SXSW08 Day 4: In which everyone remembers why Austin is awesome

Saturday was a day that reaffirmed Austin's status as my favorite city. The weather was glorious, so we started the day off with breakfast tacos at a friend's house. Then we moseyed down to Flatstock to check out all the sweet gig posters. 

After snagging a couple of excellent posters (one of which is by my favorite artists: Jason Munn of The Small Stakes), we headed down to Waterloo Park to meet some non-SXSWing friends for free music at the Mess With Texas festival. The weather was perfect for hanging out at the park, and it was nice to have a leisurely time after the balls-out partying of the previous three days. The only band I really cared about hearing was Two Gallants, who put on a good show.

After some dinner, we headed over to St. David's Church to try and catch M. Ward, who is awesome. I know, that sounds like a strange name for a venue, and it would be, if it weren't an actual church, where people worship Jesus and stuff. Is it weird to watch a show in a church? Well, I can't tell you, because the place was so packed that not even badge-holders (read: assholes of whom I am jealous) were getting in. So much for the 650 ducats you dropped on an all-access pass, chumps. Note to SXSW planners: put good artists in real venues that can hold more than 80 people, preferably ones that don't involve naves or pews. kthxbai

Feeling the bitter sting of rejection but still unfazed, we decided to watch Okkervil River's show at Stubb's. Now, as most of you know, Okkervil River is The Official Favorite Austin Band of Smarmy Hipster. But not even we were prepared for that good of a show. Will Sheff and company really tore it up, playing some of their best songs in a tribute to their departing guitarist (he's leaving to tend to his young'uns). I was disappointed the set couldn't go longer, but happy we lucked in to such a great concert.

After the Okkervil show, we decided to head to Dirty Dog early in order to make sure we could get in to see Two Gallants and Tokyo Police Club. We first caught some acoustic duo that I couldn't care less about. Then Nena Dinova came on. They had a good sound, but nothing that blew anybody away. Two Gallants, however, sounded fantastic. A bar like Dirty Dog is definitely much more their speed compared to an outdoor festival. They should have played Nothing to You, but other than that, I was glad we caught their second show of the day.

Unfortunately, Tokyo Police Club didn't sound anywhere near as good as they did earlier in the week. They just seemed tired and done with playing after four days and around 8-10 shows. Sparks can only get you so far, kids (like to the White House, or the North pole). Anyhoo, I'm glad I got to see them at a day show earlier, because it would have been quite a letdown otherwise. 

The highlight of the evening was Lashford convincing the door guy at Dirty Dog that he was in Two Gallants (which only has two people, who were both warming up on stage at the time) in order to get my friend T Bone in after the club was at capacity. Take that , Fire Marshall! Oh, also, we saw a naked chick in a car at the valet stand at the Hilton Garden Inn. The best part is that she was completely naked in the passenger seat when the car pulled up, and still completely naked in the passenger seat when the valet drove the car up to the parking garage. You tell me. 

Good weather, good music, good people, and random naked chicks: that's why Austin is great. I can't wait to move back.

SXSW08 Day 3: Undaunted By Burning Eyes

First of all, I left the Devotchka show on Thursday because I’m too friggin short, and I couldn’t see the theatrical antics of the band. Second, Gypsies are not to be trusted — everyone knows this.

We started Friday off at the Hot Freaks III party. Those snarky bloggers know how to stock a party with some kick ass bands. The first band we paid attention to (don’t blame us- there was important boozin’ to do) was Cadence Weapon. Those silly Cannucks can spin a rhyme. DJ Weez-l was dancin’ jigs as Cadence was spitting hot fire. Slightly daunted, but ultimately unfazed by our Texas heat, the Canadians kicked the ever-loving shit out of their set…

Next up was White Denim. These Austinites (for me) were the surprise of the week! They play locally all the time, and frankly, I’m a little pissed that I waited until now to discover them. Everyone learn from my mistake… Go and see these guys IMMEDIATELY.

