As others on the Panic crew left for the W, I was left ambling along the “cool” side of Congress, and started the night by listening to someone I haven’t heard of until that point.
It is funny how after 7 years, I realized that the nominal retreats from sanity such as the Presbyterian Church or the Sanctuary were no longer guarantees. Given their increasing popularity, attendance has been transformed into a type of social ritual. And the need to be included, be seen, be known and be cleansed by the trials of fire that is a SXSW “party” now permeates some venues. I don’t blame the performers or venues, after all, saturating the space with audience and anticipation IS the goal of any showcase. But simultaneously it sours the experience. Or perhaps I am being jaded (or that artificial knee is showing). In contrast, tucked away on the other side of Congress and situated next to the gigantic W, Lambert’s BBQ seems like one of the little moons of Jupiter, reeling from its gravity. But it does have one benefit: everyone here is mild and considerate, therefore the epitome of enjoyable live music – enjoyable company. I last came to Lambert’s to see Secret Cities a few years back, and Rebecca Perl’s set was similarly cozy, warm, and immensely solid. I didn’t have to fight for a shot – in fact I was invited to get into other people’s line-of-sight so I could take pictures. Rebecca and the band’s enthusiasm filled the upstairs of Lambert’s, and in turn they were well-received by the crowd. Playing a mixture of folk, country and jazz, I particularly like how the saxophone was incorporated. The set ended with the ever catchy “So Good To Me“, and a solo for all members of the band. Short but worthwhile, it was the quintessential SXSW showcase.
Springtime carnivore
I’ve always naively assumed that the biography attached to the band photos in a SXSW page/booklet were written either by the manager or the band themselves. On the way home, a night after Springtime Carnivore played, I shared a taxi to Austin airport with a Denver/NY-based writer. One surprising fact that emerged from that conversation was: professional writers are paid to write the biography/introduction blurbs. That could explain why they weren’t “psychedelic” as advertised. There were certainly some flowing electronic interludes, but otherwise Springtime Carnivore reflected a part of normal indie pop repertoire. In a care-free fashion, the lead singer Greta Morgan wasn’t always on key, but that hardly mattered: SXSW isn’t the spring-time recital at Peabody Conservatory. Buoyed by the same attitude, they encouraged the crowd to dance in the church, I would say to most others’ chagrin. But that’s because most people are squares. Even with camera in hand, it was pretty hard resisting the urge to dance along to that whistling in “Name On A Matchbook“.
Emmy the Great
This was one of those acts that completely contradicted my expectations. Maybe I should have watched their music videos beforehand. Performing under the same roof where the Japanese rock-star Yoshiki sang last year, Emmy the Great brought a different kind of weird to Bethell Hall. Whereas Yoshiki floated in a dramatic bubble of his own personality separate from us mortals, Emmy the Great carried a porcelain mask over a pink-lit, deadpan expression, walking amongst us mortals. Be it British arrogance or a carefully choreographed “EMO” act, it certainly set her band apart. Prior to the set, I’d only heard “Swimming Pool” and while some components of the recording were missing, the live performance didn’t suffer at all – I felt that the enjoyable songs weren’t the ones with synthesized backdrop. Also, her gestures during those numbers looked positively robotic. I don’t know why she felt she had to do something when not on a guitar.
Like Laura Marling’s, Emmy’s lyrics have a bite to them. But while the former is poetic and veiled, the latter is unapologetically brutal in the way Asian horror films creep up on you, take up residence underneath your skin, and smile innocently while putrefying your flesh from inside-out. The following interaction perfectly illustrates my point: normally if a singer-songwriter asked that an Austinite takes her home along with all her belongings and the grand piano, there would be laughs, cheers and whistles. When Emmy asked, there was an amusingly awkward silence, and seconds later she met that reply with a smile of tacit satisfaction. Another good one is “City Song”, where an abortion was dropped like a bomb right at the end of the song. Emmy’s set closed this SXSW – Ricky thought it dotted all the sentences on a high note. While I couldn’t agree more, I don’t know what surprises lurk in those sentences.
It’s 12am. St. David’s Historic Sanctuary was emptied after Israel Nash‘s powerful performance. A bewildering-looking man came on-stage. Lanky and utterly out of place, even his hat seems like a brand statement that the wearer would happily do without. “What is he doing here? Should I stay?” Most of the audience asked that question, some audibly, and many left that question to their imaginations.
I guess having been homeless, Doug Seegers could easily shrug off, even be comfortable with that response. I’ve written before about his interesting story, but having actually listened, it made his recent fortunes even more unreal. It is simply baffling how he was not discovered sooner in this age of YouTube. From the moment he stepped onstage, Seegers energetically went through one song after the next. There was banter, but it was simple and effective. He introduced the songs, congratulated old married couples, used 2 lines to summarize his inspirations, rallied the People of the Book, and went on his country music way.
