SXSW Review: Wild Flag, March 16, Waterloo Records

Posted on by Paul in Concerts, South By Southwest | 2 Comments

Austin – As I was watching Wild Flag play their first show of a few that they’ll be doing for SXSW, a thought popped into my head – not only was this the second indie rock “supergroup” I had seen perform in as many days (Mister Heavenly being the other) but it was also the second band to feature the star of a TV show. Yes, besides being guitarist for Wild Flag, Carrie Brownstein is also featured in sketch comedy series Portlandia. However, unlike Mister Heavenly’s Michael Cera, I would doubt there are too many who know her better from her television appearances. And if there are, please do yourself a favour and listen to some Wild Flag and Sleater-Kinney.

In addition to Brownstein, Wild Flag also features her former S-K bandmate Janet Weiss as well as Mary Timony of Helium and Rebeca Cole of the minders. As a band, they had pretty good chemistry onstage.  Brownstein and Timony shared the role of frontwoman, each taking the lead on various songs. Cole and Weiss held things down on keys and drums respectively as well as adding harmonies throughout. Despite being a pretty big Sleater Kinney fan, I had never seen the band live when they were around, so I was looking forward to this show. At first I thought, “OK, it’s good, but maybe not great.” This attitude changed as the set went on and by the time they made it to “Glass Tambourine” and it’s ’70s styled hard rock riffage, I was sold. 

The most memorable moment of the set came early on though, when Brownstein did one of her many kicks onstage and kicked her guitar cord right out. Weiss was impressed, commenting how she had never done that in all the years they had been playing together. Brownstein commented that she would probably do it again and addressed the audience: “Do you expect this to be pretty? At a rock show?” It may not always be pretty, but Wild Flag certainly did impress me with their performance.

SXSW Review: Mister Heavenly, March 15, Bat Bar

Posted on by Paul in Concerts, Everything, South By Southwest | 1 Comment

Austin – Mister Heavenly is an indie rock supergroup of sorts spearheaded by Nick Thorburn of Islands and featuring Man Man’s Honus Honus and Modest Mouse’s Joe Plummer.  But I’d imagine if one were to do an informal poll of the crowd, the findings would be that the majority of people in attendance were there not because of a fondness for those bands, but for one sole reason: they wanted to see a celebrity play in a band.  Yes, Mister Heavenly also features Michael Cera aka George Michael Bluth, aka that guy from Superbad, aka Scott Pilgrim.  And much like Scott Pilgrim, Cera plays bass in this group. 

The curiosity factor was very high, with one girl outside wondering if Cera would even be playing with them tonight and another guy musing on whether all of their lyrics would come in the form of awkwardly phrased sentences.  I spoke with two guys who had seen them play earlier that afternoon (I think at The IFC House?) who told me after the first song that they sucked, adding, “all their songs sound like this.”  I wondered why they would come see them again if they already knew they sucked, but kept my wouth shut on that matter as I wanted to watch a band, not get into a debate. 

So, did they suck?  No, but it wasn’t quite what I expected either.  In interviews before the band had even really recorded anything, Thorburn described the project as “doom wop,” and not having heard anything from them, I was expecting 1950s style harmonies over slow, droning, doomy riffs.  I was expecting Cera to be laying down some thick bass sludge Geezer Butler style.  This was not the reality.  I could certainly hear the ’50s influence in a lot of the melodies, but not quite the doom part.  Still, it was pretty decent stuff and I look forward to hearing the new album when it comes out.

SXSW Review: Pulled Apart By Horses, March 15, Latitude 30

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

Austin – After an excellent yet comparatively subdued set by Jonquil, Leeds based noisemakers Pulled Apart By Horses took to the stage at Latitude 30 and basically tore things up.  Their music had a noisy, punky, chaotic demeanor, full of hardcore style screaming (ie. screamo), abrupt changes, and several riffs that seemed to be almost lifted directly from Rage Against The Machine.  Their stage presence added a lot to the chaotic nature of their set.  They basically threw in all of the stock rock n’ roll/punk moves that are kind of cliche but also work perfectly to get the crowd going – crowd surfing, jumping off their amps, going out into the crowd to sing and climbing up onto the bar, and of course spitting up into the air and watching it land on stage.  They were obviously having fun onstage and it showed.  There was a minor delay after the first song when the power to the mics went out where they got a fan onstage to tell a joke (but if the mic wasn’t working, how would everyone hear the joke?). Later in their set, singer Tom Hudson inexplicably sang a snippet of “Cotton Eyed Joe” as he ran through the crowd.

It was a fun, high energy set that was appreciated by many in attendance.  In fact, it was fun and high energy largely because of the crowd’s reaction.  There was a guy who looked like Stone Cold Steve Austin, but with glasses, who was singing along with many of the lyrics. There was also the aforementioned fan who almost told a joke clearly the most excited to be there, dancing wildly throughout their set.  During the song, “High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive,” there were in fact many high fives given out by the band to the crowd, including one unlucky guy who took a high five to the head because he wasn’t paying attention.  Strangely, he didn’t seem to mind that the band had basically smacked him in the head.  I spoke to Ricky, who had been standing much further back from the stage during their set.  His assessment?  “It was like being hit by a freight train.”  Yeah, it was noisy and chaotic, but in a good way.

High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive by cooperativemusicuk

CMW Review: The Zoobombs, Mar 12, Comfort Zone

Posted on by Mark in Canadian Music Week, Concerts | Leave a comment

Toronto – As some of you may know, fellow Panic Manualer Paul is our resident expert in all things metal and hard rock. Paul has been making an effort of late to broaden his musical horizons by covering jazz and funk shows. I commend him on his efforts. He has risen to the challenge and to this I say “a funkety funk.”

As the Panic Manual’s resident jazz writer, I’ve been tasked by Paul with the following challenge: “review me some hard punk rock music at Canadian Music Week.” To this I respond, “I am up to your challenge Paul!. I also have diverse and broad musical taste! I fear not this punk rock you speak of!” So marks my first hard rock experience since seeing Sum 41 play Ottawa Bluesfest  7 years ago. That experience has amply prepared me for more of the very same type of legitimate hard rock music.

Fast forward to late Saturday evening where I was dragged chose to go to the Comfort Zone to check out Japanese punk rockers the Zoobombs. Sporting a knit tie and a vest, I could tell immediately that I would fit right in. You see, my nefarious plans involved going to the Comfort Zone all along. I knew that this was the sort of all-black-clothes or hoodie wearing crowd that would look down on a silk tie. That’s why I chose a knit tie. I blended in like a mofo. Mark 1. Punk Music 0.

The Zoobombs are an energetic bunch of Japanese punk rockers. My earplugs were turned up to maximum warp and I could still feel the music shake me and my trusty Nikon. After snapping a few shots, I realized that the music was so loud that it was shaking my index finger at just the right tempo to simulate the “quickshot” feature of much more expensive cameras. Take that loud music. Mark 2. Punk Music 0.

It was at this point that I starting to feel like the music was trying to shake my precious brain goo out of its enclosure. A modest retreat was in order. At first Paul was wondering why I was standing behind instead of beside him. Also, I was actually hunching and cowering more than standing. It was at this point that Paul realized that I was expertly wielding him as a sound shield. There was a tremendous amount of sound energy assaulting ears that are more qualified for Chopin than Megadeath. Admittedly, that’s worth two points. Mark 2. Punk Music 2.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciated the energy the Zoobombs had to offer. For me it was just like trying to eat an entire watermelon while on E.

Too intense for my blood. Let’s call it a tie.