South by Southwest Music Festival 2017, Day 1 (Monday)

Event: South by Southwest Music Festival, Day 1 (Monday)
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 13 March 2017

Introduction: What do I really need to say? Well, maybe one thing: this is likely to be my last SXSW for the foreseeable future. (More on that another time.) I'm excited to make the most of this one while I can. To that point, SXSW has conveniently made the preceding Monday part of the official music festival. It was a relatively quiet day, which is saying something, since Tuesday is usually rather quiet, too, but it was still cool to get to see a few things before the crowds overtook everything.

RF Shannon (at Spider House): My best description for this band is "shoegazer country". Somehow it actually works. The lead vocalist had just enough twang to be convincing without being annoying, and the pedal steel was so heavily effects-laden that it was hard to tell what exactly it was. It blended with the organ and piano so well that it was often difficult to discern what was what, but it didn't matter, because the sum output was beautiful. They were a bit slow-moving, and they risked losing focus, but they played a strong set.

[RF Shannon at Spider House.]

Hot Nut Riveters (at Spider House): A bizarre five-piece old-timey band that defies categorization. They had a manic intensity with offbeat humor and a pre-war sensibility. All members sang and played multiple instruments, including washboard, lap steel, accordion, double bass, assorted percussion, and uneffected electric guitar. Their songs were either standards (such as "This Land Is My Land") or semi-nonsensical. There was lots of banter and cross-talk, often even during the songs. They were hard to pin down and hard to stop watching.

[Hot Nut Riveters at Spider House.]

The Kraken Quartet (at Spider House): This group relied solely percussion and keyboard instruments to create a sort of jazz fusion. One member mostly played marimba, another mostly vibraphone, another mostly synthesizer, and all four played drums. There were no vocals, but they kept up an impressive set of complex rhythms for the whole set. I was left with a feeling like there was something missing, but I also found their limited instrument selection to be a compelling challenge.

[The Kraken Quartet at Spider House.]

While ordering amazing tacos from Cool Beans, I caught glimpses of a couple other bands at Spider House before I left. Fragile Rock was another fantastically weird concept: puppet-based emo. I still don't quite know what to make of it. Meanwhile, funk ensemble Hard Proof was tearing it up, but I just saw them at Sound on Sound in November.

After a break, I went back downtown and went straight for the Moogfest showcase at Cheer Up Charlie's. It didn't appear that all the bands were actually using Moogs (not that that was actually requirement, as far as I'm aware), but they did have a couple instruments, including a theremin, set up on the patio for the curious to play with.

Professor Toon was the first band up on the outside stage, but I couldn't get into it. His beats were too basic and the lyrics didn't strike me as notable. I ended up back inside, where the Holladay Brothers had set up an installation of lamps synchronized to their laptop electronica. The music was chill but unrelenting and static. However, it appeared that they'd played for most of the afternoon and would be playing all night, too, so I suppose it isn't quite fair to complain too much about a lack of dynamics. I liked the visual concept, but it's also far from the first time I've seen something similar.

[Holladay Brothers at Cheer Up Charlie's.]

Madame Gandhi (at Cheer Up Charlie's): The solo act of M.I.A.'s drummer. She used samples and looping to build a bed for her raps, but spent most of her time behind a drumkit, behind which she continued to rap. She played in a way that augmented the sampled beats into something far more complex while still maintaining perfect rhythm with her voice. It was impressive. Her lyrics were unabashedly feminist (e.g., "the future is female") and I appreciated the care with which she addressed the topics at hand.

[Madame Gandhi at Cheer Up Charlie's. Not the best picture, sorry.]

Suzanne Ciani (at Cheer Up Charlie's): Her setup was just a large old-school synthesizer, seemingly the same type of setup she's been using since the 70s. She started strong with cool synth pulses, but as time went on, the music started to wander. At a few points, there appeared to be problems as no sound was audible but she continued to patch cables around. It didn't help that there was basically no visual aspect to the set. I was really excited to see her, but was ultimately bored and a bit disappointed.

[Suzanne Ciani at Cheer Up Charlie's.]

Scores:

RF Shannon: B

Hot Nut Riveters: B

The Kraken Quartet: B-

Professor Toon: C-

Holladay Brothers: C+
Madame Gandhi: A
Suzanne Ciani: C+

South by Southwest Music Festival 2017, Day 3 (Wednesday)

Event: South by Southwest Music Festival, Day 3 (Wednesday)
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 15 March 2017

I started out my day at the AdHoc showcase at Cheer Up Charlie's. I unfortunately came too late to catch Jay Som, but the rest of the afternoon looked like a great lineup. First I saw Tim Darcy of Ought on the inside. He played indie rock with slightly odd arrangements, deadpan vocal delivery, and a consciously wry and arty edge. The songs didn't stand out that much to me, but there was something appealing in his weirdness. He played one song that he described as "older" that was much more conspicuously folk-oriented.

I went outside and caught the last few minutes of Pill. I was curious about them for their supposedly aggressively progressive lyrics, but all I really heard was a lot of noisy sax punk. Next up outside was Forth Wanderers, a straightforward indie rock quintet. Their youthful energy was encouraging, but they played loose and too much by the numbers.

[Forth Wanderers at Cheer Up Charlie's.]

