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I’m not going to lie to you, I was not at all interested in writing my column this week. When I decided against going to Austin for spring break, my interest in “surfing” music-related sites diminished significantly. You see, I could not bring myself to look at the pictures, videos, and lengthy posts on Stereogum and Pitchfork concerning the good time I was missing out on at this year’s SXSW. For those of you who do not know, South by Southwest (SXSW) is one of the largest music festivals with a mess of other interactive programs, films, comedy, and such things. The music portion is what I was most disappointed in missing. None of my all-time top five band’s I’ll love forever were playing, but a bunch of groups I would be stoked to see were going to grace SXSW with their presence.
I am going to break my sadness down for you
Not hitting SXSW meant not seeing:
The Coathangers
Cults
Heartless Bastards
The Jesus and Mary Chain
La Sera
Oh No Oh My
Crocodiles
We Were Promised Jetpacks
The Magnetic Fields
Kimya Dawson
Horse Feathers
Diplo
Counting Crows
…and last but not least
Eve 6
And that’s just the short list. I mean Jeezum Crow, do you see why writing about music this week would be hard for me? I’m a person with feelings and not getting to be a part of this madness was too much to handle! But life goes on and sometimes it even throws you a bone.
In this case, the bone comes in the form of Eve 6 coming to St. Louis’s FuBar on April 7th. Go relive your kidhood (I read somewhere that that is what Eve 6 is about). They have some new tunes, but you know they’ll blast “Think Twice” and “Anytime.” I mean that is what I’m hoping. I’ll be there in the front crossing at least one band off my list of SXSW. Here’s hoping I’ll be able to check each band off before next year’s fest.
In order to dictate my sadness to you, I have employed the use of footnotes. The footnotes will aid in your understanding of why not going to SXSW bummed me out on a personal level. They will also provide songs you can listen to in order to cry with me or to simply get into the group. DISCLAIMER: This is a whiny rant of my first world problems. I am in no way a harm to myself or others at this time. I am aware that there are events bigger than SXSW and that it was my decision not to go and spend an exorbitant amount of money on a ticket. On that note, I will now begin my list of complaints.
They are said to have been a band before they were artists, i.e., they have only recently learned how to play, but no worries, they are learning fast. Listen to “Parcheezi” off their self-titled album or “Trailer Park Boneyard” off Larceny & Old Lace
How hyped would you be to see this duo perform? If their music videos say anything at all I would be in for a world of confusion and possibly fun. Listen to anything off their only album, CULTS, especially “Oh My God” and “You Know What I Mean”
Do not let their name fool you. They are filled with love. Just listen to “The Mountain” off The Mountain and “Into the Open” off All this Time and you’ll understand what I mean.
This is legit (Scottish) post-punk right here. Jim and William Reid have been blaring their shoegazing songs since 1985. You may know their song “Just Like Honey” from the last scene in Sofia Coppola’s film Lost in Translation. If you were into it (or want to be) check out other songs from their album Psychocandy or listen to their collection of B-sides and other goodness on Barbed Wire Kisses. I highly recommend “Don’t Ever Change,” as well as their covers of “Who Do You Love” and reverb filled “Surfin’ USA.”
La Sera! I was dishing about this chick, Katy Goodman, in the last pilot issue. When you can pull yourself away from the snip bits I suggested off Sees the Light (“Break My Heart” and “Please Be My Third Eye”), listen to tunes from her self-titled one.
Be all about this fun-filled band. The instrumentation is simple, but varied. They have summer acoustic guitar songs like “Walk in the Park” and ones with hand-clapping and sweet harmonies like “Women Are Born in Love” while also having songs like “I Love You All the Time,” which employs some sick electronic effects. In my opinion their 30 minute 2006 album Oh No! Oh My! deserves a lot more attention then it gets. Give it a try this spring!
I respect this duo (Charles Rowen and Brandon Welchez) for their envelopment of lo-fi noise pop. (I also give mad props to Welchez for having scored with Dee Dee of the Dum Dum Girls.) They are a part of the Fat Possum Records family, the same label that puts out the loved tunes of The Black Keys (and Heartless Bastards!). Listen to “I Wanna Kill” off Summer of Hate.
These Four Walls! Listen to this entire album. Especially check out “The Walls Are Wearing Thin,” “It’s Thunder and It’s Lightening,” and “Quiet Little Voices.” It’s more of a winter album than a summer one. Play it at an absurd time of night when the outside temperature drops to 50.
You can’t really go wrong when listening to Stephin Merritt’s shenanigans. 69 Love Songs is a necessity, as are the songs “Too Drunk To Dream” and “The Trouble I’ve Been Looking For” off Distortion and Holiday, respectively.
Made famous by rocking the Juno soundtrack, Kimya Dawson is cool. I’m not sure why, other than the fact that her songs kinda make you feel like a kid with a Raffi who is actually a cursing female and doesn’t do call and response. Maybe it isn’t because she’s like Raffi. Whatever. Listen to “I Like Giants” and “Loose Lips.”
Repping Olympia Washington’s Kill Rock Stars label (the beginning of riot grrrl right thurrr), Horse Feathers has got the folk. Just check out “Curs in the Weeds” and you’ll know what I mean. Also listen to “Drain You,” their super sweet cover of that Nirvana song you probably didn’t know existed until now.
The album Decent Work for Decent Pay was the soundtrack of my first (and hopefully last) car accident. Methinks “Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above” was the fateful song. But for real, Diplo is legit. I hate stupid remixes, but his are sweet.
Do not knock the Counting Crows in my presence. It was my first show (if we’re not including Aaron Carter – yeah, what?) and I still listen to August and Everything After with no shame. If you want to feel the sadder side of things with the Crows check “Colorblind.” You may remember it from Cruel Intentions, but you can also find it on This Desert Life.
Who doesn’t want to relive late kidhood? We are talking about choice tunes like “Inside Out” and the ever overstated “Here’s To the Night.” Come on. Seeing them and knowing all the words (you know you do) would just be too freaking fun to bear!
I refrained from including What Made Milwaukee Famous (listen to their cover of Billy Joel’s “You May Be Right” – if you can find it), White Rabbits (“The Plot” – like now. Do it.), Parson Redhead (“Punctual as Usual”), Kreayshawn (for amusement purposes – “Gucci Gucci”), YACHT (their cover of “Waste of Time,” the song Diane Laine’s character sings in Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains is superb), R. Ring (a group I know little about except that Kelley Deal of The Breeders is one of the members and that’s good enough for me), Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! (“The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth”), Tenacious D. (You know what song I’m talking about), Sleigh Bells (“Infinity Guitars), GZA (as in Wu-Tang Clan “Liquid Swords,” or you can kick it with some original east coast hip hop with “C.R.E.A.M.”), Kaiser Chiefs (all three of their albums are good – “Learn My Lesson Well” off Yours Truly, Angry Mob is right fun),
Ha! You see that? That was a nod to Almost, Maine. Remember that?