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Tuesday, November 13th, 2007
In hindsight, the pressure must have been unbearable. Saturday Looks Good To Me’s 2004 release Every Night was one of my favourite albums of the last however many years and I can only imagine this knowledge must have have been an enormous burden on bandleader Fred Thomas as he worked on a follow-up. Normally prolific to Pollard-ian degrees, Thomas’ output diminished to a trickle over the last three years with only limited-edition singles and a compilation of demos and unreleased tracks to break the studio silence.
Updates from SLGTM-land were sporadic – at one point Thomas said the new record was going to be a double-album split between “he said” and “she said” songs. He also mentioned he was wary of being pigeonholed by the band’s Motown/retro-pop aesthetic, a move that was backed up by the live band’s pared-down lineup and rougher, more rock-heavy sound. These shows also reinforced his intention to sing all the songs on the new record himself – and for all of his strengths as a songwriter and producer, Thomas isn’t a great singer. So needless to say, anticipation for the new record was tempered by no small amount of trepidation.
Which brings us to Fill Up The Room – the fruits of Thomas’ long-gestated, deconstructed and rebuilt Saturday Looks Good To Me and… it sounds like Saturday Looks Good To Me. Somehow, the new record maintains much of what made the previous records special – the time capsule production, the razor-sharp pop sensibility – and yet there’s something definitely different about it. It’s as though all the musical experimentation and exploration that Thomas did over the past few years led him to the Confucian/Banzai-ian epiphany that no matter where he went, there he was and no matter what he did, it was going to sound like himself. So fuck it.
True to his word, he handles vocals on ten of the eleven tracks (the other is sung by Betty Marie Barnes, who made Every Night such a delight) and while he strains to hit a note or five, he sounds better than I’d have expected over the course of the whole record. Having one singer throughout does bring a greater sense of consistency and continuity to the affair and helps Fill Up The Room come off more like a proper album rather than a kick-ass mix tape. There are fewer horns, less obvious Motown nods and the arrangements zig into sprawl where once they’d have zagged into compactness but there’s no mistaking this for anything but a Saturday Looks Good To Me record, and not only that, a great one. Fears allayed. Joy commencing.
AllMusic asked Thomas five questions, including whether this was deliberately a more “mature” record and why he opted to sing everything on this one (with a surprisingly pragmatic answer).
MP3: Make A Plan
MySpace: Saturday Looks Good To Me
Okkervil River stops in at Daytrotter and turns in a session with three covers and a Stage Names song. All sound glorious. Daytrotter and Okkervil River – two great tastes that taste great together.
Pitchfork gets Bradley’s Almanac has audio from a show they did in a tiny bar last month and Pitchfork has a video of them playing a b-side in the back of a cab.
And The National’s tourmate in Europe right now, Hayden, has announced details of his new record – In Field & Town is out January 15 and he’ll be touring Canada in support thereafter, including a February 19 date at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto. Chart has full tour dates and album deets.
The Asbury Park Press checks in with proud Jersey girl Nicole Atkins, who explains why the release of Neptune City was delayed three months – Rick Rubin said so. Atkins is at Lee’s Palace next Sunday night and be sure to check out her latest MySpace blog, which recounts her week from playing Letterman the day of the album’s release to starting off the current tour with The Pipettes (who talk to The Boston Globe). Hilarious stuff.
Paste has posted their recent cover feature on Ryan Adams online.
Part two of the My Bloody Valentine interview now up, covering music theory and production techniques.
The AV Club lists off “21 Good Albums That Could Have Been Great EPs”. I beg to differ on New Adventures In Hi-Fi and Urban Hymns – maybe a couple songs could have been excised but by no means were there only five our six worthy songs on either record. Most of the others, though, I have no argument.
Tuesday, October 30th, 2007
Much of this past weekend was spent catching up on television. In brief: season two of Dexter makes me happy I stuck with the show through a shaky first half of season one, Heroes makes me sad that Kristin Bell is being wasted like this, How I Met Your Mother makes me amazed what kind of stuff is allowed to be aired at 8PM and The Office, thankfully back to half-hour installments, makes me agree that there really can be too much of a good thing.
