Hey it’s been awhile since I actually posted.  I decided not to do a SXSW retrospective because, well, like last year was the year of the laptop, 2012 was the year of the stand up drum set.  I guess people needed some better live drum sounds to go with the loops.  That was on witness last Friday as I took time to see School of Seven Bells with Exit Music at the Mohawk.  Not only was it was refreshing little set they both put on, but the new setup at the Mohawk impressed me mucho mucho mucho.

I figured we’d be making at least one pit stop to The Mohawk for SXSW but alas the schedule never landed us at this tasty little venue.  Although it’s little no more.  The last I was out on the deck for a show was way last year for El Ten Eleven.  Since then, the Mohawk built two new terrace in front of the deck.  This let to some tiered standing room only sections and even more so, great shots for my video blogging camera thingy.  Thank you whomever came up with that idea.

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Up first was Exit Music and I was nicely surprised.  I seemed to remember them from something last year, either a blog or a magazine article or a showcase.  I didn’t remember what they sounded like.  But like I mentioned above, the stand up drum guy was there with some digital pads banging away on some creative beats.  The lead singer lady had just enough soul to follow through, even though I figured she may not hit the high notes (she did).  All in all a great opener for our headliner.

The School of Seven Bells came into my live via MySpace of all places.  I believe I heard them from a Fader post and decided to Friend Up on the ole ‘Space.  At the time they only had one album and I marked it as a maybe.  Well, Disconnect From Desire came out in 2010 and I became a big fan.  Now Ghostery is out and SoSS sampled all of them Friday night.

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The driving beat and monotone female double leads are the signature mark of the School of Seven Bells.  I think it’s best described by watching ‘I L U’.  It’s like they play with the line between dance and dark.  At more than one occasion I felt myself intensely falling into the band’s downspiral only to be picked back up with a fresh toe tapper.  SoSS served balance between the two just right.  Now I find myself going back to the videos at least once a day.

So that was the show.  The juxtaposition between dark and dance was on full display with both Exit Music and School of Seven Bells.  The cool evening wind blowing on a somewhat cloudy Friday night in Austin provided a great backdrop to the experience.  The Mohawk, and it’s newly formed foundation, could be the only place in town where I could enjoy the breeze that accompanied the dark warm glow from the stage below.

So this year for SXSW, I decided not to break down my days there into individual posts.  Instead I will _try_ to knock out each artist I witnessed and talk about my blurry experience and/or review them righcheer.  Otherwise, I’ll just pump more music up on here.  First, of course, let me list all of the bands I saw so you can keep track right at home.

Day 01:

• Oberhofer @ The Nokia Lab
• Kasabian @ Stubb’s
• M. Ward @ Stubb’s
• Miike Snow @ Stubb’s

Day 02:

• White Arrows @ The Fader Fort
• Michael Kiwanuka @ The Radio Day Stage
• Alabam Shakes @ The Radio Day Stage
• Rich Aucion @ The Canadian Blast BBQ
• Kid 6 @ The Blind Pig
• Atlas Moth @ The Dirty Dog Bar
• Workout @ The Stage on 6th
• Paper Tiger @ The Scoot Inn
• Mike Ferris @ The White Horse
• Jimmy Cliff @ The Main
• Emily Wells @ The Jr
• Thomas Dolby @ The Jr

Day 03:

• Bitches @ Latitude 30
• New Cassettes @ Latitude 30
• The Mowgli’s @ Maggie Maes Gibson Room
• The Rocketboys @ Maggie Maes Roof
• Spycatcher @ Maggie Maes Gibson Room
• The Low Anthem @ ACL Live at the Moody Theater
• Elejandro Escovedo @ ACL Live at the Moody Theater
• Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band w/ Tom Morello @ ACL Live at the Moody Theater
• //Tense// @ Baraberlla
• Ringo Deathsrarrrr @ The Swan Dive

Day 04:

• Ariane Moffatt @ Maggie Maes
• Oh Mercy @ Maggie Maes Roof
• Voltaire Twins @ Maggie Maes Roof
• Truly Blessed @ Rustys
• Dead Sara @ Buffalo Billiards
• Blitzen Trapper @ The Radio Day Stage
• ANR @ Karma
• Computer Magic @ Malverda
• Rubblebucket @ The Beauty Bar Backyard
• Minnesota @ The BeautyBar
• EL-P @ 1100 Warehouse
• AraabMUZIK @ 1100 Warehouse
• Skrillex @ 1100 Warehouse

