AustinBloggyLimits - An Austin Music Blog

Thursday, April 25, 2013

APF 2013: Highlights, Including Tonight

Yesterday, I posted about Time Conflicts in the Austin Psych Fest line-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.

Thursday

Allah-Las - 11pm, Red 7, Outside
A Place to Bury Strangers - 10pm, Mohawk, Outside
Metz - 9pm, Mohawk, Outside

Metz - Wet Blanket video via YouTube

Friday

Vietnam - 6pm, Elevation Amphitheater
Suuns - 7:30pm, Levitation Tent
Warpaint - 8:30pm, Reverberation Stage

Vietnam - Kitchen Kongas video via YouTube

Saturday

Young Magic - 2pm, Levitation Tent
Kaleidoscope - 8:30pm, Elevation Amphitheater
OS Mutantes - 10:00pm, Reverberation Stage

Kaleidoscope (UK) Flight From Ashiya

Sunday

Elephant Stone - 4:00pm, Reverberation Stage
White Fence - 5:00pm, Reverberation Stage
Goat - 10:00pm, Elevation Amphitheater

Goat - Goathead video via YouTube

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.

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

APF 2013 Preview: Time Conflicts

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.

RS = Reverberation Stage
LT = Levitation Tent
EA = Elevation Amphitheater

Find a full venue map here.

Friday Conflicts

Besnard Lakes (5:45 RS) VS. Vietnam (6:00 EA)
Tinariwen (7:00 RS) VS.SUUNS (7:30 LT)
Warpaint (8:30 RS) VS.The Soft Moon (9:00 LT)

Suuns - 2020 video via

Saturday Conflicts

The Holydrug Couple - Follow Your Way

Sunday Conflicts

Elephant Stone - Heavy Moon video via YouTube

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.

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APF 2013 Kick-Off Shows

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.

Mohawk's Thursday Line-Up:

A Place to Bury Strangers (10pm)
Metz (9pm)
Odonis Odonis (8pm)
Low Times (7pm)
Cosmonauts (12:30am)
Orange Revival (11:30pm)
Forever Changes (10:30pm)
All in the Golden Afternoon (9:30pm)

Red 7's Thursday Line-Up:

Rain Parade (12:15am)
Allah Las (11pm)
UFO Club (10pm)
Hidden Ritual (9pm)
Flavor Crystals (12:30am)
The Volta Sound (11:30pm)
Fairfield Parlour (10:30pm)
Chatham Rise (9:30pm)

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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Beach Fossils at Red 7 Tonight

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!

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The Lumineers with Shovels and Rope at ACL TV

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.

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Friday, April 12, 2013

Is Canada 'Crushing It' and Such?

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.

Teen Daze - Hidden video via YouTube

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.

Kurt Vile - Never Run Away video via YouTube

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.

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Thursday, April 11, 2013

Grizzly Bear at ACL TV

Unlike many of my friends and compadres, I was not in attendance when Grizzly Bear performed at Stubb's on Monday night. I'm sure it was an excellent performance but I'm not sure the crowd was attentive nor am I sure that the sound at the outdoor amphitheater captured the nuance of a Grizzly Bear performance. Lucky for me, I was in attendance last night when Grizzly Bear made their first appearance on the ACL TV stage. Anyone who has had the pleasure of attending an ACL TV taping can attest to the fact that it is an ideal circumstance for seeing a concert. Any show at the ACL Live venue is going to sound great but there is something about the presence of cameras that GENERALLY puts people on their best behavior. There is a rule about not using your cell phone during the performance, which can be tough since everyone(including me) likes to get photos these days but it's also a welcome restriction that helps the audience to stay in the moment. Since the performance is being taped for television the sound is even more perfect and pristine than a standard show at the venue would be.

Last night the ACL TV studio was an attentive listening room. I'm sure there are sections of the crowd where people were chatting but the section I was in was completely silent and focused on the performance taking place on stage. The members of Grizzly Bear all project a bit of shyness and their stage banter is almost completely non-existent but they showed the crowd last night why they are one of the most sought after touring bands in indie-music today.