His band (which now includes a fiddle and a bass) was equally intriguing. In appearance, they looked not like musicians, but more like rental apartment managers. And there the cover under-sold the content as well. The fiddler in particular was effective on the violin as well as on harmony. The construction of most of their songs on the album are all very similar. It was only his golden egg “Going Down To The River” that stood out from the rest. In the end, it won’t be the stories in the lyrics, but his voice that you will most likely take away. He sounded even more “round” in person, if that’s even possible. It’s not a twang, nor an accent, but an entire being that can’t (yet) be recorded in hi-def. His whole demeanour puts your mind in the correct, country music speed. And he didn’t seem proud, overly excited, or even like he cared that his career has taken a great upturn. It’s a surprisingly interesting take on fame-and-fortune, and one that you should check out given the chance.
Austin, TX – Peckerheads was relatively empty when I strolled in after a hectic Morning Benders set in the always crowded Emo’s Jr. A rock trio was on stage. And after they’ve finished I wondered why no one was preparing for the next gig. It turns out that they have 2 parallel stages, and I had almost missed Maps and Atlases‘ opener when I found out. They drew out a good number of folks considering it’s a Wednesday afternoon. Easily 150 people packed into a room 25’x60’ to see Dave, the furry frontman (our nickname for him is now teddybearman) and the rest of the band play. Similar to (maybe even more so than) Ra Ra Riot, Maps and Atlases hardly follows a lead-in, chorus, repeat recipe. Instead their tunes consist of small guitar/bass and vocal pieces that you might arrange as you like. They follow into each other nicely, but doesn’t sound like any order is necessary. The melody is also not in accord with your expectation, which is very cool to listen to… but being the choir boy I’m at a loss of what to hum when I’m listening to them… it creates a little frustration. My labmate’s favorite from them, the Ongoing Horrible, can literally be played on repeat forever (and is actually the only one I could sing to). Live, they sounded very clear and crisp. I think their strong suit must be the guitar scores. Witch might be everyone’s choice. Their CDs, however, can be difficult to track down. I tried twice to find it without success. Apparently way too few were made in the first pressing – this is from teddybearman’s manager who took a break from dancing vigorously to speak to me. Always a good sign to see that people are into their work! Go and see Maps and Atlases – they are coming to Toronto again in May. Let’s hope they bring that CD pressing machine with them.
Austin, TX – Ricky has already mentioned how the panicmanual crew are consistently impressed by Cedar street’s ability to host awesome parties. We saw some of the best shows there last year, including White Lies. Obviously that’s not solely our opinion, so when we reached the tree-lined courtyard, the lineup was 150 strong, past the Truluck restaurant – which really make one wish he/she made reservations for seafood and can just drop into the courtyard afterward. After some baking in the sun, we were ushered in via the backdoor (thank you Filter!) and directly to the front of the house. Delta Spirits had almost finished and the set went quiet for awhile. It erupted again when a Philippino-dude strutted down the side-stairs. I had no idea, initially, who these guys are. And they started playing Sweet Disposition:
sweet disposition,
never too soon
oh reckless abandon like no one’s watching you
a moment, a love,
a dream, a laugh,
a kiss, a cry,
our rights, our wrongs
I might add that you can clearly hear these lyrics – which is rare at a rock concert. I think the crowd melted on the spot, and the rest was really history. Temper trap displayed all the right characteristics of a larger-than-life rock band, including just enough theatrics and attitude. The Australian group had already been well-received – 500 days of summer featured the song above, and their songs have had more plays than a lot of the indie bands featured here, also evident by the fact that they’ve sold out at an upcoming show (Mod Club) in Toronto. I guess they’re a Killers kind of band? Their myspace mentioned they are melodramatic – I don’t know about that, but they’re definitely catchy and can be mood-building. Drums are a clear constant in their tunes – the intermissions are often just solo vocal/guitar with drums. In fact there’s a number called “drum song” – which the vocal (who, btw, has a thin falsetto that’s quite good) used as a showcase to wow the crowd – dumping water on the drums and creating something of a taiko moment. When I listened to the album afterward there were a few snippets here and there that I could link to other famous songs – there’s one riff that I can swear is from Hotel California, and I kept wanting to compare their hooks to Thievery Corp., although I don’t know if that’s really appropriate. Also showcased at SXSW was: Love Lost, Down River, and Resurrection. Overall, Temper trap was definitely the surprise hit of SXSW this year for me.
Dr. Dog came on after Local Natives, as the anchor of the Filter party. I had listened to them prior to SXSW and expected them to a bit mellow – obviously I was mistaken. The guitars and the bass were constantly wriggling on the stage! Many of their songs actually have a heavy Beatles feel. The Breeze, and Hang on, for example, for me draws parallel with and Mother Nature’s son and Hey Jude. Far from being unoriginal, however, Dr. Dog has their own brand of lifestyle rock; you’d want to: first sing along, then change your outlook on life (regret, break-down, and cry optional) and then go live on the Californian coast with copious amounts of mushrooms. Ok, maybe only I do and I’m projecting. I had doubts that some of the songs can be played while totally rocking out instead of the polite proper rock of Beatles. I guess it works fine. The crowd really enjoyed their energy – evident from the number of people who streamed in to see them. But my pet-peeve is an incongruity between their song and stage presence. Their music deserves a listen aside – there are suppressed tones that suggest good o’times passed, and other quirks that just didn’t come to me while live. Their myspace will give you a very good idea of what I’m talking about. I’m looking forward to Dr. Dog recreating their album’s feeling on stage. That will be very good times indeed.