Day 05:

• The Big Pink @ The Radio Day Stage
• Anthony Da Costa @ The Soho Lounge
• Ghosting Season @ Latitude 30
• Polarsets @ Latitude 30
• D/r/u/g/s @ Latitude 30
• The Young @ Pure Volume House
• Tennis @ The Hype Hotel
• Standells @ Buffalo Billiards
• Meiko @ St.  David’s Bethel Hall
• Quantic & Alice Russell @ Stage on 6th patio
• Chicha Libre @ The Stage on 6th
• WIM @ Maggie Maes Roof
• Diplomats of Solid Sound @ Deseo Centro Lounge
• The M Machine @ Republic Live

I couldn’t really tell you if it’s a record for me or not.  I know my feet are finally starting to feel better.  So how was SXSW?  It was better than last year.  I’m not sure it topped the first year, but it’s more of the experience.  It’s something you need to experience at least once.  Last year I got food poisoning and missed some bands.  This year I maintained and rocked out.  Although it was front loaded with big names opposed to other years.  Will I go back next year?  It’s too early and I’m too sore to tell you that now.

So it’s been a quiet month for me and it’s about to get a little bit louder.  I’ve been bouncing back and forth getting ready for SXSW this week, but I carved out some time to take road trip to Dallas, Texas to see one of my favorite bands in the world, Radiohead.  I saw them way back when in 2008 in St. Louis and it was time again for me see them live.  Even though the seats weren’t as good, plus I’m a little spoiled by small venues, the show turned out pretty great.  I even made great time back home to Austin.

Yeah the drive was long but the traffic was nowhere in sight.  I heard rumors about Dallas being rough on the ole road rage, but I snuck in there and out in amazing fashion.  I think it might have something to do with going against rush hour traffic.  After I parked by the American Airlines Center, I kicked it with some local fare.  Okay, I hit up the House of Blues first but it wasn’t much and had terrible draft beer selection.  Fortunately, everything was a short distance from each other so me and my lovely lady found secondary places to hang out before the show.

On to the show then!  Walking up to the American Airlines Center was a treat.  I did not expect to see three ginormous screens staring down at me on the way.  It was breathtaking.  Inside, the beer was kind of expensive but the plastic cups held their own against the 24 ounces of Bud-heavy.  The seats were pretty high up, but we were desperate due to the local Austin arena’s epic online ticket fail.  That said, the sound didn’t degrade too much and I was able to capture some decent sound on the Kodak Playsport.

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First up was The Other Lives.  The Oklahoma band has a rare feature:  I have yet to hear of them.  Usually, especially for bands opening for the like of Radiohead, I would know at least a little something about them.  So when they kicked off their set, I got a great first full impression.  They were pretty good.  I can see the obvious similarities between them and Radiohead, but where Radiohead was more electronic and blippy, The Other Lives were more country and western.  They are on my list of bands to check out and I think you should check them out too.

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Finally, it was Radiohead’s turn to take the stage.  They opened up with ‘Bloom’ and instantly gave me chills.  I’m usually a preserved fellow when attending concerts anymore, but when that first chord hit I was shaking all over.  It didn’t help that I had some newly licensed kids next to me yucking it up.  I ended up switching seats with my lady, both for the video and for my own sanity.  The last couple of months saw me hit up smaller venues and I admit that I’m spoiled by being around hardcore fans and not just casual observers.  Oh well, it didn’t harsh my Radiohead buzz at all.

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So the set continued on the they hit me up with some surprises as well as some favorites I was looking out for.  I didn’t expect them to play 3 unreleased songs, included a never performed together version of “The Amazing Sounds of Orgy.”  It’s all a part of their show anymore.  Thom Yorke also had biggest tease of the year by starting out “Everything In Its Right Place” with a couple of bars of “True Love Waits.”  Geewwww Thom, you are a trickster.  The encores saw some OK Computer era stuff as well jamming out my current favorite ‘Reckoner.’