I got bored and went inside to see some of singer-songwriter Aldous Harding. She played an acoustic guitar and sang with a strong voice and an intense look of focus. On some songs, she was accompanied by a guitarist/pianist that shared her precision. Unfortunately, she was somewhat drowned out by the outside stage, and I wish I'd been able to hear more of her words and listen in a more suitable condition.

For a complete change of pace, the next (and last) band on the inside was Merchandise. This was my fourth time seeing them, and thankfully they put on a much better show than their last SXSW appearance in 2015. This time, they appeared as a quartet with a drummer I didn't recognize. Here's the setlist:

1. Intro jam

2. Lonesome Sound

3. Brief unknown "special" song

4. Schoolyard

5. Become What You Are

6. Little Killer

7. True Monument

8. Anxiety's Door

They started with a lengthy, noisy jam that made me wonder if they were just going to fool around and use their set as an excuse to experiment on stage. Eventually they finally settled into "Lonesome Sound", the only song they played from their new album, A Corpse Wired for Sound. They made some excuse about it being hard to do the new ones at SXSW (presumably because of a lack of a keyboardist or the setup to play samples and such), but played a brief song that I didn't recognize as a sort of special bonus for the festival. An updated "Schoolyard" was the real treat, though. I was also thrilled to hear "Become What You Are", one of their best songs, but they played it at a bizarrely slow tempo, such that it lost half the energy. "True Monument" was great, and "Anxiety's Door" was spectacular, with bassist Pat Brady even adding backing vocals. It was a good set, even if it seemed like some pieces were missing.

[Merchandise at Cheer Up Charlie's.]

After a break for food, I made my way to the Speakeasy Cabaret to see the folk rock band One Week Wonder from Iceland. I was surprised by how small the audience was compared to how nice the venue was, but I guess that's what you get for calling yourself a speakeasy and only admitting entry from the back alley. Anyway, the band used each instrument (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboard, bass, and drums) effectively to create an interplay that made each song sound carefully thought out. The acoustic guitarist also provided pleasant harmony vocals. They sang mostly in English but had one number in Icelandic. It seemed like they ran out of material after half an hour, despite that I think they had more time available. I would've gladly stayed for more.

[One Week Wonder at Speakeasy.]

I then tried to get in Mohawk to see Le Butcherettes, but the lines were long due to a popular lineup including a surprise appearance of At the Drive-In. I gave up after half an hour and walked over to Stubb's, where I practically walked right in. I'd been expecting a long line there as well due to a strong lineup, but I suppose it is a large venue. Sylvan Esso was a bit late, but I forgave them, because I was quickly won over by their charm, ebullience, and frequent dance breaks. They played electronic music in a minimalist, pop-oriented style that might otherwise make me skeptical, but they pulled it off with a creativity that convinced me that they weren't just pandering to mainstream tastes. The singer was powerful and skilled, and while I'm not sure exactly how much the other guy was actively contributing, I enjoyed what I heard enough that I stopped worrying about it.

[Sylvan Esso at Stubb's.]

I went straight from there to Barracuda's backyard to see Chastity Belt, since I'd missed them the day before. The quartet had a slight 90s rock vibe but with better atmospherics. Their songs had trance-like patterns with faded vocals that just barely kept things grounded. They largely eschewed traditional solos, but when they did resort to one, it was a minimalist, noisy affair that was delightfully contrarian. They surprised me when the drummer and one of the guitarists swapped instruments and vocal duties for one song. It seemed all the members could sing comfortably, but they never went so far as to grace us with harmonies.

[Chastity Belt at Barracuda.]

I then went to Esther's Follies, where Albin Lee Meldau was still in the middle of his Swedish pop/R&B mashup. I hardly knew what to make of him and his band: they played convincingly, but there was a weird nervous energy and a retro vibe that seemed out of place and time. The grooves were decent and I was impressed that the drummer managed to play keyboard parts with one hand while still keeping the beat going.

The real reason I was there was for Die Heiterkeit from Hamburg. Their austere, dramatic style fit the theatrical venue well. I was expecting something along the lines of serious-minded electronic pop, but they played with a rock band lineup (guitar, bass, keyboard, drums). If "slowcore" is a real genre that is worth upholding, then I suppose this band fits the label. Their songs were grand, powerful, and unconventional. The guitarist sang with effortless finesse, and the bassist and keyboardist provided excellent harmonies on just about every song.

[Die Heiterkeit at Esther's Follies.]

Scores:

Tim Darcy: B-

Forth Wanderers: C-

Aldous Harding: B-

Merchandise: B+

One Week Wonder: B+

Sylvan Esso: B

Chastity Belt: B
Albin Lee Meldau: C
Die Heiterkeit: A-

South by Southwest Music Festival 2015, Day 1

Event: South by Southwest Music Festival 2015, Day 1
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 17 March 2015

Introduction: After how exhausted I was after SXSW last year, I wasn't immediately sure I wanted to go again. But as soon as the lineup announcements started coming, I knew there was no way I was going to say no this year! I bought a wristband as soon as they went on sale, so I got the early-bird $30 discount that I didn't know about last year.

For my first day at the festival, I figured I would just check out a couple bands and make it an early night. It might not have been a big, exciting day for me, but I was pleasantly surprised to run into Fally from I Heart LocalMusic! Considering how few people I really know in Austin, I could hardly believe that I could run into a friend on the street.

