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SXSW 2001 |
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El Jefe's Spaced TexAss Odyssey |
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Yo, Dave Byrne was on my NYC-to-Austin TexAss flight for the SXSW (South by Southwest) Music Fest, which happens here yearly around this time (March 14 - 18th, 2001). I can't believe the founder of Luaka Bop Records would not be in first class, but sitting amongst the peons of coach with Johnny Chiba. I noticed he had a nice digital video camera, and kept taking a still picture of the guy's head in front of him, yet it kept going dark on him. While the man of big suits and Talkin' Heads struggled with his camcorder, yours truly perused the booklet of my brand new SONY-TRV-11 DigiVidcam, and by the time I got to Austin, I was a sharp-shooting photo-journalist with a hankerin for capturing the rockin spirit of SXSW 2001.
Check the freakin' (numbered) clubs in downtown Austin. This is SXSW!! This festival is actually 3 festivals in one, a film fest, an interactive fest, and a music fest. I was there for the music, which takes over all of downtown Austin. There are a ton of clubs on 6th Street and vicinity, all with live music, bars, and a load of music fans, record label folk, tourists, and musicians. 6th Street itself is closed off to traffic at night and it's like a mini-Mardi Gras, without the breasts and beads. I saw over 30 bands in 4 days and nights, went to a number of parties, ate delicious barbecue for the first time in 1/2 a year, met some very cool peeps, and i've got the pictures to prove it. Here's the Johnny Chiba poop scoop, day by day by day: (For separate webpages, note the ***) |
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***Wednesday, March 14th*** Time/Place: 10PM @The Metro Band: GENITALLICA Whoa...what a name! Genitallica... could it be Metallica on steroids, a crotch rock band taken to the extreme? No, it's a major label (SONY) band from Monterrey, Mexico, and they're not really heavy at all, but kinda funky punky on a commercial tip (SXSW descript: "punk, funk, reggae, disco, ska and 'bizarre ballads,' spiced up with uninhibited lyrics and performances"). This was a BMI showcase ("Team BMI" - yeah right) and los hombres de Genitallia were two vocalists, a couple of skinhead musicians on guitar and bass respectively, and a dreadlocked drummer who also sang, pretty damn well, at that. Although most of their songs were in Spanish, I recognized a couple of subjects (ie: Super Genitallia, and Marijuana). One of the vocalists used a megaphone to get that Butthole Surferish tinny vocalage quality, and the other one played trombone for 2 seconds. They both jumped around a lot, sang pretty well, and flung their hair around like rock stars. Genitallica got a little heavy at times, thanks to the screaming vocals of the drummer, other than that, it was rock en espanol per usual. Genitallica reminded me of another major label rock en espanol band, Cafe Tacuba. There was a Mexican contingent present at The Metro, and they sang along, screamed for songs in Spanish, and bumrushed the mic on choruses. A cute senorita asked me why i was so quiet. Maybe because i was watching the show, and didn't understand Spanish. There's nothing like racking your brain for a pickup line in another language. I had hoped to buy a Genitallica t-shirt after the show, but was told all their t-shirts were confiscated by US customs at the border. Way to go, mofo's!
***Click the jumpin' Genitals for a page of Genitallica!*** |
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Time/Place: 11PM @The Atomic Cafe Band: BLOODHAG Hailing from grungeville USA (Seattle WA), these geeky-dressed boys are all about the Edu-Core (education + hardcore music), whose songs are really short biographies of Science Fiction authors, like George Fucking Orwell, Harlan Fucking Ellison, etc. In between quick bursts of seriously heavy tuneage, the 'Hags onstage banter consisted of snippets of info on the authors they're singing about. In the midst of songs, the singer would fling science fiction books (paperbacks) into the audience with a certain fervor. You could definitely get clocked by some good verbage while you're getting your ears knocked in with the metallicized Hags of Blood. Coolness!! Read an interview with Bloodhag here: http://www.sleestak.net/articles/bloodhag/bloodhag.htm
***click the bloody faghag for more bloody pics!!*** |
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Time/Place: 12AM @ Room 710 Band: SOLAR COASTER From indie rock central (Winston-Salem NC) comes the (sxsw descript) "thought provoking indie rock w/an urgent and dizzying wave of dreamy, wall-of-guitar drenched, heart-pounding rushes of swirling noise", however with 3 guys standing around pretty lame amongst a pseudo-maelstrom of sound, Solar Coaster dished out tepid slabs of indie-ness. The singer had a nice psychedelic shirt, and that kind of made my head swirl, but I couldn't stand em for too long.
