Monday, March 20, 2006

I'm back! SXSW Music wrap-up!

Oh it's so good to be home! What an incredible week in Austin, though. I had no idea Interactive would be SO much fun, but I am already looking forward to next year! It's so fun to see all my internet/blogger peeps and I forget how much I get out of connecting with other geeks. :) I met some awesome new people and saw a few really fantastic panels.

Everything changed on Wednesday though! One by one most of the interactive people shipped out, and suddenly the town was getting flooded by musicians and music lovers left & right! Let the rock begin!! My friends Ted & Misty arrived, we went & had some tasty BBQ and shortly after we were at our first show.

Day One, Wednesday, I saw:

• Birdmonster - as you know, we love these boys! It was so fun to see them in a different city! I think they filled in for Diamond Nights at this particular time @ the Red Eyed Fly. Thankfully they gave us the heads up... we couldn't have kicked off our SXSW Music with a more apropos band!
• Calla - happened to be going on after Birdmonster. Cool to see a few songs, particularly their song "It Dawned On Me", that Ted brought my attention to on his Cloak Room Compilation a few months back.
• Aberdeen City - These guys were excellent live!! We've been listening to them for a couple months now, and live they did not disappoint! We even got to see them play again the next day. They're SOO good.
• Voxtrot - I loved their set! I just bought their EP off iTunes (thanks for the giftcard, Dan! :)
• Ex-Boyfriends - We love them, and again, so great to see our friends play in another city. Their set sounded FANTASTIC, which we think was because they had Peter's vocals turned up more than usual. Whatever it was - they kicked ass!
• Flaming Lips - SECRET SHOW! We were there in plenty of time and stood maybe 4 rows back. So sweet! Wayne Coyne is ALWAYS a pleasure to watch & listen to. He played about 5 songs, one being their new one, which I love! Their shows rule: Balloons bouncing everywhere, Wayne's crazy re-engineered instruments, the singing nun, and the best surprise ever? For the encore he invited PEACHES out & they sang War Pigs! HOLY SHIT!!! We were freaking out! Misty summed it up best when she wrote "I'm surprised I still have a voice." Here's an awesome shot that Buzz got of us freaking out in the audience.
• The Ponys - only a few songs... not as great as their BotH show we saw a few months ago
• Art Brut - SO FUN! the lead singer is a riot!

Day Two, Thursday:

I actually worked a lot of the day & missed a ton of awesome stuff that happened to Ted & Misty (read her post about day 2 here), but was able to meet up with them by 5pm for Eagles of Death Metal @ the Levi's Fader tent. The best part about that was feeling so rockstar when I walked up to the guy managing the very long line of people wishing they could get in, and him saying "Are you Willo?" and placing the wristband on me no questions asked. Thank you Ted! :)

So, list of bands I saw:

• Eagles of Death Metal - I'd seen them before, but this time Josh Homme was really there on drums! Actually they had 2 drum kits - hott! They're so fun live... and I was glad to be rockin again. Oh & you must read Misty's post (that I linked to above) to hear about her follow up run-in w/ the lead singer, Jesse. That's right, he gave her his number :p check out this photo.
• Aberdeen City - again! So good! I had run into Warren on the way, so that was fun to have a drink w/ him there, too!
• The Noisettes - I liked them! Anyone have their CD?
• The Submarines - soo great to see them live! This was actually their very first live show. They're managed by Tough Love, the Artist Management Co that Ali works for (they also manage Josh Ritter & a few others). I had been lucky enough to hear the album before anyone else, but it's finally available on iTunes! Check it out here. Lead singer, Blake, is adorable and, if I may say so, has great legs! :p
• Mates of State - these two are SO cute. They played a number of my favs... I've become a huge fan since the last time I saw them. I can't wait to get their new album!
• Thunderbirds are Now! - holy energy batman! These kids did not stop moving - SO entertaining! loved it!

Day Three, Friday:

