I first heard of Other Lives when a friend who, when he found out I was going to SXSW mentioned them first in his list of must see acts at the festival. I take these types of recommendations seriously especially coming from musically well-versed and knowledgeable heads. I dug in to find out more about this Stillwater Oklahoma band about a week before I left for Austin and what I found only added fuel to my growing interest.
Straight outta’ Sydney, ‘stralia, Red Riders mounted-up rock out the final night of this year’s Red Bull Moontower in Austin – setting-off Saturday night with a bang. Entertaining the crowd with their musical rockibility and witty reparté, Red Riders made for a great kick off to the final wild night in the desert.
If North America South America’s (N.A.S.A.) music were a type of food, it would be Gumbo or Paella (not a stew because stew aint cool), mixing disparate flavors of different nations into a delicacy worth devouring en masse. N.A.S.A. is a musical duo of DJs Squeak E Clean and Ze Gonzalez (Zegon) and about FORTY other collaborators from nearly every corner of music. More a traveling musical circus than simply an “act” N.A.S.A., brings the brash and bizarre influences of Brazilian Baile Funk to life with a North American thump – a serious sensory overload; a spiced mélange of all musical flavors.
Electronica has really come to a head of recent in the U.S., opening doors (and windows) for all sorts of new artists (and genres), and Shout Out Out Out from Alberta, Canada are no exception.
As they professed at the Red Bull Moon Tower, “knowing you’re making terrible decisions and knowing that you’re doing it. It’s a song specifically about Austin”. As with this statement, the Shout Out Out Out’s proved to be a good end note to more than a week of music, schmoozing and debauchery in Austin, Texas. The group barraged their listeners with heavy electro big-beat bass; making the crowd sway, shake and gyrate with all the last bits of energy they could muster (at least those who were not flying high on the free Red Bull’s). Shout Out Out Out had the amped-up capacity crowd shaking their moneymaker’s under the moonlight in no time, and offered some solace in their humorous hooks and quirky anecdotes.
Jack Paradise would like you to know that 2009 will birth the third coming of the “Summer of Love” and he personally would like to wish you “Happy Hunting”.
I can’t tell you with any certainty just what in the hell he his talking about at this moment, as I’m a tad busy getting my ass kicked at Connect-Four by Red Dog Consuela. Not to mention that it is bat shit loud in here and he could’ve said something else. You see, I happen to be at a press junket with three quarters of Late of the Pier.
If you are going out and you want to step it up a notch, check out these galleries for some Fashion Fabulousity.
If you ran into Adam Freeland, or anyone of them for that matter, you might assume he is a musician – you would be correct. Freeland, the brainchild of the group’s namesake is a group fashioned for the party. Building from Adam’s desire to perform the music he mixed and mashed as a DJ, and a need to rock the crowd harder then ever before.
Joe Swanberg’s first feature, Kissing on the Mouth, cost a mere $1,200 and his expectations for it were realistic. He thought a few people might kind of like his little movie. Joe didn’t expect his heart-wrenchingly realistic autopsy of male/female relationships to spawn a style that quickly evolved into a movement known as “Mumblecore.”
Mumblecore is indie films’ tastiest flavor and it’s about to emerge onto the shores of the mainstream. Swanberg’s latest, Alexander the Last, premieres at SXSW and, in a bold move by distributor IFC, will bypass theatrical distribution and debut as VOD (video-on-demand) for anyone with internet access to see.
Joe reminisces fondly about film, fun and South by…
In Austin the Red Bull Moon Tower went from 11pm to the wee small hours of the morning. The line up included The Story of, The Republic Tigers, I love you but I’ve Chosen Darkness, Shepard Fairey and more.
