About a month and a half ago, I posted a snOMG mix in honor of having somewhere in the neighborhood of 16 inches pile down in the grand old seat of Washington DC…not exactly a place deemed a Winter Wonderland. Well, if you’ve been watching the news or the weather at all this week…we actually topped the crazy snowfall that inspired the snOMG mix. We got two feet of snow this weekend…with at least one more foot on the way starting tomorrow. I haven’t been to work since Friday morning and I doubt I’ll go back to work before Thursday. The vacation is nice and I very much needed the break but, really, enough already. By tomorrow, I’ll probably run out of chores to do and I’m already running out of beer and the makings of grilled cheese. As such, here’s my Cabin Fever Mix: A tribute to everyone in Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia and all points in between who are going out of their fucking minds and getting ready to roast them some groundhog.

Super Furry Animals :: Cabin Fever
The Magnetic Fields :: Absolutely Cuckoo
Gnarls Barkley :: Crazy
Pixies :: Where Is My Mind?
Georgie James :: Long Week
Pavement :: Rattled By the Rush
Velocity Girl :: Crazy Town
Jay Reatard :: Rotten Mind
Supergrass :: Lose It
The Magnetic Fields :: (Crazy For You But) Not That Crazy
Sparklehorse :: Almost Lost My Mind
The Clean :: Crazy
Sonic Youth :: Schizophrenia
Wilco :: Outta Mind (Outta Sight)
Prince :: Let’s Go Crazy

I understand that this is a blog based out of Salt Lake City and that there are now TWO contributors out in this mountainous snowy wonderland. But I’m from a beach and spent most of my life in fairly warm climates, so when I found out last week that I’d be stuck in my house as two feet of snow piled itself upon my panicked city…my first reaction was…”Wait…whaaaat?” My second reaction was to make this playlist which came from cherry picking tunes that showed up when I typed “winter” and “snow” into my iTunes library. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this is a relatively low key mix best enjoyed with hot chocolate, at least up until “Winter Wonder Land” which seems like the signal to put the mix down and start up a snowball fight.

The Dismemberment Plan :: Spider in the Snow

Fleet Foxes :: White Winter Hymnal

Animal Collective :: Winter’s Love

Elliott Smith :: Angel in the Snow

Why? :: Eskimo Snow

Comet Gain :: Moments in the Snow

Belle & Sebastian :: The Fox in the Snow

Real Estate :: Snow Days

Iron & Wine :: Faded from the Winter

Yeasayer :: Wait for the Wintertime

Q and not U :: Snow Patterns

Atlas Sound :: Winter Vacation

The Twilight Sad :: Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters

Animal Collective :: Winter Wonder Land

I got the opportunity to see War on Drugs guitarist and recent Matador acquisition Kurt Vile on the final date of his American tour. I turned the following in to another local blog but was horrendously late in doing so. I still find this review relevant to anyone curious about Vile, who has become one of my favorite new finds of 2009. So here are my thoughts on last week’s Black Cat show.

Photo from the Matador Records website

Last time Kurt Vile came to DC, he came alone. The young Philly native with the mop of shaggy hair took a seat in a corner of a dark room and quietly altered the landscape of the Velvet Lounge. Because while his distortion pedals and preternaturally road weary voice seemed at home in such a dark corner, the pretty guitar strumming lifted the room into his psychedelic haze. It was a fantastic out of body experience. However, one gets the sense that Vile is too prolific a songwriter with too broad a range to limit himself solely to lo-fi self-recordings. The show at the Black Cat showed his ability to branch out, while keeping his sensibilities for eliciting a dark transcendence intact.

He started the show much as we’d remembered him: alone with his guitar and his cryptic lyrics. Then his hired guns, The Violators took the stage and fleshed out that dirty/beautiful sound with the sludgy album opener “Hunchback.” It didn’t change the sound so much as amplify it and give it texture. This worked wonderfully for the songs from last month’s Matador debut Childish Prodigy. Even songs like “Dead Alive” that only almost work on the album sounded much tighter and fuller in a live setting and songs like “Freak Train,” with its frenzied saxophone solo sounded even better. The audience, which consisted primarily of notable DC music names and UMD students that pay more attention to PostRock than Pitchfork, did not hesitate to congratulate the singer at every turn.

