Their debut album caused rave reviews in the Netherlands and UK.
Their second album Versus Life, is out now on the Dutch independent label Tocado Records.
They are two girls. Jessie on guitar, Chay on bass.
They rock.
Below are two songs from the new album Versus Life, and you can get the debut at eMusic. "No Nada" is the opening track and sets the tone for the rest of the album with a raging tempo. "Salt Sugar" builds for the first 1:12 and then goes ballistic with a four on the floor beat and frantic guitar riffs that any fan the blues/rock style popularized by the Stripes will immediately enjoy. Check out some Dutch garage-blues-punk rock with great guitar licks and pumping bass lines, both of which compliment the angry vocals and loads of distortion.
Taking on Austin's music scene is a bewildering endeavor, and we should know. At our last count, we figured there are at least 1,500 bands and artists that call Austin home, and we know that's really not even close to all of them. So the idea of putting together a compilation of Austin artists that we felt deserved more attention has become both a foolhardy and necessary endeavor, and one we figure we will have to keep up annually at the very least. With the entire independent music world descending upon Austin in the next couple of weeks, we thought it would be a prime time to, like SXSW, showcase some of the hometown talent. And so we present our first compilation of all Austin artists: Sound Advice Vol. I: The Start of Something.
The first is a synth-pop-vocoder anthem for practicing some new dance steps, from Brooklyn's electronic son Wolfgang. Get more at myspace/wolfgangtherobot and Hypnote
Perhaps I was too quick to throw the word anthem out there before introducing this next track. It is a twelve minute quasi-pop electronic dittie that is only one of the standout tracks on Dan Deacon's forthcoming album Spiderman of the Rings. The first three minutes of "Wham City" start out with a chanting chorus and then the LCD Soundsystem-esque breakbeats kick in until the seven minute mark, followed by an abrupt stop-and-start with a sample of vocoder over snare drum before nicely segueing back into the original chant and riding the hyper electronic wave all the way until the end.
Dan was in Austin last week to showcase his work for SXSW, and you can read all about it over at Party Ends. Spiderman of the Rings is out on May 8 via Psych-o-Path Records.
Speaking of LCD Soundsystem, have you picked up a copy of Sound Of Silver yet? You should do that, it was officially released in the U.S. last week and sounds way better than the leaked version you might have heard. I'm still waiting for the vinyl to arrive at my doorstep. The track below is a remix and not featured on the album, just to avoid any confusion.
Below is just one of the many good songs on The Beggars Group - Spring Sampler 2007 that I snagged at SXSW. I just read that ElvisPerkins' "melancholy songs reflect the personal tragedy he's experienced over the years. His father died of AIDS in 1992, and his mother, a photographer, was on board a flight that was flown into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001." He will be in Austin on April 28 performing in support of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at Stubb's.
To end this entry on an even softer note, here is a track by an acoustic group from Glasgow who go by the name of Jo Mango. It sounds to me like they used a jack-in-the-box as an instrument on this song, or at least something that sounds very familiar to one. I found "My Lung" on the Clash Magazine - SXSW UK Invasion disc. Check PodBop to see their cool inventory of SXSW goodies, and if you're feeling left out in the cold you can even grab a SXSW swag bag at eBay.
Back in December I got a feelgood track from Terry Diabolik of NYC's Finger on the Pulse, a twenty-five minute DJ mix of vintage Soul tracks that provides great background music for doing nothing at all. Or slip it in to a classic party mix and remind your company of some of the groovy music that was being made way back when.
The tracklist for "And I’m Feelin Good" is as follows:
“Ain't No Reason For Girls (To Be Lonely) | Bobby Marchan “Needle In A Haystack” | The Velvelettes “Our Love Is In the Pocket” | Darrell Banks “If Your Love Don't Swing” | Pete Kelly's Solution “Something For Nothing” | Jess and James “Looking for a Fox” Clarence Carter “My Baby Likes To Boogaloo” | Don Gardner “Out of Breath” | Ronnie Whitehead “I Can't Stop (No, No, No)” | Arthur Conley “Ain't Got No / I Got Life (Groovefinder Remix)” | Nina Simone
Free promotional stuff gets passed around at SXSW more than cigarettes in a prison. CDs, vinyls, stickers, buttons, posters, they're all available in handfuls. I even got a voodoo doll from Ryko complete with detailed instructions on how to use it. I was given a handful of albums over the week of SXSW that left a good impression on me, including these first two.
