[Actual conventioneering, along with various glad-handing and business dealings, curtailed my show-going on Thursday – not to mention some unmanageable lines. Here are a couple buzzy bands I caught …] Black Joe Lewis (at Cedar Street Courtyard) – Hometown guys Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears get the booties shaking in Austin, that’s for sure. […]
[A recap of my Wednesday at the South by Southwest Music Festival:] Highlights: That Petrol Emotion, the Drones, Yelle. Lowlights: Bands with their own energy drinks, “F*ck Y’All” T-shirts and caps, the dude who hit me up for a dollar for beer four different times. By the numbers: 53: Number of Los Angeles musicians I […]
[Wednesday evening trawling at SXSW …] The Aimless Never Miss, the Sleepover Disaster (at the Independent) – These two San Francisco labelmates (Devil in the Woods) deserved a little better than the modest crowd that found its way to the off-the-beaten path Independent, but neither disappointed. TAMN’s post-rock twist on shoegaze, with great loud/soft dynamics […]
That Petrol Emotion, playing South by Southwest? That was my reaction upon hearing that one of my favorite Britpop bands from the late ’80s/early ’90s was playing a venue called the Dog & Duck Pub north of downtown Austin. My long California freeway commutes in the early 1990s were mitigated by my treasured cassette of […]
[Pure happenstance that I saw two bands from Australia back-to-back:] The Hot Kicks (at the Troubadour Saloon) – “This band has incredible pants,” music writer and Thrillist.com honcho Jeff Miller told me upon seeing the Hot Kicks. Indeed, and they were probably borrowed too. The Melbourne three-piece’s tight, glammed-up pop-punk may be the stuff of […]
[Wednesday afternoon at SXSW 2009– from Yelle (above) to barbecue:] Rock bands are great and all, but I started my day at the “BBQ the Texas Way” discussion at the Austin Convention Center and came away thinking barbecue might be a metaphor for life – at least the way panelists were lamenting how the general […]
South by Southwest Music Festival veterans will tell you how much it has mushroomed – once a three-day affair with a smattering of parties, now SXSW is virtually a weeklong marathon, with the sponsored parties melting in with the official showcases and live music in every nook that will accomodate a P.A. On Tuesday night, […]
[Queen Latifah blows out birthday candles today as the fog of St. Patrick’s Day wears off. A couple nice little shows in town tonight:] Straight outta the jet Propulsion Laboratory, those purveyors of shoegazey rock noir Nightfur [pictured] celebrates the release of its album “Illusions” at the Silverlake Lounge; the Breakups open. … Sucker for […]
[First installment of my venue-surfing at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin. The music doesn’t technically start until Wednesday, but I got a head start …] The Black and White Years (Monday at La Zona Rosa) – Easy to see why this guys are Austin favorites; a party seems to break out wherever […]
It’s been 20 years since the release of their self-titled album, and now the Stone Roses, lured by the prospects of big paydays, are apparently patching things up and reuniting for gigs this summer, the Mirror reports. I see that the language in the stories about the Roses is couched very carefully, so you never […]
