The 2008 SXSW Thread

[schwenko]

re: BSP

What??!! No shrubbery!!!!!!

Did they sing that they were "in love with the modern world"?

[Frau_Blucher]

[quote][i]Originally posted by schwenko[/i]
<br>Did they sing that they were "in love with the modern world"?
[/quote]
Close!!! [:0]

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94189813.jpg">

They grabbed a couple of these stickers from the girls passing out free ice cream bars. How great is that?! [8D]

[glokstadt]

All sounds great so far! Awaiting the X write up... [:p] Did you get any tounge/cabeza/intestine tacos???


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[coop41]

The evening started with our first of two trips to the taco trailer , on our way to see X.
They were amazing, although I might pick Exene in the next death pool
<a href="http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/?action=view¤t=Exene.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/Exene.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/?action=view¤t=exene2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/exene2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/?action=view¤t=Doe.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/Doe.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/?action=view¤t=Zoom.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/Zoom.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/?action=view¤t=ExeneDoe.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/ExeneDoe.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


Next up, Helio Sequence, pretty good stuff, Guitar, Drums and Computer!

<a href="http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/?action=view¤t=helioSeq.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/helioSeq.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/?action=view¤t=Helio.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/Helio.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

And we finished the night out with J. Mascis from Dinosaur Jr. playing solo guitar who had the best ending when he laid down his guitar, said "I'm All Done" and walked off

<a href="http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/?action=view¤t=JMascis.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/JMascis.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


Thurston Moore and his band finished the night off (Cool double bill eh motors?)

<a href="http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/?action=view¤t=ThurstonMoore.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/ThurstonMoore.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


that's it for me, sitting in the airport right now, my feet thankful I don't have to do that for another day.

What an incredible time, Blir is fantastic, and the number of outstanding bands we saw and the number of cool people we met from all over the world was just unreal.

You won't know what you are missing until you go!

[Frau_Blucher]

Alrighty Glok - X coming up shortly. First some more Friday day pics. Not to fawn too much over Shout Out Louds, but I have to say again how happy I was to see these guys 3 times this week. Just a happy band, and the Swedes certainly seemed to enjoy soaking up the 92 degree weather (which made this endurance test all the more grueling by 2am). Funny quip from them that their countrymen are sorta strange in that they're not impressed that they're in a band and touring America but rather that they come back with great tans:

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94208603.jpg"> <img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94208604.jpg">

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94208605.jpg"> <img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94208606.jpg">

They also found out that the fully analog Moog's oscillators don't take too well to direct sunlight. Disappointed a bit to leave the killer Cedar Street venue with its free beers and food not to mention Pidgeon Detectives and The Wombats - we seemed to keep missing them for other options. But back to The Mohawk for more BSP! [:I]

[Frau_Blucher]

Late afternoon was a fuller BSP set preceded by a surprisingly good Blitzen Trapper. They provided two things - 1) a great lead vocalist with kind of a Perry Farrell vibe and 2) our first melodica sighting:

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94208599.jpg"> <img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94208600.jpg">

BSP blew me away by starting the set in extremely unusual fashion with True Adventures, the epic outro track to Open Seasons. I present you...British Shoe Power!

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94207861.jpg"> <img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94207865.jpg">

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94207874.jpg"> <img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94207907.jpg">

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94207918.jpg">

[Frau_Blucher]

On to the night time showcases featuring X! But before that, I gotta say that during our break, I had the most amazing "Texas Tacos"...two giant tacos with ridiculously succulent beef briskets as the meat. OMG, you gotta come to Austin just for these. [:I]

But I digress...X!!! Bigtime highlight for me. The only weird thing was that they played at one of the main SXSW conference venues. It just seemed too pretty, too well lit, too clean, and too big for an X venue. Like Coop said, it felt like we were on the set of American Bandstand. And indeed, we were told it was being simulcast live on DirectTV. The band were in great form. They really sounded like they'd never left off from the 80s. I could easily imagine I'd just seen them a few weeks ago at Cal State Long Beach or someplace. They played all the favorites. Rollicking crowd.

Billy Zoom had on that same smile like he's always had, just ripping through amazing progressions but hardly even blinking. He looked great too:

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94208609.jpg">

DJ also looked to be holding up well and shredded. Excene...um, not so much. Well she shredded for sure, but hey, she never relied on her pretty face and girlish figure:

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94208610.jpg">

John Doe looked good as well, but of course, he's a movie star so he's gotta. He played lights-out too. Funny quip of the night was when he asked us all how were doing...guy yells out "WE'RE DESPERATE!" John replies "GET USED TO IT!" Classic!!

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94208611.jpg">

I hope these pics convey one of the great benefits of SXSW - tremendous, intimate vantage points that are completely unlike your typical massive festival. In fact, our "worst" location was for the very intriguing nightcap two-fer of Jay Mascis of Dinosaur Jr fame followed by Thurston Moore (Motors, eat your heart out). We had to "sacrifice" and hang out up in the beer patio with a perfect view of the stage.

