming from his keyboards and Omnichord that it's going to take literally dozens of amplifiers to make their in-progress album come out the way they want. Zorch are playing with the elusive Attak (In)Formation, who may or may not be the same band that made this CD We Are All Alive in Tune Butcher Bear dropped off here a few weeks ago. I've been jamming that stuff, man... it sounds like the missing link that led to Haunting Oboe Music, the first Austin band I really got excited about to immediately break up as soon as I realized I liked them. The other side of the coin -- pop music that's not afraid to get in there with bare hands and mess stuff up.
Squidbucket are a band I admire the heck out of, but they're such quiet guys that I don't know if they're going to be able to locate the progressive metal fans that would eat up their chops-intensive blend of Primus finger-popping bass, Tool-like guitar that has some southern rock in it, and the long-running epic structures of Mastodon and their ilk. How can we bring the hipsters to the hipster metal? If you like heavy stuff and/or guys who can play their instruments really well, go check it. Drummer Eric Brown barely breaks a sweat. Jason Erwin is a virtuoso guitarist with taste -- unlike a lot of guys with his chops, I can actually imagine myself learning to play a few of his parts by myself. Although not most of them. And Kurt Rightler is a gentle beast. His bass playing also drives the rising, Volta-esque jazz-jam-metal Tornahdo.
The Eastern Sea are a band whose It Factor is almost terrifying. When I first moved here, I listened to about a million different local bands on MySpace, just picking links at random from Austin blogs. There was one song by The Eastern Sea -- "The Box," I believe it was called -- that was one of those songs that I had almost memorized from the first time I heard it. ("Tupac's Herpes" by Explosion Horse is another one, although not for the same reason.) At the time it was recorded, The Eastern Sea was one guy, Matt Hines. I don't think very much of solo singer-songwriters, which is exactly what you would expect from somebody who played bass his whole life and just started playing the drums. The only two guys I feel can pull it off? Bob Dylan and Nick Drake. (Sorry, Iron & Wine, overdubbed harmonies are cheating.) But wow this song by The Eastern Sea before they were a band... it had a subject (working in a movie theater), a point of view, and a melody that put you right on the narrator's shoulder. Songs like this got Hines hooked up with Tomas Olano, a friendly bass player with amazing stage presence and a DJ-like ability to have a huge effect in songs by not playing, and Zach Duran, a drummer whose enthusiasm for playing quietly suits the band's naturally gentle approach. They've worked for a while on getting the rest of the lineup together, but that core trio is pretty golden. Matt would die in peace if nobody ever compared them to Death Cab for Cutie again... yeah, he has a high voice, but his fingerpicking style on the electric guitar and Duran's often orchestral drumming make them original. You know how I know they're legit? Because they can perform a song that totally diverges from their basic style, like the sorta Smashing Pumpkins raver "The Name," and totally maintain their personality while doing it.
However... The Golden Boys are representative of a billion garage bands I saw last year that I totally misunderstood. I get garage music in theory, but you have to understand about me that I just don't pick up on how people are trying to be perceived. I keep seeing garage bands, not having any idea what they're supposed to be and writing about the instrumentation, and then realizing I'm stupid. Hey, if you're in a band that is about attitude, please let me know that when you ask me to come to see you. Unless you have so much attitude that even an autistic person can tell, like ELVIS or Pataphysics or A Giant Dog. I like to flatter myself thinking my witless reviews are useful to people in bands because, hey, now at least they know what would happen if a Vulcan came to their shows. Live long and prosper, Golden Boys.
Ambles Round Town
Wanted to make a few comments about the shows we went to Tuesday night... we tried to see Riders Against the Storm at Red 7, but they cancelled. Every few months I ask myself why we go to so few hip-hop shows, and then we try to go to one and when we show up half the names of the bands on the "playing tonight" list are crossed out. I guess that's why. We went to Beauty Bar to see what was up there. Something kind of cool, a rock band with a lot of really antic upbeat-striking guitars. Luther from Eagle Claw was there to fill me in: name of the band is Pink Sugar.
We went to Emo's. We'll Go Machete were letting 'em have it. I tend to side with musicians as opposed to writers, since unlike most writers (and like many musicians) I'm a poor verbal communicator. I know from long experience that musicians are very sensitive about comparisons. It is strange to have someone you don't know tell you that your band, which you work very hard on and have very firmly set ideas about, totally sounds exactly like some obscure act you've never heard of... or worse, a band you have heard and don't like. Which is why it's good that I sat in my den a few months ago and watched We'll Go's Paul's eyes light up when I put Automatic Midnight by Hot Snakes on the turntable. There's some proggy construction to We'll Go Machete, but it's pretty well hidden underneath all the bludgeoning. Their drummer is tremendous. The Half Mile Fox Fur guys were there rocking out; they're another band that's all about rhythm, rhythm, rhythm. Melody? Ha, melodies are for sissies.