Blitzen Trapper and British Sea Power rounded out the party. Blitzen Trapper basically sleepwalked through their set, and I basically sleepwalked through the British Sea Power set. Don’t get me wrong, I like me some BSP, but they played just a little too long.

After a delicious dinner at Casino el Camino, we poked our head into Elysium to check out a little of Japan Night. We ended up watching the entire set of Sodopp - a great female power-trio of Japanese rock! After getting a little creeped out by lecherous dudes pining for Asian chicks, we left and went over to the Beauty Bar. Nouveau Riche was fantastic! They have a beautiful singer that sounds like Karen Oh from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and a rapper that looked a little like a fat Jay-Z. You should check them out.

Public Service Announcement: DO NOT COUGH WHILE TAKING SHOTS OF TEQUILLA. It’ll get in your eyes and BURN! I think I saw the end of the Castledoor set at Buffalo Billiards, but with so much burning pain, who’s to say for sure. I will politely decline to review these guys because watching a set through razor blades can tend to skew one’s view of a performance.

After washing out my eyes, we stumbled over to Club de Ville to see the White Rabbits, who played outstanding. We were even lucky enough to get there early and discover a band called Langhorne Slim. If you like upbeat blues/folk/country hybrids, these guys will not disappoint!

SXSW08 Day 2: Rock 'n' Roll all Night, and Party Every Day

Thursday was the first day I could take advantage of a day party. We went hard, staying all day at the A.V. Saddle Crafts Club party at Emo's, where we drank many beers and saw many bands. First, we caught the second half of the Constantines' set, which sounded pretty good, especially for a band playing that early in the day. 

We then saw the Shout Out Louds, who put on an excellent show. This is the second time I've seen them, and the second time they've wowed me. Even the stuff I don't like that much from their new album sounds great live. I just wished the would have played 100 Degrees. Other than that, I have no complaints. 

Next, The Stills were up (this was quite an international show: three bands from Canada, one from Sweden, and one from exotic, far-off Minnesota). I really like their first release, Logic Will Break Your Heart, but I'm not as big a fan of last year's Without Feathers. That being the case, I enjoyed all the songs they played from the first album, and only about half from the second. They did play a couple of new songs from an upcoming release, all of which sounded good. All in all, they put on a good live show, but Lola: Stars and Stripes Forever blows away any other song in their catalog. 

Tokyo Police Club played next, and they were by far the best band of the day. They have great energy onstage, and every song they played sounded fantastic. They were able to get the hot, boozed-up crowd into the show. 

Lastly, Tapes 'n Tapes played. Maybe we were just done with being at Emo's, but I didn't think this show was anything special. The songs sounded fine, but lacked energy. The crowd was completely still during the band's set. The free drinks supplied by The Onion A.V. Club were coming to an end. Just a bad scene, man.

After the day party, we took a brief pit stop for food, then hit the streets again. The first show we really wanted to go to was the MGMT gig at The Rio. I'd never been to this place, and I was extremely underwhelmed by it as a venue. It's actually the orgy-tainted pad from Austin's dalliance with The Real World, but it's been converted into a cheesy Tex Mex joint with a strange, half-assed cycling theme. It's not really set up to handle a huge crowd by the "stage," and the acoustics weren't all that good. But MGMT was one of the sets everyone in the group had to see this year, so we hung out and sat through a couple of spare bands: Florence and the Machine (an indie cover band from England with a really great lead singer, but ultimately sill a cover band) and Wild Light (they had a couple of good songs and a lot of bad ones, in a set that seemed to go on forever). 

Finally, MGMT came on, and they put on one of the best shows of the fest. They sound fantastic live, even on the slower numbers. The fast, dancy stuff was awesome. Their strange, psychedelic dance-groove-rock translates perfectly to a live show. See them as soon as you can (preferably not at The Rio).

