South By Southwest

SXSW Review: The Boxer Rebellion, Maggie Mae’s Rooftop, March 19

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Alli in Everything, South By Southwest | 1 Comment

boxer rebellion

Austin – Don’t mind me if I get a little too real here for a sec, but a couple days into SXSW I developed a pretty nasty cold. I spent all day Friday in the hotel room trying to recuperate just so that I could go out that night to see The Boxer Rebellion. They were basically the main reason I wanted to come along for the ride, as they released one of my favorite albums of last year.

I found myself surrounded by a fairly unfavorable crowd at this show, as Sum 41 (?!?!?) were set to be playing later on.. by unfavorable, I mean teenage girls and drunk frat boys. I was able to ignore them once they went on, so that has to say something good.

The Boxer Rebellion come off as a very gracious and professional band. I can’t say enough about how enjoyable the show was; I completely forgot how crappy I was feeling while they played, and came away with enough energy to enjoy the rest of my evening. Singer Nathan Nicholson puts everything he has into performing and it’s very genuine. The same goes for the rest of the band, but he is really an excellent frontman. I especially enjoyed the addition of extra percussion on “Flashing Red Light Means Go”. If you’re like me and you enjoy good British rock with a touch of falsetto now and then and great, sometimes hauntingly beautiful guitar sounds, you will love this band.

boxer rebellion

SXSW Review: Dum Dum Girls & The XX, French Legation Museum, March 18

Posted on March 20, 2010 by Alli in Everything, South By Southwest | 1 Comment

dum dum girls

Austin – It seemed like everyone attending SXSW came to this particular show. The XX are easily the most hyped band here at the fest this year; I’d heard quite a bit about Dum Dum Girls too.

LA’s Dum Dum Girls are self-described as their own genre, “blissed-out buzzsaw”.. basically to me it translated as a cross between the Ramones and just about any shoegaze band you can think of. It’s something I’d want to listen to on a chill day at the beach. Very enjoyable.

the xx

The XX come from southwest London, I’m not sure what to say about them that hasn’t already been said. They’re young and I got the vibe that they’re a little overwhelmed by their fairly sudden fame. It just seemed weird to hear the gigantic, mostly drunk crowd cheering like they were in a football stadium after any of their sexy, understated songs. I enjoyed them quite a bit but I think it was just the wrong environment to see them in.

the xx

SXSW Days 1 & 2, Quicky Ricky Reviews

Posted on March 20, 2010 by Ricky in Concerts, South By Southwest | Leave a comment

Mohawk Rooftop

Austin – It has come to my realization that I will not be able to write long ass reviews for every band I see. So here are some quicky Ricky reviews.

Chris Shiflett – The man best known as the lead guitarist for the Foo Fighters also played Monday night’s British Embassy night. Why? I don’t know, maybe he likes soccer or something. Nothing about his set really impressed me, although with his laid back demeanor, beard, flannel shirt and the panty removing acoustic guitar, I am sure soccer moms everywhere are already taking their minivans to Walmart in order to buy his upcoming release.


We Are Scientists – This band was older then I thought, although I am older then I thought as well. Either way, they played the interactive closing party. There set consisted of guitar driven power pop songs. I thought they could have benefitted from a synth players at times. They played a couple of their hit songs during their set, as well as showing off some new material. The crowd was quite into the band, especially one girl, who was clearly super drunk and semi passed out at the front of the stage.

Matias Aguayo – This guy was a one man wrecking crew. Using a variety of instruments including flutes, snares, tamborines and electric gadgets, the French/Spanish dj put down some tribal beats and was extremely impressive. I was equally impressed at myself for taking the advice from some dude wearing an Old Milwaukee hat, tilted sideways.

Toro Y Moi – One of the biggest chillwave artists to break out in 2010, the feedback heavy sounds coming from Toro Y Moi wasn’t really impressing me, as much as the bunch of hipsters doing interpretive dancing to his semi smooth sound does. A bit of a downer, to be honest.

The Law – Playing in front of about 8 people, this Scottish band made the best of the situation by delivering an energy filled set of guitar driven indie rock. They had a light playfullness to their sound that reminded me of something like the Fratellis or latter day Supergrass, I think.

She & Him – I only got into the last 4 songs of their set at Cedar Courtyard, although I did manage here my favorite S&H song – In the Sun. Zooey Deschanel’s voice delivered as promised and the rest of the band played nicely in the background. There was no photographs allowed and Zooey had on a large hat that she may or may not stole from the Lord of the Rings movie set.

Cate Le Bon – Stopped by to see this Welsh folkish/psychedelic singer songwriter. I don’t know much about her except she was the guest vocalist on Neon Neon’s I Lust You. Her laid back set was just what I needed to calm me down after an exciting Thursday afternoon.

SXSW review: Gary’s unplanned day

Posted on March 19, 2010 by Gary in Concerts, Everything, South By Southwest | 3 Comments

Austin, TX – I guess not everything at SXSW should be the rosy picture that we paint for you: 4 people going to shows non-stop with a hyperactive critical attitude, analyzing everything from set decor, lighting, to the band’s performance and antics, and of course, whether we got into the shows without delay or with viscous resistance. In this case, the afternoon and evening of March 18 was completely molasses for me.

Shearwater has been on the iphone since day one with Rooks, a moody ballade that immediately caught my attention (although because of how sad it is, I rarely need it to remind me how sad my life is…). They also have a new album out, The Golden Archipelago, I believe. Coupled with the fact that Fanfarlo was next, of course I went to see them. The vocal is perhaps even more booming and mind-boggling in person.

After listening to more bands, I decided to head out of Galaxy room. Bad decision. I wondered the 20C Austin for the next hour in hopes of finding something interesting without success. I then headed to Fader Fort (courtesy of Levi’s). Just because they don’t make jeans in Canada anymore doesn’t mean they have no presence – in fact the security at their fort had a bit too much presence, and took the word FORT literally – wouldn’t let me into the line while my colleagued waved lackadaisically. Sigh. And this was after walking 20 min out to the highway. And then as I looked dejectedly at my plan, I found that I had missed Lou Barlow, at the Galaxy room no less…

So I headed back. And listened to The Low Anthem, American folk/rock’ers from Rhode Island. I did find them enjoyable. Their also resonated well with the audience – you might be surprised to find that it doesn’t always happen that way – a lot of people end up seeing shows that they never planned to. Keep reading and you’ll see…

And then the Middle East, from Australia. They were quite energetic. I’ll save my breath because I think Cheryl has already written much about them.

And now for the grande finale of this day. Since Broken Social Scene and Band of Horses were going to play at Stubb’s, I took to lining up. About 20 min after, the 100 people line was told that the show was now only open to badge holders. OK. It happens. Along with another fellow poor sucker, I joined another lineup for the XX. 1 hour and some later, we were again told the same thing… OK. Now what? We decided to hit The Toxic Avengers. But then this fellow Southby’er got the venue completely mixed up. So we ended up listening to teeny rock. She then bolted for Toxic Avengers, and I stayed for Deer Ticks. And to add insult to injury: Ricky had to tell me that he got into Stubb’s while Broken Social Scene was playing. Sigh. I miss toronto?

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