But most exciting is that I finally got to sit down and watch the first four episodes of Pushing Daisies and, though it will come as no surprise to anyone who knows my tastes in television, I would like to declare for the record that I love this show. In a nutshell, it’s a fantastical hour-long comedy about a pie maker with the ability to bring the dead back to life with a touch, and then kill them forever with another touch. Their new lease on life lasts exactly 60 seconds or else someone/thing else in near proximity dies instead. The pie maker uses this ability to work with a private investigator to solve murders and collect the rewards until one day, he ends up bringing his childhood sweetheart, newly murdered, back to life and opts to keep her alive (at someone else’s expense) though they can never touch. Hilarity ensues. Yes, it’s a big nutshell but that’s how it goes.
Not surprisingly, the mastermind behind this show – Bryan Fuller – is also the one who brought us the equally wonderful Wonderfalls (the actor who plays pie maker Ned was also the layabout brother on Wonderfalls) but happily and more than a bit surprisingly, Pushing Daisies is already a hit for the new season and has been picked up for the full season. Surprising because usually shows this idiosyncratic, stylish and all-out quirky are doomed from the get-go. The whimsical, cartoonishly technicolour visuals are almost certainly the most unique on television – network or otherwise – but belie the charmingly dark sense of humour at work. Re-read the plot – how can it not be dark? The cast handles the sharp, rapid-fire and deliciously odd dialogue perfectly and Anna Friel, as lonely tourist Charlotte Charles, is a blend of Zooey Deschanel and Mary Louise Parker that could have come right out of a focus group consisting of me and me only.
Some reviews I’ve read have wondered about the shelf life of the show’s recipe, speculating that what was charming at first will drift into irritating as the season wears on. This is entirely possible. That the show has seemingly engaged a large portion of the great unwashed that make up the network TV audience, not a demographic I generally have a lot of faith in, is astonishing in itself – usually critical acclaim like its gotten is a death sentence. But for now, I will sit back and enjoy the fact that there’s still 18 more episodes to come, and heartily recommend you do the same. Tuesdays at 8 on CTV and Wednesdays at 8 on ABC.
Video: Pushing Daisies promo
The New Yorker profiles David Simon, the creator of my other favourite current show (pretty much the complete diametric opposite of Pushing Daisies though dead people do figure heavily into both), The Wire. The final season starts January 6.
The Sydney Morning Herald and Harp talk to Steve Earle.
Bummer to hear BrooklynVegan report that Land Of Talk got a pile of their gear ripped off last week in New Jersey. Hope they got enough replacement equipment together for last night’s show at the El Mocambo.
But good things happen in New Jersey, too (though less so if you have allergies – not for nothing is it called The Garden State). Consider native daughter Nicole Atkins, whose Neptune City is finally out today and which you can stream below at Spinner. The Star-Ledger and ACED have feature interviews with her about her record and home state. She will be at Lee’s Palace on November 18 opening for The Pipettes and is on Letterman tonight! With Jennifer Connolly! And SLASH! Maybe he’ll sit in with the band?
Stream: Nicole Atkins / Neptune City
And speaking of Pipettes, MySpace has a “behind the scenes” video interview with the band while The Washington Herald and Drowned In Sound offer old-fashioned text ones.
Also streamable and out today is the whole of the I’m Not There. More tracks beyond the four initially on the MySpace have gotten out there in the past week but the full album stream is certainly your best one-stop shop for previewing the riches contained within. And congratulations to Janet and Craig who won copies of the album via my contest.
Stream: I’m Not There Original Soundtrack
Pitchfork reports that the first proper Magnetic Fields album since 2004’s i will be out on January 15 of next year and bear the almost certainly misleading title of Distortion. But if you want to believe that Stephin Merritt has discovered the joys of the Big Muff Pi, you go right ahead.