The last band we caught on Thursday was DeVotchka. I like gypsy music and I love pageantry, so I always enjoy a DeVotchka live show. They didn't disappoint, bringing on a string quartet from Austin to give them an even fuller sound. The lead singer's theatrics are excellent, and he can croon the shit out of some songs. Jason left a little early, because he hates gypsies. Fun Historical Fact: Hitler also hated gypsies. I know, because my girlfriend is Jewish. Anyway, the show was a lot of fun, despite the fact that it took them 35 minutes to set up, so we were gypped (PUN!!) on the amount of songs we heard.

Dear Hipsters,

I love mustaches as much, if not way more, than the next guy. I am, after all the world' biggest fan of Magnum, PI. But is a mustachio really still ironic if you care for it so dearly  and spend all the time that you obviously do grooming your handlebars? I say no.

Austinist Party!!!

I started off my SXSW at the Austinist party, and kicked of my music orgy with Phosphorescent. The inside venue at Mohawk was so packed that I was forced to stand in the back. Unfortunately, I am not gifted with David’s height so I could not truly see the band (only glimpses of a bearded singer). To add to my troubles, the sound was a little crappy in the back, but I could tell from the crowd that they were doing a great job!

Then, I managed to catch a little of Shearwater on the outside stage. Despite the fact that they have two current members of Okkervil River in their band, I just couldn’t get into them in the way I can with Okkervil. Oh well.

I left Shearwater a little early to go inside for a better spot for Liam Finn. Please do not miss them while they are in town! They put on a great show that makes me love their album even more. *Does this happen to you? I find that if a band is great live, I will almost automatically love their studio work.

Next up – back outside for the Shout Out Louds. Let me tell you people — Shout Out Louds are the real deal! I had an absolute blast! This was my first time to see them live and I look forward to catching them at least one more time this week (they are playing like eleventy billion shows).

After the Austinist party, I managed to catch up with my wife, Dave, and Lashford for some grub at the Iron Cactus. This is only worth mentioning because they RAN OUT OF GUAC and QUESADILLAS!!! How does this happen? Seriously?! As a Tex Mex joint – during SXSW – how do you not stock up on avocados and freaking tortillas????

Hipsters Like to Party All the Time, Party All the Time, Party All the Time

“If I knew it was gonna be THAT kind of party, I’d have stuck my dick in the mashed potatoes.”
--Confucius

SXSW is here, and one of the highlights of the week is the massive amount of day parties featuring two of our favorite things: free music and free booze. Here are a few of the parties you might find us at this week.

What: The A.V. Canvas Saddle Crafts Club
When: Thursday, from noon-ish to 6-ish
Where: Emo’s
Who: Outdoor stage: The Most Serene Republic (12:20pm), The Constantines (1:20pm), The Shout Out Louds (2:20pm), Tokyo Police Club (4:20pm), The Stills (3:20pm), Tapes N Tapes (5:20pm)
Indoor stage: Ladyfinger (12:05pm), Son Ambulance (1pm), Ra Ra Riot (1:55pm), Neva Denova (2:40pm), A Bunch of Comedians (3:20pm), Los Campesinos! (4:10pm), Georgie James (5:10pm)
How Awesome: This is going to be a badass party with a lot of good bands. In fact, I’m a fan of every band that plays on the outside stage.

What: Waterloo Records Presents
When: Thursday, from 2 to 7
Where: See What
Who: Sara Bareilles (2pm), The Ruby Suns (3pm), Ingrid Michaelson (4pm), Cadence Weapon (5pm), Die! Die! Die! (6pm)
How Awesome: Well, Waterloo is awesome, free music is awesome, and free beer is awesome. So I’d say this one’s going to be pretty damn awesome.

