South-By!
In case you hadn’t heard, there’s a big event going on in Austin this week. SXSW began last Friday, though parties had begun popping up Thursday, and with the official start of the music festival today, is now in full swing. Though I have attended almost every year since the mid-Aughts, I’ve never been a SXSW-fanatic. In fact, some parts of me hate it, and I refuse to spend money on it. I do spend a fair amount of time figuring out what I’m going to do, though, and this year that’s meant listening to SXSW FM to figure out which bands I’ve never heard of that I might want to see, while scheming to get into the big name shows. So I’ve been diligently writing band names down, exploring them further, and trying to come up with a schedule. It’s a bit of a pain in the ass, particularly since it also involves standing in a lot of lines just to get on lists or extra wristbands or whatever, but in the end it’s sort of worth it, kinda, if I look at it sideways and try not to think about the crickets that will take up residence in my ears for the next week or so.
I thought that, since I have been immersed in the music for the last week or so, I’d share some of the bands that I’ve learned about with you. I don’t know a whole hell of a lot about most of them, but I have a hard time even thinking about other music at the moment. When it’s all over, and the dust settles, maybe I’ll try to write a follow up with what I saw and heard.
Up top is a song from EMA’s new album, The Future is Void. I start with EMA, the stage name of Erika M. Anderson, because her’s was the first show I saw at this year’s SXSW. She was playing at a party hosted by Tumblr, which we somehow crashed. EMA was all the rage a couple years ago when she released her first solo album, filled with droning, at times angry pop. It’s not really my thing, though I’d heard she was good live, and knew she had new material, so I thought it would be fun to see her. Saturday night was on an outdoor stage, unfortunately, because it was cold and raining, so the few of us who were brave enough to stand outside were huddled under an awning 20 feet from the stage, eliminating the possibility of the show developing any energy whatsoever.
After EMA came No Age, whose latest album was one of Glyph’s favorites of 2013. I’d seen them last year (I think it was last year) at SXSW, and was looking forward to hearing some guitar, but it was still raining, and still cold, and I was soaked, so we left the Tumblr party and wandered around (well, about 3 blocks down the street) until we saw another line and heard music. There was a list, but R, well let’s just say that not being on a list has never been a problem for her, so we were able to find an indoor party, with free booze (I had more French 75’s than I probably should have) and a bunch of dry people having a lot of fun, first with a local band:
And then an amazing DJ, whose name I do not know. By the time we’d left, R had made friends with pretty much everyone (and knew where they’d bought their clothes), we’d danced with pretty much everyone there, hung out with the band a bit, and made new friends. It was a lot of fun, as parties with free drinks tend to be.
We’ve spent the last few days recovering, and tomorrow we hit the venues running. As promised, here are some of the bands we’re planning to see:
If you hadn’t noticed, I’m mildly obsessed with electronic music, and my focus is going to be on electronic, DJ, and hip hop this year. Young and Sick is one of my SXSW FM discoveries. They feel a lot like, well, a lot of artists — SBTRKT, Flume, with a little of Active Child’s grandioseness at times. I’m hoping to see them at least once.
Little Dragon I knew before (I’ve even shared them here before), and I’m looking forward to hearing their quirky but infectious Swedish ambient synth-pop.
If I can make it to see Julio Bashmore, I expect to be dancing.
Here’s what I know about Four Tet: It is the stage name of Kieran Hebden, who was in Fridge, who were kinda awesome.
NSFW!!
I had never heard of FKA Twigs until I heard “Papi Pacify” on SXSW radio, and was immediately hooked. Judging by the number of views that video has, a lot of other people had heard of her.
You know when I talked about the 60s soul revival? I had no idea that there was a 60s psychedlic rock revival too. It’s pretty awesome, even if it’s straight up imitation.
I got nothing. It’s kinda bland, but it’s exactly like what I was listening to 12 years ago, and I’m nothing if not nostalgic.
Not safe for work if people might be listening close enough to get rather obvious sexual metaphors.
Kids making catchy electro-pop. It has to be fun, right?
Falconberry (awesome name) is a local artist. I’ve never seen her, but have heard good things, so I’m hoping to catch her, if not at SXSW, then sometime soon.
D&B, and more dancing. Yes, please.
Topical.
Oh, and I tried (and failed) to get into the show by these guys, whom I’d never heard before but have been told are pretty big (not safe for work in any possible sense, the n-word is in the title!!! and it’s going to get stuck in your head, because that shit cray):
I recommend checking out the radio station. You’re going to have to wade through a lot of awful stuff, but there are little gems here and there, and you might even find a new favorite.
*This is how people say it. I hate when they say it that way, though I cannot tell you why I hate it when they say it that way. I just do.
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
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
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
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
Really hoping I’ll get rid of this headache soon, cause your text is super-making me want to listen to all these.Report
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
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
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
Do you actually censor the n-word in your own mind?Report
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
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
“…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
I mean pointed the mic, sorry. Typing from my phone with little sleep.Report