Scott Thorough of the New York hip hop outfit Nuclear Family hooked me up with Nuclear Family Presents: Nuk Fam & Other Amazing Sub-Projects of Nuk Fam (SXSW Edition), which has some really great tracks from their musical collective of artists.
Via SX: "Nuclear Family (Nuk Fam for short) is a musical collective of seven guys from New York who make hip hop music with a decidedly honest, down-to-earth approach. They cast aside tough-guy posturing and self-referential boringness in favor of tongue-in-cheek humor and humble personal expression.
The music has the aesthetic of early 90's boom-bap hip hop, but Nuk Fam has no interest in being sound preservationists or genre purists.Screw that. Their music and highly charged live performances often take turns towards places and ideas that are �un-hip-hop�. But by simply being themselves, Nuk Fam feels they are staying truer to the spirit of a music whose roots lie in innovation and rebelliousness."
Nuclear Family has a cool site full of all sorts of interactive goodness at NukFam.com. Check it out.
--- The WIRED CD - Ripped. Sampled. Mashed. Shared. is the result of the Fine Art of Sampling Contests held in early 2005 by Creative Commons. Contestants were challenged to sample or mash-up tracks from the original WIRED CD - Rip. Sample. Mash. Share., a groundbreaking album distributed in WIRED Magazine's November 2004 issue. All pertinent info on that one is found at CreativeCommons.org/wired. The list of winners along with information for everything Ripped., which the following three tracks appear on, is found at ccmixter.org.
I knew I had something good as soon as I heard DANGEROUSE, and once I got down to Revolve I was hooked.
I've just finished jotting down all of the stuff that I saw at SXSW, and it appears that I saw almost 50 bands. 47 different acts, to be exact. I knew that watching live music from noon past midnight for 3-4 days straight would allow for a lot of action, but, damn. 47 bands almost seems impossible to me now that I look back at it. I don't think I ate a single proper meal all week, and I know that didn't have more than four hours of sleep on any night. If my brain is still operating on all cylinders I will try to summarize the best SXSW I have experienced yet.
Tuesday I hung out at the Daytrotter recording and was able to watch some intimate performances by local artists Peter and the Wolf, Voxtrot and Tacks, The Boy Disaster. It rained cats and dogs all day long, and the building that houses the Big Orange studio was barely able to keep the flood from entering the studio dampening some of the equipment. Stay updated at Daytrotter.com where you'll be able to download those performances along with many others, from the people who were voted the Best Free Live-Music Site by Esquire magazine.
Wednesday there was more of the same weather, but more mist than buckets of rain this time. The first thing I was able to get to was Ghostland Observatory's live performance broadcast on KEXP from the Austin City Limits studio. I uploaded a video of part of this performance, specifically the song "Rich Man." The guys put on a great show as always, but the setting wasn't really conducive to the loud, frantic dance-party vibe that Ghostland usually create when they do their thing. From what I heard their official showcase at La Zona Rosa was a killer.
---
Thursday things really started to get interesting, and the weather cooperated with sunny skies for the first time all week. Here is what I saw:
Softlightes - This four-piece from LA make pop music that is both soft and light, and it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. They were the first act of the day at Urban Outfitters along with Bonde do Role, Beach House and 120 Days.
120 Days - A rock/electronic outfit that came all the way from their home in the capital of Norway to perform a couple of times at SXSW. They were obviously humored by the fact that trendy college girls and metrosexual dudes were walking around Urban Outfitters buying ironic t-shirts during their performance, when their usual scene is a dimly-lit venue and a smoke-filled stage in front of a crowd more likely to riot than go out for a day of shopping. 120 Days will be back in Austin on April 6th opening for Ratatat at Emo's.
Peter Bjorn and John - I had intended to stay at Urban Outfitters to watch Bonde do Role, but the technical staff was ill-prepared for the equipment that Bonde uses so they had to scrap the performance. Luckily I found some live mp3s at this awesome place. Instead of waiting around I hurried down the street to watch the last half of the superb Swedes Peter Bjorn and John at the Austin City Limits studio. These guys, are good. Here is that swell remix once again..