What: Urban Outfitters Party
When: From noon to 6
Where: See What
Who: Bowerbirds (noon), Emmy the Great (1pm), Lightspeed Champion (2pm), Ola Podrida (4pm), Evangelicals (5pm)
How Awesome: Yes, Urban Outfitters is lame and corporate while trying to maintain an image of being cool and indie. Yes, the owner of the franchise is some sort of massive Republican tool. But the music is good. I particularly like the Evangelicals, and I’ve been wanting to check out Lightspeed Champion.

What: The Bay Area Takeover
When: Thursday, from noon to 6
Where: Beauty Bar
Who: Outdoor stage: Aim Low Kid (noon), D.W. Holiday (12:45pm), Birds and Batteries (1:30pm), Scrabbel (2:15pm), Loquat (3:30pm), Film School (4:15pm), Scissors for Lefty (5pm)
Indoor stage: Form and Fate (12:15pm), Social Studies (1pm), The Union Trade (1:45pm), Music for Animals (2:30pm), 60 Watt Kid (3:15pm), The Black (4pm), Von Iva (4:45pm), Two Gallants (5:30pm)
How Awesome: I like a lot of Bay Area bands — especially Two Gallants, Scissors For Lefty, and Film School — so I know this one’s going to rock.

What: Schubas' 12th Annual SXSW Round-Up
When: Thursday, from noon to 7
Where: Yard Dog Gallery (15th and Congress)
Who: Okkervil River, The Cool Kids, Peter Moren, Blitzen Trapper, The Spinto Band, The Builders & the Butchers, Black Joe Lewis, Ben Jelen, Aleks & the Drummer, DJ sets by The Hood Internet and Ohmega Watts
How Awesome: Well, it’s got Okkervil River, so you know it’s good. This is an all ages show, so probably no booze, but you can curse up a storm in front of little kids (apparently this is a bit I have). They have to learn some time.

What: Hot Freaks III (presented by An Aquarium Drunkard, Daytrotter, Gorilla Vs Bear, Largehearted Boy, My Old Kentucky Blog and You Ain't No Picasso)
When: Friday, from noon to 6
Where: Mohawk and Club Deville
Who: Mohawk outside: Nicole Atkins & The Sea (noon), The Dodos (1pm), Cadence Weapon (2pm), White Denim (3pm), Blitzen Trapper (4pm), British Sea Power (5pm)
Mohawk inside: Blair (12:30pm), Ola Podrida (1:30pm), Cameron McGill (2:30pm), Bowerbirds (3:30pm), Jason Collett (4:30pm)
Club Deville: Evangelicals (12:30pm), Blood on the Wall (1:30pm), Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears (2:30pm), Peter Moren (3:30pm), Jens Lekman (4:30pm)
How Awesome: This party is presented by a shitpile of great music blogs, and, thusly, features a shitpile of great bands. Also, I love both these clubs.

What: The Dell Lounge, presented by Paste and Stereogum
When: Friday, from noon to 6
Where: Volume Night Club (on 6th)
Who: Lightspeed Champion (noon), The Weakerthans (1pm), Kaki King (2pm), Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin (3pm), Liam Finn (4pm), The Whigs (5pm)
How Awesome: Excellently awesome, because I like all these bands. What the fuck is Volume Night Club? I have no idea, because the bars come and go weekly on 6th. Note the early time for The Weakerthans, who rock hardly but sweetly.

What: Pitchfork/Windish Agency Party
When: Friday, from noon to 6:30
Where: Emo’s
Who: Outdoor stage: Lykke Li (12:30pm), Jay Reatard (1:30pm), Bon Iver (2:30pm), Fleet Foxes (3:30pm), Yeasayer (4:30pm), No Age (5:30pm)
Indoor stage: High Places (12pm), White Williams (1pm), Fuck Buttons (2pm), Atlas Sound (3pm), Times New Viking (4pm), A Place to Bury Strangers (5pm)
How Awesome: I'm excited to see Fleet Foxes. I’m also excited that a band is named Fuck Buttons. Incidentally, I believe that makes four bands at SXSW this year with “fuck” in their names.

