Fang Island Return to Austin

Seeing Fang Island at the old Emo's inside was one of my favorite concert experiences of 2010. I was going through a rough patch in my personal life and their brand of anthemic, smiling guitar sounds matched with the crowd's exuberance was exactly what I needed in that moment. Someone, either in the band or in the crowd brought a Unicorn piñata, which has nothing to do with anything but it always stands out in my memory of that show.

Well, this Friday you have the opportunity to make your own Fang Island-related memories. They'll be playing the Mohawk's inside stage and tickets are only $12. Fang Island won't take the stage until around midnight so plan accordingly, take a disco-nap in the afternoon and too get too drunk to stay awake. Their latest record Major was released a week or two ago and it picks up right where they left off. I would say the biggest distinction between this album and their last is the vocals. There is a lot more singing on Major, which I think will only increase the community atmosphere of the live experience. There are still lots of hooky, overdriven guitar parts, keyboards, thumping bass and driving drums with melodies to spare. I don't know this for a fact but I would surmise that the album's title refers to "Major Key," which I believe is the secret to their uplifting sound.


Fang Island - Sisterly video via YouTube

Can't make it to Friday night's show? Don't worry you have a second chance to form Fang Island-related memories. Saturday, they're gonna be on a mother effin boat! Tickets for the boat party are $25 but there will be kegs of Dos XX and burgers on board. I went to one of these last year and I have some words of advice. Firstly, you should know it costs money to park your car, so car pool, secondly, it's going to be REALLY hot so wear a swimsuit. This is Texas, even the fat and ugly need to get in the water sometimes so people aren't going to get all judgey if you don't look like a model. Besides, if people want to get all judgey they won't have the balls to do it to your face so who cares, we're not in High School people. They will probably have burgers and hot dogs but the people making them to the people eating them ratio is highly imbalanced so eat before you leave or bring a snack. Also, make sure to bring some $1's for tipping. Lastly, don't forget your sunscreen, hat, sunglasses and all that sort of stuff you're going to be floating in the water, which means 360 degree sun all up in your business.

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Patting One's Self on Thy Back

Well folks, 2010 is drawing to a close. You've already seen what I felt were the top albums for the year so I'm going to dedicate this post to a new addition, in 2010, here at Austin Bloggy Limits. That's the trusty, Bloggy Cam. I received a simple Flip Cam for Christmas last year and have employed it to capture footage at various shows I've attended ever since. I don't have a tripod, I don't edit the videos and I'm not going for artsy-ness. I just think of it as a visual-document of my experience. I don't tweek the sound or get any sort of official permission for these videos, I simply bring the camera in my pocket and try to post-up in a decent spot. If someone gets in the way, that's how it was in person. If some jack-ass (read most people at most shows) was talking through an entire performance that is also captured. Sometimes security interrupts, as was the case when I shot Bad Veins at Stubb's, and sometimes they just try to interrupt and I point at a meaningless wristband, as was the case with Jamie Lidell at Antone's. Basically what I'm saying is you get what you get, no apologies, no excuses. Sometimes the picture and sound pleased me and sometimes it didn't. I'll be peppering some of my personal favorite videos throughout this post with a bunch of words in between.


Fang Island - Always Be My Baby video via YouTube


Some of the most-viewed clips on the Bloggy YouTube are the worst looking and/or sounding. I shot Spoon performing in the Waterloo Records parking lot with the sun directly in my camera's lens but that has been one of the most-viewed videos since it was posted. The sound is quite clear though. On the opposite side of the spectrum I was literally on-stage at Malverde shooting Sleigh Bells so the image is nice but the sound is terrible. There are a lot of negative comments on that video critiquing the audience and the sound. A lot of people from out of town don't understand the crowd at a SXSW event. These are not "normal" shows people. SXSW audiences are filled with jaded, industry-types. Some of them are there out of obligation. In the instance of the Sleigh Bells performance, most of the people you can see in the video are photographers who had been shooting for 16-18 hours before the band took the stage. As for the sound, since I was ON-STAGE the sound captured with the camera was monitor sound and the vocals were buried.


Local Native - World News video via YouTube

Occasionally I'm surprised by the response to a video. Some, I expect to be much more popular but aren't while others get many, many views when I don't expect them to at all. I feel like I must have posted one of the first live performance videos of Twin Shadow because they got around 1,000 views the first week while my video of Pavement sits with around 100 views. I guess the lesson there is if you want lots of views be one of the first to post something. All in all I don't really care if people watch the videos or not (no offense) I just like to have them for myself. I fully expect that at some point I will be forced to remove some, all or most of them. Although, I don't have too many videos from "big-name" artists, nor do I plan to.


