South By Southwest

SXSW Review: Bash and Pop, Muncie Girls, March 13, The Mohawk

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Near the start of Bash and Pop’s set as part of The Onion AV Club’s Manic Monday party at the Mohawk, Tommy Stinson mentioned how the band were starting off the first night of SXSW during the day and joked that by the last night they’d probably be playing at 4:00am to “that one guy. You know the guy.” And while Stinson might feel more comfortable playing at night (or at least remembering to bring sunglasses for the next day show), the band still put on a great show. Following a fairly meticulous (by SXSW standards) soundcheck, they showcased a few numbers off of their latest album Anything Could Happen, the band’s first release since their 1993 debut album Friday Night Is Killing Me.

While Stinson’s a veteran of SXSW, Muncie Girls, the band who preceded him on the smaller indoor stage at the Mohawk, were experiencing their first SXSW and seemed to be enjoying themselves so far, though Lande Hekt jokingly confessed that she felt a little worried about playing a show presented by the AV Club after reading the comments under a video of theirs that premiered on the site. As it turns out, she had nothing to worry about – the crowd was definitely on Muncie Girls’ side as the band plowed through a set of catchy as hell feminist punk anthems off their debut From Caplan to Belsize. And besides, I don’t think the commenters on the AV Club go out to shows anyways. Unless it’s a Dawes show …

SXSW Song Of The Day: Lift To Experience – Just As Was Told

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Denton, Texas-based band Lift To Experience has had a bit of an interesting history. After playing the 2000 edition of SXSW, the trio signed to London-based label Bella Union and went on to release only one album. That album, 2001’s The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads, would go on to attain a certain cult status, although the band seems to have gained more of a following in the UK than they ever did stateside.

Now, all these years later, the band is back with a reissued, remastered version of the album and playing a couple of shows for SXSW 2017, including one in a church, which seems somewhat fitting for a band that made a post-rock/shoegaze concept album about the second coming of Jesus Christ in Texas.

Check out “Just As Was Told,” the Slint-esque opening track from that album below:

SXSW Song Of The Day: Whitney Rose – Bluebonnets For My Baby

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Though her SXSW bio page may say that she’s from Austin, we Canadians know where Whitney Rose is really from. Regardless of her origins though, the P.E.I. born and previously Toronto-based musician does a great job of capturing that authentic old school country sound to an extent that I’m sure a lot of Texans wouldn’t mind claiming her as their own. Unless they’re one of those “welcome to Austin, don’t move here” types, in which case, they probably won’t be in town for SXSW anyways, so whatever.

Check out ’50s-style slow dance number “Bluebonnets For My Baby” from Whitney Rose’s latest release South Texas Suite below:

SxSW Song of the Day: Temples, Certainty

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Late in 2014, Ricky mused laconically about where the 70s-energy of Temples would be in 2017. Let’s review: “The Golden Throne” from Temples was a compelling track from the moment it opened with an exotic guitar theme. It never let up and held an extremely tight composition throughout the rest of the disco-hued track. Well, here we are now and I’m happy to report that they aren’t bagging groceries, and they’re not going anywhere fast.

That was a compliment. Still dishing out their brand of “name theme, expand theme, and radiate”, we find that they aren’t limited to courting throwbacks. In the new track “Certainty,” Temples wears a new-found joy that conjures some of the same magic, had the jingle from Futurama’s Game of Tones been piled into phyllo pastry layers in a confectionery. Despite the new sound, you can forget about finding a signature. Apparently, their stamp is not in a melody or tempo, but the metaphysical sense of “GLORY”. I believe that’s two for two now, and I only hope they continue to write along this trajectory. Yes, I borrowed from Ricky shamelessly without trying to figure out why their music is interesting. Bite my shiny metal amygdala.