All in all it was solid set and the Radiohead show was totally worth the 3 1/2 hour drive back to Austin and the lack of sleep due to it.  The Other Lives are a tasty little band and hopefully I’ll get a chance to see them around these parts since their home base is in Oklahoma.  Radiohead, on the other hand, will more than likely finish out this tour and hide away for a couple of more years.  Man, seeing Radiohead is better than seeing Haley’s Comet and we get more chances every couple of years.  Don’t miss out on your chance.

You may have been wondering where I’ve been in the last month.  Typically I would be dumping SXSW bands I’m into seeing this year or at the very least reviewing a concert or two down here in Austin.  Welp, I decided to put my music where my mouth is and participate in the RPM Challenge.  I beat it and with days to spare.  So come with me and let me spin a tale of hard work and somewhat epic music making.

What is the RPM Challenge?  Well, you sign up and pledge to do either 10 songs or 35 minutes or both worth of an album.  The start date is February 1 and you have until the end of the month to send your tunes in.  What’s the benefit?  Do you get a prize?  Nope.  You get the satisfaction of creating a good chunk of music in the shortest month of the year.

Well I had all this expensive instruments and computer software lying around, so I decided to dive in.  The sweat and swass built up inbetween my day job led to the birth of my first ever, 7 song self-titled album.  There’s ups and downs, weird and wonderful, plus some happy little accidents.  I did not take this serious at all for one second and chalked up these guys as a learning experience.

It’s not that I didn’t have fun (I did), but I was scared at first.  It’s taken me more than 10 years to take a chance on creating something and putting myself out there and I finally did it.  Oh, I collected various instruments and software but I was comfortable with just having it versus actually doing something with it.  So when I began earlier this month, I had to overcome that fear of risk taking.  I’d say I did that and ended out the month having alot of fun.

By all means it’s not perfect, but there were a ton of learning experience along the way.  I learned just how well versed I am in music theory and guitar playing (not much), but I also learned that mixing and mastering music is not as intimidating.  Also, I became much more familiar with how powerful both Propellerhead Reason and Ableton Live are, especially when they work together.  So all and all the RPM Challenge was very much worth it and the creative dam may just have burst open.

Check out ‘Kaos On The Dancefloor’ and let me know what you think.  I made that guy using Korg’s iKaossilator (which I also got very familiar with in the last month).  It’s very dancy and not like any of the other songs on the album.  At some point, I’ll release them all, but I’m coming to grips with how copyright/publishing works for music.  It’s all fairly convoluted in my opinion.  Be sure to check back here when I will have more news on that and you might as well come back because SXSW is coming up (as well as potential news, concert reviews, and heck why not throw in some software/hardware reviews).  Keep on creating!

And it was great.  Yup, it was the 2nd go around for me in about about 3 months (instead of days) for Zola Jesus and I was there to witness the event.  This time around it was closer downtown at The Parish and a couple of different bands opened up for the Z.  The stage setup itself was alright and the opening bands could’ve used some work, but overall it was pretty good time.  I even got to play with a lit up balloon.

So it was rainy as hell last Friday night but that didn’t stop me from mucking through the garbage soaked street water to The Parish to catch the show.  If you haven’t been to the Parish, it’s an upstairs bar from some place I never go into on 6th street.  The sound is great, one of the best in Austin, and there’s plenty of seating off to the side if you get tired of standing and/or dancing.  The one thing that is lacking is draft beer.  I’m beginning to think that kegs and the supporting equipment are kind of expensive down here because I see alot of bars out there that don’t have it.

But on to the bands.  First up was Technicolor Hearts.  So they are an art project/band out of Austin.  They were full on interactive art as the lead singer lady threw balloons with the lights at the crowd and looped the crowd with neon yarn.  The music was along those same lines and this young band could put on a show worthy of the Flaming Lips, they just need some more polish.

Talk Normal was next and it was none the such.  The Brooklyn based all girl duo feature the smorgasbord of minimalistic stylings.  In other words, the guitar played about one or two notes and the drummer had a couple of unique syncopation.  The one thing that fascinated me the most was the way the drummer played during the set.  I thought she was standing up but she was actually sitting on a  stool.  The arms looked like they were going for some Whack-A-Mole and not banging on drums.  I can’t say I walked away with any of their songs in my head.