This is not to say that the show was flawless. Sometimes, Vile’s added guttural roars were so perfectly placed that they brought shivers through the room. Sometimes they seemed unnecessary. The added depth that the Violators created for the outright rockers seemed like overkill on songs like the spacey “Breathin’ Out” from his previous work Constant Hitmaker. Sometimes those kids REALLY wanted to engage Vile in conversation and for some reason, he usually obliged. But perfection isn’t really a part of Vile’s appeal. His appeal is taking those ugly sludgy notes and turning them into something impressive. It’s a trick his classic rock idols have been doing for decades and he seems primed to eventually become a part of that pantheon. Just as he announced with pride that he learned some of his guitar tricks from Steve Forbert, announcing proudly, “I was there!” it doesn’t seem strange that one day some of us will say the same thing. Everyone in the room had a look on their face after he finished with rarity “My Best Friends (Don’t Even Pass This)” that said, “That just happened. I saw Kurt Vile at the Black Cat touring off of Childish Prodigy. I was there. “

Kurt Vile :: Overnite Religion

Kurt Vile :: Hunchback

As I’m sure you’ve read on the TYS Twitter, PJ is in the midst of moving right now. So I’m here to pick up on his (and my own…mostly my own) slack. I’ve spent the week going through ‘09 releases that I’ve picked up since I’m reading everyone’s lists from half way through the year to get a better grasp on what would make my own list. I’ve made a few discoveries, weathered a few disappointments, but one album that has grabbed my attention since soon after its April 1st release and then kept it was Impossible Hair’s What Is the Secret of Impossible Hair?

This might be the sleeper album of the year, probably because most people outside of Baltimore and DC (and Europe where they recently toured) don’t know about it. But so rarely does a band with such memorable and catchy guitar riffs also have such an obviously strong rhythm section. Roman Kuebler (yes, the same Roman Kuebler of the Oranges Band)’s bass lines feature prominently in some of the album’s strongest tracks (like “Find It”). Sammy Ponzar’s drumming keeps the album running at a quick upbeat pace and provides one of the most interesting backdrops…a spaghetti western-like beat backing an otherwise new wave-inspired “X-ray Man.”

The band has gotten its fair share of Guided by Voices comparisons and understandably so. I mean, they open the album with a song called “Accidental Claustrophobes” for Pete’s sake and a lot of their songs are short and effective. However, they also borrow a few riffs from The Buzzcocks and the vocals of highly entertaining guitarist Joe Ryan (known to wear wigs and do ridiculous kick moves at live shows) recall Sloan. The vocal interplay that occasionally comes in between him and Jim Glass also add another level of enjoyment. Fans of power pop, lo-fi songwriting and amazing musicianship, take note: this may be the best album you hadn’t yet heard all year. 

Impossible Hair :: Tambourines of Fury

Impossible Hair :: Find It

Impossible Hair :: X-ray Man

First off, I apologize for being an utter failure at festival coverage this year. Having spotty internet has hurt me a lot this year, but still…no excuse.  So, I found a way to avoid festival coverage failure…cover a one day festival! Gonna do that again at the end of August when I see Virgin FreeFest in Maryland. Yes, I opted out of Pitchfork this year to see Siren and it was definitely an enjoyable trip. I handed my camera to my friend Rohan and we watched the following bands and enjoyed ourselves mightily. Here’s what you might have seen if you were up in Coney Island this past weekend. 

Micachu & the Shapes

This was the first act of the day that I was really interested in seeing. I did catch a few minutes of Blue Van, but they sounded like a shitty version of U.S. Royalty. Moving on. Jewellery seems like it’s high on production value, so I wasn’t sure how well the Micachu set would translate live. Answer: pretty well, actually. Keyboardist Raisa Khan kept things interesting, beating various forms of percussion, including a couple of empty wine bottles and drummer Marc Pell seemed to be utterly enjoying himself. Micachu herself…looked utterly bored. The songs sounded great and she must have known that she had everyone wrapped around her finger because the only time she really appeared to be rocking out on that homemade guitar of hers was during “Golden Phone.” Everyone, including Zack Galifiniakis, still enjoyed themselves since the songs are surprisingly catchy considering Micachu’s harsh accent and the prevalence of NOISE! FUCKING NOISE! in the middle of each song.  Despite really having their shit together, they still seemed a sort of like the little kids at the big kids rock show. Which is a terrible thing to say considering that Tiny Masters of Today actually opened the show.  Despite all of these detractors, I’ll almost certainly see Mica Levi & co. again when they come through DC in September.  I guess she has me around her finger, too.