Also forthcoming – Another Country, the new record from Tift Merritt, due out February 26.
NPR is streaming a World Cafe interview and session from Metric which includes some new songs for those seeking a sneak preview of their next album. Also streamable at NPR, The New Pornographers’ recent show in DC complete with opening sets.
Harp interviews Bjork.
Billboard talks to Adam Franklin about the Swervedriver reunion, currently targeting an April 2008 return to action.
Drowned In Sound challenges Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite to say something nice about Radiohead. Which he does. With many caveats.
Tuesday, October 16th, 2007
I’m sometimes completely arbitrary in what I choose to listen to or not listen to. Case in point – The Raveonettes, who had the misfortune to arrive on the scene around the same time as the White Stripes and who thus fell victim to my ban on garage-rock duos. Don’t bother explaining to me how that’s irrational and unfair – as I said, completely arbitrary. But that’s how it was that I went into Sunday night’s show at Lee’s Palace almost completely unfamiliar with the band. I’d heard the elevator pitch – Jesus & Mary Chain meets ’50s girl groups, recorded an album written completely in b-flat minor – but aside from the samples on their MySpace, they were a complete tabula rasa. But then, I wasn’t there to see them. It was the presence of tourmates Nicole Atkins & The Sea that got me out of the house and while any excuse to have them play is a good one as far as I’m concerned, they did seem an odd match for the headliners.
Gliss, on the other hand, were a perfectly logical fit. The trio reminded me more than a little of fellow Los Angelenos Autolux with their lumbering, psychedelic dream-rock. Obviously an outfit that believes in instrumental socialism, each of them took turns behind the drum kit and occasionally handling lead vocals from back there while the others handled guitar and bass. They gave full effort for their whole set despite being obviously dismayed at the sparse and only mildly interested crowd. They have my sympathies there, but it was early on a Sunday night and I think that if you have to explicitly ask the audience to come up front and dance, you’ve already lost.
I’d like to say that Nicole Atkins’ set won over everyone in the club as it was good enough that in a perfect world it would have, but considering that Atkins’ aesthetic is almost a polar opposite from the Raveonettes, that band’s fanbase might not be the most inclined to take to her unabashedly BIG songs. And with The Sea coming out with the most energy of the three times I’ve seen them this year (and none of the other shows was wanting for energy), they delivered the songs in a big way. And considering the long, winding road that’s been leading up to the release of Neptune City in two weeks, it figures that they’d be in top shape as a live outfit. Playing almost all of the album and throwing in a cover of The Doors’ “Crystal Ship”, Atkins sounded marvelous and… you know what? I’ve run out of ways to praise her so I’ll just stop trying, though I’m going to have to try at least one more time as she’s back – again – on November 18 at Lee’s opening for The Pipettes.
Which brings us back to the Raveonettes. The club was nearly full by the time they took the stage, which was obviously heartening for the band considering that they were a few years removed from their last album and while their new one, Lust Lust Lust, is going to be out in Europe next month there’s no North American release scheduled until early next year. As such, I was probably one of the few curious in attendance as opposed to the converted. With the band consisting only of principals Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo on guitars and vocals and a drummer on two-piece kit (tom, snare), skeletal was the word of the day though they did dress it up in a billowy coat of fuzz and reverb.
I think the problem with having such a strongly defined aesthetic is that while if you love it, you’ll love all of it, if you aren’t convinced there aren’t a lot of different angles from which you can approach it. And so for the duration of their hour-long set, there were moments that caught my interest – the Stereolab cover came with a most welcome increase in BPM – but for the most part, it all sounded very samey and wasn’t especially engaging. But the fact that the material introduced as being from the new album sounded most interesting to me could be a good sign and there still a future for me and the Raveonettes. Just not yet.
eye was also in attendance and offers some thoughts on the Raveonettes’ set with many more words than I, some of them bigger.
