Having just had my mind expanded by Jaguar Love on the outside stage at the I Heart Comix showcase on Thursday night, I headed back inside Beauty Bar to discover that the set by Totally Michael, the artist I had arrived at the venue actually intending to see was already in progress. As it turned […]
John’s SXSW ’09 Day Party Highlights: The Wrens
I’m already on record as thinking that the Hold Steady are among the best live bands in the world. Well, I’m prepared to double down on that statement for the Wrens, who are happily back to performing live shows. This was the first of three sets the band was to play in Austin while on […]
John’s SXSW Showcase Highlights: Jaguar Love
OK, so you might be thinking to yourself, “What was with those prefatory remarks you made threatening to blow our minds with your picks, John? We’re with you so far.†Well, strap yourselves in, friends. From here on in, things get weird, and in the immortal words of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, “when the going […]
John’s SXSW ’09 Day Party Highlights: The Hold Steady
Having been a pretty big fan of the Hold Steady for a few years now, I commend myself for showing incredible restraint in having only taken in two of the four sets they played over three days and nights in Austin … but I should probably confess that this decision was made easier knowing that […]
John’s SXSW ’09 Showcase Highlights: The Shys
I first heard Los Angeles-based garage rockers the Shys on Little Steven’s Underground Garage, where they were featured as the purveyors of The Coolest Song in the World with their insta-garage classic, “Never Gonna Die.†That fuel-injected selection was the second song of their Saturday night set at Prague, their final South-by performance this year, […]
John’s SXSW ’09 Day Party Highlights: Glasvegas
I’ll just come right out and say it: As far as I’m concerned, the eponymous debut album from these Scots is the album of the year so far. (Yes, yes, I know it was released in the UK last year. I don’t live in the UK, OK?) Brilliant songwriting by frontman James Allan, who crafts […]
John’s SXSW ’09 Showcase Highlights: Cut Off Your Hands
Elemeno P, my favorite New Zealand band (since discovering them at South-by ’07), unfortunately canceled their appearance this year, but their fellow kiwis in Cut Off Your Hands more than ably stepped in to fill the gap, proving that the spirit of the mighty Flying Nun Records artists doesn’t only resonate in Elemeno P. I’d […]
John’s SXSW ’09 Day Party Highlights: The Takeover UK
Credit for my discovery of the Takeover UK goes to my friend Erica (whose gorgeous photos I’ll be appropriating, with her kind permission, for use in my own South-by scribing whenever possible), who put me onto them a few weeks prior to South-by. As with my initial Wild Light listening experience, I liked everything I […]
John’s SXSW ’09 Showcase Highlights: The Riverboat Gamblers
The Riverboat Gamblers are a band whose .mp3 jumped out of the South-by torrent and practically punched me in the face 2-3 years back, so knocking me out with their Misfits-by-way-of-Austin sound that I knew I just had to see them live. Alas, as it turned out, my seeing them live wasn’t destined to occur […]
John’s SXSW ’09 Day Party Highlights: Wild Light
It’s a tad ironic that I first saw Wild Light perform at a party hosted by Paste, since it’s Rolling Stone, the grande dame of rock rags which I have to thank for putting Wild Light on my radar. Since Wild Light wasn’t one of the bands that chose to include an .mp3 on the […]