What: Catfish Haven's Bro Down Hoedown
When: Friday, from noon to 5:30
Where: Molotov Lounge (W. 6th)
Who: Lucero, Catfish Haven, Blueblood, Citay, Port O'brien, Drug Rug, Wax Fang, Black Diamond Heavies, Tom Schraeder, Tall Dark Stranger
How Awesome: I don’t know most of these bands, but I like Catfish Haven and Lucero. I also like the idea of a Bro Down Hoedown, although I couldn't tell you exactly what that entails. I also ALSO like that Catfish Haven and Blueblood are going to be making quesadillas for everybody.

What: Music by the Slice 2008
When: Friday, noon to 7
Where: Homeslice Pizza
Who: Pattern is Movement (noon), Plants and Animals (12:45pm), Hollerado (1:30pm), AA Bondy (2:15pm), Tacks, the Boy Disaster (3pm), Via Audio (3:45pm), The Ruby Suns (4:30pm), Tally Hall (5:15pm), Dead Confederate (6pm)
How Awesome: There is a lot of good about this show, but also a little bad. The good: I like AA Bondy, really like Tacks, the Boy Disaster, and have been wanting to hear The Ruby Suns and Dead Confederate. And Homeslice makes a mean pizza pie. The bad: Tally Hall is playing. Fuck them.

What: Scene Magazine Party
When: Friday, noon to 5
Where: La Zona Rosa
Who: And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, The Black Keys, Health, The Cribs, Soundtrack of our Lives
How Awesome: Wow, this is kind of a random party to have such sweet bands. I mean, Scene Magazine? I hope Trail of Dead manages to take out a few scenesters when they break the shit out of their instruments at the end of the show.

What: Spin Magazine Party
When: 12:30 to 6
Where: Stubb’s
Who: X, The Whigs, The Scarlet, Vampire Weekend, Switches, The Raveonettes, Ben Jelen
How Awesome: I love this party. I love the free booze. I love all the extreme out-of-town hipsters. I love hanging out with B team celebrities. I love Vampire Weekend. But, most of all, I love big-timing people by getting into an invite-only party. So we are yet again relying on the smart, talented, and all-around good-lookin’ Hannah to score us passes. If she comes through, I’ll be easy to pick out, because I’ll have the same expression on my face that I do when a woman lets me sleep with her: that joyful, dumbfounded look that proclaims to the world, “I’m just happy to be here.”


What: Mess with Texas 2
When: Saturday, Noon to 10
Where: Waterloo Park
Who: Stage 1: Mellowdrone (12:45pm), Aloha (1:15pm), Shearwater (1:45pm), White Denim (2:25pm), Grand Ol Party (3:35pm), Darker My Love (4:10pm), Two Gallants (4:45pm), Atlas Sound (5:25pm), Neon Neon (6:10pm), Black Mountain (6:50pm), Islands (7:45pm), The Breeders (8:40pm)

Stage 2: The Selmanaries (1pm), Moonrats (1:30pm), Annihilation Time (2:05pm), Wooden Shjips (2:40pm), Howlin Rain (3:20pm), The Night Marchers (3:55pm), Pissed Jeans (4:40pm), Jay Reatard (5:15pm), Fucked Up + special guest (5:50pm), Municipal Waste (6:45pm), Dead to Me (7:25pm), Lucero (8:05pm), NOFX (8:50pm)

Stage 3: The Coathangers (12:15pm), Monotonix (1pm), Panther (1:30pm), Matt Braunger (2pm), Todd Barry (2:10pm), Earles & Jensen (2:25pm), Jonah Ray (2:35pm), Janeane Garofalo (2:45pm), Kimya Dawson (3pm), The Fun Bunch (3:30pm), Reggie Watts (3:45pm), Jon Benjamin & Jon Glaser (3:55pm), Eugene Mirman (4:05pm), Hard N Phirm (4:20pm), Paul F Tompkins (4:35pm), Leo Allen (4:50pm), Human Giant (5pm), Brian Posehn (5:15pm), Gil Mantera's Party Dream (5:40pm), Yeasayer (6:25pm), No Age (7:10pm), Matt & Kim (7:55pm), Simian Mobile Disco (8:45pm)