Beach House - The main reason I was at Outfitters to begin with was so that I could see Beach House, because I didn't think that I would be able to catch any of their other sets. They only played for about thirty minutes, though their sound is so captivating that no one was paying attention to the time. They were happy to sign a few autographs and chat with fans who crowded the store.
The Apes - I ran into a guy on the street on Thursday who said that he couldn't wait to see The Apes' showcase on Friday, and that I should check them out. Later, when I went down to watch some music at the Hole, The Apes just so happened to be playing when I walked through the door. Hey, guy on the street who said to check out The Apes, you were right.
"Listen to Erick Jackson's burning, fur-lined bass growls, Amanda Kleinman's horny and celestial banshee organ, and Jeff Schmid's iron-chest-of-cocaine drums, throat chieftain Breck Brunson (ably picking up where previous vocalists Paul Weil and Joe Halladay left off.)"
Awesome Cool Dudes - Woah, these guys really are awesome. I had heard their name many times and knew of the Awesome Cool Dudes from right here in Austin, but I had never heard much of their music nor seen them in concert. Holy crap these guys put on a great show. All dressed head-to-toe in matching atheletic uniforms and belting out some of the funkiest dance inspired tunes that I've heard from any local act, the Awesome Cool Dudes make sure to have a good time when they plug in the keyboard. At the end of their set lead cool dude Cory Plump climbed into the wooden rafters of The Hole in the Wall's ceiling and traversed to the rear of the bar and back while the rest of the band did an extended jam until he returned to the stage bloodied, but triumphant. Video (and rrrough audio) of this can be seen here.
Holy Fuck - I just didn't get enough of Holy Fuck when I saw them earlier in the week, so I made sure to attend their last set in Austin before they hit the road with fellow North Americans Do Make Say Think. I mentioned to them before they went on that the bar they were playing at (Hole) was basically built on country & western music, and that this group of people (including authentic cowboys occupying the barstools) had never seen anything like Holy Fuck before. Before they got on the road I scored the new self-titled EP, and you can check out a few tracks from it at I Guess I'm Floating and Rewritable Content.
The Apples in Stereo - After fun at Urban Outfitters and the Hole I moved again over to the Austin City Limits studio to take in a short and sweet 6-song performance by The Apples in Stereo. If I remember correctly, all of the songs that they performed were taken from their latest (and greatest) album New Magnetic Wonder, which always puts me in a good mood. During the interview with KEXP the Apples' leader Robert Schneider mentioned that the mixing board caught on fire at one point during recording of the new album, because some of the songs are made up of 90+ tracks. I'd say that's worth whatever they're charging.
Errors - I don't remember very much about this band at all, and I think I must have been fairly inebriated. I do know that they kicked off the Clash Magazine showcase that featured five good acts from the UK, and they had a big drum on stage that was getting abused. You can head to ClashMagazine.com to see their coverage of the showcase. Per Sx, "The band take elements of new-wave, electro, 90’s rave, acid-house and make it their own."
Jack Penate - This was an entertaining set. The 22-year old Londoner jiggled and shook all over the stage while performing his original British pop songs, with a couple of friends manning the bass and percussion.
Fujiya & Miyagi - After seeing Fujiya & Miyagi's name floating around the web so much in 2007 it was a treat to be able to see them live. The softly spoken vocals can get old quickly, so it's a good thing that the music is addictive and makes the people move. I found myself quietly chanting Fujiya..Miyagi..Fujiya..Miyagi over and over again after I left the club.
The Sunshine Underground - I have already come to terms with the fact that I am going to lose my hearing one of these days. Some day when I'm an old man I will probably be sporting some super fly hearing aids because of the damage done to my hearing over the years. The Sunshine Underground reminded me of that fact on Thursday night. They were the "special guest" on the bill, and they were one of the loudest bands I have ever seen. I woke up on Friday with my ears still ringing.
To continue with the UK night theme I went down and watched half sets by The Young Knives and The Hot Puppies. I wish I could have seen all of both of them because what I got to see was great, and I might not have many more chances to see either of them in Austin.