Micachu & The Shapes :: Golden Phone

Japandroids

The Japandroids set had the opposite effect entirely. The duo from Vancouver has stage presence for miles and are clearly having more fun than anyone else on the bill (with the possible exception of Monotonix.) However their songs aren’t nearly as interesting as those of the London trio that preceded them. They come across as a younger, less road-tested No Age coming of age in front of the Pitchfork readers of America and by sheer power of enthusiasm they pull through their set, buzz intact. Singer/guitarist Brian King uses the entirety of the stage including the monitors, the speakers and drummer David Prowse’s bass drum as acceptable places to riff up a storm. The nerdy part of my brain thought that maybe since they’ve been known to cover McLusky’s “To Hell With Good Intentions” during their live show that Falkous would join them onstage since he was here performing with Future of the Left. The realistic part of me knew that wouldn’t happen and they ended the set with “Crazy/Forever,” disappointing the hordes of fans who wondered why they didn’t play “Wet Hair.”

Japandroids :: Heart Sweats

Thee Oh Sees

Thee Oh Sees were scheduled to play from 3:30pm – 4:10pm. After sort of dragging our feet leaving the Japandroids set we made our way over to the other stage at 3:45…maybe 3:50pm. At which point we caught the tail end of what turned out to be Thee Oh Sees last song. I have no idea why their set was cut twenty minutes short but since Thee Oh Sees were by far one of the best bands I saw at this past SXSW, I was very disappointed that I only got to catch the lightning quick, sweat-addled distorted folky-punk songs for about two minutes. The east coast has to wait until October.  And they’re coming to my area within a week of The Dodos. SF-gasm? I think so. 

Thee Oh Sees :: Ruby Go Home

Future of the Left

Speaking of beyond killer. Future of the Left put on the best set of the whole day. I’ve caught them three times since October and they get better every single time. To be fair, this time I had the advantage of actually knowing the songs on their two releases…which thus far don’t hold up for me as well as their live show, but I’m willing to try again. Andy Falkous looked as pissed off and fired up as Mica Levi looked bored and in the middle of the set, Brian King from Japandroids pushed his way past me to park himself in front of the monitor and learn from the masters. The screaming guitars (and outright screaming) gives the more subdued vocals an even stronger punch (especially when the lyric is something like, “Colin was a pussy, a very pretty pussy.”)  I’m also finally able to see Future of the Left without trying to make the McLusky comparisons. I’ve never seen them, I accept this and with Future of the Left letting loose fury like this, it doesn’t matter. We needed a break to catch our breath after this set, which is why we missed A Place to Bury Strangers, a band that we weren’t sure would work well in sunlight. Apparently we were wrong.

Future of the Left :: Arming Eritrea

Monotonix

Okay, so here’s the deal. We tried to see Monotonix. Rohan’s seen them nine times and I’ve seen them three times so we knew that the scantily clad Israeli band would be playing hardly memorable songs at high decibel levels and moving through and atop the crowd on bass drums, trash cans and other human beings. What we didn’t know was that the press pit would be closed. It makes sense since they immediately set up in the middle of the audience, but it meant that there could be no fence jumping! It also meant that by the time we figured this out we were nowhere near any place where we could actually see them jumping around playing chords that sound like they belong on old Kyuss records. We can’t really get irritated at the band for wanting to do their shtick effectively and we can’t really get irritated at the Siren staff for doing their job. But we could get irritated at the situation as a whole. 

The Raveonettes

We only saw a few minutes of the Raveonettes because quite honestly, a few minutes was all we needed. We immediately got that they were fans of The Jesus & Mary Chain and that their low vocals and minor key exuded a sort of mod cool. We also got that they weren’t going to move from their spots and honestly, downtempo songs performed with zero energy are hardly going to whip me into a frenzy, especially after having seen Future of the Left. When they introduced a new track as something more dancey and it couldn’t have inspired dance moves in a Mexican jumping bean, we decided it was time to go.

Spank Rock

I’m only a lukewarm Built to Spill fan and Rohan really wanted to see Spank Rock so we decided to see how the set would work out. How it worked…Naeem did one or two songs on his own with XXXChange and Alex Rockswell, none of which were off of YoYoYoYoYoYo before saying that he was tired of the cameras in the front and inviting everyone to jump the barrier. Then suddenly, local duo Ninjasonik got up there and did a couple of their own tracks which are both catchy and hilarious but not what I’d expected to see. A couple songs later they called up Amanda Blank and it became the Amanda Blank show. That woman also has stage presence (and sex appeal) for miles but it wasn’t until after her solo songs when the crew came together to perform “Bump” that everything really seemed to come together. Their set had been a fun dance party up until that point. Unfortunately, that was the last song and things started to get really dicey when Spank Rock got cut off. The crowd really wanted another song and Spank Rock really didn’t want to leave the stage. So somehow the fireworks that went off over the Ferris Wheel seemed an appropriate mirror for the tensions onstage.

Spank Rock :: Bump

It also made it strange to hear “Carry the Zero” as we passed by the Built to Spill stage. I’d figured they’d have gotten kicked off, too, but apparently not. 

