SXSW 2024 - Day Three

It's 1:30PM, I haven't showered yet, I have a raging hangover, and I feel like I've just run a marathon on booze. I think Liam Finn tapped the zeitgeist of the evening when he pointed out the only two things he needed to be aware of during his set "Here is my beer and here is my whiskey!" Indeed!

But let me back up to how the day all started back at the Party of Tomorrow which actually is now the party of yesterday. Jay of Woozy Helmet put on this nice little house party of Houston and Austin bands. I arrived in time for The Mathletes who performed a solid set all the while wondering if the police standing outside the door would shut them down. David Israel followed with a set of country tinged indie rock that played lovely in the small space. Hearts of Animals was up next with a stripped down set which left me stoked for Saturday's set at Bourbon Rocks. But, even though I'd miss the Young Mammals, Sharks and Sailors, Bring Back The Guns, and Woozy Helmet, it was time to move on so from there it was off to downtown.

First thing was first - fuel! So, meeting up with some friends I proceeded to chill with a Jameson on the rocks and a Blue Moon at Mugshots which, despite it's ugly facade, is actually a pretty reasonably priced bar. So fuel being resolved, I bid avvoir to my friends and raced for a marathon random-band evening in which I just hit clubs with little forethought. First up was It Lives who caught my ear with huge fuzzed out guitar wah and thick bass that was reminiscent of Spacemen 3. Only caught 2 songs but a very cool live set. From there, I headed over to Elysium and saw Sodopp from Japan who were insanely good. The bassist was incredible - playing massive melodic runs without a pick and with a huge fat sound. Great live show except for Jethro to my left who kept shouting "I want to have your baby!" then turning to his friend and saying "They can't understand what I'm saying that's funny. Huh Huh Huh." Man, dude take your ignorant shit out to pasture; you are horribly tedious, distracting, and annoying. Whatevs Sodopp were great band that ripped it and I picked up a CD on my way out.

Next I stumbled into Lincoln Nebraska's Eagle Seagull who were on their last song. Very nice melodic stuff and reminded me how every place has these little small bands each doing their own wonderful thing. Next ran into AM, who had set up their amps and a drum kit on th street and played a set of very sloppy scrappy punk. Were they the greatest punk band ever? No, but did they put on a fun set? Yes, that's all that mattered and, by setting up like they did, they likely had more people seeing them than many small bands off 6th street. From there off to Emos here I saw Does it Offend You, Yeah who were very poppy and British but it was too crowded to be able to enjoy much of anything. From there it was of to a scheduled stop to see Liam Finn. Given my digging his father's bands I was curious to hear what he had to offer. The band consisted of Finn and a woman playing a zither. The first song was pretty good and then when Liam moved to the drum kit the song went into overdrive and got insanely heavy. Clearly there was some sampling going on but I was too far to see how they were working it. Nice set, the lad has some promise indeed. After Mr. Finn it was off to see The Back Hollies who delivered the 60's psych in spades. The drummer was a beast and the guitars were a whirly brew of effects. I had missed them last Sunday at Rudz and was thrilled to have caught them this time around. From there I went to Karma's to hook back up with my posse and see Aux Raus but unfortunately missed the dick swinging melee that my friends raved about. No worries, they had free Heineken all night which was OK by me. I abhor Heineken but for free? Hell yeah.

So uhhhh...well it kind of went downhill from there into a drunken stumbling evening of which I'll spare you the details beyond the fact that I had a blast and leave it at that. Anyhow, I need to find me a place to shave and shower now.

THE MATHLETES

DAVID ISRAEL

HEARTS OF ANIMALS

IT LIVES

SODOPP

EAGLE SEAGULL

DOES IT OFFEND YOU, YEAH

AM

LIAM FINN

THE BLACK HOLLIES

Our SXSW 2024 Blogs:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3 (special poorly written raging hangover edition)
Day 4 (hungover but less so edition)

The Hootenanny - A True Testimonial.

"Brothers and Sisters
I wanna see a sea of hands out there.
Let me see a sea of hands.
I want everybody to kick up some noise.
I wanna hear some revolution out there, brothers
I wanna hear a little revolution.
Brothers and sisters, the time has come
For each and every one of you to decide
Whether you are gonna be the problem,
Or whether you are gonna be the solution.
You must choose, brothers, you must choose.
It takes 5 seconds, 5 seconds of decision.
Five seconds to realize that it's time to move.
It's time to get down with it.
Brothers, it's time to testify and I want to know,
Are you ready to testify?
Are you ready?
I GIVE YOU A TESTIMONIAL, THE HOOTENANNY!!!!"

Roll Call!

John Sears!

Papermoons!

The Jonx!

Panic In Detroit!

The Mathletes!

Something Fierce!

The Dimes and Mlee Suprean!

Blades!