How Awesome: This is a fairly epic free vent they have going down in Waterloo Park. Most of the really good bands (The Breeders!!! Islands!!) don’t play until late, so we probably won’t see them. But there are plenty of good bands early, too. And you can see some good comics; including Brian Posehn and the comedy troupe Human Giant (they are ridiculously funny, as shown here).

What: Hot Freaks III (presented by An Aquarium Drunkard, Daytrotter, Gorilla Vs Bear, Largehearted Boy, My Old Kentucky Blog and You Ain't No Picasso)
When: Saturday, noon to 6
Where: Mohawk and Club Deville
Who: Mohawk outside: Bad Veins (noon), The Whigs (1pm), Film School (2pm), A Place to Bury Strangers (3pm), Peelander-Z (4pm), Islands (5pm)

Mohawk inside: Frankel (12:30pm), Le Switch (1:30pm), The Acorn (2:30pm), David Bazan (3:30pm), White Hinterland (4:30pm)

Club Deville: Lyrics Born (12:30pm), The Jealous Girlfriends (1:30pm), Bodies of Water (2:30pm), List Christee (Kevin Barnes DJ set, 3pm), White Rabbits (3:30pm), Lykke Li (4:30pm)

How awesome: Again with the sweet blogs and sweet bands. I like me some White Rabbits.

What: The Dell Lounge, presented by Paste and Stereogum
When: Saturday, from noon to 6
Where: Volume Night Club (on 6th)
Who: Fuck Buttons (noon), High Places (1pm), Blitzen Trapper (2pm), No Age (3pm), HEALTH (4pm), Kevin Barnes DJ set (5pm)
How Awesome: I think Kevin Barnes is DJing every day show. I know that violates the laws of physics, but take it up with him.

What: SxSeattle
When: Saturday, from noon to 5:30
Where: Palm Door (4th and Sabine)
Who: Throw Me the Statue (noon), Sirens and Sailors (12:45pm), The Cops (1:30pm), Holy Ghost Revival (2:15pm), Feral Children (3pm), The Shackletons (3:45pm), Fleet Foxes (4:30pm)
How Awesome: If there's anything that Pearl Jam and KEXP have taught us, it's that Seattle is awesome. Is it as awesome as Portland? Probably not, on account of the lack of Bigfoot and The Decemberists. But this show is still worth checking out, even sans yeti.

What: The Current Live at SXSW
When: Saturday, from 11am to 6:30
Where: The Free Yr Radio Broadcast Corner at 7th and Red River
Who: Lightspeed Champion (11am), Wye Oak (11:45am), The Heavy (1pm), Tokyo Police Club (2:15pm), Nicole Atkins (3:30pm), John Doe (4:15pm), Blitzen Trapper (5:30pm)
How Awesome: A lot of good bands here. Plus, it's being broadcast live on Free Yr Radio, so your voice can be hella famous on the interwebs.

What: Music by the Slice 2008
When: Saturday, from noon to 7:30
Where: Homeslice Pizza
Who: Laura Gibson (noon), Ola Podrida (12:45pm), Le Loup (1:30pm), The Morning Benders (2:15pm), The Watson Twins (3pm), The Spinto Band (3:45pm), Castledoor (4:30pm), The Submarines (5:15pm), Earlimart (6pm), Joseph Arthur (6:45pm)
How Awesome: The music is even more delicious than the pizza, but I'm only going if Jenny Lewis is going to play with The Watson Twins. It's partially because I really like Rilo Kiley, but mostly because she's really hot.