***click the solar coaster's shirt for a wild ride!*** |
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*** THURS - March 15th *** Time/Place: 4PM - SALT for SLUGS Mag Party @ 507 Trinity Bands: SWEARING AT MOTORISTS (Dayton OH) ATOMBOMBPOCKETKNIFE (Chicago IL) J.B. from Salt For Slugs Magazine, based in Austin, held this quaint party, complete with open bar and food and a few bands right off 6th street in a very cool loft, where if you walked down 6th, you could hear the music blaring from the windows above. Fortunately, I was invited to partake in the festivities, where I caught Swearing at Motorists and AtomBombPocketKnife, two highlights of the SXSW experiential.
***click on the leaping, swearing, motoring fucker for mo' pics*** Swearing at Motorists were a singer/guitarist and drummer playing skeletal songs from the heartland. Is Dayton OH the heartland? who knows, they had an old flag hanging in back of them, and the tunes were very heartfelt. Hence, tunes from heartland. The singer jumped around a bit, told jokes, sang songs about Salt for Slugs and being in Austin, and had a real smooth voice with a great melifluous quality. I liked them a lot, and their songs stuck in my head for awhile. Unfortunately, I had to leave before the set ended to meet up with some friends, and i wasn't really planning on returning to the Salty Slug party, however, as I was walking back down 6th Street, I heard a major blast of guitar energy emanating from the rafters of 507 Trinity, so I snuck back upstairs to see Chicago's AtomBombPocketKnife kicking up a lightning storm of electricity and feedback for the Slugfolk. With a slim dude named Justin singing with an almost english tinge, pummeling the rhythmic guitar, ABPK reminded me of a Girls Vs Boys meet Sonic Youth inflectionary tuneage... from soft indie riffing to waves of chordal wonder to thunderous feedback sensation, all with a snappy melodicism. Speaking of Superchunk, just like that indie-rock band, ABPK had an attractive black-haired gurl on bass whose minimalist lines were exactly what the indie doctor ordered; with a black dude on 2nd guitar, a drummer who was beat heftiness, and some recorded talking/noise between songs, APBK was a youthful sonic experience, and I liked it aplenty.
***li'l click above fo de page o' Atombombpocketknifeaction!*** |
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Time/Place: 9PM@ Atomic Cafe Band: FANTASY'S CORE (Nagasaki Japan) Herro! SXSW is always proud to present a coupla Japanese band showcases, and this year was no different, with 2 full nights of singsong... you see, you rike. Thursday was Japan day (at night) at The Limelight, a nice size place on 6th Street with a dance floor, a raised balcony overlooking the floor adjacent to the bar, and a high balcony overlooking the whole kit and kaboodle. I missed the 8PM opener, Tokyo's DAS BOOT (I was eating a fish dinner down on 6th st), however I got their cd, and it's kinda hi-energy, rockin' rockabilly with a harder edge. Next up were FANTASY'S CORE from Nagasaki Japan, a rock n roll blues-based band with 2 dapper-dressed guitar players and a bald singer with sunglasses who had some type of warpaint on his face. He did some theatrics (ie: sticking a plastic sword through his head) and some high steppin', knee-high dancing, but his singing was sub-par and not too intelesting. Fresh or Fantasy? Cor!
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Time/Place: 10PM @ Emo's Band: J MASCIS + FOG (Amherst MA) The ex-Dino Jr guitar Ace, playing with ex-Iggy Pop-Stooge Ron Asheton and ex-Minutemen-man Mike Watt gave me the feeling it was gonna be one heavy-handed guitar-smackin helluva shoe. J Mascis is a fluid guitar player and has a drawling singing style, like he's forever on 'ludes, or maybe just singing out of a fog. Whatever the case may be, J came out singin and slingin, doing some songs from his new cd More Light, such as "Sameday" and "Waistin" (which sounds like he's singing "wasted, i'm wasted, just wasted", which makes perfect sense). Mike Watt, looking a tad like Billy Joel with the bearded stash goin' on, is simply a lead guitar bass player, making his beefy presence felt. Speaking of beef, after a few songs, Ron Asheton came out, looking heavier than ever, a big husky donut-eating, shades-wearing dude, quite unlike the skinny heroin-shooting Stooge from strung-out days gone by. Once Ashe-ton came out, it was all Iggy/Stooges songs, "I Wanna Be Your Dog", "TV Eye" etc., with Mike Watt doing all the Iggy vokes, J and Ron trading leads; Listen to big Ron access the wah-wah pedal made famous back in the day of early Ig. J's guitar playing is immense, his outstanding, sinewy lead lines cutting through the music, blasting holes in eardrums and goatees, tattering tattoos, and reverberating off the walls of Emo's. Wailathon. Note: I was way in the back of a packed Emo's, which used to be my favorite venue of all time, being half open, half closed, with a tree smack in the middle of the place. Well, they chopped down the tree (mercy me!) and tore down a wall, so Emo's is a larger venue by a good 25% Good idea, poor tree...