Fotogramas (at Icenhauer's): I was really excited about this Chilean shoegaze/indie band based on their great song "Algo", but seeing them live, it was as if they were an entirely different band. The singer/rhythm guitarist was in decent form, and the bassist was solid, but the lead guitarist was low in the mix and rather unspectacular. The atmospherics and big sound that I was expecting were replaced with steady, unceasing guitar chords and bits of ineffectual lead parts. Even worse was the drummer: he couldn't hold a beat. He certainly tried to pull out a number of rhythms, but they regularly failed, and I'm surprised some of his more obvious mistakes didn't throw off the rest of the group. Tellingly, the recorded version of "Algo" featured a drum machine.

[Fotogramas at Icenhauer's.]

Marineros (at Icenhauer's): I didn't have any big expectations for this two-woman pop duo from Chile, and when they struggled with sound problems for 15 minutes, things weren't looking good. But once they started their set in earnest, I was immediately eased into enjoying their honed skill. Although they relied on rather unexciting preprogrammed backing music, the guitarist's tasteful style kept me entranced. She had an amazing ability to get the most out of a few simple effects without letting them overwhelm her sound. Her parts fit the grooves perfectly, and it was a thrill to see her break into a bigger riff when the songs demanded it. She took a single solo that was executed perfectly. The other member did most of the vocals, and while she was also talented, the highlight was when both members sang in harmony. Their tunes might not be complicated or revolutionary, but their effortless abilities had me hooked.

[Marineros at Icenhauer's.]

Dead Leaf Echo (at Cheer Up Charlie's): This band seems almost too deliberately caught in the mold of My Bloody Valentine. While I love the sound of heavy, driving, spaced-out shoegaze, I couldn't help but feel like they were copying the classics a little too closely. Nonetheless, the ethereal vocals of the singers fit in just right with the thick guitars. They had the texture down to a science. For some reason, they were playing at a deafening volume; yet again, a classic shoegaze cliché.

[Dead Leaf Echo at Cheer Up Charlie's.]

Scores:

Fotogramas: D

Marineros: B+

Dead Leaf Echo: B

P.S. Cheer Up Charlie's is apparently the first place in Austin to carry Club-Mate. I had no idea it was even available in the US! I haven't had it since I left Germany almost five years ago. What a treat!

South by Southwest Music Festival 2015, Day 2

Event: South by Southwest Music Festival 2015, Day 2
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 18 March 2015

Introduction: I worked during the day, but managed to get out and see a few bands in the evening before it got too late. I also met up with a friend midway through, so I prioritized socializing over trying to squeeze showcases into every spare minute.

Talk in Tongues (at Cheer Up Charlie's): I love this venue so much that I couldn't resist the opportunity to start my evening there. Thankfully, I had a reasonably good excuse in the form of this shoegazer quintet. They opened with a Ride-style song with great three-part vocals, but no other song quite lived up to that level. In fact, their vocals were usually quite difficult to understand. On the other hand, their musicianship was great – when they felt like bringing it. Some songs got lost in a vague haze, but they really rocked when they broke out into something bigger. Their bassist put down some good grooves that helped keep them afloat.

[Talk in Tongues at Cheer Up Charlie's.]

Mai Dhai (at the Victorian Room at the Driskill Hotel): Somehow this moderately-sized event space at the oldest and most prestigious hotel in Austin was home to a Pakistani showcase on this evening. I couldn't tell you much about Mai Dhai other than that she sings traditional songs and plays a hand drum along with two additional hand drummers and a hand-pumped harmonium player. The four musicians wore elaborate dress and serious expressions. I found myself rather hypnotized by the complex beats, and amazed that the percussionists would throw in a sudden accent or alternate part in simultaneous coordination with no apparent warning or signal. Although the spoken language was obviously not one I could understand, I also felt that there was a rhythmic or melodic language that was outside of my awareness. Mai Dhai's vocal and the pump organ followed melodies that I found unpredictable and unrestrained by patterns that I was familiar with. I was fascinated initially, but I'll admit I gradually began to find the wandering lines of music a little droning and repetitive.

[Mai Dhai at the Driskill Victorian Room.]

Mother Falcon (at Bethel Hall at St. David's Episcopal Church): The local Austin band performed as a twelve-piece in a modern church hall. It was hard to keep track of who was playing what, as the band's members all play multiple instruments and many members share the microphones. In fact, I'm not even sure I know the names of all the instruments they played! Apart from the standard array of classical and electric rock instruments, I believe there was also a bouzouki. Most or all of the members struck me as trained musicians, i.e. music school students or graduates. I guess this is a sort of classical ensemble, but there was a clear indie rock influence. They struck me as more like post-rock (if that term wasn't already taken for something else), post-indie, post-classical... post-something. I think the difficulty of attaching a label and their talent at arranging complex and diverse material meant that it was a very fun and compelling show to watch. They might take themselves a little too seriously, but at least they were able to joke about that fact.

[Mother Falcon at St. David's Bethel Hall. Apologies for the blurry shot. Note that the drummer is not visible.]

