SXSW 2009: Wednesday

20 Mar 2009 - 11:14
By adam | Posted in shows | Comments (1) Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

J Tillman at Mohawk

J Tillman J Tillman

J. Tillman, now better known for being a member of Fleet Foxes, played an early show inside at Mohawk, which was a great low-key start to SXSW.  His accoustic folk is similar to Jason Molina, and his beard evokes Will Oldham.  The lyrics are dark, which deepens the similarity to both those men.  It was a good show, and I'm a sucker for that sort of thing.

Anticon: Yoni Wolf and Themselves at Red7

Yoni Wolf Themselves

After the brevity of J Tillman's set, we had more time than we needed to get to our next show, so we dropped in at Yoni Wolf's show at Red7.  I've seen him plenty of times with Why?, which pushed him out of my "must-see-artists" list, but I do love his self-depricating lyrical style, and it was a cute show.  Just him and a keyboard, playing new Why? songs, and a couple off of Alopecia.  After his set, we moved inside to catch his Anticon labelmates, and ex-cLOUDDEAD bandmates Themselves.  DoseOne's hi-speed lyrical delivery was barely intelligible, but amazing.  Their phat beatz, as it were, were also amazing.  We can only assume that the lyrics matched the dirty humor of his stage banter between songs.

The Handsome Family at Dog and Duck

The Handsome Family

Despite getting a tweet from @amandapalmer, we Missed her flash-mob-pillow-fight outside Radio Room, and had time to stroll slowly up to Dog and Duck for Handsome Family.  Their alt-country set was nice, as were the chairs after our long walk.  They played the songs we wanted, and it was a nice and chill show before dinner and the evening craziness.

Jucifer at Emo's Annex

Jucifer Jucifer Jucifer Jucifer Jucifer

Jucifer was hands-down, the best set of the day.  Amber Valentine came out and lived up to the Rock Star tattooed across her knuckles.  After her folky leather outfit, Her dirty sludgy guitar was the second thing to strike from the stage, she made it growl for longer than some of their whole songs, before launching into their set.  And launch they did.  She was ferocious, bringing unbelievable energy to songs from their latest double album, playing songs back-to-back, with no pause even to breathe.  Her husband and drummer was just as intense, standing up to bring more force to the stops and starts of their songs.  He also contributes perplexing falsetto vocals in the midst of his heavy drumming and Amber's heavy guitar work, contributin to their amazing stylistic breadth for a 2 person band.  Their DIY-halogen-light-and-smoke stage was amazing, too.  Most of SXSW is pretty low-budget, and low production, but not this show.

Katzenjammer in the middle of 6th street

katzenjammer katzenjammer katzenjammer

We were on our way to see The Wierd Weeds at The Hideout when we were suddenly arrested by the norwegian folk harmonies of Katzenjammer playing in the middle of the street.  They played like they meant it, and were completely adorable.  We'll try to catch up with them later at SXSW, which I suppose is the reason for playing impromptu street shows.  The Weird Weeds are a local band who I saw just after new years.  The show was a lot more focused than the last time I saw them, but still very artsy/avant/experimental.

Dosh at Mohawk

Dosh Dosh

Dosh was the victim of unfortunate circumstances.  His multi-instrumentalist electronic music is calm and intricate, which is better suited to an afternoon show than to 11PM, when I'm already feeling the wear of going to 7 different shows.  To make matters worse, Mohawk's inside venue is no longer air conditioned, and the stage is no longer visible from the far side of the bar.  In fact, with him sitting down between his drum set, keyboard, and effects, he was impossible to see.  The pictures I took are my only view of the show, since I could hold the camera up high enough to see over.

Viva Voce at Radio Room, and The Decemberists on the radio

No pictures for this show, since The Radio Room had a sign saying only cameras with badges.  After a really long sound check, Viva Voce played with very bad sound and lots of feedback.  They seemed as exhausted as we were, and unable to connect to their music at all.  When we got back in the car to go home, we heard The Decemberists playing with My Brightest Diamond on KUT, and were chagrined at our choice of shows, since it was clearly far better than Dosh and Viva Voce.  I picked up their new LP the next morning at Waterloo, since the show was so good, and I'm really into My Brightest Diamond, who appears on the album.


Pirate Knights

8 Mar 2009 - 6:12
By adam | Posted in Austin, shows | Comments (0) Tags: , , , , , |

I've missed out on posting about some shows, but rather than let the weight of my unfinished drafts keep me from posting, I'm just going to start now.  I'm also trying to re-learn to post longer thoughts than 140 characters.  On Thursday, the Pirate Pagan Knights Fest came through Austin.  We skipped out of the end of our karaoke night to catch the start of the show, since we were excited about the first band.  We arrived, and found a local opening band, Runes of Honor1 ,who had chops, but didn't really look the part, with polo shirts, and glasses.  It was a little  like seeing death metal performed by robots.

