South-By!

Chris

Chris lives in Austin, TX, where he once shook Willie Nelson's hand.

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13 Responses

  1. Glyph says:

    The Falconberry embed was broken, I fixed it.

    Man, that Sinistarr is 1995 all over again.

    And there’s ALWAYS a 60’s psychedelic revival going on somewhere – that is maybe the most durable subgenre out there. As slavish as that Temples was (honestly, if you had played it sans video and told me it was FROM the 60’s, I’d probably have believed you), I liked it.

    I’ve been seeing EMA’s name a lot and wondering what she sounded like (and also, getting Johnny Rotten’s voice stuck in my head every time I see her name) – kind of a mix between Zola Jesus and Karen O?

    Speaking of “obvious sexual metaphors”, that NSFW warning should be on the FKA twigs video…

    I have a weird relationship with Four Tet. I have this weird thing where I can’t decide if I am a fan or not. I don’t mean that I like some stuff he’s done but hate some other stuff he’s done, that’s normal; I don’t mean I used to (hate/like) him, and now I (like/hate) him, that’s normal; I don’t mean “I have to be in the mood” for him, that’s normal.

    I mean that for a little while, I was all about Fridge/Four Tet (played the Sevens and Twelves comp all the time, and his first couple records); then I decided he/they were boring and cold and over-intellectualized and irritating; then really liked the collaborations he did with Burial; then started to re-warm to those older records I had fallen out of love with.

    Dammit Kieran Hebden, why can’t I quit you!Report

    • Chris in reply to Glyph says:

      Added the NSFW to the Formerly Known as Twigs video.

      I’ve heard a lot of 60s psychedlia-inspired music over the last couple decades, but I’d never heard anything like that Temples track. And listening to some more, that’s apparently what all of their songs are like: very faithful interpretations of 60s psychedelic rock. More power to them. I bet they’re fun live.

      EMA live was nothing at all like Karen O. She was very, very brooding. I mean, if I were going to describe her stage presence (admitting that she had no crowd to work with), the only accurate word I can think of is brooding. She was in her own head (again, no crowd, so that might have been it), and listening to her for the last couple days, that’s how I hear her.Report

      • Glyph in reply to Chris says:

        EE-EM-AYYyyYYYY! EE-EM-AYYYyyYYYY!

        Listening to her 2011 album on Spotify now, it’s interesting. I only said Karen O because something about her voice in the “Satellites” (well, and the gloves and the hair there) was reminding me a little bit.Report

      • Chris in reply to Chris says:

        Oh yeah, I can hear the twinge of Karen O in her voice. It’s just that she was so un-Karen O live that it’s hard for me to think of them together.

        Right behind us (within inches, in fact, because everyone was huddled together) was a guy who was, I gather, a really big EMA fan. And he pronounced the letters individually multiple times in describing her to R, who had never heard of her.

        I was sad that I missed No Age, but man, it was miserable out there. To add to the misery, if you attempted to relocate somewhere under the awning you had to leave the cover of the awning, and the water was pouring off the awning in streams. I lost half a beer that way.Report

  2. Maribou says:

    Really hoping I’ll get rid of this headache soon, cause your text is super-making me want to listen to all these.Report

  3. Glyph says:

    I was listening to the Julio Bashmore and thinking it was a house track at heart, over which he had put some bass that swings & knocks it off the standard straight-square house beat, making it more rhythmically interesting.

    Googled his name, and RA confirmed that’s exactly what he is (house kid, growing up in bassy Bristol).Report

    • Chris in reply to Glyph says:

      You know that scene in Blues Brothers when they ask what type of music they play at the bar, and the woman says, “Oh we got both kinds: country and western.” R would say that she listens to both kinds: house and hip hop (though she likes dubstep because it reminds her of house).Report

  4. Kazzy says:

    Have you ever seen Jay/Ye in concert? I’ve heard mixed things, which was surprising.

    In terms of getting the wrong words stuck in your head, HAM always gets me in trouble. When the chorus drops, I’m always like, “Hard as a motherfucker, let these [mumble mumble] know who I am.” But it’s fast. And will get ya.Report

    • j r in reply to Kazzy says:

      Do you actually censor the n-word in your own mind?Report

      • Kazzy in reply to j r says:

        In my mind? No. If I’m singing out loud in the car (which almost always means I’m alone or, at most, have the baby with me), then I usually will.

        It is generally easy to do in most songs. But in some, like the above mentioned one, it just flows so quickly and smoothly with the lyrics that it takes a bit more of a concerted effort.Report

    • Chris in reply to Kazzy says:

      I haven’t seen either live, but apparently Ye is getting better.

      In fact, I have seen a lot of hip hop this week, and it seems to me like love rap is getting better period. Everyone I gave seen has killed it.

      Since it’s SXSW, the crowds at the hip hop shows have been at least half white. Yesterday we saw Future, who let the crowd sing most of the choruses, a couple of which prominently feature the n-word. It was kind of funny to watch.Report

      • Kazzy in reply to Chris says:

        “…who let the crowd sing most of the choruses…”

        How would he have gone about not letting them? I know Kanye once encouraged the white folks in his audience to use it. Do some rappers make it known if they don’t want white audience members to do so?

        Or do you mean he pointed the mic outward during the choruses instead of singing them himself?Report

      • Chris in reply to Chris says:

        I mean pointed the mic, sorry. Typing from my phone with little sleep.Report