Each year Austin's free week expands to more venues and features more bands. What started with Emo's has now spread to the whole Red River scene and even the United States Art Authority near campus. I, for one, totally approve. This is the time of year when Austinites get to venture out and discover or re-discover great, local bands for FREE. You can also discover which local bands you don't ever want to see again. I could plan out your Free Week like I attempt to do for SXSW but let's be honest that's way too much work for this blogger. Instead I'm going to point you to the bible for simple, text-based show listings here in town. http://showlistaustin.com is truly my favorite resource for finding out who is playing when and where, sorry other, flashier sites but I like to keep it simple.
Here's one band you can catch during Free Week:
The Authors - Never Know video via YouTube I will list some highlight bands from me to you. This is by no means all of the bands you should check but if you want to go out on night X and band Y is playing you will have time Z:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
I'm honored to have what I believe is the first ever guest post contribution here at Austin Bloggy Limits. Some of you may know me from when I was on the air at WOXY. It's been a tumultuous year as far as my relationship with music goes. When WOXY closed down in late March, it was literally the first time in twelve years when it wasn't my job to keep up with the cutting edge of new releases. Honestly, I took some downtime and I can say that music was still a huge part of my year, but it didn't dominate it. I definitely didn't listen to as many albums as I normally would have and I know I probably missed out on some great stuff as a result.
Luckily, I still saw a ton of live music and many of my promoter friends continued to keep me in the loop with their artists. The following list represents my favorite records of the year, not the hippest. These are the albums I bought, mostly on vinyl, and have played over and over again. They paint a picture of how I'll remember the year, through good times and bad. I'm looking forward to 2011, but many of these records will keep soundtracking my life for a long time to come.
Tomorrow night you can catch one of Nashville's greatest indie and/or lo--fi bands Turbo Fruits at Red 7. Their latest album Echo Kid has three tracks available for free download on their Bandcamp page and you can get their latest single for free over at My Old Kentucky Blog. That track's called Keepin' On and is available as a 7" from Turbo Time Records. If you're interested in checking out Turbo Fruits at Red 7 tomorrow night tickets are still available and will set you back merely $8.
Turbo Fruits - Where the Stars Don't Shine video via YouTube
Turbo Fruits - Get Up, Get On Down video via YouTube
Sharing the bill with Turbo Fruits tomorrow night, are their friends and label-mates Pujol. Well, to be honest, I don't really know whether or not they are friends but if they're not let's hope after this tour that they will at least be contemporaries if not compadres. Being that they're sharing a tour and a label you can expect a similar style. Not, the same sound mind you but just a similar vibe. If you liked the above Turbo Fruits' songs, chances are you'll enjoy the musical-styling of Pujol as well. I'll let you be the judge though.
Incidentally, this blogger does NOT recommend "playing with a butterfly knife". I'm also not convinced that should be one word, but who am I to judge? Oh, that's right I'm a blogger, it's my job to be a judgemental ass-wipe. Isn't it?
Starting thing off will be bad-ass, local band the Dikes of Holland. You MIGHT remember them from that Casual Victim Pile compilation that Matador Records put out. They've got an LP that was released last month available to purchase if you click their name at the top of this paragraph and/or you can buy that comp by clicking that link (obvs).
It should also be noted that Gerard Cosley, the dude who curated that Casual Victim Pile compilation, once referred to me as an, "...ambulance-chasing troll" on Twitter, which pretty much makes me famous.
Don't be confused the Gay Blades w/the Midgetmen is not pornographic franchise...yet. It's actually the bill for Emo's inside stage tonight. the Gay Blades came all the way from New Jersey just to beat-up the beat here in Austin. They define their sound as "trash-pop", which you should have surmised from their name and they are known to put on a great show. Tickets for said show are a mere $8, which is quite a steal.
In anticipation of their tour the Gay Blades composed songs for the cities they would be visiting. Here's the song they composed for Austin, it is referential, clever and fitting in tone for our fair city.
the Gay Blades - Britt Daniel Stole My Girl video via YouTube I didn't realize the Midgetmen were a band until recently I just though they were a very clever Twitter-collective for my entertainment. I kid, I kid. The Midgetmen have been toiling away in Austin's over-crowded, under-appreciated LOCAL music scene for about 8 years playing all those other clubs, while you're watching all of the little touring bands that Pitchfork tells you to love! That moment of indignation was dedicated to the Midgetmen, did you guys like that?
Anyway, these guys do straight-ahead rock 'n roll. It's sometimes clever and sometimes classic but always better than my band. Get there early if you want to catch there full set because I'm pretty sure they're the first of three bands. Incidentally, did you know the Club sandwich is named for the club car on a train?