***click on J for a page o pics*** |
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Time/Place: 11PM @ Red Eyed Fly Band: SPEEDEALER (Dallas TX) What can i say about the heaviest, tightest, fastest and sometimes slowest grinding, hi-octane rock act on the face of the earth. These Dallas fuckers played last year, which led to a signing to Palm Pictures, courtesy of Metallica's first A&R guy, Michael Alago. This year's show was at the same place, the good ole' Red Eyed Fly, whose stage was a little higher, with a better sound system, and corporate banners hanging everywhere. The 'Dealer played songs off of their last cd "Here Comes Death" and a slew of new tunes, sounding like a cross between Slayer and Lynrd Skynryd.
***give a speedy click above for sxsw dealings*** |
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Time/Place: 12AM @ Limelight Band: GRIND ORCHESTRA (Osaka Japan) I dunno about grinding by this Japanese crew SXSW descript: "rhythmic blend of four pounding percussionists, two wild guitarists and one electronician" (?), unless these guys are doing some grinding of their own backstage; the lead singer/front percussion guy looked like a gay Groucho Marx leading a flamingo band. The bass player looked very rock n roll, long hair, sans shirt, with a red skirt (!), no doubt ready for some backstage grinding. The songs were nondescript rhythmic blends, and i couldn't get into it.
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At this point, I flew back to the Red Eyed Fly to catch PETER PAN SPEEDROCK from Eindhoven Netherlands, a three piece of hi-octane speed. these guys got chops, not just on their faces! I only caught the last part of their last song, and it was a rocknroll extravaganza, with a really tall guitarist wailing and pointing and giving the finger, and the drummer with a huge tattoo on his belly, whopping up a storm...they garnered quite the response from the crowd at hand, and made me sad that I had missed them to grind away to no avail.... Alas, no encore from the Nederlanders...
***give this finger fuckin' guy a click to see more*** |
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Headed over to Copper Tank North to see SWORDS PROJECT, whose song online sounded interesting, and it was a huge band full of guitars and strings and a chick who sat front stage center playing some portable piano thingee. but at this point, i was one tired f*cker, and the music was way too mellow for me to hang, so off to the Super 8 for Zzzzzzz's... END OF THURSDAY |
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*** FRIDAY - March 16th *** Started the day at the Austin Convention Center, site of the Music Conference panels and Exhibition hall. JP and I cruised around taking in freebies and chatting it up with the various Music Industry folks plying their goods and trades.
***Pull the pseudo-king's finger for SXSW convention hall pics*** |
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Time/Place 1:30PM - SLAMM BBQ @ The Green Mesquite SLAMM magazine from San Diego held this shindig at a pretty hip BBQ place, which has a nice outdoor patio in the back, where bands play, folks munch chicken and ribs and drink free beer, Nice... I caught a bit of Silo The Huskie (indie rockin coolness) and Speedbuggy USA (rockathrilly), hung out a tad with Charlie from Epitaph, Natalie, the Aussie smurf from ChartMag, Ran from Salt from Slugs, and talked a bit with Justin from Atombombpocketknife, who is one cool dude from one cool band. Me and Big Johnny cruised over to The Continental Club over on South Congress Street, and found just what the Big man had been looking for. The club is all about rockabilly, rock and roll. etc., we checked out the place, went next door to the Texas Office of Culture, where a couple gals showed us around the office, and then took us to the back, where next door was a party in full swing in the back of the vintage clothing store! JP went wild! There were country-esque bands playing, folks dancing, and Big Johnny was in heaven. I left him there and headed North to see J Mascis do an in-store at Tower Records. On the way out, I picked up 6 folks who needed a ride, squeezed 'em all in my Chevy Lumina, and off we went! |
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Time/Place: 5PM: J MASCIS @ Tower Records (2402 Guadalupe) Well, J's publicist, the one and only Thanh Thanh Dang (!) , told me Ron Asheton would not be playing this gig, but lo and behold and shades of Iggy Poop, there was the fat man again! Not only did the Ash-ton play with Mike Watt, but they only played Stooges songs. "1969", "No Fun", "Loose", "Not Right", "TV Eye", "Down The Street" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog"... and J didn't even sing! How about that? The man does an in-store performance to showcase his new record, then doesn't play any songs off of it. Mike Watt sang all the vocals! Then J did a record signing! He's got Dinosaur (Jr) balls!! At the end of the set, some floozy got on stage and danced along to the Iggy-isms, showing off her beautiful unshaved pits. Thanh thanh told me to videotape this "rock and roll moment" so i obliged (see pic). No fun!