Built to Spill :: Going Against Your Mind

Welcome to Day 2 coverage of Bonnaroo! Look at my sweet wristband!

I’d debated on whether or not to even catch the Dirty Projectors or whether to stake out a good spot for Animal Collective. I decided catching the first 45 minutes of Dirty Projectors would be worth it and man, was I right. The set started with just David Longstreth playing guitar and Angel Deradoorian singing “Two Doves” but soon expanded into full band plus backup singer and extra bassist. I was truly moved when they went into “Cannibal Resource” and those harmonies took full effect. I feel like a fool saying this, but I really thought I was going to cry. They were that good. One dude in the crowd yelled out, “You have the voices of angels!” And one of them is named Angel. Convenient. However, it’s Amber Coffman who does the primary vocals on “Stillness is the Move,” and she took full advantage of her moment. She danced around the stage like there weren’t five other people on it and grinned the whole time. They played mostly Bitte Orca songs, but hearing the title track from Rise Above was a nice touch. I left during “Temecula” but I left happy.

Dirty Projectors :: Cannibal Resource

Animal Collective will probably go down amongst a lot of festival goers as the disappointment of the weekend. Bonnaroo was the final date of the American tour and whoever decided to put these guys at 3 in the afternoon really didn’t think that one through. They were obviously tired, and couldn’t be as visual as was necessary to make an essentially electronic album translate into a live setting. No amount of weed was going to make up for the fact that they couldn’t effectively use their lighting rig (and Geologist doesn’t even bother with the headlamp) but on the other hand, no amount of energy usage can make up for the fact that “Daily Routine” should not be made into a 10 minute song. It’s kind of a sleeper to begin with and admittedly, when the band takes out all of the electronics and instrumentation and just lets Noah Lennox sing “Just a sec more in my bed” it was breathtaking and everyone cheered as they should have. But David Portner (that’s Avey Tare for those of you who only pay attention to monikers) actually left the stage for a couple of minutes during that song, which just should not happen. I’ve said it before, he is the heart and soul of their live performances. When he got excited during “Slippi,” everyone else got excited right along with him. When he went into the shouting in the middle of “Brother Sport,” everyone else shouted along with him.  Whenever he screeched, period, it was a beautiful thing because I’ve yet to see anyone else change to three different vocal pitches in the course of one breath. Because I’m a huge Animal Collective fan, it’s easy for me to point out the amazing points in their set and squeal but I don’t think most people in that audience were huge Animal Collective fans as this seemed to be the only crowd I’ve seen so far at Bonnaroo that wasn’t intensely loud, energetic and thoroughly knowledgeable about who they were seeing. Which is too bad.  Don’t feel too sorry for them though…they’re still sitting on the best show I’ve seen so far this year.

Animal Collective :: Fireworks

Next was one of those unfortunate decisions…go see Santigold, go see Grizzly Bear or stay at the Which Stage for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I opted for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and I can say with certainty that Karen O is a badass. She has this ability to grab a collective attention and hold it in the palm of her hand as she entertains and everyone gives up of it willingly. She comes out in this kimono saying “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Bonnaroo!” and proceeds to give a pretty animated performance, complete with costume changes, smoke machines and a few quick blasts of confetti. The set was a pretty good mixture of all three albums and they even went back to their EP for “Art Star” (although unfortunately, not for my favorite song of the EP, ***, but if that’s my biggest complaint, I’ll live.) Nick Zinner had some tuning problems during “Maps,” so they restarted it as an acoustic number. While this meant no killer guitar solo, it was a nice effective way to hear the song.  Had we not been in an open field, it would’ve even felt intimate, but intimacy is one of the intricacies lost to an outdoor summer festival. Another thing that’s lost is the ability to hold your place in the audience for multiple bands. Because the only way not to pass out in the searing Tennessee heat is to drink liters upon liters of water. I probably went through five liters on Friday alone, and actually, I don’t think that was good enough, because I got a headache during TV on the Radio that never quite abated. As such, I actually spent the last two songs of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs set waiting for the port-o-john to get into good position for TV on the Radio.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs :: Heads Will Roll