Oh, in case you're wondering, the other band on the bill is called Devil in the Drink. I don't know for a fact but chances are they go on at 11p, since they're the middle act and the doors open at 9p.
As a music-fan/blogger-douche I adore year-end lists. Top 10 local albums, top albums, best songs of the year, best shows, best list etc. This time of year it seems as though everyone has a list for something music-related and I like that. However, I find it annoying that Kanye West's latest LP seems to be topping so many lists this year. First Rolling Stone magazine (remember Rolling Stone?) gave the album 5 stars, then Bitchfork gave it a 10.0 and now all sorts of media outlets are calling it the best album of the year. Now, I know that no publicity is bad publicity so I'm actually promoting the LP simply by writing this bitch-fest but I have a hard time believing that of every album that came out this year it is the best. We can all agree that musical tastes are quite subjective and calling one piece of art better than another is pretty silly but let me give you my top 10 reasons why it won't be topping this blogger's list. In fact, even though I truly enjoy the album I won't be including it in my top 10 albums of the year out of shear principle. With that I give you my 10 reasons why I won't be adding My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy to any best of list on this site.
10. Self-Indulgence
Runaway is a great song, it's catch it has a good hook the production is nice but 9+ minutes?!?! I mean, the first 20 seconds is the same note! Also, I don't know about you but once it hits about minute marker 5:45 I just skip to the next track. That outro is just aural masturbation. The video for Runaway, which lasts roughly 35 minutes is the perfect example of Kanye's self-indulgence:
Kanye West - Runaway video via YouTube 9. So Appalled
The 7th track on the LP entitled, So Appalled has several emcees, none of whom can properly pronounce the word, "ridiculous", which is both ironic and irritates me SO much I have to skip the track. I know it's a silly reason but it's a reason why the LP doesn't deserve perfect marks from lazy reviewers.
8. Faux self-deprecation
I'm going back to Runaway on this one again. Even when Kanye is being self-deprecating he's saluting himself. You can't humble yourself and toast yourself simultaneously even if it's tongue-in-cheek. It's like saying, "Sorry you were insulted by what I said." That's not the same as an apology.
7. The Cover-Art
This reason requires no explanation, does this look like the artwork for the best album of the year to you?
6. Pairing Rihanna w/a song in which you hit a woman
The song I'm referring to is track 5 called All of the Lights. The chorus is sung by Rihanna and one of the first lyrics is, "...I slap my girl, she call the Feds..." Ummm, even though Kanye is in character in this song I just find that to be in poor taste to say the least. Also, it's not the only reference to violence against women on the album.
5. Hell of a Life
It's not that track 10 is terrible but it certainly wouldn't be on the best album of the year.
4. You made John Legend sing what?!?!
Like many people, I adore John Legend. He is featured on the track the Blame Game and hearing him sing "I'll call you bitch for short, as a last resort and my first resort, you call me motherfucker for long..." just seems like a waste of his talents.
3. TLDR
For those of you who don't know what TLDR means, it stands for "Too Long Didn't Read". When I notice that almost have the songs on your album approach and/or breach the 6 minute mark I'm thinking at least 90 seconds of most of those songs are just wasting my time.
2. Wasting Bon Iver
So, you get Justin Vernon to guest on your record and all you do is bury his vocals and then sample a song of his that uses Auto-Tune? How did this collaboration even occur? Hey, you like Auto-Tune? I like Auto-Tune too! Let's hang out. The first time I heard the beat kick in on Lost in the World it just made me laugh. You made a disco, club-banger out of a beautiful, delicate song? Really?
1. Over-use of the word pussy
From the 2-3 minute sample of Chris Rock going on and on about pussy to Kanye's line about "Pussy and religion is all I need" as a gay man and a feminist I'm sooo over the subjugation of women on this album. You know Kanye surrounding that pussy is a woman, she has a brain and most likely a family and she has emotions too. To quote Kanye himself on this, and other issues of feminist theory: "I don’t know what it is with females, but I’m not too good at that shit"
In conclusion yes I just dedicated an entire post to critique the latest Kanye West LP but what I'm REALLY critiquing is the human-centipede-esque best of lists this year. It's like one magazine is eating and shitting in to the mouth of the next and so on and they're all drawing the same conclusions. I do enjoy Kanye's latest and greatest effort but I don't find it to be the best LP of the year and I think all of these media outlets ranking it number one have short attention-spans to put it lightly. The ten reasons above are why it won't even appear in my 10 best albums of the year list. Also, I just dedicated this entire post to promoting the LP, so I don't really need to include it in any lists, right?
