SXSW

Best of 2011: Top 5 Shows I Saw But Didn’t Bother Writing About At The Time

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Paul in Concerts, Year End Reviews | Leave a comment

Much of my 2011 was dedicated to travelling to various locations around the world and seeing as much music as I could.  As a result, I saw a lot of music, and tried to write about as much of it as possible, but of course a number of great shows fell through the cracks for various reasons – laziness, distraction, or simply not knowing what to say at the time.  The end of the year is a perfect time to revisit some of the “ones that got away.”  Now their stories can be told …

Hazel Dickens, March 16, Driskill Room, Austin, TX

Hazel Dickens was one of the performers I was most looking forward to seeing at SXSW simply because I figured it would be my only chance to catch the pioneering bluegrass legend in concert.  This ended up being truer than I’d thought as Dickens passed away just a little over a month after this show, which I believe was her final performance.  While looking a bit frail and older than her 75 years, her voice was still ridiculously powerful and resonant.  I’m definitely glad I got to see this.

Yoko Ono, March 19, Elysium, Austin, TX

Yeah, she’s weird.  Yeah, she can get noisy and the potential for pretentiousness is high.  But here’s the thing: that’s kind of what made this such a great show.  That, and a top notch crew of musicians assembld for her new Plastic Ono Band that included her son Sean (looking a bit goofy in top hat and goatee), Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, Mr. Bungle’s Trevor Dunn, and Yuka Honda of Cibo Matto fame.  With a group that like backing you up, you can get as out there as you want and it’s still going to sound fantastic.  On top of all that, tUnE-yArDs opened things up with a cover of one of Ono’s songs that sounded pretty good as well.

Swans, May 28, Primavera Sound, Barcelona

Epic, noisy, and a little bit scary, Michael Gira and Co. also bring a strange kind of beauty to their sound as well.  Still don’t have that much to say about this set (to quote the title of the song they opened with, I have “No Words/No Thoughts”) but I felt this show was worth mentioning at the very least.

Tindersticks, June 23, BOZAR, Brussels

Performing as part of the Brussels Film Festival, British band Tindersticks put on a special show made up entirely of the music they’ve composed for the films of French filmmaker Claire Denis.  As they band played a bunch of pieces I was unfamiliar with against a backdrop of scenes from a number of Denis’ films, none of which I has seen or ever really heard of before, I was totally drawn in.  Not only by the music, but by the images, which I attempted in my mind to combine into one weird continuous narrative.  The show got me interested in looking deeper into Denis’ works, but on the other hand, I’m not sure if the fake story I made up in my head isn’t better. 

Mercury Rev, May 29, Primavera Sound, Barcelona 

While Ricky will tell you that Pulp’s set at Primavera Sound was hands down the best show he’s seen in his life, for me, it wasn’t even the best set I saw in Barcelona.  Don’t get me wrong, Pulp was fantastic, but for me, this show was much more compelling.  Sure, I was only going on a couple hours sleep from the night before and has just spent an inordiante amount of time waiting to buy a train ticket that afternoon, but after one last trip to the beach and a stroll through the streets of Barcelona taking in the post-Champions League win reverie, i was ready to tackle the Catskills band’s festival closing set at Poble Espanyol.  And what a show it was.  The band sounded amazing and frontman Jonathan Donahue was a sight to behold onstage, progressively getting more drunk on a bottle of wine throughout the set and making pretty much every second of the set a photo op with his dramatic, grandiose gestures.  It’s a shame my camera’s batteries went dead right before I arrived.

So there you have it. 2011 was a pretty good year for live music. 2012, you’ve got a lot to live up to. Don’t let me down.

Concert Review: Animals As Leaders, December 7, The Phoenix

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Paul in Concerts | Leave a comment

Toronto – Animals As Leaders are one of those bands whose name I had seen, but I had never really paid them any mind.  That changed this past March when I happened to randomly stumble upon a show by bandleader Tosin Abasi’s other band T.R.A.M. at SXSW.  They played an intriguing mix of metal and jazz fusion that even featured a flute on one tune.  I enjoyed their set, but didn’t write about it at the time, mostly because I wasn’t really sure what to make of it.  After that show, I was curious to see what Abasi’s main band was all about.  And they were also pretty impressive – Abasi can shred, that’s for sure.   

Bands on the heavier end of the spectrum generally tend to inspire two kinds of fans – those that go totally crazy with the moshing, stagediving, and other such behaviour and those who stand there with their arms folded watching the band intently and perhaps noding approvingly.  With Abasi’s virtuosity and status as something of a guitar hero (sample t-shirt at the merch table: a Shepard Fairey-esque pic of Abasi with the caption “Tobama”), I’d expected more of the latter, but was surprised to see that this crowd was the former, and very much so.  There was lots of cheering, moshing, stagediving, and even impromptu bursts of handclapping.  The band seemed pretty surprised at this too.  Totally stoked, but surprised.  I get the feeling they don’t always see crowds quite that enthusiastic and they were totally digging it.  Keep in mind the fact that these guys were one of the opening acts on the bill too.  You don’t generally see that level of energy for the openers.  As the band ended their set, the drummer sprung up from behind his kit and launched himself into the crowd.  When the crowd actually inspires the band to crowdsurf, you know it’s a good show.

