This week is the perfect example of why it's great to live in Austin if you're a lover of live music. Monday night Jim James, Phoenix, Of Montreal, and Mirror Travel all performed. We rep'd every tier of indie-rock so hard on a random Monday in May. Tuesday night saw Method Man & Redman at the Mohawk with Father John Misty performing at Emo's. Whether you were looking for slightly off-kilter/unhinged hip-hop or I'm not saying anything snarky about FJM because he might say some crazy-ass shit about me on Twitter. Tonight you can see a free performance from Ola Podrida at Waterloo Records, followed by dinner and then catch Austin's-own James McMurtry at the Continental Club.
Bonobo ft. Grey Reverend - First Fires video via YouTube
You could even see DJ Shadow at The Belmont, which is where I'll be. Tickets for DJ Shadow are in the $15-$40 range. The high-end tickets give you access to a VIP entrance, a raised viewing platform with tables and chairs along with cocktail service.
DJ Shadow ft. Little Dragon - Scale it Back video via YouTube
If you're hardcore, you could pretty easily go to either DJ Shadow or Titus Andronicus and still see Bonobo. Both The Belmont and Mohawk are outside shows, with doors opening at 7pm. Emo's is an inside show with doors open at 9pm. You could also just stay home and drink a 6-er. That's your call.
Last night's performance by Phoenix for Austin City Limits Television was one of the most memorable tapings I have ever had the pleasure of attending. I have been lucky enough to attend more than a dozen ACL tapings and I have seen different artists approach the format in different ways. Radiohead used the television time-capsule to capture the band in the midst of a tour to support King of Limbs. Those of us who already love Radiohead loved hearing the new songs showcased live but in television terms it captures a very specific moment. Jack White's taping perfectly captured the musical and visual aesthetic of his Love Interruption tour but he also performed re-workings of familiar songs. Hearing full band performances of White Stripes songs was a revelation.
Phoenix approached their taping as though it were a time-capsule for their whole career up to this point. It was an incredibly confident performance by skilled musicians with an arena-ready energy level. The band opened and closed their set with Entertainment, the first single from their latest album Bankrupt! but the set wasn't heavy on new songs. It was a perfect showcase setlist highlighting some of the peaks in their 18+ year music career. It's a setlist you design for an audience who doesn't know you as well as one that adores you. In other words, your most undeniably great songs. Personal highlights were numerous but hearing Thomas and Christian do a stripped-down version of Air's Playground Love from The Virgin Suicides soundtrack was a definite, I die, moment for me.
There were two stripped-down songs with just Christian and Thomas, which Thomas performed from the center of the crowd on the floor. During the last full song, before the Entertainment coda, Thomas walked the mic out into the crowd. This is something I have seen him do before and I have described it to people but there's something truly electric about it in person. Rather than walk with a cordless mic, which would be incredibly simple Thomas has a VERY long, bright red microphone cable that he winds through the crowd. He barely even used the microphone to sing, the band just drilled away at the song and Thomas walked off the stage, up to the top of the bleachers winding the cord through the crowd. There is something very exciting about it, it's exciting to have the performer break the fourth wall and there is something that just seems both dangerous and communal about the mic cord. We work together to keep it from getting caught on things or each other, it's held up by the crowd so that Thomas can get as far as possible. The presence of camera equipment made the whole thing that much more complicated. The cord had to wind through the crowd as well as all of the equipment needed to capture a musical performance for television. Thomas used a wall-mounted camera track to climb into the balcony and momentarily wrapped the cable around the robotic camera. On his way back to the stage for the final bow, he managed to ensnare the tripod of one of the crane-cameras on the floor. He threw the microphone's wind-screen into the audience at the end of the set then he threw the microphone under the drum-riser.
Last night's audience walked out of the theater feeling pumped. There was an electricity in the air and Phoenix was the source. They played like a band with something to prove and they proved it. They are one of the best touring bands in the world and if you don't believe me just watch them on your local PBS. The Phoenix episode will be part of the 39th season of Austin City Limits, which will begin airing in the fall of 2013.
I was all caught-up in my post-Austin Psych Fest haze and I completely missed some great shows this week. I don't want you to get caught in the same Bermuda Triangle so, here's some shows happening this week that you can and should get tickets for. Metric plays Stubb's tonight but that shit's sold-the-fuck-out so I guess we can just breeze on by that one. Somehow, tickets to see Charles Bradley at the new Antone's on E. Riverside are still available. I honestly thought this show would have sold-out a long time ago but I guess the Mom-Jeans crowd isn't going out on a school night and the hipster-mafia will be at the Stubb's show. Speaking of Mom-Jeans, Jewel is on tour and she hits ACL Live at the Moody Theater this evening. Color me surprised, there are still tickets available for that show. Dreams last for so long but Jewel's career as a successful artist is another story altogether. If it were my money, I'd be spending it on Charles Bradley tonight.
