Last night's film, while familiar, didn't tug the homesick chord nearly as much as The Dark Knight did, though.  The first Christopher Nolan Batman film had some "hey, I've been there" moments, but it was mostly very CG-affected.  The Dark Knight, by contrast, lives in Chicago.  There are no odd jumps between distant places in the city;  scenes are in consistent places, when they leave one building, they move down real streets to neighboring buildings.  It was almost disturbing, in the sense that Batman wasn't in a fantasy world, he was in a very present time and place.  The last film to live this close to me was High Fidelity, although John Cusack could have been me or any of my friends (unlike Batman).  It's a testament to Nolan's film that the familiarity didn't disrupt the suspension of disbelief.

Heath Ledger as The Joker

I loved the character arcs in Batman Begins, they felt very believable and human.  The Dark Night is much more straightforward in that sense, following the standard comic book patterns.  This film, then, works much harder to keep your attention.  The twists and turns of the plot more resemble Memento: more elements being added, takes more effort to keep up, which distracts you from the inevitability of the conclusion.  It's a great film, whether you're from Chicago or not.

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• Penguins!

Wikipedia's article follows straight into the same failures, by depending more on the book, and record sales, than logicoriginal research, or on online articles from authors not trying to push more units, and actually interested in the groundswell.

I'm bringing this up, because I went to the Dethklok show last night.  Dethklok's album, released last year, was the highest charting death metal album (#19) to date¹  But after suffering through Chimaira's set, it's clear that unless we pay more attention to Pitchfork²  than wikipedia, NWOAHM is going to follow "new metal" right into the terrible rhythm-based non-music of nu-metal.  Chimaira's songs actually include "choruses" (gang vocals/shouting) like "I HATE EVERYONE". It's godsmack/disturbed/mudvayne all over again.

That anyone could think of referring to them as "groove metal" having seen Soilent Green's death/grind performance 15 minutes beforehand, is absurd.  Soilent Green has intense tempo shifts in their songs, that would actually make you shake your ass, if you weren't so busy throwing horns and/or invisible oranges.  And they have the decency to not to take themselves so seriously.  The singer referenced their 'old stuff', only to remind himself by polling the audience that very few in the audience had ever seen them before.  It was a great show, although I do much prefer their latest album to their older stuff

Dethklok was exactly as amazing as I imagined.  The show did start with a commercial for the new battlefield game, which would have been pretty annoying, if we weren't about to watch a cartoon.  The show leads off with a bit about turning fans into mutants in an attempt to subvert their economic influence.  When the band took the stage, it was at first easy to pay attention to Mike Keneally and Brendan Small trading solos, and the live band just generally being awesome.  After a few relatively narrative song-isodes on screen, the cartoon turned towards performance based, and it was easy to forget that there was a live band onstage.  Mike Keneally did a fantastic job, despite having gone gray since the last time I saw him (Wood + Smoke tour, at Martyr's).  I do wonder, though, if the animated interludes between every other song were as much for the band to rest as for the amusement of the audience.  My only gripe with the show was that Austin Music Hall's A/C could not even come close to dealing with thr crowd.  Despite being here for SXSW, and having seen a couple of outdoor shows here, this was the hottest show I've been to since Lollapalooza day 2.

1. Since then, albums by Opeth and Children of Bodom have followed closely (#23 & #21 respectively), which speaks to a real groundswell for extreme metal. (back ↩)
2. When I think of the recent upturn in metal, I think of bands like Mastodon, ISIS, Sunn O), who have garnered indie-rock followings right alongside metal followings.  That following has spilled over into other metal bands, generally reviving the genre as worthy of mainstream attention.  Metalcore bands like Chimaira, Trivium, et al, fail to attract anyone who's not interested in being part of "the scene". (back ↩)

Saturday was the first metal show I've been to here.  The show was outside at Mohawk, which is great, I love being able to smoke at shows, especially metal shows that I can't convice the wifest to attend with me.

Clouds opened up, and they were actually the band that drew me to the show.  I saw that at SXSW, and they were fantastic there.  The new album (We Are Above You) just came out, and they just put on way too good a show to not go see them again.  There's something about their swagger that very few of the "stoner metal" bands do well.  I also really love the 3 lead vocalists.  I wouldn't say any of them are exceptional in their own right, but it's fantastic hearing them play off each other, and trade leads and harmonies.

Clouds - Slow DayTorche's Meanderthal album is a strong contender for the best metal album this year, it's full of great pop hooks, catchy songs, all wrapped in a fuzzed out metal package.  I'd been warned that their live show isn't so great, though.  The first song, from one of their earlier EP's, was definitely worth a warning.  The vocals were pretty much absent, and any sense of song was obliterated in a haze of badly mixed, overly loud wall of fuzz.  As they moved on to songs from the new albums, I got a little more used to picking the vocals out of the mix, and the stronger songs punched through the din.  I can certainly see why these guys don't make friends with their live show.  The singer has a shit-eating grin on the entire time, almost like he's unaware of the fact that people can't tell how fun the songs are.  It was a great set, though, and still worth seeing, if you like the album.

Boris came on last.  I'll have to admit that I really only see Boris as an amusement.  None of their songs grab me, and their noise is to up-front to just put on and immerse in, the way you can with, say, Sunn O))).  They led off with songs from smile, which were enjoyable enough, but I got bored quickly.