Photos: The Raveonettes, Nicole Atkins & The Sea, Gliss @ Lee’s Palace – October 14, 2007
MP3: Nicole Atkins & The Sea – “Party’s Over”
MP3: Nicole Atkins – “Bleeding Diamonds”
MP3: Nicole Atkins – “Carouselle”
Video: The Raveonettes – “Attack Of The Ghost Riders” (YouTube)
Video: The Raveonettes – “That Great Love Song” (YouTube)
Video: Nicole Atkins & The Sea – “The Way It Is” (MySpace)
Video: Nicole Atkins – “Neptune City” (YouTube)
Video: Gliss – “Kissing The Blvd” (YouTube)
Video: Gliss – “Halfway Gone” (YouTube)
Stream: Nicole Atkins & The Sea / Neptune City
MySpace: The Raveonettes
MySpace: Nicole Atkins
MySpace: Gliss
I mentioned that I was pleased to hear that Nicole Atkins was opening for The Pipettes next month – here’s some other support act news that helped perk up my Monday. Ohbijou’s November 9 show at Lee’s went from a “must-see” to “really must see” with the news that in addition to Bruce Peninsula, who were terrific at Dog Day Afternoon, Basia Bulat is now also going to be performing. Additionally, Bruce Peninsula will be opening for The Acorn at the Horseshoe on November 24 along with kalimba queen Laura Barrett. Also one to file under “really must see”. Factoid – Ohbijou’s Casey Mecjia provides the vocals on the final track of The Acorn’s Glory Hope Mountain.
And Basia Bulat is currently on tour out west with Final Fantasy. The Globe & Mail has a nice little feature on Basia while The Torture Garden and Vue have interviews with Owen Pallett and Trendwhore has the audio from his Pop Montreal showcase from a couple weeks ago.
The Cornell Sun talks to New Pornographer John Collins, So Much Silence has an MP3 of the band playing “Myriad Harbour” at KCRW last month and the video for the title track from the new album is now available. They’re at the Phoenix this Sunday night.
Video: The New Pornographers – “Challengers” (YouTube)
The New Pollution documents The Besnard Lakes’ adventures in America.
Feist tells Metro.co.uk she didn’t get a free iPod out of the Apple commercial. Just bags of money.
Thursday, May 17th, 2007
What was supposed to be a nice bonus show Monday night from Fields, who had just played here on Friday opening for Blonde Redhead, ended up turning into a bit of an ordeal though with a happy ending. First, for reasons unknown, the show was moved from the Amp’d Mobile Studio where it was originally scheduled to the Drake Underground where the band was shoehorned into an Elvis Mondays showcase. Then it turned out keyboardist/vocalist Thorunn Antonia had come down with food poisoning and was very iffy to be able to perform. Great.
Needless to say, the evening was running a bit behind schedule so I arrived in time to catch the act preceding Fields, and it was… interesting to say the least. Fronted by what looked like the bastard offspring of Brandon Flowers and Freddie Mercury, they were all classic rock riffs and new wave synths, studded wristbands, dubious moustache and cheese-rock poses. Initially I was aghast, but when I began to pick up snippets of lyrics – “there is Autobots on the autobahn” and “boobies – I like them very very much” – that I realized that there was the distinctive whiff of irony in the air and then Erick Von Erick & The Raving Psychos – yes, that’s right – went from being one of the worst things I’d ever seen to one of the best. It’s funny, they were all obviously quite good musicians but had opted to use their powers for cheese and hey, that’s cool. Their set was short so as not to belabour the punchline and damn if it didn’t make for some great photos.
I talked last week about my likes and dislikes about Fields’ full-length debut Everything Last Winter but while it earns a qualified seal of approval, I heartily endorse their live show with no such reservations. Thankfully joined by Antonia, the band tore through most of the high-energy numbers from both the album and their 7 From The Village EP and not to belabour the point, but the songs sounded so much more vibrant live, with the rough edges that got polished out in the studio.
