South By Southwest

SXSW Review: Robert Ellis, Sarah Jarosz, March 17, St. David’s Historic Sanctuary

Posted on by Gary in Concerts, Everything, Reviews, South By Southwest | Leave a comment

Robert Ellis
A night for Americana (the music, not plastic items in antique collector’s cabinet) is never a bad idea at SXSW. Because there are great venues all along 6th street that at any other time should be amply full of tamer crowds of appreciative adults. But times have changed, and SXSW has been slowly devolving into just a checkmark on the rave calendar of teenagers. And so the less flashy and more substantive acts have been forced to move to quieter settings. This is the main reason why I can be found at the Sanctuary almost every SXSW, unless I feel the need to battle teenage antics for the music.

Robert Ellis has been performing since 2005, but only found a wider audience after having been mentioned by industry magazines. This night he played from his recent, 2014 album, The Lights From the Chemical Plant. With such a title, you would rightly expect a tinge of sarcasm that runs through the lyrics. Ellis has a twangy but thin voice, making those lyrics especially clear and meditative. There wasn’t over-the-top, emotional bellowing, and it’s really not necessary. The memorable numbers, I found, were “Only Lies,” “Bottle of Wine,” and “Elephants,” a new song that hasn’t been collected in an album. While the first two were more traditional folk/country pieces full of earnest story-telling that celebrates the ugly and pragmatic side of life, “Elephants” sees the cynicism seep even deeper into the melody. I look forward to hearing more of its like on Ellis’ new effort. Sarah Jarosz

When I last saw the Grammy-nominated artist Sarah Jarosz, there was a pane of liquid-crystal display and a time dislocation of one year separating our realities. It was a recorded Austin City Limits (ACL) broadcast on PBS, when she performed with the Milk Carton Kids (also memorable). Since her last album, Build Me Up From Bones, she has moved to NYC to pursue a new sound, and in the soon to be released Undercurrent, I’d say she has certainly found more variety to express her music. Obvious by the home-crowd support, she’s very comfortable performing in Austin TX, and covered quite a few songs from the upcoming album. There is still her brand of ye’olde construct floating through songs like “House of Mercy,” but then there is another, softer expression that worked well in a number where she collaborated with Aoife O’Donovan.

I’d recommend seeing her concerts whenever you get the chance. Not only is her singing voice powerful and resounding, her guitar (and yes, banjo) playing is crisp and superb. Case in point – her take on Bob Dylan’s often covered “Ring Them Bells” – the apt song by which she ended this session (because it’s in a church space called “Sanctuary”). Even without the crooked, world-weariness required by the lyrics, she manages to take another perspective and drive those lyrics home in an almost hopeful manner. While that dulled the cynicism built-up from Ellis’ concert just a little, stepping out of the Sanctuary and seeing the gathering mob was all it took to send me straight back into meditation. Or perhaps ignorance?

SXSW Review: Cumstain, Big White, March 19, Hotel Vegas

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

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When you give your band a name like Cumstain, you’re bound to get a bit of notoriety, sure, but you’ve also got to figure that a name like that is likely to only take you so far. Neverthless, the members of the Oakland garage punk band seemed ready and willing to consider any and all cross promotional marketing possibilities, cheekily announcing that their show at Hotel Vegas would be sponsored by Guitar Center, Wendy’s and a few others. “What else can we push?” asked singer/guitarist Sean Starling to which one of his bandmates responded, “Cocaine!” Starling already had the slogan ready: “Cocaine: blow it up your nose, don’t get it on your clothes!” They followed up that bit of stage banter by launching into “Rock and Roll Don’t Pay My Bills.”

The band continued on with their satirical piss-take on corporate sponsorship a bit later in their set and while it’s a bit of an obvious target during SXSW, it was still quite amusing and entertaining, as was their set. With their fun, high energy “California Rock ‘n’ roll” (as their banner put it) driven by a crude sense of humour, Cumstain put on a memorable performance to one of the most hyped up crowds I’d seen all week inside the packed indoor room at Hotel Vegas. Perhaps not quite hyped up enough for Starling, who encouraged the crowd to “Start shoving each other, stop being so jaded.”