We arrived on wednesday, and after picking up badges, I went straight over to Mohawk for The Forms. The show was nice and open, since most people still hadn't arrived yet, and the venue was ample for those who had. The weather was beautiful, the set was great, and Mohawk had some of the best sound all week. I caught 4 bands before The Forms went on, and all of them were at least interesting. I find it sad that there are so many bands out there that I'd enjoy, and yet there's no radio station that manages to find them. No matter, the internets are better for everything. The Forms played a great set, and it was the best show I saw until Sunday.

Meeting up with the wifest again, we headed off to catch Why? at Emo's. The picture above is from Thursday, when we caught them again outdoors. They played a different set at each of their three shows, which probably makes their first one the best, since that's where they played "The Hollows", which I now realize I like disproportionately more than the rest of their stuff. Okkervil River with Roky Erickson was much more of Roky's crowd than Okkervil's, being at the Austin Music Awards and all. I'm not completely writing off Okkervil, but they're hanging by a thread.

Thursday: Shout Out Louds, Weakerthans, High on Fire

We queued up just early enough for the NPR showcase at The Parish, we were the last 2 people in before the guest-listers. The Shout Out Louds came on before Jens Lekman, who we were there to see, but had much better sound, and much more of a show to give.

The rest of the afternoon, I spent moderating comments from a certain post on my work blog, until I went out to meet the wifest for Weakerthans & DeVotchKa. The Cedar Street venue is pretty cool, although my blackberry's camera didn't do it (like so many things this weekend) any justice at all. Nonetheless, I ran off to check out High on Fire. I'd had hopes of catching Municipal Waste as well, but Emo's Annex was running closer to on time than Cedar Street, so I missed them. Hight on firesound more similar to mastodon than they actually are, live. The show was much thrashier than anything else I saw this week.

Friday: Division Day, Cloud Cult, Clouds

Ironically, despite the names of the bands, it was clear, sunny, and well into the 90's on friday. This made the trek over to Waterloo Records for Division Day pretty painful, but they made it worth my while. Their synth-emo was the right kind of dreamy to be seeing in the middle of a record store.

Afterwards, I walked all the way back to Emo's Annex for Why?, and was pleasantly surprised by Cloud Cult beforehand. They had a painter on stage, and played cool noisy experimental stuff. their forthcoming album (for sale at the show) doesn't really capture the dynamics and explosiveness of the live show. I'll definately be checking them out more, though.

For the night show, I decided that I'd had enough of standing in lines, and I'd try to stay in one place. The Hydrahead showcase is exactly what I wanted - Stephen Brodsky (masquerading as a misspelled Stove Bredsky), Clouds, and a patio to smoke on. I first walked in during some very space-y "experimental" set, which quickly caused me to go take a smoke break. The patio was filled with metalheads, for the "It's GRIM up North" Showcase. Turns out Goat the Head was about to start. The guys walked on caked in mud or blood, and wearing only diapers loincloths. Except the singer who wore pelts, and growled non-stop, doing his best to sound like this. I love metal, but sometimes you just have to laugh.

I came back in to find Stephen Brodsky playing guitar on stage, by himself. Rather than playing the very chill, very acoustic stuff from his recent solo records, he played stripped down versions of Cave In songs. Mostly from "Tides of Tomorrow", the EP that's not as inventive as Jupiter, or as pop as Antenna, released between the two. It was a really great fit.

His sometimes bandmate's band, Clouds, came on next, and played a great show. They don't so much mix stoner metal and hardcore, as they veer wildly between the two. It's a very easy type of music for me to listen to: it's intense, but it has great melody, and surprising harmonies from the 3 vocalists, who trade off songs and verses. It's crunchy and fast, and just damn good.

Saturday: The Gaslight Anthem, David Bazan, Cassettes Won't Listen

I'd tried to catch The Gaslight Anthem earlier, but there'd been a last-minute lineup change, and I wound up with a $10 tab, and an earful of some band from the Spiderman soundtrack. It was quite a contrast to the Austinist/Gothamist Showcase on wednesday that made such a great opening to the weekend. Anyway, back to Gaslight - I love those guys, and the show was just as fun as I'd imagined. Well, for their part, at least. The audience was mostly pre-teen girls, which I think was as surprising to them as it was to me, prompting jokes about braces and spring break. I think of Gaslight in the same vein as Sparta or later Hot Water Music, so I didn't think I'd feel that old.

Amongst the swag we picked up at registration, there was a card for a blackberry-based music store. There nothing I was interested in, save for a lone Pedro the Lion EP, in amongst mainstream and christian crap. Early Saturday evening, I'd queued up for Jaymay at Maggie Mae's. By the time The Wifest and Harry showed up, 6^th st. Was a zoo, since the line for the rooftop was inextricably mixed with our line. Chatting with our newfound friends-in-line, I found out David Bazan was playing upstairs, and changed my plans. David is an incredibly talented writer, and not much is lost with the transition from Pedro The Lion to solo singer/songwriter.

Cassettes Won't Listen closed out my weekend. I suffered through Tiger City beforehand, a little worried that I'd misjudged CWL. Turns out he was exactly what I wanted to see before going home. There are plenty of electronic one-man-bands that are painful to see live, because they're either mostly just playing a pre-recorded set, since they can't do it all at once, or they're so intently hunched over their laptop as to make it pointless to not just pre-record it. (*cough* four tet *cough*). CWL was the shining example of what a one-man show should be. He started out with his sampler and keyboard, building the introduction, looping and sampling himself as he went, building to the point that he could move to the mic, pull up his guitar, and just deliver. The songs were brilliant, and his performance carried the subtlety that I love about his music.

A brilliant end to a great show. You can check out more crappy phone pictures on my flickr stream, if you're into that kinda thing .