One of the smart moves in the making of the record, however, was turning up Antonia’s vocals so that instead of backing Nick Peill, as was her role on the EP, she was harmonizing with him. Though she looked a bit paler than usual from being ill – and she’s plenty pale to begin with – she sounded terrific and really has remarkable pitch. On the record, you’d swear she was being auto-tuned but I’ll bet dollars and doughnuts it’s just her. And it wasn’t just her, the whole band sounded terrific and with great tightness and energy, obviously benefiting from all the recent touring.
I speculated after their first show in Toronto last October that next time through town, they’d be playing to much larger crowds. Not counting Blonde Redhead’s audience, it seems my predictions still haven’t quite come true as the Drake audience was decent, but also made up of friends/fans of the the other bands playing. I think if they’d played the Amp’d Studio as originally intended it’d have been a better measure of their fanbase in Toronto though surely a smaller one. But whether it grows (as it deserves to) or not, it’s a good bet that whenever they come through town again, I’ll be there again.
Photos: Fields, Erick Von Erick & The Raving Psychos @ The Drake Underground – May 14, 2007
MP3: Fields – “Song For The Fields” (Everything Last Winter version)
MP3: Fields – “If You Fail, We All Fail”
MP3: Fields – “Brittlesticks”
MP3: Fields – “Song For The Fields” (7 From The Village version)
Video: Fields – “If You Fail, We All Fail” (MySpace)
Video: Fields – “Brittlesticks” (MySpace)
Video: Fields – “Song For The Fields” (MySpace)
Video: Fields – “Charming The Flames” (MySpace)
MySpace: Fields
MySpace: Erick Von Erick & The Raving Psychos
Thanks to For The Records for pointing out that the NxNE 2007 schedule is now up. Only had time to give it a once-over, but a lot of names are jumping out at me. Some I can endorse whole-heartedly, others tepidly and some just sound familiar. I’ll do more research before things actually get underway but for now, here’s some random selections of what caught my eye:
Thursday, June 7
Future Clouds & Radar @ The Horseshoe – 9PM
Sea Wolf @ The Horseshoe – 10PM
Kathleen Edwards @ Lee’s Palace – 10PM
Buffalo Tom @ The Horseshoe – 12AM
Jason Falkner @ The Reverb – 12AM
Adam Franklin @ The Reverb – 1AM
Friday, June 8
The Pantones @ The Savannah – 9PM
Nicole Atkins & The Sea @ The Reverb – 10PM
Handsome Furs @ The Comfort Zone – 12AM
Jesse Malin @ The Reverb – 12AM
The Sadies @ Lee’s Palace – 12AM
Therapy? @ The El Mocambo – 12AM
Jenn Grant @ C’est What – 1AM
John Doe @ Lee’s Palace – 1AM
Saturday, June 9
Ohbijou @ The Horseshoe – 10PM
Schooner @ C’est What – 10PM
She Keeps Bees @ Holy Joe’s – 10PM
Great Northern @ Lee’s Palace – 12AM
The Silent Years @ Holy Joe’s – 12AM
Urge Overkill @ Lee’s Palace – 1AM
And that doesn’t even include the so-called “NXNeXtra” shows, which are basically all the big name touring bands in town that first week of June to which a limited number of badges and wristbands – like 50 to 100 – will be admitted. Included in that is the Voxtrot show at Sneaky Dee’s on the 8th, for which an early all-ages show has just been added. That’s a 6:30PM start and both touring openers, Favourite Sons and Au Revoir Simone, will be playing.
And NOT appearing at NxNE – Ride. Funnily, the denial made it out before the rumours did.
And some non-NxNE show news of note – Elvis Perkins has been added to the Hillside lineup on the Sunday July 29, Smoosh are opening for The Pipettes at Lee’s Palace on June 1 and latest Arts & Crafts signees Los Campesinos!, who sound pretty much exactly like how you’d expect an A&C band to sound – except Welsh – are in town August 7 at a venue to be announced.
The Hour has a video interview with Rob Dickinson.