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Following them on the outdoor stage were Australia’s Big White, who offered up something a bit less intense, but no less enjoyable in it’s own way. Jangly at times, a bit shoegazey at others, their sound was reminiscent of a lot of British music from the 1980s – there was a heavy Cure influence on some of their stuff. The Sydney based band offered up lots of catchy melodies delivered by multiple vocalists, which added a nice bit of variety to their set. Their latest release, Teenage Dreams, is out now on Caroline Records in Australia and available on cassette via Burger Records, who were responsible for the top notch lineup at Hotel Vegas that on this day also included Hinds, Death Valley Girls, Dressy Bessy, and many more. Well done, Burger Records!

SXSW Wrestling Review: Lucha Underground, March 14

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

lucha underground

lucha underground

When you go to SXSW, you go with an open mind and the expectation that you will come away with some new experiences. When I heard that there was luchador wrestling at SXSW, it was a no brainer for me. I haven’t really followed wrestling lately, but the inner child in me was secretly excited to see live wrestling.

Lucha Underground is a wrestling organization that you can probably consider indie. If WWE was Jay-Z, Lucha Underground is that dude handing out mixtapes on the streets. They are on the rise and, as with most independent things, have a dedicated following. The night at SXSW was a showcase for the organization and as I arrived at the Austin Music Hall (RIP) it appeared their fans were out in full force. The showcase featured a few matches – I saw a 1 on 1 match, a ladies 1 on 1 match and a 3 on 3 tag match. The last match featured Rey Mysterio, the only wrestler I recognized.

Wrestling live is a lot like a hip hop show mixed with theatre. There’s a lot of call and responses – each wrestler has their own catchphrases and also even during a match, there are moves that fans will respond to with specific phrases. I would imagine if you know the wrestler, it would be pretty fun to shout stuff out. The main comparison would be at a concert where everyone is singing out the lyrics to songs they know, only in wrestling you are shouting out catchphrases or something to wrestler moves. My only complaint was that each wrestler had to do a speech before each match and well, let’s just say not all of them are as smooth as The Rock and it provided for some occasionally cringe-worthy moments.

The thing you don’t quite realize until you actually see the show live is how big and athletic these guys are. I think one of the wrestler’s arm was thicker then my torso. Some guy could be 250 pounds and then jump up and do a front flip and land on his feet like it’s nothing. Yes wrestling is scripted, but you cannot deny the athletic ability of these men and women.

I enjoyed the Lucha Underground night, it was action packed and the crowd was insane. I don’t think I saw a louder crowd at SXSW than the one at Lucha Underground. The band El Conjunto Nueva Ola played in between matches and they were quite entertaining. Having donned luchador masks, they played their own tracks as well as modern day covers. I did not expect them to do Maroon 5 covers, but yet, they did.

Live wrestling, it’s something to check out. Because Stone Cold said so.

ps. I couldn’t didn’t know how to end this article, but I wanted to do it with a wrestling catchphrase. Here are some other options

  • So watcha gonna do when wrestling at SXSW runs wild on yooooooou
  • Wrestling at SXSW. OOOOOOohhhhh Yeeeeaaaaah
  • Did I enjoy wrestling at SXSW? Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

That’s about all I got.

SXSW Review: Diarrhea Planet, March 19, Little Woodrow’s

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

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To quote Billy Joel (this will probably be the only time Billy Joel comes up in the context of a Diarrhea Planet review), it was a pretty good crowd for a Saturday. That’s what the members of Diarrhea Planet seemed to be thinking as they played a 1:00 pm set on the last day of SXSW, aka “the most hungover day” according to them. “You guys look pretty awake. I was expecting more of a sunglasses crowd. You must have a couple of Pedialyte in you.”

It’s true, by the end of the week, SXSW can take it’s toll on you, even if you haven’t been going that hard. But word has gotten out about Diarrhea Planet, a six piece outfit making some of the most straight up enjoyable music I’ve heard in awhile, and enough people managed to get themselves up early enough to catch an impressive set by the band. With their four guitar arsenal, there’s plenty of opportunity for lots of metal-influenced soloing and general rocking out at any given moment during one of their shows.

One of the highlights of their set was “Life Pass,” off of their upcoming album Turn To Gold, described by the band as being “… about what happens when the party catches up to you. I think it’s pretty appropriate for today.”