***click the slut for J's Austin page*** |
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6PM: Cruised back to the vintage clothing party, and Big Johnny was in full effect, hanging with the cowboys and cowgirls. As soon as I got back, we started talking to 2-3 girls, and JP did the 2 step with all of them. What a ladies man! I can't stand that 2 step thing, I just like grabbing a girl by the waist, crotch to crotch and dipping. We hung way later than I wanted to, till it got dark, and then we all went to eat at a nice place across the street from the Continental. it was next door to a famous hooker hotel, with a neon sign that looked like a hand giving the middle finger, when the girls pointed out to me it looked like a PENIS! oh, of course, ladies...
***click the sign for fun on S. Congress St.*** Waiting for JP to finish dancing, waiting to eat, then finally eating took forever, and I ended up missing TH' FUCKEMO's @ Emo's (where th' fuck else?), however, as I would soon find out, they left their mark... |
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We also missed my friends from SKULPEY a cool trio from Trencin Slovakia, part of the TAMIZDAT showcase. FYI, Tamizdat is an organization dealing with indie music bands from Eastern Europe (Poland, Czecheslovakia, etc.), and you can buy and hear stuff at their excellent website www.tamizdat.com. Now that the Wall's down, get on over there and see what's happening behind that once-Iron clad Curtain. Hence, we missed Skulpey, but we did see: |
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Time/Place: 10PM @ The Ritz Lounge Band: EWA BRAUN (Slupsk Poland) (sxsw descript: "smoldering artrock from N.Poland") Well, I don't know how smoldering they were, but it was definitely a boilin' wall of sound, churned up by a double guitar wind-up. The band did not move around much, actually didn't budge an inch, maybe they're taught not to move in Poland: "just stand there and play your guitar, or no supper!" There were some interesting sounds emanating from the slabs of wood, but i couldn't get around the slabs of Poles not moving. There's some tunes on the Tamizdat cd sampler that were definitely more exciting than the live show, so maybe I've got to break on through to the other side to appreciate 'em. Catch you next time in Eastern Europe.
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Headed back to The Limelight to see DJ? ACUCRACK from Chicago IL (SXSW descript: "...a montage of electronica that spans drum & bass, break beat, ambient, and trance"... I gotta say, their cd Sorted on E-magine Records is pretty damn cool, a definite cornucopia of sounds that spans every techno electro trick in the beatbook, with some VERY hard, massive beats. Are they DJ's on crack? Live, however, it looked like a couple of jewish guys pumping their fists in the air, playing with their toys that mom and pop bought them at the local bazaar. boring. so far every dj i've seen doesn't do much except stand on stage, nod their head and pump their fists. onward... |
Acucracked Sorted CD |
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Time/Place: 12AM @ The Buffalo Club Band: THE URINALS- walked in to the club, saw 3 old guys playing old, hashed-over punk rock, and walked out quickly. Piss artists!! Cruised back to the Limelight to catch JUNKIE XL from The Netherlands, and I don't know if I even saw the band. There was one guy playing techno dance beats, where I was expecting a full band of phat phat beats. (Note: when I got back to NYC, I called Junkie XL's label to find out if that was who I saw, and I got 2 different publicists answering machines, and no one returned my call, so I still don't know who/what I saw. However, this guy definitely had some hard beats goin' on, enough for Johnny Chiba to set foot on the dance floor and shake two or three legs for a good 10 minutes!! I dig dancin' to hot groovy break beats. I asked the girl from the Texas Music Office to dance, and she turned me down. It's kinda tough to dance by yourself after you've been rejected. So I was Audi 5000!!