At this point I took a break and met up with my friend. We went to Stubb's and caught the last few minutes of a set by Stromae, a Belgian pop star. It didn't seem up my alley, but his vocals sounded great. What we were really there for, though, was TV on the Radio. I've wanted to see them for a long, long time. Back in 2004, when they toured with The Faint and Beep Beep, I was excited to see them in Lawrence, Kansas. But for some reason, on that one night of the tour, only Beep Beep opened. TV on the Radio wasn't on the bill. I still don't know what the story was. At any rate, now that they are big and famous, I finally got my chance to see them. Someone even already put the setlist online:

01. Young Liars

02. Lazerray

03. Golden Age

04. Happy Idiot

05. Could You

06. Wolf Like Me

07. Love Dog

08. Province

09. Winter

10. DLZ

11. Trouble

Unlike most SXSW showcases, TVOTR got a full hour to perform, and they made full use of it. The four primary members were augmented by two touring members, meaning there was quite a bit of space for instrumental complexity. However, I was surprised at how rhythmically uncomplex the music was. They really focused more on atmosphere and vocals. While vocal work was strong, and I really like the very different sound of their multiple vocalists, the atmospheres were a more mixed bag: sometimes great, but sometimes dull. Too many songs felt static and stuck in one place. Often, though, the occasional little touches and punctuation of lead guitar, keyboards, and trombone helped make it interesting.

[TV on the Radio at Stubb's. Yes, I know it's hard to see.]

Scores:

Talk in Tongues: B+

Mai Dhai: B-

Mother Falcon: A-

TV on the Radio: B+

South by Southwest Music Festival 2017, Day 5 (Friday)

Event: South by Southwest Music Festival, Day 5 (Friday)
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 17 March 2017

I started my day at the Twin Peaks-themed Showtime showcase at Clive Bar. It was fairly weird, as I'm not really sure if there was any connection whatsoever between the bands playing there and the television show. In fact, considering the nature of the show, the one band I saw there is perhaps an odd choice. But anyway, I was there to see Let's Eat Grandma, an electronic pop duo of two teenagers from England. They were a fairly hyped act, and I was impressed by the creativity of their studio recordings. However, on stage, most of their songs were slow, drawn out, and not very inspired. They both sang fairly well, but the guitarwork and electronics were rather plain. There was one brief sax solo that seemed included solely for the sake of having a sax solo. After about twenty minutes, they seemed to be experiencing laptop problems in the middle of a song. After both members had a try at fixing it, they unceremoniously gave up, closed the set early, and walked off. I think this band has promise and plenty of time to grow and learn, but that was not the show I was hoping for.

[Let's Eat Grandma at Clive Bar.]

I then biked across town to Waterloo Records in the hopes of seeing Middle Kids from Australia. However, there was a surprisingly long line, and I didn't get through it until after their set was finished. I could hear something of a general indie rock sound, but I couldn't discern enough to form any real opinions.

At least I was able to make it in to see the headliner of the day party: hometown favorites Spoon. Since I hadn't been able to make it to one of their "residency" shows at The Main (they didn't go on until 1am each night), I was really hoping to catch this show. It paid off. Spoon brought their top game and played a strong set of a few new songs and a bunch of career highlights. Even in their five-piece touring formation, they still remain tight, focused, and well-honed. They strip their songs down to the essentials and leave no excess. That isn't to say there aren't any flourishes, but rather that you sense that every note they play is there for a reason. They still remain inventive, dynamic, and fresh after all their years. Here's the setlist (with help from here):

01. Do I Have to Talk You Into It

02. Hot Thoughts

03. Inside Out

04. Small Stakes

05. I Ain't the One

06. Can I Sit Next To You

07. The Underdog

08. Rent I Pay

09. My Mathematical Mind

Encore:

10. The Beast and Dragon, Adored

That encore was a legitimate surprise! Encores are already very rare at SXSW, and in this case, the record store staff had announced that the show was over and the band wasn't coming back on. People were already streaming out of the exits when the cheering broke out and the band reappeared for one more.

[Spoon at Waterloo Records.]

After a break for food, I went to my first official showcase of the night at Barcelona to see Perera Elsewhere, born in London but based in Berlin. The venue is entirely underground beneath 6th Street, and the vibe is something of a techno dungeon. It was long, narrow, dark, not entirely clear where the performer was or when she started, and full of drunken revelers entirely unconcerned with a live music performance. The music was something like electronic folk music made as if lost in the woods and attuned to the sounds of nature. Perera's voice was airy and sounded like it was just a part of the larger soundscape. She also played trumpet with effects that recalled Jon Hassell. Her chosen name is appropriate; the style is hard to place and sounds like it came from some unknown place that's barely known. It was very strange but fascinating. It's a shame that the drunks were loud and oblivious to their interference. While I liked the music, I was glad to escape the weird vibes of the venue.

I went to what might be the polar opposite, specifically the "historic sanctuary" of St. David's Episcopal Church, where I saw Agnes Obel, originally from Denmark. She straddled a line between being a singer-songwriter and a classical composer. Primarily working with cellos and keyboards, she and her band created a stately, operatic, bizarre, intense, ominous swell of music. This is perhaps what was originally meant when the label "gothic" was first applied to music. The venue was oddly appropriate, or at least the acoustics worked in her favor. The drunken frat boys seated in front of me with beer and a vaporizer did not, and unfortunately the enforcer figure did not catch them. On my way out, I was amused by the young greeter's parting words: "See you in another year," spoken in such a way as to be ambiguous whether it was meant sincerely or sarcastically.

