BUT I AM LE TIRED
BUUUT I went to the best show evers and I drank and had conversations that can’t be talked about on the internets b/c it will put peoples panties that might creep me in a wad. And I cannot sleep.
CONNUNDRUM.
Tonight was amazing for so so many reasons… most of which I can’t get into. But what I CAN say is that Man Man is amazing. They ALWAYS put on a good show. That was the first full set I had seen since seeing them the first time I saw them 3 years ago (5th time total though). And I saw them with this stellar crowd, even though we were pretty spread out for the majority of the time (Man Man pits are intense, yo).
We chilled at Lovejoys for the first hour and a half before the show, swapped ridiculous stories, and then saw Man Man and it was grand. If you’ve never seen Man Man or haven’t ever heard their music, do it. Also, be friends with these people. They’re the best.
Freelance Whales - April 21, 2011
yes I’m really using this gif
I’ve been listening to them for a few months.. since seeing them on a bunch of “best albums of 2010” lists I guess. I try to stay current with what’s going on in the indie music world as much as possible, and once I hear about a band enough I usually check them out.
“Weathervanes” IS a solid album. It reminds me of if you mixed Iron & Wine with Postal Service. But live shows are where the heart of the music is. And the Whales are really good live. Their album is pretty heavily mixed, so the fact that they can make it sound just as good from the stage is impressive. They’re one of the most mellow bands I’ve seen in a while, so that was a bit of a nice change as well. It was a short set though since they weren’t the ones headlining.
I talked to Doris after the show while she was at the merch table. Once they’re done with this tour (the end of this week), they’ll be recording their sophomore album and she said they won’t make it back down here until September/October. I almost asked if they’d be here for ACL. Gah. I should have. Coachella was the weekend before so that was laying pretty heavily on my mind. They had said during the show that they love Austin and that it’s one of their favorite cities.. Granted, MOST bands say that because it’s Austin and Austin is amazing… Although if they end up on the lineup I’ll probably spend waaay too much time scanning the crowds, regardless of the fact that Austin is pretty far from LA. youknow.
But yeah. Good show. I’ll definitely catch them the next time they’re here, hopefully as headliners or at ACL.
SERIOUSLY GUYS. LIFE FANTASTIC. IN A WEEK.
MAN MAN FOR DAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
NOW I’M EVEN MORE EXCITED ABOUT EVERYTHING
WHY DO I LOVE SO MUCH
Brb poopingandcrying
I’m not pooping.
not yet, anyway… BUT I”M STILL PRETTY EXCITED.
So I talked to Doris from Freelance Whales.
She said it would probably be September/October before they were back in Austin.
Know what that sounds like to me?
ACL BITCHES.
A girl can dream…
OMG DON’T DO THIS TO ME I WILL DIE IF THIS IS TRUE
CAUSE DARREN WOULD TOTALLY COME TO AUSTIN ASJFAKLSJFKASF
CAUSE DARREN WOULD TOTALLY COME TO AUSTIN
I KNOW RIGHT AJKGLJSGKJASG
they were also all in agreement that this is one of their favorite cities to play soooo
So I talked to Doris from Freelance Whales.
She said it would probably be September/October before they were back in Austin.
Know what that sounds like to me?
ACL BITCHES.
A girl can dream…
Freelance Whales tonight!
Which means I should probably write a review to one of the other shows I’ve been to recently so that I’m not that much more behind, but that’s just not going to happen.
I might cry tonight. IDK. I’ve been super emotional about everything recently - in a good way. Overly giddy and tears of joy and such. We’ll see how it goes.
SBL journey recap thing
Ok , so I’ve put this off long enough. I’m not even sure why I’ve been putting it off, but I have. It’s easier (and funnier) to fangirl over silly things than write about what’s really going on in my life I suppose.
I guess I’ll start at the beginning, which will be a year ago next week. April 24, 2010 we trekked to Dallas to go to the Spencer Bell Legacy show. To say we were excited would be an understatement. While I had been aware of who Spencer Bell was for nearly a year, I hadn’t really listened to any of his stuff until a rather infamous (for us, not anyone else) long weekend trip to New Orleans the month before.
I completely fell in love with Tamuawok. Seriously. One of my favorite albums still a year later and that’s saying a LOT considering the scope of my music collection. It’s even more impressive when you realize how young all the band members were and just.. I’ll stop or this will end up being an album review.
So getting to see The Stevedores was going to be a treat - and we were getting to see them twice because they were playing the night before as well. Anyway, despite some weird things that happened and getting lost in Dallas until 6am after the show, it went better than I was expecting. Claudia didn’t get punched (yeah, someone actually threatened that a few weeks before for reasons still unknown) and the most outrageous thing that happened was that I cussed out a parking lot attendant for being a prick.. and then we got to keep our cars there without paying more, so it was worth it.
The show was great, but we left thinking that this would be awesome in Austin. We aren’t big fans of Dallas. It’s dirty and huge and the music vibe just isn’t what it is here (I’m biased, I know). Austin is also pretty well known for being a hub of humanitarian benefits, so it just seemed to fit. Someone should do it if they were going to keep having SBL shows outside of Michigan, right? The more we talked about it, the more we thought that not only would it be amazing, but we had enough connections that we could do it.
at (nearly) every show.
I’m already close to seeing the number of bands this year that I saw all of last year. Let me break it down for you.. I used to live in the midwest in a city with no music scene (even though it’s a big city). I had to drive quite a ways to see bands. Chicago, Cinci, even cities in Kentucky. You get the idea.