What: Blackland Records presents
When: 1 to 6
Where: Red Fez
Who: Pleasant Grove (1pm), The A-Sides (2pm), Joseph Arthur (3pm), Hymns (4pm), The Soundtrack Of Our Lives (5pm)
How Awesome: Sure, Red Fez is shitty. But The Soundtrack Of Our Lives puts on an amazing live show. I hope the lead singer still rocks the Druid robes.

Thumbing our noses at convention (or are we?)

Convention: - noun - a rule, method, or practice established by usage; custom: the convention of showing north at the top of a map.

Convention would dictate that if Dave and I were to resurrect this blog in time for SXSW, that we would do so by attending a different pre-southby concert than last year. You know… variety and all…

Well — crap!

In a surprising move, Dave and I decided to mock convention and DO THE EXACT SAME THING AS LAST YEAR. That’s right, fair reader… We attended yet another WWMF show one weekend prior to SXSW.

(BTW — David argues that, actually, convention would dictate that we attend the SAME show. I disagree — I believe that for the blogging world it is variety that is the convention. Aren’t semantic battles fun?!)

This one, however, was noticeably tamer than last year (though not from our lack of trying). After pounding countless Sparks and shockingly “clear” rum and Cokes from Casino el Camino (anyone familiar with the strength of the Casino pour KNOWS what I’m talking about), we stumbled over to Emo’s for the WMMF CD release party for “What Doesn’t Kill Us”. Had I listened to the album PRIOR to the show, I might have saved my money and stayed home. Luckily, my heart was pumping so hard from all the caffeine, the only thing I could hear for the majority of the show was my own thumping pulse.

The show, much like their album, was good but not great. In fact, Dave and I felt The Lemurs (who opened) were better. The addition of a new guitarist did little to overcome some fairly uneventful indie music. WMMF played with passion, but you can only put so much paint on a turd. In fact, the only time the crowd came out of its lull, was during the songs from “Trying to Never Catch Up”. Don’t get me wrong… We danced… But that was more of an “all hopped up on Sparks” thing than an “awesome show” thing. Needless to say, I’m not optimistic about the future of this formerly great Austin band.

The complete list is here!

SXSW has released the complete band list...

http://2008.sxsw.com/music/festival/alphalist/


Get out your reading glasses and highlighters folks, 'cause it's a long one.

Rumored Bands for SXSW 08

It's never too early to start thinking about SXSW. Although both Jason and I have been thinking about/discussing it for the last 3 months, which might be pushing it. Anyway, the good folks at Austinist have put together an excellent list of bands rumored to be playing this year, which you can find here.

The sexy folks at Smarmy Hipster are excited about the following acts:

The Black Keys
Blitzen Trapper
Born Ruffians
Breeders
Car Stereo (Wars)
The Cribs
Devotchka
Experimental Aircraft
Jens Lekman
The Kills
The Lemurs
My Brightest Diamond
My Morning Jacket
Nada Surf
The Raveonettes
Scissors for Lefty
Sons & Daughters
The Soundtrack of Our Lives
The Stills
Vampire Weekend
The Von Bondies
The Voom Blooms


Right now, I'm most excited about Vampire Weekend. Followed closely by The Soundtrack of Our Lives. Those Swedes dominate a live show like a hobo dominates a session at The Sizzler.

Favorite Albums of 2007

From David:

Yeah, it’s been an extremely long time since we blogged, but you’ll get no apologies from us! We work for a living, unlike those snide hippies at Pitchfork. Can hippies be snide? Never mind — it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that 2007 was a great year for music. I had forgotten how many fantastic albums came out this year before I started putting together this list.