Jay wasn't looking so hot, not that he ever really did. Kind of a drugged-out Moses thing going on, but man is he a guitar master! He played solo - what you might call psychedelic folk:

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94208602.jpg">

Thurston had a band (not Sonic Youth obviously), and was as jocular, charismatic and ripping as ever:

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94208608.jpg">

[DonGately]

Looks like a great time. Thanks so much posting all of this.

[Frau_Blucher]

Apparently Coop and I missed quite a riot last night, making the news as far away as the NME:

http://www.nme.com/news/sxsw/35211

Other NME news included a favorable review of the BSP gig:

http://www.nme.com/news/sxsw/35192

I only found out that my Brit acquaintance, coincidentally nicknamed "Captain Riot", was not part of the actual riot but did get escorted out of the Stubbs venue by police last night for being passed out in the bathroom. He didn't however look the worse for wear today, flanked by our other Brit acquaintances Dominique and David on one side and friendly Austin local Greg and, um, blir on the other. All are adorned with their free drinks at the invite-only DMX showcase earlier today. I didn't have an invite, but it was kinda cool being able to stroll past with an "I'm with the band." [8D]

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94225889.jpg">

BSP were sharp as ever. Bizarre two-fer though that Ludicris (!) followed BSP on the bill. WTF?!!!

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94225901.jpg">

I wish every day could be like this though - sunny, 30 degrees, free booze and food in a park setting, a quickie BSP wake-up gig followed by a siesta and a final hurrah late tonight.

[KYYX4ever]

THose are great, thanks for posting all those pictures ! I bet it was great checking out all those bands in that setting. Very very cool, you SXSW fanboys ![:)]

[Frau_Blucher]

I'll unbashedly admit to the fanboy bit. This was a fucking blast. It just might have been my four most enjoyable days of music ever. No small thanks of course to Coop for being a gracious and fun tag-team. I also gotta give props to the regulars in the Next Wave threads like DJCraig, popreactor, DonGately, tileboy, and others for keeping up the chatter there about new music. It helped a lot to be able to scan the lists of 1700 bands and have a bunch of recognizable starting points.

The final day was nothing short of sublime. After the early BSP showcase, I did indeed take my siesta and didn't get things rolling again until 10pm for the very good Raveonettes duo (think 60s pop duet-type harmonies mixed with 2000s indie noise) and The Donnas (Ramones as chicks) at Emo's main room. Both were enjoyable, but I don't think I gave either a fair shake as I was stressed about beating the biggest-ever crowds (Saturday was madness) to catch BSP's final showcase at 1am. So I bolted halfway thru the Donnas set (and well before X came on - sacriledge!) to make it to the sweet Maggie Mae's Rooftop venue:

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94293374.jpg">

Colormusic and The Autumns came on first, but they just played in the background while a small group of BSP acquaintances were hanging out back, chatting up eachother and the band while overlooking the crowds below on a perfectly balmy Texas evening. Everybody was just amazingly friendly. I spoke some to Hamilton and Phil the Wandering Horn of the band about the little English things they're missing while on tour...like Marmite (??), apparently an English version of Vegamite. I might show up at the next gig with a goodie bag.

The gig didn't disapoint either. One early review mentioned that their gig "descended into chaos at the end". Chaos? What chaos?! [:D]

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94276931.jpg">

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/myirwin/image/94277015.jpg">

[tileboy]

Thanks again for all the great pics and reviews. A lot of the bands that were there seem to be heading in my direction in the coming months. A double bill of X and the Detroit Cobras especially. Not to mention BSP of course. One Important married middle aged man question. Were there many hot looking indie rock chicks hanging around these joints or was it all guys?[;)]

[Frau_Blucher]

[quote][i]Originally posted by tileboy[/i]
<br>One Important married middle aged man question. Were there many hot looking indie rock chicks hanging around these joints or was it all guys?[;)]
[/quote]
Holy hell dude, that's one thing that Coop and I kept commenting on...there were LOADS of smokin' women there. There are anyway in Texas it seems, but this year's festival was just ridiculous. [:p]

PS. Get your Paradise Rock Club tickets for May 13th. I'm talking to the lads about going out to a vegetarian tasting course the night before the show.

[schwenko]

just in case some people are not aware, you can go here

http://sxsw.com/

for free mp3s and video of the acts

[Frau_Blucher]

[quote][i]Originally posted by schwenko[/i]
<br>just in case some people are not aware, you can go here

http://sxsw.com/

for free mp3s and video of the acts
[/quote]
Good point Schwenko. And for those averse to doing that singly, this person has collected all the songs from this year as well as pervious ones in Bittorrent:

http://hewgill.com/sxsw/

Fair warning that signal-to-noise on good vs bad is pretty low.