---
What I saw on Friday:
Do Make Say Think - I had wanted to see their official showcase at Soho the night before but it didn't happen, so I got down to Emo's early enough to get a front row spot for their time slot (and everyone else's) at the Pitchfork/Windish party. They gave an impressive performance that sounded really good, and closed their set with my favorite track from the new album, "The Universe."
The Pipettes - These three young ladies from England are easily the most attractive trio of vocalists that I've ever seen together on a single stage, and that's only half of the show. They can dance, sing, and dish out enough personality and flare to keep all eyes of the audience focused on them for any good length of time.
The Ponys - They have some really good songs, it was a shame that there were technical difficulties that made it sound terrible. As soon as the keyboard got turned on the surge protector started to smoke, and the bass amp was also on the fritz which made everything sound muddy and jumbled together. Other than that, it was great.
RJD2 - He performed with a full band and played guitar and sang which was cool, but his set was way too short. I was glad to hear him do Ghostwriter and The Horror, those two tracks occupied just about half of the show. I remember that whoever he had playing drums in the band was a total badass, I wish I knew the guy's name.
Girl Talk - Greg Gillis threw a party at Emo's, and everyone that could fit inside the building was invited. There was a young kid in front of me for the whole show who said he was twelve years old, and this was the first concert he had ever been to. I have a gut feeling that this kid will eventually grow up to be a DJ after experiencing Girl Talk live. "Yeah, but all he does is play songs on a laptop." Who gives a shit? If the man can make a the largest crowd I have ever seen at Emo's dance uncontrolably by using the musical tools that he has obviously mastered, then what else do you need?
I had never heard of Nellie McKay before, but apparently the hundred or so people who were all waiting in line before me knew exactly who she was. It wasn't hard to figure out after almost the entire crowd emptied the club after her fantastic performance. The twenty four year old singer-songwriter, actress and former stand-up comedian sat down with nothing but a piano and a microphone and gave the most beautiful, fun, and memorable performance that I have ever seen at any SXSW.
High Class Elite - These guys were covered in glitter, had two go-go girls on stage singing backup and wearing nothing at all, and they were still unable to leave much of an impression on me. I guess they're going for some sort of glam punk look, except their music sounds more like a modern attempt at classic rock. Or, something.
Times New Viking - I knew a little bit about Times New Viking before SXSW and had written about their new album not too long ago, but I wasn't aware that their live shows (and fans) are totally raucous. If you like rock music and a band that can burn the place down when they hit the stage, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with Times New Viking as soon as possible.
Clockcleaner - The highlight of this show was the fight that broke out and left troublemaker with a Bluetooth hanging off of his ear outta the building. You know, just in case you get that urgent phone call that you won't be able to hear while you're picking a fight (that you lose) at a rock show. The baby powder-filled piñata that was hung from the balcony mid-set and ritualistically destroyed was a nice touch.
Peaches - Oh hell yes, Peaches was awesome. I left Exodus with a body ache after the head-banging set filled with all of her usual performance checkmarks. Bikini and female fro-hawk? Check. Pushing, shoving, dancing and sweating? Check. This was one of the top shows I saw all week.
Deerhunter - When you've got a freakeshly skinny man wearing a dress and sobbing, a bassist who gets floored by a roundhouse kick to the face and a bunch of other random nonsense you've already got the makings for an entertaining show. Deerhunter had all of that, but the music (for the mostpart) was underwhelming.
Black Lips - One of the bands that I told myself not to miss was Black Lips, who turned in a fine set at Red 7 on Saturday. The action was mostly subdued by Black Lips' standards, see: no fires, nudity or exchange of fluids, but their performance was tight and the songs sounded almost as good as they do on Los Valientes Del Mundo Nuevo.
Rakim - At Stubbs on Saturday afternoon there was free beer in the VIP area, with warm sunshine coming from above and one of the greatest, most influential rappers and lyricists of all time performing to a packed house full of fans who knew every syllable to every song. We got in too late to watch Ghostface Killah, but having a rare opportunity to see Rakim perform was what mattered most.
After Rakim we headed down to the Fader/Levis party to have some more free beer and see RedMan do his thing. A great live band called No Age were playing when we got there, and they were soon followed by Ladyhawk. VietNam came out afterwords and put on a really great performance, much more impressive than when I saw their in-store at Waterloo Records a few weeks ago. Redman kept the mic to himself and made sure to touch on many of his well known songs so that the crowd could rhyme along.