Charles Bradley - Strictly Reserved For You video via YouTube
Thursday night you can rest your body and your wallet. Of course there are shows happening and there may even be some that are worthwhile but some of us have jobs so, let's just reconvene on Friday shall we?
Friday night's Yo La Tengo show at the Mohawk is sold-the-fuck-out BUT you can catch a free in-store, acoustic performance Friday afternoon at End of an Ear. They'll play host to this legendary band at 2:30pm, get there early if you expect to get in the door.
If you didn't get Yo La Tengo tickets for Friday night, you can still see Akron/Family or Turqoise Jeep at Red 7. Although, if I'm being honest I don't understand why people spend money on Turqoise Jeep but I know they do. In fact tickets for Turqoise Jeep are more than tickets for Akron/Family, which confuses and angers me.
Marnie Stern plays Holy Mountain Friday night as well. This show is my top suggestion if you want to see a touring act on Friday night and you don't have Yo La Tengo tickets. Is that too many caveats?
My top pick if you want to see a local show Friday night is The Calm Blue Sea with Air Review at the Parish.
There's a bunch of shit going down Saturday night but it's all about Shabazz Palaces with THEESatisfaction at Red 7. Tickets are only $12 if you buy them today and you will get to see two of the ONLY hip-hop acts that matter right now. A$AP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar and Danny Brown are great but they make music for dummies compared to Shabazz Palaces. If you're not at this show, we're not friends anymore.
Now that I have that hyperbole out of they way, if hip-hop's not your thing or you don't care about what matters to people like me, I suggest you go to the Belmont for Ola Podrida'a LP release show. Just be sure to leave as soon as Ola Podrida's done or you'll be subjected to Trail of Dead and no one wants that. Ok, that was mean about Trail of Dead but firing your band several times over and continuing to perform under the same moniker is also mean and let's be honest Another Morning Stoner was a LOOOONG time ago.
Alright, I'll admit I was highly skeptical about Austin Psych Fest this year. The line-up was great but I was concerned about the venue and the logistics of getting to and from the venue. Well, I can assure you that my concerns were largely unfounded. The drive out to Carson Creek Ranch was pretty insignificant. Also, traffic was non-existent at the times that I was arriving and departing the festival. There was plenty of parking, although I must say that whatever the material is that composed the parking lot was a WHORE when it got wet. Also, the parking lot attendants could have used a few more Type A personalities to keep things orderly and clear.
Saturday night it rained extremely hard and the parking lot became very slippery. It smelled like the ocean and the "mud" was more like wet cement. I have no idea what sort of earthen material that was but it was no ordinary dirt.
The site of the festival was gorgeous, the Amphitheater that was along the river bank was the perfect backdrop. It was a bit treacherous getting to and from the amphitheater at night so, if you attend APF next year I suggest you bring a small flashlight to guide you. The festival grounds were big but it was very easy to move from stage to stage. I think this is largely due to the fact that the grounds to attendee ratio was pretty imbalanced this year. I feel like after word of this year's festival spreads next year's will be better attended and so on like that until it's a much more serious event.
I do think that as the festival becomes more popular some of my concerns will become more serious. However, for this year it was a very relaxed and comfortable experience. The drink prices were reasonable, the food offerings were diverse and also quite economical for a festival. If I were to give advice to the festival organizers for next year, I would suggest they borrow the crowd-sourced recycling idea from ACL Fest. Give people a free T-Shirt in exchange for a bag filled with recycling. The festival grounds remained fairly clean as long as there was daylight but as soon as the sun set, people got lazy and just dropped shit on the ground. Obviously, this is not unique to Austin Psych Fest which is why it's an idea that any of Austin's festivals can and should adopt.
As far as the music goes, the peanut gallery seems to be in total disagreement. I heard some people saying that every band sounds the same and you can't make a festival with only one genre. I also heard people complaining that most of the bands weren't "Psych Bands" and that only the person bitching knows what "Psych Music" even means. Personally, I feel like this year's festival represented a wide-array of psych bands. I don't feel like that genre description has a very narrow focus but I will say The Black Angels' sound could be heard from several bands.
My favorite sets of the festival came from Warpaint, Suuns, Holydrug Couple and Goat. I was pre-disposed to like all of these sets...and I did. Warpaint was definitely my favorite set of the weekend though. I have seen them perform in the past and they are always good but Friday night they were motherfucking spectacular. The sound mix was beyond superb, the songs were outstanding and the performance was magical. They have this bizarre ability to perform serious songs without taking themselves too seriously. The set was fun but still heavy.
