SXSW

Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group or Quintet or Quartet or just Solo

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The trick to doing SXSW right is finding the side projects of great bands and/or artists and getting to see them up close.  Last year, my girlfriend was skeptical about seeing the Street Sweeper Social Club.  After I revealed to her that Tom Morrello of Rage Against The Machine was leading it, she went and had a kick as time.  This year, I’m going to provide the same kind of sweet access by checking out the Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group.  Omar Rodriguez Lopez is, of course, the force behind The Mars Volta.  Welp, he formed this group way back in 2005 and have been releasing material under that moniker, or other forms of it like the Quintet, Quartet, etc, since then.

Listening to ‘Un Buitre Amable Me Pico’ off soon to be released “Telesterion,”  I can’t help but feel embarrassed.  “Telesterion” is a compilation of works spanning Omar Rodriguez Lopez’s entire career and boy is there many an album.  I hear Mars Volta all the way in this song and nothing else.  Rodriguez Lopez has his own compositional voice and I love jacking into it.  That’s why I’m embarrassed.  I missed out on so much.  I need to go back through all of this mind-blowing and brain-melting material.  This may be my number 1 Showcase for SXSW.

[audio:http://146.190.132.255/audio/Omar_Rodriguez_Lopez_Group-Un_Buitre_Amable_Me_Pico_.mp3]

SXSW

De Staat is Where it’s At

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I can’t count how many times I’ve missed out on some good, heavy, and slow rock music.  Clutch happens to be one of my favorite bands but I’ve missed them the last 3 times there were in Kansas City.  Hopefully, I’ll fix that later this week but until then I can peg down De Staat to help fill that void.  De Staat is a Dutch rock group and will be at SXSW this year.  They’ve been around since 2006 and will celebrate their March 4th release ‘Machinery.’

I jammed out hard to ‘Sweatshop.’   I sense a taste of Southern Culture on the Skids, but the Dutch version.  Both Clutch and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion makes its way into the song all thanks the lead singer Torre Florim.  A good low swaggerin’ voice  keeps this song swinging from beginning to end.  This is the kind of song that you dance-walk too down the street while everyone around looks at you funny.  No ha ha funny, but weird funny.

[audio:http://146.190.132.255/audio/De_Staat-Sweatshop.mp3]

SXSW

Bouncing to Belleruche

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Belleruche hails from north London, UK and kicks out the beat using a unique blend of turntables, guitars, and soulful lady crooning.  Led by the sultry Kathrin deBoer, Belleruche follows in the footsteps of Charlie Christian and Cut Chemist.  They also tout the same setup on stage as they have in the studio.  The music label Tru Thoughts snatched them up in 2007 and will be at SXSW to support their latest offering, 270 Stories.

Listening to ‘Clockwork,’ the influence of Bellaruche shows itself.  Kathrin deBoer does her best Sarah Vaughn impression, while DJ Modest spins like the Cut Chemist himself.  Let’s not forget Ricky Fabulous, who keeps it all together with his guitar work.  But that didn’t hit me at the beginning.  ‘Clockwork’ is the kind of song you hear and then forget, only to have it hummed back through the larnyx in an oh so subtle way.   It’s a solid song that bobs the head at just the right motion.

[audio:http://146.190.132.255/audio/Belleruche-Clockwatching.mp3]

SXSW

OliveTreeDance Your Ass Off

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It’s not just local fare, or even national fare, at SXSW.  Bands from all over the world come on down to Austin to jam out.  I’ve featured a British band already, but we are going all world with world music from Portugal.  OliveTreeDance is an outfit that uses traditional Australian instruments like the didgeridoo by way of Portugal.  Led by Renato Oliveira, OliveTreeDance advertises ‘organic’ dance music.  That’s right, no 4 on the floor with house breaks here.  It’s all natural.

“Airport Tunnel” jerks in an out before landing on a comfortable groove.  The man focus is of course the didgeridoo and Oliveira wastes no time spitting into its hole on this song.  Like with every other song I demoed, the groove builds halfway through before climaxing into a crazy Portuguese release.  What seems like monkey screams are actually Oliveira freestyling while making his instrument hum.  The build up is perfect and I found my shoulders bouncing unintentionally toward the end of this one.

[audio:http://146.190.132.255/audio/OLIVETREEdance-AIRPORT_TUNNEL.mp3]

SXSW

Toro Y Moi Es Muy Bueno

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I don’t like to dip in the mainstream everyone once in awhile but I have in the case of Toro Y Moi.  What?  You haven’t heard of them before?  OH!  Sorry!  I mean the music blog mainstream.  Yeah, it’s still not the Top of the Pops, but what we have here is a very tasty artist that will be at SXSW this year.  Toro Y Moi is the stage brainchild of Chazwick Bundick and cemented its place in the chillwave movement.  There were two albums promised last year with Causers of This and Underneath the Pine,  with one electronic  and the other being more instrumental respectively.  Welp only Causers of This came out with Underneath the Pine coming out February 22.

“You Hid” off of Causers of This puts me in a hazy dream.  The subtle and muffled dream beats keep me entranced while Chazwick himself lays down some smooth lyrics to ride with the keys that blip and bleep along.  It’s the kind of cool that’s only cool when absolutely no effort is put into it.  Almost like wearing velcro shoes.  So slap on a pair and check out “You Hid” yourself.

[audio:http://146.190.132.255/audio/Toro_Y_Moi_-_You_Hid.mp3]