And good position I got. I’m definitely more familiar with the TVOTR discography than I am with that of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but unfortunately, I never really got into Dear Science and that material comprised at least 40% of their set. “Golden Age” is a cool song, but most of the set didn’t really match up to the “Wrong Way”s or “Wolf Like Me”s that the band had to offer. Tunde Adebimpe still has incredible amounts of energy and can jitter his way across the stage with great speed but seems to have figured out how to do so without losing the correct pitch of the song. Although the best show that I saw them put on was in 2007, this is the best the songs have actually sounded. They’ve definitely smoothed some edges while still keeping some cool effects like the windchime that occasionally appears at the end of David Sitek’s guitar. Kyp Malone also had the most Bonnaroo-appropriate attire of any artist I’d seen, sporting a tie-dye shirt and pants. So some jackass kept shouting “I want your pants! And your beard! I want your beard!” TV on the Radio also had the largest quotient of celebrity viewers that I could actually see (I couldn’t usually see the backstage area.) Yes, the Dirty Projectors had David Byrne…and TV on the Radio had the Dirty Projectors (two of them) and two members of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs amongst their viewers. Awesome. But not as awesome as the fact that they decided to buck tradition and end their set not with their biggest hits but with two tracks from Young Liars. They played the title track and then broke out “Satellite.” Which was the perfect ending to that set. The fact that this wasn’t the best I’ve seen them was all but forgotten after that ending.

TV on the Radio :: Satellite

Then the most irritating scheduling conflict of the festival. The Beastie Boys were scheduled from 8:30pm-10:30pm and David Byrne from 8:45pm-10:45pm. Not okay. I decided to catch at least the beginning of the Beastie Boys set and decided, okay, if it starts to go south, I can always move over to the Which Stage. Now, when they Beastie Boys played all of their staples (“No Sleep Til Brooklyn,” “Intergalactic,” “So What’cha Want”) and some less familiar cuts off of Hello Nasty, like “Remote Control” and “Three MCs and One DJ,” all seemed pretty much right with the world. I say pretty much, because I could not actually see them for the majority of the set, even via jumbotron. Because somebody decided that getting artsy with the visuals on the jumbotron would be fun. It was not fun, the power kept going out on the ‘tron and I could barely tell what was going on. I was able to tell that the Beasties switched on and off between moving across the stage and actually playing their instruments and I saw that Nas came out to introduce a new song with them. I’m not sold by the new material solely based on the live performance, but since it’s the Beastie Boys, I’m sure I’ll listen to the album in its entirety when it comes out. They finished off with “Sabotage,” which was damn near sabotaged early on thanks to a fuck-up from Mix Master Mike, prompting The King Ad-Rock to make sure the audience understood that this was in fact, a LIVE show, with no ipod or tape playing the music. Yeah, dude, we got it. But when they finally played the song…gold. So, despite my lack of a sight line, I did enjoy the Beasties set and thankfully, they actually ended it before 10pm, allowing me to catch more than a mere 15 minutes of the David Byrne set.

Beastie Boys :: Remote Control

The David Byrne set…holy crap. He has backup singers, he has choreographed dancers, he has a band that also does choreographed moves and he (and the band) all got into tutus during “Burning Down the House.” If David Byrne and co. end up with a Broadway production in the next couple of years, I will be able to say, I told you so. And of course there’s the music. I walked in during “Wild Wild Life” and heard them play their cover of Al Green’s “Take Me to the River” and roughly two encores. The kitschiness fits, and gimmicky though it seemed, David Byrne has the star power to pull it off. In short, I was completely blown away.

Talking Heads :: Burning Down the House

This was the point where I thought, okay, the whole festival is going to see Phish now, I’ll be able to get a good position in That Tent to see Phoenix. Not so much. That Tent was utterly packed. I’ll admit, I’m not totally on the hype wagon with Phoenix. I never listened to the first two albums that much and I think the praise on the new album, which seems like watered down Blur and Supergrass songs with added synthesizers, is misplaced. But when everyone else in that cramped space started jumping around, I’ll admit the energy was infectious and Phoenix, who seemed humble and grateful whenever they talked, seemed bombastic whenever they played. They have the rock star act down and it made for a fun, sweaty 45 minutes. It also made my last show of the night. I attempted to sit down in That Tent after their set and make it long enough to catch either Public Enemy or Crystal Castles, but I started to fall asleep. Luckily, I’ve caught Public Enemy and Girl Talk before, because I was way WAY too tired to continue.

Phoenix :: 1901

Sorry for the late post, guys…I haven’t had internet since I left for Bonnaroo for more than an hour. But I actually have everything written already, so you’ll be getting my posts throughout the weekend.