I was prepared to like Suuns but their set in the tent made me love them. I feel like their performance was so good they deserved an evening set on the main stage but I understand why that didn't happen. Remember the name Suuns because I think their psychedelic star will definitely be on the rise.
Holydrug Couple was the perfect chill-vibes psych for an afternoon set at the Amphitheater. Their vocals are shaky at best but their musicianship, songwriting and stellar choice of songs to cover made up for any other weaknesses.
Goat was one of the most buzzed about bands amongst us music-writers and musicians at the festival. Everyone was looking forward to seeing this mysterious Swedish band to see if they could pull of they majesty of their album in person. I can assure you they did. Channeling Woodstock-era Santana, Goat is pure energy. They wore weird costumes with masks, they danced, they tranced, they jammed, it was wonderful. My only complaints were that they were hardly visible. The stage lighting was blacklights and they tried to do old-school overhead projector visuals but they weren't properly lit. Also, since Goat performed on the amphitheater the volume wasn't as loud as I wanted it to be. It was certainly loud enough to hear but it was overwhelming loud. I don't think I'll get another chance in the near future but I would love to see Goat perform at a proper Austin venue.
All in all, I had a great weekend out at Carson Creek Ranch and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Austin Psych Fest to any avid music fan. The crowd was peaceful and respectful music fans. The bands were humble, timely and they put on great performances. The festival organizers weren't as organized as they could have been at times but it certainly wasn't a chaotic or disorganized experience by any means. Word around the peace pipe is APF will take place at the same site for the next few years. I look forward to seeing how the festival evolves and grows into the fantastic location they've acquired.
Yesterday, I posted about Time Conflicts in the Austin Psych Festline-up. Today, I'm going to post some of my daily, highlight artists. There are lots of great bands playing APF, and as I said yesterday, you could just stay at the main stage every day of the festival and see really great sets. If you'd like to dabble in a little bit of curated listening allow me to guide you on this psychic journey.
If you already bought tickets or you would like to buy tickets to Austin Psych Fest, you may do so starting tonight at 6:00pm. Just head on over toward the Mohawk and you'll figure it out from there. That's actually my advice in any given situation. Add Whiskey as needed.
For what it's worth, I'll be going to APF for the full weekend but I understand that you might be short on personal time and cash assets. If you're only heading out to Carson Creek Ranch one day of the festival, I'd go Sunday. That's my opinion and I know the day before Monday isn't ideal for some people. However, Goat is my number one band in the APF draft this year and they play Sunday night. My 2nd round draft pick goes to Elephant Stone, who also perform Sunday. So for me, Sunday has the best single-day-ticket line-up.
The time is upon us that we must really stare at the Austin Psych Fest Line-Up and find the places where the tough decions have to be made. For festivals there are two basic approaches. There is the super music fan approach in which you see a different band at a different stage every 30 minutes or so. This always seems like a good idea on paper but in my experience it rarely works out. Since this is the first time Austin Psych Fest has been at Carson Creek Ranch I'm not really sure if it will be easy to move between stages or not. Sometimes even if it is easy to move between stages you just won't feel like making the trek. You should also consider that you're going to want food, beverages and time to use porta-potties. I guess what I'm saying is, don't forget real life when you're staring at the line-up planning to see as many bands as humanly possible.
What I like to do is see which single stage (or venue) has the best line-up from start to finish. I probably won't stay at that stage watching every band all day and night but it becomes my homebase. At Austin Psych Fest they make it pretty easy for you. The Reverberation Stage (RS) will be the main stage. You could post up at this stage all day, everyday of APF and you'd like at least 2/3rds of the bands you see. If you want to get a little more adventurous and wander to the other stages there are a lot of great acts over there too.
This post is about those moments when there are two bands you want to see whose sets overlap. You're going to have to make some tough decisions. These are the conflict points I like to plan my days around. If you need to eat, drink, wander, or whatever don't do it at these times. Go see at least one of these two bands everyday.
As I said, these are the points in which there are at least two bands I want to see performing at once. I'll post a full highlights preview later.
Oh, you may have read my post earlier in which I was nervous about parking, transportation and all of that. Here's some info to clear all of that up officially:
HEADING SE ON 71 / BASTROP HIGHWAY:
Once you pass 183, please make a safe and legal U-turn at the Spirit of Texas Drive intersection. Please do not attempt to do it prior to that as it is an illegal U-turn, is very dangerous, and we want you to arrive safe and sound to the ranch. You will pass Mr. Gatti’s on your right and then please take a right on Dalton Lane. As you proceed straight down Dalton Lane, after approximately 1 mile, you will see Giraffe Pen Road, immediately following Jimmy Evans Company, on your right. Please take a right and proceed down Giraffe Pen Road and you will arrive at Carson Creek Ranch’s parking.
