Shutter Noise

Portugal. the Man, Port O’Brien, the Dig pics

I bought a new camera on Friday. Saving up for it meant not spending Christmas or birthday money, and the sheer rush of anticipatory adrenalin in the days before purchasing was probably a little obscene.

All those months of anticipation were so worth it. You know how in the ridiculous arguments against gay marriage, some crazy always exclaims that “people will end up wanting to marry a goat!” or something equally nonsensical? Never mind the goat, I would marry this camera. Unf.

Canon 7D, 18 megapixels, HD video, 6400 ISO. Gorgeous.

The Dig (who were really awesome live, you should definitely catch them next time they come around. Also, their album drops in April, and it’s a lot of fun)

Port O’Brien

Portugal. the Man

The only thing is, the version of Lightroom I had wasn’t compatible with the file format for the pics, so I had to learn my way around the photoediting software that came with the camera to work on these. I’m still getting used to it… I might redo a few of these; I’m not entirely happy.

As usual, click the pics to see the rest.

Show Announcement – Of Montreal

Transmission Entertainment is bringing Of Montreal to town again! I saw ‘em twice last year, at Monolith and Fun Fun Fun Fest; both times they brought an enormous crowd. In other words, you better buy your tickets ASAP because this is gonna sell out damn quick, and then you’ll be cryin’ ’cause you missed them at an 850-capacity venue.

Mohawk, May 23rd (yeah, that’s a Sunday, so what? Verbose songs about ambiguous sexuality, death, drugs, and etc beckon you!)

Tix here. Noot D’Noot and James Husband (from Of Montreal) open.

Nouvelle Vague at Mohawk

It’s hard to go wrong with French pop. When Yelle came to town a few years ago, you know I was in the middle of that party. And though the differences between their electro-dance and the dreamy, bossa nova cover-heavy pop of Nouvelle Vague are numerous, the draw still stands.

While they didn’t blow my mind, the show was a lot of fun, and their covers were great. They have the equation down pat: recall the original song – exactly duplicate + subsist well on their own.

I dug both of the encores: Love Will Tear Us Apart, and In A Manner of Speaking. Each allowed the two singers an opportunity to showcase her vocals alone on-stage.

The only downsides to the night were their late start (30 minutes after they were supposed to go on, really?), and the fact that going to this show meant missing RJD2 at Emo’s. But hey, the odds of catching a French group again versus an American group I’ve already seen? Totally worth it… and did you see the coat she was wearing? Ridic!

Casual Victim Pile, a Compilation

Austin music is awesome, don’t deny. Garage rock, psychedelic, throwback old-school pop, a burgeoning electro-dance scene, and above all the overarching – and, yes, over-used – ‘indie’ title. After hitting post on this admittedly enamored statement, I’ll likely be hit with a scornful wave of dissent from the haters who delight in saying the local scene is dying. Eff y’all, Matador Records co-owner Gerard Cosloy is totally on my side here.

As proof of how promising he views the Austin (and Denton, our underrated just-head-up-I35 neighbor) talent-pool, his label put together Casual Victim Pile, a killer compilation of the local bands you’ve hopefully already supported for at least a show or two. It has Harlem, who signed to Matador in the fall. It has the drunken growling dirty psych-rock that is Elvis, the face-melting tempo-hounds Dikes of Holland, jaunty punk-leaning indie trio Follow That Bird!, and so much more.

It’s a three-day shindig at Beerland that you better not miss. Only $5 each day, 17 bands total, and if you get there early enough on Thursday you can get your hands on a free limited-edition poster commemorating this awesomeness. Friday and Saturday they’ll be selling the comp at the venue on cd and vinyl.

Thursday, Feb. 4
Follow That Bird!
Dikes Of Holland
KIngdom Of Suicide Lovers
The Distant Seconds
The Persimmons

Friday, Feb. 5
Woven Bones
The Young
Wild America
Flesh Lights
Elvis
The No No No Hopes

Saturday, Feb. 6
Harlem
The Golden Boys
Bad Sports
Love Collector
The Stuffies
Lost Controls

Girls + Magic Kids

Along with quite a few Austinites and the staff of Pitchfork, I really dug last year’s Album from Girls. I listened to it on repeat, especially Lust for Life and Hellhole Retrace, and really, really wanted to see them live. Finding out they were playing the Parish was like a sparkly little gift of great lighting and stellar sound, and of course it sold out.

Live, I really did dig Girls; the two new members of the band did a great job fleshing out the sound of what had originally a two-man collaboration. The only downer was the crowd; there were a few really drunk people acting like fools up front. (hint: please stop screaming “If you were gay, I’d fuck you” at Christopher Owens in my ear… I think he heard it the first time, and I don’t really care.)

There were also a few sidestage shenanigans going on with the opening bands during Girls’ set that were really distracting, but I’m not gonna get into that.

