Hi everybody. I have been lazy. Sort of. I have been busy.
I am the new Student Center Coordinator. That is awesome. Aaron Parsekian and I have some rad ideas for how to change the stood. So rad that I will make a new Stood blog tonight which you should check out often. I need a camera. And a video camera.
Hometown cab was kind of lame in a lot of ways, but it was also awesome. I never got to leave the mainstage for more than long enough to see Weston Minisalli's set at the co-op. I actually only saw the end of his last piece. It was music set to Bukowski. Pretty cool. Synth, voice, drums and one more instrument. I think originally it was for Crotales.
I played with the Disaster Piece for our first show. Thursday at 9, after Soul Voices on Mainstage. Beautiful birth. Three songs, exhausting, awesome. Disaster Piece is a slipknot song title I think. I don't know quite how I feel about that. Only time will tell. We also are recording a demo of the three songs. Vocals are the only thing left to go on. It will be cool and I will talk all about it when the time comes.
Elemeno played on Saturday at 11 at Hometown Cab, on the mainstage again. Matt Gaffney, Weston, Cameron Wisch, Zach DeSorbo, Andrew Brown and myself played music. Alliah Sophia Mousad projected video portraits. This is her Youtube, but the newest movies on there seem like the predecessors to what she projected. Here is her blog which is only maybe hers. We also had dancers. 8 of them I think. Leah Katz helped so much by gathering all of these people into one place. Leah, Gilbert Small, Hayley Swinburn, Nina Hudson, Nicole Restani, Chess Lopez, Austin Jarred and Sarah Stanley. Watch this
This is only more of the progression of what I hope this project will become. I wish that I had bothered to arrange for a recording of this, but it only keeps getting better. The next monday we opened for Tera Melos at Whitson's. It has some awesome pictures. We played with Spencer Murphy on Bass instaed of Andrew and Booker Stardrum was back.
SXSW was the coolest fucking shit ever. First of all, you only need a minimal amount of cash (once you make it to Austin, that is) Free breakfast tacos, free pizza, free beer, free shows, etc... and then there are the showcases and the wristbands I got one for going with Terror Pigeon and it gets you in to basically every single show happening, of which there are too many to count. In fact, you are guaranteed to miss something you want to see because 5 other things you want to do are happening at the same time. On the bright side, many of the bands play free shows and showcases so you get more than one chance.
Yes, I love this band and I plug them hard, but it was awesome. They were so tight and true to the arrangements on record, but experiencing the performance in a packed room where everybody was singing along to a different harmony or melody is a really cool experience. Part of me also enjoyed just watching the interactions between band members as they scuttled around switching instruments. It was beautiful and everyone should go out and listen.
This was at a different show they played (where I saw Daniel Johnston & These Arms Are Snakes later)
I saw TM about 45 minutes before Anathallo, and a short jog across town. Seeing them live explains so much to me about how they do what they do. The music is completely nuts and cerebrally on another level. They could go from a calculus-orgasm to shoegazey phase swirls and back again. I really like how the vocals are fitting into the music live. It gives a great energy and acts like a little crutch for those limping ahead/behind/distant from the beat. Thanks guys.
Nothing on youtube yet from this years sxsw for these guys. This has the new drummer in it at least and is a pretty awesome representation of what I saw.
I think this venue was some sort of video studio, with the bands playing on a soundstage. There were projections on the wall and floor that made me feel like I was inside the Predator's head. This set was short (maybe 10-15 minutes) with about 15 people sitting in a circle around the band (just two of them) They started off playing kalimbas and tiny drums running through a laptop and a mixer and then started passing out treats. The show was about audience participation and I ended up with a big seed pod with an attached contact mic which I could shake, tap and generally just have fun with. There was also this awesome theremin like toy with a fixed arpeggio. The weird thing was, only the rocks they passed out seemed to work with it. It was super cool.
This was mindboggling. When I first heard their album Rise Above, I wanted to see it live before I decided if I liked it. Ironically, I traveled to Texas instead of Brooklyn to see them. Either way, it was amazing. They were doing things live that bands like Battles do with crazy effects and studio magic. Just watch some videos.
This show hapened for me by chance. I went to this venue to check out As Tall As Lions (You know that british trumpet player that droped out of Purchase? Yeah, he made the right decision) I feel lucky to have seen this show with under 150 people around me. It was a really impressive performance and her stage presence is fucking huge. The band was Aja singing (like bjork and danzig had a baby) a guitarist with the right effects to play the bass too and a drummer. She should be famous now. This is awesome pop music that doesn't confine itself to what is already popular. Check it out before your friends.
Also, the VonBondies who were at this show were by far the worst performance I saw at SXSW.
6. Prince Rama of Ayodhya @ a cool thrift shop I forgot the name of but they're moving anyway, so I am told
This show was outside in the middle of the day way out on the east side of Austin. I saw most of my favorite free shows (and did the majority of my daytime hanging out in this area) but this one stood out. It was all drenched in reverb and really relaxing, but also engaging. There were four members, Taraka, Michael, Nimai and one other guy whose name isn't on their myspace (and the only member of the band I didn't talk to). Taraka handled most of the vocals, as well as auto harp, synth and being beautiful, with Michael playing synths and sequencers and vocals. Nimai and the unnamed dude played drums and kept everything moving along, almost hypnotically. At one point they blew the power and instead of just waiting until it was all turned back on, Taraka led the audience and band in a song about the ocean at an ice beach. I got to make ice cracking noises. They also passed out lots of little shakers and tambourines to us to play along with, which was awesome. I always want to play along, or in a band that I see and like and I got too. Plus, they were all super nice and gave me one of theyir amazing DIY EPs in exchange for one of my totally lame mixtape of my own songs.
There was lots of other stuff that was awesome, like drinking tallboys under bridges, getting free booze at the purevolume party, eating tacos, meeting travelers and bands, walking ten miles a day, JBCs, brick weed and other fun times.