The Smith Westerns - My Heart video via YouTube

If you're reading this thinking, "Hey I should bring a Flip Cam to shows too." Don't! That's my thing. No, but seriously you should know that it's frowned upon by the artist, their label, management, the venues etc. With that being said here's some sage advice I've learned from experience. Firstly, there is such a thing as being too close to the artist. Don't believe me? Check out 2 out of 3 of my videos of the Very Best. Also, if you want decent sound position yourself between speakers, not in front of or behind them. One of my favorite LOOKING videos is one of the first ones I shot. It was Harlem at Emo's and I positioned myself side stage with my camera behind the speaker tower, it looks really cool but the sound is sub-par. Also, I HATE zoom, it makes your shots look even less steady and often times grainy. Never zoom, if you want to get a closer shot move your feet closer to the stage. A final note, I don't shoot an entire set and neither should you pick a song at random get in position and shoot it. One to three songs MAX but it's super-irritating to the people around you to have that bright LCD display distracting them. I usually let the people around me know what I'm doing and how long I'll be doing it and they are GENERALLY ok with it.


Best Coast - Sun Was High (So Was I) video via YouTube

So this post had a few of my favorite videos but there are 118 to explore and the list will continue to grow until I get some serious cease and desist notices. To the bloggy cam...not to be confused with Sony's Bloggie Cam. Really wish I had patented that.


Jamie Lidell - Another Day video via YouTube

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Bloggy's Best of 2010 - Music

If you're like me and you probably are if you read blogs, you love lists. Well, 'tis the season and if you can't beat 'em join 'em along with several other clichés. So, let me lead off this year's best albums of 2010 list with the usual disclaimers. The first of which is, love of art is subjective it's hard to compare a hip-hop album to lo-fi garage-rock and then subsequently rank them but that's what I intend to do. Also, I have a full-time job, which doesn't include blogging I also like to watch films and television SO I didn't listen to every album that came out this year I also didn't listen to all of the most critically-acclaimed albums of the year.

Yesterday you had the chance to read Shivvy's best of list, which I fully approve of. Combined with this list, you should get a nice picture in 28 albums of what 2010 had to offer in the way of music. With that all said, I give you the official Bloggy selections for best albums of 2010:

• 15. White Denim - Last Day of Summer (Self-released)
  



White Denim - If You're Changing video via YouTube



• 14. Harlem - Hippies (Matador)
  



Harlem - Gay Human Bones video via YouTube


• 13. Delorean - Subiza (True Panther Sounds)
  



Delorean - Stay Close video via YouTube


• 12. Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History (Glassnote)
  



Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work video via YouTube


• 11. Caribou - Swim (Merge)
  



Caribou - Odessa video via YouTube


• 10. Fang Island - Fang Island (Sargent House)
  
  



Fang Island - Daisy video via YouTube


• 9. Twin Shadow - Forget (Terrible Records)
  
  


Twin Shadow - Castles in the Snow video via YouTube


• 8. the Morning Benders - Big Echo (Rough Trade)
  



the Morning Benders - All Day Day Light video via YouTube


• 7. Hot Chip - One Life Stand (EMI)
  



Hot Chip - I Feel Better video via YouTube


• 6. Spoon - Transference (Merge)
  



Spoon - Written in Reverse video via YouTube


• 5. Menomena - Mines (Barsuk)
  



Menomena - Taos video via YouTube


• 4. Robyn - Body Talk (Konichiwa)
  



Robyn - Hang With Me video via YouTube


• 3. Arcade Fire - the Suburbs (Merge)
  



Arcade Fire - Ready to Start video via YouTube


• 2. Beach House - Teen Dream (Sub Pop)
  



Beach House - Silver Soul video via YouTube


• 1. Local Natives - Gorilla Manor (Frenchkiss)
  



Local Natives - Who Knows Who Cares video via YouTube

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Minus the Bear & Fang Island Videos

Well y'all, it seems a little less than timely to talk about a show I saw on Sunday but you know what? I'm going to talk about it anyway, so there. I saw Minus the Bear at La Zona Rosa Sunday night and was quite impressed. They played with tons of energy and the packed crowd was loving every minute or it and singing along to most of the tunes. I actually got to meet the band before the show and they are pleasant, down-to-earth human beings as well as being good musicians, which is always nice to learn. It was a pretty crazy experience for me actually because I have never had an "All-Access" pass to a club show it was cooky watching from side/backstage. I also got to chat with poet, Thax Douglas for a while before he read his Minus the Bear poem on stage. He was such an interesting person who really drew me in from the moment we made eye contact, we had great conversation and he brought me backstage to introduce me to the band. All in all a good time was had by all. Here's the video I shot of the song, "My Time" from Sunday night at La Zona.


Minus the Bear - My Time video via YouTube

In other exciting concert news, I saw Fang Island last night and the only thing disappointing about that show was the audience. The band was spot-on tearing through their syncopated riffs and giving me chills throughout their short set. They only played for about 30-40 minutes but you know what? Their entire album is 34 minutes long so I wasn't super-surprised. The audience wasn't as energetic as I had hoped they would be but it's not like everyone was talking or booing they were just politely listening in that Austin hipstery way that we do. Fang Island closed with a cover of a Mariah Carey song, which was very well-received considering the rock-show atmosphere.


Fang Island - Always Be My Baby video via YouTube


I've only included 2 of the 5 videos from these two bands that I've uploaded this week. So, if you want to see more from Minus the Bear and Fang Island you should start with the Bloggy YouTube but I have also added the song Daisy by Fang Island exclusively to the Bloggy Facebook page so "Like" it already won't you?

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