I then went a block down the street to another church, the Central Presbyterian, to see Robyn Hitchcock. I know him best from his long-ago membership in The Soft Boys, but he's maintained a prolific solo career since their dissolution in 1981. He appeared alone with just a guitar, playing a sort of weird singer-songwriter folk music in a whimsical, witty, and surreal vein. His songs would often end up where you wouldn't expect, both lyrically and musically. His voice is unusual but skilled, much like his guitar technique. Between songs, he would tell jokes or stories that carried the same air of fancy, humor, and wit. Rarely did his narratives make sense from start to finish, but I was smiling during the whole thing. The acoustics of the venue were superb and for once I could hear and understand every word that he said or sung.

[Robyn Hitchcock at Central Presbyterian Church.]

As quickly as I could, I jumped on my bike and headed to Rainey Street to catch as much of Colombian electronic musician Ela Minus on the patio of Lucille as possible. I liked her cool, chill synth tones although they were abstract and nebulous. The environment was both distracting and advantageous: the well-heeled crowd that sipped their drinks and conversed carelessly seemed largely unaware that a live performance was underway, but I also had the impression that Ela Minus' music was well-suited to being a part of a larger setting. She risked fading into the background, but you could listen actively or passively and enjoy it either way.

I ventured up the street to get in line for Neko Case at the Clive Bar, but the badgeholder line was long enough that I didn't think I would make it in. Having just seen her last summer as part of case/lang/veirs, I accepted my fate and moved along. I met up with a friend, ate some more food, and eventually made my way to Cheer Up Charlie's, where I ran into another friend by chance.

I was there to see Priests, a Washington, DC post-punk band with a heavy political angle. They actually leaned more punk than post, and their aggressive, unrelenting energy was a bit overmuch. Even though I agreed with their political diatribes during and between songs, I found their approach to be unappealing. There's something impressive about their intensity, and there was skill in their angular, sharp-edged performance, but I couldn't get into it.

[Priests at Cheer Up Charlies's.]

Scores:

Let's Eat Grandma: C-

Spoon: A

Perera Elsewhere: B

Agnes Obel: A-

Robyn Hitchcock: A-
Ela Minus: B-
Priests: C+

2024 in Review

It’s been yet another strange year, dominated once again by health concerns. I didn’t see many shows (and only one that I bothered to review), but I performed live four times with Transchor Plänterwald 2022 and three times with Soltero, and we released a new recording of “A True Indication”! As has apparently become tradition, here are my favorite releases of 2024:

• Cup Collector - On the Wing - A half hour of warm, soothing analogue synth drones. CC also released the wonderfully titled A Memory Warped by Time, which is darker, more experimental, and fairly challenging.
• The Cure - Songs of a Lost World - Their first album of consequence since Bloodflowers in 2000, uncoincidentally also coproduced with Paul Corkett. It is unmistakably The Cure, and sounds very much in the same vein as Bloodflowers, but hits dark nerves that they never quite reached before. Robert Smith may bemoan aging a little too melodramatically, but his voice is still in good form (excepting a few screechy stretches) and his trademark guitar riffs and 6-string bass leads are as impressive as ever. I can’t say the same for Reeves Gabrels’ guitar when it strays too far from texture into misplaced flashy solos, but that’s made up for by Simon Gallup’s reverberant bass, which underpins and drives the whole album. They should be proud to have put out such a good album after so many years!
• Dummy - Free Energy - delightful, playful, experimental, psychedelic shoegaze.
• Elephant Stone - Back into the Dream - Charmingly throwback psychedelia with sitar and tabla. The lyrics about depression, politics, and the pandemic really strike a chord with me. This band just keeps getting better with time.
• Godspeed You! Black Emperor - No Title As of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead - Given the defeated, grieving title, the weeping guitars and sparse, sad strokes of violin should come as no surprise. It’s perhaps their album with the heaviest emotional tone yet, which is saying something. There are still moments of uplifting celebration, but perhaps fewer than most Godspeed albums.
• International Music - Endless Rüttenscheid - Deceptively simple melancholic folk rock with subtle German wit and a hint of Krautrock. I love the prominent bass and manifold harmonies. The wild psychedelia of the aptly-named “Kraut” is a jam.
• Lightning Bug - No Paradise - The shoegaze is pretty much gone, but their production has gotten even more elaborate. I might prefer the lushness of A Color of the Sky (2021), but there are more moods and atmospheres here, and even if many are dark, there is still a playfulness and sense of hope. The vocal prowess, rhythmic variation, and mixing have leveled up as well.
• Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk - Post-vaporwave psychedelic pop with social commentary about self-image, self-improvement, and interfacing with the internet. The points of view are hard to follow but the vibe utterly captures a slice of modern life.
• Memorials - Memorial Waterslides - Verity Susman of Electrelane and Matthew Simms of post-2010 Wire continue the experimentation that both their biggest bands are known for, with an emphasis on tape loops and historical literary women. The album title was inspired by the Susan Sontag Memorial Water Slide at the Austin Dyke March, which in 2023 was apparently based at Cheer Up Charlie’s, my favorite bar and SXSW venue when I lived in Austin.
• Chappell Roan - “Good Luck, Babe!” - A banger about comphet!? I came late to the party but it’s rare that pop music speaks to me so well. I swear it’s not just that she’s from Missouri and wore a Kansas City sweatshirt in the “California” video.
• Nala Sinephro - Endlessness - Apparently I like ambient jazz? The arrangements are consistently impressive, but the synths are what really do it for me.
• St. Vincent - All Born Screaming - I think I liked Daddy’s Home (2021) more than everyone else, but this is even better. It’s closer to her career bests (Strange Mercy, 2011, and St. Vincent, 2014), but more eclectic and emotionally authentic. Clark runs through genres like a box of chocolates. I particularly like the funk and electronic soundscapes, and the Nine Inch Nails bits speak to some deep part of my soul that I too easily forget about.