Indian Jewelry!

Love to ADR, Ben Murphy, Anna Garza, and the Mink.
Apologies to Awesome; sorry, I wasn't able to get in the room to snap a photo.
Also in case you have no idea who the MC5 are, the opening paragraph quotes Brother J.C. Crawford.

Spot The Local Music Curmudgeon - November 29th Edition

-A weekly blog where I highlight one show I definitely expect to attend (see *) and throw in a few more that I'd like to and might see given the money and the time.-

Recap

Last week was all about friendship. I'm talking the band. If you went to Notsuoh last Thursday you were treated to manic chaos in the form of an 11 minute set by Friendship. Blades performed beautifully and Basses Loaded (left) proved that they are much more than a gimmick - they have great songs! For those who missed it, at the bottom of this blog is some really crappy video of the madness. Yeah, it's poorly lit and yeah the audio at times distorts to a screech but, so what, I still have confetti in my hair and a bruise on my arm from that show.


This Week's Double Spotlight: S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT!

*Saturday, December 1
Sickish Fest 2: Holiday Hell
A Pink Cloud, VAARG, Balaclavas, John Muzak, MFK Kunst, TENSE
@ The Proletariat

*Saturday, December 1
Pong, The Mathletes
@ Rudyard's
Geez, does anyone have one of those Hermione Granger Time Turners? That or a Tardis. I don't know about you but I'm planning on club hoppin' this Saturday. First of you have Sickish fest II at the Prolee. A Pink Cloud always puts on an amazing show of textures and sound. Who will be playing with Domokos? Well see. VAARG is the black metal alter ego of Mlee (Hearts of Animals) and I believe Amye (Wols). If you are not scrrred you should be. Expect corpse paint and lots of screaming. Balackavas will be spotlighted in January for a damn good reason - they are doing amazing stuff. Not to make them sound derivative but to give you a ballpark I'd say their moody sound falls somewhere between Bauhaus and early Sonic Youth. John Muzak is well it's freaking John Muzak!! and two other bands I'd say something about except that myspace is blocked at work.

Meanwhile at Rudz (see poster) we have The Mathletes in full 10 piece glory. Their recent show at Dean's was pretty fun but I have to admit without Gie Gie the Mathletes lose something. To me she's the perfect foil to head honcho Joe Mathlete and for better or worse she's made "Animals" her song. So since she's performing that automatically makes it a must see. As if that isn't happy happy joy joy enough Austin's Pong will bring their crazy dancey music and lightshow extravaganza to everyone's favorite little bar. Oh kill me!


Also This Week

Thursday, November 29
Melt Banana, Dizzy Pilot, Cop Warmth
@ Walter's on Washington
Oh Melt Banana is always a kick. They are loud stupid jumpy nutters from Japan who make some of the most articulate chaos. Dizzy Pilot always puts on a solid show and they have a new EP out which I'm pretty psyched to hear. And Cop Warmth are a perfect opening act given their antics.


Friday, November 30 -
Two Star Symphony
@ Jones Hall (Univ. of St. Thomas campus)
I have to admit I've always loved the intimacy of a chamber music and Two Star has been doing some wonderful stuff. Friday's show at St. Thomas just stinks of coolness. They will be performing all of their compositions in a wonderful hall. Hey, I know you ain't got 20 bucks. Just go ask yr mom for the $20. I'm sure she'll give it to you happily when she finds out you aren't spending your Friday night in some beer soaked bar with all those low life friends of yours.

Saturday December 1
Secret Saturday Show
@ The Shady Tavern
Who is playing? I dunno. So far the lineups have been solid and it's free so quit yr. complaining!

Sunday, December 2
Satin Hooks,Ringo Deathstar, La Snacks
@ Rudyard's
I'm recommending this solely based on Satin Hooks. I'm not going to repeat myself. They are amazing live. End of discussion.


Monday, December 3
Balaclavas, Waterbabies, Cave, Triangle, Ceeplus, Perkol8r
@ Notsuoh
This looks to be a solid bill with spin masters Ceeplus and Perkol8r but I'm a bit confused. Lesse Balaclavas is playing Saturday and Cave is playing on Tuesday. Both good acts but twice in one week? Well I guess if you can't make the other two shows this would be a good way to not miss out.


Tuesday, December 4
Stevie Wonder
@ Toyota Center
Jeez it's Stevie Wonder. How can I not mention it. Don't play cool. You know you love the dude.


Tuesday, December 4
Clipd Beaks, Yip Yip, Indian Jewelry, Cave
@ The Proletariat
Attention promoters my band rehearses on Tuesday. Don't kill me with bills like this!!! Clipped Beaks, Cave and locals Indian Jewelry all promise to make your Wednesday morning hangover worthwhile.

The Afore Mentioned Friendship performance (part 1 of 2)