[SXSW] Grizzly Bear @ Central Presbyterian Church 3.19.09
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Artist:
I’ve seen Grizzly Bear six times now in six very different location and they’ve yet to turn out a bad show. I’ve seen them play outdoor festivals in the hot Chicago sun, a nighttime show in front of a rock wall, and I’ve seen them do quiet shows in old converted theaters. All were completely [...]
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[SXSW] St. Vincent @ Central Presbyterian Church 3.18.09
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Artist:
Good ol’ Annie Clark. She knew I wasn’t feeling so great, having been hungry and way too thirsty for most of the day, so she played a bunch of new material and my old favorites during the front of her set! Oh, and also she looked adorable. That was another wonderful thing that I’m sure [...]
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[SXSW] Department of Eagles @ Central Presbyterian Church 3.18.09
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Artist:
I think that, gun-pointed-to-my-head, I was only allowed to pick one guy to soundtrack my life, I’d go with Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear/Department of Eagles. The guy’s just packed to the brim with crazy guitar chords and head-rattling riffs. It’s all things that should, by all rights, be too confusing to enjoy without serious [...]
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[SXSW] Anni Rossi @ Central Presbyterian Church 3.18.09
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Artist:
I dig Anni Rossi. She’s got a lot of talent and what’s more, she’s got a lot of guts. Not only does she make some weirdo music that’s going to be a tough sell to anybody not already inclined to listen to weirdo music, but when she’s on stage, she performs most of it alone. [...]
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[SXSW] Vivian Girls @ Red 7 9.18.09
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Artist:The Vivian Girls
Poor Vivian Girls. I don’t think they know how good their voices sound. Before they got started, they had to check how much reverb was on their voice. “Can you hear what I’m saying?” one of them asked. When the crowd cheered affirmatively, they all three responded in near-unison: “More reverb.” Eventually we could barely [...]
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[SXSW] The Pains of Being Pure at Heart @ Red 7 9.18.09
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Artist:
I was a little concerned for The Pains of Being Pure at Heart going into SXSW. They seems to have the perfect storm of buzz going — they look and act like Vampire Weekend, they sound like Belle and Sebastian and Ride pulled into the blogging age and they arrived on the scene just in [...]
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[SXSW] Fol Chen @ Red 7 3.18.09
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Artist:
I’m hard pressed to think of a band that’s put on a more underappreciated show than Fol Chen’s show at the Force Field/Terrorbird party. It’s not that they were particularly life-changing or anything over the top, it’s just that I don’t think that many people at the show were that familiar with them. They clearly [...]
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[VIDEO] Vampire Weekend do “White Sky” on Fallon
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Artist:
Last night when I got back to our hotel room, I walked in on the end of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. As I plunked down on the bed to start uploading photos, he introduced Vampire Weekend to play a new song. “White Sky” has been kicking around for over a year now — my [...]
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[SXSW] Yoni Wolf of Why? @ 3.18.09
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Artist:Yoni Wolf
Early on in his set, Yoni Wolf informed the crowd that he wasn’t planning any solo career separate from Why. A few of his bandmates couldn’t make it, so he just decided to play solo and still support Force Field/Terrorbird. For not having a backing band, he still put on a great show. There were [...]
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[SXSW] The Thermals @ Red 7 3.18.09
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Artist:
If the indie rock world was more like the celebrity gossip circuit, then all the headlines from SXSW would be proclaiming in big bold type that this is the year that the Thermals make their come back. Come back from what? Well, that’s not the important part. After a fairly long period of silence and [...]
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[VIDEO] MGMT’s “Kids” played using only iPhone apps
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Artist:
Is this the hipsteriest video on the internet? No, but only because these girls seem to be pretty adorable and non-pretentious. Proving yet again that the only thing an iPhone can’t do is access my email in Austin during SXSW (not that I’m bitter), the Mentalists performed a version of MGMT’s “Kids” using only apps [...]
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[SXSW] Pete & the Pirates @ WOXY Studio Session 3.18.09
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Artist:
My SXSW 2009 got off to a comfortably slow start. Rather than just jumping straight from the plane, to unloading at the hotel to a party, this year I was able to slowly shift gears from travel to festival over the course of about 14 hours. It might not seem like much to you, but [...]
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Beastie Boys’ Check Your Head gets reissue // watch a video of the Beasties on Arsenio Hall
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Artist:
Looks like the Beastie Boys’ third album Check Your Head is next in line to get the remastering/reissue treatment. It’s coming out in early April on vinyl and CD, but you can hold yourself over until then by watching this old video of the Beastie Boys on Arsenio Hall (they’re also joined by one of [...]
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[VIDEO] Islands do “Pieces of You” & Smiths cover acoustic
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Artist:
Totally forgot about the awesome email the They Shoot Music guys sent me earlier this week. They recorded a session with Islands while the Canadian group was touring Europe. The result is two acoustic songs, “Pieces of You” off last year’s The Arm’s Way and “I Won’t Share You,” a Smiths cover that I’ve never [...]
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[VIDEO] Franz Ferdinand: “No You Girls”
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Artist:
I’m not going to lie to you people in an attempt to maintain a cool image (that possibility went out the window the moment I first started this site) — I totally dig Franz Ferdinand’s new record Tonight: Franz Ferdinand. After falling for their debut album, I soon got bored by their subsequent releases. Seeing [...]
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St. Vincent announces tour dates, including Lexington show
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Artist:
Woo! St. Vincent will be making a stop in Lexington, KY along her month-long tour in support of Actor. I’ll be catching her at SXSW next week, so look for photos and a review of that here. Oh man, add the Bonnaroo show to the mix and it looks like I’ll get to see her [...]
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[MP3] Jovontaes: “Sailor”
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Artist:Jovontaes
MP3: Jovontaes - SailorLexinton’s Lovontaes (who you might remember as Tight Leather, but with a slightly different lineup) are going to be playing with Crystal Stilts and Women this coming up Monday at Al’s Bar so I figured I’d better go listen to some of their recordings. I saw them do an instore at CD [...]
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Here We Go Magic jump on Grizzly Bear’s national tour
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Artist:
If I hadn’t already seen Grizzly Bear four times (with three more on the way in ‘09), I’d feel pretty jealous that their tour with Here We Go Magic isn’t coming anywhere near me. Both bands have great releases out this spring and I hear HWGM have built up quite a nice live show to [...]
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[MP3] Viva Voce: “Devotion”
Thanks to SMS for pointing me toward this new Viva Voce song. I had just checked Barsuk’s site on Tuesday hoping to find a sample MP3 from the new album, but it looks like I was a day early. Viva Voce are playing our Hot Freaks! day party at SXSW and I didn’t want to [...]
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