Welcome to The Yellow Stereo’s coverage of Bonnaroo 2009! Hopefully, it’ll go better than my coverage of SXSW 2009, right? This is my first time here and I’d never really understood the magnitude of the festival. I’ve been to festival shows…ones that have like, 3 or 4 stages. This one has 7 main stages – and then there’s all the extra dance tents, comedy tent and so on. Most festivals I’ve been to have a couple thousand people – maybe tens of thousands even. Here, there are people as far as the eye can see. And tents. And tie-dyed t-shirts. Seriously, I’ve never seen so much tie-dye in my life…nor have I seen so many camel backs. That said, it was still easier to get into the farm than it was to get into the Nissan Pavilion for the Radiohead show last year. I’ve only seen a few sets so far, and will probably spend the rest of my night getting my bearings, figuring out where all of the stages and the showers are located and playing with some of the fun toys and games like the Ferris Wheel and the Silent Disco. No seriously…everyone dances with headphones on and it’s really a sight to behold. See?

Now for those of you who have never been at the festival, there’s no wondering what stage you’re at or what band you’re seeing because there are signs determining the stage that look like this.

And band signs that look like this.

The first act I had the pleasure of seeing was Atlanta’s Janelle Monae in The Other Tent. She clearly uses up so much energy over the course of her set, but she makes it look easy and fluid. I got in late for her set and still saw her a) create a painting and distribute it amongst the crowd, b) crowd surf, c) drop to her knees and back and d) play a guitar solo that would make other soulful artists jealous. That was about the perfect way to open the festival.

At This Tent, White Rabbits did their best to follow. They did have the misfortune of not only having an interminable sound check but also having a few mechanical problems during the set. During “While We Go Dancing,” the power went out but the Rabbits shrugged their shoulders and led the audience in a group clap-a-long until it came back on. During the following set, one of the stand alone drums took a tumble. However, this was probably the most energetic I’ve seen the White Rabbits and certainly the most energetic I’ve seen their crowd. Between the singing along during “The Plot” and the pounding of hands and feet during “Percussion Gun” as various members of the band took turns playing percussion, White Rabbits had the audience in the palms of their blistered hands. And then for some reason, they decided to finish up the set with two eerie slow burners. Why? Because they had the audience in the palms of their blistered hands.

MP3: White Rabbits :: Percussion Gun

In short, this feels like a huge playground and I’ve already seen fireworks and a guy going around offering people (or asking for?) mushrooms.  I’ve also seen someone aspirating and convulsing on the ground and medics called to the scene. Drugs (and heat stroke) are bad, mmkay?  Yeesh.

After a short tent break, it started to drip a little bit, and I thought…it’s okay…I don’t need my rain jacket!Bad move. The rain went from dripping to all out deluge for the rest of the night and although I hardly fear being wet, being cold is another story.But I ended up seeing three bands that I’d had no intention of seeing. The first was the Tangiers Blues Band in the Troo Music Lounge who pretty much did blues-inflected covers of everything from “Rainy Day Women” and “Folsom Prison Blues” to “My Sharona.” It was a nice palette cleanser.

Then when I realized that I couldn’t get into the comedy show I wanted to get into without a ticket, I decided to suck it up and go see Passion Pit who had thoroughly underwhelmed me when I saw them back in February. Of course, back in February, they had only released six songs and I’m pretty sure that Michael Angelakos had not been touring much with the band. Now they have a full length release out and four more months of touring under their belt and it showed. For starters, Angelakos’ voice beforehand had one volume (loud) and one pitch (dog whistle high) when I’d seen them before. Although he still sings everything in a falsetto, he seems to have figured out that varying pitch and volume is a good thing. “Sleepyhead” is still the main attraction…and you can tell that, because that’s when the band has the most fun. But now the fans are singing along to other songs too…and clapping their hands and jumping which motivated the band to do the same. That full tent was all about some Passion Pit and now that they’ve finally found their groove, they were able to deliver. I’m still not 100% sold on this band (which I wish I was, I love Frenchkiss Records and I love Q and Not U which is an obvious predecessor) but this at least shows promise that in the future, they could be great.

MP3: Passion Pit :: Sleepyhead

Passion Pit was supposed to close out the night and after their set, about half the tent cleared out, but Delta Spirit had been stuck in the Dallas airport, missed their allocated set time, and therefore, went onstage at 12:30am. I’ve seen Delta Spirit before and I’ve only been but so impressed by them. The Bonnaroo set didn’t really change my mind, but on account of the pouring rain, I stayed under This Tent for almost the entire set, finally giving up after “People, Turn Around,” their sort of “We Are the World”-esque version of a protest song. Their singer made probably the most accurate point about their band. To paraphrase, “We aren’t the most talented band out there and we know that there are better bands with better songs…(cue booing and shouts of “Nooooo!” from the audience)…but we really mean it. And we’re glad you appreciate that.” And that’s really the key to enjoying a Delta Spirit set. If you enjoy the wild facial expressions and gesticulations of the band and appreciate their penchant for multiple band members doing percussion (not quite to White Rabbits’ extent) then it’s a fun experience. Of course, if one has only gotten 4 hours of sleep and then driven for 8 hours, one is DONE by 1:30am.

