wandering across the internet, i discovered that there’s an awesome showcase happening at the mohawk during sxsw (and i’ll just assume most/all of these bands will play a more-accessible todd p. show at some point, too):
pre
the mae shi
HEALTH
AIDS wolf
clipd beaks
monotonix
i’ve never seen pre or the mae shi, saw health and clipd beaks at sx last year, and AIDS wolf and monotonix are both bands that blew my mind a little at the milky way back in good ol’ jamaica plain. PSYCHED.
but i’m pretty sure merriweather post pavilion is animal collective’s pet sounds.
you should probably hear it.
discuss tolstoy and dostoyevsky at emo’s
giggle at sorority blondes enjoying free week
cut your own hair in the bathroom and let people think it was expensive
bike hard
and please, ‘don’t kill him.’
i hate to vainly post a photo of myself, but i’ve never been so happy with a five-minute bathroom self-executed haircut before. so here it is.
who in fresh hell is coming to the yarnopy with me?
i saw harlem again tonight, and el paso hot button. i napped through everything else i was supposed to do, unfortunately.
so the last three weeks. my mom and stepdad came to austin, and unsurprisingly tore the town up. i have pretty cool parents. i took them to stubb’s to see shotgun party. first things first: why was this show ten bucks? the basement of stubb’s is smaller than beerland, and i’m not sure why i can pay six bucks for a few local bands and a touring band at beerland, but two local bands at stubb’s are going to cost me four dollars more? i can’t claim to understand club pricing.
i took my parents to see shotgun party because i hadn’t seen them yet, and i’d met singer/guitarist jenny parrot a few times this fall. jenny has an amazing voice, a magnetic stage presence, and is stylish and beautiful. the band – a three-piece of guitar, fiddle, and upright bass, are really tight and fun. i’m shit at describing music that i consider sort-of-a-little-bit country (blame the yankee blood, i guess), but they reminded me a bit of neko case, without the depressing weight of some of her songs. my mom was completely thrilled, and i’ll definitely see them again.
then the holidays hit, and i was both sad to spend my first christmas without any family, and thrilled to be riding a bike in a tank top on christmas day. we hung out with lots of other austin orphans, too.
a few days later, it was back to beerland for woven bones, harlem, and box elders.
woven bones were playing when i showed up, and at first i was really underwhelmed. they keep a slow pace, and their dynamic range felt flat to me. but they picked up pace, and by the last two songs, michelle and i gave each other this mutual look of “okay, that got pretty good.” i’m sure i’ll see them again. listening to their mp3s gives me a little feeling of the kills, but less gaspingly sexual.
i’m pretty sure i’ve made clear how i feel about harlem – this show pretty much confirmed that. i’m starting to recognize regulars at shows, which makes austin feel a little more like home. there’s this one guy who is a HUGE harlem fan, and he was standing in front of me bouncing up and down and telling his friend whenever his favorite songs were played. people like that crack me up, and i mean that in a very sweet way. i love enthusiasm for local bands, especially when you can tell the person probably isn’t just there because he’s bros with the people playing. anyway: harlem. this band is probably going to blow the fuck up in 2009, and the only thing that would make me sad about that is that i might not see them around austin so much anymore. whatever, get paid guys.
and then there were box elders. holy shit. i was surprised to be blown away by this omaha band, but holy SHIT. fringed vests, a drummer who plays a fucking korg along with his drums, and i’m a massive jackass for not picking up any records from them. they’re playing with my friends in thick shakes up in boston this weekend, and i told lindsay it was going to be an AWESOME show. it’s your usual throwback garage pop here, to my ears, but something about them encourages dancing. and that drummer made my jaw drop. this was serious fun.
and then new year’s eve came, i danced at the sock hop (i think the dude from breakaway records dj’ed the soul sets – which were far and away my favorite part of the night). related question: is there a soul-specific dance night in this town? and if so, why not? the sock hop was a blast, but i’m not really knocked out by early rock n’ roll – at least not in the way that i love 60s soul music. i really need a soulelujah-style night here in austin. at any rate, i turned down the opportunity to hit a late party, and around 3 a.m. was roused out of bed by the sound of someone smashing in to my parked car. it’s totaled. i’m currently carless, but luckily the insurance company is sending me a small check, so i’ll hopefully replace my car by the end of the month. until then, it’s more late-night-biking for me! which is probably good, since christmas makes me squishy.
so here we are, at the beginning of a new year, and it’s free week in austin. which means emo’s, club de ville, mohawk, and red 7 (and maybe other places?) are having free shows for about nine days. basically it’s almost as much of a clusterfuck as sxsw (okay, i admit that’s an exaggeration). it’s funny to see bands i like, who normally play for a few dozen kids, playing to a club that is wall-to-wall people (lots of douchebags. did i say that? sorry.) so saturday night, samantha, bonnie, and i totally blew it – we spent the afternoon swimming at barton springs (did i mention it’s january and i LOVE austin?) and doing illicit things under a yarnopy, so we missed a chance to see harlem again, along with alright tonight – we got into the mohawk as the riverboat gamblers were starting to play, but the combination of insane crowds and not really loving the music sent us out into the streets pretty quickly.
last night i went to emo’s (for the first time. noob, i know.) and caught iron age – holy shit, this was like being run over by a steamroller of raging thrash. so fucking awesome, like you have no idea. i would totally see this band again – they made me go a little deaf, and michelle was flipping out. and then when dinosaurs ruled the earth played again, and i got the distinct kevin from the hidden vibe from their killer singer (george? i think is his name? i get uncomfortable when dudes almost have the same name as me.) seriously: the hidden – dudes look really similar, and have a similar stage presence, though i haven’t seen dinos dude take a dive off any bar stools or swing from pipes, so maybe his sense of self-preservation is intact. at any rate, they were awesome, melvins-y goodness again, and i love seeing patrick bang his head to bands like this – best showgoing friend, seriously. i left deaf and happy and so psyched to get my band into a practice space soon, and hopefully playing shows before my 28th (heavens preserve us!) birthday this spring.
next: harlem again tonight, with el paso hot button, then the teeners and the strange boys tomorrow. something old, something new for me at both shows. psyched! then i have to finish grad school applications and figure out how to have a show under the yarnopy during sxsw. or just go swimming, whatever.
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