• Bound Stems - SOOOOO GOOD!!! I have had their CD for awhile now, too. Another amazing recommendation from Ted. Seeing them live was just excellent. They impressed me sooo much and they're one of my new favorite bands!
• Silversun Pickups - FANTASTIC!!!! "Kissing Families" was #1 on all 3 of our lists I'm pretty sure, so seeing them play it live just absolutely KICKED ASS!!!! Sadly Ali had to leave right before they played it - but all of their songs sounded great and it was rad to be outside (great lighting for photos!) for their set.
• Cold War Kids - I've been a fan of theirs since I saw them play at Hotel Utah here w/ Hijack the Disco. Seeing them again only confirmed that they are indeed a band to watch. Solid!
• Birdmonster - again! They're so good every. single. time!
• White Rose Movement - couldn't get into them. Seemed like the band didn't like each other.
• Tilly & the Wall! We only briefly watched one song from the street, but I was glad to catch even that. I heart them!!
• Heavenly States - we love these guys. we made it right at the end, and it was good to at least be able to say hi to Ted & Mark!
• The Lashes - I think I might officially H-word this band now after seeing them live. I'm that girl with the blog you (the lead singer) talked about. I don't like your stupid 3 (or was it 4?) belts that aren't actually behaving as belts, and I guess I'm just not 13 enough to latch on to your emo-tiveness. Did your acting career not pan out, so you decided to walk into Hot Topic and start a rock band?
• DMBQ - Warren had told me to check this band out and so I talked Ryan into joining me and I don't think either of us knew we were going to see what we did. We even saw the tale end of the Afrirampo show. Crazy Japanese! Very, very entertaining. :) DMBQ's men gave us some awesome facial expressions. If I were to add them up, I'd say we got to see about 438 variations. Long hair, screaming, jumping around, holding onto their guitars by their teeth. SO entertaining!
• Spinto Band! - I was so stoked to see them. I love their new CD, and Ali saw them last week while I was @ SXSW Interactive & said they were great. Officially put in your pocket cute... or as Misty has coined, "PocketRockers".
• Tapes 'n Tapes! Ryan & I were smart & headed over to Latitude early to make sure we had a good position for this long-awaited show! They, in my opinion, were the buzz band of this year. Them, Voxtrot & Wolfmother if I were to pick three. We made the right decision going early because it scored us FRONT ROW! yay! Sadly none of my other peeps could get in, but fortunately we all got to see them play again the next day. Their album, The Loon, is probably one of my favorites of this year (hmm, but I think it's 2005 release). Anyway - we heart them! And seeing them live was SO FUN. Being front row was way fun. They're all very down to earth boys and they put on a good show. They're playing here in SF this Thursday if you want to check them out yourself!

Day Four, Saturday:

We started out the day getting me EGGS! hahaa! All week I'd been craving a good breakfast, and FINALLY went to Las Manitas, which I now wish I had gone to every single day! It's like Huevos Heaven! Ted, Misty & I met up with Ryan & Tantek there, and even had the dreaded bass player from Nada Surf at the next table over! Rockstar breakfast.

I should probably mention at this point that Friday's show insanity and my (stupidly) wearing my slip on Converse all day as we hiked across Austin & back caused my ankles to be SO strained that they were swollen to 2 or 3x their normal size. OUCH! Like old people we went & got arch supports from CVS hoping to save our poor over-rocked feet. It's so hard to rock all day every day! :p

Saturday's shows:

• Essex Green - pretty good
• Tapes 'n Tapes! We scored getting on the Ny2lon party list at the last minute and got free drinks, burgers & got to see 2 kick ass bands!
• Voxtrot - I sat this one out and listened from the other room. Which led to me realizing I really needed a nap and went back to the hotel & pack my bags and rest up for my last night.
• After a YUMMY dinner at my favorite Austin restaurant, Moonshine, we began our last night-o-rock!
• Dressy Bessy - sorta. We couldn't get in, so we listened to a couple songs outside the gate
• Ali & I tried to go to Jose Gonzales, but the schedule had changed. bummer!
• Swearing at Motorists - I'd never heard their music, but the lead singer was totally entertaining to watch & take pics of. I wish so bad I could have captured one of his rock jumps on camera.
• Forward Russia - too screamy for me, didn't like it. But we pedicabbed there! FUN!
• Rainer Maria! yay!!! Somewhat of a fluke that we caught their set, I think, but I was SO stoked we did!!! I love love love them.
• The Duke Spirit - wow, is the lead singer a hotty! She was SO fun to photograph, and their set was way more rockin than I expected! KICK ASS!

After that I wanted so bad to go to Okkervil River @ midnight, but I was essentially standing on what felt like two sprained ankles. Plus my flight the next morning had me getting up at 5:15am - ug - so I called it a night. The super sucky thing was I did not get a wink of sleep!! I had some screwed up anxiety insomnia that left me tossing & turning all night! To top it all off I was getting a sore throat, so I was all stressed that I needed sleep really badly. It was horrible. I maybe got an hour of sleep, and the rest of the time layed awake listening to my roommates sleeping peacefully. I did manage to conk out on the plane for a much needed 3 hours, and then even napped for another 3 yesterday afternoon. I'm praying I'm not coming down with something. I've escaped being sick for a long, long time. And surprisingly through a lot of partying last fall even. I'm taking my vitamins & getting lots of rest though. And not going to show again until Friday, at which time it'll be: Metric! yay!

OK, this had to be a little "quick", if you can call a couple hours working on sorting & posting my photos, naming them and blogging about each one quick. :p But there it is!

View my Photo Album for SXSW Music 2006! I'll post videos at some point in next few days.