Here are a few honorable mentions:

• Einstürzende Neubauten - Rampen (apm: alien pop music) - Alien, certainly. Pop, not so much. After 44 years of improvising on stage, they finally dedicated a whole album to it. It reminds me more than a little of Jewels (2007), which had a similarly conceptual, improvisational foundation. It suffers the same faults of lacking melody, structure, and dynamics, but it does certainly contain multitudes of mildly unsettling vibes. (It is still Neubauten, after all.) Yet the weird rhythmic spaces that the songs inhabit under Blixa Bargeld’s bemused but subtle social commentary still draw me in. “Gesundbrunnen” appears to be a meditation on gender from a non-binary lens. I apparently caught an early version of “Before I Go” when I saw them at the Konzerthaus in 2022. (The Rampe that they played at the Columbiahalle didn’t make the cut.)
• Khruangbin - A La Sala - This feels like a conscious throwback to the simpler, more open, mostly instrumental, pure vibe-setting style of their early singles and first album (The Universe Smiles Upon You, 2015). I still enjoy the work they’ve done in the meantime, but I was slowly losing interest and worried they would give up on what made them special. This isn’t quite transcendent, but it is quite pleasant and still manages a few subtle surprises.
• Mannequin Pussy - I Got Heaven - The punkiest songs are too aggro for me, but the rest are a superb balance of raw power, careful production, and emotional vulnerability and ambiguity.
• Ride - Interplay - On par with their other reunion-era albums, and full of broadly painted feelings about the pandemic and (presumably British) politics. It’s nonetheless rather upbeat.

And here a few other 2024 releases that I have opinions about:

• Can - Live in Paris 1973 - This circulated as a bootleg for years, and although this official release boasts a better quality than what was previously available, it’s still not exactly high fidelity. It still ends abruptly and prematurely. These five jams are sometimes based on known songs, but it sounds 90% improvised. Damo Suzuki’s words are almost entirely incoherent, but that’s not unusual. It’s cool for hardcore fans, but certainly not for casual listening. They also released a couple live albums from 1977, and while both are pleasantly funky, they don’t reach the same heights.
• The Smile - Wall of Eyes and Cutouts - Very moody, often unsettling, and minimally exciting. The only release comes from the big crashing moment of “Bending Hectic”. Wall of Eyes feels a bit by the numbers for Yorke and Greenwood, and while Cutouts might be slightly better, neither is as good as A Light for Attracting Attention (2022). These albums take the band further away from Radiohead and more into Yorke’s familiar solo territory, albeit with Jonny’s orchestrations and better drumming. I’ve realized that I’m bored of that. I didn’t even bother buying Cutouts after my relative disappointment with Wall of Eyes.

In other news, I finally found an Element of Crime album that I enjoy without restriction: Romantik from 2001. It’s a perfect balance of their best parts (down-to-earth poetic texts, beautiful arrangements of an indeterminate era, Sven Regener’s baritone at its most melodic) with hardly a trace of their early roughness or later predictability. “Alle vier Minuten” is the best ode to the Berliner U-Bahn that I could ever ask for.

South by Southwest Music Festival 2016, Day 3, Part 1

Event: South by Southwest Music Festival, Day 3: Day Parties
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 17 March 2016

Introduction: Much like last year, the third day of the festival was the longest day for me, and so I'm going to split it into two parts. This post will cover the various day parties I attended, and the next one will cover the Levitation showcase at Hotel Vegas.

I took the day off work and made it down early enough to catch the first band playing on the inside stage at Cheer Up Charlie's for Brooklyn Vegan's day party: Your Friend from Lawrence, Kansas. Their set was marred by the really loud rock music of White Reaper blasting in from the outside stage, but they persevered and brought up their intensity to rise to the occasion. Nominally a dream pop band, they showed a slightly heavier and more psychedelic sound as a result. They certainly weren't aggressive, but they were rather powerful when they were trying to be. They had great keyboard tones, and I liked the spacey vibes even when they were interrupted by the outdoor interference.

Next up on the same stage was Julia Jacklin, a singer-songwriter with an electric three-piece band. Jacklin herself was definitely the main focus, as the lead guitar was barely present, and the strongest element of the set was her ethereal, mellow, longing, reverb-laden vocals. The occasional harmony helped, too. The music was fairly simple, rootsy, Americana-type rock, which wasn't outstanding but worked for the songs. They never got heavy in terms of instrumental sound, but it was easy to get lost in the vaguely heavy emotional content.

[Julia Jacklin.]

I got some tacos and tots at the always-wonderful Arlo's outside and went back inside for a few minutes to catch some of Daniel Romano's set. I only saw enough to know that it was some sort of alt/country/rock thing that seemed to work.