I'm meeting up with STEREO IS A LIE later on this week to do a story... they've got a record coming out, you know. They're one of the first bands Anna and I saw in Austin, and I have always been impressed by the way they do the part dreamgaze-part modern rock thing with suitable loudness, good vocals, and writing that gives each song its own distinctive arrangement signatures. They're a good example of the vast differences in the way Anna and I perceive bands... she's just not super into the style, but I don't care at all about styles. The way I see it it's not my business to tell a band how they should choose to present themselves. As a critic, you have to take the band on its own merits -- OK, given what style they are, what do they do or not do that makes them unique from another bands in that genre? With STEREO IS A LIE it's principally the songs, although the use of two-and three-part singing sweetens things further.
It was a weird experience seeing them. It reminded me that almost all the time, I see bands that are pretty early on in their existence and made up of musicians learning as they go. I went to maybe... dunno, five out-of-town shows all last year, and the last two weren't bands exactly notorious for their polish (Pavement and Guided by Voices). It was a genuinely peculiar time watching a band that's a finished product, as SIAL is. Rather than adjusting my internal mix around looking for errors to point out I just kept finding more strengths. Their bass player has some strong rock moves, not flashy, but just super confident, something I always like to see since I'm nothing like that myself. After the show we met Stereo singer Glynn, who has been one of the biggest Bell Riots supporters since we started, and now we know why... he pulled down his shirt to show us his "Star Trek" tattoo. Musicians, even handsome ones with great voices and British accents, are geeks.
A pretty girl handed me an Art vs. Industry flyer while I was at the SIAL show. I noticed also they had a ton of skillfully arranged flyers out in front of Stubb's, where they play on Friday. And I got an e-mail from a PR fellow saying the band always mentions me as someone they want to write about them. What the heck? You don't need to hire a PR guy to get me to write about you. You never have. All it takes is an e-mail. I like to claim I have a perfect record when it comes to remembering to check out bands who write me and ask, but obviously I need to start taking notes instead of relying on memory because I totally spaced on Western Ghost House, who wrote me middle of last year. But I did go see them briefly this week, and I'm going to try and go see more of them Saturday, when they're playing at Red 7. Black Eyed Vermillion, the band of the guy from my job Gary I was talking about the other day is playing there too. With multiple Mastodon side projects.
Oh yeah, left a thought hanging there. Nothing wrong with PR. If you have money and you want to spend it that way, it shouldn't affect how people judge you. And there's a lot of kinds of PR short of the ritzy full-service packages another musician at work was telling me about yesterday: "Ten grand just to play ball, man!" I know a lot of people who do promotion for musicians out of the good of their heart. Andrew Stone's manager Harrison is just a guy with a little agent experience who saw Andrew at a show and was so blown away he offered to rep him. He does it out of belief. Zorch seem surrounded by pretty girls who have been drawn to spread the word by the sheer radicalness of their music (and their considerable charm). I've been trying to help my friends Squidbucket, but frankly I suck at it and that's why it's been on my mind a lot lately. I tried pretty hard to read all of the metal blogs and magazines they were interested in, figure out how to write each of them, make a pitch and construct a story... and I got shut down. 0 for 45 or something. Not a single e-mail returned. This is the reality we live in (and the end of my PR career, sorry, Jason). There's just so much static out there -- anybody can record and burn a CD and sent an e-mail to a blog -- that it takes clout just to get a band listened to. Musicians in Austin owe it to themselves to be aware of this state of affairs, and do their best to spread the word on bands they like that don't have the means.
I'm not anti-PR. It's a free country, I'm not trying to become a Marxist rock critic or something. I feel like as a local music writer balance has to be maintained: I've got to go out and look extra hard at all these bands that have no money because somewhere among them are great ones, and no one will ever know because no one is looking at them. I can still go see a band that's being promoted heavily and think objectively. I don't mean to crack on AvI in particular, I'm going to go see them soon and I'll write whatever I think. I'm just pointing this stuff out because while I know that local musicians all know the deal back to front, I don't think enough young local writers do. You know that Spoon song, "Who Makes Your Money?"
