SXSW Review – Flosstradamus at Cedar Street Courtyard, March 21

Posted on March 22, 2009 by Alli in Everything, South By Southwest | Leave a comment

Austin – Saturday was a weird and different day for the Panic Manual team. It was our last day of SXSW and we kind of went into the day feeling a bit tired and I personally didn’t really make much of a plan for my day. Obviously with such a large scale event as SXSW planning winds up being pointless a lot of the time anyway, but on Saturday I didn’t really have any bands left that were on my must-see list. So I decided to just go with the flow. Which isn’t always easy for me, because I am a spaz. Anyway.

Ricky and I split up from Gary upon arrival downtown, hit up a party that turned out to be lame, got a bratwurst, and decided to head back to Filter’s ongoing party on 4th since we thoroughly enjoyed it there the day before. We got a beer and relaxed in the comfy chairs in the bar while Asobi Seksu finished their set. We had intended to see the hip hop supergroup N.A.S.A., but unsurprisingly things were running behind and Flosstradamus were next.

Flosstradamus are a DJ duo that hail from Chicago. What took place during their set was one of those unexpected awesome times that you only get when you least expect it. We got up from our chairs when they started and walked outside to a massive, sweaty dance party that only took a few moments to get started. The crowd had joined them onstage and everyone was having a blast, and to add to the fun a circle opened up and some guys started break dancing.

This went on for the entire set and I couldn’t have cared less how sweaty and gross I was afterward. Moments of musical pleasure like that must be taken advantage of! Unfortunately we had to head out and miss N.A.S.A. The night that was to come was worth it though – stay tuned!

SXSW Review: Gomez, March 19, Stubb’s BBQ

Posted on March 22, 2009 by Ricky in Concerts, Everything, South By Southwest | Leave a comment

Gomez, March 18, Stubbs, SXSW

Austin – Having ignored Gomez for the past few albums, I went into the concert on Thursday night with mild expectations. Most of my Gomez experience has been with the albums ‘Bring it On’ and ‘Liquid Skin’ so I was expecting a folksy – bluesy kind of show. Little did I know that in the decade since ‘Bring it on’, the Southport 5-some has transformed themselves from a folksy/bluesy band to an adult contemporary rock band. I should have known that this was not the Gomez I listened to when I saw the band setting up and there was a laptop with a synth there.

Arriving on to the stage, Ian Ball immediately asked if the crowd’s feet were ‘glued to the floor’ and urged them to start dancing. I was like, what? Apparently this new version of Gomez features a steady diet of guitar rock mixed with some synth action. This is the new Gomez. They were good. Ben Ottewell’s voice is so unique in that sandy sounding bluesy way. Having three vocalists, you can really see the band use each persons voice to great effect. They played a bunch of songs I didn’t know, but all of them sounded pretty good. One of the songs I knew – Girlshapedlovedrug had a great reaction from the packed crowd at Stubbs. “See the World” also got a good response. It is also nice to see a band completely in their element on stage. At SXSW, a lot of times you see bands who only have been around a year or two or less, and are visibly nervous on stage when there is a large crowd. Gomez, being festival veterans, strolled out like superstars, engaged with their audience and created a good festival vibe during their set, either with witty banter, call and response and just all in all a very crisp performance.

Despite not playing ‘get myself arrested’, ’78 stone wobble’ or ‘we haven’t turned around’, I was pretty damn pleased with the show.

SXSW Review: Chairlift, Red Eyes Fly, March 21 2009

Posted on March 21, 2009 by Gary in Concerts, Everything, South By Southwest | Leave a comment

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Austin TX – Brooklyn’s Chairlift gained instant celebrity through ipod’s nanochromatic campaign, indeed that’s how I heard them first. The super flighty and infectious “Bruises” has had 3.7 million hits on myspace alone and I have to say, it’s very different from what’s on the rest of the album, which are placidly mood-setting. Because of this difference, for the longest time I had them mixed up with another 3 person boy-boy-girl band called Headlights from Illinois and actually thought I was going to see the latter instead… My bad.

This set was extremely short. But my guess is when the vocal came on stage with her blue workshirt and lace stocking half of everyone else became longer to compensate. There weren’t that big of a crowd, though. They played only 4 songs (Planet Health, Bruises and 2 others…) I think all from the first album. The singing was dead-on, but always a bit flat and not as flighty as the recordings. A few people were dancing, the general crowd reaction was respectable but a bit withdrawn, which could be why they didn’t play much… or maybe they have to wrap and head to the next show at Dallas.

I can’t really write a fair review on a short show like this… guess there’s always next time. I just found out they’re playing with PBJ in April at Phenix Theater (Toronto). Would that I didn’t wait 1.5 hr for PBJ to warrant an almost permanent No-No…

SXSW Review: Viva Voce, Red Eyes Fly, March 19 2009

Posted on March 21, 2009 by Gary in Concerts, South By Southwest | Leave a comment

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Austin, TX – On the first post after 18 shows in 48 hrs, I found that there isn’t much patience in me for heavy music. Sitting outside of the outdoor Primal Scream set at 15C 1am in the morning wasn’t very nice. An actual lyrical, singing band is always nice and relaxing. Viva Voce from Portland fits my bill but they didn’t play at the wee hours of the night when I needed soft soothing songs the most. The weather was sunny, with beams of light streaming onto the stage – very nice unless you happen to look down and then you’re instantly reminded you’re at south-by with 100,000 other people…

I think they followed a band called Alberta Cross (don’t know if they are from Alberta), unlike some certain bands, they quickly set up as their crowd assembled. The percussion actually joked and let the sound guy know that he needs to not pay her extra attention and check-up on the lead vocal… funny. For some reason I can’t ever hear the lead guitar but he does sing, probably another doing when the sound-man checks out girls in the band. Their playing is dead-on with the recordings. Good songs like Free Nude Celebs and From the Devil Himself were all smooth and very enjoyable. I’m not going to describe the feeling of standing sun-strewn in a lazy bar listening to flowing guitar rifts, but you catch the drift. The band themselves are also very swimming people – there’s not much showmanship required, just music, which is the way I like it. MC made fun of the vocal and apparently he was turned on whenever she grabs the whammy… nothing wrong with that! :)

As we go on to more shows I hope we get to see more of these guys and more acoustic bands (yeah, I know, they’re not technically acoustic; sue me). If they are all as enjoyable as Viva Voce I will be a very happy man.

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