From there, I decided to hop on my bike and try my luck at the new Urban Outfitters backyard venue, Space 24 Twenty. I was skeptical because the trendiness quotient seemed out of control and it was a few miles out of the way of most of the fray of downtown. However, it is right across from the University of Texas and just a block down from the Hole in the Wall. The main draw for me was Thao & the Get Down Stay Down, whom I've been interested in seeing for a couple years. They offered solid indie rock with a free-spirited, exploratory vibe. Their roots may lie in folk, but I actually found it to be more soulful, experimental, and rock-oriented. I liked the unusual rhythms, the variety of synth and synth-like sounds, and the off-kilter energy of it all. Thao mostly played guitar, but switched to electrified mandolin for a few songs. She dedicated the last song to survivors of sexual abuse and rapped a powerful lyric.

[Thao & the Get Down Stay Down.]

I stuck around for Frankie Cosmos, who came out with just an electric guitar and a friend to provide additional vocals. Her standard band was absent for unspecified reasons. Her songs were rather minimal, and her guitarwork was not what I would consider proficient. She wasn't without charm, but the songs just weren't held together well enough.

[Frankie Cosmos.]

I went back downtown and wandered Sixth Street for a bit. I saw a few songs by SIR, formerly known as Sarah and the Meanies, on the rooftop of The 512, but their sound was a fairly generic pop/rock affair, and I moved along. My real destination was the Omni Hotel, where my friend Ian Fisher was preparing to play a solo acoustic set in the middle of their massive lobby. I've reviewed him before, but I think my conflict of interest is too high to provide a score. I'll still share the setlist and a few thoughts.

[Ian Fisher.]

Setlist:

1. Nero

2. Invisible Cities

3. Constant Vacation

4. All Ya Need

5. Ich hab nur einen Koffer in Berlin

6. If You Wanna Stay

7. Almost Darlin'

8. Comin' Down

Ian normally plays with a band these days, but did this show on his own with just his acoustic guitar. His set relied heavily on his new album, Nero, but offered a couple unreleased songs, including "Ich hab nur einen Koffer in Berlin", a rare example of his German language skills, seemingly connected with his disenfranchisement with Berlin and his recent move to Vienna. A special novelty came in the form of the incredible reverb of the venue. It seemed somewhat frequency-dependent, so certain notes would echo through the building unbelievably long while others moved along quickly. It was a cool effect, and Ian chose songs that were well suited to the environment. The most bizarre and hilarious part of the show was that Mannie Fresh of the Cash Money Millionaires was in the audience, and at the end of the set, one of his companions taught Ian how to dab.

The next band to play the hotel lobby stage was the Great American Canyon Band, a quartet from the Baltimore area. The rhythm guitarist had apparently recently broken his thumb, but it was mended well enough that he could still play, although he didn't try anything fancy. Their bassist opted to just focus on vocals, and the drummer relied solely on a snare and a suitcase. The stripped-down sound worked well with the almost overwhelmingly reverberant venue, where the haunting vocals and lead guitar shined in the spotlight of endless echo. When the drummer would occasionally hit hard, it was terrifically powerful. The music was folky, serene, and very pleasant.

[Great American Canyon Band.]

Scores:

Your Friend: B+

Julia Jacklin: B

Thao & the Get Down Stay Down: B+

Frankie Cosmos: C-

Great American Canyon Band: B

South by Southwest Music Festival 2016, Day 4

Event: South by Southwest Music Festival, Day 4

Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 18 March 2016

Introduction: Friday started off fairly slow for me, but the respite was welcome. Unfortunately, later in the evening, storms settled over Austin and caused many outdoor events to get canceled. The weather cleared up quickly, and some events were simply rescheduled later into the night, but others were simply dropped.

My morning included a stop by one of my favorite Austin establishments, a single building housing Sweet Ritual (a vegan ice cream parlor), a JuiceLand, and Exploded Records. At the latter, Ian Fisher was scheduled to do an in-store performance to be broadcast via dublab. He did another solo acoustic set and promoted his new album, Nero. He focused almost exclusively on songs from the new album, including the rarely-performed "Too Bad". Presumably, the performance should become available in the dublab archives soon. [Edit 2016.04.24: See here.]

Here's the setlist:

1. Nero

2. Invisible Cities

3. All Ya Need

4. Too Bad

5. You're the One

6. Constant Vacation

7. Comin' Down

8. Ich hab nur einen Koffer in Berlin

[Ian Fisher.]

The next band to appear in the record store was Faust, and appropriately enough, two of their members arrived while Ian was performing "Ich hab nur einen Koffer in Berlin". However, it appeared that they were there only to discuss, not to perform. Although I had to depart, I'd be curious to hear the recording if it too becomes available in the dublab archives.

Later that afternoon, I returned to the Urban Outfitters Space 24 Twenty to see Eleanor Friedberger, one half of Fiery Furnaces. She was backed by four rather young-looking men and together they produced some solid indie rock jams. The music was good if unspectacular, and in stark contrast to the fast-paced rollercoaster ride of her previous band, it actually suffered a bit from monotony. I suspected that the lyrics were probably a highlight of her work (as they were with the Furnaces), but the mix was such that I couldn't understand them. There seemed to be sound problems, and perhaps as a result, Friedberger and her band all seemed somewhat upset. The dark clouds looming in the sky probably didn't help, and she may have been annoyed that the crowd hardly responded when she mentioned that she used to live in a dorm across the street (at the University of Texas) and her then-boyfriend lived around the corner.

[Eleanor Friedberger.]

