This evening, we are hosting our second live event as part of a new listener appreciation series. Tonight’s concert features Portugal. The Man, and we’ve invited some of the band’s…
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Well it’s Tuesday, and I’m just back from the giant gathering of the musical and music industry tribes. Before the memories (hazy as they already are) fade completely, I have to mention a few of the high points:
boris – picture a covered outdoor stage in an alley behind a row of clubs, a few trees guarding the entrance, beyond which you find a sea of rapt listeners who are themselves enveloped in a stunningly loud and oddly peaceful ocean of droney, psychedelic metal. This was the one band I saw the whole week that seemed truly mysterious and legendary, otherwordly and almost godlike. In the infernal din that covers Austin all week, this band was louder, more unified, and more transforming that anything else I saw. It was so good that I purposefully skipped going to see them the next day, for fear of spoiling a perfect musical memory.
More great thoughts from Kevin Seal at South By Southwest:
My last post went up when SxSW’s music program hit its halfway point, and it’s been a flurry of activity since then. Friday night’s big plays made for an overloaded highlight reel: Dungen (after a transatlantic flight, their drummer still managed to guide those songs with an impossibly light touch and the most subtle of ghost-strokes), the Freak Accident (squealing trumpet, stomping singalong, squiggly synth, Sharrocking guitar — Jello Biafra was standing next to me through their whole set, and he loved it too), Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings (dry, dead-sexy classic soul with a full Stax-bred horn section and a simmering rhythm section), and Neko Case (her lyrics fascinate me — no one else can describe hitting a deer with her car and have the song seep with such a disturbing combination of dread and religion and sticky sensuality).
so sxsw is over and I’m back home, sitting in the living room. I’m too tired to nap – go figure. my bags and guitar are still in texas most likely, and I’m too tired to even be properly angry about that. I know I have to post some pictures and summary show notes before the memories fade too much. it was a great long weekend…
it’s been quite excellent here in austin so far. every hour at the pandora booth is surprisingly fun and also kind of intense. I don’t usually talk this much. it’s sort of like a high school reunion, but it’s better because I don’t know these people (and let’s be honest, it’s easier to go to a reunion where no one knew each other back in high school). I’m hoarse. jolly ranchers do not help for this.
Kevin Seal, one of the music analysts from the Music Genome Project, just sent in this update from the SXSW conference:
Music Analyst Seal here. Long-time listener, first-time caller. I’m here in Austin all week to shake hands, kiss babies, and hear live music. I love my job. For me, these are the five most revelatory music moments so far at this year’s SxSW:
so I was at the keynote interview yesterday with young and jonathan demme, which was ok, but I have to make a confession: I have major issues with the big boomer dinosaurs of song. I guess it’s mainly because I think they never accepted the teaching responsibility that naturally belongs to leading artists. teaching is a necessity for artists who work in less financially remunerative forms, and I say that’s a good thing. it’s good for the artists and the students/future artists, and it’s good for the art. it creates a scene, community, etc (however insular and backstabbing it might be).