Or at least, that’s what I thought. I walked over to the Troo Music Tent and watched the last half hour of Tobacco’s set and was more inspired to dance than I’d been during Passion Pit. Wow!

Okay, ceasing and desisting with the April Fool’s jokes…you’ll now get a rash of stuff that should’ve been posted last week. I hope you don’t mind.

Edie Sedgwick @ Waves

When I first saw Edie Sedgwick in Washington DC I wondered just what shitshow I had stumbled into. I think that most of the people at Waves fell into that category (although there were definitely a few Dischord diehards in the audience as well as Medications played as their backing band.) Knowing what I was walking into this time around (a cross dressing dude with a Harley mustache singing kitschy lyrics), I had a lot more fun. At the end of the day, some of the songs are actually pretty fun and it was pretty funny to see Edie grab people’s personal belongings (and badges) and sort of fuck with the whole “industry cool” vibe that some people bring along with them to Austin.

Here We Go Magic @ Ms. Bea’s

Ms. Bea’s ended up being my favorite venue of the entire week. Unfortunately, that’s all I can say about the Here We Go Magic set except that I saw it. I don’t really remember much of this set. I feel like that happens sometimes at SXSW…you go back and look at the utter crapton of photos and go – wait – I was there? Crap, this is already happening after night one? Last year it took until my last night to forget sets. I remember liking them, but clearly not enough to give a good report. My apologies to Here We Go Magic. The Telepathe set that finished off the night was even less memorable but here’s a photo of them as well.

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart @ Ms. Bea’s

I paid a little more attention to The Pains since I saw them in DC and was pleasantly surprised. I knew that I liked their album, I just didn’t expect them to bring it so thoroughly live. POBPAH have this innocence about them which shines through beautifully in their lyrical content, but while it comes off as vaguely twee on their albums, it just makes them come off as incredibly likable. Moreover, there’s a certain grit that was especially evident during the Ms. Bea’s show since they were actually playing on the ground. They know how to bring the rock live, blow all of our minds with a short set of the songs we all know the words to at this point and in such an intimate and DIY-style setting – it was just really cool.

After The Pains, my friends left Ms. Bea’s and I made an attempt to get into see Yoni Wolf (of Why? cLOUDDEAD and various other projects) at Mohawk and paid the ten dollars to make it inside just in time to see everyone leaving. Because he had just finished. FAIL. But my friend and I went to the Death Metal Pizza place on 6th Street, which had just come recommended by a member of Deleted Scenes. I also had my first unexpected celebrity sighting at this point. I’ll bet you didn’t know that Panda Bear was at SXSW. But I have photographic evidence. See!

Parenthetical Girls @ Beauty Bar

I walked into the Parenthetical Girls set having only listened to their material once, but knowing that their singer’s voice sounded like Colin Meloy’s…but with more cracks in it and that the music seemed at best, twee as fuck (and unlike PJ, I am NOT a champion of twee) and at worst, boring and irritating. As such, I hadn’t quite expected Zac Pennington to be as good of a showman. By the end of the set he was singing from the top of the truly huge speakers and I’d walked in on round two of  his “Marry, Fuck or Throw off a Cliff” game. The comment that he’d love to fuck Morrissey because what a great story you’d have of having fucked a celibate = “priceless.” It made me want to give their albums another chance, because the happiness I felt at the end of their set was just what I needed after a long day on my feet.

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone @ Beauty Bar

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone started off the set on a promising note. He covers a Parenthetical Girls song, and actually brought Zac Pennington back onstage to sing “Love Connection.” He also brought up Nick from No Kids for a nice relaxing duet. Here was the major problem with the Casiotone set. Next door, some extremely loud punk band was playing so in between songs we’d hear the residual “BAM BAM BAM BAM” that just didn’t mesh well with downtempo keyboard bleeps. It fared better, however than the Casiotone show I had seen at The Talking Head in Baltimore which just straight put me to sleep. In this case, it helped me unwind.

After months of palpable sexual tension Caverns drummer Ross Hurt and singer/bassist Sara Hussain from Nihilitia finally found time in their busy rock n roll lives to give love a chance.  ”Ross has trouble concentrating on drums when she’s in the audience,” says Caverns keyboardist Patrick Taylor and a source who will only identify himself as “Pneumonia” reports that the two are thinking of moving into a place together in Petworth. They are the new hard rock king and queen of D.C. They consider themselves the Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani of the District, with Sara being the confident lady up front and Ross being the sensitive and introspective rocker poet. It’s early to be considering such a serious step, but when you know, you know, right? Ross is just a promise ring wearing Jonas brother wrapped in the thin layer of teen angst. He just wants someone to take a chance with him. The rest of Caverns was so excited for those two that they wanted the 4/1 department of The Yellow Stereo to post this immediately. Since the 4/1 department of The Yellow Stereo seriously slacked off on getting an interview to beat up your interview – we agreed immediately.  Cheers, you two.

