Friday was the big blog party day, at least for Gorilla vs. Bear and Pitchfork. Pitchfork packed both stages up real quick whereas GvB was empty for a good while. I was just following the crowd, or following what I thought the crowd would do, so Kat and I headed to the already crowded Pitchfork party.
The band we saw there was Free Energy, who I was looking forward to seeing. Their album is a solid, summer pop album, which could have easily been labeled the new Strokes album. Unfortunately, I was a bit bored watching them live. Maybe it was too early (noonish I think), but they did their thing and I found myself standing there, trying hard to get into it and failing. They didn’t seem to put forth any effort. Just came on stage and played their songs. Instead of holding on to our coveted spots inside the party of the day (the line was quickly growing), we left and got some lunch. Thankfully too, as it was all I managed to eat the whole day. Better things were in store for the rest of the day. First something about these buzz bands.
I’ve noticed a lot of these buzz bands don’t really give a shit when they’re playing live shows. Not that all of them don’t, but a good deal of the bands I end up being disappointed with turn out to be those getting a significant amount of positive press from these blogs. To me, that’s pretty shitty. I mean, do they feel like they don’t have to try because they’re already getting so much attention? Or maybe it’s because all these scene kids don’t seem to care and will follow them anywhere till someone new shows up. I may be too old for all this, but watching these 18-21 year old kids just blindly follow what someone else is telling them, without even giving their own thoughts/opinions a chance to develop, is kind of depressing. I’m fine with blogs and other people recommending things. Hell, look at this blog. But when so many people are enjoying things something so clearly dull just because it’s at the “Pitchfork day party” makes me kind of angry. Anyway. Next band.
I didn’t know what to do next, so I met up with Cameron and checked out Darker My Love. Not bad. Not my thing, but they were pretty solid. That’s really all I have to say about them. What came next was the only “Oh man I randomly stumbled on a band that I think is awesome!” experience I had.
After Cameron and I parted, I headed to one of the many Brooklyn Vegan parties to check out Zola Jesus. I got into the pretty packed indoor stage and started listening to what I thought was Zola Jesus. Only, it wasn’t Zola Jesus at all. I had no idea what it was. There was a female vocalist who was talking about them changing their band name, but she wouldn’t tell us what to (she wouldn’t give us their current name either). I liked what I was hearing, so being the incredibly intelligent person that I am, I realized the event must be running late and this is the band scheduled to play before Zola Jesus. All I needed to do was find a schedule, which, of course did not exist anywhere inside or outside. Oh wait! I have an iphone (told ya I was smart). After dealing with the extremely slow service (either SXSW music kids create more iphone traffic than SXSWi people, or ATT decided to lower their bandwith or whatever once the techy people left) and navigating around the tons of Brooklyn Vegan parties, I found the list, and the artist playing before Zola Jesus was…a comedian. Oh. Hmm. Well then it had to be the band playing before the comedian, Katie Stelmanis (some myspace and google image sleuthing verified this). You need to check this girl out. She’s from Toronto and has guested on a Fucked Up album, which is kind of weird as her music is nothing like that hardcore stuff people seem to enjoy. It’s melodic and experimental, soothing and very emotional. She does have a full backing band, and they’re changing their name to The Private Life (can’t say I approve), but she’s definitely the main attraction. Great synthy sounds and great looping/layering of her voice. She is definitely someone who will be getting attention in the near future.
So I just experienced what I assume you’re supposed to experience at SXSW. I found a new band that I really liked! Obviously I had to tweet about it. As I’m walking down 6th street (the main street with all the bars and venues and the one that’s closed off to just foot traffic) with my head buried in my phone tweeting, paying no attention to where I’m walking, I suddenly realize a couple very large..beings in front of me. Those beings? GWAR. They were walking down the street, I guess to promote themselves and to look really weird, and I ran right into them. I’m sure they said something or made some noise or yelled or did whatever it is GWAR does when you run into them (which thankfully didn’t include spraying me with blood), but seeing them in person for the first time and just looking up and seeing those things kind of shocked me, so I don’t really remember. If you haven’t seen them up close, it’s a pretty ridiculous experience. Can’t say their show is something I recommend, but if you have the opportunity and nothing else to do, I’d say go for it. Thankfully my next run-in was much friendlier one.
Apparently Sean and his band, Nico Stai were about to play in some bar Sean was standing outside of. We chatted a bit about how our first couple of days, how I really didn’t like Salem, how this Katie Stelmanis was pretty awesome, and about the show they were about to play. Good times. I continued onwards to try and catch Serena Maneesh, but decided to stick around and catch my friend’s band. I was going to see them at some point, why not now? I had no idea what to expect with these guys, but they rocked it. They were playing in an extremely small bar to a relatively small crowd that grew as people heard them from outside and decided to wander in. It’s pretty straightforward rock music, but every single member puts so much heart into the performance. I left that show pretty pumped so what did I do? I went to a panel featuring Neil from Origami Vinyl.