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Time/Place: 1AM @ The Metro Band: CANDIRIA (Brooklyn NY) Hardcore from Booklyn baby!! Rolling Stone called 'em one of the Top Ten Metal bands, and you know what? They don't know shit from shinola at the Stone! Candiria are not metal they are Hardcore! Check out their cover of the Dr. Dre/Snoop Dog song "Deep Cover" on the new Radical release TOO LEGIT FOR THE PIT - Hardcore Takes The Rap and listen to some blisterin'! (http://www.radicalrecords.com/pages/toolegit.htm). Live, Candiria are pretty damn cool, with a singer (a black hardcore singer, Carly Coma...cool name, cool dude), who sings and raps and screeches through the songs, which turn from Hardcore riffage to jazzy guitar finaglings easy as pie. The drummer is thoroughly amazing, and he leads Candiria along their myriad of musical changes, followed by 2 highly proficient guitarists and a dead-on bass player. Tossing out shards of ripping chords, the head-banging never stops, onstage or in the pit. Unless they're segueing into a mellow, jazzy passage that lasts a couple minutes, with guitarist John playing some very nice spacey riffs, and drummer Kevin smooth as silk on the tippy taps... There's a reason Candiria are gaining a following quickly...they tour non-stop, they're recording music left and right, and they've got a new label (Century Media), who i hope will bring their audience to them, because it's not hit or miss with this band. It's miss or get hit!
***click the leapin' candi-man for mo!*** |
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I wanted to see ZEKE @ The Atomic Cafe (SXSW descript: "'Death Alley' is a place where punk rock and heavy metal coexist like oil and rags and Zeke is a band where the closer you get to the stage the more likely you are to get hurt" - is that awesome or what?), but the line going to The Atomic was huge all night and my dogs were tired, snoop!! Bed!!! END OF FRIDAY |
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*** SAT - March 17th *** Big Johnny and I stopped by The Ironworks to indulge in the best BBQ in the vicinity, and your truly locked his keys in the rental car with the motor running. DOY!! It turns out every cab in Austin has a kit for opening locked cars, so we paid $25 for a cab to unlock us. Waiting for the cab, we ordered BBQ and ate ribs and chicken on the hood! Awesome!
da Ironworks, Jefe's fave place for BBQ (once a year)
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Time/Place: 1-4PM Buddyhead Party @ Emo's Bands: DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN (NJ) THE ICARUS LINE (SoCal) Good old Buddyhead.com. A very cool website and label, who tend to promote cool bands like Ink & Dagger, The Icarus Line, The Dillinger Escape Plan and others, the latter two playing their afternoon party at Emo's, the greatest venue in creation. The Dillinger Escape Plan are violent energy and hardcore plenitude personified. Two guitarists bent on destruction, a singer who mostly screams, and a sound that is anything but wholesome. Pure evil, twin guitar evil I tell you! The guit-man on the left swings his guitar like a true axe, at times getting ready to take it off and smash it, which he actually did with one of his guitars, smashed it to bits on a pole onstage. The music is fast, with little breaks of jazziness that delve right back into attack mode on a dime. The guitars slash and burn, crash and churn, smash and flail!! The singer also breathes a little fire ala Nashville Puseta, but he does it kinda nonchalent, like it's all in a day's work. The Dillinger EP is one intense group of mofo's.
***click the flamin' guitar head for a page of Escape!***
A poser prose review of The Icarus Line @ Emo's
***clickarus the Icarus*** |
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At 4:20, I left the Buddyhead party and headed on over to Fat Tuesday's for High Times Magazine party, where a band called Steamroller were playing some bluesy riffage, with a guitar player who made lots of faces and played many leads. Everyone around me was smoking some form of pot: joint and bowls and chillums were being passed around, and people were dancing on mushroom clouds of happiness. Steve Bloom, music editor maestro, gave a little speech about 4:20, the time that everyone gets high most often, and there i was at 4:20 not getting high at all, except for one fuckuva contact high. I went back to the hotel to catch a nap, watch some NCAA basketball and get ready for Sat nite.
