I was always the kid who could find the remote, to this day, I herald it as the sole reason I must be my father’s favorite son. No matter if lost deep within a couch crevasse, perched in a planter high above the window sill, or complacently waiting atop the TV (no one ever looks); my peepers were a peepin.
“Last call for alcohol”, yells the barman as I gaze upon the vast brown bottle forest set atop this rickety bar plateau. I raise to head in his general direction for another and BOOM- BANG -ZOOM! I hear a thunderous crash, spin to see the forest has fallen and transformed in to a massive cascading log roll hell bent on ending this night not unlike some shit crazed Lemming…
Imagine a city after it snows. Imagine the white blanket softening all the sharp edges, hiding the filth. Now, imagine that blanket is real.
This is something of what yarn bombing strives to do. Yarn bombers do knitting as street art- creating cozies for chain link fence – throwing lace and flowers over the harsh contours of urban life. Yarn bombers mix the illegal daring of graffiti writers with a traditionally female craft-form, making something both joyous and subversive.
Ah, Emo’s on an Austin afternoon. The conglomeration of hipsters, the ridiculous name and the sort of street bazaar layout of the place always make me feel a little trepidatious. However, the mood on Friday was instantly put into perspective when I came across a group of maybe nine guys all posing for a photo together with several people snapping shots of them – was this some kind of fraternal organization? Maybe they were semi-famous? As it turned out, they were total strangers who all happened to be wearing plaid shirts. “Badass shirt, dude!” I heard one joke to another. They laughed and bantered to each other, “You’re a stylish motherfucker too!”
Glass Candy turned out a dance freak fantastique set at the Mad Decent Carniville Friday night. The whirl of neon and bright, festive lights flashing in the background synched naturally with the hard buzz of the electronics as the band kicked off their set. The electro-disco music Glass Candy cranks out reminds me of neon black light posters of Lamborghinis. Ida No and Johnny Jewel know how to make you throw down. We caught up with Jewel for a quick Q&A as he hauled equipment off stage.
If you’ve been paying any attention during the festival in Austin you know bands flock from around the world to play as many shows as they can fit in between eating and drinking free food and beer. But for a handful of local bands, Austin presents a unique opportunity. Daniels and Animals, an Austin band, have been playing shows together for just six moths and took full advantage of the impromptu venues and multitudes of crowds waiting to hear good music. These boys played at a foosball club, for cryin’ out loud.
You hear the sort of terms that music critics might throw around for a band like Men, and they might tend to sound over-inflated. Terms like electro-punk or dance collective. These sort of labels don’t really take into account that Men are a good goddamn time. The three-piece fronted by Le Tigre’s JD Samson was at turns hilarious, subversive, cool and flat out fun. Samson greeted the freezing crowd with plenty of appreciation and the band started to pull into gear. Men sounds like all kinds of crazy thrown together and twisted around. Halting, Kraftwerk style singing with some of the dance bounce and bravado of classic Devo or Talking Heads.
Twin Atlantic, like most bands who travel to Austin for SXSW, played multiple shows. Three to be exact. I caught the first one, the night that Sam, the lead singer, was super ill. International travel (they come from Scotland) and the hyperactive, germ infested, drunk fest that surrounds the festival doesn’t help the ole immune system fight off the inevitable SARS like outbreaks every night. However, without Sam owning up to the fact that his face felt like it was going to explode, the average spectator would have never known anything was amiss.
The band rocked out full force, holding back none of their special charms. From the explosive beginning to the feedback fueled finale, this band continues to take America by storm. They are currently touring throughout the United States. Check them out in a city near you.
Imagine basically living on a bus. Traveling from town to city to college, a vagrant, a nomad, a castaway soaking in the hardscrabble tales of this country. Putting in work, with no time to shave or shower or change your clothes even. That’s how Juiceboxxx does his thing, man, and he’s proud to say he’s been doing it since he was 15. The Juicer climbed aboard Carniville’s stage on the coldest day of South-by and still managed to get the crowd roiling screaming with a hoarse voice to turn up the sound, “I’m 23 and already deaf man, turn it up!” Juiceboxxx flung himself around the crowd, on speakers, on stage, on top of a security guard wearing a neck kerchief and cowboy hat. After the show, I caught up with him to ask some quick questions while he was packing up his backpack next to the stage.
