South By Southwest

SXSW Review: Polyphonic Spree, Hype Hotel, March 13

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

Polyphonic Spree

It’s been a good decade since Dallas’s cult-twee band The Polyphonic Spree first emerged on our radar. Back then, they were this cute overly joyful band with god knows how many members that played a style of music that can only be described as a wall of happy sound. Flutes, horns, strings, keyboards, choirs – they were all part of package. It was a breath of fresh air that spawned two fairly popular hits – Hold Me Now and Light and Day.

After seeing the band play a set at the Hype Hotel on Wednesday, it’s fair to say that the band is still going strong. With a new album set to be released, the ten to twenty member band played a full force set at the Hype Hotel. Tim Delaughter, the charismatic front man/cult leader of the band has traded in his long locks for a shorter bleached blonde cut, which is I think something people do when they want to fight the effects of aging. Don’t fight it man, time is not a worthy battle. Dressed in uniform floral costumes, the band played some new tracks before settling in with more familiar material. The crowd at the Hype Hotel definitely responded best to Hold Me Now, which still sounds fresh after ten years. It’s a song that best exemplifies what the group has to offer – anthemic choruses made more epic by the size of the band, many layers of arrangement in the background all somehow coming together and Tim Delaughter doing his thing. A pretty good moment.

Another note is..do all the members of Polyphonic Spree get SXSW wristbands? Wouldn’t it be possible for them to sneak some friends into the band so they can get wristbands and then go to shows for free? I would do that. They are probably too nice to though.

SXSW Review: Deadmau5 vs Richie Hawtin, Stubbs, March 12

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

I’m not entirely sure what DJ battles are, but when I saw that the main event for the SXSW Interactive closing party was Deadmau5 vs Richie Hawtin, my curiosity was tickled and I couldn’t resist going. Where else are you going to see two of the world’s biggest DJ’s battle it out in a backyard of a bbq house?

Deadmau5 and Richie Hawtins are two of the most popular dj’s in the world. They are also Canadian. You might recognize Deadmau5 from his trademark head ensemble, gossip worthy relationship with Kat Von D or just the fact that he is EVERYWHERE. The dude played a sold out show at the skydome, to put his popularity into perspective. Richie Hawtins has been around a lot longer, I was not as familiar with his music.

So what does a DJ vs DJ battle entail?

First of all, my expectations were this:

Instead, what I got was

Did I just use the same image twice in a post? you bet.

The setup was pretty minimal – Deadmau5 on one side, Richie on the other. Deadmau5 wisely decided against wearing his traditional headgear. With the searing Texas heat, it was probably a wise decision. They seemed to be quite friendly with each other even though they were locked in a DJ battle. I guess when you are both millionaires, what’s the point in being hostile? Maybe it’s like WWF, where the whole battle is fake, and it really is just some sort of complicated choreographed set. I don’t know. I did not see any chair shots.

After attending their hour plus battle, I think DJ battles basically come down to matching the other DJ’s beat after he has played his for a few minutes and then taking it over and adding your own twist to it and then the other dj will build on that and so forth. That is what I gathered. I couldn’t really tell who was DJing what part, but I can tell you this – they put on a freaking good dance party. They know how to build up the beat and they know when to slow it down. Combine that with an epic light show and you have a pretty stunning display of electronic dance music for all to see. I can’t even begin to imagine how awesome this would be out in a field, in the middle of the night and by the sea somewhere.

Not quite sure who won the DJ battle, but I think in the end, we all won. (cliche fact-of-life concluding line)

SXSW Review: Skeletonwitch, Trash Talk, March 13, Mohawk

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

Let me make one thing clear right off the bat: Skeletonwitch is a pretty rad name for a band. If I was a 13 year old kid wanting to scrawl a band’s logo onto my binder, these boys from Ohio would definitely make the cut. Wait, do kids still draw band logos on their binders or are they too busy texting? Actually, scratch that. I don’t think kids even use binders anymore. What the kids are into is a good, old fashioned metal/hardcore show, and the fine folks behind Pitchfork’s Show No Mercy column provided that in spades.  And there were kids at this event, as in young children.  “Look at that little ass kid!” remarked Trash Talk vocalist Lee Spielman, who wondered aloud if he could get this kid to write about the show from his perpective.  Seemingly getting approval from Pitchfork, he added, “You’re hired, kid.”  Hopefully this kid is now on full time at Pitchfork and learning the important distinction between an 8 and an 8.2.

Trash Talk put on an insanely intense show.  Or perhaps an intensely insane one.  Either way, the kids were eating it up, with one of the most intense pits I’ve seen in awhile.  I’d heard good things about these guys going back a couple of years now, but this was my first chance to check them out.  Despite having already played a show that afternoon at Scoot Inn (where they would play yet another show later that evening), the band showed no signs of waning energy.  Mind you, i don’t get  the impression that these guys tend to ever just go through the motions.  Spielman for his part, played an amusing ringmaster, venturing into the crowd on numerous occasions, encouraging the crowd to start circle pits, yes, but also jokingly admonishing them for not tucking in their t-shirts like him since this was “a proper event.”

Closing out the afternoon, Skeletonwitch delivered an equally impressive performance ,playing their only set of the festival.  Like Spielman, vocalist Chance Garnet was also an entertaining frontman with some good between song banter, at one point randomly shouting out, “Smoke weed, Austin!”  and then chuckling to himself before launching into the next song.  The band’s sound, a mix of thrash, death metal, and black metal, went over well with the crowd.  In addition, they previewed a song from their upcoming album.  As far as I know, it’s as yet untitled.  Might I suggest Smoke Weed Austin?

SXSW Review: Cloud Nothings, Mohawk, March 12

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

Cloud Nothings, they know how to rock.

When I first heard about them, I had heard they were a DIY sort of rock band that embraced a lo-fi rock kind of sound. I hadn’t particularly paid much attention to them aside from the fact that one of my friends seem to be BFF’s with the lead singer. It has seem that in the few years since their self titled album first made waves in the music world, the band has grown up. Dylan Baldi is no longer a clean shaven short hair basement singer for his little band – now it seems like Dylan Baldi has emerged into a long hair bearded leader of a rock band that just hits you with a punch of grunge-ish rock.

I didn’t quite know what to expect when Cloud Nothings took the stage at the Mohawk on Tuesday night. I had thought that they were this nerdy little band whose lead singer who writes for the same zine I did. I was wrong. The band took the stage and just rocked the place. For forty minutes, there was a non stop wall of sound from the group. Playing tracks from albums new and old, the group played what I can only describe as a blistering set of guitar noise and screamy vocals that weres surprisingly catchy. Paul said it was pretty clear that Dylan listened to Nirvana growing up. I would agree. I felt bad for people without earplugs. It was quite a jolt.

Cloud Nothings are playing a few more shows this week, so if you want a good punch to the gut of rock n roll, then definitely check them out.