Pitchfork announces that Trembling Blue Stars, who I thought had disbanded but I guess they just gave up touring, will release a new album – The Last Holy Writer – on June 4, their first in three years. I should dig out my copies of Broken By Whispers and Alive To Every Smile to see if I still dig them. I do know that the one single from the latter record, “The Ghost Of An Unkissed Kiss”, was and still is sublime. Heard it? No? You should.
MP3: Trembling Blue Stars – “The Ghost Of An Unkissed Kiss”
Spinner 3×3 takes on Bloc Party.
NME talks to Patrick Wolf about touring with Amy Winehouse.
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007
So today it begins. Four days of glorious weather (though not the case yesterday, as it was pouring rain all day), foodstuffs cooked over open fire pits and round the clock rock’n’roll. The trip in was mostly uneventful – I actually slept pretty much every minute that I wasn’t required to actually be boarding or disembarking a plane. The past week/month/whatever has picked a fine time to catch up with me but last night’s 10 hours of sleep should go a looooong way. Be surprised if I get that much over the next four nights (okay, probably an overstatement but not by too much). My hotel room is interesting – it’s designed for wheelchair access so there’s a handy ramp from the the parking lot to my door and the washroom can accommodate the turning radius of a Buick Roadmaster. And there’s an IHOP outside my window.
But now I’m wide awake, its morning and I have a working cellphone (yay!). A man, a plan, a canal. Putting together my tentative game plan was a lot easier this year than in the past thanks to my obligations to the various day shows I’m helping present. Can’t very well not show up to my own parties. Thankfully the lineups are by and large solid so I won’t feel the urge to slip out the back door and check out someone else’s show (not too much, anyway). But if you’re curious, looking to find me or just living vicariously through me (not nearly what it’s cracked up to be, trust me), here’s the what where and when of the next few days.
Today I’ll mainly be at the Mohawk for the Austinist/Gothamist/GvsB show, mainly to catch Headlights and Loney, Dear but happy to catch Nicole Atkins, The Hourly Radio and Sparrow House while I’m there. This presumes, of course, that I get my wristband situation sorted out in the early afternoon and am not running frantically around downtown Austin looking for scalpers.
In the evening, after filling up at the annual Horseshoe BBQ, it’s off to Emo’s for the big Beggars/4AD showcases. The UK’s iLikeTrains are pretty much the only thing on at 8 so they’ll get the nod there, and then it’s ex-Delgado Emma Pollock showcasing material from her debut solo record. It’ll be a coin toss between seeing Beirut outside or The Early Years inside but no question about hustling over to the Parish at 11:30 for San Fran’s Minipop. We’ll see how long I stay there because at midnight Courtney Tidwell is at the Ale House and then… well I’m not sure since Daylight’s For The Birds has canceled their show at the last minute. Boo! Not a lot of other options so if I don’t turn in early, I’ll probably stay at the Ale House to see France’s Cyann & Ben.
Thursday’s the day of the Spaceland/LiveDaily jag I’m co-presenting at Antone’s, so my stomping grounds will be limited to the west end of downtown for the most part. Hoping I’ll be there in time to catch at least some of Monsters Are Waiting’s noontime set but am not optimistic. But I’ll definitely be seeing Dirty On Purpose, Annuals and Blonde Redhead and I’ve heard good things about Datarock. That’ll most likely do it for the day, and then it’s foraging for grub before night falls.
But when it does fall, I will be safely ensconced in the Central Presbyterian Church at 7:30 to see Shearwater play. With luck I’ll be able to squeeze in some of The Besnard Lakes at the Mohawk before zipping to The Ale House for Joan As Police Woman at 9. I hear Cloud Cult is the act to see at 10 – they’re at Emo’s – and then at 11, David Vandervelde has the inside track on my attention though I could be easily distracted by a shiny object. Or maybe I’ll just get in line for Bloc Party’s midnight set at Stubb’s. Apparently that’s a 3000-capacity venue so I’m hopeful that I’ll get in eventually. My optimism is somewhat less so for Okkervil River’s 12:45AM show at the Mohawk – if my two-hour wait to see them last year is any indication I’m not getting in, so as a 1AM fallback I’ve got either The Rumble Strips at the Rio or The Hot Puppies at BD Riley’s.
