Thursday, March 22, 2007
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner! The much coveted Best Performance at SXSW 2007 goes to.......................................
THE AUTOMATIC!
I started this evening by visiting a venue a bit away from the centre as there was an Israeli guy playing there that I had met when Daniel Johnston played the SESAC stage at the convention centre. He had described himself as a sort of Badly Drawn Boy type of singer so, as I had no other "leads" I thought I'd take the plunge. Unfortunately he turned out to be more Poorly Sketched Lad than Badly Drawn Boy! After the Moz enspired 3 song minimum I gave up and went outside to see the other band playing on the patio. They went by the name Wax Fang and hailed from Louisiana. They were greaser rockers in the Motorhead tradition, but redeemed themselves by having the eccentricity to include a theramin in their act. I'm assuming it was a theramin (or similar device as the singer "played" it by waving his hand around a central aerial). I stayed til the end of their set and then wandered down to the Convention centre to the live TV set where a cable network had been broadcasting sets all week. I was particularly interested in seeing Stars of Track & Field who I had seen briefly on Weds (or possibly Thurs - the days and bands are beginning to merge into one). There was a reasonable crowd given that it was away from the main action areas. I enjoyed the set - they are a sort of slightly rockier Coldplay I suppose. I will definitely get their album if I can find it somewhere. They finished their set in true rock fashion - the bass guitarist trashed his guitar by smashing it on the ground in the finest Who tradition.
Then, as they were on next, and I had nowhere else to go, I thought I'd watch The Automatic. I got the album some time ago, but apart from the tracks Monster and Recover I hadn't been that impressed. They kicked off in fine fettle, and it soon became apparent that one of the band (the guy who plays keyboards and sings) was not a happy bunny. He made some comment about the stage manager being "disrespectful" and seemed to be picking a fight with his lead guitarist. All this led to the whole performance having a real edge for a studio gig with only 20-30 people in the audience.At one stage he threw his mike off the stage where it had to be fetched by a stage hand, and proceded to wander among the audience while still singing. Despite all this the band kept up manfully and the songs came over very powerfully. When they finished I turned to leave and saw a guy behind me with a festival badge that read "The Automatic" so I assume he was with the band. He was saying to his female companion "I think we'll let them calm down be fore we go back to see them". Whatever was the problem it certainly made for a great live show.
After that I went back to 6th street and queued for ages to get in to see Daniel Johnston again. The place was heaving, with a queue to get in stretching across the street. I wanted to see if he really was as I had remembered from the other day. I wasn't dissappointed. He was just as oddball as I thought, tho he had obviously been told not to tell the concentration camp joke again! With a person such as this it's a fine line between naive genius and freakshow. It's up to you to decide where you think he falls but I personally come down on the side of the former (just!). I have no idea if he has any recordings at all, and I suspect they would not capture the live performance that well.
The rest of the evening rather petered out - I tried to get in to see a band called +/- (plus/minus) but there was a long queue on a one in one out basis. I could hear what they were like and it didn't grab me so I moved on to another bar and watched a all girl trio of singers called Au Revoir Simone. They performed sweet sort of hamonic songs which were easy on the ear but to be honest had no real substance to them. I listened for a while and moved on again. I aimed to see a band called the Wildhearts from Newcastle but upon reaching the venue saw that their name had been replaced on the bill by someone else. I took this a sign and called it a night at about 1:30am.
So that's about it. I think there might be one or two places with gigs tomorrow but I will probably give them a miss. I have seen more live performances by bands doing their own material in the last few days than I have in the entire rest of my life so forgive me if I feel a little gigged out! I can now add SXSW festival to my travel CV and can heartily recommend it to any music lover.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Has anyone heard of Daniel Johnston? He's the guy on the left, a sort of Van Morrison type figure to look at, but with more mental health problems apparently. Check him out on wikipedia and you'll get the full picture. He was down at the SESAC stage at the convention centre yesterday. I was only there really to sit down and have a (very) late lunch, as I didn't surface til gone 1:30pm yesterday. These late nights are too much for an old man like me.
Anyway, I'm sitting there, watching a rapper from NY called Brother Ali, a 250lb albino Muslim (I quote from the write-up in the paper!), followed by a mix/scratch artist by the name of Kid Koala (a Chinese guy), as the area slowly begins to fill up. By the time the turntables had been dismantled the place was heaving. And this guy shambles on stage. He's obviously got the shakes as he has to hold the microphone with both hands to keep it anywhere near his mouth. He tells a couple of very questionable jokes while waiting for the band to tune up (including one about jews in concentration camps, and gives a nazi salute - I kid you not!) and then launches into a song about wanting to kill the devil! So far, so weird. But his voice is very hypnotic. Sometimes it's almost cracked but also sounds somehow absolutely right. It's very odd, but also sounds like I've heard it before. You know, in the way you hear a song and think, Hang on I know this, but you have never actually heard it before. So he does a few more numbers, including a cover of Band on the Run for good measure and it's over. I felt a bit sorry for the next guys on, who I saw last night anyway, called the Cinematics, doing an acoustic set. There was no way anyone could follow this guy. He was a complete show stopper.
So on to the evenings entertainment. I hadn't managed to find many must see bands so I was prepared to just go with the flow and see what happened. I started with a band called Cities, who I can hardly remember to be honest, which is why I should have done this write-up last night when I got in. The next band however were unforgettable. They were a keyboard duo in the mould of the Chemical Brothers, with the added visual of dressing in black and white chequered jumpsuits, with covers over their heads and only ski type goggles to see out by. I have been trying to upload the picture to give you the full impression but my wireless connection is playing silly buggers so I try again later. Edit: Now added but appears at the top for some reason.