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Finally, Zola Jesus came on stage.  A better lit stage.  Missing from the touring band this time was the heavy metal drummer I liked so much.  His replacement was the same guy who was working the samples before but now did double duty.  The new addition featured a violinist and she offered the perfect accompaniment to Nika’s haunting voice.  The microphone tried to sabotage her during the set, but the roadie dumped it in favor of a wireless mic and saved the show.

I actually preferred the Zola Jesus set the first time but that’s because it was more intimate and there were not mic malfunctions.  The set last Friday at the Parish, was pretty dang good.  The open room and the easier access to beer certainly helped.  Zola Jesus was helped with blue cubes for Nika to prance around on.  I think she was getting a little hoarse toward the end.  It meant that she poured her whole soul into that performance.

Ah, yes, whenever I’m in need of a real good show, I can always rely on the good Reverend to follow through.  I’m beginning to think that Antone’s can also deliver just as well after last Saturday.  I’ve been to about 4 Reverend Horton Heat shows before Saturday and I notched number 5 with my lovely girlfriend, whom have never seen the Rev before.  Now, not only were we treated with a great headliner, but the opening acts packed some punches as well.  All in the name of pushing Antone’s up on my list of go to joints to see concerts down here in Ausitn.

Oh, Antone’s.  It’s such a simple place.  Okay, not as barebones as Emo’s East, but still pretty plain and simple.  A couple of bars, some lights, and an intimate stage right in the middle.  Someday, I’ll go to the top of the stars and chill out in the VIP looking rooms, but until then I’ll enjoy my perfect view from anywhere on the floor.  No, I didn’t get my shoes shined this time.  Maybe when it gets warmer, I’ll wear some sandals in there for a shine.

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We were running a little late but we only missed a song or two from Whiskey Shivers.  If the Reverend Horton Heat is Rock-A-Billy then Whiskey Shivers is PunkGrass (read Punk and Bluegrass).  They played some traditional bluegrass tunes as well as some originals.  They even rocked to Kings of Leon’s ‘Holy Roller Novocaine’.  That’s right, a song back when Kings of Leon were cool.  The cherry on top of the set was after the set when they did an impromptu jam in the middle of the floor.  Very cool indeed.

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Next up was a band I’ve gushed about before: Not In The Face.  The only real fair thing I can do in this instance is to talk about how much they’ve grown.  No, not in a motherly sense, but in terms of stage presence and song presentation.  The short answer?  They got better.  The long one?  It seems like they have even more energy now on stage and it translated really well into the audience.  They also did a choice cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins “I Put A Spell On You” without sounding like Creedence Clearwater Revival.  This band is a couple of hot guitar solos away from some really great things.

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Lastly, it was the mighty Reverend Horton Heat.  It took a couple of minutes to get them setup because the white screen that Not In The Face used would roll back up automatically.  Pushing that aside, the whole show was pretty damn great.  They started going picking one song from each album they’ve done (9 total) and then took requests.  The retrospective was a clever twist and it only could’ve sold well if they had a request section afterwards.  It was the best of both worlds.   That said, I missed out on a couple of my favorite Reverend songs but I know they’ll be back around preaching their Rock-A-Billy ways real soon.

The night was packed fairly tightly with energy from the whole spectrum of rock music including rockabilly, country, bluegrass, hard rock, and grunge.  And it’s all thanks to Antone’s for putting on one helluva show.  If you get a chance, see all three of these bands with giving alms to The Reverend Horton Heat as your first priority.  We went from impromptu hillbilly jam in the middle of the floor to mosh pits during a Folsom Prison Blues cover.  I love you Antone’s and all your creamy, nougaty, happiness that you provide.

So the New Year is here and it’s the first one in a long time that I didn’t wake up with a massive hangover.  As a matter of the only damage I received may have been a bit of the hearing lose.  It’s all thanks to the wicked concert I attended at Emo’s East for New Year’s Eve.  Ume, Wooden Shjips, and The Black Angels put on a show to end all shows for 2011.  Well, it wasn’t the best concert I’ve been too but it was the last one for 2011.  Still, I had a fantastic time and hope every show I go to is at least as good as this one was.

I still can’t seem to remember when Emo’s East was built, but I know it’s kind of new.  The sound is the same there but it felt like it was a little better than the Clutch show.  Whatever radio promotion was there handed out balloons, party favors, and streamers for the party.  The beer was still kind of weak but that seems to be a badge of pride for the type of bar more than anything else.

