SXSW 2010, Day Four : Robin’s Recap

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/sxsw10recapRobinDay4sm.jpg" alt=" " />Metal, psychedelica, and even comedy mixed on the final day of South-by-Southwest. ...

SXSW 2010 Day Four : Robin's Recap

Metal, psychedelica, and even comedy mixed on the final day of South-by-Southwest.

 

We had a trio of correspondents covering South-by-Southwest in 2010: Robin Sinhababu, Ted Chase, and Abby Johnston.  This is Robin’s recap of Day Four; Ted’s is here, but unfortunately Abby was waylaid by being in a wedding on Day Four.

 

Ear/Splitters Party @ Metropolis Apartments

Savagist, 3:00 PM
Savagist

Savagist played fast and loud death metal.  The drummer and lead guitarist seemed the most impressive of the four, although the amps easily drowned out the drum kit.

Unfortunately, the venue was more remarkable than the band, in this case.  Savagist’s show was one of many pieces of the Ear/Splitters showcase at Metropolis, an apartment complex in southeast Austin that occasionally has shows.  The poolside, palm-treed, light-rain-in-the-forecast aesthetic seemed opposed to the music, but it made a certain kind of sense, and the band looked good on the stage.

I suspect these guys may be funny.  The singer closed the show with three true, metal-voiced words: "BANDS WATCHING BANDS!"
Metropolis Apartments

~

 

Tone Deaf Touring Showcase @ Encore

U.S. Christmas, 8:00 PM
U.S. Christmas

Barring some elevated vantage point, you need to be up close to a band to take good pictures, but distance improves sound.  Accordingly, over the course of U.S. Christmas’s entire set, I heard just a few moments of violin, and not a whisper of the hand percussionist sitting two feet in front of me.

USX are from the small town of Marion in western North Carolina.  They play long psychedelic songs, usually to blues beats.  The tunes are above average, and they play well together, especially considering that they put seven people on stage.  Their sound is as full as you’d expect from a rock septet, and I’d love to see them in a bigger venue, or at least on a higher stage where you could see what’s going on without standing right up front.

I’m not usually a fan of double drums, and USX didn’t break any new ground with them.  B.J. Graves and Justin Whitlow seemed competent, but they played mostly in unison, and I couldn’t see what was the point.  If they aren’t going to do anything crazy, but just try to groove, I’d prefer one drummer instead of two who are essentially playing to the click of the other.

~

 

Birdman/Chicken Ranch Showcase @ Headhunters

Spiderbags, 8:40 PM
Spiderbags

I saw Spiderbags often back in Chapel Hill, and they were the first North Carolina band I saw in Austin.  That was two years ago at FXFY, and I’m not surprised that their lineup has continued to change.  They’re down to a trio now, with Greg moving from lead guitar to bass and lefty Rock Forbes on drums.  If this Headhunters show is typical, then the change has a couple big implications for their music.

First of all, Forbes is a little groovier drummer than John was, and I think Greg plays bass better than Rob did.  So as far as straight-ahead rock and jamming are concerned, the rhythm section is stronger.  And I never thought Dan was any great shakes on guitar, but all his solos were strong, and he sounded good without a rhythm guitar backing him up.  With Greg on lead, I guess he never had to play out before, and now that he’s got to, he’s really stepped up.  Since they’ve gotten less country and more psychedelic, this harder-charging approach suits them.

On the other hand, the trio lineup seems to exclude great tunes from the set list.  I wanted to holler for "Darkness in My Heart", their best song, but that’s probably unplayable without a second guitar.  "Waking Up Drunk" loses some goodness when you remove a guitar.  And "Blood For You" not only calls for two guitars, but I think Rob and John would better serve its tricky rhythm.