HEADING NW ON 71 / BASTROP HIGHWAY:
Before highway 183, take a right on Dalton Lane, which is located right after Mr. Gatti’s. As you proceed straight down Dalton Lane, after approximately 1 mile, you will see Giraffe Pen Road, immediately following Jimmy Evans Company, on your right. Please take a right and proceed down Giraffe Pen Road and you will arrive at Carson Creek Ranch’s parking.
PARKING AT THE VENUE:
As you proceed down Dalton Lane, approximately 1 mile, you will see Giraffe Pen Road., immediately following Jimmy Evans Company, on your right. Please take a right and proceed down Giraffe Pen Road and you will arrive at Carson Creek Ranch’s parking. Parking is $7/day per vehicle, with an additional charge for trailers, RV’s, buses and other over sized vehicles. There will be parking staff available to assist you and answer any questions. There are no in and out privileges, so once you’ve parked your vehicle, if you decide to leave you will be charged another $7 for re-entry.
Parking in other areas and along the roads in adjacent areas will not be allowed – this is private property and you run the risk of being towed. Please do not put yourself in that position.
Austin Psych Fest starts this Friday but you can get a head-start on all of the reverb-soaked bliss by hitting one or both of Thursday night's kick-off shows. If you already purchased a weekend pass for the festival you can pick it up outside of the Mohawk starting at 6pm tomorrow night. Once you pick up your pass you can access the pre-shows at both Mohawk and Red 7 for free. However, if you do a bit of mental math there are WAY more weekend passes for APF 2013 than there is space available inside these two venues so arrive early.
If you haven't bought tickets for APF 2013 you can still buy individual tickets, weekend passes and shuttle passes outside the Mohawk tomorrow. For that matter, you can also buy individual tickets to the pre-shows at both Mohawk and Red 7 respectively. If you don't think you can handle a full weekend of psychedelic music performed on a ranch on the edge of Austin, these shows are a good opportunity to get a taste of what you're missing.
A Place to Bury Strangers - You Are The One video via YouTube
As far as the festival itself goes, I'm a bit nervous. I drove out to the festival site a week or two ago and it's really out there. I'm worried that parking and getting in and out of the festival grounds is going to be a nightmare. There is a shuttle but that costs $10 for a weekend pass or $3 a ride and it gets you from the fest to the Hampton Inn that's at Ben White and Riverside. There are CapMetro busses that pick up and drop off there but they stop running around 10:30pm. If you drive all the way to the festival parking is $7/day, which isn't that big of a deal BUT since I've been out there I can assure you that it's going to take a long ass time to drive out of there at the end of the night.
If you use Car2Go, there is a drop-off spot at The Parking Spot but that's quite a walk and that walk would involve jaywalking across highway 71. Not to mention, it's the most expensive option yet. Ideally Car2Go would have a drop-off point at or near the festival OR near the APF shuttle but at this point in the game, I don't think that's going to happen.
The smartest thing to do is team up with other festival go-ers and carpool. Or, if you're so inclined rent a party bus and charge people to get on. OR if you're corporately-connected sponsor a party bus and reserve my boyfriend and I a seat. Thanks.
Oh, and if you don't want to worry about driving in and out of the festival everyday, you can always choose the camping option. Personally, I abhor camping and camping at a music festival is a status update I hope to never make.
Sorry, I got so distracted thinking about transport to and from the festival that I forgot to tell you who is playing Thursday night's kick-off parties. Now most of you have already stopped reading because there's simply too many words so I'll just get to the point.
If your band is signed to Captured Tracks records, you can just assume I'm going to like your music. When bands who are signed to Captured Tracks play a club show in your town, you need to be there. It's Wednesday night, which means it's your last night this week to park downtown at night without paying a parking meter (don't follow leaders). It also means Beach Fossils are playing Red 7 for $12 tonight. I feel like we should get ourselves some tickets and get lost in some dreamy, reverb-soaked paradise tonight.
Beach Fossils - Generational Synthetic video via YouTube
Arrive early enough to this event to catch Foreign Mothers' support set. Not only are they a kick-ass band, watching their performance will help you increase your 'supports the local scene' reputation, which is huge in this town. Foreign Mother' latest LP Duh made my Best Austin LPs of 2012 list so, there's that as well. See you tonight!