Suidakra, the band we came early for, wound up putting on the strongest set of the night.  Their songs weld melodic death metal openings, to Celtic folk chant finales.  This produces just the right sequence of flying hair, fist pumping, and shout-alongs, for a great show.  It is a bit odd to hear thick german accents, fresh off an Irish drinking song, and leading into fiery Gothenburg-tinged guitar leads.  Metal is rife with subgenres, and many of them overlap in odd ways.  Suidakra fits pagan-, viking-, folk-, and melodic death-metal.  Pagan and Folk are ethos descriptors and  Viking is a lyrical descriptor.   Their sound is influenced by Celtic Folk, but not all folk metal can be lumped together since the folk music means different things in different cultures.

Alestorm, the second band, is a subgenre unto themselves:  True Scottish Pirate Metal.  If that sounds like a party and a half, it is.   Before the show, we angsted a bit about what to wear, whether to dress for a typical metal show (all black, with band shirt), or to hit up Lucy in Disguise, and go in full-on pirate regalia.  Since we were coming from Karaoke League, costumes wouldn't have been out of place, but in the end we ran short of time.  We did see others at the show who'd gone the party city route, and come in some very halloween-y pirate gear.  The band's only visual claim to piracy was the guitarist' kilt.  It didn't matter, though, their stage presence was ample.  From the KEYtar-enabled antics of the singer,  to their onstage comradery, it was chant-along power metal drinking songs at their finest.  Alestorm pretty much do what it says on the pirate-metal tin, with great stage banter in a thick Scottish accent:  "This song is about wenches and mead.  It's called 'Wenches and Mead'"

Unfortunately, the crowd thinned substantially before Týr came on.  Unfortunately for those who left, at least.  The guys came out for their soundcheck in tight black clothing, but then retreated backstage to return for the show in full leather armor, branded in runes.  Týr hails from the Faroe Islands, and incorporate tradition Faroese folk elements into their viking-related songs.  Most clean vocals in folk/power metal feel cheesy, compared to the affected authenticity of punk/hardcore/indie vocals, but Týr's use of traditional chants and native language mitigate this.  I find it easier to enjoy the deliberately melodic vocals when they're in that context.  Traditional vocals go with traditional stories, go with traditional melodies, in a way that feels authentic, if emotionally reserved.


  1. I think, I can't find any info on them (back ↩)

WordCamp Chicago

9 Dec 2008 - 8:34
By adam | Posted in blogging, chicago | Comments (1) Tags: , |

It's great to see Chicago hosting tech events, even if I'm not there to appreciate it anymore.  I think that I'll probably find my way back into town for WordCamp, though, since WordPress is more than just a hobby for me now.  And I'm sure even if I don't, Blueprint will be represented by someone else, since it's a much closer trip for the rest of the firm :D

2008 Best of Lists

5 Dec 2008 - 9:27
By adam | Posted in music | Comments (1) Tags: , , , |

Top 5 Metal Albums

I thought this year would go  much differently.  All the bands that I love were releasing albums this year, I thought I'd see them all here.  But Children of Bodom returned to their classical ways at the expense of hooks and In Flames made album of mediocre radio-friendly snorers.  Opeth's album is solid, and has some great songs (Burden, The Lotus Eater), but lacks the overall memorability that marks their previous efforts.

This was definitely the year for black metal Pink Floyd worship.  I thought Nachtmystium had taken the cake with Black Meddle, opening with a cover of One of These Days.  Then Enslaved reminded us why they're the kings of experimental black metal.  They take floydian harmonies into dark realms they've never seen before, but retain the darkness and dirtiness that made their straight black metal efforts so great.

Burst and Cynic are the kings of progressive metal this year.  As impressive as Cynic's reunion is after 14 years, Burst's album is perfect.  Each of the songs holds a very specific place in the album.  The fierceness of it is something that's been missing from prog, since Metallica abandoned their long form efforts.  The drama, too, reminds me of the classic metal that came from Cliff Burton and Dave Mustaine, it's not like Gojira, where you're pummeled with one sound for an hour - Lazarus bird swings from beautiful intro into full assault into spacey breakdown, uncoiling and tightening, and never losing your attention.  Meanderthal is a similarly tight effort, in a different way: the album is metal, but all of the songs are hook-laden pop songs that stick in your head and won't leave.  They'd be radio friendly, if mainstream metal existed in any way that wasn't insulting to the genre.

5: Nachtmystium - Assassins: Black Meddle Pt. 1
4: Torche - Meanderthal
3: Enslaved - Vertebrae
2: Cynic - Traced in Air
1: Burst - Lazarus Bird

Top 5 non-metal albums

I know, it's a weird distinction.  Nonetheless, combining my favorite metal albums into this list would result in a very odd top 10, that would only hold value for people very close to my musical taste.  Cloud Cult's most epic album to date needs to be recognized in a stronger way.  Their secular mythologies (he served us communion of cola and twinkies), fit the sound perfectly.  It's absurdly artsy, but in a good way.  Why?, too, is overly artsy with his prose, set against an organic hip-hop background of xylophones and simple drum kits.  The songs suck you in, seeming bigger than the sparce instrumentation that holds them.