Then I moved to Austin 3 years ago. In the first 1.5 years living here I went to more shows than I had been to ever. Last year I doubled the number.. something like 35 bands (those were just the good ones). And I’m getting super close to that number already and it’s not even May yet.
NOT EVEN MAY YET.
Life is sweet.
Putting off going to bed
things I need to write about soon:
- SXSW
- seeing Coheed & Cambria
- seeing Gogol Bordello
- the SBL journey (as of next week, it started one year ago. wtf.)
shows I have coming up next week:
- Freelance Whales
- A-Trak (maybe)
I should probably start writing these up outside of tumblr. I think that would seem less daunting.
TOMORROW
I’m actually going to start writing reviews of shows I’ve been to in the last month.
EUGENE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
only a little over a month until I get to see his wicked ‘stache and crazy stage antics again!!
Co-worker just asked if I got laid since I saw her last.
Apparently I look glow-y?
But no, I just went to a show last night.
Top 10 bands to see live from 2010:
This year has been full of good shows for me. If my count is correct, I’ve been to 19 shows and 2 festivals, totaling in at about 35 bands (I’m not counting the ones that sucked). The number of bands seen would be higher, but a handful of bands I saw multiple times. There are a few of these that I could go on and on about, but i’m going to try to keep it short and sweet.
10) Free Energy - I went into this show without listening to them because I was really going to see the band that opened for them, but I was super impressed and pleasantly surprised. They keep a good energy while onstage, playing what I would call retro chill rock. Plus, they’re big fans of not wearing pants. Who doesn’t like that?
[better live than recorded.]
9) A-Trak - When someone that is noted as one of the best DJs in the world is in town, you go. Even if that’s not your normal scene. And A-Trak didn’t disappoint. It’s pretty obvious why he’s one of the best. To entertain a festival crowd for over an hour by simply DJ-ing is no simple task. I definitely have a new sense of respect for DJs and their craft.
[“better live than recorded” doesn’t really fit here…]
8) Daniel Johnston - Don’t go to one of his shows unless you’re familiar with his story and his work. The significance of the show will be lost on you otherwise. He doesn’t play guitar for many of his songs anymore and his stage presence mostly just consists of him standing in one place and looking at the floor or the lyrics to his songs from a music stand. But its a really powerful show, especially if the crowd is a sea of people that love Daniel Johnston.
The Devil & Daniel Johnston trailer
[“better live than recorded” is irrelevant for him.]
7) Dirty Projectors - I didn’t get to see them as closely as I would have liked, but I heard them just the same. They sound exactly like their album, Bitte Orca, if not better. If you know the album then you know how impressive that is. They don’t use any instruments or anything to distort their voices, they’re just that good.
[better live than recorded.. guess i already said that]
6) The Stevedores - The only reason they’re this far back on the list is because they aren’t really a band any more. All 4 members are scattered across the country involved in different projects and they only play together about twice a year. That being said, they put on a hell of a show and you’d never know that they don’t play together constantly. They also have a remarkable history, which I won’t get into here. Do I even need to mention that the vocals are led by the drummer? Their “music to rob banks to” shouldn’t be missed.
[this is a hard one b/c lead vocals are different on the recording. I’ll say I love them equally but differently.]
The rest are in no particular order because they’re all too different to really compare…
Foxy Shazam - Foxy shows are just that.. a SHOW. Amazing on-stage antics that only enhance the musical experience. Their newest music has a lot of gospel influences and considering that they started out about 5 years ago as a post-hardcore band, they have evolved quite a unique sound that is really incredible. And their show matches it. After seeing them at SXSW without knowing who they were, catching them when they came back was a must.
[better live than recorded.]
100 Monkeys - My first show of the year, and what a way to start it. At nearly 2.5 hours, it was an incredible set. Since then, they’ve continued to improve their “rockabluesical” sound. Their shows have more energy than most I’ve been to, which is remarkable since they’re one of the few bands that don’t really seem to pull energy from the crowd, but from each other (a good thing, for reasons I won’t get into here because i’ll start to rant).
Sleeping Giants [live in San Antonio] - I almost always use this video, but it’s one of my favorites.
[better live than recorded.]
Chromeo - If you don’t like to dance, stay home. Their music is fun and ridiculous. Their crowds are amazing. Dave1 is incredibly charismatic and hot (and incidentally, also A-Trak’s brother). To understand what a Chromeo crowd can be like, watch this crowd in Seattle.
because I can’t pick which video to post:
Night By Night
Don’t Turn the Lights On
[better live than recorded.]
Man Man - My 3rd time to see them in over 2 years and I don’t even really know what to say about Man Man other than that they’re awesome. Wonderfully organized chaos, complete with babydoll legs, spoons and feathers thrown out into the audience. There might have been glitter too… I don’t remember. However I DO remember being crushed against the barrier while jumping and singing along with the crowd. I can’t wait for them to come back on a headlining tour in 2011.
If I find a better video i’ll post it… they’re hard to find.
[better live than recorded.]
Mister Heavenly - Just saw them last night and wow. Put Honus from Man Man, Nick from Islands, Joe from Modest Mouse and Michael Cera in a band together and you get Mister Heavenly. And it’s pretty much what I expected… a perfect blend of Man Man and Islands. It’s kind of like modern do-wop. Or at least, that’s the best way I can describe it. And I was pleasantly surprised that Michael Cera is a REALLY good bass player, which is hard to do.
[haven’t released any recordings yet.]
Looking forward to what 2011 will bring!
Austin, TX: Live Music Capitol - living it and loving every moment. I'd love to be able to be a semi-serious music/Austin/neat-things-in-life blogger, but I'm just not cool enough for that. This is an amalgamation of all sorts of things.