Song of the Day/SXSW Reminiscing: The Head and the Heart – When I Fall Asleep

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Ricky in Song of the Day | 1 Comment

One of the shows I regret missing this year was Seattle folk pop act The Head and the Heart at the Microsoft Party at SXSW Interactive last year. Now as you know, SXSW Interactive is a four or five day festival where a lot of internet professionals go to mingle, add each other on twitter (and subsequently, forget about them) and drink their face off. Large companies such as Google, Microsoft and Adobe often throw parties to show off how much money they have/make people like their brand. So at the Microsoft Party, the company hired The Head and the Heart, Yeasayer and some other band to play their party at the GORGEOUS Moody Theatre.

Now these parties typically have open bars, so as me and Derek made our way to the W hotel for the party, we were expecting some sort of alcoholic intake. What we did not expect, was that the there was another party, thrown by some other company on the terrace of the W hotel. Confusingly walking into that one (that’s the easiest way to crash parties). We were shocked to discover the high quality free alcohol they were serving – pricey cognacs and Johnny Walker Blacks. What what!

Among a sea of free Lonestars, Dos Equis and Captain Morgan Rums, finding a party with free quality liquor at SXSW is like hitting the jackpot. Rising to the opportunity, I pretended to be friends with the people at the front of the line to get the drinks quickly. There was some frowns from the people behind me, but then I told them I had 20,000 followers on Twitter and I would @ them, and all was peaceful once again.

As you would expect, we over indulged on cognac/whiskey, and by the time the Head and the Heart came on, the Panic Manual crew was a mess. Derek somehow made it back to the hotel at some point, I made it through both the Head and the Heart and Yeasayer but don’t remember any of it and apparently walked home with a poster.

While it seemed amusing at the time, I regretted being in such poor state when this band came on. All you have to do is listen to this song to figure out why:s full of delightful strings, pianos and colorful arrangements, the track’s gentle tones and toe tapping rhythm is pleasant to the ear and the heart. It’s a shame I missed it all. Next time, I won’t.

The song is off the band’s recently released Itune sessions CD. It features a bunch of cool songs. Check it out here

An Eulogy: Broken Social Scene (1999-2011, Coachella 2013-?)

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Ricky in Everything, Rickys Random Articles | 3 Comments

Toronto – In an interview published earlier today by esteemed online music journal Pitchfork Media, Kevin Drew of the popular Canadian rock band Broken Social Scene declared that the band was going on hiatus indefinitely after concluding their current tour for their most current LP Forgiveness Rock Record. Arguably one of the most significant bands to emerge in Canada in the past fifteen years, the 67 members of Broken Social Scene have done their part in shaping the landscape in Canadian music for years to come. Alumnus of the band have gone on to great success, especially bands such as Stars, Metric and of course, Feist. The abrupt news of their impending hiatus is sure to bring tears of sadness to many music fans all around.

My own experience with this Toronto band has surprisingly been quite minimal. I only saw Broken Social Scene once. It was 2009, during SXSW of all places. I was walking back to my hotel (the Sheraton..yeah THAT one) and it was about 1:15. As I was approaching Stubbs, I quickly remembered that BSS was playing there. Having never seen the band before, I decided to break my SXSW rule (never see a Canadian/Toronto band in Austin) and check out this act. Forgiveness Rock Record was about to be released later on in the summer and I was lucky enough to hear the track The Sweetest Kill performed then. It was a track I enjoyed. Kevin Drew then introduced some very special guests – Emily Haines and James Shaw to perform Anthem for/of/? a Seventeen Year Old Girl. The crowd went kinda nuts, and I was like “really? is this surprising? Metric is also playing at SXSW, what was the odds of this happening? 1 to 1?” Anyways, the two came out and then performed a beautiful rendition of the track. I then got hungry and went and got a panini, thus ending my first BSS experience.

My second/third BSS experience happened last year during the NXNE charity soccer game, Brendan Canning was on one team and I was on another and I ran into him almost full speed during the game. I kind of expected his seemingly frail body to collapse in a red hairy heap, but it turns out Brendan Canning is a beast on the soccer field so instead, he took the ball away and ran with it. He would later score a goal or two. This year I was in the same soccer game and at the barbecue afterwards, he made me a cheeseburger and I was rather happy about that, even though they used processed cheese instead of the real thing.

There you go, not only were Broken Social Scene important musicians to the industry, they are also people. People with real lives who have to move on, just like you or me. I never saw BSS here because I figured they would always play Toronto, and they would always bring random people on stage to sing songs, and I would always be able to roll my eyes and say ‘that’s so obvious’. Only now, it’s over and I lost my chance. That’s life I guess. The only blessing is that we won’t get to see any more crappy concert films disguised as some weird drama films like the one released last year. For that, I am thankful.

Best of luck to the band in the future, we’ll see you at your eventual reunion.

Broken Social Scene – 7/4 (Shoreline) by artsandcraftsmx

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