I can’t say too much about the panel. Cameron and I went to check it out and support Neil. It dealt with the five possible futures of the music industry, with the panelists having to say whether or not they thought each future was happening, could happen, or if there was no way it was going to happen. The panelists included the creator of The Daily Swarm, the creator of Soundcloud, and Neil. I don’t remember a whole lot other than people loving Neil’s idea of how to create a community driven record store, which is pretty neat. Talking to him about the panel a few days ago, I have to agree with his thought that the way the panel was conducted did not provide ample time to discuss and converse. It was more of one person explaining things and then the moderator moving on to a different topic till time was out. It would have been nice to hear the panelists get into kind of a friendly argument, but that did not happen. Too bad. It was now time for some rest then to the church for Band of Horses.
Not wanting to miss what seemed to be the big church show of the week, I got there pretty early. Whatever band preceding Band of Horses couldn’t be that bad, and I’d be watching concerts in a church. Unique. The first act was Tyler Ramsey, a solo project from one of the band members. His music was pretty similar to that of Band of Horses, but with a different style due to the fact that it was just him and a guitar. I was happy with what I heard. Wasn’t blown away, but I was glad to be there. The band that followed was Company and was also from South Carolina. They were a group of young guys and also sounded a bit like Band of Horses. Not the best, and I would’ve liked to hear something more unique from them, but there could be some potential. Now for the main act.
And what a main act it was. They were great. Very tight, sounding almost ethereal thanks to the church backdrop and acoustics. Things would go from a calm/laid back atmosphere to pure southern rock bliss. The audience was seated for most of the set till the band asked everyone to stand for the last song (can’t remember which). I do remember it filled the huge building with a great amount of energy. It was kind of magical with everyone standing, clapping, and well aware that we were being treated to a pretty special evening. Afterwards I opted out on sticking around for jj thanks to all the negative things I heard about her live show. I met up with Kat and checked out Active Child and The Smith Westerns.
Active Child was great. That dude knows how to play the harp. And sing. And cover New Order. I’m glad to see more and more talented and up-and-coming musicians are coming out of Los Angeles. Please go watch him play as soon as you can as long as it isn’t on Saturday since he’s playing at the same time as Superhumanoids. He’s been all over the place as of late and you’re going to want to catch him with a small crowd before he starts filling up the venues. His songs are very dreamy and kind of spacey, which is never bad. Unfortunately for the crowd, most of them seemed to be therefor The Smith Westerns and weren’t paying too much attention. And unfortunately for the crowd, The Smith Westerns, to me at least, were very disappointing. Don’t get me wrong. They’re good musicians, and they play the kind of droney, lo-fi, garage rock that’s in right now. And they are still very young, with still a lot of growing to do. But they’re boring live. So boring. Every song blends into one another and there’s nothing that hooks you or catches your attention. I know people (to be left unnamed) that liked the set, but I was unimpressed. Even the concert photographer I spoke with at the airport, someone with clearly a lot of musical exposure, called to them specifically as one of his disappointments of the week. So if you don’t trust me, trust him. A person you know absolutely nothing about. Good? Good. I headed back to the church after and checked out Holly Miranda before I gave The XX that chance I’d been meaning to give them.
Holly Miranda was good. I honestly know nothing about her, where she came from, what her story is, or anything else. But I liked her. She seemed to be young (I could be completely wrong, but that’s what I thought) and if so could use some more time to find her bearings, at least for the solo stuff she’s doing now. All in all her sound is good, the music is great, and I look forward to checking her out in the future. The XX, however, still somewhat confuses me.
I don’t know how to feel about this band. I didn’t like the album. I know a good deal of people whose musical tastes I respect that didn’t like it either. I also am aware that almost everyone else loves them. Because of this I decided to sit in on their church show. If I was going to have my mind changed, seeing them live would do it, and seeing them live in a church couldn’t hurt. Did they change my mind after the show? Not really. Did they give me something to be excited about? Totally. I may not ‘get’ the debut album, but having watched them perform the songs live, I can see a lot of the pieces are there. The girl in the band has an amazing voice that I don’t feel she uses very well and is just waiting to come out. The next album may not be as critically acclaimed as the first, and it also may not be any different either, but if the band matures and progresses like I hope it will, I’m personally really looking forward to what they have in store. So I left the show, not having my mind changed about the band in it’s current state or about the debut album, but feeling a sense of excitement about what’s to come.
After The XX I did try to catch some of Mayer Hawthorne or the end of Washed Out’s set, but was unsuccessful. I also failed at getting any food on my walk home thanks to the ridiculous lines at all the vendors. So it was another day of mostly gin and tonics. Mmmm. Only one day left!
