South By Southwest

SXSW Review: Tanya Tagaq, March 19, Flamingo Cantina

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Ricky in South By Southwest | Leave a comment

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It’s hard to describe Tanya Tagaq’s live show, but one word sums it up pretty well.

Wow

If you want to go to an intense show, go to Tanya Tagaq’s show. Once she starts and grabs your attention, she won’t let it go until she’s done, even if you want to let it go, it’s impossible. The most recent Polaris Prize winner, Tanya Tagaq’s music is said to be her version of Inuit throat singing. Accompanied with a relentless combination of drums and violin, Tanya Tagaq’s show takes you through a series of motions when you first see her show:

What the hell is going on?
How does she make that sound?
What is she doing?
How are other people reacting (especially random people who just walked in)

About ten to twelve minutes later, she ends her first song and you can finally breath. It’s an exhilarating feeling, the tension that Tagaq builds with her songs can be sensed throughout the room and when it’s over, you feel like you and the people around you have been through something together.

That’s power.

SXSW UK: Dry The River, Black River, Charlotte OC

Posted on March 21, 2015 by Ricky in South By Southwest | Leave a comment

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The Brits, they always bring their A game to SXSW. It’s almost like their economy depends on it. Here are some acts I saw at Latitude 30, the place to go for tea and crumpets, or British acts.

Charlotte OC

Charlotte OC is a R&B singer from the north of England. She’s got a great voice and she’s got all the dramatic chops of being a top notch performer down. One second she’ll look like she’s on the verge of tears as she’s singing a ballad, the next second she looks like she’ll tear your head off in an angrier song. Her tracks are typically layered over electronic beats. It was all pleasant although I feel like at times she over sings a bit. I would too if I can sing like her. Pair her with a great producer and you might have a star, the ingredients are there.

Dry The River

Dry The River have angelic voices and look like rock stars. One of the guys likes to shotgun beers during the set and looks like Aragorn from Lord of the Rings. They released an album last year and appear to have another one coming this year. I believe they played some new tracks, which once again highlights their extraordinary harmonic talents and vocal work. Not sure if they’ll need to change it up in later releases to make sure they aren’t sounding samey, but this formula has been working so far.

Black Rivers

Black Rivers features Jez and Andy Williams, two of the three members of the Doves, one of my favorite bands. I was very interested to see how they sounded after such a long hiatus away from music but unfortunately, they started 17 minutes into their allotted time due to sound check problems and so we only got to hear about 4 tracks of theirs. What I heard sounded good – a bit of psych rock, and a lot of guitars. I’m not sure whether or not it was the microphone or the frustration of only being able to play a 15 minute set, but Jez Williams seemed to be struggling a bit behind the mic as a lead, and sadly, almost made me wish Jimi Goodwin was there. The ghost of rock band past, I guess.

SXSW: Will Butler, Kate Boy, Twin Shadows, Stubbs, March 20

Posted on March 21, 2015 by Ricky in South By Southwest | Leave a comment

Friday’s annual Spin SXSW Party is something else. Strong lineup and free booze. It’s one of the best day parties at SXSW and this year was no exception.

It’s been a few years since I’ve seen Kate Boy (featured in the picture above). Back then, they were shrouded in mystery but it’s now two years later and the band is finally ready to release their debut record. Performing in broad daylight, the group’s energy on stage was striking compared to when I last saw them in the tiny dark room that was the Wrongbar. With the additional space, Kate Akhurst was able to move and dance around to all parts of the stage and made for a much more engaging show to their percussion heavy electro-pop music. I’m looking forward to their album.

Will Butler’s recently released debut album is solid, so it should come as no surprise that his live show was solid as well. You almost forgot that Will Butler was in Arcade Fire until you saw his band, which featured also three female members playing a variety of instruments and a drummer. As the old saying goes, strength in numbers.

The additional backing vocals during the show added a nice chaotic punch to Will’s tracks. It was interesting to see Will Butler take front stage. The guy likes to move about on stage, climb stuff and manically bash his piano. I don’t stand in the rain for many shows, but his was good enough for me to do that.

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Twin Shadow OPENED with 5 seconds. He basically could of dropped the mic and walked off the stage after that. He did not. The man should be a superstar. Perhaps his new record will take him to that level. I hope so. Who opens with their best track and then keeps the show going strong? Twin Shadow does.

SXSW Review: Screaming Females, Earl Sweatshirt, March 20, Stubb’s

Posted on March 21, 2015 by Paul in South By Southwest | Leave a comment

If I had to boil it all down and describe Screaming Females with a single word, “ferocious” would probably be the best descriptor. The New jersey band plays with such energy and intensity that it’s hard not to get swept up in it all and want to start a band right then and there. Even the construction workers on a nearby rooftop had to stop what they were doing and check them out for a bit. Singer Marissa Paternoster is an impressive frontwoman who absolutely gives it her all. Oh, and she also totally shreds on the guitar. Ferocious.

Following Screaming Females was LA rapper Earl Sweatshirt, who matched the intensity of Screaming Females in his own way. After being informed that he had eight minutes left in his set, Earl addressed the crowd gathered to see him at Stubb’s: “I’m gonna need y’all to guarantee that the next eight minutes are gonna be turnt as fuck!” The crowd, of course, did their best to comply.

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