SXSW

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: Crayon Pop, Elysium, March 19

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Ricky in Everything, South By Southwest | Leave a comment

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One of my little enjoyments at SXSW every year is KPop night. Each year, the delegates from South Korea send out their brightest and newest exports to Austin. It’s a delight because these bands are ridiculously popular in their home country and then they come here and play this dive bar. It also happens to be one of the most popular nights in Austin, as the lineup to see these pop acts wrapped around the block with people lining up as early as noon on Thursday (for a band that played at 12:30 am)

Crayon Pop is a five member girl group that formed in 2012. Their fame was not immediate, but they’ve had a few big hits since forming and also opened for Lady Gaga before. One of their tracks is Bar Bar Bar, which I will admit, I have in my head after listening to it

To say the crowd was stoked to see them was an understatement. Taking the stage at exactly midnight, the girls came on to a thunderous applause and proceeded to do one of their tracks. The group’s style can be best described as high energy edm style music with catchy choruses. The group seems to have nicely incorporated a lot of audience participation in their music which makes for a fun time.

As expected, the group’s choreographed dancing was on point, they were fun and interesting and did some standard pop stuff. Like during one song, each member had their time up front and was cheered by the fans, presuming that member was their favorite. They also wore those headset microphones for dancing (along with holding microphones) although I’m not sure how much of their vocals made it through. They were helped by backing tracks but that’s probably expected.

The group debut their new track “FM” to us and I liked how one of the girls said that we are “very special people” because we got to see the debut of the track. Tell it like it us.

The obvious highlight of the night was when the girls put on the Helmet for their hit song Bar Bar Bar. I have no idea why they have helmets on…is it a subliminal PSA? Judging by the crowd’s excitement, they could have worn Hitler masks and the crowd would have still loved it. Pop music – making people happy since forever.

SXSW Review: Asleep At The Wheel, March 19, Waterloo Records

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Paul in South By Southwest | Leave a comment

asleep at the wheel

Waterloo Records is a bit of an Austin institution. Over the years, the store has always hosted an impressive and varied lineup for their SXSW day parties and this year was no exception. Thursday afternoon’s lineup focused on the roots/country end of things with Asleep At The Wheel taking the 1pm slot. The Texas swing legends recently paid tribute to the man who pioneered the genre, Bob Wills, on their latest album Still The King. That album features many guest appearances from the likes of Merle Haggard, Lyle Lovett, The Avett Brothers, and Old Crow Medicine Show collaborating with the band on classic Texas Playboy songs. Of course as fate would have it, none of those performers were in town for SXSW, but Robert Earl Keen was, and he joined the band on “Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas.” Ray Benson led his bandmates through a few more selections off the latest album along with a few other numbers like their version of “Route 66” and they all showed off some impressive instrumental skills.

Waterloo Records are notable for being one of the spots hosting all ages shows and while the audience for a Texas swing band that’s been around since the ’70s obviously skews towards the upper level of the age bracket, there really was a wide range of ages represented, ranging from families to a few teens and twentysomethings to the folks who probably remember seeing Asleep At The Wheel back in the day. This might suggest that Asleep At The Wheel have become something of an institution themselves. They may have started out as hippie-ish upstarts when they first got started, but at this point, they’ve become the standard bearers, keeping the music alive with a bit of flair and old school showmanship.

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