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Ume kicked of the night and got the crowd promptly warmed up.  I saw her before at Dia Des Los Toadies (like The Black Angels).  Their set was sharp and I had no complaints.  I was closer to the stage so I got a shot to see how tiny the lead singer really is.  She’s like the hard rocking version of Zola Jesus.  This power trio should be around for a long, long time.

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Next up was Wooden Shjips.  I heard of these guys when they were compared to Tame Impala.  So naturally, I would be hooked.  After they played, I was hooked but not as hard.  They fuzz rock and driving guitar sounds filled my head with enough trippy noise to be happy.  I didn’t realize that the lead singer was pretty old but it didn’t hold me back too much.  The keyboard player had this silver wrap around his stand, which made the sounds he was making seem more special.  When the Wooden Shjips set was done, they took off the lining to reveal a small keyboard and two pedals.  Kind of a let down, but I still enjoyed them.

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Lastly, it was The Black Angels.  Their Dia De Los Toadies gig set me as a fan for life.  With a headlining show, I had the opportunity to see so much more of them.  They played their hits like “Entrance Song’, but also jammed out to some lesser known tunes.  Aside from a jumbled New Year’s countdown, the set was great and I might have to see them every time they are in Austin.  Seriously, they are that good.

So yeah, the balloons dropped and the party ended at Emo’s East.  Since I was being a good sober boy, I didn’t get a chance to go at it fully.  As a matter of fact, I was kind of tired at the end of the show.  Maybe it’s because I’m turning into an old fart.  Who knows.  What I do know is that I got a great big helping of psychedelic music to close out 2011.  Nothing fit better for dreaming and fantasizing of great, epic things than the sets that Ume, Wooden Shjips, and The Black Angels delivered.

Alrighty, I can cross off one more item on the ole Music Bucket List.  Last Saturday, I had the excellent opportunity to catch up with one of the bands I discovered in college, Clutch.  It seemed like in the past, I never got a chance to sync up with their touring schedule.  Well now I don’t have to worry about that anymore.  The new Emo’s East provided the venue for some pure rock fury and it blew me away.  The opening acts helped build it up, but Clutch blew the joint out.

When I read about Emo’s East, I was expecting it to be somewhere east of I-35 in Austin downtown.  It is east but it is south of the river on Riverside.  What does that mean?  It means that I don’t have to mess with paying for parking or the general hustle and bustle of folks getting their freak on.  That said, the new Emo’s East could use some breaking into.  The sound seemed just a bit off inside but I’m sure they are tweaking things along the way to get the best sound the venue can provide.  At least there’s cheap beer and open space.

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I strolled in while Lone Star Demons were sludging it out fairly deep.  I wish I had the chance to catch their whole set but hey, I’m going home for Christmas and had a bunch of crap to take care of.  Next up with Amplified Heat.  The solo shredding on the guitar was quite the spectacle and I feel like the band is the vehicle for the guy to show off his licks.  There were grooves in the midst of the riffing and I want to see how this band matures over time.  They definitely had the crowd going.

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The masters of getting the crowd going, however, are Clutch.  They did not disappoint.  There’s something to say about a band that just hasn’t had the mainstream success but can command the type of loyal fan base that represented Saturday night.  Everyone around new the words to their songs.  This kind of dedication I see in jam bands.  Well, that and metal bands.  Which Clutch kind of falls in between, sprinkled with some blues.  I’m mostly happy they provided me with some memorable classics like ‘The Soapmakers’ and the epic ‘Spacegrass.’  Even their new songs had the crowd bumping.

That’s about it, really.  If you get a chance to see Clutch, do it.  It’s kind of like going to see the Reverend Horton Heat.  They are great at what they do, they never had sky rocket fame, but they still tour and is a good notch in the belt for some live concert goodness.  If you are ever in Austin and find yourself at Emo’s East, be sure to go with the tall boy beer because the whole selection is fairly weak.  I’m not sure if it’s a pride badge deal or if they are too cheap.  Just a word to the concert friendly wise.

Okay so first off, the setup was a little unexpected.  Sure, there were beer tents, smoke tents, food tents, and merch tents but there were some wacky things there as well.  What first struck my eye was the Anarchy Championship Wrestling ring setup in the middle of the field.  That made the closet wrestling fan in me happy.  Toward the back I got to chill in the El Camino Lounge.  Yup, that’s right, an area full of beat up El Caminos to sit in.  Right next to it was the skateboard ramp.  Fun times indeed.

