In the early afternoon I saw Catfish Haven, a crazy soul-inspired psych pop band from Detroit. They won the award for most facial hair of all the bands I saw, and I dig them enough that I will seek out their records. After that I went to the Guitartown party and saw a singer songwriter -- I think it was Tom Freund but I wasn't sure and I didn't stick around all that long.
I ended up at Emo's Annex to wait for some friends and saw Toronto's Jason Collett, who I've seen a few times before, and enjoyed his country-ish pop songs well enough. Another band followed that were so forgettable I don't even remember their name, and then on came The Wedding Present, or at least a facsimile of them, as there were only two people onstage, David Gedgeand a bass player. They were alright, but I liked them much better a few years ago at Lee's Palace.
Following that show, I ended up seeing singer-songwriter A.A. Bondy on a friend's recommendation, who said after seeing him earlier that day that "I felt like I had never heard any of his songs before, but thatI knew them all for a long time." That about sums this guy up -- his songs were sometimes quirky, but he has an element of the songwriting quality that made Bob Dylan great, and you know I don't throw that around lightly. I will definitely keep him on my radar.
Following that, I found nothing too appealing in the 9 p.m. timeslot so I opted for a band called Radio Radio, figuring if they named themselves after an Elvis Costello song they had to be okay. I was wrong. They were a band after that early 80s sound that launched so many MTV careers, and the front man had clearly spent more time singing in front of a mirror than a crowd.
Disappointed, I left after a few songs and went to see a British band called Carlis Star that some friends were seeing. They were uneven, mostly because it seemed to me that they hadn't decided what kind of band they wanted to be so they were doing all kinds of different styles. They had moments, but not enough of them. They were followed at the same venue by Ed Harcourt, so I stayed for a while to see him -- he was like a cooler version of Ben Folds, basically, and I enjoyed him well enough. Nice pop songs, catchy.
After that, I headed to the Austin Music Hall where the annual AustinMusic Awards were taking place. The basic gyst of the ceremony was that Austin really, really likes Spoon. They won 7 awards, I think -album of the year, band of the year, songwriter of the year, song of the year, male vocalist of the year, and a couple of others, including probably an award for winning the most awards. Once the awards were finally handed out and the ladies present had stopped swooning over Spoon's Britt Daniel, Okkervil River took the stage and performed what is arguably the best three-song set I ever saw at SXSW (the other contender being Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3 inside at Stubb's back in2004 or 2005). Okkervil River were then joined onstage by psych-rock legend and Austin native Roky Erikson (the man behind 13th Floor Elevators) and backed him on three of his own songs, which were stellar as well. Okkervil River are, for my money, the best U.S.-based live band out there right now, or at least close to the top of the list (other contenders would be Centro-Matic and Spoon, off the top of my head.)
After Rokkervil, as they dubbed themselves, was done I walked back to the centre of the city and saw a few songs of an awful roots band, Southeast Engine, including a painful cover of "I Shall Be Released." Wishing I could be, I was, but unfortunately I had to stay because the next and last band of the evening was Centro-Matic, one of my favourites. They put it in their normally strong set, unveiled a few songs from their forthcoming record, and finished the evening off by indulging the crowd with a rare encore and even rarer cover song, the Beat's "Save It for Later" - nice way to end night one.
I ended up at Emo's Annex to wait for some friends and saw Toronto's Jason Collett, who I've seen a few times before, and enjoyed his country-ish pop songs well enough. Another band followed that were so forgettable I don't even remember their name, and then on came The Wedding Present, or at least a facsimile of them, as there were only two people onstage, David Gedgeand a bass player. They were alright, but I liked them much better a few years ago at Lee's Palace.
Following that show, I ended up seeing singer-songwriter A.A. Bondy on a friend's recommendation, who said after seeing him earlier that day that "I felt like I had never heard any of his songs before, but thatI knew them all for a long time." That about sums this guy up -- his songs were sometimes quirky, but he has an element of the songwriting quality that made Bob Dylan great, and you know I don't throw that around lightly. I will definitely keep him on my radar.
Following that, I found nothing too appealing in the 9 p.m. timeslot so I opted for a band called Radio Radio, figuring if they named themselves after an Elvis Costello song they had to be okay. I was wrong. They were a band after that early 80s sound that launched so many MTV careers, and the front man had clearly spent more time singing in front of a mirror than a crowd.
Disappointed, I left after a few songs and went to see a British band called Carlis Star that some friends were seeing. They were uneven, mostly because it seemed to me that they hadn't decided what kind of band they wanted to be so they were doing all kinds of different styles. They had moments, but not enough of them. They were followed at the same venue by Ed Harcourt, so I stayed for a while to see him -- he was like a cooler version of Ben Folds, basically, and I enjoyed him well enough. Nice pop songs, catchy.
After that, I headed to the Austin Music Hall where the annual AustinMusic Awards were taking place. The basic gyst of the ceremony was that Austin really, really likes Spoon. They won 7 awards, I think -album of the year, band of the year, songwriter of the year, song of the year, male vocalist of the year, and a couple of others, including probably an award for winning the most awards. Once the awards were finally handed out and the ladies present had stopped swooning over Spoon's Britt Daniel, Okkervil River took the stage and performed what is arguably the best three-song set I ever saw at SXSW (the other contender being Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3 inside at Stubb's back in2004 or 2005). Okkervil River were then joined onstage by psych-rock legend and Austin native Roky Erikson (the man behind 13th Floor Elevators) and backed him on three of his own songs, which were stellar as well. Okkervil River are, for my money, the best U.S.-based live band out there right now, or at least close to the top of the list (other contenders would be Centro-Matic and Spoon, off the top of my head.)
After Rokkervil, as they dubbed themselves, was done I walked back to the centre of the city and saw a few songs of an awful roots band, Southeast Engine, including a painful cover of "I Shall Be Released." Wishing I could be, I was, but unfortunately I had to stay because the next and last band of the evening was Centro-Matic, one of my favourites. They put it in their normally strong set, unveiled a few songs from their forthcoming record, and finished the evening off by indulging the crowd with a rare encore and even rarer cover song, the Beat's "Save It for Later" - nice way to end night one.
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1 comment:
I have to say one of the best sets I've ever seen was Steve Wynn and the Miracle Three at the Dog and Duck day tent in 2006! Enjoyed your reviews....sad I missed the Mayhem.
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