Despite the darkening of the skies, I decided to head east to see a set by Mitski. The buzz surrounding her has been getting louder, and I liked what I heard in advance, but I had missed several opportunities to see her already. I didn't want to miss another, and so I took my bike several miles past the downtown core of the city into a very residential neighborhood in East Austin. I was looking for the Portals showcase, a semi-official event being held at a place called Pen. It turned out to literally be someone's (rather small) house. I eventually ended up standing in the kitchen with a row of knives just a couple feet away. The event was sponsored by Topo Chico, and sure enough, there were smashed and littered bottles all around the place. (Later, I realized that this was the same series that held an event at another random East Austin residential space called The Owl where I saw Hundred Waters two years ago.)

When I initially squeezed inside, I realized that things were running late and Your Friend (whom I had seen the previous afternoon) was playing. There was no stage and a rather minimal sound system, leaving the band to play semi-acoustically. This was actually the exact opposite of what they'd been forced into the day before at Cheer Up Charlie's, so it was an interesting variation. Their sound was much sparser and spacey. They only had room for a tiny drumkit, and one member had to sit down on the floor to play his keyboard. The ethereal vibe was great, but unfortunately the sound quality was not.

[Your Friend.]

They were followed by Morly, who opted to appear with just her acoustic guitar instead of her regular electric or electronic outfit. While I appreciated her flexibility and the speed with which she got ready to play (a welcome change for SXSW), her actual set merely consisted of four rather uncompelling singer-songwriter covers. The overcrowded space and poor acoustics did not do any favors.

[Morly.]

Finally, next on the lineup was Mitski. She too performed without her normal band, but she managed to make the most of the mediocre situation with her adept electric guitar work and genuinely strong presence. I really liked the thick and chunky tone she wielded with her guitar, and she at least managed to get something of a groove going.

As her set drew to close, I could see lightening and a nefarious color in the sky. Not wanting to get stuck in a semi-dilapidated house miles away from any part of town I was familiar with, I ran to my bike and pedaled as fast as I could back downtown. I made it to the relatively new Antone's on Fifth Street just as the rain started to fall. I'd hoped to get in to see George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, but the venue was already at capacity and there was a lengthy line on top of that.

It was about at this time that SXSW started canceling many of the outdoor events for the evening as the storms got worse. I took shelter with a friend at Tellers. I made it in while Growl was in the middle of making some fairly basic but decent rock. For whatever reason, the music was really loud and the vocals were not. They seemed young, and they had some punky charm, but their sound was rather generic.

After them came Small Houses, who took a while to soundcheck as a full band and yet initially appeared only as a solo acoustic performer. The singer had a very unusual voice, such that if he used it right, it sounded unique and captivating, but most of the time it was a bit grating. The room seemed to overpower him, and while he displayed mild annoyance at the audience's ambivalence, it wasn't until halfway through the set that he brought the rest of the band up. Suddenly the crowd snapped to attention as the music noticeably improved. They worked in a kind of Americana style with some nice slide guitar and bass parts. The vocals were still weird, but less so, and the inclusion of backing vocalists helped a lot. They closed with a cover of Neil Young's "Cortez the Killer", which seemed like a terrible choice, not because it's a bad song, but in that it is very long and any cover during a 40-minute showcase represents a lost opportunity to make a meaningful impression on the audience.

The highlight of the lineup at Tellers was the Great American Canyon Band, whom I had seen the day before in a more stripped-down setting. While they may have lost a hint of the haunting mood that I liked the first time, they gained plenty in the fullness of their sound. It was almost a more aggressive approach, and the addition of the bass certainly rounded it out. The reverb-laden lead guitar and the strong vocals remained highlights. On the whole, it was a rather different affair, and I'm hard-pressed to decide which version was better.

[Great American Canyon Band.]

I was ready to strike out for a different venue, but I was having trouble deciding where to go, and the confusion caused by the storms made it difficult to be sure what was happening when and where. The weather was already clearing up, and some events that had been canceled were back on track. For lack of a better plan, I followed another friend's lead and ended up seeing the end of a set from DJ Dodger Stadium on the Easy Tiger patio. I'll admit I don't know anything about house music, and while I found the experience fascinating, I did not find it engaging. It was also incredibly loud, but that may have just been caused by standing two feet from a massive speaker.

From there we ended up at Stubb's, where the newly reconfigured Crystal Castles were underway. Neither I nor my friend were particularly impressed by the recent antics of Ethan Kath and his disparaging comments about former collaborator Alice Glass, and our skepticism was not unfounded. I liked the presence of a live drummer, but new hire Edith Frances appeared to be an unsubtle stand-in for Glass. Right as I was leaving, they stormed off the stage and stopped the set prematurely.

I had been particularly interested in seeing Barry Adamson, one of my favorite bassists with groups like Magazine, Visage, and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, but he was scheduled to play at 1am and I was already exhausted. (At least the Austin Chronicle covered the show.) I went home and fought the wind the whole way.

Scores:

Eleanor Friedberger: B-

Your Friend: B+

Morly: D

Mitski: B

Growls: C

Small Houses: C+

Great American Canyon Band: B+

P.S. Again, I think the conflict of interest with Ian is too high for me to be comfortable assigning a score. (It probably goes without saying that I think his music is excellent.) I also don't think I saw enough of DJ Dodger Stadium or Crystal Castles to fairly assign a score.

P.P.S. Thanks to Ian, Ben, and Jacob for making the day worthwhile!