Austin Sound

The dog days of summer are upon us and it’s hot outside, it’s hot inside, it’s hot everywhere! Yet still, on Friday night myself and a multitude of other indie lovin’ Austinites packed tight into the sauna that is the inside stage of Mohawk for The Eastern Sea EP release party. Why this show did not take place on the outside stage I may never know. But I suppose the heat and sweat was just one more reason the night was pretty much amazing.

Diego Olano started the show with his brother Tomas, on drums, and Jess Graves on keys, the former two familiar from their work with the Interest Kills. It was the type of music that filled up the room, not because it was loud or complex, but because it was interesting in it‘s simplicity.

Friday night I thought I’d go check out the Tangled Snark Summer Parties at the Monarch, which I, for some reason unbeknownst to me, figured would be a good idea. Little did I understand that I had just stepped into a melting pot of drunkenness, violence, and downright craziness in its lowest form; in other words, my naïve ass just got thrown into the middle of a punk show. Mixed in with the raw coolness of chick drummers and intense bassists, there lingered angst-riddled fans, the spilling of much innocent alcohol, and miniature mosh pits where guys took off their shirts and leaped onto stage. Well, they attempted to leap on stage anyway, but mostly just ran at the stage missing it the majority of times, so they’d fall and then try to do it again about a hundred times. I kept thinking to myself, “Holy shit! What the hell did I get myself into this time…and how many more times is this guy gonna fall down before we call an ambulance!?” Of course, that was nothing compared to the insanity that would explode onstage by the end of the night.

Although the buzz was a buzzin’ at Emo’s Lounge about Oh No! Oh My!, who were just back from their European tour, Legs Against Arms and Corto Maltese stole the spotlight with their effervescent energies and incredibly catchy set lists. But, let’s start at the beginning. Before opener Gulf of Mexico had even started, there was a decent amount of people shuffling into a poorly lit Emo’s Lounge. The Lounge isn’t quite the pinnacle of the Emo’s trilogy, if you know what I mean… Even so, if you build it, and call it Emo’s, they will come.

I was fully expecting for the evening to start and end with Shearwater, but to my surprise at 9pm another local known as Follow That Bird took the stage. Personally, I couldn’t help but think that the trio’s sound, which is essentially very raw indie rock with some pop sensibilities, seemed like an odd choice to get people ready for an orchestra-backed Shearwater, but they’re a good act and I certainly wasn’t upset at the opportunity to see them again.

It’s been over a week since the day that kicked it all off, and here we are, finally able to finish collecting our thoughts. SXSW was a maelstrom of music, sweat, beer, exhaustion and Free Ice Cream. We checked in, one last time, with all our local contributors, including John Laird who keeps his own blog over at Side One Track One.

Here’s what we dragged ourselves out of bed for after only 2 hours of sleep on Saturday.

RobynPhoto by John Laird

Well now that we’re all well rested after nearly a week of burning at both ends, we’ve got some more of what we saw, what we liked best, and things we caught on camera. We checked in with all our local contributors, including John Laird who keeps his own blog, Side One Track One.

Here’s what we were up to on Friday.

Bon Iver
Photo by John Laird

In addition to our SXSW picks and Show Previews, we’ll be bringing you short reviews of what we saw, what we liked best, and things we caught on camera. We’ll be checking in with all our local contributors, including John Laird who keeps his own blog, Side One Track One.

Here’s what we were up to on Thursday.

Hurry Up and Wait

In addition to our SXSW picks and Show Previews, we’ll be bringing you short reviews of what we saw, what we liked best, and things we caught on camera. We’ll be checking in with all our local contributors, including John Laird who keeps his own blog, Side One Track One.

Here’s what we were up to on Wednesday.

In addition to our SXSW picks and Show Previews, we’ll be bringing you short reviews of what we saw, what we liked best, and things we caught on camera. We’ll be checking in with all our local contributors, including John Laird who keeps his own blog, Side One Track One.

Here’s what we were up to on Tuesday

The evening before Valentine’s day, legendary blues artist David “Honeyboy” Edwards brought his Delta-steeped country blues guitar to the stage of the Cactus Cafe. Arriving on the heels of his recent Grammy win for best traditional blues album for Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live in Dallas (released on Blue Shoe Project, also featuring Pinetop Perkins, Henry James Townsend, and Pinetop Perkins), the 93-year old patriarch from Mississippi was in fine form throughout his two hour set of real deal blues.