We went to Emo's. We'll Go Machete were letting 'em have it. I tend to side with musicians as opposed to writers, since unlike most writers (and like many musicians) I'm a poor verbal communicator. I know from long experience that musicians are very sensitive about comparisons. It is strange to have someone you don't know tell you that your band, which you work very hard on and have very firmly set ideas about, totally sounds exactly like some obscure act you've never heard of... or worse, a band you have heard and don't like. Which is why it's good that I sat in my den a few months ago and watched We'll Go's Paul's eyes light up when I put Automatic Midnight by Hot Snakes on the turntable. There's some proggy construction to We'll Go Machete, but it's pretty well hidden underneath all the bludgeoning. Their drummer is tremendous. The Half Mile Fox Fur guys were there rocking out; they're another band that's all about rhythm, rhythm, rhythm. Melody? Ha, melodies are for sissies.
I'm meeting up with STEREO IS A LIE later on this week to do a story... they've got a record coming out, you know. They're one of the first bands Anna and I saw in Austin, and I have always been impressed by the way they do the part dreamgaze-part modern rock thing with suitable loudness, good vocals, and writing that gives each song its own distinctive arrangement signatures. They're a good example of the vast differences in the way Anna and I perceive bands... she's just not super into the style, but I don't care at all about styles. The way I see it it's not my business to tell a band how they should choose to present themselves. As a critic, you have to take the band on its own merits -- OK, given what style they are, what do they do or not do that makes them unique from another bands in that genre? With STEREO IS A LIE it's principally the songs, although the use of two-and three-part singing sweetens things further.
It was a weird experience seeing them. It reminded me that almost all the time, I see bands that are pretty early on in their existence and made up of musicians learning as they go. I went to maybe... dunno, five out-of-town shows all last year, and the last two weren't bands exactly notorious for their polish (Pavement and Guided by Voices). It was a genuinely peculiar time watching a band that's a finished product, as SIAL is. Rather than adjusting my internal mix around looking for errors to point out I just kept finding more strengths. Their bass player has some strong rock moves, not flashy, but just super confident, something I always like to see since I'm nothing like that myself. After the show we met Stereo singer Glynn, who has been one of the biggest Bell Riots supporters since we started, and now we know why... he pulled down his shirt to show us his "Star Trek" tattoo. Musicians, even handsome ones with great voices and British accents, are geeks.
A pretty girl handed me an Art vs. Industry flyer while I was at the SIAL show. I noticed also they had a ton of skillfully arranged flyers out in front of Stubb's, where they play on Friday. And I got an e-mail from a PR fellow saying the band always mentions me as someone they want to write about them. What the heck? You don't need to hire a PR guy to get me to write about you. You never have. All it takes is an e-mail. I like to claim I have a perfect record when it comes to remembering to check out bands who write me and ask, but obviously I need to start taking notes instead of relying on memory because I totally spaced on Western Ghost House, who wrote me middle of last year. But I did go see them briefly this week, and I'm going to try and go see more of them Saturday, when they're playing at Red 7. Black Eyed Vermillion, the band of the guy from my job Gary I was talking about the other day is playing there too. With multiple Mastodon side projects.
Oh yeah, left a thought hanging there. Nothing wrong with PR. If you have money and you want to spend it that way, it shouldn't affect how people judge you. And there's a lot of kinds of PR short of the ritzy full-service packages another musician at work was telling me about yesterday: "Ten grand just to play ball, man!" I know a lot of people who do promotion for musicians out of the good of their heart. Andrew Stone's manager Harrison is just a guy with a little agent experience who saw Andrew at a show and was so blown away he offered to rep him. He does it out of belief. Zorch seem surrounded by pretty girls who have been drawn to spread the word by the sheer radicalness of their music (and their considerable charm). I've been trying to help my friends Squidbucket, but frankly I suck at it and that's why it's been on my mind a lot lately. I tried pretty hard to read all of the metal blogs and magazines they were interested in, figure out how to write each of them, make a pitch and construct a story... and I got shut down. 0 for 45 or something. Not a single e-mail returned. This is the reality we live in (and the end of my PR career, sorry, Jason). There's just so much static out there -- anybody can record and burn a CD and sent an e-mail to a blog -- that it takes clout just to get a band listened to. Musicians in Austin owe it to themselves to be aware of this state of affairs, and do their best to spread the word on bands they like that don't have the means.
I'm not anti-PR. It's a free country, I'm not trying to become a Marxist rock critic or something. I feel like as a local music writer balance has to be maintained: I've got to go out and look extra hard at all these bands that have no money because somewhere among them are great ones, and no one will ever know because no one is looking at them. I can still go see a band that's being promoted heavily and think objectively. I don't mean to crack on AvI in particular, I'm going to go see them soon and I'll write whatever I think. I'm just pointing this stuff out because while I know that local musicians all know the deal back to front, I don't think enough young local writers do. You know that Spoon song, "Who Makes Your Money?"
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