Spiderbags’s biggest problem remains: for some reason, Dan likes to play so loud that you can’t make out what he’s singing.  That would be okay if he was Brian Aubert or Paul Banks or something, but he’s Dan McGee, one of the few decent lyricists writing today!  I’ve seen him do this so many times it shouldn’t annoy me, but it’s no fun to watch someone defecate on his talent like that.  He showed himself up worst in "Que Viva el Rocanroll", quietly phoning in his vocals on that "But I know what he really thinks" refrain.  Why would you sing one of the coolest vocal parts of the song in a monotone, strumming mundane rhythm guitar over it so loud that you might as well not sing at all?  Come on, Dan…

~

 

Tone Deaf Touring Showcase @ Encore

ASG, 9:00 PM
ASG

ASGASG does the bluesy, metallic rock thing, too, but without the atmospherics or odd structures of USX.  Actually, they’re not really related, and I shouldn’t try to draw a comparison.  ASG’s singer, Jason Shi, often goes the singing route instead of growling, and he’s not bad at it.  He does pack some gravel for the heavier, more High on Fire moments, although they’re a better band when they note-riff and solo than when they try to grind out chords and heavy rhythm.

~

 

SXSW Showcase @ Esther’s Follies

Chelsea Peretti, 9:30 PM

Chelsea Peretti, who worked on blackpeopleloveus.com and the excellent New York Rejection Line, was limited by the night’s time constraints.  You know how self-deprecating humor works best when the speaker shows confidence, so that you can laugh with them instead of pitying them?  Well, Peretti doesn’t show much confidence.  Her monologue of depression, facial insecurities, and dating terrible guys seems sincere, and I think unacquainted audiences will experience laugh-stifling pity before they’ll identify.  Accordingly, Peretti didn’t get many laughs early on, and I imagine this often happens at her shows.  Longer sets would give her more time to develop a rapport and ease audience fears.

Peretti mixed observational humor into her depressed personal narratives, for better and worse.  It’s accessible, and it helps the audience identify with her, making her other material more laughable.  On the other hand, there’s an appealing train-wreck quality to her set that run-of-the-mill observational humor mitigates.

~

 

SXSW Showcase @ Central Presbyterian Church

Ian McLagan & The Bump Band, 11:00 PM
Ian McLagan & The Bump Band

McLagan played piano in the Faces, started his Bump Band after they broke up, and has continued it in Austin since 1994.  Unless McLagan fans absolutely need to sit, and in pews, the Church is a bad venue for them – or for any electric rock band.  With it’s openness and wood and cathedral ceilings, it’s very live, and good rock rhythm gets lost in it.  This problem seemed to decrease as the set progressed, but I’m not sure whether the engineer fixed it or I just got used to it.

From what I could discern, the playing was good and as tight as you’d expect.  The songwriting varied in quality; McLagan did honor a request for Faces by playing "Glad and Sorry".  He was a charming frontman, despite the typicality of his banter and the quietness of the crowd.

Oddly, this most genteel of shows was the only one all week where I saw police gathered at the exit.  I don’t know what was going on.

~

 

Tone Deaf Touring Showcase @ Encore

Black Cobra, 12:00 AM
Black Cobra

San Francisco’s Black Cobra are a badass duo during whom it is difficult to take pictures because people keep pushing each other around.  It was easy to hear, though; this was the fourth band I saw at Encore this evening (see above), and the sonics improved steadily.  The guitarist mostly sticks to rhythm, and the drummer was the hardest hitter I saw all week.  See them, especially if you are big.

~

 

New Grenada Showcase @ Ghost Room

Tenant, 1:00 AM
Tenant

For some reason, I decided to leave Encore before Weedeater.  And not even to go see Death, right up the street – but to see this band Tenant at the Ghost Room.  At the time, I guess I just felt metalled out and averse to standing in the cold – Death was playing outside on the Mohawk Patio – although the walk to the Ghost Room, ten blocks in the opposite direction of my house, somehow escaped this calculus.

Anyway, Tenant played unexciting pop with rock and electronic accents.  Their rhythm section seemed unsure of whether to groove or to play herky-jerky rhythms.  I was hoping the keyboards would psych out the songs or otherwise take them places, which, with Brad Register’s voice, could sound good.  Instead, they’re just used like the guitars, to advance rhythm and melody.  That isn’t against the law, but the songs are too dull and need some sort of distinction.

Register’s good on stage, even when seated, and even with a tired audience.  It was funny that they were the only band I saw all week that showed no interest in requests to "play one more!"

I’d never been to the Ghost Room, which sits in a freestanding building that used to house the Gingerman.  Seems like a homey, spacious bar, if a little out of the way.

~

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