The first band, the Smith Westerns, didn’t seem to have much to them. It could’ve been that I was still trying to wade up front during their set, or that I was drunk as a skunk, but other people seemed to like them so I’m reserving judgement for now.

Magic Kids were hit-and-miss for me; they were really trying to justify themselves to that sold-out crowd, you could tell, but they didn’t quite have it together yet. Every once in a while they’d get it together for a few minutes and you’d think they might be on to something good, but they couldn’t sustain it. Some of it could’ve been nerves, I suppose.

All together, a fun show, and it was over early enough for me to hustle over to the Mohawk for Missions, who are my new favorite local band… I might post pics of that show later.

(Lastly, a huge thank you to Austin Town Hall for getting me in the door! Read their review of the show with more of my photos here.)

Spoon Pics, Waterloo & 101X

So, I got to see Spoon twice yesterday. They played a set for a select group of 101X peeps (and for kgsr before that, but I sadly missed it) before heading down for their hour-long gig at Waterloo. I love me some Spoon, perhaps an inappropriate amount given how many times I’ve actually met Britt, so yesterday was pretty much entirely awesome.

Also, the fact that 101X had Tuaca shots set out at the door for before and after the set didn’t hurt any.

(as usual, there are more pics available if you click through to my Flickr page)

And if you made it this far, you should go listen to the two new Midlake tracks… They are utterly gorgeous and I’m obsessed with them. It looks like they will probably be playing SXSW, but I’m not being greedy to want an Austin date outside of the conference, am I? Come on, they’re practically local!

The Courage of Others comes out Feb. 2, and I can’t effing wait.

Free Week Pics – Day 1 & 2

I love Free Week, but thank god it’s over. 10 days of late nights, jumping between 3, 4, or 5 venues each evening, and taking over 1500 photos in too-damned-cold weather is a recipe for live music burnout. (though it is good prep for the insanity that is SXSW (only 60ish days away!))

As usual, click the pics to see the rest of the set.

Day 1

Amplified Heat

Cartright

Smoke & Feathers

The Ugly Beats

Day 2

Vinhomudeh

LIONS

the inside band after LIONS… can anyone help me out? I don’t think this was In Dudero…

Harlem

Pics: Friday & Saturday at Mohawk

Balmorhea was lovely as usual, though the move inside to avoid the weather was regrettable… it was packed, hot as hell indoors at the Mohawk, and the noise from people at the bar interrupted some of the more hushed moments of musical tension.

Ola Podrida was spot-on with every song, professional, and sounded like they’d been touring together for years, despite the fact that two of the band members were really new. Would watch again.

I really dig Brazos’ new album, and Martin Crane’s solo stuff is almost as intriguing. One song, though, he joked about giving to a girl group… he really should. A credit to his songwriting skills, it was catchy and fun, but very odd coming from a guy whose usual offerings include poem adaptations and brooding thoughts on late nights downtown. Anyway, <3 for anything this guy does.

The Duchess and the Duke were drunk, obnoxious, and a complete disappointment. I was looking forward to this show, but my only thoughts after were disgust at them wasting my time. Watching them was like watching an unknown band, and thinking that there was maybe something there, if only they could sober up and take the music they were attempting to play seriously.

Also, the lead singer slurred at me from the stage: “stop doing your job and just have fun!”. I’m sorry, but my job is photographing you. I’m not using flash, I’m not being obtrusive or in your face, so can you please just butt out and try taking your job a bit more seriously?

Amazing guitar-playing skills… I was completely entranced by him, which is a little impressive for just one guy with a guitar who didn’t even sing for most of his set. He brought out a few members from the Duchess and the Duke for a song together at the end, which I enjoyed more than the rest of their following set.

Remembering a name as odd as Fergus & Geronimo may be difficult, but you should try… they were fun, energetic, and really happy to be playing for us. I dug it.

A few more pics… hover over for band name:

Friday Shows

WOXY @ Stubbs Jr w/ Neon Indian (pic above), the Tunnels, Tigercity (pic above)

J. Tillman (Fleet Foxes) @ Mohawk

Friendly Fires, the XX at Mohawk

Last night’s sold-out Friendly Fires // the XX show at Mohawk started off with disappointment, as opening act Holly Miranda had to cancel last-minute. The show went on with only two acts, the first of which kinda didn’t live up to the ticket sales.

The XX did well with their chilled-out new-wave music, but it would’ve been nice if they had played for more than 25 minutes. Yes, they only have one album out; if they didn’t want to just play tracks from it they could’ve thrown some covers in, anything to fill out that set time.

Friendly Fires completely redeemed the night, though, with irresistable dance party awesomeness. Singer Ed Macfarlane dropped some hip-shaking dance moves throughout the entire set, and for once – in seemingly dance-phobic Austin, at that – the entire crowd was moving with the tunes. It was a tight and impeccably-executed set (though with the amount they’ve been touring, that should be expected), and fully justified the packed-to-the-gills venue.