South By Southwest

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

Posted on February 27, 2019 by Gary in Song of the Day, South By Southwest | Leave a comment

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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 February 26, 2019 by Gary in Song of the Day, South By Southwest | Leave a comment

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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.

SXSW Song Of The Day: Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – Keen For Kick Ons?

Posted on February 22, 2019 by Paul in Song of the Day, South By Southwest | Leave a comment

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Photo credit: Sam Hesketh

Sometimes, all it really takes for a band to get noticed is having a name that’s memorable for some reason. Psychedelic Porn Crumpets certainly checks that box with a name that is equally excellent and ridiculous, a trait they share with fellow Aussies King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard.

And after giving their latest single “Keen For Kick Ons?” a listen, it becomes clear that the band shares more than just a predilection for silly names with King Gizzard, they also produce the same kind of blissful, fuzzed out psych-rock as their countrymen. Solid stuff indeed.

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets play Hotel Vegas Annex on March 16 at 12:00am and probably a bunch more shows throughout SXSW week as well.

SXSW Song Of The Day: Cedric Burnside – Hard To Stay Cool

Posted on February 21, 2019 by Paul in Song of the Day, South By Southwest | Leave a comment

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Photo Credit: Abraham Rowe

Cedric Burnside‘s latest album is entitled Benton County Relic, and while he’s been at this for awhile, it’s a pretty safe bet that Burnside himself is not the relic being referenced in the title. At 40, he’s far too young for that, but with eight albums under his belt and getting his start playing drums with his grandfather, legendary Mississippi bluesman R.L. Burnside, back when he was only 13, he certainly qualifies as a veteran performer.

The video for “Hard To Stay Cool” opens up with Burnside giving a bit of a lesson on the blues and its importance to African American culture before it segues into the song itself, a languid, slow burning blues about the challenges of trying to keep your cool during hard times. Check it out.

Cedric Burnside plays Cooper’s BBQ on March 13 at 10:00pm and on March 15 at 1:00am.

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