Nine Inch Nails released 2 albums as free downloads this year.  While The Slip is easily passed off as Radiohead-wannabe-marketing, Ghosts squarely frames all of the issues with what the recording industry has become.  Not only does the first quarter play loss-leader to the remaining 3 parts, but the music itself would never be released on a major label.  The songs are short experiments, hanging pieces of the various incarnations of NIN, the acoustic intimacy of Still, the angry glitch of their heyday, and the dark groove of the last few years.  The songs play against each other, any sense of atmosphere is gone, you're forced to pay attention to each piece individually.  A record company would want a single, and they would want similar songs to sit near each other to form some coherent whole, some marketable aesthetic.  The album isn't about that, it's about experimentation, and experimentation doesn't sell.  Except it did, to NIN fans, many like me, who've wanted to see Trent flex his writing outside of pop formulas.

Fleet Foxes and Dengue Fever belong to a resurgence of psychadelia, both in warm happy tones (especially as compared to the floyd worship referenced above).  The aesthetic is certainly pop, but not in a formulaic sense.  Fleet Foxes rely on complex harmonies and lush instrumentation, crafting music that's endlessly interesting, while staying hook-y and memorable.  Dengue Fever writes Cambodian pop ditties, led by an iconic female voice, but the songs wind far afield.

5: Dengue Fever - Venus on Earth
4: Fleet Foxes - (s/t)
3: Why? - Alopecia
2: Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I - IV
1: Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts

Top 5 EP's

Agalloch - The White EP

EP's are a weird space - Some of these bands (Mogwai, The Gaslight Anthem, Jesu) released full albums that either had too much filler, or just lacked the punch of the EP tracks.  Agalloch and Cassettes Won't Listen just left me begging for more.  Agalloch's EP shows their neo-folk influences without their black metal ones.  The White EP is finely tuned, including the paired Birch White/Birch Black.  Unfortunately the EP is truly limited edition, it's completely out of print and unavailable.  The Gaslight Anthem's gruff vocals over catchy punk sound marries perfectly to their increasingly Americana/nostalgic songs on Senor and the Queen.  Unfortunately, The '59 Sound, released later this year, relies too heavily on classic storytelling, and waffles in mediocre.  Mogwai's Batcat EP snatches the heaviest song from Hawk is Howling, and adds a collaboration with Roky Erikson that's absolutely beautiful.  Their full length doesn't have the punch that this EP has, or that Mr. Beast had.   Jesu tends to be too precious in large doses, but paired against the heaviest output from Battle of Mice, they make sense.

5: Mogwai - Batcat
4: Jesu/Battle of Mice split
3: The Gaslight Anthem - Senor and the Queen
2: Cassettes Won't Listen - Small Time Machine
1: Agalloch - The White EP

Songs To Check Out:

  1. Cassettes Won't Listen - Paper Float
  2. Battle of Mice - The Bishop
  3. Cloud Cult - When Water Comes To Life
  4. Agalloch - Birch White
  5. Dengue Fever - Tiger Phone Card
  6. Burst - We Watched The Silver Rain
  7. Torche - Across The Shields
  8. Why? - The Hollows
  9. Cynic - Evolutionary Sleeper (live)
  10. The Gaslight Anthem - Senor and the Queen

The End of Wank

13 Nov 2008 - 8:51
By adam | Posted in blogging | Comments (1) Tags: , |

I recently wanted to link to some thoughts I'd posted previously, and it was shocking to realize just much my writing and attitudes have changed in the last year.  I've been disinterested in the drama that seems to follow WordPress around.  I made one last attempt to deal with the goings on at wankpress, but it seems that my comment is hanging out in indefinite moderation, much like she complains about at ma.tt:

I think it comes down to how designers and developers sell themselves, and the expectations put on them. Where a developer can talk about their skills, their contributions to a project, designers are expected to walk in with a portfolio of projects that they’ve designed from start to finish, on their own or as part of a team.

I think it’s also important that while software is great at iterating and evolving, design projects are delivered as a fixed quantity, and expected to work perfectly from day 1. I think there’s room for an open source design paradigm, but I think that much of the artwork for OS projects is delivered using a closed process.

To some extent, delivering it that way seems to work better for developers. They have one absolute standard to code against and solve, rather than having each revision in the design process necessitate many more code revisions.

I suppose since the company I work for is listed on the page she's wanking about, it's reasonable that I would be considered untrustworthy.  I think it says more about that status of the wankery, though.