Cruising back to the Super 8 from 6th St. to 12th St, I took the Canal route, a water/walkway that goes under the streets. Very cool. ***See the bird? Click it for a bigger pic*** |
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Time/Place: 9PM @ Buffalo Club Bands: SANGRE DE TORO (Austin TX) ISIS (Leiden Netherlands) Take one part Scratch Acid, one part Butthole Surfer and one part Ministry and whatya got. 3 guys who used to be in cool bands, ala guitar, bass and drummer, respectively, that's what. Sangre de Toro were kind of cool, the guit-man sang kinda freaky like, played herky-jerky guitar lines with some thrashy feedback mixed in, his lanky frame framing the tunes deluxe. At the end, he gave up the mic to a large, bespectacled friend who sang a git-along-little-doggy kinda dittie, with a bunch of yipping and non-singing going on.The guit man reminded me of a skinny Jello Biafra, and after the show, guess who showed up backstage. Jellowey old Jello himself. I got a pic of Jello and pseudo-Jello just to make sure i wasn't dreaming.
***click the double Jellos for Sangre de Toro Toro Toro pics!***
ISIS was alternative spacerock from a land far away, so far away they might've been in a time warp; a bespectacled skinny singer with long curly locks, a double-neck guitar, and bell bottoms looking straight outta the 70's. The band started off realllll slow, whispery vocals and all, and gradually built into a moderate toe-tapping rocker with a chorus something like "I like it slow" over and over. jeez, louise, speed it up, will ya, mr. nederlander? the 70's dude played some spacey leads with a plethora of guitar effects, and the bass player had a neat spongey dreadlocked 'do' (a black guy from the Netherlands?) but overall ISIS left me kinda dry...
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Time/Place: 10:20PM @ The Living Room Band: GERSEY (Australia) Mellow fellows, following along the lines of the "quiet" band front, i guess. call em Emo, call em dark and smooth, I kinda liked these Gersey-ites from down under. A crooning singer who played a Rickenbacker, lead guitar on the right, bass on left, the Gersey tunes start off slow and build crescendo-like to strong strummers. While I was filming these quiet guys, this one girl standing in the front would not shut up, her voice was louder than the band! Then her friend tries to pick up Johnny Chiba! "what are you doing here, who do you write for, what do you do?" relentless questions from a drunk blonde who looked like Laura Palmer from Twin Peaks. when i asked her what she did, she says: "i give great head." Nice. However, I was hanging with Aussie smurf Natalie, and quietly asked her for help to cockblock this drunk byotch and her wayloud jappy friend. besides, they were with some dude who was doing his best to score, and I had bidness to take care of. Johnny Chiba, giving up the head to perform his duties!? what kind of fool am i?
***click these Gersey dudes for some swirling visuals*** |
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Time/Place: 12AM @ The Living Room Band: MONO (Tokyo Japan) (SXSW descript: "as their destructive, violent feedback guitars overwhelm you, you encounter unexpected beauty")...hmm... ok. that's definitely up my alley, I thought as I headed over to the Living Room, right above The Drink on 6th and Trinity. The club is bigger than any Living Room I've been in, but hell, this is Texass, and everything's big here. Mono from Japan consisted of 2 male guitarists, drummer, and a skinny female bass player. They proceeded to build a whirlwind of sound, along the lines of Sonic Youth, with layers of guitars building and swaying, although destructive and violent never entered my mind. I stayed for about 4 long songs, and didn't hear any vocals, just lotsa guitars. The only downer of this show had to be the stage being right above The Drink's stage downstairs, and when Mono quieted down, you'd hear the band downstairs much louder! That was a true pity, because one of the strength's of MONO is their ability to tone it down, crank it up, and weave in and out of the dynamics. I learned this after hearing their Hey ,You EP on Forty-4 Records (Japan). It's 4 songs that expands upon contact with your cd player. Mono builds mountains with guitars, then slings their axes on their backs, and climbs to wuthering heights with precision and ability. Some very crafty studio wizardry at work with vacuum-like windy effects swelling here and there, mixing with the guitarrific tuneage. Live, Mono deserves a quieter room, to witness ins and outs of their sonic grooviness, their guitars forming aural patterns that deny categorization. One cool band.
