Well, it's official. I've turned a trip to SXSW into a job. Good one. Planning shows and figuring out the best way to cover everything can be a real bitch, and I'll be glad when I finally get down to Austin so I can start acting like a drunken idiot like the rest of you people. Let's talk about music and stuff:
FRIDAY
Devil Driver | Napalm Death | Walls of Jericho | 36 Crazy Fists | In Vitro (Ridglea Theater)
If I didn't already know that I was going to get to catch Napalm Death play with
High on Fire and motherfucking
Motorhead in Austin in a few days, I would totally go to this show. For those of you who DIDN'T used to have a friend that drew fucking
Slayer album covers in 8th grade in order to impress girls (fail), Napalm Death are widely cited as the band that birthed the grindcore movement in the mid and late 80s, applying hardcore's bare bones, short attention span approach to metal to produce some of the fastest, meanest and most exciting music of the era. The band has been going strong for 20 plus years now with a rotating cast of characters, and although I haven't heard even half of their expansive catalogue, I can tell you that their early stuff is every bit as brutal and ahead of its time as people say, and I would be very shocked if their live experience was anything less than amazing for anyone interested in this kind of music.
The Great Tyrant | Sean Kirkpatrick | Death is Not a Joyride (Doublewide)
"Hey, so I wonder if that dumbass stonedranger is gonna say something about how fucking cool The Great Tyrant's live show is for the 20th time." Yes, Anon, I'll happily oblige and say something about how fucking good The Great Tyrant is live because they are fucking good live. Sometimes when I hear the deep, uneasy, rubbery menace that is Tommy Atkins' bass, I wonder if the Great Tyrant secretly listens to Dubstep all the time. Yes, Dallas
does have a band that sounds like the
Birthday Party playing
Skull Disco, and yes, said band puts on one of the most overwhelming and intense live shows you'll see anywhere, local or otherwise. And what does Austin have again? Like
Tacks the Boy Disaster and
Ghostland Observatory or something?
Faux Fox | Ropes (Dan's Silver Leaf)
Couldn't really get into Ropes, but seeing Faux Fox at Dan's makes this totally worth it.
The Drams | Pleasant Grove | Doug Burr (Sons of Hermann Hall)
If
Pat Green liked the
Replacements, would there be a need for the Drams to exist?
This Will Destroy You | Tame...Tame and Quiet | Handbrake (Rubber Gloves)
A lazy reviewer might just tell you that This Will Destroy You sounds somewhat like
Mono,
Godspeed You Black Emperor,
Explosions In The Sky etc. That's not my style. I've worked very hard today to put my finger on it and I think I've got it: This Will Destroy You hail from San Marcos and they reminded me of Austin's
Mineral, but in instrumental form and minus the thin 90's emo whine. Anyways, that's often why I can't stomach many of these "buildup" bands in large amounts. They often sound like "emostrumentals." I will admit that it's an improvement over that deservedly maligned genre, but the similarities are often frightening.
UPDATE: This will Destroy You has Canceled. Other two bands are still playing
SATURDAY
Beach House (Good Records- FREE)
In store starts at
3pm, and I bet there will be more than a few people in attendance, so getting there early would be a wise move.
Beach House | Paper Cuts | Mom (Hailey's)
Beach House has more or less emerged into the indie mainstream since our interview with them last year (and mostly because of it), and although their second album
Devotion wasn't much of a departure from their debut, they have been thrust into the spotlight over the past several months along with other similarly reverby acts like
High Places, Celebration and Panda Bear. I find Beach House to be pretty remarkable considering what they are able to do with so little, and the best part about them is something you'd never expect: they sound just as good live as they do on record, dismissing many potential dismissals for "studio trickery" or whatever the fuck some lame music critic might say about this band when they get freaked out by lo-fi and reverb.
Hands Up! with Morsy and the Party (The Loft)ADD: Denton's noise collage group Animal Forces will be playing at And/Or Gallery at 830pm. Sounds like interesting stuff. ADD #2: The Uptown Bums, Stymie, and Special Patrol Group are playing at Xtreme Dudes's Manor at 7pm, which is located on Frame St. in Denton.
Centro-matic | South San Gabriel | Robert Gomez (Granada)The Great Tyrant | Healers | Cadillac Fraf (Chat Room, Ft. Worth)Dokodemo Doa | Jetscreamer | Violent Squid (Strawberry Fields)
Dokodemo Doa certainly stands out from other Denton bands from the time period they occupied. There is an ominous overcast to the ambitiously operatic vocals and they sound more like something that
The Cocteau Twins would be into than most bands on
Bella Union, which isn't to say that musicians always enjoy music similar to their own. The smarter ones don't. Enjoyably appropriate lineup all around.
SUNDAYCastanets | Shiny Around the Edges | Delmore Pilcrow | These Are Powers (Rubber Gloves)
Ray Raposa's Castanets return to Denton to join friends and collaborators Shiny Around the Edges for this performance. Castanets require a good deal of patience for drone passages, empty space and quiet, introverted vocals, but it's almost always well worth it, as Raposa transcends the "freak folk" tag he was given a few years ago, constantly moving farther and farther from popular music.
Ghosthustler | Record Hop | No Way | Last Men (Strawberry Fields, starts 3pm)
Nice afternoon line up at Strawberry Fields featuring No Way, a new collaboration between Lars Larsen (Undoing of David Wright, Electronik Warfare), Shane English and Jonah Lang. Based on what Larsen told me in an email this week, catching No Way's performance might be worth it simply to see all the electronic shit they've built themselves. Percussion synths, oscillators, videos, synth bass and a lot more will be on display, and the vast majority of it will be hand made. Sounds very interesting. You can check out some sound tests on their Myspace page, but if you want to hear their actual tracks, you'll have to head to this performance.
Chinese Stars | El Paso Hot Button | Pretty Vacant DJs (Avenue Arts)
History at Our Disposal | Help Saint Anna | Mermaid Police | Fishboy | Mom | This Will Destroy You (Swiss House, 3114 Swiss Ave)
This show starts at 4pm and goes all eveing.
