South By Southwest

SXSW Review: Daniel Romano, March 13 ,The Velveeta Room

Posted on by Paul in South By Southwest | Leave a comment

 

Daniel Romano likes both kinds of music: country and western.

Sure, he’s an Ontario boy who came up in the punk scene, but his former band, Attack in Black, long ago made the transition towards more of an alt country/folk sound so it’s not surprising that he’s embraced the classic country look and sound. Still, it may seem a tad audacious for a Canadian who used to play hardcore shows to come to Texas and rep himself as a country singer. Here’s the thing though; Romano knows his stuff. This is clearly a man who’s studied the genre. His songs, both in lyrical content and structure, could fit in easily on a playlist alongside classic tunes from the ’50s, ’60s, or ’70’s. And then there’s  Romano and band’s wardrobe, which made them look as if they stepped out of a honky tonk some 30 odd years ago (and have you seen his latest album cover? I think someone may be a Slim Whitman fan).

As for the show itself, Romano has definitely got the goods live. While some of the performance may be a little tongue in cheek (the band took to the stage after a prerecorded message styled after old time theatre announcements), this is no “let’s dress up as hayseeds and mock the genre” type of thing. Romano has a love for the music and it shows.

 

Buzzfeed Style SXSW Review: Willy Moon, March 14, Cedar Street Courtyard

Posted on by Ricky in South By Southwest | Leave a comment

Willy Moon

Willy Moon‘s SXSW show at the Cedar Street Courtyard was something else. So in the style of the content farm Buzzfeed, I will just review his show in images.

Willy Moon

Is this really Willy Moon? Or is this GEORGE MCFLY?

Maybe he did some time travel. However, would George Mcfly do this?

Willy Moon

I don’t know. I hope that isn’t a shared microphone.

For some information, Willie Moon is a singer who as you might suspect, has fused 50’s era rock and roll with 2000’s sensibilities. What does that mean? I’m not sure, basically, he sounds like he’s from the 50’s if the 50’s had also heard of other types of music. I guess I can say there are other influences in his music. Having lost most of his voice for the show, Willy Moon’s showcase probably didn’t fully showcase his vocal work, however, he made up for that by being an amazing performer.

Willy Moon

He danced his ass off, all while wearing a full suit in crisp 100 degree weather. He also threw water into the crowd. Mostly though, he just liked having a microphone in his mouth. Here is his guitarist, who also made the mistake of wearing black on a sunny Texas stage.

Willy Moon

Here is Willy asking his guitarist why they didn’t just wear shorts and sandals like everyone.

Willy Moon

Eventually the heat was too much and Willy Moon suffered a heat stroke

Willy Moon

Nah, just kidding. However, the man is a great performer. Hopefully when he plays next, his voice won’t be shot, but the future seems bright for this one.

SXSW Review: Tegan and Sara, March 14, Austin Music Hall

Posted on by Ricky in South By Southwest | Leave a comment

It’s hard to believe that Tegan and Sara have been around for over a decade already. When I first heard about them back in the day, all I had heard was that they were these lesbian identical twin folk act with stylish haircuts. Fast forward to today, and Tegan and Sara are now full blown pop stars with a bucket full of hits. They also still have really stylish haircuts.

Their latest album Heartthrob is their most polished and pop album to date (a far cry from their first efforts), but you can’t argue with the results – it is on pace to be their most popular album yet. With their popularity rising exponentially, Tegan and Sara were one of the signature bands that was featured around this time in Austin. I was lucky enough to see them play on Thursday. It was their sixth and final show at SXSW.

Playing a set with a projections backdrop, Tegan and Sara played for about an hour, with hits new and old. I was really impressed with both girl’s voices – they just sounded really good and really belted it out. This was after playing six shows in two days. I can’t imagine how great their vocals sound when they have adequate rest. It was impressive. They also seemed like really nice people, based on their stage banter. I guess that’s the west coast nature. Tegan would say “Gee, Thanks guys!” after every few songs in a very high pitch tone, it was cute.

The only thing I can conclude when listening to their material is that it does seem that Tegan and Sara discovered 80s music with their most recent work, as the material off Heartthrob has a kind of 80s era pop style to it. Played live, the new material sounded less produced/polished then what was on album and in turn, sounded excellent. Having really paid attention to their lyrics for the first time, I also concluded that most Tegan and Sara song sounded like an episode of the OC. Take that for what you will.

The most recent single, Closer closed off the set, and it’s a great track that is dance floor worthy, something you might have never thought was possible from these two when you first heard them.

All in all, a truly excellent show.

SXSW Review: Billy Bragg, March 13, St. David’s Historic Sanctuary

Posted on by Paul in Concerts, South By Southwest | Leave a comment

Billy Bragg

On March 13, 2013, a new Pope was chosen, so of course Billy Bragg, playing a set in a church, took the opportunity to throw down a few good one liners for the occasion.  “The new Pope is Argentinian … I detect the hand of God.”  After some laughter, he added, “Oh good, there’s some English people here,” adding in a dig at the version of football where you don’t use your feet.  Ever the quick wit, Bragg seized upon the theme of religion and ran with it for the duration of the evening, asking if there was a vicar in the back doing sound and also noting that his new album “fittingly deals with redemption and the difficulties in maintaining long distance relationships.”  His wit was also on display in a few SXSW-inspired hipster jokes (“these beards also come in vintage”) and in new song “Handyman Blues” with the lyrics “I’m no good at pottery/so let’s lose the T and shift back the E,” adding, “See what I did there?” immediately afterwards.  We saw, Billy.  Clever.  He followed that song up with a slower, stripped down arrangement of “Shirley,” which he introduced by saying, “If that guy sounds familiar, here he was 25 years ago.”

Noting that he’s not one for organized religion, but respectful of those who are, Bragg mentioned that he was asked to write a song for the anniversary of the King James bible and that he wanted to write about “one of those books in the Old Testament with Jesus Christ being a socialist.”  He also played a version of Woody Guthrie’s  “I Ain’t Got No Home,” which he said could have been written any time in the last five years, but which was actually written over 70 years ago.  Other highlights included a reworked version of “The Great Leap Forward” updated with references to X Factor, the Occupy Movement and Pussy Riot as well as the last song of his set, which he introduced as “perhaps the most religious song I know,”  Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A Changin’.” A good reminder that no matter how bad things may get, there’s always hope for the future.