Now let’s talk about the shows:

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  First up were The Crooks.  They are a local Austin country band but they seem to be a little bit more grungy and twangy.  It was the only country act of the day and it felt right to kick it off with something not completely expected.

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  Asobi Seksu seemed to bring a J-Pop twist to some rock and roll.  The lead pads were and sweeping beats made it its own.  I also dug the Jesus and Mary Chain cover song.

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  We Were Promised Jetpacks surprised me.  I heard of them before but I didn’t really know their story.  My best description of them are Scottish by epic music.  The guitars rocked out but I would’ve like to have heard more solos.  That said, I loved the driving sound they pounded out.

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  There was a break in the action and I found myself drifting toward the Zero Boys set.  Who says you are too old to punk out?  The grey haired dudes in this band provided the first mosh pit of the day.  Good job, punk geezers.

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  Austra turned around as their spacey hippie rock mellowed things out.  I didn’t know there were three female singers, so the harmonies make more sense now.  Out of the lineup I saw, their music is still stuck in my head, even though they dressed like early 90′s hip hop artists.

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  Baths were next after I bailed from the Frank fail of lack of Slayer dogs.  It’s just one dude doing some chill beats.  Think of him as the white version of Com Truise.  Yes, they both are groove grillers.

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  Speaking of groove, Del The Funky Homosapien brought the house down with his unique lip smacking.  He drew back on his career of guest spotting doing some Deltron 3030 and even the Gorillaz Clint Eastwood.  His original stuff is just a bouncy.  Great set indeed.

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  Flying Lotus turned my head upside down.  What went from the Adult Swim soundtrack is now Thom Yorke’s best buddy.  His beats are not unlike Baths, but he pulls references from all over the place.  He also buzzes and grinds more.   The last song had the whole field bouncing.

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  |I wanted to catch a little bit of Diplo and I’m glad I did.  It seems Diplo cleans the buzzing from Flying Lotus and makes it more bloopy and bleepy.  It was pure techno and he educated the crowd how they do it overseas.

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  Lastly, it was face melter time.  That’s right, Slayer closed out the day and the festival.  I was hoping they would play some songs that I was more familiar with, but I will take the pure genius of the rest of the music.  To think that these guys were around in the 80s and still are one of the heaviest bands out there is a testament to their legendary status.  If you need metal, you can’t go wrong with Fucking Slayer.

Last Saturday was a haunt and treat as I got to see Zola Jesus.  I lucked out with the whole deal as a friend was in town for a wedding and there was a chance I wouldn’t be able to see the show.  But the wedding was in the evening, it was Halloween weekend, and it all fell together.  The tightly packed Mohawk provided an unexpected intimate show.  It also shielded me from the wacky action outside.
We thought the show would be outside in the open area of the Mohawk but due to the ghosts and goblins out there, it was moved inside.  Apparently, it was so scary that the Crystal Antlers were late and the line up had to be rejiggered.  The first act, Boy, had some technical issues and finished out their Weezer like set recovering from the setback.  The other guy, drilled through some haunting drum and bass type electro to get the crowd moving.  He shook the room so much I though I saw pieces fall down from the ceiling.

The attraction for the night was Zola Jesus.  Her haunting voice echoed throughout the Mohawk and shook me to my bones.  She has a unique way of singing because she wanted to be an opera singer but just couldn’t quiet cut it.  I’m glad she switched gears.  It stuns me to think she can belt out that voice with a tiny, tiny body she has.  I wonder how big that voice would be if she was bout a foot taller.

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There’s something epic with the way the songs, like my favorite ‘Night.’  I can’t quite put my finger on it, but they also seem to build into a grand, bellowing finish.  Some of the other songs subtlety lay out the beats and twists her phrases into a dance incantation.  At some point, the crowd was bouncing around the room and at other points there we standing in awe.  It was a complete set.

She may not be a mega star someday, but her unique blend of music is always a refreshing change of pace.  Halloween outside was rough and unruly, the show inside was warm and comforting.  I caught up with the wedding after party and gushed all over about Zola Jesus.  I’m still gushing now.  I can’t help it, her songs are haunting me happily in my head.