Remember that feeling you had the first time you heard Home by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes? It felt familiar, like you already knew it and you instinctively wanted to learn all of the words so you could sing along? Well, that is the feeling of seeing The Lumineers in concert. I'm not going to pretend I'm some huge fan or that I liked them before they were popular or anything like that. I don't actively dislike The Lumineers, The Civil Wars, Mumford & Sons or any of the other bands that don't fit squarely on any one radio station these days. I just don't really listen to them very much and last night as I watch The Lumineers and the crowd that was there to watch them I realized why. To someone like me the sincerity of these bands makes me uncomfortable. People my age or younger, who live in cities or live in England, or live in cities in England performing rural, American, roots-music completely devoid of irony makes me suspicious. My hipster-universe is so steeped in cynicism and irony that the pure unfettered joy that these artists exude is perplexing.
After seeing both Shovels and Rope as well as The Lumineers last night I can assure you that these bands are genuine. Their only ulterior motives involve making themselves and their fans happy. They see a concert experience as a participatory event and they demand that you clap, stomp and sing-a-long and they write their songs in a way that makes you want to.
Shovels and Rope - Birmingham video via YouTube
I had never heard nor even heard of, Shovels and Rope before last night but I thought their set was excellent and I'm sure we'll all be hearing more from them in the next year. They are a two-piece band from North Carolina, they are married, they are folk musicians and they are both multi-instrumentalists. Even though there were two of them, their set had one-man-band-vibes. At the start the wife was singing and playing guitar while the husband played a bare-bones drum kit, one hand clutching a maraca, the other hand clutching two drum sticks. He had a harmonica around his neck and a keyboard accessible to his right side. As the set progressed the couple traded places a couple of times, showcasing both of their skills with the instruments at their disposal. Their stage-banter was excellent. They came across as humble, charming and completely adorable. Both of them sang and their harmonies were beautiful but I was more drawn to the sound of the woman's voice, who sounds like a blend of young Dolly Parton and Stevie Nicks. I don't think their set was magical from start to finish but I definitely enjoyed it and I think the more they road test their material the more on-target their songwriting will become.
There was a 20 minute break between Shovels and Rope and The Lumineers, which is a pretty rare occurrence at an Austin City Limits Television taping. The crowd went bonkers when The Lumineers came out, including my Mom whom I had brought along to the taping. The crowd was a blend of people young and old. There were folks who understand all of the band's musical references along side people who are hearing Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues for the first time at a Lumineers concert.
For a band with only one, 40 minute record The Lumineers played long and hard and it is obvious that their live show is well-rehearsed. I never fault a band for having gimmicks, especially when those gimmicks work and all of their gimmicks were excellent. The drummer never wants to stay on his drum stool and no one wants to keep their hat on throughout an entire performance. The cute, young lady in the group is wearing your dead grandmother's lace dress and she dances in it just like Minnie Pearl. One of the elements I was most impressed with in their set was their knack for crowd-control. Like I said earlier, their songs are designed for you to clap-a-long and if you're not clapping, they will come into the crowd and clap until you do. They have lots of call-and-response songs as well as sing-a-longs and they did a great job of getting the audience involved. They also did something, which I have never seen at an ACL TV taping. Near the end of their set, the full band walked off the stage and headed right to the center of the crowd on the floor level. They stood on some boxes and performed a completely sincere and heartfelt version of the song, Darlene. I feel like that was something that was just for those of us in the audience, since the lack of microphones will make it pretty much impossible to air on television.
Did The Lumineers melt my cold, black, cynical heart? Hell to the no. Did I enjoy myself at last night's show? Of course I did. This band was genetically created to make people smile and they achieved that goal last night.
In this post-SXSW economy, it appears as though Canada is emerging as the leaders of the chill-indie-electro market. Perhaps it has something to do with this never-ending winter that our polite neighbors to the North are made to endure. Perhaps it's their socialist healthcare? Or maybe it's just their loose marijuana laws. Regardless of the reasoning you can't deny the greatness of Canadian-chill-indie-electro artists like, Purity Ring, Blue Hawaii, Diana, Teen Daze and Blood Diamonds.
Although, I wouldn't discount U.S.-based chill-indie-electro acts like XXYYXX, Giraffage, Autre Ne Veut and inc.. All of these acts are soundtracking my life lately but I feel like Canada might be leading in the buzz currency index(BCI).
Giraffage & XXYYXX - Even Though video via YouTube
Don't worry, the U.S. seems to still be leading in the chill-dreamy-guitar-sounds market with the release of Kurt Vile's brilliant new LP.
In terms of who is outselling whom. Who fucking cares? Go buy all of these records and see all of these bands (and more) when they come to your town, or near your town.
