South By Southwest

SXSW Song Of The Day: The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown – Fire

Posted on by Paul in Song of the Day, South By Southwest | Leave a comment

artist-31185
Photo Credit: @PaulyRockPhoto

Every year at SXSW, there’s usually at least a handful of old school veteran performers in attendance alongside all of the newbies and this year one of the artists filling that role is The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown.

Yes, the God of Hellfire himself is still at it more than 50 years after he first started and he’ll be appearing at SXSW this year on a solid bill put together by LPR and Psycho Entertainment alongside ’60s occult rockers Coven and newer acts such as Bambara and The Comet Is Coming. It promises to be a hell of a show (corny pun absolutely intended).

The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown plays Empire Garage on March 14 at 10:45pm.

SXSW Preview: The Comet is Coming – Final Eclipse

Posted on by Ricky in Song of the Day, South By Southwest | Leave a comment

bme

The Comet is Coming is a trio from the UK that plays something that could generally be classified as jazz, but with some sort of EDM influence as well. The tunes move along at a steady pace and there are things that you might consider akin to bass drops.

Take “Final Eclipse.” With its rapid firing saxophone and the relentless bass, the track plays with an urgency that catches you by surprise and it’s great.

They have already been nominated for a Mercury Prize so it’s not like they are a mystery. They’ll be at the British Music Embassy at Latitude 30. The show will be awesome. Be there.

The Comet Is Coming plays St. David’s Historic Sanctuary on March 13 at 10:10pm as well as the aforementioned British Music Embassy at Latitude 30 on March 15 at 12:00am. Check out a playlist of all the artists playing at the British Music Embassy below (“Final Eclipse” is track 18).

SXSW Song of the Day: Graham Reynolds and Golden Arm Trio – Caravan

Posted on by Gary in Song of the Day, South By Southwest | Leave a comment

GAT+photo

If your mind drifted to Ocean’s Eleven at 0:45 here, it is working just fine. Duke Ellington’s “Caravan” has been a well-tread standard since 1936. The Golden Arm Trio’s cover has a vaudeville feeling right from the get-go. Through the piano, a twisted Bugs Bunny announces the arrival of the unmistakably long first note of “Caravan”, and then it all goes (even more) nuts from there.

Austin-based Graham Reynolds is as bright and manic in his composition as Ellington’s original is off-kilter, moody and sparse. The baseline rhythm has been sped up to ludicrous speed, and a big band sound really pushes it over the edge. If the original projected the secretive silhouettes of circus musicians creeping behind you on the wall as you walk by in a Pink Panther pastel, this cover alerts you to their presence via a megaphone.

Of course, yours truly keeps seguing into an Egyptian snake charmer mode half way through the trumpet solo. Quite how a cold-blooded animal would be able to move at this breakneck speed is anyone’s guess though. More caffeine may help.

Graham Reynolds & Golden Arm Trio play Elephant Room on March 15 at 10:00pm.

SXSW Song of the Day: red steppes, Leonine

Posted on by Gary in Song of the Day, South By Southwest | Leave a comment

artist-26046
Photo Credit: Nika Aila States

red steppes‘ “Leonine” starts out under the indie math-rock banner, but it soon reveals its true colors.

Nika Aila States, using the stage name red steppes, triple-distills some awesome construction as well as execution, and conjures a quick storm in 3 minutes. The structure is still very classic, with chorus, refrains separating stanzas and even a bridge. All of these components, however, are incredibly wondrous and light.

That it’s something one would not find out of place if it floated from an open window as one strolled down Signal Hill in San Francisco with flowers and bees in one’s hair (because god-forbid if you walk uphill you would suffer death by perspiration) is perhaps not surprising, as it really WAS mixed and taped in North Cal. States shows nary a hesitation in flowing across the scales, jumping freely to-and-fro with the melody.