The setlist relied heavily on the newest record, which makes sense since this tour is to promote Shields however they have not abandon the older songs that their fans love. As performers it is evident that each player elevates the band as a whole. All four members of Grizzly Bear have musical projects separate from the band and they are all good but when these four men come together to create music they balance each other's strengths and weaknesses. Last night their sound was rounded-out by a touring band member, bringing the total number of players to five. Each person on the stage played more than one instrument, sometimes simultaneously.

Like most of the crowd I was completely enraptured by the performance. The set highlight for me was the 2nd to last song, Half Gate which is also the song that inspired the beautiful, limited-edition poster. There were moments that I consciously thought about a song not making it to the episode last night. I love Grizzly Bear but some of their tunes just aren't ready for primetime just yet. If we're being honest they are a fairly risky booking for ACL TV to begin with. I adore their music but I imagine people in rural America tuning in on some future Saturday night being completely perplexed by Grizzly Bear. Maybe not as perplexed as they were by the tUnE-yArDs episode but still.

All in all last night's performance was spectacular and those of us in attendance were treated to a couple of songs that weren't on the setlist including The Knife. Keep your eyes on the ACL TV blog to find out when the Grizzly Bear episode will air in your town.

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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

This Week in Austin Shows

I know, I've been lazy, I've kept you hanging, not updating the site and just tweeting about my cat. Sometimes, a blogger has to just tweet about their cat and take a little break, ok? I figured today was a good day to come back because there are several shows worth your attention on the horizon. Some of them may be sold-out or difficult to attend but you can give em the ole college try.

Grizzly Bear played Stubb's Monday night but they'll be back in Austin to tape a performance for ACL TV this evening. Tickets are not available to the general public but if you're an obsessive fan you can try to stand in line outside the venue hours in advance of the show in the hopes of gaining entry.

You'll find other great show opportunities below the break.

Grizzly Bear - Gun Shy video via YouTube

Monday, April 1, 2013

Caveman Play the Parish TONIGHT!!!

In just a few hours one of my favorite touring bands, Caveman will play Austin's best-sound room the Parish. I'm such a big fan of Caveman that I will be attending this evening's show in spite of the fact that I have to be at work by 6am tomorrow. Tonight's show is on the eve of the release of their eponymous, sophomore LP. I have been listening to an advance of the new LP for a couple of weeks and I can tell you that it is most definitely going to be in the Top 5 of my year-end Best Albums list. Their first record was really great and I was worried that they might hit a sophomore slump but they most certainly did not. The new LP expounds upon the musical themes of the first record. It sounds big, beautiful and haunted. The songs are delicate and gorgeous without ever sounding twee or precious. Tickets are still available online at the moment but that window will close soon, at which point you will need to pay a cover at the door. Since this is a Monday night show I don't THINK it will sell-out but I really hope it comes close because I REALLY want as many of you as possible to see Caveman at the Parish tonight. You guys, they are SOOO good I promise.

Don't forget to bring money for merchandise tonight. I expect the band will have copies of their new LP for sale at the show tonight.

Read more!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Planning Ahead: Spring/Early Summer Show Listings

Spring is certainly upon us and the glorious monster that is SXSW is in our rearview for another year. We have our venues back and they have a lot of really great stuff coming up. Austin Psych Fest, Chaos in Tejas and Moontower Comedy Festival are all on the horizon as well.

You can buy tickets in real life from another human face at End of an Ear or Waterloo Records, just ask the human faces at the counters and they can provide you with lists of the events they have for sale. If you'd rather buy your tickets online, simply click the name of the artist or event from the list below the break. Some of the events listed don't have pre-sale tickets and/or the tickets are not on sale yet. In those cases, clicking the name of the artist will bring you to an event page with more info. Event listings that have a ~~line~~ through them, are already sold-out. If you buy tickets to any of the shows listed or just end up being at them for some reason, please don't talk loudly throughout the event. Also, buy me a drink. Thanks.