I know – I’m way behind the curve on getting this stuff up and I apologize for that. But seriously – you try seeing nine bands a day over a 14-15 hour period for four days and try writing about it immediately afterwards.  Oh…you did that already? Well, shit.  Here goes then.

I’ll admit, I spent the vast majority of my day with DC bands. DC Does TX took up all of my afternoon and then the first band I saw once I left? Edie Sedgwick…from DC.  Actually, I posted a quick look at all the DC bands I saw during the week here already, so I’ll try not to repeat myself on the off chance that you read both sites. Nonetheless, amidst spending drink tickets and worrying whether the 90 posters I’d plastered amidst the St. Patrick’s Day revelry had done the least bit of good, I actually got to see some good music.

Jamieson Clem

Jamieson Clem was the artist we got to play the bill at the last minute when Laura Burhenn cancelled. The cancellation initially led to rounds one and two of DC Does TX organizational hell, but at the end of the day we got another solo artist who used to live in DC and has some singing and songwriting chops that aren’t going to blow our eardrums out first thing after waking up. Thank you, Jamieson.

Deleted Scenes

If you needed proof that the economic shitstorm had affected SXSW, look no further than Deleted Scenes. These poor dudes had not one, but two different day parties completely disband, leaving them only a few times to play behind one hell of a Pitchfork review. And as someone that pays as much attention to bylines as to scores, I can say that it was one hell of a review. I already know that they can work a crowd full of their friends from other bands, but the nervous energy helped them out mightily in this performance as they drew people in from the streets with their professional looking video equipment and sweet SLR cameras. And people walked up to the front of the stage. No shyness. There is no question that they deserve the praise that they’ve been getting and I have no qualms about adding to it.

Deleted Scenes :: “Mortal Sin”

Carol Bui

Carol and her bandmates had the unenviable task of playing twice in a three hour period (and their third in a 24 hour period) as they’d just finished up their set at B.D. Riley’s two doors down when they came in to play at Friends Bar. I actually got to listen to them on my way in. They didn’t seem any worse for wear on their final performance in Austin and the new tune “Mira, You’re Free With Me” is currently battling “Modern Dance” and “Quan Am” for my favorite song of hers. And winning. I love the hand claps, the body percussion and the fact that she lets loose a little bit.

Middle Distance Runner

This is where the party really started to pick up. People started to show up into town and Friends Bar is one of the first places to get to find on the western end of E. 6th St. Last year, Middle Distance Runner acted the consummate professionals, but had one sick guitarist, one drunk bassist, one nervous and annoyed show organizer and one set that visibly struggled. They’ve since written new songs, drawn from more far-flung influences and just seem to be enjoying themselves more.

Middle Distance Runner :: “Naturally”

U.S. Royalty

At the end of the week, I ran into someone that had never heard of U.S. Royalty until they’d walked into Friends Bar upon hearing them outside and ended up telling me on Sunday that it was one of her favorite discoveries of the festival. Hell the fuck yeah. U.S. Royalty has some good roots-rock songs but their live show is really what drew me toward the band in the first place and is really where they’re in their milieu. Paul and John Thornley have great harmonies, especially during songs like “Raincoats” and John’s wild movement is nothing if not inspired.

U.S. Royalty :: “Raincoats”

These United States

PJ actually showed up in time for their set, but I doubt he remembers much of it as much of their output stays at midtempo and midtempo alt-country isn’t terribly memorable when one has had little to no sleep in 24 hours. So this review is for you, PJ. These United States had a deadline on time which they definitely played over and I didn’t hear anyone complain, since their midtempo alt-country works just fine for people who have spent the past five hours drinking and listening to music (or doing anything else besides staying awake for 24 hours on end.)  That, and these guys get better every time I see them. This is the first time I’ve seen Jesse Elliott move out into the audience to finish a guitar solo (even though I think that may have been an accident) and their current five person lineup definitely has a more fleshed out sound than the three person lineup as it allows for that extra guitar on the songs where Tom Hnatow moves to the steel pedal. It was definitely the right band to end the day party.

These United States :: “Honor Amongst Thieves”

More about the five bands I saw on Wednesday night very very soon.