Oh, and Kanye, if you're reading this, you obviously have too much time on your hands, no one reads this website. Don't take yourself so seriously.
Well y'all, in typical Austin-fashion, there are several great happenings tomorrow evening both locally-focused and touring. DJ Spooky is in town, playing Aces Lounge courtesy of our friends over at Knuckle Rumbler. Somehow, tickets to this event are still available, but Aces isn't the biggest venue so I'd get on that, also you have less than 8 hours to purchase them for the advance price of roughly $15.
Dj Spooky - Vertov Enthusiasm: Sinfonia Donbassa video via YouTube
Frank Smith - Out of Air and Turning Blue video via YouTube Away from the downtown scene my friends at KVRX are presenting their Holiday Show at the United States Arts Authority. Proceeds for this show benefit the Austin Yellow Bike Project so even if you're not interested in staying for the whole event it would still be cool to pop in just to help out the Yellow Bike folks, just sayin. The line-up for the Holiday Show features some great up-and-coming local and local-ish acts that deserve your attention. This line-up is not set in stone but I have it on pretty good authority if you are planning to attend a few shows tomorrow night that these are the set-times as of now:
Those of you who know me, know I love free stuff and I'm guessing that you feel the same way. It's with that spirit of gratis that I offer you this RSVP link to see Shapes Have Fangs at the Scoot Inn. The show is sponsored by Sailor Jerry's spiced rum, so who knows maybe the entry fee won't be the only free-ness you experience at the show? If you've never seen Shapes Have Fangs you can expect some jangly, Nuggets-style psychedelic rock 'n roll. You might even stash them in the same bin with another great Austin band, the Strange Boys but maybe with a LITTLE less reverb. Just a little less though.
Joining Shapes Have Fangs on the bill will be more psychedlic rock from another Austin band in the form of Rayon Beach. I wouldn't put them in the same grouping as Shapes Have Fangs simply because they don't sound as retro to me. Their sound has more sampling, layering and the like. It's not a big leap though from one band to the other, you're definitely going to get your Psych on at the Scoot Wednesday night.
Bad Sports are traveling down from Denton to play tomorrow night's show. They use lots of reverb on the vocals and their sound is retro but I wouldn't, necessarily, call it psych-rock. To me it has too much chugga-chugga guitar to be psych-rock. It's kind of like if the Donnas were dudes who liked reverby vocals. The Ramones? We'll let you decide!
So, if you want to go out on a Wednesday night and let's face it, you do, don't forget to RSVP at the top of this post and head on over to the Scoot Inn.
When I initially heard about the Austin Blogger Awards I thought it was a very cool idea and very nice of Republic of Austin to give props to those who might, otherwise, go un-noticed. When I filled out the nomination form the only category I thought I had a chance in was the "Best Twitter" category. Unfortunately I was not nominated for best twitter. I guess not everyone is as interested in what Miss Paws is up to as I am. However, somehow I ended up being a nominee in the "Best Overall Music" category. The overall distinguishes my site from the sites that focus more on Austin music, like my personal fav 'Nites Blog or the winner from the local music category, Austin Town Hall.
Friday night, at the Austin Bleet-Up, the awards were announced and thanks to people like you this humble, little, poorly laid-out, one-man-show of a music site was awarded "Best Overall Music Blog". I don't really know how it happened and I'm not going to try to figure it out. I'm just going to say thanks to those of you who voted for me. To those of you who didn't vote for me, thanks for voting for someone else. To those of you who didn't vote at all, way to represent America.
Twin Shadow - Shooting Holes at the Moon video via YouTube
In the meantime, in addition to this blog and my Twitter account I can be stalked on F*c*book and I also have a slightly illegal YouTube channel. The above video is from said slightly illegal channel and features an artist who will, most likely, be featured on my best of 2010 list to be published later this year. You can also look forward (or not) to a special guest best of 2010 list from a certain someone special later in the month.
You can check out all of the winners in this Austin 360 post. You can find all of the nominees here. Also, I expect there will be lots of coverage over at the Republic of Austin and/or Austin Eavesdropper and/or Ultra8201 (Who probably would have won best music blog if they hadn't been a sponsor of the event, thus disqualifying themselves from said award). And/or back at the Austin Blogger Awards site itself.
I feel very lucky to live in a city whose peers encourage each other rather than cut each other down. Austin truly is a collaborative, inspiring and energetic city and I am most certainly glad I moved here. Sorry, Maine I love you but if I may quote Job from Arrested Development, "C'Mon!"
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