***click the Mono maelstrom for more*** |
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Time/Place: 12AM -@ Buffalo Club Band: COLD BLOODED ANIMAL (Beijing China) I had to check out this "cutting edge Chinese underground rock" band, because how often do you get to see anything live from China? This trio of long hairs started out sorta slow, with a slinky thin guitarist& bassist on the low key tip. It turns out the drummer broke his snare on the first song, so the guitars were doing a little strum thing waiting for a replacement snare. A cheer from the audience accompanied a new snare. Here I thought they were just playing slow to get the chinks out! As soon as that snare was in place, these Cold Blooded Animals started to rock! A slow, chiming guitar song turned into a grunge rocker, reminding me of Nirvana meets Kung Fu, the series. The singer went from a smooth croon to a howling, angry yowl, and between the Chinese lyrics I recognized "what the fuck", and then the guitarists got quite animated, with the bass player playing on his rear, and then the guitarist doing a somersault and playing on his rear! It was punky hardcore, with stops and starts, chings and changs, thrashing and bangin'! and ya know what? They locked!! Another band from Beijin, YAO didn't make it to the USA. Some kinda problem with their Visas. Denied!!! What the hell is wrong with customs anyway! Let them play!!
***click above for one helluva cool blooded page*** |
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1AM -I watched BJORN SVIN a dj from Copenhagen Denmark from the window of The Drink on 6th st. (SXSW descript: "20-years old and undoubtedly disturbed, w/sardonic and humorous brand of techno hijinks"), The Drink is smack on the corner of Trinity and 6th, with huge windows, and the stage is set up in the window, so walking by the club, you can just watch the band from the street. Very cool. In this case, I could decide whether i wanted to go in to check out this one tall lanky dude wanking on his samplers and turntables. He had some cool yellow clothes on, but I opted to hang outside amongst the rabble instead. |
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Time/Place: 2AM/The Arch (Spin Magazine Party) Bands: BRASSY/IDLEWILD/THE BELLRAYS Good ol Spin Magazine, throwing the end-of-SXSW party with some cool bands at a cool venue. BRASSY feature the li'l sis of Jon Spencer, and she's a cock-rocker without the penis. Brassy are sassy, a coupla chicks with attitude on guitar/vokes and bass, with a style all their own, on the riot-grrrl tip. Sorta rockin' kinda technoid swinging interesting stuff. IDLEWILD are from Ireland, and they rocked in a cute post-punk stylee, with a singer who's right outta the 80's with his squeaky voice and drunk demeanor. A couple of tunes had some interesting chords and song structures, but after a few songs, I had been there, heard that.
***click this pic for an intristing flash photo animation***
When THE BELLRAYS came onstage, it was like a fire had been lit, a door had been opened and a rockin' wind came blowing through the place, with a gust of "Maximum Rock n Soul". Something funny was going on in the lineup, because the guitar player I recognized from pics was not in the band, and the bass player was playing guitar. Not that it mattered, because the main focus of The Bellrays is the black female voice, the hot mama belting out the soulful sauce of rockin excitement. The bass player-turned-guitarist had some hot chops too and pulled it off, whether he's the new guitarist, i dunno. They were tight as tight can be, the crowd was sweaty and drunk ('cept for XchibaX), and diggin the friggin rockin roll. This chick is like a female James Brown, slightly chunky but sexy as hell. Every ounce of her brown bod oozes glorious soul with an edge, and el Jefe was in wuv!
***click the pic for a page of Bellray-geousness*** |
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*** SUN - March 18th *** My last day there it rained cats and texas dogs. I dropped Big Johnny off at the airport and took a ride down South Congress Street, where a bunch of cool shops were lined up, from antique stores, to chotchke shops, to a cowboy clothing store, where I bought very happening boots, pants, shirt and a couple belts, and I was suited to a "T." I also ate at the Magnolia Cafe, and it was the best meal I had in Austin. Very busy, incredibly bustling staff, but friendly and personable. What a great endcap
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NOTE: SXSW also has a ton of Music Conference Panels, featuring such notables as David Byrne doing an interview with noted Rock Critic Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune, a keynote address with Ray Davies of The Kinks fame, and typical indie label/artist panels dealing with Common Goals of the labels/artists, New Media, Website Demos, Japan - The Sound 6000 Miles Away, Balancing Local Coverage, and Demo Listening, which I attended none, because there were more interesting bands to see, people to meet, barbecue to eat and good times to be had than sitting in a room with wanna-be's and know-it-alls, hearing nothing new, and learning nada. But I'm sure somebody got something out of it. Maybe David Byrne got a new camera.
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Go to the Official SXSW Homepage: www.sxsw.com |
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Click here for Jefe's SXSW 2000 Reviewski |
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Here a click for Jefe's SXSW 1999 viewpoints |
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Click thy mouse here and return thee to pages of TESTicle PRESSure |