So, without further ado, I give you Smarmy Hipster’s Favorite Albums of 2007 (extremely haphazard averages of our ordered picks):

1. Okkervil River, The Stage Names
2. Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
3. Andrew Bird, Armchair Apocrypha
4. Elvis Perkins, Ash Wednesday
5. Band of Horses, Cease to Begin
6. The National, Boxer
7. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Some Loud Thunder
8. Wilco, Sky Blue Sky
9. LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
10. Of Montreal, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
11. Blitzen Trapper, Wild Mountain Nation
12. Dr. Dog, We All Belong
13. The Weakerthans, Reunion Tour
14. Radiohead, In Rainbows
15. The White Stripes, Icky Thump
16. Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Note: For some reason not even known to him, Jason hates Spoon. He makes no endorsement of them. Which is stupid, because Spoon is great, and this was a really good album. Whatevs.)
17. Iron and Wine, The Shepherd’s Dog
18. Animal Collective, Strawberry Jam
19. Les Savy Fav, Let’s Stay Friends
20. Matt Pond PA, Last Light
21. The Twilight Sad, Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters
21(b). Shearwater, Palo Santo (Okay, technically this is a Matador reissue of the 2006 release by Misra, but it has a whole extra disc of songs, and I really like it, so I’m counting it. But I’ll put it under 21, just to be [minimally] fair.)

There you have it. It was such a good year, we had to go to 21 (actually 22) picks.

We’re going to make a concerted effort to post more in the months leading up to Indie Rock Christmas. Smarmy Hipster will be your source for daily SXSW updates and musings from two dudes who refuse to wear skinny jeans and Vans/Chucks.

Have a face-rocking New Year!

SXSW Day 4: In which Smarmy Hipster is Tired and Perplexed

From Jason:

My name is Jason, and I am a Birdmonster supporter.

I didn’t think this was a significant statement until recently. I pretty much chalked up the tiny audience (in number, not stature) to a sub-par venue location for the Wednesday night showcase — namely in Austin’s very own “Crack Alley.” There is no excuse for Saturday’s day show at the Hot Freaks! Blog Party at Mohawk, however. They played their first song to a fairly crowded room. Then, everyone just left. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s not as if their music isn’t fun (it is), or they weren’t playing with a lot of energy (they were). The audience just gave a collective YAWN and walked out. There weren’t any scheduling conflicts with other music options, either. Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s did not start their set at the outside stage until well after Birdmonster had finished. People basically said, “If it’s between this and nothing, we’ll take nothing.” I felt so bad I stayed to give some sympathy applause with their parents and girlfriends.

Other shows we saw at the party were The Ponys (who were good), Menomena (who played surprisingly well live), Asobi Seksu, and Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s. Allow me to take a moment to heap some praises on Asobi Seksu. They are a fantastic band! If you are not familiar with them, they can be described (from their website) as “guitar-swirling, sweet-and-sour, bilingual dream pop.” The bilingual part comes from the influence of Yuki, their lead singer / keyboardist (who, btw, could fit in my pocket). Her singing transitions beautifully and effortlessly from Japanese to English, and her keyboard meshes well with the other members of the band. As an added bonus, and as a stated response to the beautiful day, they passed some drumsticks to the audience and invited them onstage during the conclusion of the last song to bang on shit and cause a general ruckus.

Later that evening we attended a shockingly good show by The Lovely Sparrows. I say “shocking” due to the fact that when I saw them at the Parish about 2 months ago, the sound was off and they sounded, well, shitty. Not this time! This sound guy seemed to know more about what he was doing, and they were fantastic. A big and pleasant surprise!

Next on the agenda was Zykos (sorry for the Austin theme, but it just kinda worked out that way). Zykos was extremely medium. I’m not sure how a band can manage to be both extreme and medium, but they seem to pull it off nicely. Go and see their show and let me know if you disagree. About half their stuff is really good.

We finished the night at Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter. This band is a Melissa Etheridge clone, and not at all what we expected. It sounded good, but was not really our bag, and kinda ended our SXSW on a down note. I was much too pooped from many days and nights of hard rockin’ to drag myself to see GitoGito Hustler as was my original plan. Oh, well — there’s always next year.