Friday equals Hot Freaks day one, so that’s me at the DeVille/Mohawk complex bright and early. I expect to be running around from stage to stage all day, but will definitely be taking in Small Sins, The Black Lips, Apostle Of Hustle, Imperial Teen, Midnight Movies and again, Shearwater. There may also be some sneaking out to see The Pipettes and Elvis Perkins elsewhere, but not for certain.
I’m hoping to start off Friday night at Exodus where Nellie McKay is slated to perform at 7:45. She won’t come to Canada because some of us club baby seals, but she’s no problem performing in the BBQ capital of the world. Okay. 9:00 means Buffalo Tom at The Parish and I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to see them live, something I thought I’d never get to do. Then it’s Via Audio at Club DeVille at 10 and Bon Savants at Buffalo Billiards at midnight. In an ideal world, I’d catch some of Bedroom Walls’ 11:20 set but Club One 15 is a bit of a hike from the other venues and I don’t think it’s going to happen. Then I intend to finish off the night on Maggie Mae’s Rooftop with the UK’s Electric Soft Parade.
For Hot Freaks: The Morning After, we’ve got the wonderful Broken West making 11AM a good time for Mohawk rock and Toronto’s Hylozoists offering a vibraphonic counterpoint at Club DeVille. Other hot and freaky must-sees are The Early Years, Land Of Talk, Asobi Seksu, The Rosebuds, Margot & The Nuclear So & So’s and many, many more. And if you haven’t guessed who our super-secret headliner is, you probably haven’t tried very hard.
Saturday night doesn’t offer the dizzying array of choices the previous nights did, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to fill up the sched. Locked in at 8PM are Scots My Latest Novel at Buffalo Billiards, whom I skipped some four or five times this past weekend in Toronto at Canadian Music Week. Then it’s Austin’s Lovely Sparrows at the Mohawk – I hear they’re lovely – and then possibly Tilly & The Wall at Beauty Bar. Partly because there’s not much else going on at 10 and partly to already be inside at 11 to catch The Pipettes, assuming I haven’t seen one of their dozen or so other appearances this week. And then, finally and at last, I’ll zip across town to Antone’s to see The Tragically Hip try for the umpteenth time to impress America.
And that’s all she wrote. The preceding has been geographically optimized – some artists I would have otherwise have liked to see were omitted if they were playing a venue clear across town from where I was going to be. So assuming reasonable lineups – and I’m only hitting a handful of what you’d call “hot” shows – I think the above is doable. I hope. But if not, there’s contingencies in place. I think this is going to happen. I can feel it in my bones. Yessir. But hey – if there’s something you think I should see (and you don’t work for a label/PR company/whatever), lemme know. I’m open. Pitchfork has their picks for the week but they’re rather the usual suspects so not that useful to me.
Trying to keep up with all the press surrounding artists playing the fest will be an exercise in futility so I’m not even going to try. These, however, are some that I’ve already saved down so I may as well get them out there.
Paste names Cortney Tidwell their artist of the week, Salt Lake Weekly talks to Malajube, PopMatters has an interview with Loney, Dear, Harp talks to Elvis Perkins, Uberdrivel interviewed Emma Pollock and The Austin Chronicle and Austinist have a slew of capsule interviews with, like, everyone.
And this Rolling Stone piece wondering aloud if SxSW has sold out or not makes me laugh, though I can’t figure out if it’s because RS is pretty much the last entity that should be calling out ANYONE’S integrity or because the writer seems to have such a hate-on for KC & The Sunshine Band. This Harp piece tearing the once-mighty tabloid is also a fun read.
Okay, that’s it. Once more unto the breach. And by breach, I mean breakfast tacos.
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