After that I returned to the first bar I was in and caught the end of a set by canadian band called Rock City Plaza, who were rather folky, with accordions. I then waited in the same venue for the singer I mentioned a few days ago, Robyn Hitchcock. Thanks to wikipedia again I now know he was in a band called The Soft Boys back in the UK in the 70/80s. He did an acoustic set with another guitarist and a backing singer, finishing with a song entitled I want to kill you, Karl Rove, which went down a storm with the crowd, despite Texas being Dubya's back yard.
I then had a pit stop at the hotel and returned to the fray in time to see a band called Sloan. They hail from Toronto, and are a real throw back to the 70s and 80s AOR. Think Boston or Foreigner etc. They comprised 3 guitarist/singers, a drummer who also could play guitar and sing ( and did for 2 numbers, being replaced by the lead singer on drums) and a keyboard player. So they knew their onions. Real rock stuff, harmonised voices, posturing guitar playing etc. I loved it! I've a secret penchant for such cheesy stuff (I could admit to owning albums by Toto - but won't) so really enjoyed it. They even had the crowd singing along to their last number, so they must be reasonably well known over here.
The last band of the evening were called the Ettes, and were somewhat removed in style from the last band. They were a 3 piece, with female lead guitarist/singer and also a female drummer. (Incidentally I've seen more female performers in bands over here than one ever does back home). They played buzz saw style fast punky stuff a la Ramones. No harmonized voices or long guitar solos here, just loads of attitude and quick numbers fired at you out of a gun.
So there it is - 6 bands in a evening. You could do more, but there is a limit to how much you can take in at one time really. If you're not careful everything can just blend in together.
Friday, March 16, 2007
I've only just realised I can adjust the settings on this blog so that anyone can write comments without having to be a member. Which I have now done. Let the comments flow..........
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Saturday, January 06, 2007
The worst thing we could do now is do the usual England media inspired new broom approach. I guess the media back home are calling for Fletcher's head (as usual with any England coach in any sport who fails to win). I think this would be stupid. When you look dispassionately at what has occurred several things come to mind.
Firstly this is a very good Aussie team. No, make that a great Aussie team. In terms of how they dominate their sport they are up there with the West Indies from 1975-95, the Brazilian football team of the early 1970's and the current All Black rugby team. To give you some idea of the amount of experience in the side that just beat us, Moz and I were watching a rerun of the Oval Ashes test in 2001 on TV (it was raining in the S.Africa vs India game) last night.Of that Aussie side, 8 played in this series - Langer, Hayden,Ponting,Martyn, Gilchrist, Warne, McGrath and Lee. Only the Waugh twins have retired and Gillespie is still on the fringes of the team. That's over 5 years ago. No-one from the England side was still around for this series. Tufnell was still playing for God's sake! When you have that sort of continuity you have a massive body of experience to draw on.
Secondly, this series was closer than the 5-0 scoreline would suggest. Just as 2005 could have been 4-1 to Australia, this series could have been 3-1 to the Aussies or even at a pinch 2-2. In every test bar Brisbane there has been a point at which the test was right in the balance. And each time some Aussie player stood up and produced a wicket or innings when required. We didn't. That has been the difference. Make no bones about it, we competed in this series, just not for long enough in each test to force the Aussies into errors.
Thirdly, despite all the naysayers England are still 2nd in the Test rankings, slightly above the pack chasing Australia. No-one else has looked remotely like challenging them - they are on a run of 10 or 11 consecutive wins since the Ashes defeat in 2005. They have just beaten S Africa home and away. The last team to manage a series draw here in Oz was India in 2003, when they had their very powerful batting lineup at full strength and (more crucially) both McGrath and Warne were unavailable through injury and a ban. That is what faces the Aussies now those two are gone. The inability to bowl teams out in pretty much any conditions.
Fourthly, England's team is young. Of the current lineup all should be available for the 2009 Ashes series in England. A good proportion of them are in their early to mid twenties. Cook, Bell, Pietersen, Anderson, Madmood, Panesar are all young and learning. This will have been a tough time for them all but they SHOULD take something from this defeat. It should give them the hunger to improve, give them a standard to aspire to. Indeed if I were England coach I would be looking at those young players for the signs that it has hurt them and that they want to improve. Those would be the ones I would want to keep. Anyone who was prepared to think that the status quo would be good enough, as you don't play Australia all the time, would be out on his ear. There must be a hunger to win.
Finally, as good as this Aussie team is, it's finished. Four members have gone this series - Martyn, Langer, Warne and McGrath. Before the next Ashes series both Hayden and Gilchrist will have gone too. As good as Ponting and Hussey are they will not be able to carry the batting lineup totally themselves. No-one could possibly repeat what Gilchrist has done at number 7. It's unprecedented to have a wicket keeper who can average 50 in Test cricket. As for Warne and McGrath, what more can be said. Over 1200 test wickets between them. Even if you found two players with equal talent they would take time to bed in. And you are not going to get replacements, especially for Warne. He is a once in a lifetime, even century, kind of player. So the Australian side faces a tough few years of retrenchment. You can see how tough it will be by the manic insistence in the Aussie press that everything will be alright and no-one need to panic. Everything will continue as normal. Well, I don't buy it. Right now I would rather be in England's shoes. Yes we are low, but the path is upwards. The Australians are standing on the edge of a high cliff looking into the abyss, with no idea how far the bottom is away. In 10 months time, when they play their next test series, they will have to step off that cliff and see what occurs. I for one shall be watching with interest.