White Williams - White Williams is a friend of Greg Gillis, which I learned after asking him what he was doing standing next to me at Beauty Bar, when he was supposed to be down the street at Elysium soon to do another show. As for White Williams, his performance was a memorable one. The stage was masked with hard plastic from floor to ceiling and was lit from behind with different colors to show only shadows of the performers behind it, and a two-man team used cardboard cutouts to cast various shapes and create scenery for each song. My camera was dead by this point, otherwise I'd have some pretty cool pictures to show you.
After that I lounged on the patio and watched Clipd Beaks from a distance, before moving inside to watch Kid606. I watched about ten minutes of that while I cursed the Red Eyed Fly for being at capacity an hour earlier when I was unable to get inside and watch the Detroit Cobras. Damn the man.
A few buddies were already inside at Elysium to see Girl Talk's grand finale at SXSW and said the line outside was manageable, so I went over to see how it would go. In my opinion his set at Emo's was better, though I'm sure I will get disagreement from my friends (along with dozens of other people) who danced the performance away while crowding around Greg and his laptop upon the stage. Check out the Austinist interview.
--
Odds and ends:
I met Tom Morello outside of the Mellow Mushroom, and he recommends the mushroom & cheese. I also met Danny Masterson and offered him a smoke, but he declined. Yeah you heard that right, he declined. I ran into Britt Daniel out on the street and he said that Portland is great, and the new Spoon album will be out on July 11. And I lost my cell phone at some point, did you see it? It's blue in color.
I also have to tip my hat to the SXSW organizers and staff for their fantastic work in running a nearly flawless festival. I can't wait until next March!
A new friend turned me onto an interesting two-piece musical act from Amsterdam called About, who were recently featured on Daytrotter and played a couple of shows around Austin last week. Below is one of the songs from the Daytrotter session, and here are links to their homepage and MySpace.
One more random find was Fast Heart Mart, who were performing for an enthusiastic crowd on the sidewalk. They hail from New Mexico and apparently travel all over the place and play to any and every audience they can find. I stopped to capture some video and missed my bus in the process. I think you can hear it go by at 1:35 of the video. Luckily, I had something entertaining to watch while I waited for the next one.
An update is coming, I promise. --
Here's a song to enjoy in the meantime. Say to ciao to Fake P from Verona, Italy, with their nice indie orchestal electronic pop song "QWERTY." You can hear and see more here and of course at MySpace.
Also, a nice person just sent me a track from MiceCars, who hail from Rome. Make sure to listen for the switches at :55 and 1:47, and visit their space.
Wedsnesday I saw Ghostland Observatory at the Austin City Limits Studio, and chatted it up with the KEXP folks after their interview with Lily Allen. They said all of the people who came from Seattle felt right at home, speaking of all the rain over the past two days.
After that I made my way down to Canadian Blast where I caught The Cliks, Holy Fuck and Malajube. Holy Fuck put on a really great show just as I suspected, and I think I'll try to catch them tomorrow as well. I upped a few pics of the show, here.
Saw Tacks, The Boy disaster at 8:00 and then hung out at Antone's for the Merge showcase with Oakley Hall and The Rosebuds. Emo's, Beauty Bar and Red Eyed Fly were all at capacity once I made it back over to Red River, so I opted for Razorlight at Stubb's. Once this week is done I'll review all of the pics, audio and video that I'm getting and put the good stuff into one long Sx wrap-up. For now, I must get a couple hours of sleep.
In May the good people at Morr Music will bring us a melodic, folksy experimental lo-fi release by Seabear. Seabear is 23-year old Sindri Sigfœsson from Reykjavik, Iceland who writes beautiful songs using acoustic guitar and piano, gentle vocals, tinkly-winkly mallets, synth flourishes, and restrained percussion. Seabear started as a one man project and then turned into a band when Sindri was asked to open for The Books in Berlin. Never having performed these songs live he asked two of his friends, guggý and örn, to come with him and play. They had so much fun playing live and practising that they decided that they would join the band. The music is subdued and mellow folk pop, with a little piano, violin, acoustic guitar and atmospheric vocals, all carefully squeezed through a lo-fi filter.
